Leaving Fool's Paradise

No sane person looks forward to a third world war, but solely for the sake of argument, let us assume World War III is inevitable. Would you not rather embark upon the cataclysm with eyes wide open than blissfully unaware? Some might contend we are already involved in World War III with the clash of civilizations extant between the West and Islam. This is indeed a plausible contention and this type of fight might involve brush fire conflicts as we are already engaged in- Iraq which may be winding down, Afghanistan where combat is worse than ever, Yemen, where America's covert involvement has been chronicled by Wikileaks, and a greater involvement in the failed-state Somalia where the United States already had a bloody and unsuccessful adventure in what started as a humanitarian effort. This clash of civilizations will likely continue to involve sporadic terror attacks against the West that will be costly in terms of casualties and the security precautions that they will necessitate. This type of war would be tragic and enduring but life would go on unchanged for most unless the terrorists acquired and used some weapon of mass destruction in a densely populated urban center, causing the West to initiate a disproportionate response that could conceivably even involve an attack on Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia which (once again confirmed in the recent Wikileak release) has sponsored and paid for so much of the terror directed against the West. The second possible scenario for global conflagration is equally plausible with Iran attempting or succeeding in an atomic attack on Israel or engaging in nuclear blackmail against the Persian Gulf states. Israel would react in the first instance with her own nuclear arsenal and obliterate Iran while in the case of atomic extortion against the Sunni states, the West would feel duty bound to protect the source of most of their petroleum. With either possibility involving Iran, the blood shed would be catastrophic but in the Sunni-Shia rift, strange bedfellows would emerge, with Western forces fighting with rather than against the Taliban and perhaps even elements of al-Qaeda who of course are Sunni Wahhabists and have destroying the Shia, who they consider to be apostate, as one of their highest objectives. The next possible global war scenario was mentioned yesterday on this forum and encompasses the Koreas. This action could drag in Red China which could also initiate a world conflict by trying to swallow Formosa. As Red China climbs to superpower status, the world must remember that the elite in power today are the perpetrators of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and still despise our openness and freedom. The two factors that militate against war with China are China's own reliance on the West as the market for the goods that they produce (that the consuming West and Japan have become Red China's economic bulwark) and the struggle they share against Islamic extremism as we have seen in China's fight against the Uighurs in Xinjiang. The unified front of the West and the Chinese Communists against world jihad might ironically make a third world war less likely. In any event, it will be better to know what to expect, to wage the conflict with full knowledge of the horrors bound to come rather than to fall blindly into World War III. 

Forcing America's Hand

God knows Barack Hussein Obama does not want another war. Obama certainly did not wish to inherit the two active fighting fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq that America was already in when he came into office, but there was nothing he could do about that beyond withdrawing as quickly as possible without concern for whether strategic objectives have been reached and certainly without achieving victory (even dismissing the notion of "victory" being possible).  Arriving in the Oval Office with a peacenik mindset, Obama never contemplated a third war with active hostilities resuming between the Koreas. The US national security team did not even fathom the prospect that a power vacuum emerging in North Korea would set off a leadership struggle there that would kindle one more active shooting war. This new threat is more grave than the nuclear terror posed by North Korea alone- it also could provoke rising superpower Red China. Every assurance has been transmitted to China that South Korean-US maneuvers now ongoing are no threat to the People's Republic, but China does not accept such assurances on face value and still harbors every intention of at some point unifying the mainland with irredentist Taiwan. The Communist Chinese are watching very carefully for any sign of American weakness vis-a-vis our allies and just saw South Korea flinch by canceling or postponing an artillery exercise on Yeonpyeong Island that was so recently barraged by North Korea. Contrary to demonstrating that America and her allies are reasonable and mean the evil doers no harm, this lack of resolve conveys the opposite message- that the Obama regime is weak, lacks the will to stand with allies, and ultimately looks to appease the surviving members of the Axis of Evil (North Korea and Iran). It should be apparent to even the most casual observer that as the wiki-leak confirms, the hand of Red China is deeply implicated in both Iran's nuclear rise and North Korea's ongoing belligerence. At some point though, perhaps through miscalculation, North Korean aggression may be so bellicose that it forces the United States to act, no matter what kind of misleader we have in the White House. And that may be how World War III starts, not with a roar but with an Obama whimper. 

Our Heedless Leader

The President of the United States ran under the slogan of "hope and change", but this particular ruler is inflexible and doctrinaire. Barack Hussein Obama is an agent of only one form of change- advocacy for radical socialism which happens to be contrary to America's founding ethos and his rigid refusal to compromise away from redistributionist schemes is becoming the primary impediment to sustained economic recovery. Obama will not countenance extending the Bush era tax cuts on the highest earners, even though these earners tend to be the largest private sector job creators. A jihad on job creation, a war on the free markets is no way to end the nation's longest ever recession. Private sector employers do not expand in the face of uncertainty and higher taxes certainly do not grow Subchapter S corporations where business earnings are taxed as individual income. These Subchapter S corporations have traditionally comprised the majority of US business startups and have also typically done most of America's hiring. Now government entities are doing most of the hiring as America becomes mired in a socialist tragedy- awaiting our inevitable day of reckoning a la Greece or Ireland. As circumstances evolve, our "change" President will remain as unflinching as ever in seeking to impose a Fabian socialist or even Marxist agenda. And no matter the rhetoric, Barack Hussein Obama has no desire to prevent this and every intention of imposing his vision of Amerika.

