Oily Proposal

Semantics are wondrous things.  Many politicians, including some Republicans, are now calling for the elimination of oil industry "subsidies" as one small way of closing our heinous budget deficit.  These subsidies supposedly total $4.4 billion per year (see: Oil Industry Subsidies.) This is a very small amelioration (less than 0.3%) considering that our budget deficits are now running around $1.6 trillion per year.

Now, I am old enough to remember what these oil-industry "subsidies" really are.  They used to be called "oil depletion allowances."  These allowances were meant to equate to "depreciation" in other industries.  In other words, as an oil company either purchased or leased the mineral rights to a piece of land ... and then extracted the oil, there was a reduced value to this land since the oil was being extracted.  Thus oil companies were thus allowed to "depreciate" this depleted oil deposit to allow them to then go and buy or lease other land to look for more oil.

Can we thus call the ability of General Motors to depreciate the machinery (robots, machine tools, etc.) it uses to make cars an "auto-industry subsidy?"  If we did, all hell would break loose.  Now maybe the formulas used to calculate oil depletion allowances need to be reformulated given the new technology used in oil extraction.  But to eliminate these oil-industry "subsides" entirely is but another step in our tree huggers' attempt to emasculate the United States' energy-producing capabilities.  This is a little like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in your six-shooter.

Trumping Our Lenders?

The way I understand it, Donald Trump keeps his bankers in a bit of a predicament.  He owes them so much money that they can't afford to pull the plug on him.  All his properties are supposedly mortgaged up to their hilts and, although he usually and continually makes payments on these mortgages, he, often enough, refinances them for more working capital.  And occasionally, he let's one of these puppies be euthanized  (e.g., the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City) to keep his creditors fearful.  (See: Legal Zoom and Daily News.)  He clearly has a very intimidating negotiating style based upon the leverage of his leverage.  But mostly his total indebtedness just keeps growing ... and growing ... and growing. Effectively, he seems to maintain his lavish life style off of the reverse-vigorish of these banking bets.

Does this all not sound a lot like how the United States Treasury and our Federal Reserve Bank operate?  Only, whereas The Donald does not seem to have any limit to his hubris (and borrowing), The Barry does have an increasingly skeptical Congress which thinks that maybe enough indebtedness is enough. Yesterday, the United States's debt limit was reached and Congress refused to increase it. And no matter how much gorilla dust Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke throw up about the calamity that will eventually ensue from this event, I think that the United States's bankers here and around the world may just be a little more disciplined than Mr. Trump's. (See PIMCO Selling)

Another Closing, Another Show

There is a bit of nostalgic news today that once touched my life ... that famous celebrity bistro, Elaine's, is soon closing ... after Elaine (Kaufman) herself died this past December.  See: Elaine's Closing.

Now for the nostalgia -- back when I was single in New York City, I was a bit of a regular at a bar called Tinker's at 74th Street and Second Avenue.  One evening in 1964 at around nine in the evening, a rather heavy-set Jewish woman with horn-rimmed glasses came into this bar and started chit-chatting Tinker (Ward).  They appeared to be close friends.

After a bit, both she and Tinker told most of us bar regulars that we were all invited to go to another bar further uptown ... a bar that this imposing woman was just opening.  We all piled in a few cabs and tumbled out somewhere in the high eighties.  We then previewed what appeared to be another nondescript bar that was about twice the size of Tinkers.  I say “previewed,” because, there were just a few other people in the bar arranging tables and getting ready for the real opening in a day or two.  I took no real notice of the bar’s name.  We were all treated to a few drinks ... I can’t remember who bought, Tinker or this woman ... and then filtered back to Tinker’s to finish our evenings in our usual libertine manner. 

I found out much later, after this new bar had become quite famous, that what we had previewed was “Elaine’s.”  Maybe it was my imagination, but I always felt that the few times I went into Elaine’s thereafter, Elaine would look at me sideways ... like she was trying to remember who I was.  I never told her.

The End is Near

There are three doomsday predictors now in the news.  Viz:

- This Saturday, May 21st is believed by many Evangelical Christians to be the Rapture -- or Judgement Day when good Christians will ascend directly into heaven while the rest of us will suffer, at the best, a long-lasting purgatory. See: The Rapture.  I'm hoarding lots of reading material.

- For some reason (lack of space?), the Mayan calendar ends on December 21st, 2012 (as per transposition to our calendar).  See: Mayan Terminus. This has caused additional consternation among many of the people who expect to live beyond this Saturday's Rapture.   I, myself, truly hope that this prediction only applies to Mayans.

