Splitting the Difference

Eric Shinseki will serve as Obama's Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This should be no surprise as Shinseki seemed to be a political general. His suggestion that hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to occupy Iraq was a gross exaggeration. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was wrong as well, trying to mount operations on the cheap. Hindsight has acquitted the position of General David Petraeus advanced at some risk forcefully by Senator John McCain of a troop surge to slightly more than 160,000. A cynic might wonder if Shinseki pushed such a high number to dissuade the US liberation of Iraq in the first place. If this was so, Shinseki is being rewarded now.

Car Crash II

Illuminate (this blog's author) has a bit of experience with car crashes. Illuminate was the passenger in a hell of a motor vehicle accident. About twenty years back, Illuminate had a grandmother on her deathbed in Nashville's Catholic hospital. Illuminate had a friend in graduate school (he is now an instructor of mathematics at the college level). This fellow thought Illuminate was becoming morose and needed to leave the infirmary for a while. He picked Illuminate up in a Volkswagen Jetta that was probably four years old at that time. We dined at a nearby roadhouse-style steakhouse (the kind with peanut shells on the floor). Both of us were flirting with the waitress who said she was an undergrad at a nearby Baptist school that recently gained some notoriety hosting an Obama-McCain debate. She was an animal lover, and I mentioned I had a flat-coated Retriever during our meal. Well, little miss coed followed us out with a bag of meat scraps for my dog. My friend and I were mortified as I was having trouble buckling the unfamiliar seat belt and Mike was helping me buckle in. To someone approaching the car from behind, it must have looked with Mike's head down intently and his hands busily at work that we were committing an overt obscenity. That is certainly what the waitress must have thought when she dropped the meat and sprinted back toward the restaurant. I caught up to her with an explanation as she reached the door. I don't think she bought it-though it was the truth. Well, Mike buckled me back in to the harness that was so different than my Jeep's. This was fortuitous as Mike thought I needed more morale boost and was driving us to a late night movie. On the journey to what no doubt would have been an uplifting feature, Mike on green pulled in front of a conversion van-the kind that had been a church-type carrier of 12-15 passengers. For me, time stood still. I shouted, "Look out!" I remember the Bangles cover of Hazy Shade of Winter was playing-I heard "in the Salvation Army band" as metal began to rend metal, glass shattered and I was partially ejected with my head and right shoulder exiting the windshield despite Mike making an almost maternal, preternatural effort to catch me and hold me in the car with his right hand. I bounced head first on the dashboard above the glove box as the car spun 180 degrees torquing me back through the wind screen. The car settled facing the opposite direction we had been going. The radio continued to play although the car had fractured into several separate pieces of German steel. Mike asked me if I was OK. It seemed to be a question from a great distance away even though we were still seated side by side. Momentarily, I could not respond as my ears were ringing and I saw stars. Mike asked again-"Are you OK?" My senses normalized as I tried to move various and sundry parts. They all seemed to work although slowly and with pain. "Yes", I respond, "I think I am", as I managed to unhook myself with Mike's assistance and exit the mangled Volkswagen. We checked the occupants of the van that hit us-three older black people who also said they were alright as the Metro ambulance arrived. The meatwagon carried a crew that looked us over and wanted to know if we needed to be transported to a hospital. Mike and I declined as the second ambulance took the other motorists. I filled out a report to the traffic cop along with Mike and we requested as the hulks of ruin were hauled away that the remaining officer or departing ambulance crew drive us somewhere safe. We were informed by the public servants that they were not a taxi service and were abandoned in a rough neighborhood to our own devices. We walked injured a quarter of a mile to a Denny's- the only nearby open business at that time of night. I had not seen myself and proceeded to a bathroom while Mike requested a phone to call for a ride back to the safety and comfort of home. I look a fright with blood and glass all over me. I wipe and wash the gore and shards away as best I can. No wonder the staff and patrons looked at me like I was an alien as I entered. I stop all but a trickle of blood near my eye. I exit and Mike is being told by the untermenschen that work there that he can not use a phone as there is a pay phone, but we have no change. They will not break a bill unless we order something and there is a $5 minimum. I am angry but order coffee, Mike orders a breakfast and I pay with a hundred. I try to call my parents to pick us up, but they can't as they are on death watch. Mike's father who I have never met drives into Nashville from an outlying community to collect us. He has interesting stories. He is six feet, six inches and was a Vietnam era SP(navy cop). He says he managed Madison Square Garden for Gulf and Western and came to Tennessee to be Comptroller of the largest industrial project in Tennessee to that time-a Japanese auto plant. He had a shocked look when he saw me as Mike had said no one was hurt in the wreck. Day is breaking as I bid Mike adieu. MRI and CAT scan. Cerebral concussion and ruined right shoulder. 30% disability rating-dumb doctor says he won't give me a higher rating thinking I am trying to game the system. I am actually gratified that I was not injured worse or killed. My family would never seek nor accept charity or government assistance and all I wanted was to work my way back to 100%. I am distressed that my insurance company makes me sue Mike to cover my injuries. Nine months of rehab follow. I graduate from physical therapy only to destroy my right ankle on ice the next day. Folks at the clinic are surprised to see me. I was, as is typical in my life, injured trying to do a good deed. The next door neighbor's female yellow lab was left in a cage in an ice storm. I snuck over and brought her to my grandmother's home where I was after her passing and waited for the winter blast to die down. In the early daylight, I slipped Precious back into her cage and rolled my ankle on a slick spot on the way back in. As granny used to say:"Ain't life grand."

