Egg on Our Face

The picture in the following New York Times story says it all. Our feckless Secretary of State, John Kerry, rattles the non-saber … warning Russia that there just might be some possible consequences, maybe, if it doesn’t  get out of Crimea by Monday while his equivalent from Russia, Sergey Lavrov, piffles at Kerry’s blunted bluster … see: NY Times Story.  Meanwhile Russia moves troops into Eastern Ukraine ahead of today’s Crimean illegal referendum … see: Another NY Times Story while our President Obama urges Congress to tighten rules about overtime pay … see: Fox News Story. Overtime pay!?

Can we look any sillier on the international stage? We not only have egg on our face … we have an entire breakfast … a sausage egg McMuffin, orange juice, coffee …all dribbling down our chins and onto our Hello Kitty bibs.

What do all those high-priced buffoons in the White House and at Foggy Bottom do all day?  Couldn’t we have had a stair-step strategy pre-planned for just such a obvious move by Russia?  We have a wide range of possible actions we might have taken in response to this Russian invasion of a neighboring country.  But all we do is talk … talk which only emphasizes that any military action on anyone’s part is off the table.  We can’t now freeze Russian assets for that money has long fled the West.  But what about putting an anti-ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe?  What about letting other Eastern European nations join NATO?  What about some serious consequences in Russia’s client state of Syria? And we had and have many many more options. Where are they?

One can’t help but speculate that all this U.S. incompetence may not be purposeful on our dear leader's part …

Afterward: For more equivalent (but better put) analysis on this situation see: The Diplomad's Comments.

After Afterward: When I originally wrote this blog entry I suggested that Poland and the Czech Republic be admitted to NATO.  My bad! As it turns out, they are already members (along with Hungary) since 1999. So are the Baltic States ... see: Nato Membership ... which makes things a little dicey if Russia goes after one of them.

reddit Gallery CXLI

Another excursion into the world of  reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Blue Glowing Coconut Octopus

Behemouth

Orpheus

Norwegian Forest Cats

Benin, Africa

reddit Gallery CXL

Another excursion into the world of  reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

ATM PIN Skimmer

Cook Strait, New Zealand

1925 Rolls Royce Phantom I

Rosette Nebula

Juxtaposition XLIX

Obamacare

Gordian Knot

Dementia

Dare Not Speak its Name

My sixty-something neighbor rang my bell the other day. When I answered, he started asking me gibberish questions – “Where are my car keys?” “Are they at the Elks Club?” When I offered to drive him there to get his keys he seemed even more confused … pointing in the wrong direction and demurring to my offer of help. I had known that he was losing contact with reality … spending hour upon hour chopping ice around his driveway … but this was the first clear manifestation of what appeared to me as early-onset Alzheimer’s … and it has unnerved me.

My mother in her later years also developed dementia … first as a sundown syndrome … then later as fully impaired cognition. Her last three or four years were not pretty as I watched her, in her late eighties, sink into a world of enfeebled disorientation.  (Yet remarkably, toward the end, she received a call from her old college roommate and spent 15 minutes in a perfectly normal conversation with her.) My mother’s mother too had experienced much the same downward spiral … spending her last few years in a fetal position.  And what does this presage for me? Possibly not good stuff.

At seventy-five I am now extremely sensitive to my own cognitive capabilities and suffer mild panic attacks at what may be the slightest slippage of same. Not remembering the right word to express a thought or falling asleep in my easy chair in the late afternoon … each casts a pall on my outlook for my golden years. Unfortunately, today there is not a lot that can be done to reverse this mental degeneration, so I guess I might have to travel this gloomy path so encumbered.  But the real downer is the fear of what such a syndrome, if it does befall me, might do to those loved ones around me.

Sorry dear readers for all this doom and gloom, but I need to try to disperse this cloud.  Perhaps, this blog may be my own palliative way of keeping  my synapses firing?

A Leverage Point

Our fearless leader, President Obama, seems inattentive and distracted of late. (Not that he was ever really on top of his job responsibilities.)  His recent appearance on “Between Two Ferns” was embarrassing to say the most … see: Slate Video.  If our Aspergers-afflicted (?) President is so star-struck and can’t find the time to do his full job, perhaps our ever-alert Congress should cut or eliminate his salary?  

