Red State Rumblings

The Audacity of Mediocrity

2011-07-10T18:20:00.000-04:00

I have returned from my journeys Northward and had some time on the road to reflect on where we are as a nation. While folks inside the Beltway (which when travelled now would really make you think you live in the Third World) dither about the debt, greatness in our nation is ebbing.

Consider this image:

This is the interior of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, completed in 1897. The building is a testament of a belief in a great nation with a future ahead as bright as the stars. Now admittedly, architecture and building techniques have changed dramatically, but typically these days for a civic building we get something like this:

...with lots of surface parking! But that's another story. This is the architecture of "we're done, stick a fork in it." I get e-mails and comments accusing me of being so anti-government that I prefer utter chaos to any semblance of a legal order. Not true. I want government to stay out of the way of the private sector, but in those areas where they do belong, and preserving the story of our nation a la the Library of Congress, I want them to do it right. The builders of the Library of Congress were conscious of producing something that would be admired for ages - it was hard and expensive, but they succeeded. I want our leaders to set a vision of progress for the nation not pablums about the goodies they will bestow on me if I vote for them.

Consider the following image:

Yes, that is the shuttle Atlantis blasting off for her final voyage earlier this week. There are a lot of issues with the shuttle program, but the fact remains that they were designed to each fly a minimum of 100 missions. Atlantis has flown 33. We have no replacement. It is embarrassing to note that only four astronauts flew on this last mission. Reason? The Soyuz (Russian) craft is the only thing that could fly in the event of an emergency and it only carries three at a time - they have two on stand-by with a pilot per craft.

Shocking, I know for a conservative like me in these times of budget austerity to be getting misty-eyed about the space program, but here's the reality: if we can't get into space, we can't control it. For a nation that relies on satellites for everything from our GPS units that tell us how to get to Grandma's house to watching re-runs of "I Love Lucy," not being able to control space is a frightening proposition. Did I mention that we also use that environment for military intelligence, targeting and scientific exploration? We cannot fight nor defend ourselves without having a space presence. And, wait for it, this is one area where the government DOES need to be involved, because our livelihoods and existence as a nation depend on it. We have recognized from our founding that we are a maritime nation and we have built a Navy to protect and accomodate that. Admittedly, the Fleet is down to Jimmy Carter levels again, but it can still do its job of protecting our commerce at sea and projecting power to the bad guys on an as-needed basis. Space is the ocean of the future and we just chucked our oars into the tall grass.

All of this points to our priorities as a nation. This is where leadership comes in. I find enormous fault with JFK on a lot of fronts from the absence of a moral code to the abandonment of the Cuban rebels in the Bay of Pigs. But I liked his tax policy - "rising tide lifts all boats," and I really liked his challenge to the American people that we would go to the moon. A goal and a vision fulfilled at 20:17:40 UTC, on the 20th of July, 1969. That voyage began here:

The premise laid out by JFK has not changed. All eyes are pointed space-ward...we are staring at our shoes kicking dust. Modern leaders have forgotten that part of the task of leaders is to challenge and coax greatness out of their people. Our current crop just wants to secure the next vote and the end result is the sclerosis that is killing greatness in this land.

The real tragedy is that the eyes of the world are also fixed on us. Peggy Noonan reminisced in a fine column yesterday that the world needed another Ronald Reagan. She scribes this from her recent trip to Europe where Reagan was honored in London, Prague, Krakow and Budapest and rightfully observes:

The world looks to America. It doesn't want to be patronized or dominated by America, it wants to see America as a beacon, an example, a dream of what could be. And the world wants something else: American goodness. It wants to have faith in the knowledge that America is the great nation that tries to think about and act upon right and wrong, and that it is a beacon also of things practical—how to have a sturdy, good, unsoiled economy, how to create jobs that provide livelihoods that allow families to be formed, how to maintain a system in which inventors and innovators can flourish. A world without America in this sense—the beacon, the inspiration, the speaker of truth—would be a world deprived of hopefulness. And so we must be our best selves again not only for us but for the world.

Now Dame Peggy and I have had some serious differences. She was in the "wouldn't an Obama presidency be neat" crowd, but I respect her insights. Reagan saw the big (and very hard) picture - the world would never be safe as long as the Soviet threat existed. He knew we had to build up our military and push our technology to the limit to defeat the "Evil Empire." Everyone said it couldn't be done.

A second column in the same section titled "China Versus America: Which Is The Developing Country," pointed out the pristine status of China's infrastructure to ours. It's a LOT short sighted as it avoids the point that when you get outside of China's coastal region you descend about 400 years in time and the idea of 5-Year plans didn't turn out so well in other Communist states. But I will give the Chinese this: they have their priorities right. Instead of trying to provide every form of gimme to their people, they are focused on creating jobs and building world class infrastructure.

We, on the other hand, are busy rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic with piddling discussions of cutting here and there and taxing more and more while the Public Sector union cancer erodes us from the inside. (How would you like to get paid $5600 a month to wash your motorcycle?) The problem is not that the government doesn't collect enough revenue - it is that we are spending it on the wrong stuff and there is no mobilizing force of leadership to steer us onto the right path.

Here's what I would like to see:

1. Recommitment to the space program with the goal of returning to the moon in 5 years.
2. Restoration of existing infrastructure around the country. Let's fix what we have first and then look into building high-speed rail and such.
3. Rebuild and modernize our military stet. Our operational commitments have strained everything from men to materiel.
4. A crash program - Apollo project? - to make us energy independent. The green stuff is all well and good, but let's be honest...there is no replacement for the gas engine that is feasible. If one comes along, fine, but in the mean time, let's drill AND refine our own oil.

How are we going to do this - after all, it can't be done!

1. A national commitment to these programs will draw private sector capital in and create jobs!
2. We will HAVE to cut, trim, eliminate (especially Obamacare) entitlement programs. A great nation should have a safety net for the less fortunate - but it should also inspire people to greatness not bully them into redistribution and mediocrity.
3. Dismantle the regulatory beast of the government - from EPA to OSHA to silliness like the Dodd-Frank Bill, we need to spend our money on the things we need not the "nice to haves," that grow into budget devouring cancers.
4. Eliminate outright those departments that are not mandated by the Constitution: Department of Energy, Department of Education, etc.

We are going to have to grow a leader that is willing to tell the American people the truth. Ronald Reagan, one speaker in London said last week, "did not move to the center to get votes. He moved the center to him." We are still a great nation, the world is counting on us, we are only in decline if we allow ourselves to believe that we are. Obama and his professorial crowd have done much to convince us that we have past our aegis. We have not, we just need someone to step forward and remind us.

The Unique Burden of American History

2010-08-03T10:18:00.000-04:00

What do this picture:

and this picture:

have in common?

Both of them represent the failure of our culture, our national identity, to deal with a clear and present danger. The top image is an elevation of the Islamic center and mosque proposed to be built in New York City, two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center disaster. The mosque would be on the upper two floors of this sixteen story monstrosity so that it would overlook Ground Zero. The second image occurred in New York at a baseball game between the Mets and the Arizona Diamondbacks, where two men ran onto the field waving Mexican flags to protest the Arizona law.

Both of these show a callous disregard, and indeed, a blatant stick-in-your-eye towards decent everyday Americans. Now before you liberals start foaming multi-culturally at the mouth and telling me how insensitive I am, let's lay down some facts.

1. I am not opposed to building mosques...or temples, or synagogues, or cathedrals. However, I would be just as opposed to the construction of a Roman Catholic church towering over the killing chambers of Auschwitz as I am to building this mosque in New York City. It would be culturally insensitive (invasive?) , and the Catholics were not even the executioners of Hitler's "Final Solution." In point of fact, there have been some misunderstandings between Catholics and Jews at Auschwitz. A few nuns opened a convent near the grounds in 1984 to pray for the souls of the dead and beg God for forgiveness. Though their intent was pure, it was insensitive and an inappropriate place. In 1987, after dialogue with Jewish groups, Pope John Paul II ordered the nuns to move to another convent.

2. I don't hate Mexicans, or Guatemalans, or Liberians, Haitians, Kenyans, Latvians etc. etc. Don't label my opposition to what amounts to an invasion with the dreaded "r" word. I am sick and tired of liberals running around like the "Night of the Living Dead" pointing their crooked fingers and screaming "RACIST!" I am very much in favor of a robust immigration policy along the lines of what we once had with the Bracero Program from 1942-1964. I have no problem with immigrants from any part of the world that want to come to this country to ply their trade, craft or skills and to make a better life for themselves and their families by becoming proud American citizens. But one of the bargains of immigration must be assimilation. You must learn our language and customs so you can get ahead. Running across an American baseball field waving a Mexican flag is not assimilation...it is asinine and insulting, but we should not be surprised.

Thomas Sowell once said that "What 'multiculturalism' boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except Western culture - and you cannot blame any culture in the world except Western culture.'" I submit the above two photos as Exhibits A and B. How would the Saudis like a nice Anglican cathedral to be built within two blocks of the Ka'aba in Mecca? Especially, if it was undertaken by the "Acre Initiative," an Episcopalian group bent on "fostering understanding between Muslims and Christians?" The cathedral would be called "Acre House," to avoid offending the locals. Acre, you may recall was the site in 1192 of the victory of Richard the Lionheart over the Islamists during the Third Crusade. What might the difference be between "Acre House" and "Cordoba House?"

For starters, you will never see Acre House get built. Our ambitious Anglicans would be greeted with this:

That's right "obligatory for non muslims." In a country where conversion from Islam brings the death penalty, the Acre House project is (pardon me) dead on arrival. We are the ones who must be culturally "sensitive" and "expansive," while turning a total blind eye to their hatred and bigotry. The supporters of the "Cordoba House" (the Cordoba Caliphate represented the high-watermark of Muslim dominance in Spain from 756-1031...a totally innocent coincidence no doubt!) say they want to foster "understanding between Muslims and non-muslims." Perhaps a good place to start that understanding would be to build the center some place else.

Let's go south of the border. Let's say we're attending a nice futbol match in Aztec Stadium and we decide that Mexican restrictions of foreigners buying coastal land in Mexico are not fair! To show our love for Mexico and our desire for beachfront property in Cozumel, we decide to streak across the field waving the Stars and Stripes! Makes sense doesn't it? Of course not, but again, we are the ones who must be culturally "sensitive" and "expansive."

This is what multiculturalism begets. Any common sense approach such as the old "your rights end when your fist touches my nose," goes out the window.

America has a unique burden. All nations are founded in conquest, war, revolution and the like, but none carry the burden of the American experience. Our founding was out in the open, not hidden in the shrouded mists of a distant past with only tattered illegible scrolls to tell the tale. Our conquest of indigenous peoples is well documented. We carry the added weight on our shoulders of having imported millions against their will to work our fields. The curse of slavery was from our earliest days the holding of the wolf by the ears, as Jefferson said: "you don't like it very much, but you dare not let him go." But unlike other nations so founded, or empires expanded - we could look at the expansion of the Muslim caliphate across North Africa and into Spain, for example - we added a moral element that has truly made us stick out. In 1776, our founders brought the concept of justice from the Judaic tradition and merged it with the compassion and recognition of individual worth from the Christian tradition and presented to the world a bold idea: that "all men were created equal, and that they were endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights and that among these were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

The paradox of an expansive nation sworn to protect the equality of all has been our special burden ever since. And, as Paul Johnson points out in his masterpiece "The History of the American People," placed the task before us to form a "society dedicated to justice and fairness." We have fought a bloody Civil War because of this paradox and in the conversion of a small piece of farmland in Gettysburg to a national cemetery, we renewed our vows to "the unfinished work which they who have fought here have so nobly advanced."

It is this paradox that keeps us constantly looking over our shoulder and asking ourselves: "have we done enough?" It has bred the civil rights movement and affirmative action, and it has led to an immigration policy that is based more on fear of not being considered inclusive enough than rational need or strategic interest. And it is this policy that our enemies, foreign and domestic, boldly exploit...it is the petard upon which multiculturalism is hoisted.

A society of laws and justice is not in a fair fight when it comes up against one with neither. We know, for example, that Al Qaeda operatives have been trained to demand their legal rights when captured. The Taliban waging guerrilla warfare on our soldiers in Afghanistan don't distinguish between combatant and civilian and they certainly don't give a lick about "Rules of Engagement." The interests behind the Cordoba House cynically know they can use our own zoning laws against us to build in this location and then cry "racism" and "bigotry" if there is opposition. The real mission behind Cordoba House, and they are doing a poor job of it in their founding, is to put a nice "smiley face" on Islam and expand their numbers in this country as they have done in Europe. Here is the problem: a religion that places women only slightly above farm animals and that views non-believers as inferior doesn't play well with the concept of "all men are created equal." Does our national paradox, therefore, insist that we commit cultural suicide by allowing more of them in? I think not.

In the same vein, the notion that our border is nothing but a concept drawn in the sands of the Arizona desert is reinforced by legions of illegal aliens screaming "racism" and "bigotry" at the first attempts to actually put some order to the influx of illegals streaming across the southern frontier. A society cannot maintain its system of laws and justice if it is being overrun by citizens from another land that care not for the basic norms of the country they are invading. No, not ALL people crossing the border are evil banditi, but there are enough of them to cause grave concern. We see it in the gang populations in almost all our major cities, we see it in the free-for-all gun battles in Northern Mexico, and we see it in the abductions and murders of our own citizens. Some, particularly on the left, cynically see this invasion as a fresh source of future votes. Others, on the right, see an unending source of cheap labor. Both are wrong, and the burden of our history does not mean we should commit cultural suicide here either.

We stand at a crossroads as a culture and a nation. The special burden of our founding cannot survive the multi-front assault we are under. If we fail, if we can no longer be the "City on the Hill," a beacon of idealistic hope for all, the world will be the lesser for it. We cherish our freedoms in this country and defend individual rights, but we also know there are limits: you can't cry "fire" in a crowded theater. There comes a time to stand for the greater good. That time is now - we must once again take pride in our special burden and renew the commitment to the notion that "all men are created equal." We invite all immigrants willing to accept our laws and culture to come and join that mission. We disinvite those that would tear it down to build up their own cultures that are antithetical to ours.

Stop the mosque. If the Cordoba Initiative wants to have a dialogue with Islam and other faiths, let it do so from Brooklyn. And let us accept the challenge to enter into that dialogue so that they understand that what they preach doesn't sit well with a culture and society dedicated to individual freedoms and rights.

Seal the border. If any person wants to immigrate to the United States and join our special mission, let them demonstrate that they are committed to that by first entering the country through proper channels.

Let us not commit cultural seppuku because we have been shamed into it!

Rumble on!

The Sand in the Hourglass

2010-06-24T15:21:00.001-04:00

The deeper I dig into the bizarre actions of General Stanley McChrystal, the more disturbing the story gets. Let's start with the basics; I don't care if you are Seaman Deuce or a General of the Army, the chain of command is inviolate. Military success is built on order and discipline, and as a leader you cannot set the example of flaunting the chain of command - flaunt it, and it will flaunt you...Gen'l McChrystal has now learned that lesson. From that perspective, what was revealed in the interview with the Rolling Stone is dangerously close to direct insubordination and had to be punished.

In a country where the military is controlled by civilian rule, it is equally important that leaders not show their political bias. I remember wanting to put one of these on my "Ensignmobile" in 1980:

The very swift response from my C.O. was "no, it's not what officers do." Officers are commissioned to lead their men, not influence their political persuasion. You may not like the orders you receive from the egg-heads in Washington, they may seem inane and dangerous, but you follow them. You send your concerns back up the chain of command and pray that someone at the Pentagon or DOD can get the message to the decision makers that will change the order...you don't go public and you especially don't seek to get on the cover of the Rolling Stone! Bottom line is, McChrystal had to go and go fast.

What was not needed, however, was the public macho display put on by Obama in the Rose Garden yesterday afternoon. My guess is that Axelrod and the PR boys wanted to stage an event like this to make their guy look manly...especially after the little boy image he portrayed in that pathetic speech from the Oval Office a few days ago...I mean really, compare and contrast:

The proper way to handle the resignation/replacement of someone who has served his country for the years that Stanley McChrystal has is with a private meeting in the Oval Office and a statement issued to the press later...no public show necessary. This shows that you, as the President, are firmly in control and that it is nothing to be concerned about. McChrystal was not irreplaceable, as some wags were venting yesterday - as DeGaulle once quipped: "graveyards are full of indispensable men." But, we are at war, and McChrystal has a helluva lot of talent at killing bad guys and you might want to avail him of his services again soon. I would have recommended the Patton treatment. After a couple of insubordinate actions in Sicily during World War II, General George Patton was relieved by then Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight Eisenhower. He cooled his heels in England for several months as the D-Day invasion got underway (although he did provide an enormously valuable decoy that the Germans took) and then was reinserted into the campaign as the General in charge of the Third Army which ripped apart the Germans in short order.

When they are not trying to resuscitate the failure of the Obama regime with comparisons to Lincoln - "this is just like Lincoln relieving McClellan," the main stream media is trying to graft "Give 'em Hell Harry" Truman onto the rotting corpse of this failed image: "This is just like Truman relieving MacArthur." McChrystal is his own man - he is no McClellan, a peacock of a military man trimming his feathers to run for political office and afraid to engage the enemy. And he certainly is no MacArthur, who was relieved because he wanted to expand the Korean War and attack China. Here's the rub - McChrystal is Obama's general and he was following the policy. Ironically, he is being replaced by the man who could arguably be called "Bush's General," the architect of the Iraqi surge, General Petraeus ("Betrayus" if you are a liberal.)

As was pointed out in the Rolling Stone piece and elsewhere, McChrystal voted for Obama. Marc Abinder over at The Atlantic points out the McChrystal was a social liberal - he banned Fox News from his headquarters, he didn't like outward shows of Americanism like Burger King signs on the bases, and he actually believed that through our good nature we could get the Muslims to fight with us instead of against us - as Andy McCarthy observed over at the Corner:

I got in some hot water here last year for arguing that Gen. McChrystal, for all his undeniable valor, is a progressive big-thinker who has been conducting a sociology experiment in Islamic nation-building. It's a flawed experiment that assumes Afghan Muslims will side with us — i.e., the Westerners their clerical authorities tell them are infidel invaders and occupiers — against their fellow Afghan Muslims.

Nothing in the ensuing months changes my mind. To the contrary, what I've seen lately indicates that, while our troops are imperiled under strait-jacketing rules of engagement imposed by Gen. McChrystal to avoid offending Afghans, Christian missionaries have been suspended for preaching (proselytism for any belief-system other than Islam is illegal in Afghanistan). I've seen Asia News's report that Afghan converts to Christianity have been sentenced to death for apostasy. All this, moreover, is happening under the new constitution we helped write, which (as the State Department bragged in 2004) enshrines sharia as Afghanistan's fundamental law. That is, the Afghan Muslim population our troops are fighting and dying to protect has institutionalized the persecution of other populations (when the said Muslims are not otherwise busy killing each other).

For me, the image of the man that emerges is someone that is very deeply conflicted. On the one hand, he IS the fearless spec ops warrior who doesn't shy away from engaging the enemy himself, on the other, he is apparently a dyed in the wool liberal who really believes that if we could just talk to each other, we'll be singing "Kumbaya" together before the night's out. This latter part of his split personality does explain the Rolling Stone as the medium for his message. This conflict is creating chaos on the ground in Afghanistan, as noted imbedded journalists like Michael Yon (who McChrystal banned from the Afghan theater) have pointed out.

But I don't care how many generals or stars you throw at Afghanistan, you are going to get nowhere if you announce ahead of time your departure date! For a military man, this has to be the greatest conflict. You are carrying out the orders of your commanders and sending troopers into places where they will get killed knowing that in a year's time, you will be pulling out. This inane policy is incredibly corrosive to morale - who the hell would want to fight if you know that if you can just stay alive till next July you can go home?

If one good thing emerges from this whole debacle, perhaps it will be a re-thinking of our entire Afghan strategy. Some years ago, my company was not selected by the city to redevelop a small section of riverfront downtown..."best deal we never did," I like to quip. After studying the plan for the team that was selected, I concluded that it was financially impossible to accomplish. After about a year of wrangling between the city and the selectee, I was asked back to the table. Incredibly, I was asked to execute their plan! I politely refused and sadly, that area to this day, is still floundering. You can't execute a flawed strategy, no matter how brilliant you are! I am not comparing myself to General Petraeus who I have utmost respect for, merely making the analogy, that if the plan is broken, no amount of genius is going to turn it around. As General Honore likes to say, "you can't fix stupid."

I hope and pray for our men, that Petraeus's orders are to evaluate the current situation and strategy and to report back on what he needs. I have spelled out my recommended strategy earlier on these pages in a piece titled "Beyond Afghanistan," and perhaps I will be lucky enough to get a read from the good General. Short version is this - a) Iraq and Afghanistan are very different and thus require very different strategies b) small, lethal footprint is the way to go. In the end, we can not afford to continue bleeding in the mountains of Afghanistan. The lives and the money aren't worth it when the political will for victory does not exist.

We have arrived at this spot because of the neglect and failure of our leadership. They selected "their man" to lead the renewed fight in Afghanistan then fumbled and mumbled for months while men died as their academic team pondered and attempted to triangulate the general's requests. In the end, McChrystal was left 10,000 men short of his request and had a date stamp put on the mission...an impossible task that our American GI knows too well. Though it would be impossible for Obama's people to understand this, because we can be sure he views the men that serve voluntarily with derision - after all they are a bunch of bitter clingers aren't they - but as Kipling observed about his beloved Tommies, you bet that the GI sees:

An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please

An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

The Aftermath

2010-03-22T18:36:00.001-04:00

In the aftermath of the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, Herodotus tells us in The Histories, that Xerxes beat a hasty retreat out of the Attican peninsula in Southern Greece. He realized that with his Navy shattered, his odds of defeating the Greeks were tilting sharply away from him. He had tasted Greek determination twice and both were costly. The first time was the legendary battle of Thermopylae where a force of 300 Spartans and several hundred Thebans and others held a narrow pass for three days against the million man army from Persia. Free men fighting to defend their freedom. Then came Salamis, where once again, a clever strategy and superior seamanship combined with the determination to defend their freedom and land allowed a Greek naval force less than a third the size of the Persian fleet to prevail. It is said that Xerxes watched the battle from a promontory and wept at the destruction of his force.

So in the middle of the night, he packed up his army...feinted to the Greek scouts that he might be headed to the Peloponnese and headed north for the Hellespont, terrified that the Greek navy would get their first and destroy the bridge of boats. Herodotus, as he is want to do throughout The Histories, takes the reader off on a tangent of a tale about Xerxes, and it was this that I kept thinking of yesterday as I watched the machinations of what was our House of Representatives pushing, dragging, kicking this bloated rotting cow corpse of a bill, the "Health care reform act" across the finish line. Herodotus reported that Xerxes was in such a panic to get out of Greece that south of the Hellespont he took a boat over to the Asian side. The boat was piloted by a Phoenician, so you know he had to be a good sailor, but nevertheless at mid passage, the boat encountered a freak storm and high waves were threatening to swamp it. The captain told Xerxes that unless they lightened the load, they would not make it. Xerxes ordered his entourage to jump overboard so that he might be saved. Without question, the historian reports, the Persians leapt overboard saving their lord and master. Herodotus goes on to declare that he believes the story is false, but the image of Obama as Xerxes stuck with me. Pelosi, Stupak, Hoyer the whole lot were ordered to jump overboard and they did.

If history is a guide, the Persian Wars can be viewed as an allegory for the battle between conservatives and statists. The Battle of Marathon when the badly outnumbered Athenians defeated the Persians under Darius in 490 BC would be analogous to the Clintons' attempt at taking over health care...the Persians landed at Marathon and were promptly whupped. Yesterday was, in my opinion, analogous to Thermopylae...and in a lot of ways. The good guys (those that love freedom) were ultimately defeated, but they put up a spirited defense. Remember, the way the Persians finally defeated the Spartans was when a Greek traitor, Ephialtes (Stupak?), told the Persians about a goat path that led behind the Spartan line. Now in fairness, the Republicans should never have gotten in this predicament...they are where they are because they betrayed the trust of the American people - a lesson that will soon be dealt to the presiding Democrats - but then, if the Athenians had not meddled with the Ionian city states in Asia, Darius and Xerxes might have left them alone. In each case, the seeds for defeat were sown long before. But at least they held firm together and died honorably. "Honor;" what a quaint, distinctly western concept. The Democrats would do well to consider the rest of the story after Thermopylae. First came the disaster at Salamis, but ultimately came the horrifying defeat at Plataea in 479 BC. Only 3,000 Persians out of 300,000 walked out of that blood bath. The Democrats might do well to look up the term "Pyrrhic victory" while they are at it because I sense an anger and a level of activism I have not seen before...ever. And it is broad based.

I remember the anger of the protests in the 1960's. It was violent and scary and we thought the country was going to tear itself apart. But that was carried out by a small group of people - the anti-Vietnam War folks were primarily radicalized college students; the race riots were primarily agitating (community organizing on steroids) anarchists embedding themselves in a just cause for racial justice. This is different. This will not end in riots and destruction, it is a seething anger that wants retribution. Here's another interesting tidbit: this "reform" bill, which bloats the size of the IRS, takes over the private institutions of student loans and wrecks the most innovative and effective healthcare system in the world, was passed on the same day as the Stamp Act in 1765. OK, to be precise, the Stamp Act was passed on the 22nd of March, but it was passed in England. By the time the vote was held last night at 11PM, it was already dawn on the 22nd in England, so I think the analogy holds.

For a quick refresher on the significance of the Stamp Act, here's Wikipedia's take:

The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was a tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced onstamped paper produced in London and carrying an embossed revenue stamp.^[1]^[2] These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the Stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money.^[3] The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The British government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of this military presence, and should pay at least a portion of the expense.

The Stamp Act met with great resistance in the colonies. It was seen as a violation of the right of Englishmen to be taxed only with their consent—consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant. Colonial assemblies sent petitions of protests, and theStamp Act Congress, reflecting the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure, also petitioned Parliament and the king. Local protest groups, led by colonial merchants and landowners, established connections through correspondence that created a loose coalition that extended from New England to Georgia. Protests and demonstrations initiated by the Sons of Liberty often turned violent and destructive as the masses became involved. Very soon all stamp tax distributors were intimidated into resigning their commissions, and the tax was never effectively collected.

"Met with great resistance." I should say so...and the tax was "never effectively collected." A volcano has been building in this country. We see charts like this:

and we say to ourselves "what the f...???" And, as the chart illustrates, a pox on both their houses! Out here in the real world, we know that this is unsustainable. And what is Washington doing about it? Well, they are laying on trillions more in income redistribution hastening the "Thatcher moment," when all statists fail - they run out of people to tax and they run out of OUR money. We don't want to be France and we damned sure don't want to be Greece. This is something deep in the American character, call it the "bird versus poultry" mentality.