Worst Case Scenario

Perhaps, Senator McCain will be happier in defeat than facing an unprecedented economic crisis that he or Obama or anyone else will find unmanageable. Pat Robertson reported that $300 trillion are at risk in the derivative markets-a figure of such an astounding magnitude as to dwarf the US, indeed the world economy. No actions by a single government or the world's governments acting collectively may stave off the collapse of currency. Stories abound of people with wheelbarrows of money going to buy bread in late Wiemar Germany. The same situation exists today in Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Don't be confident that a similar calamity could not happen here. Middle class families who have never known privation or hunger could face it soon. If someone does not grow there own crops, have a barterable skill, or have a tangible asset(gold, diamonds, something illiquid not fungible but with real inherent worth), they may not eat. Concerted action now to save banks or automobile producers may be necessary but who could be certain of the value of paper printed by governments that have overseen the avalanche of negative financial news and not been able to staunch it. Ultimately, we must follow the advice printed on our currency "In God we trust".Those who seek temporal satisfaction are too often blind to eternal truths. Those who cleave to God are never hopeless, for their faith is salvation.

Weakness Invites Aggression

A parallel may be drawn between the nascent Obama foreign policy vis-a-vis disarmament in time of war, talking to our enemies and Senator McCain's campaign. Senator McCain refused to bring up Reverend Wright, never spoke of Obama's drug use as admitted in his autobiography, and would not even mention his opponent's middle name. All this as Cindy McCain was called a drug addict and John Lewis called McCain supporters Nazis. Taking options off the table in a campaign or as regards our national defense is a losing proposition. Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Driving the Stake

Last night ABC's Nightline aired a scurrilous report about Governor Palin's alleged excesses particularly in wardrobe spending on the campaign trail. These reports are made either by Democrats who fear Palin in 2012, liberal Republicans for the same reason, gossip-mongers seeking attention which is doubtful, or those trying to cover their own failures in the McCain campaign. Governor Palin is a charismatic, obviously attractive, unabashed Christain conservative stalwart who lives her values. Those making these allegations ought to come forward, sit in front of the cameras under the hot lights and make their claims. Otherwise, they should be summarily dismissed as the petty backbiters they are. There were also stories last night that proclaimed the defeat of evangelicals in this election. Nothing could be further from the truth. The perversion of marriage by homosexuals was resoundingly defeated all across the nation. The Obama campaign bent over backwards with outreach to evangelicals with efforts to lure Christain voters with stewardship of the earth arguments, frequent proclamations that Obama was a Christain, and constant effort to conceal Obama's anti-religious policy positions such as his support of the gay agenda and the massive amount of support he drew from the producers of pornography and wealthy early backers such as David Geffen. Governor Sarah Palin and faithful conservatives like her are the best hope for the Republican party and the USA.