- Many Iranians, including Ahmadinejad, expect the 12th (Shiite) Muslim Imam to emerge soon (perhaps August 22nd of this year) from a well somewhere and declare that the end of the world is at hand (what Christians call Armageddon.)  See: 12th Imam.  Does this then mean that the Iranians may have developed one or more A-bombs?

The fact that these three different apocalypse-predictor groups seem to agree that ultimate times will soon be upon us is a little disconcerting ... and don't forget, I haven't even included Al Gore's dire warnings.

Credit Blogging

Your blogger has somewhat anticipated this story -- the French Socialist head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been accused of attempted rape of a New York City hotel chamber maid and his DNA has been collected as evidence.  See: Dominique Strauss-Kahn).  In a post here twelve days ago it was discribed how the U.S. has lent its credit cards to the IMF and the rest of the world (see: The High Cost of Linguica). Now we find out that our credit cards are being used for $3,000 per night suites at swanky New York hotels ... but apparently not for condoms.

Alligator Alley

President Obama spoke to his Latino base yesterday in El Paso, Texas and mocked the Republicans for asking for greater border security before tackling immigration reform.  In what has become a typical Obama rhetorical twist he chided his opponents by saying, "Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat [to stop illegal immigration]."  Now, I could be wrong (as I have occasionally been in the past), but being snide does not come across as being presidential.  Jibing your opponents may be a self-satisfying strategy when you are way ahead on the scoreboard.  But, if Obama wants to work with these same people sometime to get reasonable immigration reform accomplished, I doubt that such banal tactics will work when the game is tied.

Killing Osama

This morning on "Morning Joe" someone (I think Jonathan Alter) said that, as a result of Obama's pledge to close down our Guantanamo prison for terrorists, no new prisoners have been sent there since Obama was inaugurated ... or to any other rendition location for that matter.  And as a consequence, American forces have been killing those Islamic terrorist who have been captured ... just like that ultimate terrorist, Osama bin Laden, was recently tapped.

On one hand this decision appeals to my lust for revenge, but, just as logically, I have a problem with this apparent Obama policy.  Without capture and interrogation (even torture when necessary) of these prisoners, from whence is our future deep intelligence going to come?  And without this information, how are we eventually to win our war against Islamic extremists?  And, even more ironically, isn't "two in the hat" the ultimate enhanced interrogation technique ... so decried by this administration?

Al Qaeda Typo

My friend Dennis has pointed out a typo in the Al Qaeda manifesto.  As it turns out bin Laden was met by 72 vegans.

The High Cost of Linguica

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have agreed to bail out the Portuguese economy to the tune of some $116 billion. See: Portugal Bailout  This is after the fact that these same parties had bailed out (with almost equally large largess) Greece and Ireland last year.  Now, seeing that the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in large part back in 2008-2009, bailed out the major European banks (see Bernanke's Secret) and that the United States is a major contributor to the IMF (See: U.S and the IMF), it seems that the United States is once again handing our (over-extended) credit card to the rest of the world. 

Not only is the United States expected to pay the very high cost of defending the free world, but now, it seems, we must pick up the tab for their profligate social-engineering policies too.  Enough!

Snuff Pictures

Here is that famous picture of the President and his top advisers in the White House Situation Room watching real-time TV from the Navy Seal attack on Osama bin Laden's compound outside Islamabad in Pakistan.  Those brave soldiers each had a video camera on his helmet ... sending back virtual images of what was going on during the killing of bin Laden, his son, his wife, and as many as 19 others.

I doubt that few watching this bloody event had ever seen such drama as they were there and then experiencing.  And consequentially, I also doubt if Obama and his posse will ever again react in quite the same detached and cerebral way again to our terrorist threat.  At least, I hope not.

Update:  We are now told that the video feed from this raid was cut off for these White House viewers for at least the critical 20-25 minutes.  See: Here  (And bin Laden's wife was only shot in the leg.)  Now I know there is something called the "fog of war," but the communications out of the Obama administration about this bin Laden operation has been so sloppy and contradictory that I'm not sure now what to believe.  I am embarrassed by their ineptness.  (And why must we get this raid video factoid from the British press?)

Are We F-ing Crazy?

The United States is to supply Pakistan (the same ones who apparently were harboring Bin Laden for six years) with 85 Raven drone aircraft ... for whatever lame purpose.  See: Drones to Pakistan   We also are providing Pakistan with something over $4 billion of foreign aid per year.  See: Foreign Aid to Pakistan  What did Lenin once say ... "The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them."?  Only now, we are giving them the rope.