I have nothing against poultry - I like a good breast of chicken properly grilled. But I wouldn't want to be a chicken. I would much rather be a bird. Now the chicken has some good things going for it: it stays warm in it's coop, free food, hell IT gets free healthcare! You see, statists want to be the farmers and they love it when the people play poultry. They get to tell us how much water we can drink, they provide us with the same dull food everyday...now they are going to provide us with healthcare. This is the European model of statist control that the folks on the far left want to apply here. Now a bird has a riskier life...it might be cold in the winter and have a hard time foraging for food after a heavy snow. But at 500 feet, the bird has a spectacular view; and it can choose where it wants to go. I submit that, if polled, far more Americans would choose the bird's life.

So now the real struggle begins. The statists will blanket the airwaves with messages of how this bill saved healthcare and how wonderful it is! It is a form of anesthesia they are desperately going to try to administer to we, the people. We need to be vigilant and stalwart in avoiding this ruse. The first fight will be in the courts...Obama may rue the day he dragged the Supreme Court up for childish derision in the State of the Pep Rally err, Union speech. If unsuccessful there, it will be fought by the states. Already states attorneys general are lining up to sue...in Tennessee, our governor, a Democrat, has told us that it will cost us over $1 billion in the first five years alone. This from a guy that dismantled our version of Obamacare called Tenncare because it was bankrupting the state. Then it will be fought in the ballot booth come November. Obaxerxes may be triumphant now, but the Oracles are clear about hubris. The day of reckoning awaits.

Beyond Afghanistan

2009-12-10T16:57:00.006-05:00

After months of deliberation, President Obama arrived at his decision on how to proceed with the war in Afghanistan: send 30,000 additional U.S. soldiers to this God-forsaken patch of high desert. It has been reported that General Stanley McChrystal offered the President three options, each with diminishing probabilities of success. The first option was 100,000 additional troops, which would guarantee control of the country, but at the risk of appearing too much like an occupier. The second was the much touted 40,000 with a "reasonable" degree of success. The third was 20,000 which offered a poor chance of success. In classic triangulation style, Obama chose what he perceived to be the Goldilocks option and will send 30,000. To his credit, he has put pressure on our NATO allies to step up their commitments, but that has an uncertain outcome.

OPPORTUNITIES LOST

In the three months it took Obama to make this decision, some opportunities have been lost. Pakistan has been pushing up into the tribal regions in their north, putting pressure on the Taliban and Al Queda factions finding safe harbor there. While a true hammer and anvil strategy would probably not be viable - the terrain makes it almost impossible - having more assets available might have cut off any escape and supply lines coming in and out of Afghanistan, further degrading the battle capacity of these fanatics.

So a slow decision making process cost us the chance at killing some bad guys, and it has also coincided with the worst few months of the war since its inception:

I am not a psychologist, but it seems to me that if I am a bad guy, and the leader of my opponent is indecisive and "agonizing" about his decision, I am going to step up my game in the hope of influencing him to just leave. Well, that's pretty much what they have done: Obama's pledge to begin leaving by July, 2011 ranks among the dumbest stunts in foreign or military policy history. As a retired Naval officer, I wince in pain for the young cadets that had to sit through that piece of punditry coming from their Commander in Chief. Many of those young men and women will be 2nd Lieutenants when the order to retreat is given, and as Americans, we are not big on losing. These are all bright young adults and I am confident that they picked up on the political timing of mid-2011 - just about when the political campaigns will begin heating up.

IT'S NOT IRAQ

While I have nothing but respect (and a great deal of sympathy for) the senior command staff and flag ranked officers of this war effort, I am deeply concerned about the overall strategy of the Afghanistan effort. The "Surge" strategy worked extremely well in Iraq, but it did so because Iraq's terrain is far more hospitable to the type of heavy equipment and fast strike ability of our forces and, more importantly, their culture and traditions are far different from the Afghan experience. Essentially, Iraq is three cultural groups crammed together in a resource rich area. Afghanistan is a collection of tribes and dialects...about the only thing that unifies them is Islam. Tribal loyalties supersede national pride and are extremely fluid. Further, Iraq has a regionally high literacy rate of 65%, compared to Afghanistan's 28%. An appreciation for literacy has a direct correlation with the ability to organize and sustain a functioning government. So, while the outcome is still not certain in Iraq, the notion that a democracy can be established there and flourish in this drain-pool of Islamic terrorism, is within the realm of possibility. Afghanistan, in contrast, needs a thug to hold them together...they are a long way from the nation-building goal of a constitutional democracy. Frankly, in the case of both countries, unless you go the route of Ataturk in Turkey and ban the madrassas where the craziness is taught, I don't think you can ever have a true democracy in an Islamic country. Sharia law is totally incompatible with the liberties necessary for a democratic republic to survive. Our military and political minds continue to want to believe in the politically correct notion, that given the right incentives, all peoples' hearts and minds can be won over. If you are dealing with rational people that share your fundamental values, this is a true statement. If you are dealing with people barely out of the Stone Age, only force works.

Because of these profound differences between the two countries, I would submit that a fundamental difference in strategy is necessary for success and that our goals should be very different. Look how the Taliban was overthrown in 2001; it was a light footprint with Special Forces teams and tremendous (and brilliant) use of local militias. Saddam was overthrown with tank columns slicing deep into his country.

The strategy I would propose is to draw down the force structure now. Why wait eighteen months for failure? We've already told them we are going to leave. Let's cut our losses and our expenses now. The U.S. Military has never been good at "nation building," let's get back to doing what we are extremely good at, killing people and breaking things. I would leave sufficient forces in theater to train and work with the local militias to protect the major population centers in Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar e Sharif along with an extremely lethal special forces group that would go to trouble spots and kill bad guys. Leave a strike presence in the Arabian Sea and bolster the missions of drones. Let the word go out, like the famous kill cards in Vietnam, that if you mess with us, the consequences will be severe. Keep this level of forces around for several years until the Afghans get mad enough at the Taliban that they solve it on their own. I would also keep the pressure (and aid if necessary) on the Pakistanis to continue to push into the Northern Territories and root out the Al Queda elements there. Our Predators have done a tremendous job assisting in that effort and with more of those around, there will be fewer places to hide.

RUMSFELD WAS RIGHT

Though he was hounded out of office, Rumsfeld had the right vision for the future of the American military. With Afghanistan, we may have reached the apogee of American involvement overseas in its current form. With our national debt at unsustainable levels and entitlement programs threatening to consume every penny of tax revenue, we simply won't be able to afford long, extended nation building projects. When Grandma's Medicare Part D gets cut because the government is broke, they are not going to give a damn whether some dirt-farmer in Chagcharan has running water and universal suffrage.

Rumsfeld foresaw where this was going and sought to change the very nature of the way we would conduct war. "You go to war with the Army you have, not the one you wish you had," he famously said and he was in the process of trying to figure out what that future war's army ought to look like. What we will need is an exceptionally light, mobile and lethal force that has the ability to deliver a crushing blow and get out. Frankly, it's what we should have done in Afghanistan and Iraq, but W got on the whole "change the Middle East" kick and this is where we are now. Democracies do not like long wars, and any war that is exposed to an election cycle puts the military strategy in the ballot box. Our Founding Fathers recognized this in the system they established and George Washington cautioned us against "foreign entanglements."

TOWARDS A NEO-NEO-CON

The neo-conservative vision of building thriving democracies from Kabul to Baghdad and how this would result in a new domino effect of democratization was noble, but flawed. It pre-supposed a bias towards equality, rule of law and comity that is simply not consistent with the characters of the peoples in this region. These are not the children of Athens and Rome, those noble traditions from which Western culture springs. These are the children of the Saffarids, the Mughals, and Islam. In time, Pepsi, Michael Jackson and re-runs of Dallas might bring them around, but it is not going to be imposed upon them regardless of the nobility of our intentions.

A neo-neo-con vision would have us living closer to the vision of our Founders. It is not isolationism that I am promoting, rather it is a careful consideration of all of our foreign involvements with the selfish metric of discerning whether it is for our interests or not. We can continue to act as the world's policeman under that format, but the world needs to understand that if we have to turn some place into a pile of rubble, there will be no Marshall Plan to fix it. It's tough love, but it will also breed self sufficiency in the long run.

Ultimately, what will drain the cesspool of hatred in that region will be economic opportunity. Mohammed is going to be far less inclined to strap on a bomb vest or go dig an IED hole, if he believes that if he stays alive, his children will be better off. That will require a respect for property rights and the rule of law. These will have to spring from internal sources - I am not advocating foreign aid gifts that end up in corrupt despots pockets. Let these states figure out if they want to be part of the productive world and make it clear what is necessary to join. There will be failures and there will be refugee emigration, but in the end, that's the only sane way out of this. Sickening political correctness that ignores the reality of where the problem stems from only exacerbate and extend the problem. Islam needs to be reformed from within so that this madness will stop; that reform process will only begin in earnest when the sheiks and the warlords and the fascists finally come to realize that they have been ostracized from the world and are left with no one else to kill but themselves.

Rumble on!

The Election in review

2009-11-04T16:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's elections produced some intriguing results. I've read a number of columns and listened to some of the pundits, so I thought I would summarize what I am hearing and offer some of my own thoughts on this matter:

1. Virginia was a behind-the-woodshed a*#whoopin'. The margins of victory were embarrassing - it was as if the Florida Gators showed up to play Richmond Girls School of the Blind. Double digit victories in all the top races. The central area of the state that had gone for Obama in the election was solidly back in the red camp.

2. New Jersey was a behind-the-woodshed a*#whoopin'. Though the margins were significantly smaller than Virginia, turning NJ red is an amazing feat. Those poor folks are sick and tired of the corruption and high taxes. This is the victory that proves Obama's coat tails are quite short - he spent a lot of time campaigning here for naught.

3. New York 23 was a disappointment. It was a lost opportunity. The Democrat's victory in a district that has been held by the Republicans forever, is sad - one more vote for Pelosicare. But this should stand as a lesson to the Republican party everywhere - choose your candidate carefully! Scozzafava was a deeply flawed candidate from the beginning - her bizarre dropping out and endorsement of the Democrat Owens should go down as one of the great betrayals in recent political history. The conservative candidate, Hoffman, ran out of time...the trend line was definitely his and without Scozzy on the ticket, he might have pulled it out. Endorsements by the Republican glitterati like Palin and Thompson were helpful, but not enough to pull this chestnut out of the fire of party division.

4. Each of these elections are still driven by local issues, but the common thread of people revolting against ever increasing levels of debt (and the taxes that will follow) and incumbency should give both parties cause for concern. Though it is a happier day for the right than a year ago, it is not time to stop. They were on the receiving end of this type of treatment in the 2006 election.

5. Social conservatism still wins. The gay marriage initiative in Maine went down to defeat just as it has in 31 other states. Leftards will try to spin this as "conservatives hate gays," but that is simply false. The old adage that your rights end when your "elbow hits my nose," applies here. "Marriage" is an institution that forms the backbone of a stable family and is the cornerstone of civilized society. Water that down and where does it stop? Boy and boy, girl and girl, boy and cat, girl and dog? This is a firewall that will continually be assaulted, but upon which conservatives will be willing to stand every time. Enough!

6. Though on the ascendancy again, the conservative movement has a long way to go. While the core of our message doesn't change, our delivery needs to me constantly refined and we must reject the attempts the statists make to define us. There is no time nor room for gloating. Conservatives must be careful to not overstate their mandate in the same way the Obama people did last year. Those clowns actually thought the American people (swing vote) had bought into a new socialist nirvana...no, they were angry at Bush, scared of the economy and they actually believed Obama when he ran on such conservative principles as:

- Victory in Afghanistan

- No increase in taxes

- Jobs!!

- Teacher accountability

He didn't seem like the liberal crazy he's turned out to be. Liberals know they can't get elected on their core principles - deception is the only way in.

In sum though, there are some themes that still define the American public:

a) It is still a center right nation. This is validated by numerous polls - most recently Gallup's numbers that put the number of people that define themselves as "conservative" at about 40% - those that said "liberal" less than 20%.

b) This is a nation deeply agitated about the state of the economy, the joblessness and the general direction of the country.

If the Republicans can regain their swagger as a result of last night it will be a good thing. But much work needs to be done. This is a baby step, but it is in the right direction. Conservatism is about freedom - the right kind of freedom. Statists offer a freedom from responsibility and consequences. Conservatives offer freedom of the human mind and of the individual...we need to continue to make that message clear.

The Three Horsemen of Political Apocalypse: Ignorance, Apathy, and Arrogance

2009-09-06T15:16:00.005-04:00

By now, you have probably seen this photo. It is the state legislature in Connecticut in session. To the right a gentleman is standing and speaking. No one is paying attention to him...we see two games of solitaire in progress, one baseball game and one screen looks a bit like Facebook. This is what political discourse has devolved to in our nation. These folks in Connecticut just happened to get caught. Most state legislatures that I have seen have a laptop issued when you take office, this could just as easily been Tennessee, Maryland or Utah. It could be Washington D.C., for that matter, but they generally a) don't take their laptops into session and b) barely know how to use them.

Part of the problem is the society we live in. The laptop, though it is a phenomenally powerful tool, has become another layer in many human relationships. Kids (and now adults) don't talk to each other, they text or Facebook or Twitter. The understanding and growth that happens when two people discuss a topic face to face does not occur. Seeing the nuance in a facial expression is lost. I see it in the classroom on both sides of the divide. Professors who have prepared lectures in PowerPoint years ago, no longer teach - they work their way through the PowerPoint. Students no longer sit in class and consider what the Professor is teaching, digest the material and write notes. At the college level and above and now many high schools, the students, armed with their laptops, are filling in the blank on the PowerPoint slides at best...at worst, they are acting like state legislatures. In this weird way, these legislators are acting, well, just like us.

But at the political level, we are dealing with an ossified party system and a set of people that, with few exceptions, no longer do this to serve the people...think Nancy Pelosi. Rather, to be elected in America today, is to join a class of people and begin the pre-set scrimmage of saying what your party leaders want you to say - the daily talking points...then go play solitaire on their laptops. The step-children of this mindset of apathy are ignorance and arrogance. Bear with me and watch Exhibit A:

Now, I know what you are thinking: "did he really just say that being greater in debt means you have a higher net worth?" That's the ignorance part. The arrogance part is when he goes on to suggest that his interlocutor didn't graduate from a decent enough university. (In the world of liberwocky, wouldn't that count for being anti-Hispanic? The university scoffingly maligned is the University of Puerto Rico.

What happened this past summer, the "Summer of Outrage," is that national sentiment, everyday Americans, boiled over. It was, on the whole, a mild summer (at least here in normally sweltering fever-swamp humid Tennessee), but tempers flared as years of putting up with it came pouring out. If you watch the videos of the various town hall meetings, some common threads emerge:

a) the citizens know much more about the subject matter than the Congresspeople.

b) the Congresspeople generally looked amazed - they have that look of surprise that a kid in a classroom might get when the Professor suddenly appears behind them and catches them playing solitaire on their laptop.

c) the citizenry is mad.

We are reaching a dangerous point in this country, where Congress had better be darned careful about pushing too hard. I say this apolitically too - people are just as mad at the 'Phants as they are at the Donks. I will say that our local Congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, is a pretty big exception to the rule. I attended her town hall, and it was more of a love-fest - she is serving her constituency and listening to what they have to say. Unlike the vast majority of these folk who are NOT listening to their constituency and playing solitaire on their laptops. In it's arrogance, Congress has forgotten that they serve the people, not the other way around. And they have forgotten that they need the people. Not just for votes either, but for information. Some years ago, I used to lobby in Washington on an annual basis on behalf of the multi-family industry. I saw first hand the arrogance of an ossified legislator when we visited with Senator Jim Sasser (Remember him, Mr. "Deyafaceyet"? Face to face, he knew how to say the word in three syllables.) - in front of us, his chief of staff reviewed the contribution list. When it was apparent that the "Greater Nashville Apartment Association" wasn't on the list, Senator Sasser got up and walked out. No, he didn't say "got to run," or "see you later..." he said nothing, simply nodded, got up and walked out. I saw the apathy in numerous meetings with Senators and Congressmen who would sit in our short meetings and clean their nails....and don't get me started on the ignorance!

One particularly enlightening meeting took place with then Representative Van Hilleary. He had listened quite attentively as we ticked off our list of concerns. At one point, I apologized that it seemed we were "opposed to everything that was going on." He quickly stopped me and said "No apology necessary." He reached behind his desk and hoisted a stack of paper onto his desk that was about a foot and a half high. He then pulled a small stack of index cards from his shirt pocket - looked for a matching number then said: "You see this stack of paper? That's a bill. You see this index card? That's all I know about this bill. If you are not involved in the process, reading this stuff, God only knows what will get passed."

This is why we have to be engaged. Van Hilleary was only being honest. It would be physically impossible for any representative to read all the fine print in the bills, especially when they get marked up and hustled down to the floor minutes before a vote. If your Congressman or Senator tells you they have read the bill, they are probably lying. But they are arrogant enough to believe you will never call them on it. But they no longer serve you. Once they make it to Washington for the first time, many with the noblest of intentions, they become part of the system - a system, that sadly has become a machine for self aggrandizement and re-election. Play along with the system and the party doesn't run an opposing candidate in your district and you get lots of campaign cash to throw around...to say nothing of some nice fat slabs of bacon for your peeps back home. Be noble, try to rise above the fray and do what is right and you face destruction. The benefits of playing along lead to a rise in apathy. The longevity of this apathetic embrace of office lead to a shutdown of the brain, to ignorance and eventually to arrogance. They lead to Pete Stark telling a reporter with a reasonable question to "get the f**k out of my office."

Echoing Tolstoy, "what then must we do?" I offer the following five part program for returning our system of governance to its noble purpose:

1. Term limits - Thomas Jefferson famously said that the "tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots." Term limits is a non-violent means of achieving that infusion of fresh blood. We, no they, have lost what it means to serve - this can only be restored when the job becomes something you do at a point in your life, not a career. There are groups out there, like U.S. Term Limits, that are actively advocating term limits - get involved!

2. Engagement - Obama keeps issuing these calls to service...here's one. Serve your country by being engaged in the political process. Most of what our Congress sees is available on line. Be a citizen - read the bills and educate your neighbors about it. Then educate your Congressperson and Senators. Write letters, e-mails, get to know the staff. The passion of the Summer of Outrage will fade, but this nation needs a core of engaged people of both political persuasions to stay on top of the legislation. Engage the local media too - they are just as apathetic, ignorant and arrogant as the folks in Washington...time for a wake up call!

3. Education - Start a program of civic education at home with your own children. What they teach in the schools is by and large rubbish. They are taught all about multi-culturalism and diversity while completely ignoring the great accomplishments that this nation has produced. They certainly learn nothing about basic economics...if they did, and they got a look at the national debt, our school children would weep for what we have done to them. Take the time to review your child's textbooks if you want to get a scary look at what is being taught.

4. Define the Debate - whether it is capitalism, climate change or healthcare, radicals are very good at declaring the crisis and presenting a solution before any consensus is even reached on what the problem is. I have written here and over at the Rumbler Report, numerous times that conservatives and independents need to do a better job of understanding our opponents and forcing them to slow down and define their terms. The so-called health care crisis, for example, can be pretty easily picked apart if you force them to prove their assertions about "48 million uninsured," or the doozies like Obama's assertions that physicians will ghoulishly "chop off a leg" or "extract a tonsil," just for profit. Liberals don't like debates, facts scare them.

5. Attitude - approach this task of taking back our nation with happiness. We are doing good works! Think about Ronald Reagan's cheery approach to the darkest of times and the reassurance he gave us that it was still "morning in America," and that our "best days were yet to come." That spirit of optimistic conservatism is contagious. Along with the spirit, we have to offer solutions when real problems are identified. Do it with gusto, whether it is the economic benefits of free markets, or the increase in revenues that occur when you cut taxes and generate job growth, have fun skewering statist radicals with the facts!

I am not going to kid you that our task is easy. These are dark times (oh Lord, will an Anonymous liberal commenter tag me for a racist, insensitive remark?) ; I, for one, do not believe in Pete Stark's philosophy that greater debt is better. I can show him very calmly in any copy of "Economics for Dummies," that such is not the case - we cannot spend our way to surplus. But in this winter, I believe, the seeds of a new beginning are being sown. I believe in our hardship, Americans are rediscovering simple virtues like family and frugality. Anecdotally, I am noticing more bodies in the pews of our church. I get the sense that America has come to the brink of the socialist abyss, stared into that dark pit and seen the ruins of the Canadian and British healthcare systems, the starry eyed cult children of North Korea and Nazi Germany and we are repulsed. Perhaps we are reconnecting with the notion that there is something exceptional about being Americans In the words of Reagan, concluding his first Inaugural Address:

"The crisis we are facing...does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which confront us. And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans."

Let's do this.

Rumble on!

CIA Morale

2009-08-26T18:36:00.002-04:00

Here's a job for you:

1. Move overseas and pretend to be someone you are not. In particular, it would be great if you would move to such scenic countries as Pakistan, Russia or perhaps China.

2. Live there for 3-5 years establishing yourself as a "trade representative" of a major corporation from the United States, or perhaps, a visa officer at the local U.S. Consulate.

3. Befriend local officials and business leaders. Educate them on why you think that the United States' position towards their country is OK, but could be a lot better if only their country would work with us more.

4. After months of hard work, ask one of your new "friends" for some information about their company (could be an industrial manufacturer, could be a shipbuilder, could be a company involved in securing raw materials for their nation, etc.). Your request initially will be small, but over time, it will grow. You will want details and your "friend," will have begun to trust you...after all, nothing bad is happening.

5. Reveal to your friend that you work for the Central Intelligence Agency and that if they will help you get the mother lode of targeted information, you will whisk them out of their country and get them a new life in the land of milk and honey, aka, the United States.

6. Carry out your mission and return to the United States for a down cycle stateside. Bring your "friend" out at the same time and help him get a new life.

7. Bask in the knowledge that you have foiled a potential enemy's plans to do harm to your native land.

8. Get subpoenaed to appear before a Congressional sub-committee on intelligence that is looking into allegations that you might have been "harsh" with a contact or two while you were overseas trying to accomplish your mission.

9. Thousands of dollars in legal fees later, return to your job at the CIA at Langley.

10. Get subpoenaed by Eric Holder at the Justice Department who is looking intoallegations that you might have been "harsh" with a contact or two while you were overseas trying to accomplish your mission.

11. Watch as your "friend" is exposed and deported back to his native land. A youtube video two months later confirms he was sentenced to hard labor and died in a prison camp. Have THAT on your conscience.

12. Thousands of dollars in legal fees later, get sentenced to 10 years at Leavenworth for breaking a "protocol" that has been retroactively instated.

13. Watch loons from the Democrat party run to the press and crow about how "justice has finally been done!!"

14. As you are cuffed and being placed in the van to take you to the airport for your ride to Kansas, see President Obama on the TV screen saying it was out of his hands.

15. Know, sadly, that across the globe, thousands of agents, just like you are no longer pursuing their missions - they got the message from this Administration. America is exposed.

Rumbling sadly on.

Keynesian Clunkers

2009-08-10T16:39:00.004-04:00

Zero Hedge has an excellent analysis of the economics of the "Cash for Clunkers" program that just got another $3 Billion of OUR money. Basically, the program is encouraging more personal debt and lathering on another heaping Cinnabon of debt onto the Federal err, taxpayers, books.

The Cinnabon of Debt!

From the article:

The $28,000 average price per car translates into a total sale value of $21 billion. Of that amount $3b will be borrowed by Treasury, the balance of $18b will be financed by the new owners.

A month from now the new payments will hit both households and Treasury. For Treasury the cost is $90 million a year. Just $7.5mm per month. Think of it as $7.5mm a month forever. For the households who are driving nice new cars the numbers are much worse.

If buyers finance their purchase with 8% money and a five-year payback the monthly nut for these cars is $375 million. Nearly $5b a year. The owners will have a fully paid asset at the end of the five years, but they have to pay for it in full. It comes to $500 per person each month on a fully loaded basis.

What? You mean it's not good to have another coupon book you have to pull and pay every month?

Over indebted consumers nearly killed us last year. CC’s, crazy mortgages, store cards, car loans you name it. We are not out of trouble yet from our debt binge. For the government to be crafting ‘solutions’ that just put another $18 billion of debt onto consumers is bad policy.

Simply put, this represents more flawed (panicked?) thinking on the part of our Democratic Masters, uh I mean, leaders, to jump-start the economy. Damned the cost! Full speed ahead. I have never been a big fan of Keynesian Theory - when I studied economics in the late 1970's, the theory was in the process of being completely discredited. But if you are going to do it, can't you at least do it right?

Yes, there may never have been such a "marriage of beauty and brains as that of Lopokova andJohn Maynard Keynes," but what we have right now is the marriage of socialism and power consolidation and it ain't pretty. But what the heck - we can all still afford a Cinnabon can't we? I sure hope so:

Rumble on!

"Reform" does not mean "Improvement"

2009-07-28T10:43:00.000-04:00

I noticed in the daily "Pravda on the Cumberland," aka The Tennessean the recurring theme this week: Everyone wants healthcare reform! Today's pulp was about county commissioners wanting "reform," complete with a nice picture of Kathleen Sebelius on a giant screen TV talking to the huddled masses in convention here in Nashvegas. The commissioners are concerned about the rising costs of healthcare, particularly indigent and prisoner care. Fair enough...the bills being bantered about in Congress, all touting "reform," do nothing for these issues.

C'mon people, "REFORM" does not mean "IMPROVEMENT!" This is a case where words can literally kill. Congressional fear of voting against "REFORM!" could kill the finest health care system in the world. The system being proposed will kill senior citizens, or at least guaranty an earlier grave. Is this the "REFORM!" Americans want? Gallup reported last week that by 50% to 44% Americans DISapprove of the way Obama is handling health care. Only 23%, according to Rasmussen, believe costs will go down. The sentiment seems to be there to do something, but not what is proposed.

Here's a starting point: agree on what the proposed legislation should achieve, then apply that metric to whatever gets proposed. The Iowa Committee, a group formed by the non-partisan Concord Coalition has a good starting point. Here are their "principles:"

Principle #1: Fiscal sustainability: The Committee feels strongly that rapid health care cost growth makes our current health care system fiscally unsustainable. We cannot pretend that resources are unlimited or that sure and swift savings will come from investments in comparative effectiveness research, health care technology and prevention programs.

Principle #2: Innovation through Collaboration: The Committee feels strongly that the future of health care will require a new level of innovation that can be best achieved by high-levels of formal and informal collaborations among all health care stakeholders.

Principle #3: Primary Care Transformation: The Committee feels strongly that elevating the role and use of primary care—and the ability to more effectively coordinate with acute-care specialty services and long-term or community-based care—is essential for the transformation of our health care system.

Principle #4: Societal Commitment to Prevention and Wellness: The Committee feels strongly that prevention and wellness must be included in governmental and business policy reform and third-party coverage arrangements.

Principle #5: Engaged and Responsible Health Care Consumers: The Committee feels strongly that health reform initiatives should encourage and set expectations for a more active role for the health care consumer.

