Made Lemonade Again

Still recovering a bit from last May's "thousand year flood" in Nashville, my family watched nervously as water rose yet again around our house. We were not particularly comforted as a mating pair of mallard ducks swam past our front steps. My Mom inquired if now was the time to bug out, asking if should evacuate while we still had the chance. I said, "Heavens no, think how lucky we are to own a piece of beach front property." To local readers, stay safe out there.

Cart Without Wheels

As the almost irrelevant and completely unendurable Oscar telecast is further politicized by the Left, the flagging broadcast began to resemble the failing Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama. Fortunately, the Oscar telecast ends relatively shortly. Unfortunately, the Obama administration will be here to do more damage for some time to come (and you can not change the channel or turn our dear leader off). He owns the remote control to the home theater system until his successor is sworn in- presuming we have another Presidential election. The era of hope and change (hoax and shame) drones on and on.

Navigating Uncharted Waters

America has been the moral beacon for much of the world. Not to say that the US has been perfect by any means, but we have served as a compass by shining the light of freedom. We have been known rightly as the Land of Opportunity, producing the least stratified society that there has ever been. In America, the poor almost universally have indoor plumbing, constant electricity, television, and motor vehicles and the economic liberty to rise above poverty. Typically, those in the lowest income bracket who have children even own the latest gaming system and have some sort of Internet access readily at hand. Yet, from the way the Democratic Party, the Obama administration, and trade unionist tell it, America is among the most deprived places on earth. Pity the poor government worker whose compensation package with benefits only averages more than the typical income of families (largely comprised of non-government workers) across the United States. And what of Obama's foreign policy- it is benighted and backwards- waiting more than nine days to call out tyrannical murderer Qaddafi by name, ignoring the plight of oppressed Iranians, living under the thumbs of mullahs and Ahmadinejad, but immediately pushing US ally Mubarak out. Mubarak suffered such popular discontent because he was seen as a pawn of America for honoring his commitment to the US vis-a-vis peace with Israel. And I never thought I would see my formerly righteous nation demanding that Israel make the most sacred places to Jews Judenrein- cleansed of Jews- demanding Jews abandon Judea and Samaria and most offensive of all, leave East Jerusalem. "Next year in Jerusalem" has been the most fervent call of the believing Jew since the Babylonian Exile, since the diaspora was imposed on the Jews thousands of years back- not next year in Manhattan or Madagascar or Peoria for that matter but Jerusalem. What an immoral, racist notion that Obama and the US State Department now demand that the equivalent of what Mecca means to the Muslims for the Jews be rid of Jewish presence, have Jews who originally owned the city be evicted from it, and the most dearly held areas to the Jews be made Jew-free.

Not Bieber Fever

A spirit of revolution grips far flung places around the globe. It is not merely the youth on fire as we witnessed in that year of resistance 1968, it is the international labor movement with trade unionists roiling streets and capitals as wide ranging as Egypt, Greece, and Wisconsin. The great difference being that in Egypt, the struggle was actually about freedom, while in Greece, the fight emerged over austerity imposed economic hardship, and finally in Madison, demonstrators and their Democrat cronies are up in arms over pure unadulterated greed. They wish to maintain their spoil(ed) system though the state no longer is able to reasonably generate the means to pay for it. The street action in Egypt was fully justified, in Greece, totally expected as cuts due to insolvency dig deep into the people, while in Wisconsin, the protest is self-serving, selfish, and economically insane.

No Bonus Army

In times of economic turmoil, why should public sector workers be insulated from what those who do not work for government must endure? Why should the rest of us suffer more by having to bear that much more additional expense to subsidize our new public masters so they and their families maintain prosperous lifestyles while ours diminish? The Democrats speak of shared contribution but taxpayers are being bled dry paying local (property and wheel) tax, state (sales and for most states, income taxes), and Federal tax (income tax or even withholding which bites harder as gasoline prices soar and across the board inflation kicks in) as our public workers resist giving an inch. They demand the rest of us sacrifice but are not willing to join us. Let us pray for the sake of the nation and the vast majority of our people that Republicans stay strong in their fiscally responsible principles until they win the day.

