Dr. Jack Wheeler
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/27/09
The HFR raises a glass of Newcastle Brown ale to the British hero of the week, Daniel Hannan. As a Member of the European Parliament for Southeast England (Kent, Surrey, Sussex et al), he delivered a 3-minute speech on Tuesday (3/24) directed at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown who was attending the session in Brussels. It is the most devastating skewering of a politician right to his face in modern memory. His accusation that Mr. Brown has "a pathological inability to accept responsibility" applies equally to Democrats in Congress and their president. As you watch the speech - only 3 minutes - you'll probably ask: Where is our Daniel Hannan? Where is an American politician with the wit, the eloquence, and the courage to similarly skewer Zero?
ZERO IS LESS THAN ZERO
On a beautiful sunny day in 2004, the villagers of Banda Aceh in Sumatra were peacefully minding their own business when out of nowhere a tsunami washed them away: 
Substitute the Before photo with America today. The After photo is what America is going to look like in the wake of Zero. If you think this is hyperbolic then you haven't come to grips with the consequences of hyper-inflation. If you did, you be like what the Banda Aceh folks would have been if they'd had any warning: in panicked flight to higher ground. And here's the kicker: with hyper-inflation comes hyper-fascism. The worse our economy becomes, the more our freedoms will be taken away. Folks - this is being done on purpose. If it were all due to sheer stupidity or incompetence on Zero's part, you would expect, as "Skye" observes on the Forum, coin-flip outcomes with at least some of them correct. But when all actions are taken to disincentivize wealth creation and expand government control, to destroy the worth of the dollar and not increase it, then the damage is malicious and purposeful. So here is what is really going on: the President of the United States is making a conscious concerted effort to replace capitalism with fascism. And not just in the United States but world-wide.
AN INVESTMENT STRATEGY FROM A BILLIONAIRE
[To The Point is honored to have legendary investor Robert Agostinelli tell us his investment strategy in what he calls "Obambi Land."] With the zealot flame of blind activism taking advantage of the dislocation in the banking and real estate markets, we are faced with near unprecedented conflagration in the global markets that we all rely on to manage our wealth. Absent this opportunist attempt to "melt" down the free market system and impose a social democrat's illiberal and centralized dream on all Americans, my advice would be more measured. However this is not the reality with which we are confronted. Thus, here are my thoughts on investing in Obambi Land for my friends at To The Point.
A FOREIGN POLICY OF ARROGANT COWARDICE
America's enemies smell blood and it's type "O." All new administrations stumble a bit as they seek their footing. But President Obama's foreign-policy botches have set new records for instant incompetence. Contrary to left-wing myths, I wasn't a fan of the Bush administration. (I called for Donald Rumsfeld to get the boot in mid-2001.) But fair's fair. Despite his many faults, Bush sought to do good. Obama just wants to look good. Vice President Dick Cheney was arrogant. Vice President Joe Biden is arrogant and stupid. Take your pick. Don't worry about the new administration's ideology. Worry about its terrifying naïveté. And ask: At what point does naïveté become cowardice?
LOWERING YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE IN THE AGE OF ZERO
Living in the "Age of Zero," where every action of Congress and the White House seems designed to ruin our economy and expand government control, can definitely raise your blood pressure. It turns out that there may be a very simple and very inexpensive way to reduce (often dramatically) your blood pressure - and much more. Studies of potassium bicarbonate supplements in humans report: *Reduced Blood Pressure *Increased Muscle Mass *Decreased Bone Loss *Reduced Risk of Stroke *Improved Endothelial Function *Reduced Dietary Acid Load Our diet has changed radically from what our ancestors ate 50,000 years ago, and not all of these changes have been for the good. Our modern diets are likely to contain far less potassium, far more sodium, more acid forming nutrients, and less base forming nutrients than those enjoyed by our ancestors when our species evolved. Fortunately, an inexpensive potassium bicarbonate dietary supplement can help you to eat more like a Caveman without all that Stone Age food hunting and gathering work.
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/20/09
Let's have cup of coffee and talk. The HFR Saloon is closed for the week after too much toasting the greatest Irish-American in our history - Ronald Reagan - on St. Patrick's Day. So we'll go next door to the HFR Coffee Shop. I'm sure you've seen the news reports on how President Teleprompter thanked himself due to his teleprompter foulup. Note, however, while the media of course videoed the gaffe - it is nowhere to be seen, not on YouTube or anywhere else. Not only has the video of "Obama thanks himself" vanished, but try clicking on any website claiming to have it. Up will come a security alert trying to gain access to your computer. This happens not just on US websites, but world-wide. And it happens with search engines world wide, not just Google. The video of Zero thanking himself would go instantly viral once posted on the Web. But not only has its posting been prevented, they will try to damage your computer as well. Zero can't stand to be laughed at, and will try to hurt you if you do. Fortunately, not even he can stifle Gutter Ball gaffes when they are made with Jay Leno. Speaking of gaffes, did Secretary of Homeland Defense Janet Napolitano call the President of the United States a terrorist?
