Wake Up Call: E-mail to Soledad O'Brien

Perhaps you have seen the interview Rep. Alan West gave Soledad O'Brien of CNN regarding his communist allegations.  Those who know Ms. O'Brien are well familiar with her committed progressive views.  As such, the interview went predictably, with Soledad trying hopelessly to mock Rep. West:



As I had written in an American Thinker piece last year, the CPC (Congressional Progressive Caucus) was originally set up as a front group for socialists and communists who get elected as Democrats.  They have been extremely successful in infiltrating the Democrat Party.  It is over these types of shenanigans that likes of Georgia senator Zell Miller, author of A National Party No More, to quit politics several years ago.  But, apparently, Ms. O'Brien is not aware of what is going on in Democrat Party politics that she is so entangled with.  So, I decided to write to her:

Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 1:38 PM

To: Soledad.OBrien@cnn.com

Mrs. O'Brien:

in your interview with Rep. Alan West, you asked how did he know that CPC memebers were tied to the CPUSA. I believe I can provide that answer for you.
In 2010, at the CPUSA 29th national convention, the leaders of the party disclosed clearly that "When members do run for office, it is within the auspices of the Democratic Party." Here is the appropriate, first hand, link:
http://www.cpusa.org/convention-discussion-a-time-to-grow/

I am sure, in the name of fairness, you will be hurrying to report this to the public since you, in a thinly veiled fashion, condescendingly ridiculed Rep. West.
On second thought, maybe not since your standards of reporting are different depending on the side that is being pilloried.
Best regards,

--
I'll let you know if I recieve a reply but I doubt it.  You see, progressives are like so many cockroaches.  When you shine the light on them, they scatter out of sight.  I did not mean to insult cockroaches, but that is the way it is.

Is It Too Late to Save The Constitutional Republic?

The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has some alarming news.  It appears that more the American public finds out about the Tea Party, more they dislike it. 

The immediate question that comes to mind is “what is to dislike about smaller, more responsible central government that is guided by our founding principals”?  I am afraid the answer to that question is one many of us constitutional conservatives do not want to face. 

The only possible reasons for the poll results to show that the prominent movement to re-establish constitutional government is becoming increasingly unpopular are:

      1)      The poll results are skewed on purpose in an election year attempt by partisan hacks to affect the results in their favor;

      2)      Reaction to the in-fighting that has taken over the Tea Party movement between factions that want to stay above politics and those who want the movement to be more activist in nature; and

      3)      Reflection of societal transformation as a result of another three years of policies to promote ever increasing government dependence.

I am afraid the answer may not be as comforting as the first two possibilities.

Benjamin Franklin astutely observed “Once the people find out they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic”.  Thus goes the history of the greatest, most successful Constitutional Republic the world has witnessed. 

Actually, Franklin was only off in his prediction by about a century in that we did not start our journey down the slippery slope of socialism until the turn of the 20^th century – the period known as the Progressive Era.  History of progressive largesse can be traced back to that great Republican – Theodore Roosevelt – who in the grand Northeastern Republican fashion believed in government action to mitigate social ills at any cost as encapsulated in his Square Deal program, and the courts to yield to the executive branch on anti-trust matters. 

T.R. was the father of American progressivism but by no means is the only personification of the great progressive tradition that has come to undermine our Constitutional Republic to what now is a perilous point.  With the exceptions of Presidents Coolidge and, to a lesser extent, Reagan, all American presidents in the modern era have carried the water of progressivism, with the worst offenders being Wilson, FDR, LBJ, and the current resident of the White House.

Whether it was the New Deal, the War on Poverty, or many other ill-advised pieces of legislation passed by progressives from both parties, the great American experiment in self governance may have finally bore its bitter fruit in conformance with human nature which seeks security at any cost.  The ultimate cost of dependence on the state, in terms of losing one’s liberties, is lost on all but the few who have had the benefit of developing critical thinking skills, which our educational system has purposefully neglected thanks to the systematic implementation of cultural Marxism in schools since the 1950s.   Progressive politicians realize and capitalize on this fact with policies that increase dependency on the state, thus robbing any trace of individuality left in an ever increasing segment of the society.  All the while, progressives elsewhere – most notably in education, culture, and courts – have been steadily eroding the traditional value system of the society which must be gradually replaced with a modern, utilitarian progressive outlook if the transformation to utopian collectivism is to be successfully implemented.

This utopian collectivist vision of what America should look like is all but reality in the eyes of the fifth column.  The question is, have we really reached that critical tipping point where welfare mentality is more prevalent than rugged individualism?  Maybe, maybe not.  One thing is for sure though.  Constitutional conservatives have to come to the sobering realization that reversing this destructive trend toward the ever present state in our lives will take great dedication and patience; the type progressives have shown for over a century now.  If not to Franklin and our other founding fathers, we certainly owe it to our children. 

The Greatest Obituary Ever Written

The following obituary is from Denver Post.
Mike, I did not know you but you surely were one hell of a guy.  A life fully lived, indeed.  Rest In Peace.

Michael "Flathead" Blanchard


1944 ~ 2012

A Celebration of the life of Michael "Flathead" Blanchard will be held on April 14th, 3 pm 8160 Rosemary St, Commerce City. Weary of reading obituaries noting someone's courageous battle with death, Mike wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctors' orders and raising hell for more than six decades. He enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died.

Mike was born July 1944 in Colorado to Clyde and Ethel Blanchard. A community activist, he is noted for saving the Dr. Justina Ford house from demolition and defending those who could not defend themselves. He was a Republican delegate, life member of the NRA, founder and President of the Dead Cats MC. He loved music.

Mike was preceded in death by Clyde and Ethel Blanchard, survived by his beloved sons Mike and Chopper, former wife Jane Transue, brother Stephen Blanchard (Susan), Uncle Don and Aunt Cynthia Blanchard(his favorite); Uncle Dill and Aunt Dot, cousins and nephews, Baba Yaga can kiss his butt. So many of his childhood friends that weren't killed in Vietnam went on to become criminals, prostitutes and/or Democrats. He asks that you stop by and re-tell the stories he can no longer tell. As the Celebration will contain Adult material we respectfully ask that no children under 18 attend.

Indoctrination at FCPS Continues

Less than three weeks ago, I wrote about the middle school teacher at our (Fairfax County) local school system who took it upon himself to instruct his students to do opposition research on Republican presidential candidates and send their findings along with any suggestions to the Obama campaign.  I also included the text of the e-mail exchange I had with the school system, in which they predictably denied any sinister, obviously political, motivations.

In the three short weeks since then, we have had two other incidences.
First involves an elementary school teacher who said to her students that Republicans are "stupid" and that they "do not care about anyone but themselves".  The teacher also told her students that she voted for Obama, and Democrats did a lot more for education (undoubtedly meaning for the Teachers' unions) than evil Republicans. 
As expected, the school system responded to the parent complaints as they did to mine as I outlined in my earlier post!

Then on Friday, I recieved the weekly communique from my daughter's middle school principal.  The second paragraph reads:

President Obama Responds: Ms. Donohues students wrote to President Obama as part of a class project, and he sent back a signed letter that read in part: “Americas potential can be measured by the creative ideas and inquisitive minds of our students. Your eagerness to explore the world around you and engage others in discussing important issues will help you improve the future your generation will inherit.”

I couldn't help wonder what the critical issues these 13 year olds are supposedly engaging others in discussion with.  My daughter does not have Ms. Donohue as a teacher, thank God.  Well, with the help of my daughter's friends at the school, I confirmed my initial suspicion: the important issue communicated to the president at the urging of their teacher was man made global warming. 