I Have an Idea

Pictured above is the compound outside the capital city of Islamabad in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was killed yesterday by Navy Seals.  I think that, in order to commemorate this great event, we should build a church (or, at the very least, a U.S. consulate) on this site.  We can call it "outreach."

Layers?

This is an interesting take on the newly-released Certificate of Live Birth for B.H.O.:  Composed of Layers?

I don't have Adobe Illustrator but, those of you who do, try it and leave a comment.  I'm sure there is more controversy yet to come.  These things seem never to die.

Anti-Social

I just got an invitation to join a social-networking site called LinkedIn.  I won't join ... just like I haven't joined Facebook.  Actually, my name is on Facebook but I don't respond to all its "friending," "you have messages" and other requests for a variety of reasons -- it takes too much time; it might compromise my privacy; it's a young persons distraction; and it seems slightly vainglorious.

This social networking phenomenon has me perplexed.  I like most people, but I don't want them to know every inane thing I do.  However, I am willing to share my thinking with them ... thus all these blogs of mine.  So, by demurring, I am willing to be lumped into the "old foggie" category ... probably because that is exactly what I am.

Yes, We Cannabis

Every generation seems to have its own cherished vices. For my parents it was booze and cigarettes. For my generation, we added cigars, marijuana, LSD, and free love. For our children, it is still marijuana and free love ... only they have also added cocaine, methamphetamines, designer drugs, and even freer and more bizarre sex.

And, just to prove that they are open-minded toward their elders, they are dissing alcohol and destroying tobacco use. They want us to put our alcohol instead in our gas tanks so we can drive to some remote, unpopulated location to smoke our cigars and cigarettes. They have done this with extremely effective public relations campaigns that demonize our sins while lauding theirs ... marijuana, cocaine, etc. are drugs that inspire creativity and cause no harm (except, maybe, to Charlie Sheen.)

Well, surprise, surprise. This may not be the case. I have long suspected that designer drugs, cocaine, LSD, etc. may be the source of much of our grandchildren's myriad learning disabilities. Now we are also finding out that legalized marijuana is becoming a major source of greenhouse gasses and is an electricity hog. See: Bad Marijuana.  I just hope that I live long enough to witness our great-grandchildren performing the same form of rabid social ostracism on their parents and grandparents for their vices as are being foisted on us today for some of ours.

"The Surgeon General has determined that Acapulco Gold causes serious damage to the environment and grave injury to your genetic material."

A Bold Prediction

Today at 1:30 President Obama will present his plan to the American public on how his administration intends to reduce our annual budget deficit and eventually our crippling national debt.  This content of this speech has not been leaked to the press, so I, here, will go out on a limb and predict exactly what he will say ... verbatim:

"Yada, yada, yada ... extremist Tea Party ... etc., etc., etc. ... we only raise taxes on billionaires ... blah, blah, blah ... we eventually must eliminate the Bush tax cuts ... yada, yada, yada ... we must invest in America ... blah, blah, blah ... Thank you and God bless America and the American taxpayer."

After the speech:  I forgot to include: "Paul Ryan is a demon" and about twenty more "blah, blah, blah"s

A Civil Action

Joshua Chamberlain

Nathan Forrest

Today is the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, that wrenching spasm in the early maturation of our great nation (see: 150th Anniversary).  I have been rewatching Ken Burns' PBS series on this war and I can truly say, I have been (once again) greatly moved.  The only criticism I could level at this fine documentary is that it conveniently glosses over the religious tenor of this conflict.  Clearly, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, is, among many other things, an indication of the intensity of religious overtones to this war ... overtones which Ken Burns left on the cutting room floor.  Apparently, political correctness trumps historic accuracy.

Condoleezza Rice recently brilliantly said that slavery was the United States' birth defect. The Civil War, it was hoped by most abolitionists, would correct this malformity.  Unfortunately, it didn't, but it was a bloody good start.  In fact, Abraham Lincoln, bemoaning the length and the cost in human lives (600,00+} of the Civil War, came to believe that this carnage would continue until there had been established a parity with the suffering of Africans under the American slavery system.

The above pictures represent two of the luminaries of this great strife that were highlighted by Ken Burns: Joshua Chamberlain, the Northern hero of Gettysburg who dramatically repulsed the Southern's attack on Little Round Top and helped turn the tide of battle.  Please see and read: Joshua Chamberlain  to understand why he was the General who oversaw Lee's surrender at Appomattox.  The other is Nathan Bedford Forrest, a brilliant Rebel military tactician (and butcher) whose heroics are almost beyond belief. Also see and read:  Nathan Bedford Forrest to understand why he is an important Southern hero on a par with Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

And please take a few moments today to reflect on the huge losses that were suffered on both sides in this bitter internecine war ... bigger than all the deaths in all the American wars that have been fought since.