Events Overtake US

When addressing the course of events in the Middle East, the Obama administration is at sea and rudderless. In the context of international relations, it is increasingly apparent that Obama was awarded his Nobel Peace Prize prematurely and that Barack Hussein Obama is ill-suited to the task. President Obama may read a few tomes about Ronald Reagan- Obama may compare himself to Ronald Reagan- but he is no Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was at a point in his career an actor but as US President, Reagan shaped the course of history. Rather than waiting to be acted upon, Reagan took the bull by the horns and led. Barack Hussein Obama is being tossed about by Egypt, Bahrain, and now Libya and can not find his equilibrium or any ideological anchor. Ignoring popular discontent for more than two years in Iran after Ahmadinejad stole reelection while jumping immediately on US ally Hosni Mubarak does not betray moral ambivalence of the Obama foreign policy team. Castigating Israel for the so-called settlement enterprise does not portray moral clarity. The Obama administration's conduct of US affairs of state in the Middle East is proving to be morally repugnant.

More Costly Outcomes

So just how much has been spent on our Federal government stimulus program and just how many jobs have been saved (a nebulous figure never used before the Obama administration and one impossible to accurately tabulate) or created? The short answer is that no one knows just yet and we may never be able to figure it out. The tally for the cost is seemingly continuing to rise. Just yesterday, The Washington Times' Stephen Dinan reported that the cost of stimulus has actually been adjusted upward by thirty-four billion dollars more than originally projected to $821 billion according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. In the context of all the Federal government is spending, $34 billion may not seem like much but a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you are talking Weimar. In any event, jobs saved and created does not add up as unemployment remains at levels higher than when the so-called job saving stimulus was passed.

An Impetuous Moment

A Somali pirate is being given some heed by the dinosaur press as he claims that the US Navy fired first in the event where four American hostages died with a surviving pirate trying to portray innocence with lives being lost only due to a botched rescue attempt. Who initiated the gunfire is of little consequence when one takes into account that the act was caused solely by the pirates themselves and all blame must in its course devolve only to them.

The Wrong Message

The last superpower, the sole remaining military power with global reach in terms of being able to project force, sits back and allows her citizens and US flagged vessels to become hostage to maritime terrorists at the same time that America sits idle as hundreds of innocent Libyan freedom seekers are slaughtered on their own streets. And what does the Obama administration do as guiltless blood is spilled? It sits and waits. Our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did say a few words on the Qaddafi crisis but not the right words. Clinton said the United States "joins" other nations in deploring the violence in Libya. "Joins" is not "leads", and I do not recall ever hearing an American Secretary of State abdicate moral responsibility in favor of the weakness of multilateralism in such a pronounced way with such a poor semantic choice. In affairs of state, words matter and America conveying an image of weakness at this moment is a danger to the world.

Hospitals Under Attack

Reports have emerged that Muammar Qaddafi has sent thugs into hospitals to finish off the injured and even kill the doctors and nurses treating them. There should be no sanctuary anywhere for those committing such crimes against humanity. The fatwa urging action with extreme prejudice against Qaddafi by Imam Qaradawi seems a righteous one.

A Punitive Expedition

The murder of four Americans on a US-flagged vessel who were abducted on the high seas is now being widely reported. This atrocity was not committed by some nebulous group or a murky and unknown source from a location that can not be pinpointed. This horrendous crime must be laid at the feet of the Somali pirates and the civilized world must send forces into Somalia to root them out. Every effort must be made to secure the safe rescue of the captives that the pirates hold, but the overall objective of a concerted military action must be to assure that lawless Somalis are never in a position to threaten free passage at sea again. Their boats and weapons must be destroyed and all those who have offended should be brought to justice. Sadly, blood must be spilled now to prevent ever greater extortion by these atavists back to a time before the world had the ability to deal with them. Now, all the lawful nations lack is the will to thwart the lawless.

Obliterating the Faithful

Muammar Qaddafi is turning city streets in Libya into killing fields. He is turning the full might of his military against his own people. Qaddafi has created instant internecine carnage, like a fast order Cambodia or jet age Rwanda. He is determined to suppress the natural yearning for freedom successfully expressed now in many other Arab nations. If Ronald Reagan were America's leader, he would now be arming Libya's dissidents to give them a fighting chance. President Barack Hussein Obama will give them only lip service. There is no passage in the Holy Koran (or any other holy book for that matter) that endorses or even permits the wholesale slaughter of those giving voice of protest of their opposition to a tyrant.