America Cries Foul

As much of the globe has already heard, United States President Barack Hussein Obama, presumably the leader of the free world, sustained a serious enough injury to require a dozen stitches during a pickup basketball game when he smashed into a flying elbow (and no- six-foot, seven-inch Republican US Senator John Thune did not deliver said elbow). No political rival was near the court and the whack was evidently pure accident. This incident is not the first time or even first time in recent Presidencies where a US chief executive was hurt. George W. Bush fell while mountain biking and was somewhat torn up. (As an aside, Bush was also incidentally nearly felled by a pretzel). Gerald Rudolph Ford was roughed up on the ski slopes (which lesser politicians including former entertainer and then sitting California US GOP House member Sonny Bono and political aspirant Michael Kennedy sadly actually died on) which is why recent Presidents may have avoided riding up the lifts. Teddy Roosevelt was such a devotee of the manly art of pugilism that he sparred against a boxing champion at the White House and was so badly mauled that he suffered permanent injuries. Even if you think Obama is doing a worse job in the Oval Office than a literal Democrat donkey, you will agree that for safety's sake, he should avoid competitive basketball and stick to more sedate pursuits on the greens or perhaps take up a more cerebral game like chess. Anyway, the split lip now sewn back together may help President Obama cut back on (his other genius pursuit) smoking for a few days.

No Vexing Issues

President Barack Hussein Obama and his family enjoyed an untroubled Thanksgiving feast yesterday with his bride Michelle even granting the American people permission to enjoy pie for the occasion. Such magnanimity,  such grace and beneficence to deign her subjects may by royal warrant, no less, eat cake (no that would have been someone else- perhaps a French speaker with an Austrian accent way back in the 1790s)- Michelle did say "pie" not "cake". Why should little matters like war or economic collapse interfere with a celebratory dinner or a trip to Spain or a golf match for that matter? Barack Hussein Obama and clan have taught us mere citizens a valuable lesson in how to prioritize and value the really significant things in life. 

Begrudging Israel's Existence

Just as in the cowardice evinced in the Korea situation, evil marches on in the assault on Israel's very existence underway at the United Nations. There have always been large majorities against the Jewish state in recent years in international forums, with Arab states, Muslim nations, and despotic regimes always ready to condemn Israel. Only the fair mindedness of the American people, that America was just and had Israel's back, and possessed the power of veto in the UN Security Council kept anti-Israel motions at bay. Unfortunately for the cause of justice and tragically for Israel, Barack Hussein Obama no longer considers Israel to be worthy of US protection and any American support for Israel now hinges on the Jewish state making territorial compromises that imperil Israel's very existence. Notwithstanding the fact, that nowhere in the Palestinian leadership is there an arbiter that wants peace or even accepts Israel remaining as a Jewish state, with America paying no heed to continued Palestinian incitement and violence, Israel is expected to return to pre-1967 War suicide borders and abandon control of the Jewish people's holiest sites. Jews have always looked to the Kotel, also known as the Wailing Wall, and the last physical vestige of the Temple, as the center of religious practice. The words "next year in Jerusalem" were a fervent hope and sacred prayer- not "next year in Crown Heights" or "next year in Scarsdale"- the very heart of Judaism can not be traded away for hollow Obama assurances or even F-35 advanced strike fighter jets. Just look at the way Obama has shied away from commitments to South Korea after the Chenoan sinking and the recent artillery barrage. If Obama will not lift a finger after fifty allies are murdered in a nation where twenty-eight thousand US troops are already on the ground, Israel must recognize that America will never assure the security of the Jewish state. Benjamin Netanyahu must simply say no to Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama and not give away the strategic depth Israel requires for future survival.

Matter of Maturity

I have conspicuously avoided facile sports analogies on this forum with a very occasional reference to one contest or another essentially esoteric to Americans. But an analogy about a particular quarterback, the leader of his team and the leader of our nation springs to mind. I am a Nashvillian and as such am offered inescapable coverage of the Tennessee Titan football team for which I grudgingly admit I root. Of late, there has been reportage ad nauseum concerning Vince Young who sustained a thumb injury in the last game. Vince Young is a tremendous athlete who gives the Titans the best chance to win of anyone at his crucial position with his strong arm and great speed of any quarterback in the league except perhaps disgusting "dog fighter" Micheal Vick. But while Vince Young has reveled in success (including being the hero of his national championship team at the University of Texas), he has not handled adversity encountered on the professional football field well. The last time Young sustained a serious on-field injury, there were fears he was in such a personal crisis he might harm himself or even attempt to take his own life. Young basked in fan adulation but was crushed by boos that he could not understand receiving after trying so hard and playing through less serious injury. It is not in enjoying success that maturity is measured but in coping with inevitable setbacks in any realm of life. Loss and failure weigh heavy on this young gladiator who could not accept his coach was only acting in his best long-term interest by not putting him back in the game where a further injury sustained to his thumb could have become unrecoverable, even with surgery. Coach Jeff Fisher did not allow  Young to return to the game out of love and concern. In no way was Fisher punishing Young. This was a sage elder trying to direct a less experienced charge, but in this case, the fledgling  would not listen. In America, we have a young President, brash and bold and filled with confidence who is so possessed of self-certitude that he has become invincible to logic and oblivious to reason and only pays lip service to the notion of defending America's allies as our enemies know all too well (as in the Korean crisis).  How one overcomes adversity and being willing to listen to those who have seen more of life are yardsticks of maturity where both Young and Obama seem wanting. Both Barack Hussein Obama and Vince Young believe they are bigger than that which they actually represent. 