I would add a few other principles:

#6: If you are happy with your health care, you do not have to do anything.

#7: No one can force you to change doctors, plans etc.

#8: Health care plans should be portable and should allow for pre-existing conditions.

#9: As it relates to the REALLY uninsured, i.e. not the people who choose not to have health care insurance, the illegal aliens, the self insured, a low cost catastrophic health coverage plan should be the goal.

#10: Minimize the costs of Doctor's malpractice insurance through tort reform.

Consensus on a starting point could lead to genuine health care reform that solves legitimate issues like higher costs and tends to the needs of those that truly cannot help themselves. Noble aims for a noble society, NOT a Federal takeover of an enormous (and growing) part of our economy. The current legislation being proposed is designed to put politicians and their cronies in charge of an enormous piggy bank from which to reward those that tend to them. That is truly sick.

Rumble on!

Cross Posted at Red State Rumblings

Oh Freedom

2009-07-04T15:07:00.004-04:00

Happy Independence Day! Happy 233rd birthday for our Republic. I was thinking about that wonderful negro spiritual this morning that gives this piece it's title:

Oh Freedom! Oh freedom! Oh freedom over me

And before I ‘ll be a slave I’ll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free.

Will this be our last "Independence Day?" With all the legislation being written in Congress and the quiet acquiescence of the American people we may have to change the name of our national holiday to "Dependence Day." But now, a prayer.

On this Independence Day, I pray the spirit that made America what she is today. This is a spirit embodied in the very document that we celebrate today; a document, which is arguably the most inspirational piece of parchment in the world - the statement of natural, God-endowed law: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." In the same sentence, self-evident truths and our endowment by a Creator are acknowledged. This is a humility that is sadly missing today - it acknowledges our debt to a superior being and it plainly sets out the belief that there are things which are indisputable, not subject to the whims of interpretation or cultural nuance. We focus on the "men are created equal" part, but ignore the brackets put around that equality. The authors of the Declaration and the men who signed it were putting down a marker for the world - a statement of justice and equality heretofore dispensed by Kings and Emporors but now to be guarded by our fellow, equal man. With this comes the responsibility of guardianship that has been passed down to us.

"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," are also well known pieces of this noble document. But later in the same paragraph come these words - the words that gave the document it's name:

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

On this July 4th, we have to ask ourselves very carefully whether the present-day government, "instituted among men," has become destructive of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." In the Executive Branch, we have a chief executive who has surrounded himself with 18 (Eighteen!!) "Czars," responsible for everything from energy to drugs. These "czars" are completely unaccountable. There is no method of Congressional approval (remember "checks and balances?"), no oversite...bupkus. Yet, these "czars" have enormous authority through Presidential decree to tell us everything from our credit card interest rate to what kind of light bulbs we should use. Where is the American spirit of independence that bridles at such excesses and autocracy? "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" do not stem from teleprompted orations such that we are entitled to them at the approval of the White House - they come from the "Creator." We can therefore argue that this government HAS become "destructive of these ends," and needs to be changed. Read the list of grievances that our Founding Fathers laid out in the Declaration against King George III and with a little change of syntax and slight adjustment of verbage - a hell of a lot of them apply to this King, err, President:

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

Well, he hasn't tried to dissolve state houses yet, but see how Rick Wagoner got treated at General Motors and you might get a hint of how he will deal with California.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

This is going the other way, but immigration "reform," is on his To Do List with the aim of naturalizing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens and creating a Democrat voter bloc for the next 15 years.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

Take a look at how Eric Holder handled the Black Panther voter abuse case in Philadelphia or how they want to unload Gitmo terrorists into our legal system and you get the flavor of a modern "Assent to Laws."

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

Do you spell the word "Czar" or "Tsar?"

The list could go on, but it would take up too many gigabytes. What's sad is the lack of total outrage. There is some...to be sure, we see it at the "Tea Parties" which are growing in number and in attendance. But blatant usurpation of power and a total flaunting of the Constitution should get our revolutionary spirit really riled up!

And now, with looming "cap and trade" taxation increases and socialized medicine, we stand on the threshold of losing free choice in total surrender to a care-taker state that manages our lives from cradle to grave. Come revolutionary spirit, come - awaken the masses of patriots who are simply too busy to pay attention.

We are in the eye of the storm folks, but it is never too late to let freedom ring!

Rumble on!

Breaking up is hard to do...

2009-06-13T13:06:00.001-04:00

There is a very interesting piece over at the Weekend Edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning titled "Divided We Stand." The author, Paul Starobin, sketches out a possible future for the United States as a loosely knit group of republics with even some geographic boundaries obliterated. For example, "Cascadia," would be a new regional republic carved out of the Pacific Northwest cities of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, Canada (wait till after the Winter Olympics!). "Calibaja" would turn San Diego into the capital of Northwest Mexico, Baja and a large chunck of Southern California.

What is interesting about this is the frighteningly real possibility that this could happen. We have an imperial government in Washington D.C. now that in just six months has:

1. Violated all precepts of contractual law invalidating hundreds of years of case law.
2. Unconstitutionally seized control of a large piece of the manufacturing sector.
3. Unconstitutionally seized a large part of the capital market structure.
4. Ignored qualifying norms (like paying taxes) for high level officials.
5. Delved into private property, entrepreneurial capitalism and all aspects of commerce without right.
6. Mortgaged the futures of our children and their children.
7. Is attempting to seize control of our healthcare system.
8. Ignored the counsel of military leaders on what measures (like missile defense) are necessary to keep us safe.

The list goes on and on...we are drowning in debt we cannot pay and this is just the beginning! I know a lot of my friends are reading "Atlas Shrugged," and begining to feel like Galt. I'm increasingly feeling like a colonist in the 1770's - no taxation without representation! Washington has truly become Leviathan and we all (both political stripes) feel powerless. I love my country and desperately want her to succeed and stay together, but increasingly, I feel we have a tyrannical government and that the only way we will bring those idiots on the Potomac to heel is to consider secession and separation into distinct regions.

In the near term, this could bring some peace to the social wars too. If you want to live in a land where gay marriage, infanticide, socialized medicine and euthanasia rock your boat - move to Novacadia or Calivada. If you want religion to be allowed in the public square, low taxation and personal freedom, Texas, Kentennalageorge or Virgicarol will welcome you. Then, in these smaller, more efficient republics we will see which system really does work better for the long haul. We would have to work out some commercial rules for travel and trade between the republics and we would have to have some form of military sharing for mutual defense, but those are details that could be worked out.

My guess is, the period of republican devolution would last about 50 years. It will take two generations of pure socialism and liberal social anarchy in Novacadia and Calivada for them to come to grips with the fact that it doesn't work. Then maybe we could all get along again. Maybe.

If this sounds like fantasy, perhaps it is. But this time, one year ago, if you had told me that a U.S. hating, mixed-race racist with a resume thinner than a communion wafer would be sitting in the Oval Office I would have told you "no way." I think the election of 2010 will be a real windvane for the direction this country wants to go. If we have reached the point where those who pay the taxes are in the minority to those who receive the benefits therefrom, secession could become quite popular.

Rumble on!

Cross posted at The Rumbler Report .

PARSING

2009-06-04T12:38:00.003-04:00

I began reading the speech that B. Hussein O. delivered to the “Muslim World” with some trepidation. The propensity for this man on foreign soil has been to blame their problems on the United States or the West in general. It didn’t take long for my fears to be met. How does BHO explain the problems of the Islamic world? Two paragraphs in he said:

“…tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.”

So colonialism (which the United States NEVER engaged in), which raised many of these countries out of the dust of the Middle Ages, a Cold War (which we did engage in, but the purpose was to defeat communism, not keep Islamic countries down-trodden) and our own success are why the West is “hostile to Islam?”

He continues: “America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles — principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.” OK, Obama, show me the common principles between the Judeo-Christian ethic of ALL individuals being equal and Sharia law. Show me the progress of how women are treated in these countries with “tolerance and dignity.” The two traditions could not be further apart…this is ignorance or purposeful blindness.

Here’s another stem-winder: “And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.” Tell that to the Christians living in Muslim countries:

In Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country and one traditionally renowned for its religious toleration, terrorists bombed churches in 18 cities, killing scores and wounding hundreds. Violence against the Christian minority has steadily continued over the past decade." As an example, he cited the beheadings of three Christian teenage girls in Sulawesi in late October. International Christian Concern's Jeff King brought photos of the incident; the girls' heads were left at a church, each with a note that vowed, "We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents."

In Egypt Christians are treated as "second-class citizens" under state-sponsored discrimination and actively persecuted by Islamic militants apart from the government. He cited the week-long riot in October against St. George's Coptic Church in Alexandria by a 10,000-strong mob incensed by rumors of blasphemy.

Christians face repression in Iran. Tehran's tyrannical President Ahmadinejad met with 30 provincial governors and reportedly declared, "I will stop Christianity in this country," avowing to shut down the country's growing house-church movement.

In Saudi Arabia, Christians, a large percentage of the foreign workers making up a quarter of the population, will not be able to find any churches whatsoever to worship in. Churches are forbidden. Dozens of those who pray together in private houses were arrested and jailed earlier this year. This fanatically intolerant kingdom even forbids Muslims, under threat of death, to wish a Christian "Happy Holidays," much less "Merry Christmas." (Source: Center or Religious Freedom)

Continuing, BHO asserts that there are “almost 7 million Muslims living in the United States…” Pew Research puts the number at 2.4 million in 2007 – have almost 5 million immigrated since then? The only source that puts the number that high is the terrorist connected Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), dutifully repeated by Newsweek.

In discussing the "war on violent extremism," Obama actually does a pretty good job of defending why we went into Afghanistan (and are still there)...as I read that section of the speech I thought he was actually "getting it," and just changing the vernacular. But then he wrapped up that part with this doozy: "The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism — it is an important part of promoting peace." Islam IS part of the problem and until moderates and sane members of their religion start policing from within and root out the insane murdering huns that have overpowered their faith, there can be no peace.

BHO muddles into Iraq with this campaignspeak: "Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world." Iraq was a lot of things, many of them wrong, but to call it a "war of choice," as if we sat around and played Eenie, meanie, minie, mo and "chose" Iraq" is irresponsible and damn near traitorous. We "chose" Iraq because Saddam had violated every UN resolution ever passed and was thought to have WMD's. EVERYONE thought he did - whether he got them out and into the Bakaa Valley we may never know, but post-facto denial...should we call it "Pelosification," is a disease rampant among the left.

He wraps up the "foreign wars" section with this: "So America will defend itself, respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities which are also threatened." This might have been a good place to have mentioned that almost EVERY engagement we have fought in the last twenty years has been to help Muslims. Bosnia? Help Muslims against Christian Serbs. Kosovo? Ditto. Afghanistan? Liberate mainstream Muslims from fanatical Huns. Iraq? Liberate Muslims from a fanatical oppressive regime. How about a little "cred" on the "Muslim Street," Barry?

The next section of his speech dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It's the usual call for two states. It's really a "blah blah" part of the speech in that it repeats the usual mantra for peace that all sides have ignored: Arabs have to recognize Israel (tell that to the Saudis and the Iranians); Hamas has to play nice; Israel has to stop building. The symbology of this whole trip is such an afront to Israel that his line about our bond with the Israelis being "unbreakable" rings a little hollow. Here's what the Israelis think:
These posters appeared yesterday all over the country after a massive protest at the U.S. Embassy. These folks see past the empty rhetoric and three-second teleprompting head swing. Anyhoo - BHO has now solved the misunderstanding over our military presence in the Middle East, brought peace and purple unicorns to the Arab-Israeli conflict, cured the common cold...what's next? Oh, that nagging nuclear situation.

Well, here's the first part of the history lesson: "For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is in fact a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians." First, the 1953 Coup was conducted to prevent the nationalization of the British and American oil companies operating in Iran. By today's standards, boorish behavior. It was also a defensive move to present the Soviets from either allying or taking Iran by force. But the reasons for the coup are far more complex than BHO lets on - let alone the fact that the Muslim clerics in Iran strongly supported the coup! Further, the "Islamic Revolution" was allowed to proceed, in large part because of the acquiescence of Jimmy Carter and his active engagement in forcing the Shah from power. Only in "History for Dummies" can you get such a boiled down, audience pleasing summary of what happened. It wasn't just simple old misunderstanding and "hostage taking," it was the seizing of an Embassy! The very fabric of diplomacy was ripped asunder by the Iranian stooges...as the son of a diplomat who grew up overseas, what happened in Tehran is extremely close to Rumbler's heart. From that point forward, EVERY U.S. diplomat has had a target on them. Writing it off as bad behavior does nothing to restore diplomacy or trust.

BHO wraps up Iranian relations by asserting that they have the right to peaceful nuclear power...two questions: first, why did they turn down repeated offers by member nations of the EU and Russia to provide nuclear fuel for peaceful reactors AND two, Barry - if they get nuclear power, can we? Sure would be a lot more efficient than the windmills!

The next chapter is about democracy in the Middle East. BHO says that Americans like democracy and respect democratically elected leaders, especially those that don't abuse their population...wonder if economic abuse counts? He SAYS these things having just left Saudi Arabia, one of the most viciously oppressive monarchies in the world and while standing in Egypt, one of the most viciously oppressive regimes in the world. Talk is cheap. I'm not sure what he could have said, to be honest, but why bother to bring it up? They are not going to change because of a few sentences on the teleprompter. If you are going to bring it up, back it up. Call out the regimes - talk about Christians and women in Saudi, talk about Jews and Christians in Egypt.

He circles back to religious tolerance in the next volume. With this nice juxtaposition: " Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition." I get it! Islam good, Catholics bad! Never mind that the Inquisition was over 500 years ago and that Catholics have progressed out of that awful time to true tolerance while Islam has gone straight back to before the Dark Ages. And Barry, check your history, the coexistance in Andalusia and Cordoba was tolerated bacause the Christians and Jews paid the tax dictated by the Koran.

In chapter six he brushes over women's rights. He rightfully points out the countries that have elected women to high office, but why not call out those that treat women like dogs...like, say, Saudi Arabia or Egypt? But all of this is prelude to the concluding act in our drama: the goodie bag!!

So, for having to sit through this 6,000 word scrabble, what do the gangs in the crowd get? Obama's list includes:

Expanded exchange programs for Muslim students.
A new "corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries."
A Summit on Entrepreneurship...gotta have one of those.
A "new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries."
A bunch of "centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia."
Umm, they're getting what we're supposedly getting: "programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, grow new crops."
And we're going to eliminate polio and get better healthcare for women and children in Muslim countries.

Whew! I'm guessing the audience was a little disappointed. This is usually where Barry tells them how much cash he's going to spend. But sounds like they will get a rich new source of bomb targets and kidnap victims. Sorry to be so cynical, I want all God's children to get along as much as the next guy. And, I firmly believe that the one common thread to all humanity is the wish that our children have a better world than the one we grew up in. Sadly though, there is a group of "humans" centered in the Muslim world that want to strap bomb vests on their children and send them in to kill Jews, Christians and Americans. As Golda Meir said so plaintively almost fifty years ago: " We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us."

A truly bold speech would have called on Arabs to stop suicide bombings and terrorist plots. Put in some salve for scientific advancement and algebra, but point out the FACT that change has to come from within their world. We can't impose it on them or buy it for them. Until that happens, it's just words.

Rumble on!

Ennui

2009-05-31T16:20:00.004-04:00

Summer is almost upon us and here in the mid-South, the humidity and heat can make life pretty uncomfortable. Better to lay in, keep the shades drawn and run that megawatt draining AC all day. It also is a time of wonder - beans sprouting in the garden, the first trips to the pool and the lake, the beginning of summer vacation for the kids and all the adventure that two-and-a-half months of languor can muster.

The analogy of this season and the current state of conservative politics is apt. There are many on the right who have lost their heart for the fight and have drawn the intellectual shades tightly, afraid to speak out on any subject from the insane overspending to milk-toast diplomacy and it's by products for fear of being branded "racists, bigots, homophobes!!" "You had your chance," the Looney Left shrieks,"now we have to fix all the evil done by the incompetent boob, Booosh!!" You know, these people:

Then there are those of us on the right who view this as our time of wonder, a chance to start afresh, perhaps clean house, but certainly not to give up the intellectual fight. So let's lay some issues out there and see where our journey leads.

1. Boosh!! The Bush legacy will, I believe, in the long run be very mixed. The single largest component of it is that he performed his Constitutional obligation to "protect and defend" superlatively. The Left knows this and thus has to nibble at the edges and attempt to degrade this assessment with oft-repeated mantras of "torture," "Abu Ghraib," "no blood for oil" and the like. On each of these, many of our conservative warriors surrendered the premise without a whimper. And this is wrong. EVEN if you concede that water boarding is "torture," which I do not, it was used on three subjects and valuable, life-saving intelligence was gained. Obama knows this and for that reason will not release the memos documenting what was learned. Fortunately, our voice in the wilderness, Dick Cheney has been on point on this matter and his service is invaluable. Abu Ghraib is a pointless canard - the real story is how swiftly the perps were dealt with and the silliness stopped.

It is also a canard to suggest that we invaded Iraq and therefore the Taliban got stronger and Usama Bin Laden escaped etc. etc. The simple, irrefutable fact is that Presidents and decision makers act on intelligence that never can provide a complete picture. There was ample evidence that WMD's were being produced, we know Sadam had a history of using them, and we were dealing with a post-9/11 world where action to prevent catastrophe was at a premium. We may never know whether the WMD's did, in fact, exist. There was ample time and plenty of willing accomplices in Syria and Iran to see to it that the stuff got out. But even if they did not exist, the assessment was there (and was shared by all the top Democrats) that Sadam was a clear and present danger. More mistakes were made in the aftermath of the invasion than in the decision to invade and many of those were costly and dumb: dismantling the Iraqi military probably tops the list.

The other great triumph of the Bush years, in my view, was the appointment of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Sam Allito. As we watch the appointment of Sotomayor unfold, it is somewhat of a relief to note that we still have the intellectual firepower on the bench of Roberts, Allito, Scalia and Thomas.

The largest failures for Bush were on the domestic side. A quick list would include:

a) passage of an all new entitlement program without doing anything to address the impending disasters of all the entitlement programs already in place.
b) failure to make a more compelling case to stop the Fannie and Freddie debacle.
c) the 11th hour panic that got the ball rolling on "stimulus spending." We need to be honest, Bush opened the door and Obama has driven a truck through it.

In his heart, I think Bush was a genuinely compassionate president. Like all politicians he wanted to be liked and he carried some of his father's baggage about "compassionate conservatism." He wanted to somehow prove that conservatism wasn't mean...he surrendered the fundamental premise and paid dearly for it. Conservatism is not about being "nice" or "mean," it's about freedom. It is about trusting people to do the right thing and allowing them the freedom to do it. Quite the converse to what we are dealing with in the halls of power now.

It is time to retire Bush and restore conservativism to its proper place in social policy, in foreign affairs and in economic policy.

2. Where to turn? Where is the leader? I had an interesting note exchange with a friend the other day who lamented that there is no standard bearer, no leader for the Republican party. I confess, I have a hard time calling myself a Republican given the liberal behavior of these last few years, but we'll run with it. The interesting thing is that if you get past Obama and his teleprompter, the picture on the Democrat side is far worse! Joe Biden? Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid? Barbara Boxer? Barney Frank? Chris Dodd? WTF? WTFF?? Frankly, until we restore our philosophic principles and core values, it might be best for there not to be a leader. Anyone who rises to the surface would be destroyed right now...time is on our side. Certainly Newt Gingrich has shown himself to be an innovative thought provoker and I have little doubt that he is going to run...and there are others out there. Jindal and Palin are often mentioned, but the MSM has been busy trying to discredit them even though both their executive records are proving to be quite impressive. No, I think someone new and fresh will emerge between now and 2012. One thing the Republicans have GOT to get over is this sense that they have to select a candidate based on race, gender, ethnic group etc. Leave that business to the Democrats and the Left - they are the ones that judge people by the color of their skin, not the content of their character.

3. Where can we dig in? Obama and his community organizers are a mighty wave right now. They are pushing through the most radical, economically destructive agenda in the history of the Republic. The Kos kids used to foam at the mouth about Boosh's destruction of the Constitution yet they lovingly fall silent over this fantastic power grab. Nationalize the auto industry? Where is that in the Constitution? Take over and dictate terms to the banks? Which Article is that under? Nationalize Healthcare? Which clause covers this? Appoint a racist judge to the Supreme Court? Why not - justice SHOULD empathize with the race/background/orientation of the defendant and adjust the rulings accordingly. This is the ennui part I mentioned earlier - you don't have to be a conservative, liberal, libertarian...you just have to have a brain and be able to read the Constitution and you should be outraged! I mean, it's gotten so bad that even Pravda is warning us that we are rocketing into Marxism!

The guy has been a whirling dervish of activity making it hard to pick a place to fight. But we need look no further than a few years ago for guidance. Pull up Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address and sit back for a heapin' helpin of some wisdom - and some very useful quotes:

"You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?"
"It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government."
"It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government."
" I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer."
" To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale."
"As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it—now or ever."

These six points cover the gist of a conservative philosophy that is appealing to all regardless of race, color or creed:

You can't spend your way out of debt. Debt is enslaving, we prefer freedom.
As it says in the Constitution, Amendment X: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The Federal Government's expansion is enslaving, we prefer freedom.
Other than the military, name one thing the Government does well....speechless? Then why do we want them involved in everything? If you want a healthcare system that imposes solutions like the DOT, vote Democrat...we prefer freedom.
There is a fitting place for religion in the public square. We will never establish a state religion, but to allow enduring and ennobling principles to be part of our navigation is desirable. The censorship and thought control of the left is enslaving, we prefer freedom.
We take care of our friends...we protect free peoples because we prefer freedom.
As the Marines say, "no greater friend, no worse enemy." Don't threaten our freedom.

Obviously I am picking out a theme here...and it is one that should be very appealing to all age groups: FREEDOM!

I am sure Obama looks at those humble Scots and sees the good folks of Western Pennsylvania...but it is a testament to what free men can do.

These guiding principles should be crafted into a more manageable message that is easily understood and can be repeated tirelessly - not into the robotic mind numbing "yes we can" lunacy, but as bulwarks to sally forth from and to start the turning of the tide.

Each of these points has enormous policy implications. On the economic front, for example, the subtleties of tax policy are vast. I am not proposing a simplistic conservatism, just establishing some base-line principles that are easily understood. But these guiding principles when bounced up against the expanding blob of the Obama government are refreshing and enervating.

Case in point - the sad demise of General Motors. Tomorrow morning at 8 AM, GM will go "four paws up" and enter bankruptcy. Volumes could be written about how it got to this point with ample blame for Federal policies, Union intransigence and just plain bad management at the core. But there NEVER was a place for the government at this table. I want Charles Schwab as my broker, not Barack Obama! Failure is a natural result in capitalism and in a free market. But out of that "creative destruction," to borrow from Schumpeter, better things emerge. A post-bankruptcy GM that was free of onerous Union obligations and able to become more nimble with smaller companies building what the American consumer wants, would have been far better for Detroit than the government owned model will be. Being free means you are also free to fail. This whole program should be dragged into the Congress and picked apart for the shameless grab and reward program it is. Good place to start the fight.

Case in point - the appointment of Sotomayor. True, the Dems have the votes to get her installed, so be it. But a civil, non-personal evaluation of her judicial experience is warranted. Have her explain why she thinks one's background and sex necessarily create better judgments than someone else. This is what political correctness has wrought. The issue isn't that she's a Latina, just as it wasn't that Clarence Thomas was black - the issue is the philosophy of one who is about to get a permanent job. Good place to start the fight.

Case in point - the treatment of Israel and the pandering to Muslims. It would be a wonderful world if all God's creatures could just get along. But the real world isn't so, and right now, the number one threat to world peace is radical Islam. Rather than sucking up to them and begging for forgiveness, we should be encouraging them to moderate their own religion. When you are ready to stop acting like 5th Century barbarians, we can work with you. Until then, heal thyself first...we should stand strong on the principle that we are NOT the problem, they are. This is a fundamental difference between the progressive left and conservatism. The former looks at the USA as a bad player on the world stage, constantly seeking to oppress other people and build our "empire," and therefore we have to constantly purge ourselves on the world stage. The latter sees the US as a fundamentally good and decent place...flawed and in need of improvement, but with nothing to be ashamed of. Good place to start the fight.

Finally, the entire spectrum of foreign policy is wide open for attack. We have dissed our allies, made clumsy grasping overtures to bad actors giving them the distinct impression that the time has come for the mice to come out to play. Very good place to start the fight.

In all, conservatives should hold thier chins high and rejoin the battle with aplomb. History and common sense are on our side. Reagan was the "happy warrior," and that is the approach we should take. The grimness and "sky is falling" attitude is what defines the left - they live for the crisis of the moment, not because they want to solve the problems, but because every crisis is an opportunity to expand their power. Confident, up-beat and ready for a summer of fun is the attitude that emboldens me and, I hope, many more on the right side of the solutions that will be needed to repair the harm being done.

Rumble on!

The Incredible Lightness of O

2009-04-22T15:35:00.003-04:00

Well, two apology tours under his belt and the apologies and scraping continue. At some point he has to go to the Orient - what could await us there? Apologize to the Phillipines for propping up their economy, to Vietnam for attempting to liberate half their country...perhaps to Japan for fighting a needless war with them sometime in the last century because of our arrogance? The mind reels at the possibilities! What BHO fails to realize in his incredible lightness of being is that when the President travels overseas, or speaks to foreign leaders, it's not a popularity contest! He is supposed to speak as the voice of the nation, not as the global messiah. * We are also dealing with a psychological condition that has created a two part theorem that I would call "The Premise of O." If this theory were not being tested on the world stage with real lives and fortunes at stake, it would be funny but, alas, here we are.

The premise is in two parts:

I. By apologizing for anything and everything from Harry Truman dropping the bomb to our cultural "arrogance," we will get a fresh start with everyone.

II. By making ourselves weak, we become strong.

The first part of the premise has a corollary to it which is closely connected to a rather frightening messianic complex that BHO seems to exhibit and it is that ALL was bad before the O. In fact, why don't be change our annual numbering system and allow this to be the first year of O, or AO1. Last year, would be the Bad Before O or BBO1. Our nation was founded not in 1776, but in BBO232. But now, with the sweetness and light of Obama's smooth talk, the rest of the nations swoon! The Iranians put down their bombs, Al Queda turns itself in - comforted that they will not longer be tortured or prosecuted, Kim Jong Il tears down the fences singing Kumbaya with his disarmed soldiers at the border and Hugo Chavez and Fidel now say that the United States is a great nation that should strengthen and prosper instead of being destroyed.

