Tony Blankley
WHAT INSTRUMENT DOES EMPEROR OBAMA PLAY?
There's a legend that says Nero played the lyre (the fiddle wouldn't be invented for another thousand years) while Rome burned in 64 AD. What instrument does Obama play, as he cavorts indecisively about the world stage? On three fronts - South Korean trade, Ukrainian/Russian diplomacy and Afghan war fighting - the Obama administration is being increasingly pressured by unfolding events to shed ideology and rationalizations and come quickly to a realistic analysis of world events and their consequences. In each of these cases, in the absence of very prompt United States policy decisions and actions, we shall incur long-term irreversible economic, geopolitical or national security harm. Let's discuss the first two here, and hold the third for a future discussion by itself.
THE LOSS OF TURKEY
Once the apotheosis of a pro-Western, dependable Moslem democracy, last week Turkey officially left the Western alliance and became a full member of the Iranian axis. It isn't that Ankara's behavior changed fundamentally in recent days. There is nothing new in its massive hostility toward Israel and its effusive solicitousness toward the likes of Syria and Hamas. Since the Islamist "Justice & Development" AKP party first won control over the Turkish government in the 2002 elections, led by AKP chairman Recip Tayyip Erdogan [pronounced air-doh-wan], the Turks have incrementally and inexorably moved the formerly pro-Western Moslem democracy into the radical Islamist camp populated by the likes of Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, al-Qaida and Hamas. What made Turkey's behavior this week different from its behavior in recent months and years is that its attacks were concentrated, unequivocal and undeniable for everyone outside of Israel's scandalously imbecilic and flagellant media.
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/16/09
Right about now with some fresh liberal lunacy inflicted upon our country every day by a president and party that hates it, you may be pulling your hair out by its roots or holding tight onto your head to keep it from exploding. You know you can't hold out until the 2010 elections a year from now. But how about for 18 more days? You can make it that long, can't you? As of today (10/16), November 3rd is 18 days away, and it may be a Day of Doom for Zero, the Pelosicrats, and even for RINOs. With few exceptions (like Tom Coburn or Jim DeMint), politicians care more about getting reelected than any principles or integrity they happen to have. Thus the tea leaves of November 3rd may tell dozens of Dems who barely won in 2008 to start running for the exits.
THE REMEMBER THE ALAMO RENDEZVOUS
Are you ready for a Texas-size To The Point Rendezvous? The dates are final: Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31. (Note the dates - chosen specifically to lie on the bye weekend between the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl.) The location is fabulous: The Hilton Palacio Del Rio right on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. We'll be just two blocks from The Alamo itself - which we'll of course visit as we rededicate ourselves to remembering the Alamo and recapturing America from the horde of anti-American moonbats who have temporarily seized control of it.
A TIME FOR CELEBRATING WESTERN CIVILIZATION
The second week of October offers a triad of heroic anniversaries worth celebrating by any admirer of Western Civilization. Yesterday, October 11, was time to celebrate the 1,277th anniversary of the Battle of Tours in 732 AD, when Charles Martel (686-741), forever known as The Hammer, and his 30,000 Christian soldiers crushed an invading horde of 200,000 Moslem Jihadis in what is now central France. Tomorrow, October 13, is for celebrating the 84th birthday of the great Lady Champion of Liberty, the most heroic woman of the 20th century, Margaret Thatcher. The story of how she, with Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, saved Western Civilization from Soviet Communism is told in Now There Is One (April 2005). Today, October 12, is for celebrating the 517th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America. We commemorate this as a true discovery in contrast to all the claims of Vikings, Chinese, Irish, and others who supposedly came earlier - for once and only after Columbus discovered America, it stayed discovered. Unfortunately, Columbus Day is for most Americans just an excuse for a three-day weekend. What it should be is a commemoration and celebration of Western Civilization - which is why the Left hates Columbus and his holiday.