The Koreas Ignite

A new Korean conflagration may be in the offing as the last Stalinist regime on earth smells the weakness brought forth by the pronounced lack of will in the White House. Active fighting has flared between the two Koreas who since the 1950s have coexisted with an armistice but no peace treaty. This extremely dangerous resumption of hostilities was predicated no doubt by the succession struggle in North Korea, but make no mistake- the North Koreans took Barack Hussein Obama's docility into consideration before embarking on their deadly path. This conflict with World War III potential would not have started had not Pyongyang sensed America's passivity under our crypto-Marxist leader who could not even conclude a trade agreement successfully with South Korea. When the United States is saddled with weak-kneed leadership with a pronounced lack of resolve, the globe is at greater hazard.

More Media Madness

Last night's NBC evening newscast featured more idiocy issuing forth from Lester Holt who was broadcasting from Afghanistan. Mr. Holt casually stated that the "war on terror started in Afghanistan", evidently forgetting the USS Cole outrage in the waters off Yemen and September 11, 2001 when al-Qaeda visited Manhattan. The big wet kiss to the Afghan atavists continued on the telecast with Holt dining in the home of a baker who had fought the Russians and fled but then recently returned to Kabul with his family from his sanctuary in Iran. This mujahid was just as friendly and welcoming as your doughnut man down the street in Anytown, Middle America in sharing the bounty of the Eid festivities. No effort was made to portray the other face of the holiday involving the sacrifice of goats, sheep, cattle, and even camels- that was all sanitized, kept from view of the American audience as part of the dinosaur media conspiratorial effort to whitewash the more brutal aspects of this "religion of peace". The US homeland must not be alarmed that butchers prevail in the faith that brought jihad across the globe. Then the NBC farce from the fighting front went on with Richard Engel displaying his utter lack of knowledge of war-fighting by speculating on a point man "stepping on an IED". Any reporter with the slightest military acumen would know the difference between a contact-triggered land mine and a remote-detonated bomb, the type of which is claiming most of the US casualties in Afghanistan, but evidently Engel does not. Where are the days when so-called war correspondents knew the rudiments of the combat about which they attempt to report? The main stream media once again gets it offensively wrong, acts as press agents for people who want to kill us, and has only the vaguest knowledge of military terms of art, but what else would you expect? This kind of misreporting is par for the course on ABC, CBS, NBC, and in the New York Times. At least on FOX, Oliver North occasionally appears to clear up the muddle. If truth prevailed, at least the American people would learn who and what we are fighting.

Pillar to Post

Some think a sea change occurred in the recent US elections. I am in no way so optimistic. The Democratic caucus has been distilled, lost almost all its moderates (with a literal handful of exceptions including former Tennessee Vol and Washington Redskin quarterback Heath Shuler, now a US Representative from North Carolina and the presumptive leader of the dying Blue Dogs), and now ranges from pure socialist to quite radical. The GOP retained a number of Republicans in name only (RINO) with the Alaska US Senate race still being contested. The number of conservative firebrands and tea party candidates that won their races and are due to be sworn is actually relatively small, with most Republicans in office suffering from Lindsey Graham syndrome, where they do not accept the premise that most Americans want the Obama agenda blocked outright but still believe that Republicans can and must work with Barack Hussein Obama for the good of the nation with widely hated schemes like Obama care and cap and trade only needing a little tinkering- some adjustment on the margins. Those RINOs do not recognize that the election results were any sort of seismic shift and certainly not any sort of quiet revolution. These go along to get along Republicans need to go- they need to be voted out in large numbers in 2012 GOP primaries because as long as they are in office, they will seek common cause with those dragging America into socialism.

Not Sorry Charlie

I have to ascribe some cynical motives to proceedings in the United States House of Representatives regarding Charlie Rangel. First, his years of misconduct were ignored with no hearing taking place before the Ethics Committee until after he had safely won reelection. Then, this slick who saddled the American tax payer with onerous burdens only receives censure for ignoring the Federal Tax law he imposed on the rest of us but never quite fully complied with- if you were as cavalier about your income tax as Congressman Rangel had been, you would be in a Federal prison- not retaining a seat in the august body of the US House. One more aspect of the timing, with the hearing finally taking place before the newly-elected Republican majority in the House is sworn in, is that the toughest sanction against Rangel of expulsion was taken off the table, so the lame duck Democrats protect their own yet again. And if you think that censure would be the end of Rangel's career with Harlem voters, guess again. The only constraint the eighty year old fast talker has about being perpetually reelected is his health. The Rangel ethics scandal is just one more way that he and his Democrat party can give the heartland the middle finger.

War With Deadline

The political echelon of the Obama administration has declared that the war in Afghanistan will end in 2014. The Pentagon struck with a touch of realism terms the date "aspirational". War can not be successfully waged (with a goal of victory) on some artificial, politically-dictated timeline. Total war between a nuclear state and a non-nuclear state or non-state actor can be ended after a grim but sincere ultimatum- "we will subject you to atomic obliteration" at some date certain "if you do not cease hostilities, surrender some block of territory, etc." But that iron-fisted position is far from where the Obama administration is or wishes to take us. Our war-fighting is just the opposite- waging war under the most restrictive rules of engagement US forces have ever been forced to fight under, causing unnecessary American casualties, and ironically Afghan deaths as well as the use of disproportionate force by NATO troops would convey our seriousness and determination and cause the Taliban to capitulate quickly. We have the military means and destructive apparatus to subdue our enemies at much less risk to our own forces but our cowardice of political-correctness forbids US forces from using them even though ultimately their use would facilitate "victory" (which remember is a term in the context of Afghanistan that Barack Hussein Obama refuses to use). In 2014, no matter who is in the White House, combat will still be raging in Afghanistan. If Obama is in office, America will be bled white by attrition, but if a serious leader from another party sits in the Oval Office, the gloves may be removed that have been constraining our effort to win and we may be well on the path to vanquishing the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Penalize Job Creators

Virtually all private sector jobs are created by those with taxable incomes of more than a couple hundred thousand dollars. Those who make less are highly unlikely to be capable of much hiring. If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, those who could grow the economy the most will obviously have their taxes go up which will diminish their capacity to create new jobs. If Barack Hussein Obama permits the tax cuts to lapse (which is effectively a tax increase of course in the teeth of a recession), social justice and fairness will not have been served, new entrepreneurship is sure to suffer, and less new employment is bound to follow. If Team Obama wanted real stimulus, they would lower the marginal Federal income tax rates, as both John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan did. The American public would be amazed at the increase in the rate of hiring that would ensue if his one reasonable measure that would free up capital was take. But Obama and the socialist cabal around him do not seek and will never permit that.