So, the indoctrination goes on unabated.

Reich Gets It About Higher Ed Ideals

Even a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes, and even a broken clock is right twice a day!

I recently read an article by the prominent pseudo economist, Robert Reich, on student loans being the next bubble waiting to burst.  At about a trillion dollars, outstanding student loans are not necessarily huge (compared to mortgages or credit card debt for example) but the impact of widespread defaults would nevertheless be felt throughout the economy.  Reich concludes that college is not right for everyone.  He is right, as amazing as that is!

For decades now, progressive elitists have been encouraging college as a must if one has lofty caeer/financial goals.  As such, the government has made it easy, in fact enticing to some, to attend college.  The soaring demand for colleges has naturally caused tuition inflation that more than holds itself against rising healthcare, housing, and energy costs.  It is simple supply-demand relationship where increased demand and a relatively steady supply of the providers have resulted in tuition inflation. 



At the same time, the quality of education received at these colleges has arguably declined as more and more students are crammed in to classes.  So, now the problem is not only socialist/Marxist sympathizing professors continuing the brainwashing of public schools, but thoroughly unprepared students being crammed in to classes like cans of sardines where they learn nothing substantive. And how could they? 

Almost all people are born with the ability to critically analyze issues, but this ability remains dormant unless the mind is unleashed by proper training during formative years.  In the classical sense, education is a three stage process. There is a learning stage (called the grammar stage) when children are thought how to learn. Then, there is the logic stage when we are supposed to learn cause and affect relationships (how things relate in a logical framework). Finally, in the rhetoric stage, we sharpen our eloquence in conveying ideas. The shortcoming of many modern day school systems is that they do not effectively go past stage one – quite on purpose for those who have read my articles on cultural Marxism.  Had they done this, we would not be reading about studies that show that substantial portions of college students enter college sorely uninformed and graduate not much better off.

In contrast to the U.S., countries like Germany place great emphasis on technical vocational schools.  Not everyone is meant to become a scientist or an economist due to a variety of reasons.  These reasons can be intellectual in nature or as simple as lacking genuine interest in such fields.  After all, a society has just as legitimate needs for plumbers, electricians, and mechanics as it does for scientists or engineers.  Besides, what is better: getting a degree in art history at a cost of $200,000 and end up driving a truck or working as a retail clerk, or getting vocational training in, say, plumbing and making $30-$40 per hour (or more if one is enterprising in nature)?

Student loans are also a symptom of bigger problems:

1. The US spends twice as much per student as any other industrialized nation.
2. There are 1.2 support personnel for every teacher in the US
3. Support personnel account for 70% of discretionary education expenditures
4. 50% of degree plans have no value added component in the free market

Spending more money simply raises the cost further. It was Laffer who pointed out that no matter how much money is spent on a government entity that is not held accountable on a cost/benefit construct will always spend more than resources applied warrant.

Education is top heavy with people who have political agendas that are irrelevant to educating students. Billions of dollars is wasted on these positions to promote such that have no economic or social value.

It is abhorrent that student loans are granted for the self actualization degrees that have no economic value such as art history. If you want to "find" yourself, fine. Just don't stick us with the tab for your search for your inner self... and end up unemployable.

America At The Crossroads

Last week, the SCOTUS listened to three days of arguments on the constitutionality of Obamacare.  Based on the stunning incompetency displayed by the Solicitor General as well as the pointed questions posed not only by the conservative justices but some of the progressive ones, it looks pretty promising that the Court will strike at least the individual mandate down, if not the whole legislation. 

If parts of this legislation survive, that would be disastrous in my opinion. 

This is an unworkable legislation because it was meant to be.  How do we know this?  Simple.  The U.S. healthcare is burdened by an inefficient third party payor system, which is further disadvantaged by anti competitive regulations and a run away litigous legal environment frought with abuse.  Any body of responsible legislators would have taken the above problems one by one and fix them by injecting free market based solutions like opening the HC market to competition, undertaking serious tort reform (which in itself would cut about 15% off existing costs), and encouraging the use of MSAs.

This body of legislators, however, did nothing at all to open the insurance market to interstate competition, institute any resemblence of tort reform, or facilitate use of MSAs (in fact Obamacare effectively does away with catastrophic care policies that allows consumers to pay for minor stuff out of pocket).  Instead, the government is poised to decide what is "approved" coverage under HR3590.

In other words, Obamacare is doomed to fail as it stands today, but it is even more destructive without the individual mandate.  If the Justices decide to let congress fix the individual mandate portion of the law without striking all of it down, do not expect the Obama Administration to write off the remaining portions of what happens to be the crown achievement of any socialist at heart.  In fact, I do believe that this would be a gift to the collectivist Democrat ideologues in that it would hasten the demise of the healthcare system as it exists, facilitating the passage to full blown socialized health care.

I am, therefore, tampering my optimism with a healthy dose of skepticism, especially since the SCOTUS has a history of taking decisions that are true head scratchers. 

Some view this as an argument for health care, but the correct argument is liberty vs. totalitarianism. Plato stated the best ruler would be the Philosopher King but concluded we would never have one based on human nature so you had to watch out for strong central government. Good King today, bad King tomorrow: it does not matter so much if you have controls on the King in the first place. The Federal Government has become the King and most Americans today have become the serfs - at least in spirit.  May god give wisdom to the nine Justices who are faced with making the most critical determination in the Court's recent history.

FCPS Teacher Does His Share to Re-elect Obama

It is no secret that the NEA, AFT, and other teachers' unions are in the back pocket of the Democrat party.  Needless to say, over 99% of their campaign donations go to Democrats in what can only be described as the scandal of the century where taxpayer dollars are recycled from the unions to Democrats and back in a continuous loop - in other words, financially supporting the ideological enemy of majority of the citizenry.  Those who follow the mini-scandals of the teachers' union leaders are also aware how dedicated they are to cultural Marxism*.  But I digress.

I live in Fairfax County, Virginia where I have two children in county schools which are renowned as being among the very best in the nation, but apparently not immune to the in-and-out of the classroom antics employed by union zealots.  According to a report by the Daily Caller, a middle school teacher in our county has assigned his students a little opposition research project on the GOP candidates' "weaknesses".  Further, the students were asked to prepare a strategy paper to exploit those weaknesses and forward their suggestions to the Obama campaign.

Now, thank God this did not happen in my daughter's middle school but, not being someone to step back and watch the system brainwash my kids, I nevertheless decided to e-mail the county school superintendent's office.  The following is the exchange:

12:25 PM (11 hours ago)

to CWDonohue, NWReese, Jack.Dale

Dear Ms. Donohue and Ms. Reese:

I would like to bring to your attention a serious concern as a parent of two current students in the county schools.  It is regarding lackof impartiality in the County schools.  As part of the Superintendent's Parent Advisory Council, I feel you are the most appropriate contacts for me to write to.

There have been reports that a teacher at Liberty Middle School, Michael Denman, assigned his students what obviously sounds like a partisan task that smacks of what might normally be expected in authoritarian regimes elsewhere.  His students were asked, in mid-January, to do opposition research on the Republican candidates' weaknesses and prepare a strategy paper to exploit those weaknesses, and then to locate an individual inside the Obama campaign to send their suggestions to.  In this group project, no group was asked to do the same for the current President.