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/09/09
The conversations at the Cosmos Club this week were very subdued. As it has been for generations, this is where the true power elite of Washington gathers. Whether it was in the East Garden Bar, the Old Club Room, or the Members Dining Room, the savviest veterans of Capitol Hill and K Street - Democrat and Republican - had a tone of fear and seriousness you didn't hear the week before. Something had scared them. Scared them like an earthquake had fractured their political foundations. The one whispered word you could overhear more than any other was "Copenhagen." For them, President and Mrs. Zero flying off to Copenhagen to beg the International Olympics Committee for Chicago and being rejected was not a matter of humiliation. It was scales falling off their eyes, and in an eye-blink realizing the enormity of the mistake America made last November. And at breakfast in the Garden Dining Room this morning (10/09), there were hardly conversations at all, just shocked silence. The consequences of giving a president afflicted with pathological egomania combined with pathological amateurishness the Nobel Peace Prize were so grave they were speechless.
A MAGICAL REFUGE
There is a magical island where everything grows - forests of fir, cedar, and sycamore trees along with forests of giant tropical tree ferns, fields of corn and fields of taro (the starchy staple of Polynesia - Hawaiian poi is made from taro), and every kind of flower in riotous abundance. Orchards produce every kind of fruit from tropical to citrus. Herds of cows produce every dairy product including fabulous cheeses - and great steaks. Due to its unique ocean location, the sea swarms with fish and seafood. It's on a main migration route for sperm whales and a dozen types of dolphins. The sport fishing, such as for blue marlin, is fantastic. So is the trout fishing in the mountain streams. So is the golf, the sailing, the scuba-diving, the surfing, the hiking on mountain trails to hidden waterfalls and hot springs. The coastline is dotted with beaches, picturesque fishing villages, and tiny coves with natural rock swimming pools. The interior is dotted with crater lakes, among which is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. Temperatures are in the mid-60s in the winter and mid-70s in the summer, the sun shines most every day, when it rains it usually pours for 15 minutes then out comes the sun again. There are neither snakes nor mosquitoes. Nor is there any pollution - the air is sparkling clear, the land preserved spotlessly clean by the islanders. The place is so peaceful it's virtually crime-free. The beer the islanders make is good, the wine even better. The islanders are friendly, hospitable, devoutly Christian, and proud members of Western Civilization. A great many speak English, but there are not a great many of them. They number 150,000 spread out over 300 spectacularly scenic square miles. They love liberty so much they've had this motto emblazoned on their coat of arms for centuries: Rather die free than live in peaceful subjugation. You can fly here from the US East Coast in four hours for 300 bucks. If you're looking for a Plan B refuge - or just a momentary escape - from ObamaLand, this magical place could be it.
OUR OBAMA-IZED INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES
The current disagreement between our intelligence agencies and those of our allies regarding Iran's nuclear program reveals the debased state of the US $75-billion- a-year intel system. The Germans, French, Israelis and now the Brits agree that Iran has an active nuclear-weapons program, differing only as to how swiftly Tehran can field warheads. The US intel community's holding out. It's worried about political risks. A reassessment's supposedly under way, but we're clinging to our comforting conclusion that Iran gave up on designing nuclear weapons in 2003. Mounting evidence to the contrary hasn't made a dent. Not only is the intel community fearful of another Iraq-style weapons-of-mass-destruction mess, but the White House has made it clear that it doesn't want more bad news. Our intel agencies have been Obama-ized.
WHY I DREW THE MOHAMMED TURBAN-BOMB CARTOON
[As President Zero was being humiliated in Denmark, a courageous cartoonist from Denmark spoke at Princeton University. This is the text of his speech.] On Sept. 30, 2005, the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons, including my own depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban, that took Islam and Mohammed as their subject. The Danish cartoon affair which ensued turned out to be perhaps the most important free speech case of our time. In the months after the cartoons' publication, protests against them morphed from peaceful objections to irrational violence which included serious threats on my life. The cartoons have become a watershed test for the ability of the press to comment and criticize all religions without fear of violent reprisal. All of us, and not least the students and faculty at an institution such as Princeton, will be on the center front of this debate for years to come. It is important, therefore, that we all understand what is at stake. It is for this reason that I speak to you. I would also hope to explain to you why I acted as I did, and especially why I have refused to apologize for my cartoon despite strong pressure that I do so.