Inadmirable Leadership Trait

The best officers always advance before their men. Widely loved generals like Omar Bradley eschewed the officers' mess and ate the same rations as lowly buck privates- dining beside the enlisted men. In the First World War, Douglas MacArthur charged alongside his troops but neither carried a gun nor donned a helmet because he was convicted of the notion that God's destiny for him did not include a German bullet or shell. The willingness to subject oneself to the same risk and degradation as soldiers of the lowest ranks is to be commended. Today's senior officers and certainly the politicians of this era do not share this trait. The generals tend to stay in headquarters miles from the fighting- some remaining in Florida to wage war in Afghanistan and Iraq (where officially the US combat role has ended- except that Americans still fight there). Our elected leaders conduct their affairs even more shamefully- they specifically exclude themselves from law that they foist on the rest of us. That is why I am certain that President Obama will not endure the indignity of having his wife and daughters manhandled to prove he is "one of us" to calm the growing anti-TSA insurrection. Obama would not stoop that low- he is not an average American and would under no circumstances pretend to be. Unlike MacArthur who was God's supplicant in leading men, Obama looks to the beaming visage in the mirror and asks what should I do next. That is a problem encountered in governance since the days of ancient Rome where certain emperors proclaimed themselves as living gods. They did not spark confidence in their publics, nor were they loved. This style of ruling will never fly for very long in the American republic.

America's Flying Public

The passengers of airlines are righteously indignant about being subjected to the type of search normally performed in prisons on convicted felons just to retain the right to board a commercial flight. Even the pilot and crew are subjected to these radiation-emitting scans or grossly intrusive pat downs. This is nonsense- if the pilot who happens to possess the ability to crash the plane on a whim also happens to have a can of now prohibited soda- who cares? Our Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is bizarre. If President Barack Hussein Obama wishes to mollify the public against this offensive nonsense, he should subject himself and his wife and two daughters to the same procedure on live television. The cameras need not broadcast the X-ray scan results but merely have the whole Obama clan go through a live and active "naked" screening as we are now required to do if we need to fly. Obama and family should then volunteer for the additional grope screen those who opt out of the scanner must endure. When Obama is willing to do that (as he may be on his own behalf), and when he is willing to have his daughters broadcast undergoing the same procedures (which he would never permit), then the flying public should quit its carping. Until then, Americans have every right, indeed a sacred obligation to squawk. 

Beware: Ireland Falling

Ireland was termed an economic miracle just a few short years ago. This was true as Ireland was booming and this new found prosperity brought ever more generous government benefits. The problem was with each share the abundance program, private and corporate wealth was necessarily diminished to pay for some supposed greater public good. Then suddenly and subtly, the recently gained good times began to evaporate. The Irish are finding as Greece found, that government simply can not provide everything because tax payers can not afford it. Lyndon B. Johnson proved America could not enjoy both guns and butter. The problem of Greece remains deeper and broader than was anticipated. Barack Hussein Obama is oblivious to these lessons and spends full speed ahead while Ireland which has done without the burden of paying much for her own defense, can now not even now afford butter.

Netanyahu Say "No"

Either Israel is wholly legitimate as ordained by God or does not belong on the map. The Balfour Declaration is a crowning legal touch as are deeds to property purchased by Jews since before the 1948 creation of the Jewish State along with proofs of Jewish purchase of pieces of land since then, but make no mistake- the word of the Lord is the ultimate authority. Israel can not dance to the tune Obama is playing and claim to be an independent nation. Benyamin Netanyahu must assert ancient and historical Jewish rights and Biblical prerogatives or they will be lost in the short term of one failed American Presidency. President Barack Hussein Obama wishes to make his mark in the Middle East over the vanquished corpse of the Jewish State. Obama's unGodly behavior here is not enlightened, it is simply evil. If Israel accepts even a modest three month freeze on Jewish rights, she is becoming an American vassal state and a wholly owned entity of Team Obama, a cadre that does not have the best interests or even the survival of the Jewish State at heart. 