This is simply a perfect example of outrageously partisan teacher behavior that gives public schools across the nation a bad reputation.  Partisanship, that seems to be the essence of teachers unions, has no place in the classroom.  We, the tax payers of the county, finance public schools to a great extent (with the rest coming from state and federal tax payer funds).  That, by definition, also means we finance the union dues that go to the same unions that are shamelessly partisan.  As such, these kinds of shameless partisan brain washing tactics are simply unacceptable in our county schools.  Individual
teachers simply cannot promote a political view point regardless of what side of the political spectrum they are demonstrating partiality to.

Fairfax County Public Schools have a great reputation as prime educational institutions among all public schools in the U.S.  Let's not ruin this reputation by letting a few rotten apples upset the whole cart.  Mr. Denman would do service to his students by concentrating more on our founding principles and the sense of fairness our founders displayed over two centuries ago - not assisting the current occupant of the White House to satisfy his selfish political ends.

Might I be so bold as to suggest that the superintendent's office issue a communique to all the teachers to refrain from bringing in partisan politics in to their classrooms?

Thank you for listening to my concerns that also reflect the concerns of thousands of other fair minded residents of the County who entrust you with their childrens' education.

Sincerely yours,

--

Shortly after, I received the reply I anticipated:


Donohue, Christine W. CWDonohue@fcps.edu

1:07 PM (11 hours ago)

To Jack, me, Nancy


We are very aware and unfortunately, the media has chosen not to cover the corrective action that was taken despite being sent that information. Thank you for taking the time to share your views. The assignment was meant to teach about the political process and was not intended to be an endorsement of one candidate over another. Students were not instructed to send their "research" to the Obama campaign.   However, the principal advised the teacher about the misperceptions that this assignment created and counseled him that, in the future, students should be given a choice in researching candidates from either major party. Also, the principal advised the teacher that he should emphasize to his students that this assignment was supposed to be learning more about the political  process and it was not to endorse a particular candidate.  The teacher agreed with the principal's direction.

Chris Walsh Donohue
Chief of Staff
Superintendent's Office
Fairfax County Public Schools
--
As you will note, the e mail was not even addressed to me personally.  I would not let a canned response be the last word on this matter, so I replied back:


1:41 PM (10 hours ago)

To Christine, Nancy, Jack


Ms. Donohue:

Thank you for your speedy response.  We all believe that the political process is a worthy subject to familiarize students with.  However, doing what amounts to be opposition research does NOT constitute an important part of such a wide subject matter that has a lot more relevant aspects to cover than opposition research unless the students were majoring in it at college.  This is middle school and as the parent of a 7th grader, I am well aware how precious instructional time is.

As I mentioned, FCPS curriculum would do better educating the students more in depth with the rather complex and infinitely more valuable subject matter of our founding rather than focusing on clearly politically motivated antics of certain teachers.

I stay on top of what likes of AFT and NEA are up to, so none of this surprises me.  I just expect the FCPS to hold itself to higher standards than other jurisdictions. Thank you.

Sincerely yours,
--

The moral of the story is simple and one to take to your heart if you entrust your precious ones to the NEA/AFT goons who shamelessly call themselves teachers.  Ask them what they learned in school, and if you find anything objectionable, contact your principal right away before you give an earful to your county school superintendent.  Do not back down and confront them at every occasion that calls for confrontation.  The unions are playing hardball while most parents are trying to figure out T-ball.  Wake up America before you find your children replaced by good little robots. 

-----
*To those unfamiliar with the term, cultural Marxism is the 20th century movement founded by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (among other contemporaries as well as late comers such as Frances Fox Pivens), who astutely realized that Marxism could only realistically be achieved over the long run by systematic brainwashing of the society through education and culture rather than by violent revolution.  In other words, like termites devouring a wooden structure, hollowing out and rotting the structure of the society is the best way to prepare for eventually collapsing it. 
This is a rather genius approach as incremental curricular achievements (sarc.) by the public school systems ("Heather Has Two Mommies" anyone?) and cultural outlets like Hollywood or TV (where all sense of traditional decency has long been abandoned) have been overlooked as minor inconveniences while their cumulative effects over the past half a century have prepared society for the right politician to give it the final nudge or "fundamentally" alter.  This is the moment that the movement has been waiting for; but I digress.  More on that later.

Thoughts on Healthcare Law

The most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that fully three quarters of those polled want something other than the SCOTUS to uphold the law.  In fact, two thirds of the population (assuming the poll was done correctly and is a proxy for the sentiments of the citizenry) want Obamacare to be either thrown out completely or stripped of its mandate, without which it could not work (not that it will even if it is upheld in its entirety!)

I have listened to Mark Levin explain the arguments that will be made to the SCOTUS on both sides.  Although I understand the legal arguments, doesn't it beg the question that public sentiment coupled with the circumstances surrounding the passage of the law invalidate the whole damn thing?

The Affordable Patient Care (Obamacare) bill was written by only Democrats.  It was passed without a single Republican vote.  Further, it passed using all the trickery in the books, making false promises, and buying votes of reluctant Democrats, none of whom even read the bill.  After the passage, as details of the bill came to light, even some Democrats, mainly pro-life ones, said that in hind sight they would not have voted for the bill.  Finally, plurality of the public has been against Obamacare since it passed.

It is not the venue of the Court to decide the case based on the above circumstances, however is a law that passes under such dubious circumstances and has no meaningful support from the public really valid?  Forget the constitutionality question; what kind of a country are we living in that a few ideological power wielders can so fundamentally transform this country?  If the SCOTUS does not overturn this sham of a law, how will the American people respond?  Should that eventuality occur, we will finally know if we still live in the land of the free from the swift response or lack thereof come November.

A Blast From the Past

It is my duty - and ours - to point out to the bogus claims so-called experts make that later prove to be bogus.  This time, it is from an article touting the impending disaster of man made global warming in 1986.  Dr. James Hansen, the shady NASA scientist who is at the forefront of the AGW scam and has been caught multiple times falsifying data to make his point, is quoted in the article as saying that by 2006 global temperatures would rise by 2 degrees, making it the hottest in the past 100,000 years. 

As you might have guessed, the mean surface temperature was less than half a degree higher in 2006.

The chart shows the clear cooling trend prior to the 1950s as well as the modest warming of the 1980s as consistent with solar cycles.  Less than a half degree warming trend is statistically insignificant, especially since the data is disproportionately collected from selective sites with bias towards heating.

Marxist symphatizers are everywhere - even in science.  Likes of Dr. Hansen, who once lamented the injustice of uneven wealth distribution in a letter to President Clinton, need to be exposed for the charlatans that they are.

The Ship of Fools

The following quote is supposedly from the comments section of the Czech Republic newspaper PragerZeitung
on April 28, 2010.  I am not sure of its authenticity as I have seen many hoax e-mails lately.  However, Czech people have always been uncharacteristically (for Europeans) freedom loving - like one of my favorite Euro-conservatives, former Czech president Vaclav Klaus (may he rest in peace).  The commenter, who ever it may be, has nailed this one.  Barack Obama might be the captain, but we are most definitely on a ship of fools and that is what really matters after all, isn't it?!  Here it is:

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.

The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.

It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."

Progressives' Demagoguery of Christianity

The left in this country owes much of its success to being able to demagogue whatever the issue of the day is with the help of their willing media accomplices.  Sounds conspiritorial?  No, not really, in fact it really is simple: Take a political ideology whose adherents are willing to lie in order to achieve their desired goal of societal collectivization, add to the mix a profession in journalism which by its own historical polling favors that ideology roughly by a margin of 9:1, and voila... you have an environment where those trusted with providing the public with facts and truths can and routinely do ignore the demagoguery of the left that shapes the opinion of the less informed public.