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/02/09
It's pretty obvious that the HFR Hero of the Week is the author of Going Rogue. With her book going to #1 on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble within hours of the mere announcement it would go on sale in seven weeks (11/17), it's also obvious by now that Sarah Palin has become a conservative phenomenon the only comparison to whom is Ronald Reagan. That's not the Olympian icon Reagan has become for his presidential accomplishments - but the former governor and presidential candidate who ended up obliterating an incumbent president 489 to 49 in electoral votes in 1980. Palin is now acknowledged to be "the hottest brand name in politics." She is the comet flashing across the sky, while Zero is a shooting star flaming out while plunging to earth. She is everything he is not, which can be summed up in two words: for real. She's as genuine as he is phony, as honest as he is deceitful, as pro-freedom as he is pro-fascist, as experienced in the real world as he is ignorant, as American as he is un-. The left is in a hysteria of hate towards her because she is their greatest threat. While most of the left can only indulge in childish schoolyard insults, the savviest among liberals - like Willie Brown, who ran the California legislature and city of San Francisco as his private fiefdoms - now realize that Palin is a "political genius."
REPEAL 1913
One of the more fascinating features of To The Point is the Users Forum, where TTPers share their insights and expertise. An excellent example is the recent (9/26) thread initiated by "Spartan" - Van Kottis - in commemoration of his 1,000th (!) TTP post. He asks for suggestions on what TTP can do to help the TeaParty movement focus its opposition to Zeroism. I have two. The first is to offer specific language that explicitly defines what conservatives are for (not simply against) government-wise. I.e., we stand for not simply "limited government" but constitutionally limited government. This means we want to restore constitutional limitations on central government. It means to go on the constitutional offensive against laws Congress has no authority to pass and regulations the federal bureaucracy has no authority to enforce. The second is to form a movement to repeal 1913. Just between you and me (can you keep a secret?), it's actually a movement to repeal progressivism, repeal the entire liberal-left agenda, but we need a specific target to focus upon.
AMERICA IS A HORROR TO HER FRIENDS AND LAUGHED AT BY HER ENEMIES
Since Obama took office, he has been abandoning one US ally after another while seeking to curry favor with one US adversary after another. At every turn, America's allies - from Israel to Honduras, to Columbia, South Korea and Japan, to Poland and the Czech Republic - have reacted with disbelief and horror to his treachery. And at every turn, America's adversaries - from Iran to Venezuela to North Korea and Russia - have responded with derision and contempt to his seemingly obsessive attempts to appease them. The horror Obama has instilled in America's friends and the contempt he has evoked from its enemies have not caused him to change course. The fact that his policies throughout the world have already failed to bring a change in the so-called international community's treatment of the US has not led him to reconsider those policies. His stubborn insistence on advancing his feckless foreign policy in the face of its already apparent colossal failure is of a piece with his unswerving commitment to his domestic agenda in spite of its apparent colossal failure.
HAVE YOU NO SHAME? HAVE YOU NO DECENCY?
[This literary, moral, and political masterpiece is the text of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2009] I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people. The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events. Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants. Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency? A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state. What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations!
HALF-FULL REPORT 9/25/09
Mr. Tough Guy here, Mr. "real Indiana Jones," has a confession. I couldn't get through reading Sarah Palin's speech in Hong Kong without crying like a baby - several times. The contrast of who she is, what she stands for, and what she could do for America as President, compared to who the current president is, what he stands for, and what he is doing to America, was too much to take without emotionally breaking down. Last week we were all on an emotional high, with the historic Million Conservative March in Washington, the ACORN take-down, et al. This week there are too many reminders of the massive, perhaps even mortal, damage being done to America by the man Palin should replace in 2012. The damage mounts by the day. America may not have until November 2012. America may not have until November 2010. An observation and a question encapsulate this quandary.
ECONOMIC MEGATRENDS THAT WILL DRIVE OUR FUTURE
The economic world has changed. There are new trends, megatrends if you will, now at work in our economy. They are "mega" trends because they overarch and impact everything else in the economy and will do so for quite a while. There are other major trends at work as well, but they have been operating as a part of the basic framework of our economy for decades. These megatrends have emerged from the credit cycle because people change their behaviors in response to a crisis, and it would be foolish to assume that everything will just go back to the way things were before. These aren't predictions of the future, because circumstances change. How many economists predicted this crisis? Very, very few. Think of these megatrends more as chalk marks on the playing field that will guide human economic behavior for some years.