Afterthought: I am 72 years old, yet I still seem to remember seeing at least one Civil War veteran marching in a late 1940's July 4th parade in my hometown in Western Pennsylvania.  Funny how these events get compressed across the ages.

Another Message to Our Politicians ...

Stop the spending!
Stop the borrowing!
Stop the government waste!
Stop the self-dealing!
Stop the lying!
Stop the finger-pointing!
Stop the posturing!
Stop the short-sightedness!
Stop the printing of money!
Stop the politics!
Stop the lust for power!
Stop the avarice!
Stop the demagoguery!
Stop the arrogance!
Stop the grandstanding!
Stop the propaganda!
Stop the accusations!
Stop the indifference!
Stop the bullsh*t!

Money Laundering

The U.S. federal deficit in 2008 (G.W. Bush’s last year in office) was $407 billion (see Bush's Last Deficit). This includes substantial spending ($246 billion) to stop our slide into recession. This year, 2011, the federal deficit is projected at $1.65 trillion … over four times as large! And this year’s deficit does not include the 2009's Stimulus Bill spending, is after the 2008/2009 TARP spending, and includes the spending wind-down on the IRAQ war. The question is why?

I think the unfortunate answer is that the Obama administration has done lots of squirrely things … often extra-legal things that throw government (read “taxpayer”) money at favored groups who, most often turn around and help fill the DNC’s coffers (a sophisticated form of money laundering.) Shall we use here that favored liberal pejorative, "corporate welfare"? (See: Obama's Corporate Welfare) The Democrats have, for decades, decried this supposed corporate favoritism by Republicans. Yet, when they control things, it’s as though the elephant has suddenly morphed into a donkey … only this time it’s not just corporations but now most unions are added to the line of those with their hands out.

Why is it that so little of this payola makes it into most newspaper's front page … or the broadcast network's evening news? Because of this sickening yet predictable media oversight, I will attempt to here list a few of these payoffs that have recently bloated or will bloat our federal spending, devalue the U.S. dollar, and threaten this country with eventual bankruptcy.

$4 billion in current General Motors’ tax breaks: See, GM Tax Breaks

$27+ billion in UAW pension fund bail out: See, UAW Pension Bailout.

Zilch in 2010 federal taxes paid by GE: See, General Electric Largess

$500 million Obama gift to "community organizers": See Get Out The Vote Money

Multi-multi-billion dollars of foreign bank bailouts: See, Bernanke's Secret

$363 billion in the Fannie/Freddie honey pot: See, Fannie/Freddie Bailouts

Over 1000 Obamacare waivers to companies and unions: See, Obamacare Wavers

$3.27 trillion = the true cost of the “job stimulus” program: See,  Job Stimulus Spending

At least $5.5 billion in “green” subsidies: See,  Better Building Initiative

$180 billion of new corporate tax breaks: See, Corporate Tax Breaks

$5 billion of early-retirement health care subsidies under Obamacare: See, Obamacare Subsidies
  
$53 billion of high-speed rail subsidies:  See, High-Speed Rail Subsidies

etc., etc.

If you are not now sick to your stomach, you have not clicked on enough of the above links.  Is it any wonder that Obama expects to raise one billion dollars for his re-election campaign in 2012?  Certainly not ... in fact, I believe he will easily surpass that number ... and buy himself another 4 years of White House festivities, family vacations ... and money laundering.

Rush Job

Stephen Moore has written an excellent and  revealing article in the Wall Street Journal showing that public sector workers in the United States now outnumber all of our manufacturing jobs by two to one. See: The Wall Street Journal.  In fact, there are more government workers in this country than the total of industrial, mining, construction, farming, forestry, utility, and fishery jobs.  To Moore, we have become a country of "takers, not makers."

I have commented in the past on why I listen to Rush Limbaugh in that he has at least one bon mot per day on his show.  Today, commenting on this Stephen Moore article, Rush said, "When are we going to start outsourcing our government jobs to China?"

A Rethink

The United States has given a lot of blood and treasure to stop (among other things) the stoning of women to death in Afghanistan who have violated Shiria law.  Seeing this picture on Drudge this morning has given me pause.  These burka-ed Afghani women obviously support the killing of 20 innocents in Afghanistan because of the misguided actions of a minister in Florida.  Perhaps it's not been worth it after all?