A Planned Contingency

I foresee a government shutdown in our near future. President Barack Hussein Obama and the Democrat Party will force this crisis as they remember that during the Clinton era shutdown, because of the then robust main stream media pushing the Democrat line, the blame redounded on the Republican Party and the Democrats figure wrongly that they can repeat that political success. They certainly can duplicate the effort and shut the government and their fellow travelers still control most of the nation's newspapers and vast swathes of America's airways, but in 1995, the dinosaur media only had the nascent buds of the new media to contest them. Now, they have a real, robust voice of opposition to counter their contentions with the truth on FOX, on greatly expanded conservative talk radio, and on the Internet, which was just starting to burgeon into the behemoth it now has become in 1995. Back then, the Democrats and their propaganda machine found it much easier to spin the message than they will find it today.

Wisconsin's Winter Follies

We are currently witnessing a battle in Madison to determine if those government employs remain our public servants or if they have indeed become our masters. As it now stands, Wisconsin is beyond broke, the state is in fact more than one hundred and thirty million dollars in debt though that state's constitution mandates a balanced budget. Teachers in Madison and Milwaukee public schools average more than one hundred thousand dollars in salary and benefits. It should be hard to mouth poor when your individual compensation package is nearly double the average US household income for an entire family. It should be difficult to look at those who pay your salaries with utter contempt but those demonstrating that message are conveying that in spades calling TEA party members everything but children of God. A new tone was supposed to take hold in public discourse after the Gabby Giffords' tragedy, yet state workers have been filmed with placards portraying Republican Governor Walker in the cross hairs of a gun sight and other signs show Walker sporting a Hitler mustache. The workaday heroes marching while drawing sick day pay from the bankrupt state even have the nerve to compare themselves to the truly oppressed freedom seekers in Egypt and have called the recently sworn-in governor a "cheesehead pharaoh". The handmaidens of Obama who has incidentally inserted himself gratuitously into the Wisconsin dispute and organized labor in the dinosaur media have even gone so far as to claim Governor Walker intends to call out the National Guard with the clear implication that he intends to go Kent State or Qaddafi on the demonstrators when he actually only wants the Guard members to fill the state jobs being left undone during the public employee sickout. Even the Democratic state senators of Wisconsin are being portrayed as heroic by the main stream media partisan hacks who are pushing the Obama party pro-organized labor line as the skip-town senators hide out in other states to deny the state legislature the necessary quorum for a vote. To hell with extortion by the public employee unions.

Destabilizing Discontent Disquiets

Almost the entirety of the Arab world is being racked with street demonstrations, and more and more, these demonstrations are being met with violent responses by unpopular governments. In some nations, the impetus for protests has a deep sectarian component as in Bahrain. In other instances, the unrest is broader and more democratically-based, as may be observed now in Libya. Governments as far afield as Iran and Albania now face tumult of their own. Washington is likely now most concerned though with Bahrain which hosts the US Fifth Fleet which is just one more reason that Shia Iran probably has a role in undermining the Sunni monarchy of that Shia majority country. Blood is being shed in Bahrain where citizens are deprived an equal voice and equal opportunity based on their sect affiliation and Libya where citizens have no voice at all. America may well have to weigh self-interest as a nation against natural interest in individual freedom in these countries now racked by turmoil.

The Wrong Horse

The nations of the Middle East had to select which superpower to lend their fealty back in the early days of the Cold War. Israel decided to tie her star to America. Eventually, so too did Egypt who had a long flirtation first with Russia, then called the Soviet Union. These nations are being repaid or perhaps put paid to by their American sponsor after years of carrying America's water and doing the bidding of the US. Syria has basically stood with Russia. Russia always was quick with weapons sales and advisers and never expressed any particular concern for or demands over human rights. No serious threat hangs over Syria's oppressive regime from masses gathered to call for Assad's departure in any Damascus square. The United Nations has no plans to rebuke or condemn Syria for anything (not the Hariri murder, not de facto participation with Iran in swallowing Lebanon), and certainly not for one of the most abysmal human rights records in the world. It is increasingly obvious that it does not pay to be America's friend- just ask Hosni Mubarak or beleaguered and delegitimized little Israel.