THE SPICE ISLANDS
This is a story of hobbits and eggnog, of English heroes and Dutch murderers, of adventure and treachery and astonishing history, of genocidal slaughter and massive corruption, of Communist dictators and of Moslem butchers getting the justice they deserve, a saga that begins over a million years ago and ends with an inspiration - perhaps a quite profitable one. It is the story of 17,000 islands stitched together in a country that nobody thought had a chance a few years ago and now is emerging as a land of the future. This will take a while, so let's settle in with a tankard of ice cold Bir Bintang and a snack of babi kecap, pork in sweet soy sauce. Shall we start with the hobbits?
COMMON SENSE CONSERVATISM
[Text of speech delivered at the CLSA Pacific Markets Conference in Hong Kong on September 23, 2009] You can call me a common-sense conservative. My approach to the issues facing my country and the world, issues that we'll discuss today, are rooted in this common-sense conservatism... Common sense conservatism deals with the reality of the world as it is. Complicated and beautiful, tragic and hopeful, we believe in the rights and the responsibilities and the inherent dignity of the individual. The opposite of a common-sense conservative is a liberalism that holds that there is no human problem that government can't fix if only the right people are put in charge. Unfortunately, history and common sense are not on its side. We don't trust utopian promises; we deal with human nature as it is. Common sense tells you that when you're in a hole, you have to stop digging! A common sense conservative looks to history to find solutions to the problems confronting us, and the good news is that history has shown us a way out of this, a way forward from recession. Ronald Reagan, he was faced with an even worse recession, and he showed us how to get out of here. If you want real job growth, you cut taxes! And you reduce marginal tax rates on all Americans. Cut payroll taxes, eliminate capital gain taxes and slay the death tax, once and for all. Get federal spending under control, and then you step back and you watch the U.S. economy roar back to life. We're not interested in government fixes; we're interested in freedom! Freedom! And why shouldn't we be? We're Americans.
HALF-FULL REPORT 09/18/09
Maybe we should call this The Cornucopia Report this week. The deluge of astonishingly good news keeps pouring down, with the moonbat left in response drowning in its own bile of rage and going off the cliff berserk-o. Where to begin amidst this treasure trove? Of course: the Million Conservative March on Washington last Saturday (9/12). With the LFM (Lunatic Fringe Media) desperately ignoring and disparaging it - reporting, e.g., that there were only "tens of thousands" when there were at least close to a million or more - this event marks a genuine turning point in American political history. The only other event comparable was the August 28,1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which launched the modern civil rights movement and at which Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. There was, however, one major lack and disappointment. Everyone remembers (or learns about in school) that 1963 event because of King's speech. Where was our Dr. King? Where was the speech that the vast multitude of conservatives wanted to hear? In other words, where the hell was Sarah Palin? If there's a parade of history, get out in front and lead it - or the parade and history will pass you by. Carpe diem - or your day will be gone. Sarah had better stop hiding from the world, stop confining herself to posts on Facebook, or this Teaparty Juggernaut will quickly find other leaders. It's not too late, Sarah, but you are burning daylight.
WHAT A RENDEZVOUS!
This was Rendezvous VI. Starting in Vegas in early 2007, and after Sarasota, Colorado Springs, Boston, and Carefree, Arizona, many folks said while they were great, this one in Williamsburg was the best. As one Rendezvous veteran, "Dr. Roseanne," posted on the TTP Forum:
"I can't even say enough good things about this Rendezvous. It was phenomenal. I actually wish it could have been longer as there was so much to learn.... The speakers are so available and approachable and knowledgeable! [TTP-ers] are the most wonderful, rational, freedom-loving people... They are ‘the salt of the earth.' I am happily sleep-deprived from staying up and visiting with some of them. I already miss my TTP friends! Can't wait for San Antonio! Hope you will all plan to be there!"The good doctor put her finger on why these Rendezvous are such a memorably enjoyable experience - it's because of the TTPers themselves. We all enjoy each other's company so much. About half the attendees were first-timers, and they were overjoyed to be welcomed into a rational, freedom-loving, salt-of-the-earth community. I, too, can hardly wait for San Antonio next January. So - what went on last weekend? Here are some highlights.