So, I was not surprised at all when President Obama recently attempted to use the supposed tenets of Christianity in response to criticism of his economic policies, and not a peep came out of main stream media. 

Just as the left likes to distort Ronald Reagan's views, they apparently love to do the same when it comes to Jesus.  So, is it any wonder when the President suggested at the National Prayer Breakfast earlier in the month that his politics of "shared responsibility" and higher taxes for the rich are shaped by the teachings of Jesus?  Obama said: "For me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus' teaching that 'for unto whom much is given, much shall be required." 

He based his willingness "as a Christian" to give something up for the common good on "Jesus' teaching that 'for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.' " He went on to state that other policies he has pursued—ranging from fostering lifesaving medical research to preventing violence in Uganda—stemmed from biblical principles: "Treating others as you want to be treated. Requiring much from those who have been given so much. Living by the principle that we are our brother's keeper." And "speak[ing] up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

Now, I am not a religious person, but a spiritual one who respects religions for the constructive and necessary moral values they espouse.  Even at that, I know that what Obama tried to insinuate is nothing short of damagoguery.  The same Bible pasages the President tried to misconstrue shamelessly condemns the collectivist policies of his party. 

God condemns socialism and establishes capitalism in His word when He said to Moses "Thou shall not steal." This command assumes private property and forbids its confiscation by those who did not earn it.

Regarding giving and charity, God does not want giving to be done under compulsion. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Taxation is not giving or charity.  We are to pay our taxes, but in Romans 13:1-7 God only established the civil government to bear the sword against those who do evil.  Giving is clearly an individual choice and is a function of family and church government, not the state.

Whether it is Obama misconstruing the Bible, or likes of Nancy Pelosi chastizing the Church for not conceding in their conviction that abortion (and forced distribution of tax payer funded contraceptives) is wrong, the left has proven once again that nothing is too sacred to demagogue.

A Great (Must See) Motivational Political Speech

The other day one of my favorite politicians of the modern era, along with Reagan, Coolidge, Thatcher, and Churchill, gave an uplifting speech at the CPAC.  Daniel Hannan's insights and warnings were as usual Reaganesque.  No other foreigner, since Tocqueville, has truly comprehended what the U.S. is all about because only a few can truly appreciate what it means to be a truly free individual.  Enjoy:

FBI Memos on Jobs

Apparently, Steve Jobs, though driven, was not quite the fair visionary we pictured him to be.  I suspected as much as he was an Obama supporter like many of his Silicon Valley contemporaries.

According to the FBI notes that were taken while Jobs was being considered for a position in the Clinton Administration, Jobs was described by friends and colleagues as:

• Having used illicit drugs in his youth
• Alienated colleagues
• Intimidated associates
• Insisted on getting his way
• Twisted the truth and distorted reality to get his way

You know the old maxim: Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are.
Every one of those allegations listed above apply to the President as well. 
No wonder why Jobs was a die hard progressive in his politics.  He fit the bill to a tee.

Obamacare Chickens Keep Coming Home to Roost

It must be hell for those Democrats like Rep.s Stupak and Dahlkemper who held back their crucial votes for the passage of Obamacare; that is until they were reassured by the shameless liar himself that there would be no public abortion funding or forced participation in the vile practice.  They paid a hefty price for their naïveté.

There was a dead give away that it was all a lie since the president opted for an Executive Order rather than use the power of his office and his political capital to push the U.S. Senate to adopt the Stupak amendment to the bill.  An EO is a joke; not an integral part of a law.  Too bad these naïve (and incompetent) Democrats, without whose votes Obamacare would not have passed, fell for it despite their supposed expertise in these matters.

Yet, those who bothered to read the bill (not Democrats, of course) said abortion funding and forced practice were in the bill all the while being demagogued by the progressive elites in the media, academia, punditry, politics and elsewhere.  As Rep. Joe Wilson’s “you lie” outburst at the SOTU punctuated, they lied about it all: not only the public funding of and forced practicing of abortions regardless of one’s beliefs, but also tax payer funded care for illegals, death panels (which will be apparent in two years unless this thing is overturned), supposed costs that have just been upped again by the CBO for the nth time, impact it will have on private insurance availability, rationing (as physician owned hospitals started disappearing soon after the passage of the bill), etc. etc.

Welcome to utopia, all you remorseful Democrats.  I doubt, however, that any of them will renounce the party of lies they once represented like Senator Zell Miller did.

---

P.S.  You will not read this in the MSM since their sole purpose is to provide cover for the collectivist policies of Democrats.

Is America Finished As We Know It?

I would like to preface my thoughts on whether America is finished as we know it by reitirating my conviction that Americans are the most resiliant people on earth and that freedom and free markets are in our DNA unlike all other peoples of the world.  Having said that, evolution applies to all living things - even Americans.  People can, and do, evolve from self reliant creatures to something akin to a zoo animal waiting for his next meal.  Just look at Greece.  So, personally I will refrain from cockiness and admit that even we are in danger of evolving into something other than we are used to.

History is not kind to the self destructive nature of human beings. 
Every great empire has its heyday before it inevitably decays and self destructs.  The parallels between the reasons for the decay of great empires is oft times eerily similar - perhaps none more so than those of the great Roman Empire and the United States of America.

First, what do these two great constitutional  republics that existed nearly two millenia apart have to do with each other one might wonder.  If you will remember from your high school history classes, Rome had a constitution that essentially later served as a rough guideline for the constitutional republic that our founding fathers conceived.  Roman constitution created a similar seperation of powers between its governmental branches as did ours.  Rather than creating a government that was primarily a democracy (as was ancient Athens), an aristocracy (as was ancient Sparta), or a monarchy (as was Rome before and, in many respects, after the Republic), the Roman constitution mixed these three elements, thus creating three separate branches of government.   And thus was born the greatest governmental system known to man - one that we would model our own constitutional republic after.

In a nut shell, both were essentially meritocracies that greatly valued virtue at the height of their greatness relative to their respective eras, and both became collectivist, morally deprived welfare states.  In other words, both transitioned from societies that valued and rewarded individual excellence to collectivism which only fosters the break-down of societal value systems, mediocrity, and reliance on a central government.  Although one might argue that the U.S. has not reached the level of deprevation or degradation that Rome reached during its rapid decline started in the era of Diocletian (fifth century A.D.), we have been undergoing the same transformation for the past century since Presidents Wilson and TR got the ball rolling down the progressive slope.  Couple short decades later, Hoover and FDR institutionalized progressivism by plunging the dagger further in to the heart of the American constitutional republic.  Since than, progressives from both political parties (most notably LBJ, Nixon, GWB, and Obama) as well as the judiciary have twisted the dagger in a final attempt to vanguish the single most successful meritocracy this world has ever known.  At the same time, fabian socialists masquerading as progressives have corrupted our public and higher educational institutions while media has engaged in a decades long propaganda war against everything held sacred by our founding fathers.

So, are the progressives winning the hearts and souls of Americans?  If so, how can that happen in a country where free market capitalism (or at least a bastardized version) is figuratively in the DNA of its people?

Simple.  Human spirit is corruptable as history has shown us.  Alongside our yearning for freedom from oppression, people have a needy or what I would call a weak side.  Fabian socialists disguised as progressives have patiently and gradually corrupted the human spirit by creating a permanent dependancy class over the past century.  This has been accomplished through governmental policies, courts, public education (as well as academia in general), media, and other societal institutions like pop culture.