Tools of Repression

Mostly peaceful demonstrations had occurred against the Sunni monarchy in Bahrain which holds onto power despite Sunnis being a distinct minority that lords over the majority Shia population with an iron fist. Then in the early hours of the dark a.m., Bahrain unleashed the forces of oppression against her own people. Not trusting her own police to carry out the tyranny, Bahrain imported uniformed thugs from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to help with the dirty work. The assembled protesters had been told no action would be taken against them without warning. The authorities of Bahrain claim such a warning was in fact issued, but the demonstrators and the purportedly objective international press heard no notice being given as the attack was initiated on the largely sleeping crowd. Of course, the Sunnis contend some of the trouble has been stirred up by the government of Iran, whipping up hostile sentiments and the resentment of their fellow Shia at the expense of their Sunni rulers. In any event, what transpired was ugly, bloody, and brutal. No one ever said that democratizing the Middle East was going to be easy. It will certainly not be, if it is even possible.

Not Enough Votes

Republican candidates did a masterful job of securing the United States House of Representatives in the last elections while the Republican Party itself did a miserable job in trying to win the US Senate. With popular discontent at a high water mark toward Congress, the GOP did such a lousy job in wooing voters that Democrats still hold control of both the most important deliberative body in the world, our Senate, and the Presidency itself. Some fault for not gaining the US Senate of course falls on the failed candidates themselves, but a portion must also be reserved for Michael Steele, then Chairman of the National Republican Committee, who performed in his task somewhat less than optimally. And though Steele is blessedly no longer Chair, his deficiencies continue to cost us now and every day through to the next elections when the GOP will finally have the opportunity to overcome the Senate Democrat majority. So as Democrats continue to ignore the will of the people and thwart efforts to rebuff Obama, Republicans know electoral failures on their part are largely to blame.

Morphing into Carbama

Listening to President Barack Hussein Obama's news conference this morning, I could not help but feel like those residing on Mount Vesuvius a couple thousand years back- the rent was low, the view was great, but something still felt dreadfully amiss. It seemed as if we were back in 1979 with Jimmy Carter at the microphone. Then as now, more malaise seems inevitable with a clueless hand on the nation's rudder. And to hear our current President criticize Iranian "coercion" beggars the imagination. This is the President who is bent on giving the Internal Revenue Service, one of the most dread and coercive agencies in the world, even more power over our lives by hiring sixteen thousand more IRS employees to enforce the coercive provisions of Obama's health care law. Talk about listening to the will of the people is one thing, actually listening to the voice of the people is quite another. President Obama who rails against the tyranny of Iran justifiably has a few despotic leanings of his own. People who live on the slopes of a volcano best be prepared to pack up in a hurry- you never know just when it (or the rightly indignant street in Egypt, Iran, or wherever is going to erupt).

Obama's Lamentable Budget

President Barack Hussein Obama intends to reduce the deficit by a little more than one trillion dollars over the next decade, if his budget is implemented as proposed (which the now GOP-controlled US House of Representatives will never permit). The Obama plan includes socking it to the so-called rich with tax increases in yet another class envy game that will actually if put into practise only harm job creation that much more. The Republicans in the US House will no doubt release their own budget with deeper cuts to social programs, but Obama's allies still control the US Senate, so it is less than certain any meaningful compromise on the forthcoming budget may be reached and the business of government may well be funded by a series of continuing resolutions rather than a formal comprehensive agreement.

Greedy Fear Mongers

A wee bit of speculatory avarice may be showing among those forecasting oil to rise to as much as $300 per barrel. Certainly as the value of the US dollar slips, oil prices will surge, but this is to an extent self-correcting as leisure driving will diminish or even cease and drivers will use means of mass transit (bus, train, subway) or even rely more on bicycle or good old foot power as prices at the pump soar. As demand diminishes the invisible hand will gradually bring the cost down to levels that are manageable. I doubt oil will reach anywhere near the three hundred dollar a barrel mark in my lifetime, but so long as there are those with a vested interest in promoting the notion, a few will surely enrich themselves by perpetuating the scare.

The Unbridgeable Gap

Ron Paul, the nominally Republican, but actually more libertarian US Representative from Texas, has once again won the preference poll at the latest Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) even though he was characterized (and I feel aptly) as unelectable by real estate magnate Donald Trump in speaking before the straw vote was conducted at that event. While I agree with ninety percent of Congressman Paul's positions, particularly his reverence for the US Constitution, I will never cast a vote for him because he adamantly has spoken against Israel. Just as I concur with Pat Buchanan on nearly everything, I recognize him for what he is- an anti-Semite and someone who would be completely untroubled by the elimination of the Jewish state. This is not to say that similar sentiments do not prevail in the hearts and minds of many liberals, but Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul are two real conservatives who I will never support in any run for national office.