HOW TEXAS CAN SAVE AMERICA FROM WASHINGTON
As the federal government continuously churns out ideas and policies that drive our nation deeper and deeper in debt, citizens and taxpayers are right to be worried. From federal "stimulus" bills that force state governments to change laws, raise taxes and increase spending, to cap and trade proposals that will run our energy industry into the ground, to emerging plans for an unprecedented and unsustainable expansion of government health care, it is clear that the swollen river of our federal government has overflowed its banks. Frustration with a Washington run amok is fueling the resurgent interest in the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Level-headed Americans are pushing back through the growing TEA Party movement. This groundswell of classic American activism is giving citizens a conduit for their beliefs and sending a clear message they will not stand idly by as Washington spends their tax dollars and limits their freedoms with increasing arrogance. I predict that our increasingly frustrated national electorate will look to the states for answers, starting with Texas.
ISLAM
Articles Associated with "Islam"
Join the forum discussion on this postHALF-FULL REPORT 09/11/09
It is certainly and abundantly clear who is the HFR Hero of the Week this week: Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. Finally, a Republican in Congress who embodies speaking truth to power. "You lie!" now takes its place in history along with "death panels" demonstrating the politically castrative power of two simple words. Sarah Palin's two words were a brilliantly limbic deligitimization of Zero's key program. Joe Wilson's two words were an emotional outburst that will deligitimize Zero's entire presidency. Wilson is who all conservatives long for, a Republican with balls. The species is almost extinct. The chief of staff of a prominent Republican Congressman confirmed to me this morning that the GOP House leadership, Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor, demanded Wilson make a formal apology on the House floor - and that Wilson refused. When the chief of staff started defending Cantor and blaming Wilson, I lost my temper. "When are you guys ever going to acquire a set of gonads? When are your brains ever going to be connected to your spines? Wilson is now a flat-out hero to millions! There will be You lie! signs throughout the 50,000 TeaParty marchers on the Mall tomorrow, You lie! bumper stickers on cars in every state, shouts of You lie! at every Town Hall held by a Democrat - or RINO. People are sick and tired of pussy wimp-out Republican limp dicks! When are you guys going to figure this out?!" I don't know if he'll speak to me again. I've known him for years, but frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
DISHONORING OUR DEAD, WHITEWASHING OUR ENEMIES
Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Moslems inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died. We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot. We've learned nothing. Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it. Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them. Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
DOES OBAMA WANT TO LOSE IN AFGHANISTAN?
On the eve of Islam's Day of Infamy, the September 11 Islamic Atrocity upon America, I found my mind drifting back to a day when I was in college. It was May 11, 1965, and as I was walking across the UCLA campus from where I parked my car to my first class, everywhere I looked I saw students reading The Daily Bruin. They were really immersed in some article - and I knew immediately what it was. It was a huge double-spread article of mine emblazoned with the title Victory in Vietnam: Go North. The only way to win, I argued, was to stop playing defense in South Vietnam but go on the offensive against Hanoi - to shut down Hanoi's capacity to wage war upon the South, and as quickly as possible. None of this was done, and as we all too bitterly know, North Vietnam did conquer South Vietnam. We lost a war because we had no intention of winning it. So - is America going to lose another war, this one in Afghanistan, because its government doesn't want to win it? A war against an enemy that perpetrated or helped to perpetrate the September 11 Islamic Atrocity, and will again if they are not defeated?
AN UNRESPONSIVE SPEECH
After all the rhetoric is put aside, one principle ran through President Obama's speech to Congress (9/09): that increased government involvement in health care can solve its problems. Many Americans fundamentally disagree with this idea. We know from long experience that the creation of a massive new bureaucracy will not provide us with "more stability and security," but just the opposite. It's hard to believe the President when he says that this time he and his team of bureaucrats have finally figured out how to do things right if only we'll take them at their word. Our objections to the Democrats' health care proposals are not mere "bickering" or "games." They are not an attempt to "score short term political points." And it's hard to listen to the President lecture us not to use "scare tactics" when in the next breath he says that "more will die" if his proposals do not pass.
JUST HOW ANTI-DEMOCRACY PRO-DICTATORSHIP IS OBAMA?