Well, that's the vision anyway...how's it playing so far? Hmm, not like the dream. That's because it is just that - a dream, a fantasy. With his messianic complex going before, this guy really believes he can make the "ice stop melting" and can talk to the animals. The only evil that exists in this tormented world is that of "right wing extremists." The sad reality is that evil does exist - sadder still, is that the folks who keep that evil away from our shores and call it for what it is , are the targets of this administration. What we saw on 9/11 was not caused by regular nice guys who just couldn't take America's arrogance anymore. No, what we saw was evil incarnate. We saw people who believed they could do what they did because we had done nothing to respond to prior aggressions like the U.S.S. Cole and the embassy bombings in Africa. They thought we were finished, kaput, afraid to fight. Thank God we showed them they were wrong. And like or hate George W. Bush, after 9/11, in 8 years we were not attacked again on our soil. Given the direction this administration is taking, I have serious doubts that another 8 will pass without an attack. And this leads me to the falacy of the second part of the "Premise of O."

Christ is the only figure in history who created strength because of his weakness and he paid a gruesome price for it. Of course, that he was also God, as Christians believe, might have had something to do with it too. And his message was compelling and noble. To turn the other cheek when you have been wronged as an individual is a noble thing to do that advances society. To turn the other cheek when you are a nation is a path to destruction and termination as a society. Does BHO really believe he can pull off at a national level in AO1, what Christ could barely do for a ragged population in BBO2009?

Let's take the notion of "torture," as a prime example. As I am sure you already know, BHO has declassified portions of the CIA memoranda on "torture" in the aftermath of 9/11. They are carefully leaving out the parts of the memos that spell out what we gained from these "tortures," and how many lives were saved. When we talk of "torture" though, we really need to ask five questions:

1. Who is being "tortured?"

2. How are we "torturing?"

3. Why are we "torturing?"

4. Did it work?

5. Are we safer moving forward now that we have exposed our methods?

Question number one - umm, yes you in the back...do you have the answer?

"Yeah, we are torturing murderous, suicidal, maniacal Muslim extremists who believe that their God calls on them to kill people who don't subscribe to their religion. These people would gladly impose a tyranical theocracy on the whole world where women would be sent back to a caste lower than farm animals. They have murdered thousands upon thousands of their own people and believe that no one is off limits as a target."

Very good! You obviously are not a memer of the Obama administration! I would only add to that fine answer that these are the same people that like sawing off live people's heads on YouTube for fun. Now this is not to get into a moral equivalency argument, but it should serve to remind people that the prisoners that were "tortured" were not members of the Vienna Boys Choir.

Question number two...yes, you with your hand up on the right there...

"The worst thing we are doing to these folks is submitting them to a treatment that makes them feel they are drowning - scary stuff I am sure - same stuff that anyone who went through the military's SERE (Search Evasion Resistance Escape) school would experience. It's not as bad for those folks though because they know they are not going to be killed...oh wait, the bad guys know that too now...but anyway, some sleep deprivation, maybe a little humiliation in the mix."

Wow, this is a good class! Let's take a break and watch a referesher video:

OK - on to question three - WHY are we torturing? Let's see, you in the red shirt with the beagle logo...

"Torture is used to gather actionable intelligence. Our problem after 9/11 was particularly difficult because we didn't have knowledge of any specific plots, we just knew there was a good chance we would get hit again. There is a particularly useful discussion on this over at Stratfor."

Whoa, how did you get a hyperlink into your verbal answer? Yes, the Stratfor piece is very useful in understanding this issue and you are right. In no way is it indiscriminate, common or rampant...we are still very much the good guys. Shame that the left can't bring themselves to look at us that way, but compared to the enemy, our guys are saints.

Q4 - did it work? Yes, the nice looking gentleman with bald pate and glasses...are you Dick Cheney?

"No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. The short answer is 'yes, it worked.' We don't know the details yet because those portions of the memos have not been de-classified. But we had eight years of no attacks on US soil and numerous hints of plots that were foiled. In short, American lives were saved."

Now the biggy - who would like to answer question number 5 - are we safer without them? Yes, the lady with the "Texas Longhorns" t-shirt -

"Hell no. I mean, time will tell, but the odds are not good. Does BHO REALLY believe that by telling the Islamokooks what to expect if they end up in one of our 'hotels,' that they are now not going to join the Jihad? This guy is dumber than soap..."

Ma'am - please, he is the President of the United States...let us not stoop to the hatred that the left vented on Mr. Bush for eight long years.

Well, that wraps up this portion of our class on why being weaker does not make you stronger!

So, to sum up and restate the Premise of O - we have a leader who through naivete or lack of intelligence beleives that he can make the lion lie down with the lamb...or better, he can be the lamb that lies down with the lion? Either way, he has set us on a path that was last attemted by Jimmy Carter. Carter is arguably the reason we are where we are now as it was under his "watch" that the first major blow of the Muslim world was landed on us with no response - the taking of our Embassy in Tehran. We tried talking then too and it didn't get us very far. The world is a much more dangerous place now. Let us pray...

Rumble on!

*Dorothy Rabinowitz has an excellent column on this here.

The Liberal's Burden

2009-04-12T18:07:00.004-04:00

THE LIBERAL'S BURDEN
2009
(Obama and the World)

*With humble thanks to Rudyard Kipling's masterpiece "Take up the White Man's Burden."

Take up the liberal's burden-
Send forth the leftist screed
Go bind your sons to taxes
To serve your programs' need;
To wait in heavy harness
On Kos-crazed folk and wild-
Your new constituent voters
Half-devil but full child.

Take up the liberal's burden-
Ignore the other side,
Go hide the threat of terror
And burn American pride;
In 'prompted speech and town hall
A thousand times made plain,
To seek your re-election
And smother capitalism's gain.

Take up the liberal's burden-
The savage wars of change
Fill full the unions' coffers
The Founders' goal rearrange;
And when the end is nearest
The Marxism you have sought,
Watch fact and harsh reality
Bring all your "hope" to nought.

Take up the liberal's burden-
Ignore the rule of law
And pass your bloated budgets
While claiming to stop the thaw.
The rules ye shall have broken
The Constitution you shall tread
Go blow up the sickly deficits
And put the blame on Bush's head.

Take up the liberal's burden-
And reap your old reward:
The money dumped on ACORN
While frightening the bid'ness Boards.
The cry of aborted children
Who face the certain night,
And generations now in bondage
Because to tax, you have the right.

Take up the liberal's burden-
Ye dare not stoop to less-
But bow low to Saudi tyrants
And apologize to the rest.
But by every vote and order
By all ye leave or do
The silent American people
Shall weigh the truth against you.

Take up the liberal's burden-
Get on with changing names
No "terror" nor "enemy combatant"
Shall grace the newsprint's page;
Come now no need of manhood
Or all those warring years
Why everyone will love us now!
While Patriots will shed tears.

RUMBLE ON!

Manassas

2009-04-03T15:29:00.007-04:00

On August 28, 1862 a Union Column moving along the Warrenton Turnpike, northwest of Manassas, Virginia was being observed from a knoll to the north of the road. From a grove of trees in front of an uncompleted railroad bed, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson put down his spyglass and turned his horse, Little Sorrel, and ambled over to a short meeting with his Division commanders, Richard Ewell and A.P. Hill. With the words, “Bring out your men, gentlemen,” the Second Battle of Bull Run began. In the course of two days, Federal forces would lose 10,000 men while the Confederates would lose 1,300. The balance of Lee’s Army under Longstreet would swing around from the west and slam into Pope’s Army of the Potomac, folding them into a giant “L” and ultimately collapse their forces into a somewhat orderly retreat to Washington…nothing like the humiliating scurry that had followed the First Battle of Bull Run, 13 months earlier. In that dust up, 460 Union soldiers lost their lives and 387 Confederates joined them. In the course of one year, both sides had become much better at killing each other and yet the war would drag on for two and a half more years.

During the first day of Second Manassas, as the Federals called it, the Yankees repeatedly tried to seize the artillery placed on the hill by the Brawner Farm. This picture is the view from the gunner's side. They were repulsed, but many regiments on both sides lost up to 70% of their men.

How did they do it? War had become a "sanguinary affair," as Jackson put it. The tactics were still largely Napoleonic with set piece arrangements attempting flanking maneuvers, turning and turning, hoping to push your opponent into collapsing his position. The minie ball, however, had changed all that. That fat, rifled round could kill a man at 1,000 yards and due to it's large caliber, could cause horrific open wounds impossible for the medicine of the time to deal with. Maneuverability and speed versus tightly regimented drill field performance became the secrets of battlefield success, but the majority of military leaders of the time failed to grasp that reality. Southern leaders, like Nathan Bedford Forrest, figured it out - with deception, speed and ingenuity he frequently defeated forces far larger than his. Ulysses S. Grant never did figure it out...he didn't have to. He had a cold mathematical perspective of engagement - as long as he was losing at a rate slightly less than 3 to 1, he was winning.

There are a number of lessons to be gleaned from this quick overview of a major battle in the War between the States fought almost 150 years ago, but I will touch on a few salient ones for our time.

First - it is very hard to convince people of the facts if they have a pre-set impression of the events around them. The Union Commander, John Pope, knew that Lee had split his army in half, sending Jackson around the Union Army to raid the Union Supply Depot at Manassas...so far, so good. He developed a picture of the battle in his head where he pulled his army from the line, counter-marched north and caught Jackson by surprise, destroying half of Lee's vaunted Army of Northern Virginia. Problem was, as soon as he left his position on the Rappahanock River, Lee's other half army under Longstreet pulled up stake and swung west and north at a faster pace. After Jackson disappeared (he hid his army behind the aforementioned abandoned rail bed) Pope wasted two days poking around looking for him. Guess who showed up. Even then, on the second day of the battle, as his left flank was being overrun by Hood's hard charging Texans, Pope refused to believe it possible that Longstreet's Corps had arrived.

There is a lot of Popish (let's not confuse it with "Papal") thinking on the left...a few examples:

1) Tax cuts only benefit the rich. This oft repeated mantra is nauseating...ranks right up there with "Bush lied, people died" and the definition of a "cut" as "a budgetary event wherein you receive less of an increase than originally contemplated."

2) The government is the best solution to all problems. Got a financial problem, the government can help. Need your car repaired? The Executive Branch is on the job. How about a warranty for those wheels? Consider it done! Little chill coming on from the rough weather? Government heath care is there for you. Cradle to grave, the Federal Government will help you through.

3)There is no argument against global warming...debate over, kaput. Ignore the evidence that the earth is actually cooling and the hundreds of scientists that dispute the bad science that helped reach this conclusion. This is all for another post, but this hoax is being used to foist dangerous straps over the Gulliver of capitalism.

Mind you, there's some Popish thinking on the right too...things like "we can reason with our opponents across the aisle and meet halfway." Silly Elephant Leaders still think they can work with radicals. Worse still, they believe they can out-Santa Claus the left if they could just get back into power.

Second, the corollary to my first observation - you cannot convince someone who has a pre-judgment that they are wrong - the only recourse is to defeat them. Pope failed to acknowledge that the picture of the battle had changed until he was crossing the bridge over Bull Run Creek, scampering towards Centreville with what was left of his army.

The Popish thinking prevalent now that defies this maxim at it's own peril include -

1) Executives from car companies to electric utilities have tried to put forward their watered down versions of a cap and trade legislation hoping, like begging dogs at a table, to get a pat on the head from the overweight diners at the Congressional table. Fools! Spend your money on a public relations/advertising campaign that illustrates how destructive cap and trade legislation is. Getting half of something really bad is the lobster treatment - they put you in the pot and slowly turn up the heat till it's too late.

2) A little government health insurance built into the budget can't be all bad...can it? Think lobster...come to think of it, maybe the Tea Party Crowd should adopt the lobster as a mascot.

3) It's OK for the Treasury Secretary to be a tax cheat - after all, he's the smartest guy for the job! In the broad spanse of our nation, we can't find ONE other person that is as qualified as the Boy Wonder?? To paraphrase the great William F. Buckley, "I would rather entrust the government to the first 400 people listed in the Boston phone directory." If we cannot have leaders that are honest and ethical - oh hell, what am I saying - but darn it, this guy is running the IRS for pete's sake!

Third - tactics must adapt to the weapons deployed against them. The lesson of the minie ball is profound and in military history it is repeated often - can you say "Maginot Line?" Obama as a candidate and now as President has deployed a phenomenal machine into the field. He brings together the internet with the power of community organization groups like ACORN and the racially charged churches to keep a grass roots cult movement going. You are not going to defeat that trying to emulate it...this video sums it up well:

New ways of presenting the conservative argument need to be considered. Conservatism needs to be packaged not as something that somehow reaches out to control you - conservatism IS freedom. We don't try to tell you how to live your life...how many hours you can watch your TV or what doctor you have to see. We believe in the individual and in the empowering gift of freedom. While that should be cool enough for a younger generation, it has to be packaged well and sold. Obama became a brand, then he became a cult. Going head to head with cultists is not a good option...laughing him out of office because he is an empty, teleprompting suit is. Humor is a wonderful balm and needs to be applied, dare I say it, liberally!

My final observation from my recent sojourn in Northern Virginia is this - people can rise to do incredible things when the institutions they hold dear are in jeapordy. The courage to storm massed guns is incomprehensible to me...but if the option were a return to slavery, I could do it. I do not speak hyperbolically to say that is where we are. To the ramparts!

Rumble on!

Just Wild: The American Form of Government

2009-02-27T09:56:00.001-05:00

This is well worth watching...where are we now?

"What's for Dinner?"

2009-02-09T16:14:00.007-05:00

In September, 1982, I was part of a U.S. Navy Task Force that was taking part in a large amphibious operation in Northern Europe. Ahh, the good old days when the Russkies were the bad guys and the thought of tanks crashing through the Fulda Gap kept everyone awake at night down at the Pentagon. The task force pulled into Portsmouth, England for a few days and it coincided with a good chunk of the Royal Navy's Falkland Islands Battle Group coming home.

The Battle for the Falklands was a dust-up between Argentina (which called the islands the Maldives) and the British. The Argentinians had siezed the islands which were little more than sheep-herders outposts, claiming them to be Argentine in April, 1981. England had other thoughts. It was early in the days of Maggie Thatcher and the UK was, like us across the pond, re-building her military. That a 3rd rate Navy could so blatantly swat at the English Lion was enormously embarrassing. It took almost 18 months for the British to respond. It was not without cost, either. The Argentine pilots, flying American made A-4 Skyhawks and French Etendard's would send the HMS Sheffield, the HMS Coventry and a huge supply ship, the Conveyor to the briny deep. In the end the Royal Navy and Marines prevailed though and the islands flew under the Union Jack again.

So here I was that fall, a sailor who had been at sea for some three months roaming around Portsmouth, England at the same time that their heroes were returning...oh well. I ended up in a couple of diplomatic exchange efforts with the Royal Navy and toured several of their returning vessels, including the HMS Broadsword. The Broadsword had been in the thick of it outside the Battle of San Carlos Bay in the Falklands.

One of the Broadsword's officers relayed a story to me about that day that has stuck with me ever since. Apparently, in the thick of battle, with the planes buzzing all around them...popping up off the wave tops to fire missiles or shoot cannon blasts at them, the Captain emerged on the bridge. Scared and worried faces met him as a report came in that the forward gun mount was not functioning. Nervous orders were being yelled to the helmsman to try to position the ship in such a way that the aft mount would be engaged to maximum effectiveness. "We were genuinely frightened that we were not going to make it out alive," my friend related. The Captain strode calmly to the center window of the bridge, surveyed the foredeck and asked for the Wardroom mess cook to come up to the bridge. "He looked bored, " I was told. A couple of tense moments passed, including another strafing by an Argentine aircraft. When the mess cook came on the bridge, the Captain turned around and in a voice just loud enough to be heard asked "What is for dinner this evening?" "We all knew at that moment that we were going to get by," my host related, "it was extraordinary courage and leadership."

This is an incredible and true tale of courage under fire. The Captain accurately gauged the temperament of his crew, knew the danger they were in and carefully chose the right words and actions to calm his team and compel them to perform great deeds. This Captain had no doubt been in the Royal Navy for at least 15-20 years. He had risen through the ranks learning all aspects of seamanship, engineering, weapons, intelligence, tactics and leadership so that at the point in time he was needed most, far away from any support system, he could perform in such a way that benefited his ship, his crew, his fleet and his mission. Now the HMS Broadsword is about 430 feet long and displaces 4,400 tons with a crew of about 220 men. The leader of this highly compact unit had more years of experience on just this one piece of the Royal Navy than Obama has on anything...ANYTHING. Just like the Royal Navy, no one assumes command of a United States Navy warship without YEARS of experience, and yet we have voted into power a man who has less experience than a Seaman Deuce in the U.S. Fleet and he is in charge of a whole lot more than a 430 foot long frigate!

Contrast the behaviour of this fine Naval Officer with what we are seeing coming out of the White House right now as they attempt to pass a "stimulus bill." Remember the opening scene in "The Big Chill," where the minister is talking about Alex's suicide and he asks "Where did Alex's hope go?" Well, where did Obama's "hope" go? Now, we are being told that if the House and Senate don't pass this bill by the end of this week, that the results will be "catastrophic?" "A failure to act and act now will turn a crisis into a catastrophe?" says Mr. Hopeandchange.

We're getting ready to spend ANOTHER $1,000,000,000,000 and we can't even debate it or hold a hearing or two to discuss what might work. This is not leadership, it is intimidation. We didn't get into this mess overnight, nor are we going to get out of it overnight. Prudent leadership would call for some bi-partisan analysis of the roots of the problem so that a sane piece of legislation can be crafted that addresses those roots and builds a stronger economy for us to go forward with. Democrats blithely throw around the accusation that it was George Bush's fault and that there was no regulation! Republicans, just as blithely throw out that it was Carter and Clinton's fault and there was no regulation of Fannie and Freddie. But what is before the Congress right now is a bill that addresses NEITHER! It simply tosses about a "quadrapillion" dollars in the air and hopes they land in the hands of future Democrat voters. These people have clearly forgotten where the money comes from...you either tax the people or you print it. Both options are bad.

But back to this leadership issue. Barry and his team have so little experience, so little knowledge of how to get things done in Washington that they are relying on the Democrat leadership in the House and Senate to do it for them. The result is a liberal get-even measure for all the budgets since 1994. It is insane. If you have the constitution for it, you can download a copy of the House version here. Don't take my word for it, read it...read about the "Weatherization Assistance Program" - that's on page 641, where you get to pay to get someone else's attic insulated. On pages 9-11 you will find how much each of the existing Departments are going to get for "oversight" of the money they will be spending...it totals over $225 MILLION - just for the oversight...and that doesn't include the establishment of the "Recovery Act Accountability and Trasparency Board." This will make your blood boil, which is a big part of the reason for the haste. Obama's vaunted "transparency" is showing that he is not ready to lead and is terrified that the general public is starting to figure this out...thus the panic.

We have put in office someone who is far more comfortable (and highly gifted) on the campaign trail. He was at it again today, giving stump speeches to "town hall meetings," that featured such great questions as "when is the money allocated for Elkhart going to get to us?" These poor dupes think that somewhere in this 700-page beast is a line item that says "Elkhart, Indiana....$40 gajillion." And there is Barry O selling it..."if they will just pass this bill, it won't be long." Further, he KNOWS it's not going to work. If it was so wonderful please answer the following questions:

1. What do you need Republican votes for? Pass it, watch the economy fly and have the Dems take all the credit!
2. Why is it "going to get worse, a lot worse?" Umm, err...gotcha!
3. Why not slow the process down, open up the books and demonstrate to the American people that this is the greatest thing since vinyl records.

This is a scam. Barry O is not leading, because he doesn't know how to lead. He lacks the experience, the know how and the vision to see what is good for the economy and the country. He has his teleprompter and his basic belief system. Preeminent in the latter is the fundamental, down to the innards of his gut belief that government is the solution and that he as government is the best solution. He is the philosophical negative of Ronald Reagan. Reagan knew how to lead and how to inspire a nation. He also famously knew that government WAS the problem...it still is, and its about to get worse.

I picture Barry O onboard the HMS Broadsword at the height of the battle...running around in circles, feverishly pointing at the next Argentine jet to pop up over the waves....his shipmates would have been appalled then. His countrymen, outside of the cult members, are now.

Rumble on!

KRISIS!!!

2009-01-30T11:38:00.004-05:00

There's an old saying, I think I learned it in the Navy, that goes like this: "When in danger or in doubt, run in circles scream and shout." This very much resembles the behavior of politicians in Washington these days.

There are some metrics in this that are pretty scary. Take a look at the following chart:

The "adjusted monetary base" is "the total amount of a currency that is either circulated in the hands of the public or in the commercial bank deposits held in the central bank's reserves. This measure of the money supply typically only includes the most liquid currencies." Now according to this chart, from before the Great Depression, to about 1972, the AMB stayed in a range of $1-30 Billion Dollars. In 1971, Nixon took the U.S. Dollar off the gold standard...you know, "In God We Trust," and from that point till September 2008, it grew from about $30 billion up to about $850 billion in September, 2008. Some quick math here...hang on, my shoes are still on...about $22 billion per year on average. Now...from September, 2008 till today, it has grown from just under $900 Billion to about $1750 Billion...hmm, that's $850 BILLION in less than six months. Well, surely something that dramatic must have had a profound impact on financial futures in our country right? Let's see...the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 11,020. Today it closed at 8,001. Well that's good isn't it?? Lower is better?

Umm, no. So while our money supply has increased almost 95%, the Dow has lost 27%. Bear in mind that the Dow is a forward thinking index...while it reacts to day-to-day news, in the aggregate it reflects the sentiment of investors for where they think this thing is going. By this rationale, if we assume that some version of the $900+ BILLION "Stimulus" bill does make it to Obama's desk and he signs it...after all, he has to do something!!!! It's a crisis!!! We can expect our 401K's to fall in a similar proportion...$900 Billion represents another 51% increase in the money supply, therefore, applying our ratio the Dow should go down another 15% to 6,800. Now I know there is not a DIRECT correlation, but these things are related and should not be ignored.

This is not a "bash Barry" piece. The panic began under Bush when he cried "fire" in a crowded theater. Without going into too much detail, because I've covered a lot of this in previous posts, this is a ten step anatomy of the abyss we find ourselves in:

1. Lousy policy that encouraged those that could not afford homes to buy them.
2. Lousy policy that encouraged banks to lend that money.
3. Lousy policy that created "public/private" entities (Fannie and Freddie) to insure said bad loans.
4. Lousy policy that allowed the practice to go on unabated despite warnings from every sector.
5. Human greed that figured out how to securitize these bad loans and sell them off as "mortgage backed securities."
6. Human greed that figured out how to re-securitize these bad securities into "collaterized debt obligations."
7. An excessive influx of capital into the United States and into real estate in particular.
a. China and India emerging with purchasing power wanting to put the money in a safe place.
b. The crash on Wall Street of 2000 - the "tech wreck" - led everyone to believe real estate
was safe.
8. Lousy governance and cronyism that constantly swept the warning signs under the rug.
a. Barney Frank
b. Christopher Dodd
9. Lousy leadership that led to a panic.
a. George W. Bush
b. Hank Paulson
10. Cynical leadership that sees opportunity in fanning the flames of a crisis for political gain.
a. Barry O.
b. Rahm "Knuckles" Emmanuel

Now in Barry's defense, he feels he has to do...ummm, something. The Hill Democrats see a special moment in time where they can ride off of Barry's popularity and the sense of panic in the country and ladel in some heavy doses of social engineering. Their clear aim is to add to their patchwork quilt of constituencies in the hopes of creating a permanent class that is beholding to them for their well-being. Please notice that in the above menu of ten items, six of them - 60% for those of you fascinated with numbers - are attributable to Democrats. The very same people who account for 60% of the problem are now the ones with their hands on the tiller steering the boat. (In case you need help, put a check by numbers 1,2,3,4,8 and 10.)

The money has to come from somewhere to pay this tab. Or, alternatively, you could just print it. Weimar Germany tried that and it didn't work out too well. Their panic led to a tyrant...you know one that everyone loved to chant slogans to. It's that or taxation and didn't we fight one war already for "taxation without representation?" These folks up on Capital Hill are spending money on their pet projects without even pausing to catch their breath and consider that it it not their money.

Sadly, the other impact of this Katrina of Money hitting the system is two-fold. First, once it makes its way out of the bank vaults and onto the street, it could cause hyper-inflation and to stem that, the Fed would have no choice but to raise interest rates dramatically, killing off any chance of a recovery in the cradle. Secondly, the dollar will lose its stature as the global market setter. The type of irresponsible policy with no thought to unintended consequences that is being exhibited today in D.C. should make you nauseous.

There is hope though. The House Republicans and 11 Democrats votes in opposition to this bill. And the more people that know about the guts of the bill, the more they are going to realize that this is nothing more than a grab bag for favorite Democrat projects. This from the Wall Street Journal:

So then what’s the multiplier for the $50 million for the National Endowment of Arts? How about the $400 million for global warming research, the $335 million for STD prevention, the $650 million for digital conversion coupons, the $81 billion for Medicaid, the $20 billion for food stamps, the $30 billion for Cobra insurance extensions, the $4.1 billion for neighborhood activist groups like ACORN, the $83 billion for the earned income credit to give tax refunds to people who don’t pay income tax, and the $6 billion to subsidize university building projects just to name a few.

Does that really say $4.1 BILLION for "neighborhood activist groups like ACORN???" Yup. And how does that stimulate anything productive? Well, it doesn't. If the word can get out that this is nothing more than a pork barrel of nonsense, there is a chance it can be stopped.

The teachings of Hippocrates should apply to public policy as it does to medicine - first do no harm. (It's not in the Oath, but it is in his writings.) Obama has inherited a terrible problem. One caused in large part by his fellow party members, though compounded by a rush to solution by the outgoing Bushies. And he faces the true test of leadership. He has pledged that he is going to do "something." The best possible "something" he can do right now is "nothing," but that is not in the cards. Further, he has surrounded himself with neo-Keynesians who ignore the lessons of history in the belief that they are the "best and the brightest" sprung from Mt. Olympus for our salvation. It's a toxic mix. Ironically, Barry O's best chance at salvation right now may well lie in the Republican party. If they can stop this bill...filibuster it to death if need be...or raise enough public awareness that the pollsters in the West Wing get the message, they may buy Barry another term. If.

Rumble on!