Carving Up Israel

Barack Hussein Obama is determined to resolve the Israel problem once and for all to cure all the ills of the Middle East and bring the age of peace to the world. Obama is convinced that a small number of Jews living on the land promised them by God are the source of all the globe's dissension. If only those obdurate Jews are brought to answer, then Messiah Obama will in his mind have earned that unwarranted Nobel Peace Prize and that Islamists thus appeased will abandon jihad and no more violence will be brought forth from the Islamic realm. First, there is no prospect of reasonable Israeli concessions bringing peace as Israel has no arbiter on the Palestinian side actually willing to countenance a "Jewish" state. All the Israeli territorial concessions will render is a Jewish state that is indefensible and easier for the Jihadists to digest. Of course, PA leader Abbas will accept whatever Israeli give aways that the Obama administration is able to force as part of the gradual destruction of the Jewish enemy first propounded by Arafat as "the Plan of Stages", but the ultimate goal will remain the removal of the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. Then there is Hamas which is much more popular than the Palestinian Authority amongst the Palestinian people who reject negotiation and favor the use of all out force to push the Jews into the sea over the more subtle but no less deadly "Plan of Stages". No peace or lasting accommodation is possible with these genocidal people. No withdrawal of Jews will ever satisfy them unless it is completely from the region. All this talk of a ninety day freeze on Jewish construction deliberately misses the point of who and what is blocking peace. It is not the construction of a few domiciles for Jews anywhere (the blocking of which is racist) but an utter rejection by the Palestinian leadership of having Jews as neighbors. Until the Arabs are willing to accept Jews as equals- not dhimmi (or corpses), there will never be true or lasting peace in the Middle East. This effort by Obama is a clever attempt to create a rift between Netanyahu and his core constituency- the Israeli Right. The Obama administration is offering such seemingly generous terms as twenty more free F-35 joint strike fighters for a mere ninety day delay with the certain knowledge that none of the air superiority jets are likely to be ready for delivery until after Iran has made Israel a nuclear cinder. Team Obama would like the Likud so divided that it causes the Netanyahu governing coalition to fall to be replaced by a Kadima-led coalition perhaps with Israel's Barak-led Labor Party which now sits with Likud in governance but could easily be persuaded away to "go with a winner" which the Obamabots know will be more malleable in agreeing to concessions that lead to Israel's suicide as a Jewish state. You have to admit that as far as triangulation and divide and conquer go that the Obama team excels, but as far as doing what is morally right and simply just in the context of Israel, Team Obama, which now ties protecting Israel in multilateral bodies like the United Nations and blocking the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state to Israel accepting the ninety day construction halt initiative, is sorely lacking.

Nashville's Mayor Obama

Who ever would have imagined that the city known as the buckle of the Bible Belt (which happens to be my hometown) would elect a self-professed "progressive" as mayor? My dear pater who happens to be pushing ninety and has lived here since 1938 says he has never seen such a free spender setting himself against the wishes of long-term locals like Mayor Karl Dean. Prior to the importation of so many leftists associated with the city's many universities and the growth of the government sector which in Nashville happens to encompass metropolitan, state (as the state's capital), and Federal workers in large numbers, this city was as conservative and fiscally tight as any in the nation. Now, Nashville seems to be trying to keep up with Obama's stimulus spending pace, building a gilded convention center with a separate hotel complex that is not needed during such pressing economic times. Now, the Fairgrounds which has housed the state fair, a monthly flea market, and a racetrack is set to close against widespread sentiment that it should stay open. The flea market will be moved to a moribund mall complex known as Hickory Hollow and the city fathers have the brilliant idea of charging a "small admission fee" to allow people to go in and spend more money there. I have a feeling that quite a bit of the merchandise there should it open will be junk that people will regret having paid an admission charge to peruse. They may go once out of curiosity and never visit again to see the same "bargains" they can find without paying admission for at the Farmers' Market. A cynic might suggest that so much money is being spent and so much moved around that it provides a greater opportunity for graft, for if no such grandiose projects are being undertaken, bribes and kickbacks and slippery dealing are much less apt to occur and more easy to ferret out. If a city spends a couple of billion dollars on unneeded and unwanted projects, someone is going to be enriched mightily (and as my father who has seen plenty of life in parts of ten decades starting in 1921 points out- not necessarily entirely on the up and up). Yes, embarking on projects that yield nothing for most of the citizenry, but ultimately leave the property tax payer exposed through general obligation bonds backing development only a few private parties are destined to benefit from are not the best use of resources in a city recovering from an epic flood during the nation's longest standing recession. What if the tourist who are supposed to bear the expense of the convention center do not materialize because of the horrific economy? Residents of Nashville, particularly those who pay property tax, are left holding the bag and responsible for all the newly engendered debt. And the idea that businesses are not coming forward with alternate plans for Hickory Hollow or the Nashville flea market because they shy away from controversy is nonsense. They simply are not committing now because for private enterprise now, such efforts are not economically viable. Why should the city launch expensive initiatives that make no sense from a business standpoint? Mayor Dean should confine his efforts to public health and safety unless he has an obviously popular mandate not to do what is controversial but that which is widely embraced by the tax paying public who will in the end have to pay for projects if other anticipated sources of funding like hotel tax revenue fail to materialize. A city like a family must live within its means.

Performance Oriented Presidency

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has written a book that chronicles some of the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In it, Jindal suggests that some of the effort made had little to do with helping the cleanup and everything to do with creating the illusion of "we are on top of this" spin. Great Presidents like Ronald Reagan did not care who got the credit for an initiative so long as it benefited the nation which is why Reagan was often seen chatting up "Tip" O'Neill and giving the Democrat US House Leader so much credit. Other American Presidents who were "results oriented" included the last President Bush who gave Teddy Kennedy accolades for helping to write and advance the Education Bill. Unfortunately, so far Barack Hussein Obama has not been results oriented but content on creating image over accomplishment. Demonstrating some administration stagecraft through former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was far less taxing than doing nose to the grindstone business of actually helping contain the spill, far from the camera's eye. No, President Obama does not seem so concerned with great results as a statesman would but quite interested in good public relations. Obama is all about performance (as in the phoniness of theater) and this emphasis to "look good" has actually led the country in some instances in the worst possible way.