So how successful has this bloodless coup has been?  In a Pew Poll about a month ago, it was found that, although capitalism still enjoyed a slim favorability advantage over socialism among those surveyed, a slight plurality of the young adults (described as those between 18 and 29 years old) have a favorable view of socialism.  Just as bad, if not worse, is the alarming favorability rating of progressivism which stands for european style fabian socialism.  Although one must chalk this up to the poor educational level of many in our society, this neverthless is also the inevitable result of cultural Marxism that plagues our school system from the earliest grades all the way through to graduate school.  By undermining the learning process, Marxists ensure that the society gradually undergoes a genetic reengineering of sorts.

Ever since in the 1920s and 1930s Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, the father of cultural Marxism who argued that traditional values must be obliterated in order to free “oppressed” social groups, called for eliminating social decorum and glorifying perverse behavior in order to destroy the Western middle class and collapse society from within (guess where Cloward and Piven got their strategy from), the radical teacher unions in the U.S. have adopted his blueprint to undermine free market capitalism as the enemy of a "socially just" political and economic system.

As such, schools have given up on developing critical thinking skills that usually take place during the second stage of one's education - the logic (or dialectic) stage. The reason is as obvious as day: teach a child to think critically and you will lose a future progressive. 

Here is the math.  The future of America - the youth - views socialism, and just as alarmingly progressivism, as being acceptable.  This can only be translated as such: majority of people in the longer range will prefer collectivism to individualism. 

Just like todays OWS movement, participants of which want freedom from their student loans and right to "good jobs" that pay a "living wage" among other things that are essentially non-rights (but rather "wants"), a progressively larger portion of society will come to expect the government to fill the role of a surrogate that is tasked with providing these wants.  Already over 40% of the working age population pays no federal income taxes under our progressive tax code, which was determined by OECD to be the most progressive of any developped nation. 

Through disingenuous initiatives like amnesty for illegal aliens and anti-voter ID measures, progressives are making the last push to get America over the line wher a critical mass will have been achieved so that classical liberal views like ours will be in permanent minority.  This is the exact the reason why Obama cannot be allowed to win another election.  He has proven time after time that even without congressional authority, he is willing to break the rules and rule like a benevolent dictator.

 

 

Can America survive the entitlement mentality fostered by our progressive education and policies?  That is the sixty-four thousand dollar question.  History is against us but we have no other choice than to fight back against the ever creeping tentacles of progressivism.  Can people be weaned off dependancy on the government?  Late 1990s experiment with welfare reform showed that it can be accomplished.  So, there may be hope after all.  And, should our attempts prove to be in vain, I am confident America will rise from ashes once again -- even if it means fighting a second American revolution as Thomas Jefferson seemed to predict: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Can the GOP Survive?

Are we witnessing the disintegration of the GOP or just a healthy primary process that is preparing the GOP nominee-to-be for the real firestorm they will have to endure from the left?
Punditry is all over the place on this one.  Majority seem to believe that this is a healthy process for the GOP candidates to be going through.  Me, not so much as I indicated before.

In observing and sometimes volunteering in 32 years of local, state, and national political races, I must say that I have never witnessed as corrosive a primary season among GOP candidates as this one.  The attacks have been not only sharper and nastier this time around, but they have been on sacred cows of the party ideology - namely private enterprise and the free markets. 

Our leading candidates have launched vile attacks on each other that makes it hard to separate theirs from the class warfare rhetoric of Democrats.  Consequently, I cannot help but wonder if either of the two have the character and the judgement to be a worthy commander-in-chief, or are we about to have a mediocre candidate who will be trying to unseat a downright destructive President?  Some choice!
Messrs. Gingrich and Romney must stop this madness.  The circular firing squad analogy aside, their words will come back to bite our chances of capturing the White House come November.  Do not, for a second, think that their attacks - in their own words - will not be used in a campaign ad blitz by the Democrats.  Attacking legitimate business activities or perceived ethical lapses that have never been proven are net losers as far as campaign strategy goes.  But, therein lies the problem.

The Republican establishment wants to nominate a candidate that they feel can defeat Obama.  That candidate is Mitt Romney.  He, along with Newt Gingrich, happen to be big government supporting, crony capitalist establishmentarians.  Can the GOP survive this bloodbath, or will all the Republican back stabbing and name calling hand the election over to a media protected Obama as unthinkable as that may be?

Perhaps more importantly, can the GOP survive with a substantial portion of conservatives having had enough with the establishment types who gave us likes of Nixon, both Bushes, and several failures in Dole and McCain just to cite a few?  As unthinkable as a third party was until recently, is it getting to be time to think about a truly conservative party?  Last time a similar thing happened, the Whigs simply disappeared and it was not a bad thing for the political landscape.  Maybe it is time that the GOP went the way of the Whig Party as what is in the balance is no less than the survival of our constitutional republic.

Burning Down the House

Those on the conservative end of the political spectrum have come to expect the progressives to cannibalize them, especially in an election year.  That is the dog eat dog world of politics.  Devouring one’s own kind (figuratively, of course) is normally unthinkable, yet the Republican presidential candidates are putting Democrats to shame by going a step further and cannibalizing those of their own political persuasion.

Last weekend’s spectacle of Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich feasting on Mitt Romney was political cannibalism at its worse.  What followed later this week has only compounded the problems for the Republican field.  It almost seems as if the carnage will not end until the candidates annihilate each other to the point of allowing Obama to make the election of 2012 a winnable race for his failed presidency.

This ugly spectacle risks alienating the anti-Obama vote from the Republican candidates.  Political cannibalism aside, it has become so that it is next to impossible to tell if any of these candidates is a free market proponent anymore (with the possible exception of Rick Santorum who is staying above the fray).  It is normal for candidates to point each others’ weaknesses out, but what is all this uncharacteristic class warfare rhetoric doing in a supposedly conservative field?  Although I am not particularly a Romney fan, his tenure at Bain Capital was nothing to be ashamed of for any small, constitutional government supporting free market capitalist. 

Just what kind of an evil organization is Bain?  Let’s see…it is foremost a venture/private equity capital firm.  This 400-employee bastion of evildom with $66 billion in assets under management provides life’s blood for start ups as well as established giants that have capital needs for various reasons including, among others, business failure, which seems to be the main point of contention as far as anti-Romney forces go.

Whether it is due to under capitalization, faulty business plan, or whatever the reason, in our capitalistic system, companies fail all the time.  It is a fact of life in a competitive free market.  When sizeable businesses fail, one of several outcomes occur.  The first two possibilities are total liquidation as a result of bankruptcy proceedings or a government bailout.  Neither of these two outcomes is desirable because the first leads to job losses as well as other less visible costs to society, and the latter amounts to government picking winners and losers – something they have repeatedly proven to be quite inept with for the obvious reason that the word profit is not in its DNA (see Solyndra, Evergreen, etc.).  The last possible outcome is for companies like Bain Capital to step in and try to rescue the business.  The risks that these types of companies take are immense and so are the profits when they are successful.  After all, this is private money in search of underperforming or undervalued assets that can be turned around given a new business plan/strategy.