A Manipulated Result

Ray Suarez reported before the polls closed that Senator McCain met with the press traveling with him saying, "we had a great run". A tear reputedly welled-up in his eye and his wife Cindy who was with him was crying. This was at just after 6pm central and polls had just closed in the east. Were McCain's internal polls so bad that he knew he had lost already? Was this more of the effort by the press to tamp down Republican turnout in the rest of the country where voting was still taking place? Or did McCain know the die was cast? Was he offered up by Republicans as a sacrificial lamb? Have Republicans cooperated with Democrats to author the socialist script the nation now seems destined (doomed) to follow. After all, the largest Federal entitlement since LBJ occurred with the expansion of Medicare under Bush. Public k-12 education was basically federalized with No Child Left Behind. Early childhood programs were expanded. Federal spending soared to unprecedented levels. And all this happened before the economic collapse and the accompanying leviathan bailout with government gaining ownership positions in banks and insurance companies. Republicans in Washington have been convicted of corruption-Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Senator Ted Stevens of late. Democrat Congressman William Jefferson had evidence of corruption quashed in a separation of powers dispute between the Justice Department of the executive branch and the leadership of Congress, and this was when Republicans controlled the House. Why did Republicans assert their prerogatives to protect a Democrat? Could it be Republicans and Democrats are thick as thieves?

Into the Abyss

Obama collected the support of voters who balloted on the basis of sharing his race. Other Obama backers are union members particularly SEIU members, teachers, and other government workers increasing their own power. Many of his voters were so ill-served by their education in government schools that they simply do not know the difference between capitalism and socialism. Others were young and naive. Obama won the blame America crowd including college professors. Trial lawyers by in large backed Obama. Obama did not run a masterful campaign. He was protected by an uncritical mainstream media. McCain and Palin were pilloried by them. Convicts, non-existent folks, and motor voter illegal aliens seemed to be universal Barry backers. Wasn't Governor Crist brilliant in Florida giving felons their suffrage back? We were told denying these criminals the vote was racist as they were largely African Americans. They were disenfranchised not because they were black but because they were lawbreakers. Now, my own re-elected Republican Senator speaks of creating universal health care and replacing fossil fuels to fight global warming. If the state of Tennessee had wanted ever expansive government, burdensome regulation, and infringement of our lifestyle Senator Alexander, we would have voted for Bob Tuke. Don't cross the aisle to betray your constituents. Fight for Tennessee values.

The Broken Bough

President Bush is derided by scholars and the media now and can only expect worse in the future. Rightly or wrongly, he is regarded as a failed President who crippled his own party. Blame for the financial crisis that was not his accrued to him. His efforts led to large losses by Republicans in this election. He and his inner circle are in peril of Congressional investigation and if Senator Boxer has her way, Bush may face a war crimes trial. This jeopardy to a basically honorable leader is ridiculous. Senator McCain's campaign was pitiful. He unilaterally disarmed early on by refusing to bring up Reverend Wright, Obama's hate pastor, and by minimizing the threat that President-elect Obama poses to freedom and prosperity. Senator McCain told a supporter he had nothing to fear from Obama who was an "honorable" family man. The faded McCain, much like Bob Dole, fought the campaign with one hand tied behind his back against this Marxist of Queensbury.