World Rebuffs Obama

The G-20 (and the G-7 for that matter) have always been dominated essentially by whatever economic impetus that the United States of America desires. Not so much at the current forum, with the rest of the group of economic powers siding with China in her currency dispute with the USA- America is no longer loved nor feared. We have become the blind colossus swinging wildly, flailing in tragicomic parody of our former robust self. The Nobel Peace Prize conferred on Obama becomes mockery as even the Olympic Committee turned Obama away in his failed bid to attain the games for Chicago. America was the envy of the world as recently as the last President Bush, with many nations seeking our friendship and the others quite seriously pondering Bush's "you are either with us or against us" enough to even have formerly recalcitrant Libya turn away from weapons of mass destruction pursuits and "make nice" with the West. Sadly, Barack Hussein Obama as my father suggests has led America from the last, lone superpower to the butt of jokes. Now America is left with the only avenue to display her strength being unjustly turning on tiny, beleaguered Israel which is where I suspect Obama may direct his wrath.

Note of Thanks

This rare personal correspondence is to thank those of you who have expressed support to my family during Lily's ordeal. She is in the literal fight of her life and her courage and determination are a marvel. Her prognosis at this point is not a good one but so long as there is life, there is hope- until hope and love and precious memories are all that remain. 

Our Sacred Ground

They shed their blood to forge this nation, then to keep her free/ Then pushed away a Mexican tyrant so that Texas as a US state could be/ In eighteen and sixty one they swelled the ranks to rejoin a country torn asunder/ They bled for liberty- to free the slave, not for callow plunder/ Only too late after the sinking of the Maine did Spain realize her blunder/ Next came World War One where Doughboys and Devil Dogs helped turn back the Hun and on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the fight came to an end/ To commemorate this moment and honor those who served, this Veterans Day was born/ But the war to end war did not succeed and still remained the scorn/ As was bound to happen, hostilities returned- visiting again on a sultry Sunday December 7, 1941/ Unleashing total war with brutality that would stun, forcing sixteen million patriotic Americans to take up the gun/ Then after more Americans fell than in any other war/ Peace through strength was restored/ But the intermission and relief were all too brief/ With first Korea, then Vietnam/ Finally bringing recognition of nurses' sacrifice- that ladies wear the uniform as well and pay the price/ Tell them as well of gratitude much earned/ That all who go to war the lesson learned/ And give to them the hearty "Thank you, Ma'am" that they deserve/ Recalling that all who put themselves on the line have nerve/ Then came brushfire conflicts in twilight wars/ Before Saddam and Osama hid behind their doors/ If you know someone who served or serves, thank them well this day remembering on our behalf, it was and is the ultimate price they were and are prepared to pay.

Time of Testing

Nations, individuals, and families all face trying times. America has been irresolute in spending and the printing of fiat currency and even refuses to acknowledge that Islamism is the enemy in an existential war. Barack Hussein Obama deliberately distorts facts with his sophistry about the US not being at war with Islam during his speech in Indonesia. Of course, the United States has never been at war with the Muslim faith but elements of that religion vastly larger than al-Qaeda have been at war with us. Does President Obama not recall that the bombing of the US Marines' barracks in Lebanon which prior to the September 11, 2001 outrage was the deadliest terror attack on Americans was carried out not by al-Qaeda and its Sunni sympathizers but by Shia supporters of Iran under the auspices of Hizbollah? The problem of jihad runs much wider and deeper than al-Qaeda and unfortunately will be far more enduring. Indonesia has been far from the beacon of tolerance that President Obama suggested, just look at their treatment (including fatal torture) administered to the Catholics of East Timor, the murder of Australian journalists in Balibo there, and the persecution of the residents of Indonesian-occupied West Papua, along with countrywide instances of discrimination against Christians across Indonesia. If this is Obama's model of Islamic tolerance, he sets a low standard and the rest of the West should look somewhere else. Perhaps Iraq is the example of much vaunted Muslim tolerance, freed with American blood and treasure, where Christians were relatively safe under the thugship of Saddam Hussein- no to find the paradigm of Islamic tolerance, we can not look there with more than fifty Catholics murdered in a hostage taking last week at a major church and with at least three more Christians killed in bomb and mortar attacks against their tiny, scattered enclaves in Baghdad today. How about erstwhile ally Pakistan as the model for Islamic tolerance- nope not there either with two Christian brothers shot dead by a defender of the Islamic faith as they left their trial on a trumped up charge and a Christian woman (named Asia Bibi) being sentenced to hang this very day there for blasphemy. Perhaps enlightened Turkey is where Muslim tolerance shines, no wait... a Christian publishing house was slaughtered there with three believers tortured and beheaded in a country that pretends European aspirations. No Mr. President, the West is not at war with Islam, but Islam to a shocking degree is and has been at war with us. On a personal note in a matter of testing for me and my family, I beseech my readers to say a prayer for Lily, our seven year old Keeshond who was at my father's side guarding and protecting him through five spinal fusion procedures. Lily is having a complex operation today to remove cancer from her liver and spleen. She is a grand companion and gentle comforter and in many ways the heart of our household. Please pray with me that she has the opportunity to come home with us. Thank you.

President Perturbs Pakistan

United States President Barack Hussein Obama has upset Pakistan with his proposal to elevate India to the Security Council of the United Nations- such a pity with Pakistan being so good and reliable a friend too. Pakistan's true colors have been aptly demonstrated in their support for al-Qaeda without which it is doubtful Osama bin Laden would even have been successful in forming the world's arch-terror organization, to continued logistical support for both Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, to evident operational assistance provided by at least some elements of Pakistan's version of the US Central Intelligence Agency, the ISI, to last year's Mumbai murder squad to help perpetrate the massacre, to becoming the world's worst proliferator of nuclear weapons to "terror" states like North Korea through the A. Q. Khan network, Pakistan has earned American enmity. It is not "rogue" elements of the ISI that have undermined Pakistan but the Sunni power structure in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that conspires against the West. Shia and Christians face gross persecution in Pakistan as well. Pakistan is no erstwhile ally but a cagey enemy proven to be the villain in many plots of jihad against the rest of the world and this is in spite of being the beneficiary of billions of dollars of American largess. So far as any nation being involved in the Security Council is concerned, my opinion has been and remains that the United States should exit the United Nations and expel the headquarters from New York and all UN organizations from our shores. The United Nations is a wholly illegitimate enterprise controlled by kleptocrats and dictators, rife with anti-Semitism, and the leading force in Jew-baiting and Israel-bashing today. The globe would be better off without the UN with it being supplanted perhaps by a multilateral organization comprised only of open society democracies like the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the Czech Republic, Poland, Israel, and India (among others) but excluding tyrannies like Red China. Please President Obama perturb the nations like Pakistan that have done us so much recent harm.