Jubilation and Exaltation

As much self-congratulation is emanating from the Obama White House for the demise of Egypt's dictatorship as from those who staked their lives on it in Tahrir Square. With a leader who seems so egocentric, marked by narcissism like few US Presidencies before, Barack Hussein Obama may need a chiropractic adjustment after patting himself on the back so much for the triumph earned by the people of Egypt with their own bodies and blood sacrifice.

More Loathsome Toads

ABC devoted an entire hour of its late night schedule to chronicle and comment on the historic happenings in Egypt. This included an attempt to demonize Hosni Mubarak by comparing him to Slobodan Milosevic, Nicolae Ceausescu, and Saddam Hussein. While it is undeniable that Mubarak is no Will Rogers, it is obvious that he he belongs nowhere near the pantheon of recent horrible dictators in whose company ABC smeared him. Mubarak did not wage wars of aggression against neighbors, in fact, he kept the peace internationally. Nothing on his watch transpired like Milosevic's fight with Croatia or attacks on Bosnia and Kosovo. Nothing Mubarak did resembled the bloodbath of aggression that killed a couple million that Saddam launched on Iran and then repeated to a lesser scale when he captured Kuwait. There are no credible allegations that Mubarak did anything to rival the slaughter of marsh Arabs and Kurds that Saddam gleefully committed. And as far as Ceausescu went, Mubarak did not in the end turn his army on his citizenry and massacre thousands in the squares. Mubarak left peacefully as an Egyptian patriot and with dignity. At the end of ABC's propaganda program on the day's events in Egypt, Terry Moran dismissed allegiances with dictators for the sake of stability and lumped in a call for the end of "occupation" to conclude the program in an apparent jab at Israel. Moran should realize as he parrots that Arab line that when said by a Muslim "occupation" does not reference only the West Bank and East Jerusalem but is meant from the "river to the sea"- said with the intention of supplanting the Jewish State with a Muslim replacement. Moran showed himself to be yet one more dinosaur media hack subtly endorsing Israel's eradication.

Please Clap Off

Whether disgraceful National Intelligence Director James Clapper stays is of little consequence, as his replacement, if there is one, will doubtless be cut from the same cloth. Evidently, President Barack Hussein Obama was not seeking knowledge and candor in the directorship, but was seeking a highly ideological candidate who would rubber stamp Obama's preconceived notions. Obama has opted not to ponder any information that conflicts with his radical world view but has surrounded himself with sycophants who are certain to agree with him. In this confined constellation, Islamist extremism does not exist and Israel is the true threat to world peace. This psychotic delusion yields Nobel prizes these days, and after all, is that not what really matters.

Rumors Run Rampant

In the interest of accuracy, I must say that my article of earlier in the day "Sergeants Shape Destiny" was borne of dinosaur media speculation reported as fact. It seems Hosni Mubarak will attempt to retain power at least until scheduled elections in September. Everything said of the Egyptian military in the article is true but who will eventually rule Egypt and when they will establish power are the questions of the moment.

Sergeants Shape Destiny

Egypt is in flux, and for the moment at least, as Hosni Mubarak is forced to abdicate, the Egyptian military will administer power over the nation. Those armed forces who now hold the key to the country are a mixed bag at best. The professional officer corps spawned Egypt's last three leaders, the seminal Gamal Abdel Nasser, the first and most notable of the pan-Arabist statesmen, Anwar El Sadat, who paid with his life for the cold peace he forged with Israel, and current mis-leader Hosni Mubarak, who started public life as an air force pilot. The current officer corps is universally literate, essentially professional but in large part comprised of those with deep connections to the Mubarak regime and with a high degree of loyalty to Mubarak for many officers bordering on toadyism. The enlisted men of Egyptian forces have been trained to a high degree of literacy but have been drawn from relatively impoverished classes where military service has naturally been seen as a step up and a good opportunity. The sympathies of many in the lower ranks are with the street protesters and more specifically with the Muslim Brotherhood itself. The non-commissioned officers of Egypt may now hold the future of Egypt in their hands. Where their loyalties abide will determine whether Egypt remains a friend of the West and at peace with Israel or whether enough have shared beliefs with the Muslim Brothers that Egypt is lost to the camp of like thinkers Iran and Syria and becomes Israel's and America's newest implacable foe in the Middle East.