Depress Republican Turnout

The major networks have called the election before most of the votes are cast, and none of the votes are counted. NBC's Chuck Todd said today McCain had zero(0)% chance of winning. This and similar pronouncements are meant to dispirit Republicans to the extent that they don't even bother to go to the polls. The mainstream press has ignored and spiked news that does not flatter the junior Senator. Republicans will focus on the mission and as they do every election cycle, vote in droves.

Caveat Emptor America

Obama is nothing more than a doctrinaire hyper-leftist, not a liberal in the American tradition. Obama views capitalism as a vice. The junior Senator is strikingly arrogant, dogmatic, but not really capable of understanding the economic dislocation his policies will cause. He aptly delivers a speech from a teleprompter or script and has been prepared by his Goebbels handlers to hide the degree of his Marxist leanings, a rhetorician who conceals more than he reveals. The major media is in sympathy with him and has protected him when he does make a fool of himself. If McCain had said there were fifty-seven(57) states, the lead story for days would have been this gaffe, with questions about his age and senility or Alzheimer's. Today, some of Obama's venom against business slipped out with his promise in San Fransisco recorded in January to bankrupt coal-fired plants. America leads the world in coal reserves and clean coal technology. Thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia will be lost when Obama fulfills this pledge. Incumbency entrenches itself organically, and there is no guarantee that Obama will not bend the Constitution to his whim and stay in power ad infinitum or appoint a nominal replacement as Putin did with Medvedev and retain his hold on power. This hubris-filled peacock will alter America in ways we can't imagine now and may never be able to recover from.To paraphrase an author with whom Obama is well-versed-Americans-you have nothing to gain but Obama's chains.

Something for Nothing

Obama has promised to lower taxes on those earning less than $250,000 per year. When he takes office, he will announce that though it rends his heart, the previous administration left the economy in such a dire state that no taxes will be lowered. No nation has ever taxed its way into prosperity. The ideas of John Maynard Keynes have been tried and discredited. The junior Senator has claimed to be all things to all people except the rich-for he and Biden a moving target that is now according to Joe $150,000. Barry still contends he will lower taxes on 95% of people when almost half pay no federal income tax now except withholding putatively for their own retirement (Social Security). This is not tax relief but welfare and in any event will not happen unless the government devalues the dollar creating massive inflation. Obama is playing sugar daddy-Santa with the confiscated earnings of the productive which will only diminish their initiative, thwart growth, and cripple the recovery. Obama is already known to break his promises as in his pledge to take Federal campaign financing. He merits no trust. Fear Obama-vote McCain.

Penury and Prejudice

Obama has just been revealed to have an aunt living in the projects of Boston. She is reportedly also not legally in the country. Her nephew is a multimillionaire and an attorney who could certainly have helped her gain legal residency. The Dems and their p.r. press corps chided McCain for the number of homes he owns. At least his family members are not confined to public housing. McCain was attacked for accepting the endorsement of Reverend Hagee, but McCain was not Hagee's congregant for twenty years as Obama was with Wright. Wright is more akin to David Duke than Hagee. He spouts anti-white nonsense from the pulpit. If McCain belonged to a white identity church, his membership should disqualify him and would be a scandal with a justifiably relentless stink raised by the media. Obama has shown a miserly nature with his own family-the aforementioned aunt and a brother in Kenya residing in a mud hut on $12 a year, but Barry is more than ready to confiscate the money of others at the point of a gun (that is after all what taxation is) to achieve his political aims. Poor people of the USA-look how Obama looks after his own. Do you really think he has the slightest interest in making your lives better?

Iran's Suicide Bombers

Iran has of late threatened to attack the US. The author does not dismiss this as an empty threat from what Obama has characterized as a "tiny" country. I well remember the humiliation of America at the hands of the Islamic Republic. Remarks by Khamanai and Larijani must be regarded with the utmost seriousness. Senator McCain will not be cowed by the threats of fanatic theocrats and unapologetic terror sponsors. He will stop them. Obama has promised he will negotiate with them without precondition. Which candidate do you trust with the safety of your family?