Another Mouse That Roared

One of the great movies of my salad years was that Peter Seller’s classic, The Mouse That Roared. I won’t detail the plot, but you can recall it here: The Mouse That Roared. However, the synopsis is that a small country, on the verge of bankruptcy, declares war on the United Stated in order to qualify, when defeated, for those generous American reconstruction dollars. This screen play has since been reprised many times since then … in Kosovo … in Afghanistan … in Iraq … and now in Libya. It seems that the doves in the United States decry the billions of dollars that are spent on the belligerent parts of these wars, but their tongues are tied when it comes to the many billions that are then also spent on the reconstruction of that which was destroyed or the “blood money” paid to those civilians accidentally killed.

Well, how too often does life imitate art? It appears that a small (less than ten square miles) and relatively unknown North African country, Bosa Fazzan, has declared war on the United States. This country is tucked in between Niger, Chad and south Libya in the more desolate part of the Sahara Desert. This country is comprised primarily of nomadic Berber tribesmen who had settled around Bosa Fazzan’s only real asset, a huge oasis that serves as a stopping-off point for the salt-laden camel-caravans traversing the centuries-old trade routes here. After World War II, Bosa Fazzan won its independence primarily through oversight when Italy, Germany and Great Britain withdrew from this area. It has kept this independent identity through the good graces of Muammar Qaddafi of Libya who has used this country as a secret odalisque and gold depositary … paying its Fazir, Ali Muhamed, handsomely to guard them.

However, due to the current hostilities in the region, Qaddafi has withdrawn these treasures leaving Bosa Fazzan destitute. What then was Fazir Ali Muhamed to do in order to feed his subjects? You got it … he has declared war on the United States. You might recall the F-15 that was downed recently nearby. It was Bosa Fazzanis who accomplished this improbable feat with a Stinger missile that it had purchased in 1999 from the Pashtuns in Pakistan. Ali Muhamed has tried to capture headlines in the Western press by claiming this fighter-jet kill and with his declaration of war against the United States … but has so far been totally ignored as being a bit loony. However, he is real and his declaration of war is real. He is quoted as saying (in Arabic): “I have three more Stinger missiles and that Western devil, Barack Obama, better watch out or we’ll down more U.S. planes!”

This report is the first factual acknowledgement of these events derived from a full-of-static satellite phone call from a pool reporter at the oasis in Bosa Fazzan.

The Unraveling

Do you have the uncomfortable feeling that things around here are unraveling? I do:

- Iran is preparing its people for the emergence of the twelfth Imam (see: Mahdi Is Near ) signaling the apocalypse.
- Japan is handling the nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima a little like “Brownie” handled Katrina.
- The global-warming farce has devolved into “climate charge.” Does this then mean we are now headed into the next Ice Age?
- Many American states are facing the specter of bankruptcy as opposed to more public-union coddling.
- Regarding Libya, our man-child President, Obama, has now taken both sides of the Qadaffi-must-go and our-national-vital-interest issues.
- Bahrain, Syria and Yemen are in full popular revolt with other Middle Eastern nations teetering on the brink.
- Serious earthquakes are now rumbling around the world: Japan, New Zealand and Myanmar. The one in Japan shifted the island by a full eight feet!
- The housing and employment crises in the United States seem insoluble by an administration distracted by world events and vacation planning.
- Many people are distressed by the Mayan calendar’s indicating that the end of the world may occur late next year (see: Mayan Calendar).
- Back in the United States, Democrats are playing chicken with the Republicans about a government shutdown ... seeming to prefer national insolvency rather than losing the next elections.

So, “keeping our heads when all others are loosing theirs” will become much more difficult … particularly once Shiria law is endorsed by our Obama-packed Supreme Court.

Afterthought: If, as predicted, the twelfth Imam doesn't make an appearance in a reasonable period of time, will Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ayatollahs take the Heaven's-Gate way out of this embassament.  Gee, I hope so.

General Quarters

At an event this weekend I was asked (by a liberal … what else in Massachusetts) who my favorite President was. I said that, in my lifetime and although I didn’t vote for him, Ronald Reagan was the best, but probably Lincoln overall. Trying to bait me, I think, this amiable lefty then ticked off a number of, to me, awful presidents, Clinton, LBJ, Carter, etc. Then he mentioned General Eisenhower. I said he was OK, but not great.