TRAINS

2009-01-08T10:10:00.012-05:00

On February 11, 1861, a tall and visibly tired man boarded a train in Springfield, Illinois. At the Tolono Station in Springfield, he turned and addressed the crowd with the following words: "I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, attended as you are aware with considerable difficulties. Let us believe as some poet has expressed it 'behind the cloud the sun is still shining.' I bid you an affectionate farewell." Abraham Lincoln was on his way to Washington D.C. to become the 16th President of the United States. The train, pictured here, would wind through the Midwest, passing through Indianapolis, Cincinnati, heading north into New York to stop in Buffalo and then southward toward Philadelphia and Baltimore. The route would be repeated four years later in reverse as Lincoln's body was returned to his home state. On the outbound route, Lincoln made over one hundred speeches. One of the more prophetic ones being at Independence Hall on February 22, 1861, where he raised the flag at Independence Hall to commemorate George Washington's birthday and said:

"I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. "

To put this in context, On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union and on February 1, 1861 along with six other states, the Confederate States of America was born. Four more would soon follow. Matters of "national importance" and "considerable difficulties" in deed. The War, or the "Wahr" as I grew up knowing it, would ultimately cost almost 1.1 million lives due to casualties, disease, suicide, naval engagements etc. From Faust's "Encyclopedia of the Civil War:

"The Federals lost 110,100 killed in action and mortally wounded, and another 224,580 to disease. The Confederates lost approximately 94,000 as a result of battle and another 164,000 to disease. Even if one survived a wound, any projectile that hit bone in either an arm or a leg almost invariably necessitated amputation. The best estimate of Federal army personnel wounded is 275,175; naval personnel wounded, 2,226. Surviving Confederate records indicate 194,026 wounded.
In dollars and cents, the U.S. government estimated Jan. 1863 that the war was costing $2.5 million daily. A final official estimate in 1879 totaled $6,190,000,000. The Confederacy spent perhaps $2,099,808,707. By 1906 another $3.3 billion already had been spent by the U.S. government on Northerners' pensions and other veterans' benefits for former Federal soldiers. Southern states and private philanthropy provided benefits to the Confederate veterans. The amount spent on benefits eventually well exceeded the war's original cost."

Like many Southern boys, I grew up dreaming that maybe if I had been the last man over the wall into the Union guns at Pickett's Charge in Gettysburg I might have made the difference. I have stood on that hallowed spot many times and in my youth cried that on this spot the dream died. As an older, wiser man I cry for the cost of poor decisions. Needless to say, in my younger days, I didn't think much of Mr. Lincoln. Now, I am grateful for what he did and admire the true genius of the man. He was a conniving politician like the rest of them but, I think, he had a sense of honor. Freeing the slaves was only part of what the war was fought about, but he deserves the credit and I won't get into a drawn out fight about states rights here.

After Lincoln has spoken at Independence Hall, he was advised by Allan Pinkerton that a plot on his life was afoot. Lincoln persisted on speaking to the Pennsylvania legislature and riding the train to Baltimore. There, he was disguised (some reports say he was dressed as a woman) and smuggled into Washington D.C.

Now, aside from some interesting reminiscences of the War between the States, I am drawn to this story because of the continuing urge of the current President-Elect to try to channel Abraham Lincoln. It has been announced that he will re-enact the last leg of Lincoln's journey to Washington by boarding a train in Philadelphia to ride to Washington. They will go off the beaten path to go pick up commuter Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware and then continue anon. So, I ask, what disguise will Obama wear to be smuggled into Washington from Baltimore? He has disguised himself quite well as a "centrist" and a "moderate" so far. The "Office of the President Elect" has further announced that he will be sworn in using Lincoln's Bible. While that is probably a relief to some who were afraid he would choose a Koran, I find the attempt at connectivity revolting. If "Barack Hussein Obama" (the name he will use to be sworn in) had studied Lincoln as closely as he claims he has, he would realize that one trait Ol' Abe was known for (aside from always getting picked to play center in pick-up basketball games) was humility.

When Lincoln went to dedicate the Gettysburg Cemetary and delivered the now famous "Gettysburg Address," he purposely kept his remarks very short. Disappointingly short to the gathered crowd, but he felt that it was inappropriate for the President to hog the clock when the Cemetary Commission had hired an orator, Edward Everett, who spoke for two hours before Lincoln mounted the dais. Lincoln knew that his role was governance, not showmanship. The contemporary reaction of the time to the Gettysburg Address was overall not good...his "hometown newspaper," the Chicago Times said "the cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances of the president." But Everett knew better. Writing to Lincoln the next day he said: "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

But then there's Barry! He's the star of the show...our Savior...our own Barachrist Superstar!!! Oh, and did you know that we have a crisis????!!!!! My God, the economy is in the tank! Unemployment will reach double digits!!!!! The world as we know it is coming to an end!!!!!! Oh, and that's Obama speaking, not the silver hair plugged man from Delaware. But not to worry! Since the crisis is so huge, so enormous, so unimaginably horrible, let's just give all the power to Barry and let him solve all our problems and salve all our fears. It worked for Hugo Chavez in Venezuela! It worked for Lenin in Russia...why shouldn't it work here? Hope and Change! Hope and Change! Chant mindlessly along with me now: "Yes we can!"

Oh, that reminds me, didn't the Israelis and Hamas get the memo that world peace would reign after January 21st? Couldn't they have just waited a couple of more weeks for the flowers to bloom and love to conquer all from the Land of Hopeandchange? Obama would do well to heed the words of Charles Simmons, "Integrity is the first step to greatness."

Now, can we put things in perspective? I am reminded of a wonderful saying that Senior Chief Wonder, USN taught me when I was a tenderfoot Ensign: "When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!" Does the current financial situation compare in ANY way, shape or form, to the condition of the Union when Lincoln headed to Washington? If you answered "yes," to this question, you need to take a hard look at yourself. Like me, your 401K may be down 40%...you may be temporarily out of a job...you may not be able to get a car loan to buy that cool Congressional Motors special-alternate-fuels vehicle BUT, put it in perspective people, the dissolution of the United States is not upon us (yet)! I feel like Bill Murray in "Stripes:" "We're not Watusis, we're not Spartans, we're Americans!" It's about 2:49 into the following clip:

There is another irony in all this Lincoln adulation on the part of B.H.O. Lincoln inherited a divided country, but in assembling his cabinet, he not only appointed his most bitter rivals, he appointed folks from every region of the Union (getting secessionist Southerners to play along didn't work out to well, but he tried):

"So New England got Gideon Welles of Connecticut as Secretary of the Navy. The mid-Atlantic got William M. Seward of New York as Secretary of State and Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania as Secretary of War. Ohio got Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. The border states got Attorney General Edward Bates of Missouri and Postmaster General Montgomery Blair of Maryland. The West of that day -- today's Midwest -- got Caleb Smith of Indiana as Secretary of the Interior. Lincoln even approached a Southerner -- Rep. James A. Gilmer of North Carolina, a former Whig -- to serve in his cabinet, but Gilmer declined."

To date, one Southerner has been appointed by Barry...an ex-mayor of Dallas to be a trade representative. The South is paying the political price for not supporting the junior senator from Illinois. I thought "unity" was one of the principal values in the Land of Hopeandchange.

In all, the Lincoln morphing is eerie and more than a little strange. But like the Greek Columns at the DNC gala in Denver, I suspect it's all about image with no substance behind. The American people will be paying the price for this lack of substance and, in the words of H.L. Mencken, we will "get it good and hard." But we will survive...this is 2009, not 1861.

Rumble on!

Bridges

2008-12-17T17:33:00.011-05:00

In mid-July in the United States we crossed a psychological river. Here's why:

It became common to see $4.00 per gallon gasoline at the pumps. This is the river we crossed:

It is the Rubicon in Northern Italy. This is close to where Caesar crossed uttering "the die is cast." Republican Rome was about to die. The first hint that we had emotionally crossed was the "Drill Here, Drill Now" movement. This is a good thing. Energy self sufficiency is something we will need as a strategic necessity if we are to survive as some form of nation state. Sadly, some of that verve has ebbed as gas prices have done this:

But the trauma of filling up an SUV for $100+ has not gone away. I submit it was the opening round of the fear that has gripped this economy. This was a defining cultural moment. A society built on consumerism and easy credit can not long stand. When Harry swiped his Discover card to buy the gas for the Jimmy at the Exxon station and got home to see Sally that night, a gnawing feeling was in his gut. They pulled out their credit card statements, their mortgage note and second mortgage (that they got the great rate on for the new deck and grill area!). They gathered up the car loans, insurance costs and pending school costs for Jimmy and Kelly, their iPodded kids. What they suddenly realized was that the mental math they had been using to convince themselves they were OK was wrong. They were living well beyond their means in their 3,800 square foot house in Burbia, USA. They saw this in the Washington Post:

The average household debt is now $117,951. This breaks down to an average credit card debt of $8,565, vehicle and tuition loan debt of $14,414, home equity loan debt of $10,062 and mortgage debt of $84,911.

Americans have been living in a financial wonderworld for at least the last twenty years. We have a generation that has grown up on the notion that if you get in trouble, you apply for another credit card. When I graduated from college in 1980, there were no credit cards available for young Naval Officers with a real job. My first credit card was an American Express that I applied for after I made Lieutenant Junior Grade. It came with the stern warning that balances were to be paid off "in full each month to establish your credit worthiness." My how far we have come! Up until a couple of months ago, I could keep shredders going 24/7 at the office and at home trying to destroy the credit card offers and I would barely keep up. Here's my contribution to the World Series Parade:

Now those offers are coming in slower than Obama's response to the Blago scandal.

To a great degree, large parts of our economy have been built on shaky ground. A consumer economy without a diverse jobs base (manufacturing, services, agriculture, etc.) can not long stand. I still believe that, other than the last 60 days, the lowest point of the Bush presidency is when he told us, in the wake of the economy buckling post 9/11, to go out and spend! We were/are at war and war requires sacrifice. But an economy built on consumer spending complicated by the securitization of all that debt has a round chambered and pointed at the middle of the forehead. When the notes of people who can't afford thier houses are packaged and sold to investors who expect an annuity-like return, there's gonna be catastrophic failure. There has been. And the worst is yet to come.

There are more shoes to drop. The multiplier effect of money being spent in the economy is taught in Econ 100 classes as standard fare. When I studied economics in the late '70's we were told that for every $1 spent, there was a $12 impact on the economy because of the "multiplier effect." That was long before the Gucci clad geniuses started increasing the multiplier through complex financial...err, "gadgets?" I spoke to a classmate of mine that was with Wachovia Securities just before the crash in mid-September. Candidly, and he's a reader of these posts, he sounded panicked. They were working through some of the tranches of bad paper. "There are more than 6,400 'strips' in some of these things, we have no idea what we are looking at," he said. A "strip" could be something like Harry's mortgage, Sally's car note, my Visa bill, a piece of permanent financing on an apartment complex in Meridian, Mississippi and God knows how many bad mortgages courtesy of Fannie and Freddie.

Well, the multiplier effect works in reverse too, but with very real and damaging consequences...here comes that shoe! At an Urban Land Institute meeting I recently attended, the outlook was as dreary as four days of Nashville gloom we are currently enduring. The best guesses point to a scenario that says after dismal Holiday sales, a number of retailers are going to go "four paws up." As stores go dark, strip-centers and malls can no longer service their debt due to the drop in rents. The financial institutions get hit again. And it gets worse...the growing job losses will soon have an impact on "good" mortgages too. This is especially true in a world where $2.8 trillion has been lost from the peak cumulative value of American housing...that's $2,800,000,000,000! Well, if your loan is $250,000 and your house is now worth $150,000...what do you do? Send the bank the keys and go start a new life. In other words, the "bottom" is probably 8-10 months away still.

And what will the marvelous "bail out" have accomplished? Honestly, not much. We will have nationalized a large part of our banking system...we have practically nationalized housing already; we the taxpayer will own Detroit...yippee! America, here's what's in your investment account now:

There's a better than 70% chance that we will be well on the way to nationalizing our healthcare system. All for our good. Melville was so right:

Power unanointed may come -
Dominion (unsought by the free)
And the Iron Dome,
Stronger for stress and strain,
Fling her huge shadow athwart the main;
But the Founders' dream shall flee.

But all shall not be lost. For as grim a picture as I have painted, I would still rather be here than say Rwanda, or Mexico, or China, Russia, India, France, Germany, England...OK, anyplace else. I am like Gatsby:

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I see a revolution ahead. We are going to continue this experiment with socialism, the love affair with the Obamessiah will go on un-checked for a few months. But, as in times of struggle in our past, reality will come anew. We will try a revolutionary concept called "capitalism." Capitalism will be properly monitored, but not regulated to encourage political ends. We will be smarter about how we take care of our own job base and approach the world seeking equality along with fairness in our openness to trade. I expect that our entire tax system will be replaced. We will become more realistic. We may realize that we don't need the 3,800 square foot house for a family of four. The old 2,400 square foot ranch model from the 1950's might work just fine. We will keep our cars longer. A lot of us will pass on early retirement. But we will also vote those that got us into this mess out of office...Americans don't mind taking a little pain. They mind it a lot when they are taking all the pain while the criminals in Washington rack up nice pension plans and health benefits. Along the way we will rediscover the spirit that made us great. It is rugged self-reliant individualism. It's not diversity...it's not levelling the playing field to the lowest common denominator. This is not a sissy nation that needs to turn to Mama Government anytime there's a problem. We're doing it right now, but it will not work. It will fail and when it does, we will remember that we are a restless people and in the words of T.S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

The bridges we will build to this new economy will be stronger because of the fire we will have passed through to get the will to do it.

To the green light...
Rumble on!

Tunnels

2008-12-02T11:52:00.007-05:00

On some weird Internet sojourn not long ago I found myself on a site that chronicled closed down insane asylums. One of the links led me to the Danvers State Insane Asylum, a facility that was opened in 1878 and closed in 1992. It is just outside of Boston. There were two collections of photos that struck me. One was of some suitcases that were found in the attic after the facility had closed down. These had belonged to patients...neatly packed, like they were going on a trip. The other was a collection of photos of the tunnels that ran underground and connected all the buildings on the campus. Here's one:

Here's a photo of an odd sign:
So the tunnels were for the patients' use! I developed this image of these poor mad folk stumbling through the tunnels...it was something out of an Edgar Allen Poe story. Confirming my vision, there was this one:

"Ambition, succeed in anxious, jet blast, foot and door, dictionary..." Perhaps I should have begun this piece with "On a dark, stormy night as I ventured past the gates of the silent sentinel..." I was roused from this exploration by the sudden realization that this was all a metaphor for our Congress.

To wit, let me draw your attention to two bills that will NEVER see the light of day: HR 7264 and HR 7094. Both bills have been "Introduced" but it is what is inside those bills that make them deader than that Thanksgiving turkey I smoked last week. Let's take them one at a time.

HR 7264 would repeal the CRA - also known as the "Community Reinvestment Act of 1977." No biggie, right? Wrong! The CRA is at the epicenter of the current financial meltdown. The CRA, according to Investor's Business Daily, "coerces banks into making loans based on political correctness, and little else to people who can't afford them." Though this was originally passed in 1977, under our first black President, Bill Clinton, it was dramatically reinforced. Starting in 1994, the Clinton team of Cisneros, Reno, and Cuomo began a staunch anti-redlining campaign. As a result, minority homeownership rates rose sharply. Economist William T. Gavin, a vice president at the St. Louis Fed wrote in 2006:

One of the stated goals of current and past administrations since the Great Depression has been to increase home ownership. After remaining relatively stable around 64 percent, the rate of home ownership has risen to 69 percent in the past decade. This uptrend has been driven by a sharp rise in the rate of home ownership among young, minority and low-income households. (Hat tip, Taki)

This idea of giving away mortgages (aka subprime mortgages) is supported by the false assumption that real estate values will appreciate forever. When that ceases to be the case, or when other spending priorities overwhelm the purchasing power of the mortgage holder...can you say $4 per gallon gasoline?...thought you could, the defaults begin. With over $1 Trillion in subprime mortgages out there, there was going to be some hurt. Here's a headline from 2001:

Fannie Mae's Targeted Community Reinvestment Act Loan Volume Passes $10 Billion Mark; Expanded Purchasing Efforts Help Lenders Meet Both Market Needs and CRA Goals

This is from a press release by Fannie Mae...wait, it gets better:

Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE), the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages, today announced that its acquisition volume of specially-targeted Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) loans passed the $10 billion threshhold in the second quarter of 2001, reaching that milestone more than one and a half years ahead of schedule.
In the spring of 1999, Fannie Mae pledged to purchase at least $10 billion in CRA loans by the end of the year 2002.

The progress of Fannie Mae's CRA transactions volume was announced today by Jamie Gorelick, Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae, at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Annual Secondary Mortgage Conference in Orlando, Florida.
"Our approach to our lenders is `CRA Your Way'," Gorelick said. "Fannie Mae will buy CRA loans from lenders' portfolios; we'll package them into securities; we'll purchase CRA mortgages at the point of origination; and we'll create customized CRA-targeted securities. This expanded approach has improved liquidity in the secondary market for CRA product, and has helped our lenders leverage even more CRA lending. Lenders now have the flexibility to use their own, customized loan products," Gorelick said.

Q: So Fannie Mae was buying up the CRA forced mortgages...and in 2001 they passed $10 BILLION? And why is Jamie Gorelick's name in there???? WTF?????

A: I see you are upset, sir, please put the weapon down.

That's right. Fannie bought up the CRA loans regardless of the type of loan product that had been created. So did Freddie. The Clinton administration pressured Fannie and Freddie to "socialize the risk and guarantee the profit from the subprime loans" (IBD, 12/1/08) and this in turn got Wall Street interested as these instruments were securitized, bundled up and re-sold. That is where HR7094 comes in.

HR 7094 states in it's opening paragraph that the purpose of the bill is:

To establish a term certain for the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to provide conditions for continued operation of such enterprises, and to provide for the wind down of such operations and the dissolution of such enterprises.

Wind up and dissolution. To borrow from Joseph Schumpeter, it is time for some "creative destruction." This is the process where capitalism heals itself. By allowing institutions that have become ineffective or downright destructive to die instead of being nursed along by the government, markets create demand for new products, services, jobs and growth.

But back to the tunnels. Congress, especially a Democrat controlled one, cannot see what they have done. Bringing these two bills to the floor where they can be openly discussed and debated will take us back in time to the beginning of our troubles...the Donks simply cannot afford to go there. Instead, they will keep wandering through the tunnels, scribbling incoherent statements on the wall and allowing a pliant press to cover it all up.

Einstein once said that "you can't solve problems with the same mind-set that got you into the problem in the first place." To bail out Fannie and Freddie without planning for their dissolution and to leave the CRA in place is to invite a repeat of the current disaster somewhere down the road. Put another way, it's no use in bailing out the row boat if you don't plug the leak first.

I don't advocate for action much in these posts, but I will in this instance. Go here - find your Congressman and send them a note demanding that HR 7264 and HR 7094 be brought to the floor and debated publicly immediately.

Don't expect immediate action...I have lobbied on the Hill in my past. Maybe that's why this seemed so familiar:

Rumble on!

Post note: Danvers has been "re-used" - it is now a luxury condo community called Avalon Danvers...call me superstitious, but I'm not sure I could live there...here's a pic:

Maybe it would make a good retirement home for ex-Congressmen?

Spies Like Us

2008-11-28T17:58:00.005-05:00

The National Intelligence Council's "Global Trends 2025" is a report that jumbles the thoughts of all 17 of our intelligence agencies into a periodic piece that is pretty much worthless the day it is published. Here are the four central "findings" in the report just released:

The whole international system—as constructed following WWII—will be revolutionized. Not only will new players—Brazil, Russia, India and China— have a seat at the international high table, they will bring new stakes and rules of the game.
The unprecedented transfer of wealth roughly from West to East now under way will continue for the foreseeable future.
Unprecedented economic growth, coupled with 1.5 billion more people, will put pressure on resources—particularly energy, food, and water—raising the specter of scarcities emerging as demand outstrips supply.
The potential for conflict will increase owing partly to political turbulence in parts of the greater Middle East.

Now there is some truth in each of these points, but let's take them one at a time.

1) The whole international system will be revolutionized...Brazil, India, China and Russia bring new stakes. Fair enough. The hegemony of U.S. power will wane and these four rising superstars will gain equal footing with the United States. Let's start with GDP - here's 2005, which is the closest year for comparing:

USA: $ 12,416,510,000,000
China: $ 2,234,297,000,000
Brazil: $ 796,055,200,000
India: $ 805,713,800,000
Russia: $ 763,720,000,000

Those other four nations put together are about 1/3 of the US's GDP. On a per capita basis, the numbers are more stark:

USA: $39,319.40
Russia: $9,821.52 (Just ahead of Botswana)
Brazil: $7,967.52 (Three below Grenada)
China: $5,453.31 (Just above Swaziland)
India: $3,113. 10 (Just below Djibouti)

I point this out because inherent in growth will be the needs of the populace. The citizens of all these nations will place a lot of demands upon their governments in their ascension.

Can each of these field militaries that could pose regional problems for the United States? Absolutely. Fortunately, Brazil and India seem to get along pretty well with the US. Russia has been reduced to being a pain in the arse...float some old cruiser down to Venezuela and call that "projection of power?" I remember hunting submarines in the "Box" off Bermuda when the Soviets were a serious contender. Russia, now? Mmmm, not so much. China is aggressively pursuing a blue water navy, but are years away from being able to project conventional power.

2. The transfer of wealth from west to east will continue. Now how long did these cats have to think about this one? As long as we are unwilling to pursue our own energy sources and do it as a matter of national security, it doesn't take a rocket science to figure this one out. BUT, there are limits. In the "tip of the iceberg" category, Yemen will be out of oil by 2012. The consequences of that are dramatic enough with piracy becoming so common in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, but they are also indicators of what will eventually happen throughout the Middle East...some oil experts believe even mighty oily Saudi Arabia has reached peak production. The point being, the transfer of wealth, though huge enough when oil is at $140 per barrel, let alone $65, but it will begin to slow and reverse course over the next twenty five years, not continue. If we wanted to be adults about our energy policy and not "hope for change" to come from some green revolution, we would put all hands on deck and build nuclear power plants, coal gasification facilities and drill for our own oil.

3.) Thomas Malthus redux. This Malthusian vision of 1.5 billion more people eating the crops like hordes of locusts probably will not materialize. First - Russia, like most of Europe and Japan are headed for demographic meltdowns with death rates surpassing population replacement birth rates. Second, with economic growth, population rates slow and level off. There is evidence that China has already begun that process. The population growth rate of the United States at .88% is ahead of China's .63%.

4) The Middle East will continue to be a hell hole. Again, which group of Einsteins thought this one up? See #2 above.

NOW, what was not said and what should have been included in this are some key intelligence observations made from my living room in Tennessee:

1. The single greatest threat to world stability for the foreseeable future will be radical Islam. Muslims pose a demographic threat to Europe, Russia, China and India (as we have just graphically seen these past few days). To continue to coddle these vicious bastards and not go to the sources - Saudi Arabia and Iran - will keep bloodshed around the world at an unacceptable level.

2. The nation that poses the single greatest threat to world stability is the Radical Islamic Republic of Iran. The thought that they could be anywhere near a nuclear weapon is beyond the pale. If you've never heard of an EMP, you should read this.

3. If we don't pursue energy independence in the United States, we will find ourselves continuously exposed to the whims of radical Islamists, Gulf of Aden pirates and a whole lot of hurt. I am all in favor of the clean, green technologies and believe that they should be developed alongside of the primitive ones that we know work - nuclear, oil, coal. But regardless, let's break the bonds that chain us to a region that will continue to be a wreck.

4. The United States will increasingly find ourselves with fewer friends. Europe is a demographic basket case...here's a little sampling from Pew Research:

Islam is already the fastest-growing religion in Europe. Driven by immigration and high birthrates, the number of Muslims on the continent has tripled in the last 30 years. Most demographers forecast a similar or even higher rate of growth in the coming decades.
The social impact of this growing population is magnified by a low birthrate among native Europeans. After a post-World War II baby boom, birthrates in Europe have dropped to an average of 1.45 children per couple, far below the 2.1 needed to keep population growth at replacement levels. The continent that gave the rest of the world tens of millions of immigrants and Thomas Malthaus' dire predictions of overpopulation is now faced with a shrinking populace.
Amid these demographic shifts lies a host of social challenges. While many European Muslims have become successful in their new homes, many others do not speak their host country's language well, if at all, and are often jobless and poor. Moreover, segregation, whether by choice or necessity, is common, with large numbers of Muslims living in ghettos where the crime and poverty rates are high.

My guess (hope) is that England will come to it's senses and avert the demographic nightmare that will probably play out on the continent. If so,we can count them to be alongside. Ditto the other English speaking nations - Australia, India and a reluctant New Zealand. Japan's power will wane (negative population growth), but she will remain alongside too. Brazil and Columbia offer hope for us in South America. The rest of the world? Not good.

5. The United States will either stem the tide of Mexican illegal immigration or risk the balkanization of our country with large sections of the Southwest and California more concerned about Mexico than the United States.

Despite the election of Obama, I still have an unshakable faith in the goodness of America, and a firm belief that we will remain the "city on the hill," that will help lead the world away from tyranny. We have succeeded in destroying fascist tyranny. Communist tyranny, with the exception of kooks like Hugo Chavez, is on the run. Next up, Islamic tyranny...I believe that we will prevail, but this will be the longest fight yet. There are no clear battle lines and often the enemy is among us. But if we remian true to ourselves and the founding principles of our nation, we will prevail.

Besides, only in America can we produce comedy like this:

Rumble on!

A Big Tent Revival

2008-11-21T16:54:00.006-05:00

One of the big themes that is emerging early in the post-election circular firing squad that is the Republican Party of today is that social conservatives cost McCain the election and that they need to be drummed out of the party. If it wasn't for the Jesus-freaks, McCain would have won in a landslide, because they really creep the Independents out. It was all that Bible-thumping that "Youbetcha" Palin was doing that scared the electorate away. Strange how facts can get in the way...this from the First Amendment Center right here in little ol' Nashville:

Sixty-five percent of Americans believe that the nation's founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation and 55% believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation, according to the “State of the First Amendment 2007” national survey released Sept. 11 by the First Amendment Center.

Come again...did you just say 65%? Now I am not in favor of establishing a Christian nation. But I am a strong supporter of religion's role in the public forum and feel that much has been lost without it. I was over at another blogsite arguing a similar point. There is a tremendous misunderstanding that has made it into our common belief system. It is the notion that the first amendment guaranteed us "separation of church and state" AND that such separation means that church stuff is allowed nowhere near state stuff...ixnay, onay, don't go there! Well, as Sargeant Friday might say, "just the facts ma'am:"

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Anyone recognize that? Yes, you in the back..."the First Amendment?"...correctamundo! So what were our Founding Fathers saying? Break it down:

1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion... they did not want a national church a la Church of England. Escaping from the clutches of a state run church once is enough for a lifetime, ask the refugees from the Taliban.
2. ...or prohibiting free exercise thereof... OK, that's the freedom of religion part.
3. ...or abridging the freedom of: speech, the press, right to assemble, right to petition the government. - nothing in here about the Church shall not be allowed anywhere near a government building.

So, the country-club-republicans (and their liberal allies) want us to believe that if it wasn't for fear of some Christian Christ Centric Clergyocracy McCain would have won. And, following that logic one step further, if ONLY he had gone more to the center, Republicans would not have experienced a rout. Well, what are the facts? This from a study over at American University:

A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout. The percentage of eligible citizens voting Republican declined to 28.7 percent down 1.3 percentage points from 2004. Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 percentage points from 28.7 percent of eligibles to 31.3 percent.

Consider this too - Obama was very clever not to offend the Christian Right. This from a pro-Hillary leftist site:

The big story here is the Christian right. While ostensibly, the Saddleback debate put McCain on top and no one showed up at Obama’s Values tour, it is clear to me that deals were made behind closed doors.