Maybe that would get his attention.

Pajama Party

On Monday night the Senate Democrats (actually only 30 out of 55 of them) held a pajama party on the Senate floor to chatter and carp about their concerns centering on climate change … see: NY Times Story. The Democrat Senators who took a pass on these foolish festivities were from energy-producing states or were in jeopardy of loosing their seats in the upcoming fall elections because of Obamacare. Even pajama boy, President Obama’s doppelganger, never showed up for his cookies and milk.

No real new news actually developed during this dozer except that Harry Reid stepped up and warned our nation that global warming is real and something urgently must be done about it.  He then nodded off.  No concrete proposals. No laws suggested. No resolutions passed ... just a lot of hot air containing CO2 was expended by these puffed-up politicians posing and prancing for their sycophantic soporific audience. In this 15 hour talk-a-thon, actually only 5 hours were devoted to Senators'speeches. The rest of the time was spent in pillow fights and playing Yahtzee,

In truth, I think this pathetic midnight theater actually was “operation change the subject,” desperately trying to get all the bad news (Ukraine, Obamacare, the IRS scandal, etc.) off of the front page for at least one news cycle.

It didn’t work.

reddit Gallery CXXXIX

Another excursion into the world of  reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Candle in the Wind

Life Imitating Art

Old Fiver

Means Snow for Tomorrow

Majestic

H.L. Mencken

Despite the fact that he was an ardent Democrat and a rabid misogynist, the curmudgeon author and journalist, H.L. Mencken, is one of my favorites. He was singularly insightful … kind of like a more acerbic Mark Twain ... and his many bon mots are quite entertaining … see: Brainy Quote and Quotations Page.

Here are three of my favorites:

   - "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule."

   - "If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner."

  - "An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup,"

The Russian Connection

This blog has considerable readership in Russia … which has always puzzled me since my politics are mostly antithetical to the brand currently being practiced there.  Perhaps the KGB (its secret police whose famous graduate, Vladimir Putin, is currently attempting to restore the Bear to a much larger den) believes that my opinions are somehow representative of America.  Shh, don’t tell them how askew my political thinking is.

Nevertheless, Russia is in the process of taking back the Crimean peninsula and the warm-water Black Sea port of Sevastopol, … which Nikita Khrushchev so thoughtlessly gave to the Ukraine way back in 1954. This might cost Russia more on the world stage than it expects. Even our fearless leader, Obama, might throw a snit on his 19^th hole. This aggression is occurring despite the fact that both the United States and Russia had guaranteed the integrity of the Ukrainian borders (including the Crimea) back in both 1994 and 2009.  Oops!

So far the United State’s response has been subdued and rather wandering. As a result, talking heads and Op-Ed pundits are climbing over each other offering our “leadership” much and varied advice. Here are a few ossified opinions on this whole brouhaha (not that my opinions aren’t.)

Henry Kissinger believes that the Ukraine is not worth any hostilities and must become a “bridge” between Russia and the West  (I think kind of like Switzerland’s status during WW II) … for his specific recommendations see: Washington Post Op Ed.

Zbigniew Brzezinski (President Carter’s chief appeaser … err, adviser) thinks Russia may be trying to duplicate Hitler’s seizure of the Sudetenland before WW II.  He, surprisingly suggests that the West should risk hostilities and bolster the Ukrainian military with armaments ... but also simultaneously seek rapprochement with Russia over the Ukraine's future … see his suggestions here: Another Washington Post Op Ed

But the opinions that I respect the most swirl around that Diplomad blogster, W. Lewis Amselem, and those that comment on his writings … see: The Diplomad Blog

A few comments in this link that I particularly like are:

Putin of course knows what realpolitik is and uses it to advantage, act first, allow limited diplomatic discussion after. He has also perceived that a country that will not secure its own borders is unlikely to assist others to secure theirs (think UK, Germany, USA, the entire EU) -- "Cascadian" commenter 