This got me to thinking about Generals who later went on to be President … George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Clearly Washington was the standout General/President on this list … for he led our nation through its pre-political nascence with a steady, moral hand and established gentlemanly codes of conduct for the President and the Office of the President that have survived up until recently. All the others, although serving admirably militarily, in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and World War II did not, in my opinion, add much luster to the White House.

The question that then begs itself is why? Perhaps, it is because governance is so different from leadership in battle. As a General, your subordinates are a little more focused and loyal when they know (knew) that they could be shot at dawn for screwing up. More recently, Presidents have seen many of their staff write “tell-all” books in order to get their 15 minutes of Warhol fame. George Bush, in particular, was plagued by a retinue of incompetent direct reports. His loyalty to them usually far exceeded theirs to him. Barack Obama, unfortunately, seems to be suffering somewhat from this same lack of competent underlings, but with the loyalty ratio inverted. Generals have staff members who have survived years of testing in their respective jobs. Presidents, on the other hand, often surround themselves with fresh-faced political hangers-on who often mistake media fawning for good decision making.

Generals take an existing organization and move it forward. Presidents build a new organization every four or eight years and the good ones must be able to inspire these organizations to excel. In other words, Generals lead with their stars while Presidents lead with their ideas. Using this as criteria, General Colin Powell probably would not have excelled had he been elected President. And the U.S. electorate should probably pause before it next tries to promote a military hero to its Presidency.

Pot Boiler

The Middle East is in disarray with insurrections the theme of the day. Egypt has already capitulated to the rioters (whoever they are). Syria is shooting its own citizens pall mall. Libya is in full civil war with air cover provided by the United States and some Piper Cubs from the European Union. Bahrain has been taken under the wing of the benevolent (hah!) Saudi Arabia. Iran, we think, is also experiencing street demonstrations … diminished daily by those demonstrators who were not smart enough to hide their faces from the ever-preset I-Phones. (I say “we think” for less real news leaks out of Tehran than Roentgens from the Fukushima nuclear plant.) Yemen is a turkey shoot with tribe against tribe, North against South, Shia against Sunni, and the government sparing with its own shadow. Israel stands ready to punish the Gaza Strip militants for their indiscriminate shelling of southern Israel. And what about Tunisia where this whole thing started ... are street vendors there now allowed to ply their trades?

How will this all resolve itself? Who knows … certainly not our ever-alert intelligence agencies? (Perhaps Jamie Gorelick, if she takes over the FBI, will fix things by decreeing that intelligence agents can no longer talk to each other.) However, I am not afraid to step into this Muslim morass and sort things out with some intrepid predictions:

- Yemen will detach itself from Saudi Arabia and float out to sea, never to be seen again.

- The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood will change its name to The Faithful Friends of ElBaradei.

- Muammar Qadaffi (and his family) will flee to Venezuela where he will be given the Universal Freedom Medal by Hugo Chavez.

- Bahrain will be annexed by Saudi Arabia as a “protectorate.”

- Shi'ites will kill lots of Sunnis and Sunnis will kill lots of Shi'ites

- In the midst of all of this, President Obama will embark on a five-week “trade-mission” trip to China with 50 close-friends, his family … and a shipping container full of dollars.

- Israel will be chastised by the U.N. for not allowing more of its citizens to be killed by Hezbollah.

- The Main Stream Media will determine that this was all George Bush’s fault.

Juxtaposition XXII



Mr. Dithers

You Know Who

The Party of War

There is a popular myth that the Republican party was the belligerent during most American armed conflicts.  If one looks at who was running the U.S. when we have sent our soldiers into battle, this clearly proves wrong, viz:

First World War -- Woodrow Wilson (D)
Second World War -- Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
Korean War -- Harry S. Truman (D)
Vietnam War -- John F. Kennedy (D)
Vietnam War Escalation -- Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
Bosnian War -- William J. Clinton (D)
Kosovo (Monica's) War -- William J. Clinton (D)
Kuwait War -- George H.W. Bush (R)
Afghanistan War -- George W. Bush (R)
Iraq War -- George W. Bush (R)
Afghanistan War Escalation -- Barack H. Obama (D)
Libyan Incursion -- Barack H. Obama (D)

Even the Spanish American War, although started under William McKinley (R), was really instigated by the Democrat congress at the time (see Spanish-American War.)  So, we see, popular myths are often just that.

Afterthought:  I (conveniently) forgot about Ronald Reagan's (R) incursions into Granada and Panama.

Juxtaposition XXI

Nero playing lyre
in Rome

Obama playing soccer
in Rio

... while it's burning elsewhere.