President Barack Hussein Obama's State Department waited until the cusp of Labor Day weekend before publicly backing Latin America's dictators in their assault on democracy. Our thug-worshipping diplomats figured they'd slip it by us. With the nation focused on barbecues and the beach, they announced that, if Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez's client, Manuel Zelaya, isn't returned to power in Honduras, the United States won't recognize the results of that country's upcoming free elections. Mr. Obama hasn't uttered a single word of criticism for the dictatorships of Chavez or his protégés in Ecuador and Bolivia, nor once demanded free elections in Cuba. But he's going to show those wicked Hondurans, by Hugo! They can't boot out a crazy leftwing president just because he's trying to subvert their Constitution.
HALF-FULL REPORT 09/04/09
Can this marriage be saved? How many husbands have been blindsided with the most horrifying words in the English language for them - "I want a divorce!"? It happens to wives too, but most often it's the guys who are clueless until the damage is irreparable. Ask any marriage counselor, and they'll confirm that, try as they may with all their skill, once a certain tipping point of anger, contempt, and distrust has been attained by one spouse, there is little the other spouse can do to salvage the relationship. It has to be sundered. That tipping point may have been reached this week. After being reminded of some pedophile cruising down the street asking schoolchildren, "Hi kids, want some candy?", the American people may be on the verge of demanding a divorce from the man they politically married last November.
A GAGGED GENERAL, A TRAPPED PRESIDENT, A MUDDLED MISSION
The classified status report from Afghanistan by Gen. Stanley McChrystal was censored by the White House before its submission. As a result, it's all bun and no burger. The administration preferred a politically expedient blah-blah "report" that grants the White House a time-out. But there's no time-out for our soldiers and Marines (our enemies won't listen to the ref). Guess who pays the price while Obama plays Hamlet? The result? We've got a general who's been gagged, a president trapped by his campaign promises, a muddled mission, crippling restrictions on our troops, a resurgent enemy, a worthless Afghan government -- and an AWOL establishment media that, after hammering the Bush administration, gives Obama a pass on American casualties.
“ON OR ABOUT DECEMBER 2010 HUMAN CHARACTER CHANGED”
Those who suffered through being an English major in college may recognize the literary referent. In an essay written in 1924 entitled "Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown," the English author Virginia Woolf makes the following comment: "On or about December, 1910, human character changed. . . . All human relations have shifted-those between masters and servants, husbands and wives, parents and children. And when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics, and literature. Let us agree to place one of these changes about the year 1910." The liberal craziness of our day - whether in religion, conduct, politics, literature, or art - can be traced back to the emergence of the movement Woolf was talking about, called "modernism," based on a denial of reality and human nature. One hundred years of all this lunacy is enough. So here's a modest proposal.
Chapter Thirty-Four: LA MALINCHE
Here at long last is the final chapter of The Jade Steps. I could not understand why I just couldn't seem to finish it - until I realized that I didn't want to let Malinali - known to history as La Malinche (lah-mah-lin-chay) - and her incredible story go. Now I have. Her saga is one of the more extraordinary in all history. Now it is complete - save for an Epilogue, which explains why it is so critically important for the truth of her story be known. So it's worth re-emphasizing again that The Jade Steps is a true story. Every principal event described actually happened, every named person really lived and had that name. It all happened almost 500 years ago, but it still remains the cause of the civil war within Mexico's soul. Mexico will never rise out of the Third World and overcome its inferiority complex towards America until this spiritual wound is healed. That is the purpose of this book.] The Jade Steps Chapter Thirty-Four: La Malinche Malinali sat on the roof of her home, serenely looking out upon the sunlit waters of Lake Texcoco. Cortez had the home built for her, here in Coyoacan, next to the palace of the former King of Coyoacan that he was using as his headquarters to manage the growing empire of New Spain. It was cool here, with the breeze coming off the lake, and the shade of the awnings and all the plants Cortez had brought up to the roof to make it a garden. It was peaceful and quiet - which is what she appreciated the most. Almost a year had passed since the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capture of Cuauhtémoc, and the death of the Aztec Empire. As she looked back upon all that had happened since, that day of what the Spaniards called August 13 [1521. It is now mid-June, 1522.] It seemed like just a day before yet so long ago.