Companies get in to business for one reason and one reason only: to make money (and preferably lots of it).  No company gets in to any venture for the stated purpose of creating jobs.  Jobs are simply a desirable byproduct of successful businesses that are profitable.  We expect progressives not to see the vital role of private equity firms, or the importance of creative destruction in a dynamic economy, but what is the excuse for those who are trying hard to pass themselves as conservatives?  Why engage in class warfare rhetoric that should only be at home at the Democrat party? 

Messrs. Gingrich and Perry need to realize that a scorched earth policy of class warfare to secure the nomination amounts to burning down their own house.  The only party that can benefit from that is the current resident of the White House who happens to be promoting the same strategy.  If the GOP does not wake up from this nightmare, the eventual losers won’t only be them but the American public to whom they owe a viable alternative.

The Week That Was: More Outrageous News Capsules

The highlight of the week was, of course, Obama displaying another power-grab by ignoring the U.S. Constitution, his Administration’s own words to the SCOTUS last year, the Senate rules, and a century of precedent set by previous Administrations.

But, a lawless Administration that has set precedence by headlining at least a few outrages per week since their inauguration would be amiss if they had not made the headlines elsewhere.  They did, and here are those news capsules in case you missed them:

Rubber Stamping Immigrant Visas:

An IG report disclosed that officials at the USCIS are pressuring visa officers to rubber stamping immigrant visa requests quickly even if the case is suspected to involve fraud.  The pressure has been stepped up ever since Obama administration appointed Alejandro Mayorkas as director in August 2009 during an effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform, bringing with him a mantra of “get to yes.”

They need to make sure that there are enough illegals to push Obama over the finish line come November, you know….

DOJ's Misleading Voter Statistics:

In interfering with state voter identification legislation in South Carolina, the DOJ has not-so-cleverly twisted statistics to make it look like the minorities disproportionately would be disenfranchised since a significantly higher percentage of them have no picture identification.  Never mind the fact that the real disparity is 1.6% of the electorate (not the 20% they claim), or the fact that South Carolina's legislation provides for free ID cards to be given to anyone who needs it and cannot afford it.

Of course, the Administration is once again thumbing their nose at the SCOTUS since the Court ruled in the 2008 Crawford v. Marion County Election Board decision that an Indiana law mandating photo identification at the voting booth was indeed constitutional.

The real motive, of course, is twofold: to protect voter fraud Democrats routinely engage in through third parties like ACORN, and to whip up a frenzy among minorities who are less than fired up about the upcoming election.  With the willing complicity of the left wing media, they seem to be succeeding for now.

Elementary School Indoctrination in Virginia:

Cultural Marxism is alive and well.  A couple of school districts in Virginia (one of them mine) have allowed Kid Pan Alley to introduce our children to the evils of the 1% as well as singing the wonders of having elected our savior: Barack Mmm Mmm Obama.

I blame the parents here for not being outraged by the brain washing of their children.  More of us must simply become involved with our local PTAs and School Boards.

Republican Candidates Apparently Threaten the Fabric of Our Society:

The Obama campaign staff is busy telling their supporters that the Republicans candidates will have "to run even further to the extreme right, and make even more dangerous promises that threaten not only the progress we’ve made but the fundamental fabric of American society".

Since when is the fabric of our society dependent on crony capitalism and outright socialism?  Just wondering!  I must have been asleep for the past half a century.

News flash: Requiring a High School Diploma Can Now Be Considered Discrimination:

The Obama EEOC has sent out a letter informing employers that requiring a H.S. diploma could be discriminating to those who may not have been able to graduate due to a disability (as specified by ADA).  So, now a pin headed bureaucrat in Washington will be dictating who you need to hire regardless of whether they are capable of doing the job or not.

Oh the lunacy...

Administration Gets Ready to Deal the Decisive Blow on Coal:

The EPA has announced that it will "issue its Utility NSPS (New Source Performance Standards) sometime in January". Any new utility plants will have to meet a new set of environmental standards – standards that conveniently work out great for natural gas but are prohibitively expensive for coal plants, even new ones, to meet.

After all, Obama did vow to kill the coal industry (as well as other fossil fuels in due course), didn't he?  Oh yes, he did!

While the EPA Distributes "Environmental Justice Grants"

...to all sorts of off-the-wall groups.

Cordray Appointment - Par for Course for Obama Administration:

Mr. Cordray, who will be heading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (or better labeled as Affirmative Action in Lending Bureau, or Increasing the Cost of Your Financial Transactions Bureau) thanks to the unconstitutional actions of the President once said lawsuits against Obamacare are "frivolous" because courts have held, and Cordray seems to agree that, any legislation which has even "incidental effects on the economy" is a "valid exercise of congressional authority" because of the commerce clause.  In other words, commerce clause basically negates the rest of the constitution.

What is one more radical bent on fundamentally transforming this country in this Administration?  It is full of them!

Note to Harry Reed - Isn't What is Good For the Goose Good for the Gander?:

Progressives cannot help themselves but be hypocrites.  The same hypocrite who held pro forma Senate sessions to block GWB recess appointments is now all for Obama's illegal appointments during the current pro forma session. 

I know, it is not really news anymore.  Just don't wait for it to be pointed out in the traditional media.

Obama Intends to Cut the U.S. Military by Half a Million Soldiers While Sharing Sensitive Missile Technology With the....RUSSIANS!

The Administration has telegraphed its intention to cut the military man power by about half a million soldiers.  The U.S. will thereby not be able to fight a war on two theaters at once - the mainstay defense objective of our country for decades. 

All this while sharing missile technology with the Russians, Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and possibly locating their longer range missiles in Venezuela, and the Chinese eyeing Taiwan for possible invasion among many other trouble spots around the globe.

At least I am sure Carter is proud.  After all, there is no strategy like leading from behind for the only free super power in the world as the Administration made clear in the past.

DOJ Steers Countrywide Settlement Cash to Leftist Organizations:

As you will recall, Countrywide Financial had settled with the DOJ for $335 million in a discrimination suit.  The money is supposed to benefit those minorities who were allegedly discriminated against by being pushed in to sub-prime loans that featured higher interest rates than whites were being charged.

Now we find out that a significant portion of the money has been diverted to community organizations like ACORN.

What is a billion here and a billion there?  Whether it is under the name Pigford or something else, with friends in high places, there shall be reparations paid to African Americans one way or another (and whether you like it or not)! 

Obama Summer Youth Jobs Program Via Executive Fiat to Feature Mostly Unpaid Jobs:

The total expected cost of the summer jobs program initiated by another one of Obama's executive orders is pegged at $1.5 billion.  Of the nearly two hundred thousand summer jobs it will create, only 70,000 will be paid positions (that is about $25K per summer job created).

Unemployment Rate Falls (or Does It?):

The Labor Department reported that the U3 unemployment rate fell to 8.5% in December.  Or did it?  After the seasonal help is let go, we shall find out in about a month.
Nevertheless, U3 would be at 10.9% if we adjusted it for the size of the work force (as Obama worshipping Ezra Klein of WaPo admitted).  In real life, ever shrinking work force does not make an improving employment picture.

More deceptive statistics being peddled for dissemination via the media for consumption by the gullible.

Of Virtue and Tyrants

One of my favorite philosophers happens to be the 18th century French philosopher Charles de Montesquieu, who also happened to influence many of our founding fathers.  As quoted in Thomas Jefferson's "Common Place", Montesquieu said "when virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it..."

Edmund Burke, the father of classical conservatism, also spoke eloquently about virtue.  Two of his famous quotes are: "It is better to cherish virtue and humanity, by leaving much to free will, even with some loss of the object , than to attempt to make men mere machines and instruments of political benevolence. The world on the whole will gain by a liberty, without which virtue cannot exist" and "Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist."