A Nation Betrays

When the lone remaining but rapidly fading superpower makes assurances to a leader taking great risk at our behest, the United States should have some sense of obligation to stand with that ally. The regime may be far from perfect, but it is likely better than that which replaces it as we saw in our hard learned object lesson when we withdrew support for the Shah of Iran. What message does the current administration and the State Department send by bailing out on, denouncing, and even renouncing our relationship of long standing with Hosni Mubarak? First- to our friends- that we are not steadfast and will fail them in the clutch, and second- to our enemies- that we are now easy pickings, that we and those who stand with us can be rolled. Projecting an image of weakness is dire in and of itself but selling out those who staked their political careers and even lives on us in the end will be catastrophic. Who will stand with us when we so readily cut and run?

Just Ban Fraternities

One man was murdered and eleven people injured including a teen girl shot in the head at a fraternity party at Ohio's Youngstown State University. Gun control advocates seized on this mass shooting to call for greater restrictions on the availability of firearms. Why not just ban fraternities, or classrooms, or auditoriums, or any other place large numbers of people gather? This proposition is just as ludicrous as demanding more limits on our Second Amendment freedom every time a multiple victim gun attack occurs. It is meant to be like Swift's Modest Proposal by demonstrating absurdity with absurdity. The weapon did not jaunt into a party and start firing, individuals with criminal intent are wholly and solely responsible for their own actions. Do not blame a piece of metal for the murder, blame the breathing, scheming human debris that pulled the trigger.

Free Said Musa

This is an urgent appeal to the government of Afghanistan to spare the life of Said Musa whose capital crime has been to practice freedom of conscience and select the Christian faith. This one-legged physical therapist is scheduled to hang in three days- sentenced for converting from Islam. I first heard of this today and implore my readers to contact their elected representatives and their Department of State or Foreign Ministry forthwith to protest this coming irrevocable travesty. Afghanistan exists today only on Western sufferance and should remember that we are on the ground there with sufficient force for regime change anytime.

Edging Towards Rubicon

If the Muslim Brotherhood gains any part of governance of Egypt, the Sunni Salafists will ultimately control that entire nation. Maybe not immediately, there may be a few secularists who retain some authority, but soon after day one, the Brotherhood will usher them out. Any notions incompatible with the emergence of the "Caliphate" will not long be tolerated, including, of course, sustaining peace with the Zionist Entity. Not to mention the pressure that would be exerted on American allies Jordan and Saudi Arabia by having the most populous and militarily powerful Arab state fall into the hands of Islamists. Once the nose of the camel of Sunni fundamentalism nudges into the tent, America's regional allies fall like dominoes.

No Ronald Reagan

We are observing the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the greatest US President of the modern era- one Ronald Wilson Reagan. Many claim to be the inheritors of the legacy of Reagan. The least logical and most incredible pretender to the mantle of Reagan is the current American mis-President Barack Hussein Obama. Reagan despised socialists. Obama is one. Is there one particular politician who best exemplifies the values of Ronald Reagan? That remains to be seen. Cloning remains the stuff of science fiction, but there are bits and pieces of Reagan in several of the GOP front runners. President Reagan was not perfect; no human being can possibly be. No human endeavor achieves perfection, but the era of Reagan brought out our best. We overcame the darkness of Jimmy Carter's malaise and the forlorn specter of American military defeat in Vietnam. Reagan did not ban a type of light bulb but magnified the sunshine as it touched America- making us the beacon of hope and liberty again.

The American Imperative

Barack Hussein Obama, the President of the world, is deeply concerned about the future of the people of Egypt. Obama is less worried about the strategic implications for the United States (the nation that he was after all elected to govern) of a possible Islamist takeover of Egypt and Obama has no consideration whatsoever for the fate of America's strategic partner and ally of most long standing in the Middle East- that being Israel- if the Muslim Brotherhood controls Egypt. Obama's myopia is stunning. He is forgetting his duty to the one country that he actually represents in favor of some grandiose notion of universal human rights which he only applies selectively, cynically, and hypocritically against US allies while ignoring the transgressions of real offenders like China and Iran, where Obama failed to back a real "people's movement" after Ahmadinejad and the mullahs behind him facilitated the theft of the last election. Does anyone remember the precious blood of Neda Agha-Soltan spilling in the street? We are experiencing America's worst ever President mismanaging horribly at home and catastrophically abroad. I can not wait until we can vote him out.