Why We Are Bombing Libya

 

Who will be the first to condemn President Obama for trading blood for oil?  Rachel "Mad Dog" Maddow?  Chris "Tingle up My Leg" Matthews?  Paul "Useful Idiot" Krugman?  Keith "Over the Top" Olbermann?  Mika "Ms. Smirker" Brzezinski?  Bill "Fifth Column" Moyers?  David "Go for the Throat" Gregory?

Hillary's Hell

Hillary Clinton, it seems, has had it.  She was recently asked by Wolf Blitzer if she would be Secretary of State if Obama were to be elected to a second term?  She quickly retorted "No."  Then, asked if she would consider being Secretary of Defense? "No." Vice President? "No."  Her haggard appearance of late seems to indicate her frustration over her current position in the Obama administration.

My question out of all of this is: Since Hillary has, for 36 years, put up with being screwed over by the "first black President" (Bill, as characterized by Toni Morrison), how come she can barely tolerate a little over two years from the second?

America for Sale

Of all things, the Japanese yen just hit an historic high against the dollar!  And Europe, with all its many troubles (the credit ratings of Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Ireland have all recently been downgraded ... with more to come) still enjoys a strong euro.  One can only conclude that George Soros and his ilk still believe that the United States is not about to fix its fiscal situation any time soon.  And Ben Bernanke is keeping our interest rates effectively at zero (and flooding the world with dollars) in order to stabilize the U.S. financial sector (primarily mortgage debt) here at home.

All this dollar weakness comes with a cost ... which the United States is beginning to pay.  This cost is that foreign companies are beginning to use their strong(er) currencies to buy up American companies.  Anheuser Busch (Budweiser) is now owned by a Belgium company. Coors Brewing is now owned by a Canadian company.  Citigroup is substantially owned by mideast sovereign-wealth funds.  And now the New York Stock Exchange is about to fall to a German company.  And this trend is bound to continue.

And, while Obama is vacationing in Brazil this weekend with his family, rumor has it that a "For Sale" sign is being installed on the White House lawn.

Sauce for the Goose

Three Japanese nuclear reactors built by GE seem to be in the process of radioactive meltdowns. Should Jeffery Immelt, the CEO of GE be summoned to Japan to be humiliated and asked to explain these failures to the Japanese people … and exactly what his company is doing to remedy things? Should he be asked by the Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, to set up a multi-multi-billion dollar slush fund to compensate the victims of this tragedy? You decide.

(For those who don't get the subtle parallel reference of this blog entry ... think of the BP company as  the gander that was sauced.)

Par for the Course

Let's see ... Japan is in radioactive meltdown, Qadaffi is in the process of a lethal cleansing of his opposition, Saudi Arabia has just invaded Bahrain, the rest of the Arab world is teetering on the brink of anarchy, Iran is once again "eliminating" street demonstrators ... and what is the leader of the free world doing? (See: ABC Story.)

Afterward: And his picks to win the March Madness basketball tournement (see BBall Brackets.)
Even later: And he and his family are off to Rio (see Blame It on Rio.)

Back Scratching

If you need any evidence that there is an unhealthy relationship between politicians and public-service unions, please read the following story that details how these very same unions and the local Wisconsin governments elected by these unions are rushing to cut sweetheart deals before the new anti-collective-bargaining law takes effect. See: Associated Press Article. 

You would think that these local governments, if they were truly looking out for the interests of their taxpayers, would sit on their hands until this law needs to be heeded.  But even more interesting is that the Democrat Secretary of State in Wisconsin is delaying the enactment of this law to allow this "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" conspiracy to play itself out.  This is in defiance of Governor Scott Walker's direct request to expedite this process ... clearly more pinkie-ring shenanigans.

This subterfuge also seems strange to me since didn't we hear over and over again during the three weeks of this kerfuffle in Wisconsin that the unions there were more than willing to concede the proposed economic cutbacks in pension and health care?  Now, many of these unions' apparently disingenuous concessions seem to have conveniently disappeared like so many of Obama's campaign promises.

The Pinkie-Ring Set

The pinkie-ring set pretty much runs the state of Massachusetts (and this country for that matter). This group is comprised of union bosses/thugs, organized crime, unorganized crime (the politicians), no-show government workers, community organizers, personal-injury lawyers (particularly those who advertise on TV), some media personalities (Donny Deutsch on Morning Joe), and many movie stars (Brad Pitt’s pinkie ring is pictured). Perfect local examples would be Christopher Bulger, the son of a retired Massachusetts politician, Billy Bulger, and nephew of that notorious mafia don, Whitey Bulger (one the FBI’s top 10 most-wanted, see: Christopher Bulger ) and his brother, Patrick Bulger (who both collects a state pension and has another state job = double dipper, see: Patrick Bulger.)