"Despite his upbringing as a Communist, he is now devoutly religious and wants to see religion restored to Russian life. As the jihadis have discovered, they have in Putin a rival as ruthless and religiously committed as they, and not bound by the conventions of political correctness." I believe you [the Diplomad] have put your finger on Putin's next international gambit once the dust from the Crimea mess has settled. I've been wondering lately who, if any, is going to stand up for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East and Africa. It certainly won't be the pro-Islam Obama or the post-Christian leaders of Europe. I believe it will be Vladimir Putin. He will speak out on behalf of the persecuted Copts and Nigerians. He may even begin sending them aid and weapons. And Christians around the world will flock to his banner, bringing the idea of Moscow as the "Third Rome" to fruition. -- “Anonymous” commenter

My own simple suggestion would be for the United States to immediately reverse itself and place its anti-ballistic missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic ... to which we had previously committed (and Obama had reneged on).  This way Putin will quickly see a real cost to his colonial expansionism.

Fun in the Sun

President Obama is on top of things. Despite the Ukraine being squeezed to death by the Russian bear, serious delays in Syria destroying its chemical-weapon stockpiles, and 239 Malaysian airline passengers apparently being blown to smithereens by terrorists, he is deeply involved. He has called Vladimir Putin of Russia two times for long conversations. How do we know this? Because we see pictures of him on the telephone. And he is also talking to many world leaders about these many crises. How do we know this? His administration says so in a brief talking point … see: The Hill Story. 

Not to mention his plethora of serious domestic issues: the Obamacare sigh-up deadline rapidly approaching, the President’s budget proposal being dead-on-arrival in Congress, the administration’s gutting of our military, little or no White House attention to tax reform, our continued national economic lethargy, etc.  Is Obama concerned with all these domestic failings? It must be so … for there is no wringing of hands on the nightly news.

So all must be roses … for our President is hitting the links once again in Key Largo in sunny south Florida.  This time his playing partners are a former basketball great, Valerie Jarrett’s cousin, and a former football star. Why isn’t he in the White House Situation Room with his key advisers mapping out administration actions to all these issues?  Beats me. I guess fun in the sun trumps the serious business of governing … particularly after all that nasty cold weather in Washington.

Yes, President Obama is on vacation again … just two months after an extended three week stint in Hawaii.  In fact, he is on vacation so often that he hardly has time for all his many Democrat fund-raising trips. Do the U.S. ever-alert media make a point of highlighting these derelictions of duty (see: AWOL)? Do we ever hear a tsk-tsk from his many cable-news sycophants? Does Saturday Night Live run stinging parodies about his lack of focus on world and domestic events?  Does an arm-waving Jon Stewart on the Daily Show mock this inattention?  Get serious!  It’s a wonder that we even know he is playing golf in Florida.

And I do ponder what message this sends to Putin?

reddit Gallery CXXXVIII

Another excursion into the world of  reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Adios

One End of the Great Wall of China

Succulent Cupcakes

Hawaiian Lava River

Rose Osirial

Interesting Statistic

Despite their huge annual salaries and after an average of  over three years of playing professional football, 78% of all National Football League (NFL) players either declare for personal bankruptcy or are in serious financial distress within two years of retiring from this sport ... see: Sports Illustrated Reference. Sad, sad, sad.

Irrational Exuberance

The stock market is basically flat so far for this year … after an almost 30% increase in 2013 … see: CNN Story. Most everyone, including myself, had expected that 2014 would therefore be a modest downer. However, as we have seen many times in the past, stock markets like to crater … but usually not from a position of rational exuberance … but rather from one of  irrational exuberance. And we have not begun to approach such crazy levels in the current bull market ... see: Scaremongers.

So now I am hedging my pessimistic stock market forecast for this year.  I now think it may start discounting a Republican election sweep this coming November … with them gaining seats in the House and possibly even running the table in the Senate … at which point President Obama may be forced into a policy corner from which he cannot escape.  This could well result in a rebounding economy, a large movement toward energy independence, the beginning of a reining in of our entitlement programs, a reduction in bureaucratic regulations, and maybe even the making of an eunuch out of Obamacare.

Such an enormous economic and psychological rebound might well propel the stock market into this state of irrational exuberance … a move in which very large profits can be reaped … however with an even greater dollop of risk.  For, most certainly, this would be followed by an unnerving stock market correction … maybe sometime in early 2015 or even sooner.  So beware and be wary … take you profits long before this market peaks. When asked how he made so much money on Wall Street, Bernard Baruch said, “I always sold too soon.” May I suggest the same strategy for you, dear reader.