John Adams said: "Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics."

Whether it is Montesquieu, Burke, Adams, or any one of our founding fathers; they all understood one simple thing: In a constitutional system, virtue is essential for its survival.  In other words, when virtue is lost, the system is dead.  Theirs was a philosophy based on the principle of virtue and dedicated to fighting against arbitrary power.

Political virtue, or moral excellence in the public arena, has been gradually strangled since the early part of the 20th century.  The election of Barack Obama dealt the final blow as the past three years have clearly shown us. 

Obama believes in power - not virtue.  His latest display came on Tuesday with his unconstitutional recess appointments.  Appointments require the triggering of the Advice and Consent provision under the U.S. Constitution.  Although the U.S. Senate is in a pro forma session, the President decided on his own that they were on recess.  By doing so, he not only violated Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, but also the rules of the U.S. Senate - an independent and co-equal branch of the government - and over a century of precedent.

Earlier displays of Obama's use of power over virtue are too numerous to cite.  Let it suffice to mention the drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico, disregarding a federal judge's order to stop implementing provisions of ObamaCare, and overturning state laws to enforce existing and common sense immigration and election laws.  More examples can be found here and here.

The question remains: Can our Constitutional republic survive this slaughtering of whatever remained of virtue in our political landscape, or are we reliving the final days of the great Roman Empire all over again?  Only time will tell.  Spirits of Montesquieu, Burke, and all of our founding fathers must be shedding tears over the tragedy of the on going destruction of the one and only constitutional republic ever established which cherished individual liberty and virtue as its foundational raison d'etre.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Wow...

I have been very busy over the past two weeks and been unable to post.  So, first of all, I'd like to wish all patriots out there the best of everything in the new year.  And now comes the wow part...

The impostor who is playing the part of the President of the U.S.A. has always displayed his gross disregard for the will of the majority of American people as well as our Constitution.  What he did yesterday in making "recess" appointments to the NLRB and the Consumer Protection Bureau goes well across the boundaries of acceptable thuggishness.

The founding fathers had the wisdom to provide for the separation of powers because they realized that in a healthy representative republic, no one branch of the government can be allowed to dictate its will over the other two.  It is as if they foresaw the coming of this Chicago gangsta in to power over two centuries later.

Several progressives I know told me yesterday that GWB, Clinton, and Reagan all made more recess appointments than Obama.  HOWEVER, none made any recess appointments when the Senate was in pro forma session as it is now!  This is unprecedented and a clear affront to the Separation of Powers Act as well as the congress as a supposedly coequal branch of the government.  As extension, it is an affront to the American electorate.

Do not expect the media to raise a peep over this incident (as they raised hell over Alberto Gonzales' firings of attorneys at the Bush Justice Department, of which he was completely exonerated later in 2010 as I knew he would be).  I do not expect Articles of Impeachment being drawn by Republicans either because they do not have the cajones to deal with this charlatan the way he should be dealt with. 

It will be up to the American people to throw this bunch out come next November.  The alternative is unthinkable since, without the possibility of re-election, Obama would truly complete what he started: the fundamental transformation of America.

Infamous Progressive Math on Display, Again!

"This is not class warfare - it's math" said the President when pushing for the infamous Buffet Rule back in September.  He was wrong then, and apparently he has not gotten any better in the ensuing three months!

Just as the fact that the wealthiest 0.1% (or the 1%, 5%, and even 20%) pay a way larger share of their income in federal taxes than everyone else in effective terms eludes the Demagogue-In-Chief, the fact that 2% of $50,000 does not equal $40 per week also does.

Apparently, what is needed most sorely for this incompetent bunch is arithmetic tutors.  My seven year old son is available at a nominal rate, Mr. President.

P.S.
My comment at the WH site was: "It means $40 bucks to donate to whoever will kick your sorry Marxist butt out of the White House"  I am sure it will not be one of the comments they will be publishing!

Humor: Parallels Between Kim Jong Un and Barack Obama

Via The People's Cube:

MF Global: A Case Study In How Soros Makes Billions

Here is an interesting article by Peter Brandt, who is a renowned commodity trader, that walks the readers step by step how George Soros has ended up with the money MF Global clients have lost.  So this is how progressive causes get funded on the most part!  Personally, I think that the corrupt congress does not want to make the connections.  Not much of a surprise there either!.

Oh When the Chickens Come Home to Roost....

Yesterday, there was a significant news story that may not have gotten the attention that it deserves.  As you may remember from my previous posts, I was highly critical of the 2009 trade tariffs imposed by the Obama Administration on tires being imported from China.  Well, it is now obvious that the chickens have finally come home to roost as I fully expected.  China, the world's largest automobile market, has just slapped the U.S. with punitive tariffs on auto imports to the tune of 21% which will have an estimated $2.5 to $4.5 billion impact on ailing U.S. auto manufacturers. 

Historically, tariffs have never resolved any trade disputes; they did not during the Great Depression as with the over studied case of Smoot Hawley Act (which arguably contributed greatly to turning a recession in to a painful and prolonged depression), or in any other time (remember the Tariff of 1828 and others?) in history.  In fact, they have almost invariably always hurt trade and, as a natural extension, prosperity. 

Tariffs are punitive, anti-free trade, actions (usually pushed by labor unions) that inevitably lead to retaliatory actions by those countries they are levied against.  They destroy the mechanism of free trade that is supposed to keep in place efficiencies (translation: favorable cost structures) enjoyed by nations which hold comparative advantages in either labor, technology, or capital.  At the end, although it may look like a victory for local manufacturers, the indisputable loser is the public in general because they lead to higher costs and even shortages of goods. 

It took the world, led by the U.S., well over a century to abandon its relatively protectionist stance.  Although GATT was established in 1947, it was finally in the post Reagan era that the U.S. fully embraced free trade with establishment of NAFTA and Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.  As a direct result, global wealth increased dramatically in those countries engaging in free-trade over the past thirty or so years.  Now it seems, after a three decade trade renaissance, we are back to square one.  What a shame!

A Voter's Guide to Republicans

Courtesy of BillWhittleChannel, via the Youtube.  Enjoy the sarcasm.

A Dangerous Game in the Middle East

Bad news.  Don't expect Turkey to be the moderating voice in the Middle East that Bush and Obama administrations foolishly hoped she would be.

I previously wrote about the Erdogan government and the prevailing anti-America/anti-West sentiment in my native country of Turkey, and its potential role in a catastrophic break-down of relative peace in the Middle East.

As I noted in my post, Turkey's relations with Israel have been deteriorating rapidly over the past few years.  This is not welcome development since Turkey sways major influence in the region as a strategically located G-20 country as well as the most powerful military outside of Israel.  The complicating factor in this development is the anti-western public sentiment that has been escalating over the past decade. 

Turkey is a study in societal contrasts. The ultra modern and the devout Islamists coexist uneasily side by side, united in their distrust - and at times distaste - for the West, especially the United States. These Islamists and progressive leftists have formed an unholy alliance to undermine the free society that Ataturk envisioned eight decades ago.   As such, Turkey is travelling on the same road that countries experiencing Arab Spring (spearheaded by similar coalitions of Islamists and Marxists)  like Egypt and Libya are: a road that leads to disaster and terrible consequences that may well reach well beyond Turkey's borders.

Now comes the report that Erdogan government is intending to give Hamas $300 million - yes, you read right, Hamas the internationally recognized terrorist organization!