Here is my advice to voters in the next election … pay careful attention to the little fingers of those for whom you might be voting.

Pinoccio

I was thinking of exposing here the lies about the United States' energy situation that Obama told yesterday in his press conference, but John Hinderacker of the Powerline blog did the task for me ... and a far better job than I ever could have done (please, you must read: Obama's Long Nose ... and the first comment at least.)

Suffice it to say that the environmentalists amongst us seem hell-bent on turning our country into an pristine Eden bereft of heat in the winter, fuel for our transportation, and electricity to comfort our lives.  And I can't for the life of me figure out why?

Afterthought: be prepared for another onslaught of media hysteria about the nuclear accident in Japan (as a result of the earthquake).  It may well be quite serious, but we surely can learn from it.  (What if we never built another plane after the first airliner crash?)  If we ever construct another nuclear power plant in my lifetime, I will be surprised.  Even though, by not doing so, we will help seal our fate as a failed nation.

After afterthought: The only ray of sunshine in all this insanity is that ... long after all the oil has been pumped out of the Middle East ... and we are speaking Mandarin ... we'll still have most of ours underground ... to power the high speed rail lines in China.

A Test of Civility

The Wisconsin State Senate just passed a law that strips some collective bargaining rights from the teachers’ unions in that state … having removed any budgetary provisions that have blocked its passage for the last three weeks (see: Wisconsin Bill Passed.) Now the 14 Senate Democrats who fled the state in order to keep such an event from happening have acted in vain.

As we have previously indicated in this blog, collective bargaining for government employees is the root cause of most of the budgetary problems that exist in Wisconsin and in many other states across this nation. The federal government, in the main, does not permit collective bargaining for its employees, nor do a few states such as Virginia and (most recently) Indiana. Although collective bargaining for government employees sounds like a good idea, it has proven to be recipe for disaster. This is because unions fund politicians’ elections (mostly Democrat) who then turn around and collectively-bargain for big benefits for these very unions. A “sweetheart deal” is putting a kind spin on such collusion.

Now a crack has appeared in this public-employee union buttress and, I’m certain that all unions and their Democrat feeders will not take this lying down. I think that a volcano is about to erupt in Wisconsin and across this nation. It is very easy to give benefits to unions, but it is another thing to take them away. However, this time the state governments have little choice. It is either this route (of shucking collective bargaining) or declaring bankruptcy (which would give them the right to abrogate all their union contracts). So we will now see how New Jersey, Ohio, California, New York, Illinois, and the other in extremis states deal with the opening that Wisconsin has provided them. And we will also see to what degree that the Democrats (and the pet unions) are willing to heed President Obama’s recent call for civility. I think we all know that it is going to get very messy.

Juxtaposition XX

I'm melting!!

 

Cross Word

Generic Crossword Puzzle

Today's New York Times Crossword Puzzle has for a clue to #2 Down: "U.S. President whose mother's first name was Stanley."  The surprising (to me) answer was "Obama."  I think that this might explain why Obama's mother seemed to have been so dyspeptic (see: Stanley Ann Dunham).

Juxtaposition XIX

Street sweeper from
"Fractured Fairy Tales"

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Only this time he isn't sweeping up elephant turds, he is cleaning up donkey excrement.

Juxtaposition XVIII

 

If Charlie Sheen really is "clean," then the Mexican drug cartel is doomed.

Juxtposition XVII

Lady GaGa

Proposed No-Fly Zones

Poetic Justice

Pan Am 103 was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland by a Libyan operative, Abelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, in 1988 and 270 people died (259 passangers and crew ... 189 of them Americans).  He was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Scotland ... but, then under nefarious circumstances, was released back to Libya in August, 2009.  The cover story was that he had cancer and only had a month or so to live.  He is still alive and kicking one and 1/2 years later.  Very recently Libya's dictator, Muammar al-Qaddafi, has also be implicated in this act of terrorism by his former Justice Minister (see: An Aha Moment)

Now, with Libya in utter chaos, wouldn't it be nice if Pan-Am-103 vengences were finnally slaked by the rioting mobs there ... and both al-Qaddafi and al-Megrahi were give the central-square Mussolini treatment (maybe with a nudge from the CIA).  Might not that be the sweetest of poetic justice?

Afterthought:  Let us not forget that Obama's former minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the leader of the United States' Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, have both visited and had a private audience with Qaddafi (see WorldNetDaily).