A YEAR OF ANNIVERSARIES MAY CATALYZE FREEDOM IN CHINA
2009 may be a year of "interesting times" for China's communist rulers, for it is the: 90th anniversary of the student-led revolt against imperial rule (the model for the Tienanmen Square student protest). 60th anniversary of the establishment of Communist seizure of power. 50th anniversaries of the Tibetan Revolt against Chinese occupation and the Dalai Lama's flight to India. 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre of students protesting for democracy. 10th anniversary of suppression of the Falun Gong nonviolent spiritual movement. What might happen? Let's start with Tibet.
THE EVIL OF ZERO
Is Zero a fascist dedicated to destroying the life savings of Americans, or is he criminally incompetent? The answer is yes. So let me tell you about Gao Xiqing (gow shee-ching). He's one of the smartest Chinese you'll ever meet (and that's saying something). Graduate of Duke law school, worked at a major Wall Street law firm, returned to his native China to direct the CIC, China Investment Corp., the Chicoms' trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund. In other words, he's the guy who owns $700 billion of US Treasurys, the guy who Zero is depending on to keep buying. Should he not show up at the next Treasury auction, the dollar disintegrates the next day. A friend of mine has gotten to know him (don't ask me how). "Gao is super-smooth, sophisticated, speaks English as good as you or me, and knows America inside and out," he says. "He can talk the language of high finance and international capitalism as good as anyone - yet he is a hard core Chinese Communist who regards America as China's enemy. He despises Obama as the epitome of American weakness." Gao also thinks that gold is going to $5,000 an ounce and that the dollar's goose is cooked.
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/13/09
I plopped onto a barstool at the HFR Saloon and ordered a Maximus. "So you're into Double IPAs, eh?" noted the bartender as he served it in a frosty mug. "Best beer in America," was my response. "Well, you look like you need a best of something," he observed. "What I need is a refuge from insanity. That's why I come here - the HFR Saloon is a refuge from the insane asylum America is becoming. Just today, the big headline in my paper [The Washington Times] is "Obama Vows to Get Tough on Earmarks." He said this as he was signing legislation that had 9,000 earmarks. If the nation doesn't laugh itself silly over that, then we have a nation of retards. "But maybe the whole world is going insane. Again today, the guy who runs Blackstone declares that "45% of the world's wealth has been destroyed" in this global economic meltdown. What does that mean? That close to half of all the homes, cars, commercial buildings, all the gold and silver in bank vaults, all the stuff that everybody owns in the world has been demolished? Is this guy nuts? And yet it makes headlines. I paused to quaff my Maximus. I was beginning to draw a crowd.
PROPOSED DIVORCE AND SEPARATION AGREEMENT
Dear American Liberals, Leftists, Social Progressives, Socialists, Marxists, and Obama Supporters, et al: As a law student, I have drawn up a divorce & separation agreement on behalf of my fellow Conservative Americans and you. We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know, we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but, sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot, and will not ever agree on what is right, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences, and go our own way. Here is a model separation agreement:
THE TRAP OF LIZZIE WEBBER
Many years ago when I was running a cinnamon business in South Viet Nam, I flew from Saigon to Jesselton in British North Borneo (now it's Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia). Out the window I saw all these gorgeous tropical island paradises sprinkled over the ocean. I asked the captain what they were.
"The Spratlys," he said. I pointed to one jewel in particular. Checking his map, he answered, "Lizzie Webber."
"Yeah, she's beautiful all right - but don't ever go sailing down there," he warned. "She's a trap, just like all the Spratlys."
Now today, thanks to President Zero, America is caught in the trap of Lizzie Webber.
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/06/09
When I walked into the HFR Saloon today, everyone at the bar was laughing their heads off. "What's so funny?" I asked. "Haven't you heard?" came a reply. "Our messiah-in-chief has a new title. He's now President Teleprompter." "Yes, even the New York Times is saying he's addicted - can't give a speech or make the simplest announcement without it," my barmate continued. There's even a website now: teleprompterpresident.com "And this guy has the audacity to make fun of Rush Limbaugh - who just spoke at that CPAC conference for 90 minutes straight without a single note. Can you imagine what would happen to Zero if he had to debate Rush one-on-one? He'd be a joke." "He already is a joke, and a quite tasteless one," I responded. "That's why he's being called ‘Jimmy Obama,' after the disastrous bad joke of the Carter presidency." I ordered a pint of Guinness. "But he's already blown way past Carter incompetence. So I think we should start calling him ‘Richard Obama' - after Richard Nixon." Everyone at the bar gave me a blank stare. "Ah, how did Nixon's presidency end?" I asked rhetorically. "He resigned, he quit. Our country literally cannot afford four years of Zero - our economy and our national security will be ruined, no joke, no exaggeration. We need this guy outta here ASAP. We need him to suffer the fate of Richard Nixon." Everyone promptly ordered another Guinness with which to properly reflect on this.