The anecdote about the Bush voter who stayed home because this time his pastor didn’t tell him to go is even more significant if one considers the passage of proposition 8 in California.

The Obama campaign allowed Obama’s voice to be used in robocalls saying Obama opposed gay marriage.

B0bots were not told to vote against it. They did vote for a proposition taking care of chickens. left the gays out - as price for the Christian right staying home.

During the primary, Bush’s spiritual adviser endorsed Obama. Said he told Bush about it and agreed. Bush in turn added: He (Obama) is a good man.

Look at the numbers again: PUMAs voting McCain might have overcame the - REAL - new voters.
The real difference in numbers is the nearly 6 million Bush voters whose ministers didn’t tell to go out and vote.

Furthermore, Catholics, whose values line up with the Christian Right voted for Barry O 54% to 45%. Sadly, Catholics voted for the most pro-abortion candidate in history. Despite a terrific performance in the Saddleback forum, McCain simply did not energize Catholics enough to make them overcome the excitement around BHO. So let me sum up the election thusly (and I have already done so extensively in an earlier post):

1. Republicans lost because the Democrats had a far better candidate who ran as a CONSERVATIVE! (Tax cuts, hold people responsible, hope for America, yadda yadda yadda). Our guy ran as a moderate - err, I mean, "maverick."
2. They did NOT lose because the values held by the Christian right turned off a large percentage of the electorate. They lost because other than Sarah Palin and a brief show of hands at Saddleback, the campaign expressed NO VALUES. We didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings!

If we can get over the idea that Social Conservatives need to be thrown overboard, then we can get back to the notion that I advance which is this. The American people are hungry for religion and values to be part of the national discussion. They are sick and tired of having to say "Happy Holidays" to avoid hurting anyone's feelings. They are sick and tired of a culture that glorifies the most sinister forms of sex and violence. They are looking for a champion of good...you know, someone like this:

We have so expunged faith and values from the public schools and the public discourse that it is no surprise that we have CEO's that behave like they do...taking millions of dollars in parachutes as they exit the companies they have wrecked. There is no remorse if your only value is to "get rich." There is no responsibility if all you see is yourself. A culture of success will not long stand if it is devoid of responsibility and remorse and we are well down that path. If the Republicans want to truly turn the ship around, they need to become a party of opposition not accomodation. They need to understand that the American people are hungry for a leadership that braves the media waters of political correctness and shouts "Stop, enough is enough." We have sacrificed our future on the altar of diversity, but it is not too late. As they adjust to the new reality of a Democrat majority (and possible super-majority in the Senate), Republicans need to embrace the groups that they have run away from in this last election cycle and get back to work reaffirming our core conservative principles. Then a candidates can be fielded that offer a true choice to the electorate instead of the choice between hot water couched in syruppy rhetoric and lukewarm water couched in dry droll. After two years of the Obamots, the American people will be ready for true change...maybe the Republicans won't screw it up this time!

Rumble on!

Victory in Iraq

2008-11-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

Time to celebrate - Victory in Iraq - to be celebrated November 22!

Johnny Cash...The Ballad of Ira Hayes

2008-11-17T00:00:00.001-05:00

Rebutting Mr. Anonymous

2008-11-13T18:12:00.006-05:00

My last essay, "After Action Report," drew some fire from "anonymous." I hate it when people don't have the courage to identify themselves. Anyone that starts their responses to my posts with "Hate-speech and bloviating aside..." is not reading what I am posting and is just firing blindly with typical liberal ad hominem attacks. I engage in neither. In fact, if Mr. Anonymous had the courage to read the post, he would have seen that it is his comrades that engage in hatred. It is not "hateful" to stand on a moral position that says you are opposed to gay marriage or abortion. This is hateful:

Now note, that the Ban on Gay Marriage was approved in California - the deepest blue state next to Vermont. So, I assert again, that this country remains center right. And to say that to be anti-gay is anti-black or anti-woman is silly. A majority of blacks voted for Prop 8 in California and resent being lumped in with the gays. This is not to hate gays; it is simply to take a moral position that I feel their behavior is wrong based on fundamental Judeo-Christian principles. I do not hate them, and as cliche as it sound, I have several friends that are of that persuasion. Do I feel they deserve marriage rights and dilute the rite of matrimony absolutely not; nor do I wish to have that legislated from the bench. Are they entitled to rites of civil union, I have no problem with that.

To my friend's comment about mandates...if Bush said he had a mandate in either election he was wrong. But 58.2 million people voted AGAINST Obama, 46% of the nation. My comparison to a real mandate stands. Not everyone is like Mr. Anonymous prepared to march blindly forward chanting "yes we can, hope, change!"

For some strange reason, much of Mr. A's hatred is directed at religion - seems, like many on the left to have a particular problem with Jesus - doesn't want him in society, doesn't want him running the government, defunding stem-cells, allowing faith based initiatives and so on. Not sure where that comes from, but suffice to say, the Constitutional principles of this nation are rooted in the traditions of Judeo-Christian thought. The concepts of equality that we value so dearly could not have existed without the Gospel. You certainly won't find those lessons in Islam, Hindu or any other religion of significance. It is the foundation of WESTERN Civilization and all the dances around the Maypole of Diversity aren't going to change that fact. Does that therefore mean that I want the Pope or Billy Graham running the country? Of course not - remember, it was Christ who said, "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's." A far cry from Marx and Obama's "give me everything you have including your mind." Believing in something beyond our world is not a sign of inferior intellect as Mr. A believes, nor is it a sign of superior intellect. It is a matter of faith - and while he wishes to put his in the O, I put mine in something that has been around a lot longer and at least has the true hope of something better.

Mr. A is correct that liberals do yearn for control of the schools: "And if Obama gets his education agenda passed, the next generation will be even less likely to fall for the party line of ignorance and apathy." Listen, the left has controlled the schools for the last thirty years...can you say Bill Ayers? And look what it has produced...scholars like Mr. A who actually believe that raising taxes is a good thing for an economy. Further, that very sentence is at the core of what many of us on the right find so chilling about the Big O - he's not talking about education, he's talking about indoctrination - that is immoral and wrong. The Communists liked to do it - take the kids away from their parents so they could turn them into mind-numbed bots willing to do the bidding of the state like sitting around and singing "yes we can!"

Now instead of spouting a bunch of platitudes from moveon.org, Mr. A should study the following chart...it's 2005, but the policy hasn't changed. Please note that the top 20% of income earners pay 70% of the taxes. The bottom 20% pay nothing. To increase the burden on the top and give it to the bottom is not "sharing" or "paying a fair share" it is income redistribution which is Communism.

Worse, it is an insidious form of welfare designed to create a permanent voting block to keep Democrats in power. A strategy that worked well until Republicans forced Bill Clinton to sign welfare reform. B.O. wants to bring it back without calling it that. That top 20% has some scoundrels, no question...as do all the quintiles. But they are also the driving force for progress and change. They are the small businesses that create the jobs that help others move out of the second, middle and fourth quintiles...a fact that Mr. A is too blind to ever accept. Further, using government as the entity to create jobs is the path to slavery. We tried it with the WPA and it didn't work then either. Took a good old fashioned war to get us out of that Democrat nose dive.

He finishes his diatribe with the predictable assaults on Sarah Palin, the last eight years of hell he's lived in, guns and Jesus banter...insults fellow blogger, Blue Collar Muse, and basically rants like a teenager that's been told they don't get the car keys until they do their homework. He suffers from BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) and rails at the President in the sickeningly disrespectful tone of the left...not to be confused with the coyish fun tone we on the right have towards our future "ruler." I have disagreed mightily with Bush on issues like spending and the expansion of the Federal government...but I owe him a large debt of gratitude. He took the fight to the enemy, which was his number one priority (if we are dead, it's hard to do much else here on earth) and we have not suffered another catastrophe like 9/11.

I don't know if his predictions are correct or not...they are in the future and not even the great O the Magnificent, can tell us. The Republicans got whipped bad - no doubt about it - and in large part deserved it. The country demanded "change" and at that juncture of history, coupled with a financial crisis, the roots of which are in Democrat policy, the American people tossed 'em out. I do know this though - America is still a fundamentally good country, a beacon of opportunity despite the rough times we are in now. I have soundly based fears that we could lose that stature with the dawn of the Age of O. We shall see.

Now, if Mr. A wishes to post, I have a few rules of engagement:
1) Identify yourself - don't hide behind the banner of anonymity.
2) No bad language - this is a family station.
3) No taunting - I do have a life on top of this meager scribing.
Failure to live by the rules...failure to get your name in lights!

Rumble on!

Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T09:40:00.007-05:00

"THAT RAGGED OLD FLAG"

I walked through a County Court House square.
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I Said, "Your old Court House is kinda run down."
He Said, "No, it will do for our little town."
I Said, "Your old flag Pole is leaning a little bit.
And that`s a ragged old Flag you`ve got hanging on it."

He Said, 'Have a seat," and I sat down.
"Is the first time that you`ve been to our little town?"
"Well," he said, "I don`t like to brag,
But we`re kinda proud of that ragged old Flag.
You see, we got a little hole in the Flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder burns, the night Francis Scott Key,
Sat watching it, writing "Oh Say Can You See."
And it got a bad rip at New Orleans,
When Packingham and Jackson took it to the scene
And, it almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas Flag
But she waved on through
She got cut with a sword at Chancerville,
And she got cut again at Shilo Hill
There was Robert E. Lee, Bouregard and Bragg
The South wind blew hard on that Old Ragged Flag
On Flanders Field in World War One
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun
She turned BLOOD RED World War Two,
And she hung limp and low a time or two
She was in Korea and Vietnam
She went from our ships upon the briny foam
Now they`ve about quit waving her back here at home
In our good land she`s been abused,
She`s been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused
And the Government for which she stands
Is scandalized through out the land
She`s getting threadbare and she`s wearing thin,
But, she`s in good shape for the shape she`s in
Because she`s been through the fire before,
I believe she can take a whole lot more
So we raise her up every morning,
and we Take her down every night,
We don`t let her touch the ground,
and we fold her up right,
On second thought, I DO LIKE TO BRAG,
BECAUSE I`M MIGHTY PROUD OF THAT RAGGED OLD FLAG.

(Author - Johnny Cash)

Check out the Video over at The Rumbler Report

After Action Report

2008-11-07T15:15:00.002-05:00

Well, things didn't go the way I would have liked on Tuesday night. Didn't go the way most of you fine readers of this blog would have liked either. It's not as bad as it could have been - can you say "filibuster?" Thought you could. Despite the myths that will be propogated, voter turnout was about the same as 2004...and with the tsunami of misplaced anger at the Republicans it wasn't a "blowout." Certainly was not a Reaganesque mandate (489 -41 Electoral College, 51%-41% popular vote in 1980 and 525-13 Electoral College and 59%-41% popular in 1984). But it was the Democrats night. After sobering up on Wednesday morning and putting away the 9MM and the Jack Daniels, I did what most of you probably did, go back to work. I have not reached the point of Atlas shrugging yet, but I suspect it's not far off for me and for many of you. On the half-empty side of the glass view, the election proves out a scary point made often by conservatives, that when we reach the point where the majority of the electorate has not stake in the outcome of the election beyond what they will receive from the government, we will pass quickly to tyranny. We're not there yet, but, we took a giant step in that direction on Tuesday.

First, in fairness, Obama's people deserve some credit. They sold 53% of the American people a brand, an image, a cloud of smoke. But they won. Our side ran a pretty awful campaign, second only to the dullness of the Dole campaign a few years back. We refused to attack the enemy on the issues that would have completely discredited him in the eyes of the American people - the 20 year association with the loonbat Reverend Wright. Even more significant though is that we failed to defend our turf. Instead of a loud defense of free markets and the benefits of capitalism where institutions that overreach are bound to fail, we railed against Wall Street greed and demanded that the Chairman of the SEC stand down. The one ray of brilliant sunshine brought into the campaign, Sarah Palin, was badly mishandled. Who in their right mind would allow unbridled access to Katie Couric for two days - you know it's a matter of time before she gets the money shot! Palin could have survived the condescension of Charlie Gibson, probably even gotten some sympathy for it...but the blank stares into Couric's camera were devastating though undeserved. Palin is a sharp, committed conservative who, I suspect will be back in some capacity in the future. Her national elected office aspirations are probably over though - few return from that kind of treatment...how about Secretary of Energy in the future? Wrap all that up with the financial meltdown and John McCain must have felt like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. This last piece didn't have to be so either...I have defended President Bush for eight years on his foreign policy while chiding him on not using the veto pen for stopping the drunken spending. His behavior from mid-September on was the equivalent of crying "fire!" in a crowded theater. So be it - all is past now.

In between swirling swigs of Jack Black on Tuesday night, I tried saying "President Obama." I thought of what it would be like to be in the military with a new Commander in Chief that couldn't pass the security clearance tests to be a buck private...not good. How should he be treated? I think Bill Whittle, in a post titled "Historic," got it right over at Ejectejecteject, but I also share the view of Blue Collar Muse. Then wise words of the Rumbler Dad came to me. When I was first commissioned into the Navy, I was told "remember, they will salute the bars because they have to...they will salute the man because they want to." I love this country too much to disrespect the office of the President. Unlike the left loons and leaders that besmirched Reagan, Bush I and W mercilessly for the past two decades...overseas, here, to the moon, I can't do that. I also, to quote Kipling, "don't give way to hating." It does no good. But I will fight till I breath no more, anyone who attempts to destroy the founding principles of this nation. A person who thinks that the Constitution is some kind of putty to be molded to the current temporal fad. Just like the oath Obama will take in the too near future, I swore an oath almost thirty years ago to "protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic, so help me God." I may have resigned my Commission, but I have not vacated my oath.

Where to now? First, let's not get it wrong. As a former Navigator, I can tell you the first task is to determine where you are...then worry about where you are going. Some thoughts about where we are:

We did not lose because we failed to "move to the middle." Conservative values triumphed in California! with the passing of the Gay Marriage Ban. I submit we lost because our core conservative principles were muddled. The clarifying surge of Sarah Palin's addition may have saved McCain from a fate worse than Custer.
We failed dismally to educate the voter. We failed on tax policy - for Chrissakes, it took the common sense wisdom of Joe the Plumber to point out that Obama is a Socialist! If you poll the American population with the question "do you want this country to be more of a European socialist state?" The result would be 70-30 AGAINST. We failed on foreign policy - we failed to remind the folks that the real danger in the world is not the free market, it is the free terrorist.
We failed to put forward a unifying vision of what America can look like in four or eight years of conservative leadership and how the principles of freedom can repair the damage to the economy.
We failed to defend capitalism. We got scared...capitalism allows for folly to be punished by the market. Bush panicked, the Dems pounced and voila we have nationalized real estate, the major financial institutions and may end up nationalizing the automobile industry before long.
We failed to defend the family. We failed to show that freedom is the most fundamental and unstoppable ingredient to success. The state is not the father that some want it to be...only because they want to be the Daddy! Choice for education, choice for healthcare, choice for unionization with unfettered political meddling will get us where we want to go, not a hope ticket from Washington.
We failed to defend the unborn. We have now elected the MOST pro-abortion politician in the history of this land. A man who calmly supports infanticide if necessary. If we cannot defend the least among us, where will our moral core end up? Heed well the words of DeTocqueville*: "America is great because she is good. If she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." (* There is some speculation that this really isn't in DeTocqueville - I'll be honest, I never saw it, but I may have dozed off in that part...nevertheless, the spirit and meaning of the words ring true.)

Written in all these "we faileds" is the path to future victory. I plan on being here. I anticipate some thuggery along the way...like other conservative bloggers I have received some creepy threats - this one came in yesterday:

Di*&weed,
You s*%ck!

Your racist fear mongering will not go unchallenged! Soon we will shut down your hate spewing web sites. We will take your guns. In prison, you will get an education on the error of your ways. We will take your children and raise them as our own and instill in them the values of social justice. We will have a new American Republic of justice and order for all!

You time is almost up! Prepare for the dung heap of history!

Atlas Shrugged got a similar e-mail. I had joked with a friend of mine about being sent to the re-education camps...hey, I was joking! This is still America isn't it? Anyhow, this individual needs some anger management classes. Why does the left always say it is the right that hates? Then there was this Anonymous comment left over at my Rumbler Report: (I have edited it and removed it from the blog.)

F*%ckhead,
We are watching your racist spewing. Any attempts at criticizing President Obama will be treated as sedition and we will report you to the FBI. We will shut down your f*%cking hate filled a#$hole commentary and get your a#@ thrown in prison where you will be r*&ped by all the people you don't want to allow to get maried.

Nice. I think he meant "married?"

Well, we are ready to move forward and to defend our First Amendment rights...and if need be, our Second Amendment rights too. Obama talked about a "righteous wind" before he blows hard to change the world, there is a right-wing wind blowing. We shall overcome!

Rumble on!

A Thousand Points of Darkness

2008-10-30T14:48:00.007-05:00

I watched a good chunk of the Obamercial last night and found myself depressed afterward. Not because "my guy" couldn't afford a similar slug of advertising or that the production was so good and compelling that I feared it "sealed the deal" with the 6-11% (depending on the polls) of undecided voters. No, my depression stemmed from the creeping thought that this might be what America has become. Maybe Phil Gramm was right and we've become a nation of whiners. A nation that when bad things happen to us, we want someone in Washington to come fix it for us. Is that us? I thought back to similar political productions that had been done in the past...remember this one:

It struck me that here is the fundamental difference between the two sides. One side looks across this incredible nation of ours and sees starving kids, crushed dreams and lost hope. And when they see these things, they see an opportunity to expand their power by becoming their benefactor. The other side looks at troubles in the country and sees an opportunity to clear away obstacles so that people can fix things for themselves...you know, rugged individualism, self reliance and all that. George H. W. Bush had his "Thousand Points of Light" program that was so derided by the media and the Left, but it held up examples of Americans that overcame difficulties, rose above the fray and did incredible things...they showed us that we can be a nation of heroes. Barack Obama in his Obamercial last night held up examples of a "Thousand Points of Darkness" all of which were caused by George W. Bush -helpless citizens that can't afford healthcare or food for their children or whom some evil corporation that went bankrupt stole their pension from. And Santa Obama was going to solve all their problems! How, well with Hope and Change! O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma! The most disgusting clip of the night was shot in a senior citizens home with an elderly man tearfully looking at Obama like my beagle looks at me for a snack. Now I am not cold-hearted nor naive enough to know that problems do not exist. But I have faith in local community groups, churches and charities and yes, families, to be better solutions for these folks problems than a new federal entitlement.

Have the public schools so sissified this nation now that we have a generation of people that can't take care of themselves, that can't think for themselves, that need a handout just to get the week's snacks in the fridge? Simply put, it is the difference between giving a man a fish and teaching him to fish. Have the fishermen left? Have our teachers unions succeeded in dumbing down the American populace so much that they have no idea what is in the Constitution anymore and that our Republic was founded upon the principles of freedom for, not enslaving of, the people? The dichotomy between those that want the government to provide all their needs and those that just want to be left alone is the reason why Joe the Plumber had to be destroyed. It's the reason that Sarah Palin had to be destroyed. "How dare people like that - my God, he's not even a plumber and she attended the University of Idaho...how, how, how crass! " They are both simple, plain people trying to do the right thing. But more importantly, they are trying to do it on their own.

Every one of us knows a Joe or a Sarah, and a whole lot of us ARE Joe or Sarah. We're trying to own our own business and raise a family. We volunteer at the PTA meetings to help coordinate the bake sale for the 8th Grade fundraiser. We know how to fish and we know how to help our neighbors in need and we damned sure don't need somebody who has never done anything in their lives except run for office and agitate others to mau mau for handouts to tell us what to do. Here's a great example of just such a person:

One thing we did not hear from Obama last night was what he HAS accomplished.
"Rumbler, the Senator is highly accomplished! How dare you insinuate that he has done nothing in his life."
"OK, name one thing he has done that qualifies him to be Commander in Chief over brave young men like the one in the video?"
"Well, he's run a campaign..."
"OK, name one thing he has done that gives him an understanding of how small business works?"
"Well, he um, um, uh, uh, uh...hang on teleprompter broke...TILT."

This man is the Etch a Sketch Candidate.

Whatever you want to draw on it, it shows up for a minute and then give it a quick shake and presto, it's gone. In a superlative piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning, the writer, Fouad Ajami points out that:

On the face of it, there is nothing overwhelmingly stirring about Sen. Obama. There is a cerebral quality to him, and an air of detachment. He has eloquence, but within bounds. After nearly two years on the trail, the audience can pretty much anticipate and recite his lines. The political genius of the man is that he is a blank slate. The devotees can project onto him what they wish.

But there is something to this - he is a con artist, a scam. He preys on people's fears and offers them nothing but "hope" and "change." I guess I feel like the Outlaw Josie Wales carrying my wounded friend when he encounters the carpet bagger salesaman:

Carpetbagger: Your young friend could use some help.
[holds up a bottle of patent medicine]
Carpetbagger: This is it... one dollar a bottle. It works wonders on wounds.
Josey Wales: Works wonders on just about everything, eh?
Carpetbagger: It can do most anything.
Josey Wales: [spits tobacco juice on the carpetbagger's coat] How is it with stains?

Obama is a Carpetbagger. So in that spirit, I felt better by the end of the evening and do again today. There is "Hope," and we do need "Change," but hope, in this country, has never been anchored in one man and the intent of the "change" has never been so well disguised. In our Christian tradition, "hope" arises from the will, not the passions. We must will ourselves to do better, to examine the laws and politicians we have and correct our course to provide the freedom to hope again. And change to a Euro-socialist state is not what we need.

All the polls are tightening, and despite all the odd, maybe come November 4, we will be able to say, "Hell's coming to breakfast," and the forces that would lead us into a dark night of socialist captivity may yet be thwarted.

Rumble on!

Joe

2008-10-20T14:51:00.006-04:00

If they can do it to Joe, they can do it to you. How would you like everything about your past posted on the Internet? Let's say you had a messy divorce a few years back, or got in a tight spot and couldn't pay a bill or two. Would you like that broadcast for everyone to see? This is where Joe 'the Plumber' Wurzelbacher finds himself. Why? Because he had the temerity to ask the question and voice his opinion:

The key phrase was "spread the wealth around." This might be the gaffe that turns the election around. The inadvertent socialist "outing" resulted in Joe the Plumber becoming a focal point of the final debate between McCain and Obama and has been front and center ever since. While the outrage of a hard leftist/socialist/Marxist being this close to the Presidency of this great democratic Republic is tough enough to bear, the disgust I have with the thuggery exhibited by the press in their attempt to destroy Joe is nauseating. This kind of public humiliation strategy is for one purpose only - to silence dissent. On 9/11 we were all New Yorkers...in the wake of this repulsive Marxist attempt to silence debate, we are all Joes!

This shows us in frightening relief what will be in store during an Obama Administration. Fear, intimidation, the very same tactics used by ACORN with their employees:

Today's New York Post:
Pushed to meet daily quotas and bullied by bosses if they didn't, Ohio ACORN workers faked voter registrations, signed up people more than once, and even paid off registrants to keep from being fired, its canvassers told The Post.

"Every day, there was pressure on us. Every single day," said Teshika Elder, a Cleveland single mom of three who worked for ACORN this summer.

"We had meetings every morning where they'd go over your quota; they'd yell at you if you were low," said Elder, 21. "They'd sit us down and say if you didn't do better, they'd suspend you. They'd say, 'Try harder next time,' [and] if you didn't get it, you'd be fired."

Desperate canvassers sometimes resorted to trading cigarettes, cash and food in exchange for registrations, according to Elder and two other former ACORN workers, Jaymes Sanford, 18, and Selvin Cunningham, 23.

Some voters were signed up more than once, and said that worried - or lazy - canvassers sometimes filled out bogus cards.

Where does one learn these types of tactics? It's all in the "Rules for Radicals" by Saul Alinsky...have a read. A Republic survives on the education of its people and the willingness to speak their minds for what is right. If that fundamental right is abrogated by intimidation, we cannot long survive. As one of my fellow bloggers, Iowahawk, discusses in a piece he wrote over the weekend - we should demand the same treatment Joe got be given to everyone in the media that participated in that lynching. I would settle for Obama getting the same treatment and seeing how many minds would be changed.

Rumble on!

The Rumbler Report

2008-10-13T10:22:00.002-04:00

I've decided that there is SO much going on right now, that we need a Rapid Response Rumbler function...so with that in mind, I have launched The Rumbler Report. This is a stripped down site where I will be able to quickly post news items, columns, videos etc. without junking up the Red State Rumblings site. Please take a look and subscribe via e-mail. I will only send e-mails out on the musings posted here.

Rumble on! (or as our Russian "friends" would say, "Ruble on!")

The Mind of Barry ("M.O.B.")

2008-10-12T17:37:00.001-04:00

I had the privilege of attending the 233'rd celebration of the Navy and Marine Corps the other night. I was honored to be among the young Midshipmen and Marines of the NROTC Unit of Vanderbilt University. This is the same battalion that I graduated from almost 30 years ago and I cannot tell you how proud I am to see that they are still going strong. The young men are gentlemen, the young ladies elegant and the whole affair was serious but fun. As I mingled among these fine folks I was struck by their willingness to serve their country. They serve this higher calling because in their hearts they know that there are wolves out there in the world and that the average every day citizen is perfectly comfortable being a sheep. To borrow from Bill Whittle's superlative column, they know they are sheepdogs. In my youth, I too was a sheepdog - and I guess, intellectually I still am. John McCain is a sheepdog. He knows there is good and there is evil and he has stared the latter in the face. But what about Obama?

This germ of a thought led me down a rough attempt at psychiatry. You see, I understand the formation of the brain that ultimately produced the mind of John McCain. I understand the call to service...to the greater good. I understand the willingness to run to the sound of the gun; to run up the stairs when everyone else is running down. McCain may not have a well formed philosophical basis in classical conservative thought - thus his inability to connect the dots on lower taxation leading to prosperity. But in his core he understands what he learned at the Boat School (as we jealous NROTC types referred to the Naval Academy):

To develop midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to provide graduates who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

Duty, honor, loyalty. Or as I heard from the letter to the Midshipmen the other night from the Chief of Naval Operations: honor, courage, commitment. I may pull my hair out when I watch John McCain in a debate rail against the rich and powerful on Wall Street while ignoring the hands-in-the-cookie-jar liberals in Washington, but I know HE will run up the stairs when the fire is burning. No, he is no George Washington or Abraham Lincoln...but I know he loves this country with a passion that parallels my own deep affection. But what about Obama?

When John McCain went through the Naval Academy, he would have taken such courses as "Ethics and Moral Reasoning for the Naval Leader," he would have been imbued with the Naval Officer's creed of "care for your men." Just as we all learned that when you hear "Man Overboard Starboard Side!" you immediately order "Right full rudder, all engines ahead full!" he would have learned to the very marrow of his being that an officer sets the example for his men, that there is nothing he would ask them to do that he would not be willing to do himself. But what about Obama?