Obama's Visit Home

Barack Hussein Obama seems to have left the United States rudderless as he continues his wanderings literally far away from the traditional American mainstream. Obama's compass and sextant do not point to the heartland but toward his next destination- Indonesia- where he spent his formative years. Obama lived in this the world's most populous Muslim nation and even attended an Islamic school or madrassa for a year there. When present in the Oval Office, President Obama navigates hard toward port with a definite leftward bias in the winds in the departing Congress shifting the ship of state toward an almost unrecoverable capsize. Now perhaps a steadier hand is coming in to direct the US House of Representatives, but to the other organs of governance, the incoming Republican majority in the House will be regarded as a mutinying crew. The Senate, President Obama, and large elements of the judiciary feel the rebellion against them is the real issue and see no need for a course correction of the direction of the nation. To them, the Republican Congress, the resistance they face in the voting public, and the constraints of the US Constitution are the only obstacles and the real problems of the nation. But in flyover country the GOP takeover and the return of adult hands and conservative values to the deck are a path to salvation and the only possible solution for the country.

America's Fast Talker

My goodness, what a great deal the tax-paying public has purchased by financing Obama's gallivant through India. We now find Barack Hussein Obama blowing his own horn over deals between American corporate giants Boeing and General Electric and India. And of course, these deals which ultimately benefit India would never have made it through without President Obama there to assure them- to "cinch the deal". Yes, we are told ten billion dollars in trade will emerge from this "royal expedition"- such fantastic spin into Obama's realm of the make believe- just as the President's mea culpa on the election defeat of Democrats rings hollow. That line is it was not the agenda or the unpopular legislation that was rejected by most voters but a mere failure to "communicate" the message in a cogent enough way. It was this lack of ability to articulate all Obama care is going to do for you that caused it to fail to resonate- not the fact that medical autonomy may be stripped from you and your family and handed to some nameless unanswerable bureaucrat. It was not that anti-liberty measures like this have been forced down your throat. If Obama's teleprompter had only enjoyed more airtime to sell the program in a more palatable way. Poor America, if Obama actually believes his own spin, he needs some good Obama care medication to help him think straight.

Cannibals and Cannabis

California was not rocked by Tuesday's elections as much as the rest of the nation. The Golden State opted for staid old liberals over apparently qualified and capable business women (assuming that is that leftists like Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown could ever be called "staid"). But in a surprise move where much of the state seems stoned on something, the voters of California did not vote to decriminalize marijuana for recreational use. You would have thought the way that they voted in gubernatorial and US Senate elections that they were high as kites already. Instead in a state mired in debt, trapped by the foreclosure crisis, and riven with social problems and crime, the people will be left to cry in their beer rather than toking up as the great millennial earthquake separates that state from the saner parts of the nation. But then again since when did legality ever stop die-hard Californians from doing anything?

Mystifying Monetary Meddling

Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve are at it again. They are facilitating the inflationary cycle, perhaps even to the point of hyperinflation, monetizing the national debt, and destroying the value of savings of America's passbook account holders. Six hundred billion dollars in the second quantitative easing is supposed to cure what the first boost to inflation of QE1 and a couple of trillion dollars in stimulus and bailout spending did not. It seems that the team directing the US economy both in the White House and in the independent Federal Reserve have never heard of the Wiemar Republic or Zimbabwe or are blithely unconcerned that their actions may trigger the cataclysm.

Jaunting Through India

President Barack Hussein Obama has planned a little expedition to India- perhaps as a diversion from the bad news received in Tuesday's election. No simple sojourn- with wife and daughters and three thousand close friends- this voyage will cost the taxpayer a mere two billion dollars for ten days. Thirty-four American combat vessels will evidently accompany the President to assure his security. Obviously, with his station and prestige of office, Barack Obama can not stay at a backpacker's hostel or in a budget hotel, but does two billion bucks not seem a tad excessive? In fact, seeming to squander that amount could be construed as an affront to the millions of Americans who are now struggling to just get by in this grim economy. Does the President suffer under the delusion that he is Alexander the Great and that he is not going to tour but to conquer? With a delegation of that size and accompanied by such military strength, Obama could certainly make some headway in that endeavor. What possible strategic or commercial benefit can accrue to the United States by having Barack Hussein Obama spend so much time at the cost of so much of our money there?

The Last Gasp

Either socialism or liberty is on the wane. Yesterday's election settled nothing. But these ideas are mutually exclusive- one can not redistribute the wealth and preserve freedom. The right to private property must be held as sacred as the right to life. In a free society, economic self-determination must be protected. Rationing health care is inimical to freedom. So-called stimulus only warps markets making it impossible for them to find their equilibrium. America will either be wholly free or a dark socialist entity unrecognizable to those who love her as she was founded and intended to be.