Here are the facts (as uttered by Erdogan and not by speculation) that give credibility to the report.  First, we know of his government’s involvement and approval of the Gaza flotilla debacle last year.  Second, Erdogan said to Charlie Rose in an interview that to regard Hamas as a terrorist organization is to disrespect the Palestinian people.  He made it abundantly clear by saying “Hamas is not a terrorist organization”.  That is quite a puzzling conclusion on his part since, not only Hamas’ charter calls for destruction of Israel but they are responsible for killing thousands of innocent Israeli civilians as you well know.  Erdogan also said that he was very pleased that Hamas and Fatah had joined forces.
Finally, for those thinking this is an Israeli plot to isolate Turkey, further adding to the credibility of the story is that it was published in IMEMC, a Palestinian organization. 

So, here we seem to have the symbol of so-called moderate Islam supporting radical Islam not only in words but in deed.
I'd like to think that there is no substance to this outrageous story but having seen the current AKP government in action over the past couple of years, I am more convinced than ever that Erdogan, who is shrewd and perhaps overly ambitious, is out to have himself declared leader of the Islamic world.
This is a very dangerous game, indeed.  One that requires utmost care by the U.S.........
Oops, I forget..... our leadership over here supports the Islamist/Socialist Arab Spring whole heartedly too, don't they?!  It seems, once again, we are at the mercy of outside forces thanks to a lack of vision that is worthy of a super power.  

2012 just can't get here soon enough!

Barack the Bad Ass Assasin

In response to the GOP presidential candidates calling him an appeaser, Obama said "ask Osama Bin Laden or any one of the other dead Al Qaeda leaders if I am an appeaser".

Isn't it like the progressives to make a straw man argument in order to misrepresent who they really are?  It is a little like the police chief whose town is unsafe to walk around saying "ask the jay walkers we have been ticketing at a record pace if we are soft on crime". 

This Administration has done nothing but appease: they have appeased the Russians by giving up our missile shield; they have appeased the Palestinians by abandoning our ally Israel (remember the 1967 borders debacle?); they have appeased the radical Muslims in Iran by turning their backs on Iranian protesters and allowing them to be slaughtered just for a chance to sit at the table with Ahmedinejad;  they have appeased Muslims here at home by calling the Fort Hood shootings a case of "work place violence" and the shooting of the Army recruitment center in Little Rock as "a random act" - both by Muslims who have indicated their devotion to Jihad -; they have appeased every little tin pot dictator from Venezuela to Honduras to you name the banana republic; the list is too long to go on but you get the point.

Yes, the President has succeeded in assassinating senior Al Qaeda leaders but that is where his bravado ends. Otherwise, Barack the assassin has only succeeded in assassinating one other thing: Our prestige and influence around the world.

The Speech That Betrayed The Chameleon

Those who are on the far left of the political spectrum, like Robert Reich and the NYT editorial staff among others, have called the President's Kansas speech the most important of his presidency.

We, on the opposite end of the spectrum, agree whole heartedly.  This was the landmark speech as far as shining the light on who Mr. Obama really is.  The snippets of video and various infamous quotes from his books as well as radio by the President made it clear for those with intellectual honesty that we had elected our first Marxist wannabe president in 2008.  His actions in office - particularly the anti business, pro labor ones - cemented that view while the left was disingenuously complaining that he was "too Bush like".  A likely tactic.  Distracting the public by making false allegations, setting up straw arguments, applying Alinskyite tactics,........it is all part of what the progressives must do to advance their agenda.

Yes, the speech was pivotal and it probably cemented the support of the President's base: those who make up the 21% of the electorate who self identify as progressive liberals.  It, however, lost everyone else who was paying attention to it.  And that, provided that enough independents were paying attention, is a losing strategy. 

At the end, it was his own words (or, likely, his speech writers) that did the chameleon in.  I will disect the speech later.

Obama Scandals and Other Outrageous News Update

Just a short post to keep up with developments in the ongoing Obama scandals (though I missed some recent items due to timing constraints) and other outrageous news items:

A new Reuters story talks about the staff mutiny at Solyndra in the days leading to Obama's infamous visit to the plant. 

The company had received a $535 million federal loan guarantee in 2009 and was held up by the Obama administration as an example of how it could help create green jobs.

Behind the scenes, Kaiser's Argonaut Private Equity was trying to right the flailing company. "To put it bluntly our poster child of private equity is acting up something fierce," a senior official from the George Kaiser Family Foundation said in an internal e-mail dated May 8, 2010, warning Solyndra's long-term business plan was in jeopardy.
The new emails highlight how the government backed a company that was in trouble from its early stages, giving more fuel to critics who believe the government threw good taxpayer money after bad.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu's top adviser on stimulus projects brushed aside White House questions about financial red flags ahead of Obama's May 25 visit.

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In other news, as Obama keeps on running from his radical past, more and more indications of his true colors surface.  Here is one more tie between him and the Marxists:

While addressing a gathering of the international communist front World Federation of Democratic Youth, in Lisbon Portugal, November 10, 2011, Young Communist League USA organizer Lisa Bergmann, boasted of communist leadership in the US “Occupy” movement and their desire to harness the movement to the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama.

When Marxists everywhere, from the CPUSA to the labor unions, are lockstep behind you, how can anyone deny that you are not sympathetic to their ideology?

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Another Obama campaign cash bundler who has benefited from the Obama crony cash machine has surfaced.  Abound Solar backed by bundler/investor Pat Stryker is the latest addition to a long list highlighted by Solyndra, SunPower, Evergreen, etc., etc.  This time, the amount is $400 million.  What is a few hundred million here and there among friends, right?

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Congressional Republicans are pushing hard to eventually defund NLRB (Craig Becker's outfit that sued Boeing on behalf of the labor union for moving an assembly facility from the union friendly state of Washington to the right to work state of S. Carolina).  The push back by union friendly Democrats has started.

Speaking at a forum sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) said efforts to defund the labor board and reduce its power amount to an attack on workers’ rights.

Also, on Wednesday, the NLRB voted to change the rules to benefit labor unions.
Workers of the world, unite!  Ooops, I forgot...they are all busy with Occupy whatever!

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The inner workings of the incredibly radical - not to mention corrupt and inept - Obama Administration is highlighted once again.  Based on the Obama administration’s latest document dump of visitor logs, convicted fraudster and community organizer Robert Creamer (architect of the Democrats’ political strategy for imposing Obamacare) has visited the White House sixty times since January 2009–five times in August 2011 alone.   Creamer’s efforts this fall to promote the Occupy Wall Street movement and to target Bank of America in particular makes one wonder how involved is the Administration in directing the Occupy movement.  Remember as well that the labor unions, especially AFL/CIO (head of which have been visiting/conferencing with the White House almost on a weekly basis) are the main influence behind the movement.


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Finally, on the economic front, the Commerce Department cut its estimate of third quarter GDP growth from 2.5% to 2%. 
On Friday, however, there was what seemed - at first glance - to be some good news.  The nation's unemployment rate has gone down from 9% to 8.6%.  Before you get overly excited, however, let me point out that:
1) Seasonal (and temporary) hiring starts around mid October.  Come February, many of those new hires will be let go.
2) The U3 data does not include those who have dropped out of the labor force.  Despite 120K new jobs, the reports indicate that over 315K workers dropped out (thus stopped being counted as unemployed).  The translation is that U6 probably increased by a few tenths of a percent!

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...And the Obama disaster chugs along!