Cure for Obesity

Two events have simultaneously been reported by the dinosaur media. First, obesity rates have climbed to their highest level ever across the globe. Second, food prices around the world have grown to the highest level ever. These two contradictory notions can not long coexist. In fact, one of the factors driving the unrest in the Middle East is the rising cost of food. Where jobs are scarce, where the cost of feeding the family soars, where currency value plummets and it requires a wheelbarrow's worth of money to buy a loaf of bread, turmoil is sure to follow. The most dangerous groups may emerge running nations after this hunger-generated violence. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party followed the currency and comestible catastrophe of the Weimar Republic in Germany, one of the most cultured countries in Europe. With a similar crunch afflicting places across the Arab world, there is little chance enlightened liberals will climb to power but a real possibility Islamists with aggressive aims will gain power. This terrifying notion makes me lose my appetite.

Form Rescue Committees

In much of the Middle East right now, a US passport is no asset. In fact, said document may bring suspicion upon the bearer from both those in the moribund governments and those groups roiling the streets, particularly those of an Islamist nature. Prior to the Shah's fall in Iran, Americans were assured that the US State Department would look after their interests. In the event, the State Department could not even protect their own with our diplomats in Tehran being taken hostage and held for four hundred and forty-four (444) days. A few intrepid patriots including H. Ross Perot took it upon themselves to do what the government could or did not and evacuated employees of their US-domiciled companies who found themselves trapped in Iran. These modern day Scarlet Pimpernels were generally comprised of former US Special Forces and personnel who had formerly been in intelligence organizations like the CIA. An American private citizen or group of private citizens needs to organize such a pipeline today as even last night on NBC Evening News, Brian Williams reported a seventy-six (76) year old American woman is besieged and trapped in her apartment in Cairo's Tahrir Square with our government basically unable or unwilling to do anything to help her. Many Muslim-Americans are exposed to danger now and the possibility that they will be abducted because they find themselves over there caught in the midst of the current chaos and they happen to carry US documents, making them targets. American Muslims should ponder if they may now require something like the Jews had in World War II with the Varian Fry rescue organization which saved hundreds from the Nazis. It is all but certain that Barack Obama will leave this responsibility to non-governmental actors as he has shown no backbone to do the job that he is Constitutionally charged to do- that is defend Americans.

A Little Warming

As I woke and ventured outside to right my recycling bin and garbage that the Arctic winds had knocked over, I decided to make a new resolution to expand my carbon footprint as much as possible to try and create some of this man-caused warming we have been hearing about since Al Gore started his sales pitch. If I buy a gas-guzzling SUV and run every appliance in the house simultaneously, maybe I could heat up blizzard-besieged Chicago a tad. If I use my frequent flier miles to embark for Ecuador, maybe the hearty New Englanders can take off a layer. If I keep the home fires burning, perhaps Sarah Palin will avoid frostbite in her front yard. Global warming hysteria was, of course, a profit-motive driven lie. It even turns out the Himalayan glaciers that we were told would be melted away in a quarter of a century are in fact not shrinking at all, but indeed, growing (as may be seen in this report from The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8284223/Himalayan-glaciers-not-melting-because-of-climate-change-report-finds.html). As cold as Nashville was this morning, I wish I could induce a bit of warming.

Worst Possible Outcome

Egypt seems likely to have a new unity government supplanting Hosni Mubarak. The leader who will emerge from the opposition seems to be Mohamed ElBaradei who will be the public face Egypt presents to the rest of the world. ElBaradei will be a puppet though to Islamists behind him who will pull his strings. He will be the moderate face to immoderate ideas and will provide a sheen of respectability to the Muslim Brotherhood who will have the ultimate say on Egypt's new direction. The reborn Egypt will despise the West and be determined to destroy Israel. Egypt may be the Sunni equivalent of Shia Iran with a huge young population and aggressive intentions against the Jewish state.