Well, sadly much of what we do know about Obama is shrouded in mystery. We don't even have a birth certificate, and there is substantial evidence that he may not even be a legal candidate for President. If he was born in Kenya, as there is a lot of backing for, he is disqualified. But let's get past that and go to what we do know, much of it substantiated in his own biography.

First, "Uncle Frank." Frank, is a character that was a good friend of Obama's grandfather according to his own biography. This is Frank Marshall Davis. This is what the House Committee for Un-American Activities found about Mr. Davis in 1950:

Mr. Davis' column defends Communists and attacks capitalism with the same vigor as columns appearing regularly in the Daily Worker and other frankly Communist publications. Typical of Mr. Davis' remarks are the following: “Democracy today lies weak and slowly dying from the poison administered by the divident doctors in Washington and Wall Street who have fooled a trusting public into believing that they are the specialists who would save us from the dread diseases of socialism and communism. . . . They hope to hand us fascism disguised as the healed democracy.” (Honolulu Record, July 28, 1949, p. 8). Mr. Davis constantly defended the 11 top United States Communist officials recently convicted in New York on charges of conspiracy to advocate the overthrow of the Government by force and violence. One of Mr. Davis' comments on the case was as follows : “I feel strong sympathy for the Communist minority who are being oppressed for their political beliefs.” (Honolulu Record, October 20, 1949, p. 6). When Mr. Davis' column first appeared in the Record in May 1949, the Record boasted that the author was a member of the national executive board of the Civil Rights Congress. The organization is cited as Communist by Attorney General Tom Clark as well as by the Committee on Un-American Activities. Mr. Davis has signed a number of statements in behalf of Communists under the sponsorship of the Civil Rights Congress; one of these defended was Gerhart Eisler, notorious Communist international agent who escaped jailing for passport fraud by fleeing to the Soviet sector of Germany. Other front organizations of the Communist Party with which Mr. Davis has associated include : American Youth for Democracy, Abraham Lincoln School, National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, League of American Writers, the National Negro Congress, and the Hawaii Civil Liberties Committee.

OK - so he was definitively a communist. At a time that the United States was locked in a death struggle with the Soviet Union, one of the most influential people in young Barack's life in Hawaii was Frank Marshall Davis. I don't begrudge a rudderless young man gravitating to a grandfatherly figure...but what was passed on? There are central themes to Davis's writing that must have permeated his personality. Foremost among those is not "duty, honor, country." Rather, it would be a despisal of the country, a (dare I say it?) bitterness towards success, capitalism and an American system that had left blacks downtrodden. There are more than legitimate beefs that African-American's can have about their troubled history in our Republic...there is much shame that whites bear too. But the solution is not socialism, communism or any other "ism," that is inspiring at the time (Muslimism?). It is following the path we have followed with the successes we have had. But does Obama believe that?

Let's back up a second and look at the birth situation for Barrack. His father, a Kenyan Muslim comes to the United States to study, hooks up with Ann Dunham, a white lady from Kansas. They meet in Honolulu and two years after Barrack's birth, Barrack Senior heads back to Kenya divorcing Ann along the way. Ann then marries Lolo Soetero, an Indonesian Muslim. Barry moves to Indonesia, enrolling in "local schools." Now, what I have been able to gather, neither his birth or step-father were "radical muslims." Nor was he enrolled in a Wahabi Madrassa in Jakarta. But, he cannot help but be somewhat defensive of muslim attitudes if that was what was in his house at an early age...I am still partial to Oklahoma football because I grew up with a father that loved his Sooners. Any way you cut it, there couldn't have been much "fun" in the dysfunction that he grew up with.

One of the really great mysteries surrounding the man is how he was able to afford what he did at a relatively early age. He started his college career at Occidental College in California and then transferred to Columbia in New York. Why? His transcripts haven't been released, so we really don't know much beyond the fact that he majored in "Political Science." Neither of these institutions is cheap, nor easy to get into. Who? How much? Why?

Next up...the Chicago years. You've seen the video - "No,no,no not God bless America, God*&#m America!" Why? Twenty years and you never heard the vile bile spewed from the pulpit of Reverend Wright's Church? That we are asked to believe this makes the presence of UFO's at Area 51 quite plausible. But the underpinning of Wright's belief is even more frightening. In an inteview with Fox's Sean Hannity over a year ago, Wright became indignant with Sean declaring that his problem was that he had not read James Cone. OK, let's go take a look.

James Hal Cone, per Wikipedia,"is an advocate of Black liberation theology, a theology grounded in the experience of African Americans. In 1969, his book Black Theology and Black Power provided a new way to articulate the distinctiveness of theology in the black Church.^[1] James Cone’s work was influential and political from the time of his first publication, and he remains so today" Hmm, interesting. And what is "Black liberation theology?" Weelll, it maintains the following:

Blacks must be liberated from multiple forms of bondage - social, economic, political and religious.
They believe that Jesus reveals himself as black to destroy white racism.
ALL white men are responsible for white oppression of black men and thus must be eliminated.

Well, no need to go too much further. Oh, how about a few quotes from some of their "scholars" like Mr. Cone? OK, here you go:

1. "Therefore, simply to say that Jesus did not use violence is no evidence relevant to the condition of black people as they decide on what to do about white oppression."

2. "Whether the American system is beyond redemption we will have to wait and see. But we can be certain that black patience has run out, and unless white America responds positively to the theory and activity of Black Power, then a bloody, protracted civil war is inevitable."

3. "To be Christian is to be one of those whom God has chosen. God has chosen black people!"

OK, enough - twenty years of this stuff and NONE of it rubbed off. This leads us with the unpalatable choice - he's either deaf, an idiot OR he believes this slime.

So now let's move on to the next batch of Obama's soul mates:

Now, I am not in favor of cluttering up the Constitution with Amendments about flag desecration. However, there should be protection for someone, like myself, that sees this man standing on a flag that I have seen bring the greatest good of any nation in history and wants to punch him in the nose. That, friends, is William Ayers. A founder of the Weathermen. I have written about him elsewhere in this blog and there's been a lot of ink about him lately. But the pattern continues in the M.O.B. (Mind of Barry) - he hangs with people who hate this country. There is no "duty, honor, country" here. There is only "change, hope, future." But what is the change? We simply don't know. We can only surmise that "it ain't good," as one of my first Skippers said.

In the end, the contrast is stark. One candidate does not have a firm political philosophy, but has good judgment, sound intentions and a deep love of country that is summed up in his political slogan "Country First." The other candidate does have a firm political philosophy as exhibited by his voting record. He is deeply liberal, pro-abortion, pro-tax, pro-income redistribution. His judgment as exhibited by his choice of associations is extraordinarily poor UNLESS you believe the philosophy of the associations. His intentions are suspect and his view of this country is jaundiced. America is not the "city on the hill," a noble warrior doing good. No, America is a discriminating, hating society that needs to be changed...to be made better in the fashion of the Soviet state. The choice is clear.

Rumble on!

Connections

2008-10-11T10:43:00.001-04:00

An excellent summary...this is really scary stuff folks. Obama and his ilk don't like this country.

Wake up!

Rumble on!

School Children Sing Praises of Obama

2008-10-10T15:43:00.002-04:00

3rd Time I am posting - what are they afraid of??

Rumble on!

OK - This has become a game...I found a fresh link for it again, but I think you get the point. There are a lot of people in media and on the internet that have a vested interest in getting Barry O elected. Censorship is the weapon of thugs and tyrants.

School Children Sing Praises of Obama

2008-10-09T14:15:00.001-04:00

OK, YouTube is in the tank for Obama too...this is the second time I am posting this. They disabled the last link.

Rumble on!

CNN?? OMG...

2008-10-07T15:54:00.001-04:00

So after 18 months of fawning adulation, CNN asks the question about Obama and Bill Ayers!

I know Vanderbilt is 5-0, but is hell really freezing over?

Rumble on!

Catholic Vote 2008

2008-10-07T11:05:00.001-04:00

There is nothing more important than life and family. One party vows to protect them...the other, in the words of Borat, "not so much."

Rumble on!

Obama Youth - God Help Us!

2008-10-06T09:58:00.004-04:00

OK, this goes beyond creepy. Just what kind of brainwashing is going on?? This is supposed to be America, not Hitler's Germany, Iran or Syria.

There are two versions of this, because das Thought Polizei got the first version taken down...a little more searching and the second edition is up. This is getting very scary folks...in the words of William Wallace: "Freeeeedommm!!!!"

Rumble on!

A Special Message from Barack Obama's Teleprompter

2008-09-30T16:12:00.001-04:00

Just plain damned funny!

Rumble on!

Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis? V2

2008-09-30T10:12:00.001-04:00

Great music, sickening news.

Rumble on!

When the Wild Life Betrays Me

2008-09-27T14:25:00.006-04:00

We are rounding out a dry September with hackberry leaves turning to dust in the sunshine. I've got Jimmy Buffet playing "When the Wild Life Betrays Me" on my iTunes - seemed like the right song for the moment. I love this time in Tennessee. This and our spring make the "suicide weather" winters and chokingly hot summers worth it. I've been re-reading Robert Penn Warren's essay "Democracy and Poetry" and stumbled across a line that he cites from Melville:

"Power unanointed may come-
Dominion (unsought by the free)
And the Iron Dome,
Stronger for stress and strain,
Fling her huge shadow athwart the main;
But the Founder's dream shall flee."

Melville wrote this poem, "The Conflict of Convictions" shortly after the Civil War. He harbored the unhappy suspicion that the Waah (as we refer to it here) and the resultant expansion of the Federal Government held consequences that were not consistent with the republican ideal the nation had been founded upon. As I look at what is going on in Washington as I scribe, I fear the same. A $1 TRILLION transfer of wealth from the U.S. taxpayer to the Feds with the hope that somehow they will be able to return our money by buying assets and selling them later at a higher price simply seems to push the limits of sanity beyond the edge of the universe.

In a very simplistic interpretation of what happened, let me see if I can sum it up for you:

1. In 1974, during the hamstrung Ford administration, the Community Development Act was passed. The premise was that lenders should not discriminate based on a person's ability to repay the loan. (Wait - what?) OK, I shortened it a little, but that's basically what it said. AND IF you discriminated and got caught "redlining," as it was called, well YOU Mr. Banker were in big trouble.

2. Two "GSE's", or "Government Sponsored Enterprises, " Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in place. A GSE is privately owned and operated by shareholders, but they are protected financially by the support of the Federal Government. These government protections include access to a line of credit through the U.S. Treasury, exemption from state and local income taxes and exemption from SEC oversight. They created what became known as the "secondary mortgage market." Private lenders could make bad loans and sell them to Fannie and Freddie! What a country!

3. As a former of partner told me long ago, "if you want to understand how people are going to act, follow the compensation." So, if I am your friendly neighborhood banker who gets bonused when my loan volume goes up AND I can do it risk free...yee haw! And if I work for Fannie or Freddie, I also get compensated by growing the business...and the last thing Ineed is for some accountant to come snooping around - I am incented to give big bucks to friends who will keep the accountants away. Where does one find such friends? Well, here:

All Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

Name	Office	State	Party	Grand Total
Dodd, Christopher J	S	CT	D	$165,400
Obama, Barack	S	IL	D	$126,349
Kerry, John	S	MA	D	$111,000
Bennett, Robert F	S	UT	R	$107,999
Bachus, Spencer	H	AL	R	$103,300
Blunt, Roy	H	MO	R	$96,950
Kanjorski, Paul E	H	PA	D	$96,000
Bond, Christopher S 'Kit'	S	MO	R	$95,400
Shelby, Richard C	S	AL	R	$80,000
Reed, Jack	S	RI	D	$78,250
Reid, Harry	S	NV	D	$77,000
Clinton, Hillary	S	NY	D	$76,050

Why these are just the people who are working on the bailout! There's Barney and Chris and Barry and Harry...this cabal of elites are exactly where they need to be to protect themselves from the tar and feathers they deserve.

Let me pause to take a question here...umm, you in the back -

Q:"Uh, Perfessor, uh, are you f*&%ing kidding me? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!???"

A: "I see you are upset. Don't worry, it gets worse."

4. Now this game works when housing prices are appreciating and supply is just barely out-pacing demand. Let's say you buy a house for $100,000 and with one of those "exotic" instruments dreamed up by bankers trying to shovel more debt into the FredFan maw, you only put 5% down and it's interest only for five years. Sweet! After all, in five years your house will be worth $200,000 so you can either easily refinance or sell and walk away with a lot of money. In the meantime, you can stock your pad with awesome big screen TV's and put a Hummer in the garage because you have a lot of "equity" - your house is worth so much more than you paid for it one month ago! So far so good. As Glenn Frey would say, "The Heat is on!"

5. Meanwhile, back up on Wall Street, some savvy Harvard MBA's are figuring out that EVERY foreigner wants American debt. Hooray! So let's create this new instrument, a "CDO," or Collateralized Debt Obligation - we'll put that exotic mortgage in it, and the credit card bill for the big screen and the car loan for the Hummer. We'll avoid regulation and rating and tell overseas buyers that this thing has a great cash stream behind it. They buy it, Harvard yard gets a bonus, life is good! It's so good, we'll buy up more and more of this junk...bundle it up and sell it. Hell, we'll outbid Fannie and Fred for some of it.

6. Uh oh. The house isn't appreciating. Uh oh. Gas prices just spiked and I can't afford to make the monthly credit card payment. Uh oh. The mortgage is ballooning and there are a hundred other houses just like mine on the market. This is what a train wreck looks like.

Now I left a lot of details out - how Clinton dramatically expanded the program in 1999, how all his cronies profited from the shell game etc. Basically, all of these things started happening at once. There's plenty of blame to go around. Greed on Wall Street...greed on the part of the American consumer. A massive failure of social engineering - the fundamental premise that everyone SHOULD own a home like all centralized policies is wrong. Some people cannot afford it. They should rent. And if they can't afford to rent, there are plenty of social programs that will help them. This is America, dammit, we take care of our own.

Let's be clear. Despite the drumbeat of the leftists, capitalism did not fail. Capitalism got twisted into a weird form of socialism courtesy of the guaranty of Federal backing. Capitalism, left alone, would not have made the bad loans to start with. In it's purest form, capitalism allows for failure and rebirth. Left alone, it is a stern disciplinarian - if you end up renting under one of those social programs I mentioned above, you are (hopefully) not going to like it and will be incented to move up and on. Take it from someone that grew up all over the world - the worst of our Section 8 housing is damned nice compared to a slum in Haiti or a favella in Brazil.

Now I don't know where the geniuses in Washington are going to net out this weekend. For the first time in a long time, I am damned proud of the House Republicans for stopping the rush to fund the Treasury's checkbook with our money. I acknowledge something needs to be done...my business is at a stand-still thanks to fear and lack of credit in the market...I want something to be done. But I would sure like to see a blend that includes items like a cut in the capital gains tax and a replacement of the "mark to market" accounting rules...and for the love of all that is Holy, can we puleeze cut the spending!!

The prospect that the Treasury Department could become the controlling force in residential and commercial real estate is chilling...it is nothing short of the nationalization of real estate. The shadow of the Dome will cast the prospects of a robust recovery into deep doubt. There is one very thin layer of silver in this dark cloud - whatever happens, the implementation of new spending programs will be seriously curtailed.

Rumble on!

Support Corruption - Elect Democrats

2008-09-19T17:15:00.001-04:00

OK, if you are not mad enough yet...

2008-09-19T17:13:00.001-04:00

Dan Mudd was in my 8th grade class...he was bottom of the barrel then, time and age have not helped.

Red State Update: Obama Admits He's A Muslim?

2008-09-09T12:38:00.001-04:00

Good clean fun!

O' Hail the Messiah Lord Obama

2008-08-27T18:45:00.001-04:00

Heard about this on the radio and HAD to pass it on!

Rumble on!

Santa Obamista Part II

2008-08-27T17:25:00.006-04:00

OK, so the audacity of ego continues. The O Team are going to present their guy on a stage in Denver fashioned to look like a Greek temple...poor photo below:

I don't know about you, but my "Ick Meter" is really getting pegged. It's bad enough we have to do this thing in a stadium...oh, a regular conference hall isn't good enough for the Big O. But now this set. I love what the folks at Political Inquirer ginned up above to truly illustrate the bloated ego of the Big O...and the creepy people that apparently surround him, fawning up to him like Gollum to Frodo in "Lord of the Rings."

I can see his folks texting each other: "OMP (Oh my preeesciouus...for you LOTR fans), he's like a god u no...let's put him in a temple!" Keep it up Dems - this kind of sick adulation will backfire. America will watch the throngs of descamisados swoon in Denver while they barf their dinners up in Akron. Have you already forgotten the Berlin Bounce? Oh wait, there was no bounce. Compared to this clown show, Bill Clinton looks statesmanlike!

All of this for some reason reminds me of the last scene in Patton. Not that there is ANY semblance between the good general and Barry O...merely the following closing soliloquy:

"For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts, laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes, his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning, that all glory is fleeting."

All glory IS fleeting and I suspicion that the date stamp on Barry O is approaching fast.

Rumble on!

Reflections from the late '60's

2008-08-26T10:06:00.007-04:00

I've been watching the antics of this group in Denver, "Recreate 1968." And it has welled up some memories from that era for me. We were overseas in 1968, the year of all the fun in Chicago, but spent the summer of 1969 stateside.

Friday, July 19, 1969 was a typical summer day in Washington D.C. - hot and sticky. Walking back from my grandfather's house to the hotel we were staying in off Dupont Circle, the hippies had taken to stripping naked and swimming in the fountain in the middle of the circle and mother told me and my sister to look the other way as we passed. The next day we would re-trace our steps late in the afternoon to watch Neil Armstrong step out of the Eagle lunar lander and utter his famous phrase. We watched in awe as a flickering black and white screen illuminated my grandfather's den. America at her peak, even though at home we were reeling.

We were home on one of our periodic "home-leaves" in the process of moving to Sapporo, Japan from Tokyo in our tri-annual shift of domicile dictated by the Department of State. We truly lived like gypsies, but loved it! For me, a Texan by birth, my hometowns became Washington DC and Marianna, Florida, two guaranteed stops on the home-leave circuit.

The summer of 1969 saw DC as a city on edge. Large sections of the city had been burned in the race riots of the previous April in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. As I recall, the National Guard was still visible at certain intersections. I remember how different the sirens of the American ambulances and police cars sounded to ears that had grown up listening to their Japanese counterparts.

Bobby Kennedy had been shot in June the year before too. My best buddy, Roddy Moore, and I had sat out on the porch of our apartment at the Grew House in the Embassy Compound in Tokyo listening to the Armed Forces Radio on my little Sony AM Radio. We had both developed the idea that the war in Vietnam should end and Bobby was going to end it, so we were crushed. My political views were poorly developed, but I remember from dinner table conversations the wisdom of my father. He was convinced that we didn't have the will to win the war - to do what needed to be done to win - and thus we should pull out. Don't get me wrong, he wanted us to win - felt that the consequences of not winning were dire, but the alternative of slow blood-letting was accomplishing nothing. I am confident he wasn't a Kennedy man, but he did understand military affairs. A lot of my friends' parents were Kennedy folks so it seemed OK with me. But Bobby was gone.

Humphrey, McCarthy and McGovern were the Democrat choices and Nixon was the Republican candidate. But the Democrat party was badly torn. Huge factions on the left and radical left wanted either McCarthy or McGovern - big anti-war candidates - to win. From what I have read, there were not a few on the Democratic side that wanted a weaker candidate put forward in the hopes that they would lose to Nixon setting up the dream match-up: Nixon vs. Kennedy II. Nixon did ultimately prevail so the die was cast.

Kennedy II? Yup, Teddy. He was only 36 in 1968, but he was already a Senator and was being groomed to assume the mantle of destiny that all Kennedys wore. And this brings me back to July 19, 1969. The night before, the future king, left a party with Mary Jo Kopechne (below), turned onto the Dike Road of Chappaquiddick Island, attempted to navigate onto the Dike Bridge and ended up in the water. The car sank, upside down. Teddy swam to the surface and walked away. Police were notified the following day. Mary Jo was left to drown. Compassion. How ironic that in introducing Teddy last night at the convention in Denver his voice over the film begins with "the sea is an allegory for life." Yes, senator, death too.

The night of July 19, my parents went to supper with high-school classmate Jack (those of you close to us, know who I am talking about, I choose to respect his anonymity here) and his wife. I remember drifting off to sleep and hearing those unusual sirens in the distance. Shortly after midnight, I was awakened by a commotion in the living room of our little embassy apartment. Jack was raising hell as news of what had happened in Massachussetts earlier that day was breaking. This was long before instant-24-hour-news. Jack was a believer. Like so many other Roman Catholics of the time, the Kennedys represented the long-overdue acceptance of Catholics in national politics. They were willing to side step the obvious, though well concealed flaws, of the Kennedy Clan in exchange for their moment in the sunshine. I don't know what Jack's involvement with the whole Kennedy business was, but I do know that he, like my father and me had attended Georgetown Prep, a Jesuit boys school that prepared young men to get into the best schools so they could eventually run things. Strands for the strings of power were woven there and the Kennedy mystique was writ large.

I don't know what we were thinking. Catholics were duped. We thought if one of ours was elected that somehow we would get something out of it. The Kennedys thumbed their noses at the Church and got away with it. And they continue to get away with it today. Ted went on to recover from the Chappaquiddick incident to remain in office as the senior Senator from Massachussetts and now sports a voting record that is antithetical to the most fundamental teachings of the Baltimore Catechism. I have sympathy for any man suffering from the affliction he now bears, but I have a hard time not imagining that his final resting place will be quite warm. I have a harder time watching adoring throngs getting misty eyed over a stumbling speech that endorses the new Kennedy - Barrack Obama. The blacks that are turning out in much higher numbers than previous contests are being duped like the Catholics of 1960. B.O. only wants them around as long as they are useful...God knows he doesn't want to live with them! Hello Hyde Park!

In 1968, the country was a mess. Although we were defeating the North Vietnamese in the field, we were not allowed to prosecute the war beyond the DMZ. The United States Military is very good at killing people and breaking things. Sitting still and waiting for the enemy to circle around behind you? Not so much. The social fabric of the country was tearing - college kids, the first fruits of the greatest generation were showing their gratitude by burning buildings, taking over administrative offices and doing about anything except studying. It seemed that the racial divide of the country would erupt into all out war. Leaders were being gunned down. The Soviets were on the move, rolling into Czechoslovakia uncontested. Freedom around the world was on the wane.

In 2008, the country is not a mess. We are winning the Iraqi War. Our college kids are drinking heavily and having more sex than we did in the late seventies, but still going to class. Overall, blacks and whites get along pretty well. The Russian bear has re-emerged in Georgia, but has also largely pulled out under international pressure. Freedom is the currency of the civilized world and where it flourishes, the people do well. If you took your clothes off to cool off in the fountain at Dupont Circle today, you would go to jail. Unfortunately, people are still being duped...they long for a new messiah, a new camelot, someone that will give them something. They long for enslavement - it's so much easier. The task at hand is to educate them and hopefully prevent their messianic vision from coming to pass.

What we are witnessing in Denver this week is the gathering of the masses of the duped and a spectacular power play writ large. Teddy, as I said, recovered from 1968 and over the course of the next two and half decades with his clan and cronies, became the center of gravity for the Democratic party. In pure liberal ideology, he railed against the likes of Bob Bork and Clarence Thomas. He attempted every form of liberal programmatic takeover of sections of our economy from education to health care. This last item seems to be his twilight song. He made the Democrat party his bitch and she answered. Out in Chicago, the Daley machine which had given Teddy's older brother the election in 1960, continued apace.

But then came the "man from Hope." Bill Clinton famously triangulated and beat a hapless George H.W. Bush for the Presidency in 1992 and an even more hapless Bob Dole in 1996. He lip-synched the leftist agenda when he was around the loons and made the moderates believe he wasn't a wild-eyed crazy. And, let's face it - he was eloquent and fun to have around! But he wrested the control of the Democrat party from the Kennedy clan. And despite all the public lovey-dovey between the two factions, a simmering war has been brewing for years.

It erupted into full view this year as the Daley machine, ever loyal to the Kennedys presented their young star to a dazed public. Behind a teleprompter, Barrack the Great can do no wrong. His wife, freshly minted last night, the daughter of a Daley ward boss, harbored the same resentment for America that many on the left bear...it's just not fair! Barry, I am convinced, is a pretty empty vessel, able to regurgitate in sing-song silky tones about anything that is poured in. But, he's black, different, telegenic and great behind the teleprompt.

But this was the year of Hillary! This was the return of the Clinton triangulation to power after eight years of the dreaded Bush! But who did Teddy endorse- and endorse early? Yup - the same guy he called "Osama" when Barry first went to the Senate. The Kennedys pushed all their chips into the middle of the table like James Bond in Casino Royale and said "call." B.O., returning the favor, selected none other than Caroline Kennedy to head his VP selection committee. The circle was complete. The Biden pick will have to wait for another post, but Caroline was in place to introduce her Uncle and draw comparisons of Barry O to her father. And the masses swooned. If there is Greek tragedy in this, it is that at the moment the Kennedys regain the helm of that rickety sailboat of a Democrat party he may be shedding these earthly coils.

But the battle is joined in Denver and although Barry will prevail and we will have another Riefenstahl moment there is a very good chance he will die the death of a thousand nail swipes as the Hillary! folks extract their due between now and the election. They don't want Obama to win and they probably want him to be defeated more than the most hard-core Republican! The stars, barring a huge gaff on McCain's part, are lining up in his favor.

On a trip to Washington a few years ago, I popped off the Metro at Dupont Circle and walked around. I sat on a park bench and admired the fountain. It was the work of Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon, the same folks that carved the Lincoln Memorial. The fountain was placed there in 1921, replacing the statue of Admiral Dupont of Civil War fame. How nice to be able to just sit and listen to the fountain! The crazy left doesn't allow that kind of freedom...in fact, freedom in general is eschewed for orthodoxy. "Freedom," as Ronald Reagan said years ago, "is the natural condition of man." It is good and must be ferociously defended...and my sense is that in early November of this year, good common sensical Americans, tired of the rhetoric without substance will go behind the curtain and do the right thing.

Rumble on!

Physics Rap

2008-08-25T09:51:00.001-04:00

OK, I admit it - my nerd side comes to the front on news that the CERN particle accelerator is nearing completion. What IS holding this stuff together? Dark matter? The mind of God? Anyhow, this caught my eye...nothing like some physicists getting down with some awful music (I hate rap...and I STILL hate Disco) but this is fun!

Denver Protesters

2008-08-20T17:48:00.001-04:00

Heard that the crowd from the '60's was planning on showing up in Denver. I had NO idea they already had a video up!

I'z dun studdyed histery in skool...

2008-08-06T15:41:00.002-04:00

Your USPS at work:

Ummm, where waz du forteenth koloni?

Jeez!

Rumbbel ohn!