HALF-FULL REPORT 08/28/09
We are told that we must say something good about the recently dead. OK, here goes. Ted Kennedy is dead. Good. When his terminal brain cancer was announced in May 2008, the HFR commented thusly, for it is worth repeating now:
The HFR's goblet is raised this week in sympathy to this young lady and not to her murderer. She is Mary Jo Kopechne. Her death at the hands of a drunk Ted Kennedy served one purpose for which America must be forever grateful: it prevented his ever being elected President of the United States... The HFR goblet contains no mawkish, treacly, fawning oleaginous encomiums to a man who has done more objective damage to his country than any American alive today.The HFR does not gloat upon the pain and suffering of any fellow human being - but nonetheless raises a full glass of gratitude that he will soon no longer be in the Senate and in a position to do further damage to America.Of course, the Zerocrats are now using his death to exactly that: further damage to America. That the Democrat Party could lionize this evil anti-American, so personally revolting the London Daily Mail's obituary of him is entitled "The Senator of Sleaze," explains the pit of irretrievable immorality into which it has sunk.
RECONQUISTA
Santiago de Compostela. If you want to feel Christianity, feel it in your bones, feel it resonate with history, feel its promise for the future, here is where you come. Sant Iago - St. James - is the patron saint of Spain, and here is where the faithful believe he is buried. For over a thousand years, peregriños, pilgrims, have followed the Way of St. James from all corners of Europe, over the Pyrenees, and across northern Spain to its northwestern corner in a region called Galicia. Their goal is the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, which houses the tomb of Christ's Disciple. As it has been for centuries, so it is now. Every day sees swarms of peregriños arrive, having completed their pilgrimage, flooding streets of the ancient city, filling up the cathedral to worship and pray. Close to 200,000 Christians of all ages will walk to Santiago de Compostela this year, and more are expected next year. They come to pay homage to the saint known as Santiago Matamoros - St. James the Moor-Killer - whose images of killing Moslems are here for all to see. St. James is the savior of Spain from Islam. He is the patron saint of the Reconquista.
TREASON AND TED KENNEDY
In honor of the Mary Jo Kopechne Memorial Brain Tumor completing its task, here is Herb Rommerstein's exposé of Ted Kennedy's traitorous collaboration with the Soviet KGB, originally published in Human Events in December 2003. Following Mr. Romerstein's article is the full text of the letter he references from KGB head Viktor Chebrikov to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov regarding Mr. Kennedy's collaboration with the KGB. Regarding his recent hysterical attack on President Bush, it is not unusual for Sen. Kennedy to attack an American president and give aid and comfort to our country's enemies. There are some important reports found in Soviet archives, after the collapse of the communist dictatorship, that provide an interesting insight into the character of the senior Senator from Massachusetts.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF A HUG-AND-APPEASEMENT FOREIGN POLICY
In Iraq on Monday (8/24), Islamist terrorists staged massive suicide bombings in Baghdad. Over a hundred Iraqis died, with more than a thousand wounded. The foreign and finance ministries lie in rubble. The Iraqi government is reeling. Our president went to the beach. In Afghanistan, the Taliban crippled the national elections so severely that the eventual "winner" won't have much of a mandate. Despite madcap ballot-box stuffing, the final tally will probably show that less than half of the eligible population voted -- fewer than one in five in the crucial south. On Sunday (8/23), Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, admitted that the Afghan situation is "serious and deteriorating." That's what happens when, instead of killing our enemies, we try hugs.
HALF-FULL REPORT 08/21/09
There's something in Guinness that enables the Irish to be preternaturally perceptive. That's why I turned to the HFR's resident Irishman, Buck O'Fama from County Cork, for an answer to a weird mystery. "Hey, Buck!" I asked. "What the heck does ‘all wee-weed up' mean?" After a long contemplative sip of Guinness, Buck observed, "Well, we know the lad's a stoner, right? A midnight toker. It's South Chicago street slang for being ‘all f#&!d up' or sky-high on weed. But the President can't publicly say: ‘There is something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all f#&!d up...' so he substitutes ‘all wee-weed up' trying to be so cute-clever-cool funny." Buck had another sip. "Yep, this one's a classic. Everyone is going to be saying his presidency is what's wee-weed up. For the truth is, he's really wee-weed himself."
WHEN WILL HUGO CHAVEZ BE TAKEN OUT?