How do you tell when the market has gotten too frothy?  May I suggest when the clerk at the neighborhood 7-11 starts giving you stock tips … or when Tesla Motors hits $500 per share … or, on the downside, when Iran announces that it has acquired a nuclear weapon.

Then sell out everything and head for Bora Bora … for the big bad bear should once again be on the prowl.

Afterward: There is an interesting wrinkle to this scenario ... what happens if the stock market is behaving so well going into this fall that the electorate see this as the Democrats' doing and vote for them in droves?  If this occurs, I think that the stock market might tank very soon thereafter.

Tabula Rasa

Attendees at the Democrat National Committee convention were asked on camera to list Hillary Clinton’s accomplishments while she served as Secretary of State.  Not surprisingly, despite enthusiastic support for her presidential candidacy, not a single person could bring one specific accomplishment to mind … watch the video here to see how politics always seems to trump policy: CNS News Video.

I personally don’t think that Hillary had a totally blank slate in her tenure at Foggy Bottom and during her many days hop-scotching the world.  If asked this same question, I would have pointed to the fact that Myanmar (Burma) made a few hesitant steps toward greater freedom with a nudge from her … see the last bullet in this blog: Ship of State Disasters.  However, as also noted in this blog entry, she also made a mishmash of most other things she touched then (including, as we have witnessed from recent events in the Crimea, her “reset” with Russia.)

Does this diminish her in the eyes of the most? I suspect you, dear reader, are among “the most,” you tell me …

reddit Gallery CXXXVII -- More Stairs

Another excursion into the world of  reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Endless Stairway

Lumberyard Stairs

Glass Staircase

Stairs to Nowhere

Escalators

Honeymoon Downer

Niagara Falls Frozen Solid

This, of course, proves nothing ... just as Hurricane Katrina didn't or a drought in California doesn't.  Can we now acknowledge that local weather and global warming are basically unrelated?  And one cannot point to one to prove the other?

Afterward: A reader has sent me the following link which displays Warren Buffet's awakening about the actual lack of weather extremes currently ... and his growing global-warming skepticism ... see: Weather Channel Link.  SHAZAM!

reddit Gallery CXXXVI

Another excursion into the world of  reddit Pictures. See: reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Wine-throated Hummingbird

Supercell

The Hunt

Slacker

Japanese Tea Ceremony

The Liberal Vortex

You sense that something is seriously wrong … most things seem to be out of sorts. You are worried about having enough money to pay your bills, whether your job is secure, how to prepare this year’s tax returns, more global warming, the meagerness of your life savings, what happens if you get seriously sick, and for the safety of your neighborhood. The only thing that relieves this angst is when you watch the nightly news and see President Obama assuring you … against a backdrop of nodding and applauding Americans … that he has your back. He sounds so confident.  He will crush those rascally Republicans and make sure that all of your worries are dealt with by his folks.

Suddenly all your troubles seem far away as you tuck in for the night … until you see the news the next morning and things have gotten worse. The United States is losing on the world stage and many countries are laughing at us. The economy sucks and our national debt seems to be skyrocketing … people are dropping out of the workforce in droves … and no one is proposing a serious cure. Random violence seems to be spreading on our streets and many of our cities are facing bankruptcy. So you fret and sweat through another day … waiting for your President to reassure you on nightly TV that things are getting better. His dulcet tones do it once again as he proposes two new government programs to fix things ... for just a small increase in taxes.  And you feel better anew.

This scenario is repeated daily for five years and, by now, you have gotten use to these mood swings.  In fact you have learned to enjoy them … and love that man who brings up your disposition every day. Finally, in resignation, you turn to the government to solve all your problems … to provide your housing … to feed your children … to entertain you … to give you healthcare and birth control … to insure your retirement … and to satisfy all your other wants.  But be careful … for you have been sucked into the Liberal vortex … and there is no escape. You have sold your soul and you must worship those who now nurture you.

Small price to pay.

reddit Gallery CXXXV

Another excursion into the world of reddit pictures.  See reddit Pics for sources.  Click on pictures to enlarge them.  Enjoy!

Cool Bookstore

African Bush Viper

Mohammed Alim Khan

Yanukovych's Ukranian Palace

Evening Mood