Godspeed Noble Zek

2008-08-06T10:14:00.005-04:00

Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
Rest in Peace

In the summer of 1971, I returned to the United States when my father was reassigned from being the Consul General for Northern Japan, based in Sapporo, to the State Department in Washington D.C. I was about to enter a stateside school for the first time in my life and the establishment that my parents managed to squeak me into was Mater Dei, where I was to matriculate for 8th Grade.

I received my summer reading list in the mail and it was quite formidable. I honestly don't remember all the books, but one stuck with me, "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," by Aleksandr Solzhenitisyn. The depictions of the biting cold of Siberia were actually comforting to me in that sweltering Washington heat - the climate we had just left was strikingly similar. The horror of imprisonment and deprivation were shocking. I was naive and even though I had been an avid student of history, devouring books on the Civil War and World War II, I could not imagine that one man could treat another with such unbridled cruelty. But Aleksandr knew. He wrote passionately about the zeks (prisoners) and how individuals developed their own way to cope with cruelty.

In "The Cancer Ward," he wrote: "A man dies from a tumour, so how can a country survive with growths like labour camps and exiles?" Solzhenitsyn suffered through the horrors of imprisonment in the Soviet labor camps and the indignities of constant surveillance and search by the wretched KGB throughout the 1960's until he was finally exiled in 1974. He moved to the United States and took up residence in Vermont. Along the way, he managed to publish the monumental "Gulag Archipelago," which brought the full nightmare of the Soviet system to light. I always found it ironic that the left hailed this great man of letters as one of the greatest writers of the epoch (he was) and ignored what he wrote about.

In 1970 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, but could not leave the Soviet Union to accept it for fear he would not be allowed back in. A ceremony was planned at the Swedish Embassy in Moscow, but the appeasing Swedes backed out for fear of upsetting the Russians. When he did accept the award in 1974, after returning to the USSR was no longer an issue, he said the following (quoted in the Wall Street Journal this morning):

"The spirit of Munich has by no means retreated into the past; it was not merely a brief episode. I even venture to say that the spirit of Munich prevails in the 20th Century. The timid civilized world has found nothing with which to oppose the onslaught of a sudden revival of barefaced barbarity, other than concessions and smiles. The spirit of Munich is a sickness of the will of successful people, it is the daily condition of those who have given themselves up to the thirst after prosperity at any price, to material well-being as the chief goal of earthly existence. Such people-and there are many in today's world-elect passivity and retreat, just so as their accustomed life might drag on a bit longer, just so as not to step over the threshold of hardship today-and tomorrow, you'll see, it will all be all right. (But it will never be all right! The price of cowardice will only be evil; we shall reap courage and victory only when we dare to make sacrifices.)"

Re-read that paragraph...the bolding is mine. He wrote this in 1974 about the Soviet police state. But I am sure that Aleksandr understood that this is a human condition and barbarity can hide it's face in a Communist uniform or a Jihadi turban. Evil does not change, it just changes it's costume. Sadly, neither does cowardice. Cowardice can come dressed in the common clothes of a Soviet citizen struggling to survive under the watchful eyes of the state or in the voting masses of an election in the United States, where the fear of being called politically incorrect outweighs the common sense of calling Islamic fundamentalism what it is: evil.

Solzhenitsyn defeated the evil that imprisoned him. He did it by being human and by having the courage to speak the truth. He spoke truth to us when he called the American left out for our failure in Vietnam in a speech at Harvard in 1978: "But members of the U.S. antiwar movement wound up being involved in the betrayal of Far Eastern nations, in a genocide and in the suffering today imposed on 30 million people there. Do those convinced pacifists hear the moans coming from there?"

He calls to us still in a voice that is not Russian, or European or American. It is the cry of Western Civilization - the challenge for us to all be free with the understanding that it can only happen when we have the courage to stand up and erase our fear with the certainty of truth:

"Until I came to the West myself and spent two years looking around, I could never have imagined to what an extreme degree the West had actually become a world without a will, a world gradually petrifying in the face of the danger confronting it…All of us are standing on the brink of a great historical cataclysm, a flood that swallows up civilization and changes whole epochs."*

Godspeed, noble zek, Godspeed.

Rumble on!

*Speech to Congress in 1975

O Force One?

2008-08-04T18:38:00.003-04:00

OK, this is getting really sick...check out these shots from the interior of Obama's campaign plane:

Did you catch it? The middle shot..."Obama '08, President" - WTF? WTFF??

This guy is going to win the megalomania award of the century.

Rumble on!

Nobama in the Town Hall

2008-08-02T16:00:00.003-04:00

So Obama backs up on his pledge to meet John McCain in a town hall setting. Jeepers, if he's afraid to meet with a fellow American, how's he gonna handle hisself in a big-time sitdown with that lovable Iranian kook, Imadinnerjacket? Only one thought comes to mind with this news:

Rumble on!

"You ate some orange sunshine, Peter."

2008-07-31T18:06:00.001-04:00

This is what we can expect from the man who wants to inflate our tires!

We're All Bozos on this Bus

2008-07-30T18:01:00.004-04:00

Obama's suggestion that we "inflate our tires" to deal with the oil crisis brought back fond memories of Firesign Theatre. Back in those smoky, beer-soaked college days, the classic "We're All Bozos on this Bus" left us howling. "Don't forget to inflate your shoes!" was the warning about going to the future...maybe Barry O in his smoke and blow days actually listened to these guys and thought it was real!

First up that famous stand up comedian, Barry Hussein Obama. Then, a wonderful clip from the original:

Rumble on!

Santa Obamista

2008-07-27T10:37:00.010-04:00

So I am listening to some music last night - the London soundtrack of Evita, and it hits me. I've been all wrong! I've been comparing the Obamaphenom to the Nuremberg Rallies and while there is still a lot of truth to the stagecraft over substance and robotic reaction from the masses, the deification of the central character was missing. I mean the crowds loved Hitler and all, and they were certain the trains would run on time AND they would get to go kick some Frenchy ass and all that...but they didn't think he could cure the sick. BUT, Evita...the "Santa Peronista!" Hell, she could solve all the country's ills and cure the children. Just like Barry O! Compare and contrast these two images:

No that's NOT Hillary in the second one, stop it! That's Eva Duarte Peron. And she could really wow a crowd with some stem-winder speeches. She promised her "descamisados," or "shirtless ones" the world. And they bought that pap. It worked well for her and her fascist husband, Juan Domingo Peron.

Come to think of it, maybe Obama IS Evita ("Little Eva") reincarnated in a sexually and racially negative fashion. (I mean negative like old fashioned film where the black was white and the...oh, come on, you get it.) That would make Michelle Obama...Peron? Could be. Certainly in the Peron's case, Juan was the idealist who really believed that with a little military control things could run better. Eva just wanted the adulation and the money. Look at the parallels between these two:

1. Childhood: Eva came from a pretty mixed up family with a biological father that abandoned them because the mother was not "of class." Barry came from a pretty mixed up family with a biological father that abandoned them because the mother was not of...

2. Early years: Eva grew up in the provincial town of Junin. At the age of 16, she moved to Buenos Aires, the capital, because that was where the action was. Early reports of her childhood point to a promiscuity with sex and alcohol. Barry grew up in the provincial state of Hawaii. Eventually moved to Chicago, because that was where the action was (for community organizers at least). Early reports of his childhood point to a pormiscuity with drugs and alcohol.

3. Early rise: After getting her "class creds" by marrying Juan Peron, Eva became head of the broadcasters union, a job she was totally unqualified for. She started a daily program titled "Toward a Better Future" where she used ordinary language to communicate to the working class women of Argentina. The themes of "hope" and "promise for the future" were common in these shows. After getting his "race creds" by joining Reverend Wright's congregation, Barry became a state senator and then a US Senator, jobs he was totally unqualified for. He gave a speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004 as a candidate for US Senate, titled "The Audacity of Hope."

4. European Tour: In 1947, Evita embarked on a tour of Europe meeting with several heads of state and wowing the crowds along the way. Ironically, it was called the "Rainbow Tour." In 2008, Obama embarked on a tour of Europe (throw in the Middle East and Afghanistan, thanks to faster airliners) meeting with several heads of state and wowing the crowds along the way.

Well, you get the picture...now look at these two pictures:

Dangit, I get confused, which is which? Oh, the top one is the "now famous" speech in Berlin. The second one is Eva outside the Casa Rosada (Argentina's version of the White House) greeting adoring crowds. One thing is for sure though, the Perons could REALLY raise a crowd. It's been reported (a lot!) that there were 200,000 for the Berlin show...try 2,000,000 for a rally in Buenos Aires:

Well, I don't put much credence in head count. As the poet Robert Penn Warren brilliantly observed "truth don't lie in the number of voices." When Reagan gave his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate, there were 10,000 riot control police there because the Germans hated him. He was, after all a "nuclear cowboy" bent on the destruction of the world! But his speech had real impact. Barry O's performance is little more than Chinese food...tastes good, but doesn't stay with you.

I am particularly wary of personality cults. Michelle, take note...this from Wikipedia on Eva's promotion of her husband:

Evita also sought to create a personality cult around her husband, whom she elevated to nearly divine status, often comparing him to Christ and saying that all Peronists must be ready to die for Perón. Fraser and Navarro say that this apotheosis was what ultimately corrupted Perón and debased the Peronist movement. In light of Evita's often verbose praise for her husband, the slightest criticism of Juan Perón was easily interpreted as unpatriotic. Evita even stated explicitly that only the Peronists were truly Argentine, and anyone who was anti-Peronist was not truly Argentine.

"Perón is the heart, the soul, the nerve, and the reality of the Argentine people. We all know that there is only one man in our movement with his own source of light. We all feed off of that light. And that man is Perón!" — 1951 speech by Eva Perón

M.O. - you have got some catching up to do!

So, in the end, what happened to the Perons? Eva set up a private "foundation" to "take care of the poor children." No records were kept, but millions of pesos ended up in Peronista Swiss Bank accounts. She fought a gritty battle with cancer and lost. Juan ended up being hounded from office as the country decended into anarchy before the military took over. Pretty much what happens throughout history when you get cult followings of a person who's primary purpose in life is self-aggrandizement.

We don't know how this train ride is going to turn out, but one has to study the Obama entourage carefully...who will be the Che? Remember, Che was an Argentine! His association with the Perons was passing...he wanted the Evita Foundation to buy him a jeep for his "research." They apparently turned his request down. But myths are made from cults and as the musical "Evita" implies, Che and Eva were close and his disgust with how the reality differed from the ideal resulted in his moving on to friendlier venues like Cuba. Could it be the newly bearded Bill Richardson??

Well, they have to win first.

Rumble on!

Barrack Hussein Superstar!

2008-07-25T16:04:00.006-04:00

This was the image that the Obama campaign had waited for...this was the photo. He's a Superstar! They love him in Europe...ergo, we should love him in the United States. (Unless of course we are small minded, uneducated and believe the foolish notion that Americans should pick their President.) They would have preferred to have it with the Brandenburg Gate behind the Messiuhhh, but the Victory Column would have to do. Oh, although it was widely reported in the press, I thought I would reiterate that two popular German acts -- reggae artist Patrice and rock band Reamonn played for free to attract...uhmmmm, warm up the crowd. Now I know that the B.O. campaign wanted to have the image of their guy looking something like this

You know, Christ feeding the 5,000 from the loaves and fishes...or perhaps from frankfurters and loaves as parodied in a brilliant piece in the London Times this morning (take a minute and click that link folks, you won't regret it!) But I keep coming back to images like this:

Maybe it's Germans? Maybe it's the strained stagecraft over statesmanship that bothers me, but the parallels are downright creepy. I have written about this before, the Riefenstahl effect. This is truly image over substance. Read the words to Big O's speech in Berlin and few items pop out. But let's look at it from the top. After the usual "thank you's" he briefly tells his lineage of being the son of a goat herder and a girl from the "heartland of America" and then he states that he is a "proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world."

OK, stop the tape.

What is he saying when he says he is a "citizen of the world?" First, he is asserting his "creds" for being there in the first place because he is not there as a "candidate" - of course not! But the air of arrogance blows strong in that sentence. "I'm not just some yuckster from over the pond in Bermuda shorts and black socks, oh no, I am sophisticated like you! I'm a global guy!" Hey, Barry - where does one get one of these "citizen of the world" passports?

OK, roll the tape.

"Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof."

Stop.

Barry, you rolled right past that little dust up called World War II which is the event that got us to Berlin in the first place. Berlin was the capital of Germany. We let the Russians "liberate" it in 1945 then we divvied it up into quarters and all that fun stuff. Problem was, the Sovs didn't like "talking" with us, so they up and built a wall and put a whole lot of hardware on the border and around the city leaving us with no options. Thank God, people like you had not been in charge or we would not have had the military to do the job.

OK, let's continue...

"People of the world – look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one."

Whoa...

So the world stood as one. Well, not quite, Barry. It took a very courageous American named Ronald Reagan (this link takes you to the text of a real speech given in Berlin), and equally courageous woman named Maggie Thatcher, and a Pope named John Paul II that refused to let western civilization drift under the yoke of the evil of communism. The rest of the world, including most of the citizens of Germany, didn't give a rat's ass! Reagan knew the Soviet economy was teetering and that we could push them over the edge because (listen closely BO!) planned economies run by the state don't work! Maggie kept a toe-hold for sanity in Europe and Pope John Paul brought the real hope of faith back to the darkness of communist controlled central Europe. OK, now that we've cleared that up, let's move on.

Obamuhhh wanders into the warm waters of global warming and some silliness about "thousands from all over the globe" that were killed on 9/11 and then delivers this whopper:

"In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common."

Well, like the Hertz commercial says, "not exactly." The Germans have elected their most conservative Chancellor in half a century in Angela Merkel and the French have dropped the American hating Chirac and the dashing America bashing Villipen for Nicolas Sarkozy who campaigned for the job as an unashamed lover of the United States. A huge reason there is derision in Europe for the United States, above and beyond the usual amount of looking down their long Gallic noses at us, is because of people like YOU, Barry. Because you, and members of your party and mindset have repeatedly gone over there and bashed this country to the accepting cheers of the gathered throngs. Let's see if you can continue the pattern...

"Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."

As Reagan would say, "there you go again." We're bad and morally inferior because we give a few bad-guys that want to kill millions a feeling of discomfort like drowning in the hopes that maybe, just maybe they will tell us something that might save the lives of millions. We haven't kept the "promise of liberty and equality for all our people...we've made mistakes...we haven't lived up to our intentions." And the throngs cheered "Hosannas!!!" to the rooftops at this wonderful admission. The same crowd that would be speaking Russian if American troops hadn't dug their ditches and held the line. It must be great for them to hear such bad mouthing of America coming from such an important figure!

One other small note - this guy would get nailed for plaigarism if he were in a college course. The "this is our moment" rift? Straight from Bono of U2 at a Live 8 event to stop world poverty.

The speech winds down from there with the usual "improbable hope" bit and concludes with "let us remake the world once again." I am breathless...not from the quality of the speech and the incredible depth he demonstrated in his knowledge...nope, I am breathless because this speech is the intellectual equivalent of having a pillow held forcefully over your face. All talk, no walk. But then, remember, it wasn't about the speech, it was about the image.

One final note from Barry's big adventure. There is a growing awareness of his arrogance and inability to "keep the common touch." This is demonstrated by his actions with the troops. In Germany, while he had time to work out at the Ritz Carlton and entertain 200,000 America haters in downtown Berlin, he couldn't make the time to visit our wounded warriors at the Military hospital...why? Well, he couldn't bring his press pals along for a photo op, so it wasn't worth the time.

Rumble on!

McCain Web Ad

2008-07-17T19:24:00.001-04:00

I don't usually post the candidates' ads, but this is VERY effective. Barry O is all over the board and once again proven to be a Chicago pol.

Karachi Kids

2008-07-15T15:43:00.004-04:00

Folks this is just plain sickening. Problem is, you don't even need to send your kids to Pakistan to get brainwashed...there are madrassas all over the United States, funded by the Saudi government...they call it the "soft jihad." Be sure to check out the film's website for news on showings, how to buy the DVD and so forth.

Scary...rumble on!

Obama Language Lessons

2008-07-11T23:30:00.001-04:00

Well, according to Barry O, we all need to be bi-lingual. Here is your first lesson.

Rumble on!

NozzleRage: Attack of the Pump

2008-07-10T11:58:00.003-04:00

I filled up this morning in preparation for a trip up to Lynchburg, Virginia this morning. A half tank of regular gas in my 6-cylinder sedan cost me $37.80.

I don't know if $4.00 per gallon was the psychological breaking point for people, but I think this video about says it all. The problem is - we have to have a comprehensive solution. Right now all both sides want to do is talk. See this:

This is a "PERT" Chart. That stands for "Program Evaluation and Review Technique." It was a system of management developed for the U.S. Navy in the late 1950's as we were playing catch-up with Soviet missile technology and developing the Polaris missile. It shows progress steps and critical paths. The little "event" circles are numbered in the tens, because lots of little steps can emerge along the way. the "t" is for "time" and the red lines are the critical path. Let's pretend that the number "10" is labeled "Status Quo" and the number "50" above is labeled "Middle East Go to Hell." My guess is that the numbers in between might be labeled "50% increase in nuclear power" and "75% increase in coal gasification" and "100% increase in refinement capacity" and "100% increase in supply." Is there not someone in Washington or beyond that has one of these puppies with a label that says "U.S. Energy Independence"????

I know, as Barry O likes to tell us, that drilling today is not going to put extra gasoline in our tanks tomorrow nor lower the price of gas. (Surprised he hasn't reprised the "feed a child line" too!) BUT, with that logic...why go to school? If you go back to grad school, you are not going to get a better job tomorrow. Why plant a garden in the spring? If you put all those tomato plants in the kitchen garden, you are not going to have tomato salad tomorrow. For Chrissakes , Barry, everything that's worth anything takes time! What will happen to the price of oil, however, is it will drop precipitously the moment the OPEC banditos realize that the United States is coming out with a serious energy policy. They will quickly try to do to us what they did after the gas lines of the '70's and that is lure us back to sleep with cheap oil. Let's take the medicine this time and send them back to the economic stone age they emerged from with our wealth.

I did say "comprehensive" didn't I? No, drilling is not the only solution. It should be in our bag of tricks though ALONG with lots of nuclear, better design standards, (we are working on a house design that uses 35% less water and takes only 65% of its power from the "grid") solar and wind where feasible. AND we have to look ahead to the consequences of our actions. The rush to corn based ethanol has been a disaster. A dear family friend (and very knowledgeable retired oil industry executive) has eloquently pointed out the law of unintended consequences with this observation in an e-mail titled "Beware of Blown Fuses":

According to the US Bureau of Transit Statistics there were 135,399,945 vehicles in the US classified as cars in 2006, while 99,124,775 were classified as "Other 2 axle, 4 tire vehicles," presumably SUVs and pick-up trucks. There were also approximately 6,686,147 motorcycles.

Harry Reid and the senatorial gasbags avow that: "We are being poisoned by oil and coal." Barry Hussein and the enviro-nuggets deplore nuclear power. What will happen when some 242 million personal electric vehicles are plugged in to recharge every night across four time zones? After every fuse in the national power grid blows, wait to see the taxpayers go nuclear in more ways than one! The cost per kwh will make us look fondly at $ 4 gasoline, but, of course, the local power company will be much more sensitive than the folks at Exxon Mobil, and we'll have a much broader choice of pols to moon.

The following from one of my favorite cortoonists was a bonus in the e-mail:

The candidate that presents a clear, concise and easily understandable plan to the American people for energy independence will be sworn in as our Commander in Chief next January.

Rumble on!

Leni Riefenstahl

2008-07-09T11:00:00.006-04:00

I am not the first one to think of this - there are two columns over at American Thinker this morning, but the idea of Obama making his acceptance speech at Invesco Field did bring this whole concept to mind. Is David Axelrod the Leni Riefenstahl of our time?

Look at the adoring Obamatrons at a Barry O speech and then look at the youth on tippy-toes in this piece...kind of creeps you out doesn't it? Ummm...doesn't it? Hey! Get back on your feet!

One of the most memorable scenes from "Triumph of the Will" occurs about 3:30 into the introduction - you can see it here - when the shadow of Hitler's plane is seen passing over the town looking like a cross...it comes right after the plane flies past the cathedral at Nuremberg. It is such an incredible and frightening piece of propaganda that it is worth revisiting in light of our new messiah. We truly have created image over substance. I actually credit McCain with doing a good job in responding to that with this ad. I love the "hope and change" connection to 1968! But they have a tough job cut out for them...the Obama "brand" had been created and it is more pervasive than Coca Cola or Marlboro and just about as good for you, especially if taken in large doses.

Rumble on!

Dirty Barack Obama

2008-07-07T11:13:00.001-04:00

Pretty shocked that CNN actually did this piece...interesting look into BO's past and who is behind him. Scary stuff.

THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

2008-07-01T17:30:00.005-04:00

OK, I admit it - I am a dog person...hell, the mascot of this blog is the savage beagle...seen at the right. (That sputnik toy by the way requires a bi-weekly supply of Nylabones that will break the bank!)

I am also extremely grateful for all the good that canines do and have done for the human race. So when I see a picture of the newest addition to the Scottish Police Force in Tayside, Scotland my first reaction is "awwwwwwwww." Besides, with a name like "Rebel," you know he's got to be a good dog!

BUT, if you are of the radical Muslim persuasion, apparently your first reaction is "The horror! I am offended...remove the image of the unclean beast from my mailbox immediately! You purposely set about to offend me!!!" Folks, I am not making this up:

Muslims in the Scottish district of Tayside are outraged by the appearance of a wide-eyed, 6-week-old puppy on postcards distributed by the local police force, according to the Daily Mail.

Postcards showing police dog-in-training Rebel, a German shepherd born in early December, are causing a furor among the region’s Muslims who believe dogs are "ritually unclean," the Daily Mail reports.

The cute cards were meant to notify locals of a new telephone number for non-emergency phone calls but instead have become a flashpoint for a clash of cultures. Shopkeepers are refusing to display the offending ad and a Dundee city councilor is calling for an investigation.

"My concern was that it's not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards," said Dundee councilor Mohammed Asif, according to the report.

The Tayside police force said the police puppy, the force’s "newest recruit," was not intended to cause offense.

"His incredible worldwide popularity — he has attracted record visitor numbers to our Web site — led us to believe Rebel could play a starring role in the promotion of our non-emergency number," said a police spokesperson.

OK, first words that come to mind? "GET A LIFE!" But there really is something more sinister here and it is happening in every Western country that has even a smidgeon of a Muslim population. WE are supposed to change every custom of ours to keep from offending them. They are utilizing our psychotic need for all things to be politically correct to erode our own culture and replace it with a Ministry of Fear (Thank you Seamus Heaney.)

Dogs have been part of humanity for a lot longer time than Islam. It is beleived that the first relationships between the two species goes back some 10-15,000 years. Muhammad was born around 570AD, so lets see...0 minus 8, 7 minus 0, carry the one - OK, 1,438 years versus 12,992. And 10% of the dog population will not strap on bomb vests and try to blow you up in order to achieve eternal enlightenment on Sirius. (Sirius, the dog star, it's in canine theology that that's where they go...where all the rabbits are slow and the nylabones are huge!)

What else will these people be offended by next? Will they demand that Sports Illustrated not publish the Swimsuit Edition? Or how about we turn the tables and demand that they stop executing goats because we are offended? (Do not click on that last link if you have a weak stomach...by the way, where in the hell are the PETA people when that stuff is going on?)

I am all in favor of "live and let live" and "respecting each other's culture." I grew up overseas and have enormous respect for the richness and decency of cultures far different from my own. I also knew when I lived in foreign lands how inappropriate it was of me to demand that the locals conform to my cultural norms. But these Islamofascists are eroding the sense of decency in our own culture by insisting that we respect their ways...and they are using our freedoms to get us to conform to their will. As has been repeated many times, "great societies are not overthrown, they die from within." The enemy is amongst us and we had better start pushing back now before it is too late. As Merle would say: "if you don't love it, leave it."

Rumble on!

Post note - from Rachel Lucas:

And still lovable!

The Audacity to Survive

2008-06-30T18:17:00.005-04:00

Sometimes it is important to go to the core text instead of just reading others opinions. This is a measure we try to enforce over here at Rumbler Central. A fine column by Peter Kirsanow this morning in the American Thinker led me to do a little research. Mr. Kirsanow was taking Obama to task for his vote against the "Induced Birth Infant Liability Act" during his short tenure in the Illinois state legislature. Essentially, the columnist's argument is that BO is portrayed as a really nice guy but, in fact, he's pretty heartless and his vote against the aforementioned bill was Exhibit A. Well, what does the bill say? Let's look (a link to the full text is also provided):

92_SB1661

Findings  and  intent.  The General Assembly
7    finds that all children who are born alive  are  entitled  to
8    equal   protection   under   the   law   regardless   of  the
9    circumstances surrounding the birth.  Children who  are  born
10    alive as the result of an induced labor abortion or any other
11    abortion  are  in  special need of protection due to the fact
12    that the intent of their birth is to cause the death  of  the
13    born  child.   Therefore,  it  is  the  intent of the General
14    Assembly to protect a child who is born alive as  the  result
15    of  an  induced  labor  abortion or any other abortion and to
16    ensure that the child receives all medical care necessary  to
17    preserve  and  protect  the  life,  health, and safety of the
18    child.

Hmm, "all children who are born alive are entitled to equal protection under the law..." oh, and even those who are born as a result of an "induced labor abortion." This latter term is a late term abortion thus some number of the abortees make it out of the womb and actually draw a breath and see light, feel pain etc. Believe me, I don't mean to be in anyway callous about this. I am just trying to understand how you can vote AGAINST giving said abortee that draws a breath, sees light and feels pain a chance at becoming something more than a forgotten abortee. Now, a quick point of clarification: BO voted AGAINST the Bill when it came out of his Judicial Committee...he voted PRESENT in the full senate and was the only Senator to speak publicly against the Bill stating it would add "one more burden on women."

I don't want to take this post to engage in the abortion debate. Followers of my scribblings know where I stand. But even the most ardent pro-abortion folks...say, Barbara Boxer...believe that killing the infant outside the womb is murder. So, in an Obamaworld, if you are an infant who has exhibited the audacity to survive an abortion, lay low! Maybe they'll toss you in with the medical waste and you'll have a chance that an off-duty nurse just might find you and give you a chance. Miracles can happen...ask Illinois nurse, Jill Stanek, who testified before BO's committee:

"One night, a nursing co-worker was taking an aborted Down syndrome baby who was born alive to our Soiled Utility Room because his parents did not want to hold him, and she did not have the time to hold him. I couldn't bear the thought of this suffering child lying alone in a Soiled Utility Room, so I cradled and rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived."

Obama wants to show compassion to all. He has compassion for the poor women who have late term abortions obviously. His chilling position on their potential progeny, however, reminds me of the Eudora Welty quote: "compassion leads to the gas chamber."

Rumble on!

Merle Haggard live-Fightin side of me

2008-06-30T17:26:00.001-04:00

Still the best...God bless you Merle!

Rumble on!