In the summer of 2001, I was the keynote speaker at an international business conference in Cartagena, Colombia. Frankly, what I said up at the podium I don't recall. What was memorable was the private conversation I had with the collection of Venezuelan business leaders attending the conference. "As someone who helped bring down the Soviet Union," they asked me, "could you tell us what can we do to bring down Hugo Chavez?" I told them there was one and only one answer to their question, there was no other. He gives you, I explained, "absolutely no other alternative. This is his choice, for he will not give up power any other way. Your choice, then, is to accept his dictatorship or eliminate it by eliminating him. Either-or." But such either-ors do not consider third possibilities, and now, eight years later, there might be one.
HALF-FULL REPORT 08/14/09
A buddy of mine, whenever you'd ask how he was, would answer, "If I felt any better, I'd faint." I suspect lots of TTPers are feeling so good this week they're on the point of passing out. Let's all enjoy this while we can. For maybe the Zerocrats will capitulate in the face of the first inkling of a Second American Revolution - for inklings are only what has begun. But we must never forget that they are fascists for whom the aggrandizement of power is their life's purpose. And we must expect them to act accordingly. Lock and load. That said, let's start the fun with the most amazing presidential gaffe of modern times, leaving any of George W. Bush's parsecs behind... ...Here's a question to ask a Congressman at a town hall: why is he focusing on health care at all? Why the gargantuan diversion away from what their total focus should be on, jobs and the economy? Unemployment is rocketing up into double digits, foreclosures are exploding, retail sales are crashing, the economy is imploding, the federal deficit for this year is $1.27 trillion and climbing - and these guys are passionate not about doing whatever it takes to fix this but health insurance and carbon caps? ...Oh, by the way, who knew Bernie Madoff was Chinese?
2010 SENATE SITREP
Things are suddenly going so badly for the Zerocrats now that the GOP has started to think "victory" in 2010. But that's for the House, where anything close to the Pubs' 52-seat gain in 1994 would get their majority back. What about the Senate? November 2010 is a long ways away, but not that far for a "situation report" regarding the GOP's chances for retaking the Senate. Things not only can but undoubtedly will change drastically over the coming months, but here's what and who to keep your eye on now. With Minnesota's embarrassment, Al "Diapers" Franken, giving the Dems 60 seats and the Pubs 40, it will take a massive switch of 11 seats for the latter to pull it off. Switches of this magnitude are rare, but they do occur. In 1958, the Dems gained a net 16 seats, while in 1980, the Pubs gained 12. Both resulted in shifts of majority status. Other years of large switches were 1994 with the Pubs up 8, and last year, 2008, with the Dems up 8 plus Specter's defection for a net of up 9. Next year, 36 seats are at stake, evenly split at 18 each between R's & D's. Let's dispense with the ones that seem now clearly safe.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND THE DECONSTRUCTION OF CALIFORNIA
The financial unraveling of California currently on display in Sacramento has prompted a long overdue debate on what caused the seeming demise of the once most prosperous state of the union. Outrageous retirement and health care demands on the taxpayer by public employees, and sabotaging the economy through ever more onerous regulations and pie-in-the-sky environmental fantasies like renewable energy, have run against the limits of abuse the system can take and must be sharply scaled down one way or another if California is to remain economically viable. Unfortunately, there is yet another problem that presents an even greater systemic threat to California, even if the ones above were to be somehow fixed. A problem known to all that neither the state's mercenary political establishment nor its politically correct media dare even mention. It is the irreparable damage to California's human capital potential that nearly 30 years of unrestrained illegal immigration has done.
WILL OBAMA GO TO OKLAHOMA?
It's starting to feel like 1995 all over again. Public anger against the Democrats and the Clintons was rising to the boiling point - and suddenly was snuffed out when the Oklahoma Federal Building was bombed by a "right-wing terrorist." Remember? "It's only a matter of time" before that happens again, federal officials are now warning in major media stories. Yes, it is only a matter of time - until Zero and his Chicago thugs perpetrate some heinous terrorist act for which they and the media can blame "anti-government un-American right-wing hate groups ." Don't think that Nancy Pelosi's accusation of "un-American mobs" of "angry right-wing" protestors at town halls "waving swastikas" was an emotional outburst. It was setting the stage. Folks, we are being set up. Just like in 1995.