The Whip Hand

President Barack Hussein Obama has neither the inclination nor the intention of backing off his Leninist agenda despite yesterday's electoral rebuke. I believe a lame duck session of the Congress will now push forward what can never pass in the incoming US House of Representatives. What a rational politician would see a a slamming gate, a thieving radical will see as a cracked window- a final opportunity to push such wildly unpopular measures as "Cap and Trade" through before the GOP can muster the power to stop it. And away from the domestic agenda, the US will now focus her wrath not on jihad or the threat of Iranian nuclear extortion but clearly on Israel as the primary cause of all the world's discomfiture. Watch now for the Obama regime to turn on the besieged and beleaguered Jewish state no longer regarded as an ally worthy of saving but as the cause of all the problems of the Middle East. The magnitude of the mistake of electing Obama will be paid for in tragedy, with travesty, and inevitably, not with peace in the Holy Land, but spilled blood. Sadly, Obama intends get tough with Israel as his policy objective abroad and punish the Jewish state for his domestic failures to burnish his international prestige believing that appeasement of Islamism and rewarding terror will demonstrate that Obama has achieved something.

Republic Ripped Asunder

Barack Hussein Obama as a candidate for America's Presidency was seen to have the unprecedented potential to become The Great Unifier. Even some Republicans endorsed Obama for the highest office in the hope and expectation that he would be our first post-racial, post-partisan President. Those GOP dupes must now be sorely disappointed that they were so gullible about this most racial, most partisan President who seeks handy ways of triangulation to divide and conquer his domestic enemies (as he so clearly defined those members of the citizenry who do not favor an open border amnesty in an interview with Hispanic media just last week). We will now have that strategy employed to increase polarization to Obama's benefit as he seeks to cram the remaining items of his agenda through against the will of the majority of the American people. President Obama is not interested in building bridges or forming coalitions on a path to reelection in 2012. He is no Bill Clinton but a radical set on burning the country down

Their Failed Experiment

You would think Democrats would get the message that the American people reject Obamaism from the staggering blow Democrats suffered in the United States House of Representatives election yesterday, but you would be wrong. Despite the fact that there exist no glowing examples of the success of socialism worldwide but plenty of instances of glaring failure (including flagging Europe with restive Greece and even Cuba being forced to introduce vestiges of a free market after the obvious failure of central planning), Democrats plan to batten down the hatches and proceed full speed ahead. The only message they received is that the American people are stupid and need further indoctrination on the path to correction. The Democrat Party will now amp up the rhetoric and with their friends in the handmaiden press use the newly gained Republican edge in the US House of Representatives to blame for everything that Obama causes to go wrong with this country. Just don't let them get away with that.

Descending Mount Vermin

I had hopes that I would wake today to find the prospect of revival for America around the corner with the sinking nation jumping aboard the life raft of conservatism before drowning in debt, but in the event, I find mad socialists still manning the oars and pump with the GOP's most exuberant predictions of success not being realized. "Light Brain Harry Reid" will likely still preside over the United States Senate to carry the water as Barack Hussein Obama seeks to punish his enemies (that would of course include liberty-loving Americans near the top of the list). Instead of celebrating, I would say the country is now a patient in guarded condition, with the only barricade to Obamaism's continuing corruption of the national founding ethos being Republicans standing stalwart, unified, and conservative in the US House of Representatives. They will be called obstructionist and worse in the dinosaur media and blamed for all that ails America, but their determination to thwart Obamaism is all that stands between America and outright socialism. I had hoped to find the hill taken this morning but instead find there are still far too many lemmings looking forward to jumping over the edge.

America's Resurrection Commences

Few times in human history afford the chance at significant achievement and most that do involve great risk or sacrifice. Storming the beaches at Normandy or boarding a NASA moon rocket come to mind as history-shaping events that by their very nature are fraught with peril. Today, every freedom lover has the opportunity to participate in an earth shaking event without as much as losing a drop of blood. Striking a blow for liberty today that resounds across the nation and the world simply means going out to vote. Painless, bloodless, easy- you do not have to face German 88s or even a snug moon capsule, yet your action today may restore America's footing to what our founders intended. Be brave, be patriotic, be there at the polls before they close in Nashville at seven in the evening. The revival of the United States as the font of freedom for the whole world depends on you!

The Closing Argument

I wholeheartedly endorse David Hall over US Congressman Jim Cooper in the race for the Fifth District in the US House of Representatives from Tennessee. I have seen Jim Cooper become a bootlick For Barack Hussein Obama, a rubber stamp for Obama's free spending radicalism, and even a co-sponsor of the widely despised Obama health care plan that passed in no small part due to Congressman Cooper's efforts against the wishes and interests of most of his constituents (I being among their number). David Hall is conservative, concerned, and capable and I pray he helps us bid adieu to Jim Cooper's entrenched, ignore the will of the Tennessee voter, liberalism.

Evil Opportunity Destroyer

America is suffering with the boot of government across the throat of job creators. Markets have always found their equilibrium when they are permitted to work without the interference of social engineers and central planners. But the Obama administration and more broadly the Democrat elite are determined to put their noses in where they can only cause great damage and intensify rather than repair our economic dislocation. Did "feel-good" programs to put virtually everyone into a home of their own regardless of credit worthiness really improve anything? Was "redlining" a commonplace offense or something politicians and interest groups hyped to get the ball rolling for America's financial ruin? Is giving a business a tax credit of a couple of thousand dollars a sufficient incentive to help an employer decide to create a job or is it only an insult when the new position with wage (salary), training, and benefits is going to cost him fifty thousand or more dollars? All the Federal manipulation of the markets is going to be doing along with the out of control spending and printing of currency and borrowing to pay for it, is going to be to assure that any recovery is shallow while our problems only deepen.