THE WAY TO WIN IN AFGHANISTAN
I have just returned from Afghanistan, and here is what I have concluded. America has put its emphasis on establishing a central government based in Kabul as the dominant authority in Afghanistan, something no one - foreign or Afghan - has been able to do for centuries. Rather than lack of "boots on the ground," victory is being turned into defeat by the insistence on centralized power. That takes the form of a grandiose plan to train and equip a 135,000-man National Army. "It won't work," I sadly told a U.S. general who briefed me in Afghanistan over the recess. "This plan will fail." The general could not fathom how his plan, based on centralizing power in Kabul, was totally unworkable. I predicted all the militias and ethnic and provincial power brokers left out of the general's plan soon would be hired on by the drug cartels and Taliban fanatics. The situation, I cautioned, would worsen, not improve. Here's how we can win instead.
THE OBAMA-PROOF PORTFOLIO
In the wake of Zero's election last November (the DOW was above 9,000 on 11/04), TTP predicted the DOW was headed to below 7,000 (The Word That Can Save America, 11/21). Wait ‘till you see where we think it's headed now (see below). By now, it should be clear to anyone with a desire for self-preservation that Zero's economic policies are indistinguishable from those skillfully designed to destroy the American economy on purpose. Thus the urgent need for strategies to preserve one's savings and assets under attack by Zero's malicious economic masochism. We all need to develop an "Obama-Proof Portfolio."
NEW WORLD DISORDER
Economic hope produced the American Revolution. Economic hopelessness delivered the French Revolution. Demagogues, not democrats, will hallmark the worsening economic crisis. The potential for political turmoil is vast. Among the populated continents, only Australia has a chance of avoiding serious violence. We in the West stand at the brink of a terrible global struggle. Our response has been to fight among ourselves. The order that diplomats adore is crumbling.
THE WATERMELON WHITE HOUSE
Mayor Dean Grose of Los Alamitos, a small community in Orange County, California, resigned Monday (3/02) for emailing this cartoon to some friends, with the caption, "No Easter egg hunt this year." He resigned because the media screamed the tired old bogeyman of "Racism! Racism!" and he was so stupid he fell for the ridiculous accusation. Mayor Grose promptly begged for forgiveness like a good little white boy, saying he hadn't a clue about watermelons and racism. He probably didn't. Yet the cartoon above is completely accurate. We do have a Watermelon White House in Washington now. But this hasn't anything to do with silly antiquated racial stereotypes. It has to do with what a watermelon is today in terms of political and social activism.
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/27/09
The bartender here in the HFR Saloon always eyes me warily when I say off-the-wall things like, "It doesn't matter how much I drink today because I'll still stay sober." He refused to serve me anything but soda water until I explained myself. "Well, nothing could be more sobering than what happened to America this week. You know how they say that in Chinese, the word for ‘danger' or ‘crisis' is the same word for ‘opportunity'?" He nodded, I continued. "One thing this entails is that the bigger the danger, the bigger the opportunity. I'm not sure I can imagine a bigger danger to my country than its president purposefully planning to destroy it - and with the political power to do so." "The opportunity on the other side has got to be amazingly big to match that," he noted. "What is it?" "To get rid of all this liberal-commie anti-American fascist Big Brother crap once and for all. To replace the Moocher America we have now with a Free America, a Constitutional America." His brow furrowed. "So you're saying that having a president out to destroy America is what it takes to wake people up and get them to save America? Does that mean you're glad to see this guy in the White House?" I winced. "Ouch. Let me think about that, man. I better stick to soda water today, huh?" "Good idea," he observed.
MORE CARBON DIOXIDE WILL BENEFIT MANKIND
Testimony before the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee on February 25, 2009 Madam Chairman and members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Committee on Environment and Public Works to testify on Climate Change. My name is William Happer, and I am the Cyrus Fogg Bracket Professor of Physics at Princeton University. We have been in a period of global warming over the past 200 years... (while) atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased from about 280 to 380 parts per million over the past 100 years. Is this good or bad for humanity? I believe that the increase of CO2 is not a cause for alarm and will be good for mankind. I predict that future historians will look back on this period much as we now view the period just before the passage of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution to prohibit "the manufacturing, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors." At the time, the 18th amendment seemed to be exactly the right thing to do - who wanted to be in league with demon rum? It was the 1917 version of saving the planet.
OLD AMERICA VS. NEW AMERICA
The current leader of Japan has the most appropriate name for a politician in world history. He is Prime Minister Taro Aso, pronounced "ass-hoe." This week (2/24), Prime Minister Aso met President Zero in the White House. Albeit that, at 47, the American is the junior of the Japanese by 21 years and embodies youth and fitness, it was nonetheless a meeting of Old Japan and Old America. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has had a monopoly of power in Japan since the end of World War II. Here is how Hidekazu Kawai, professor emeritus of comparative politics at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, describes the LDP today: "The LDP has become a source of structural corruption permeating the entire society. The Aso administration of the LDP exists to win elections, not cope with economic crisis. All that the ruling party has come up with as a solution to our crisis is to distribute cash." Remind you of some other party and its leaders in some other country?
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/20/09
Ensconced in a booth in the HFR Saloon, we have to be extra careful today. For no matter how many of Durk Pearson's Party Pills we take to nutritionally protect us from booze, if we were to drink to all the marvelous events of this week, we would all get very seriously sloshed. So, bartender, just set down a bottle of 12 year-old Famous Grouse and we'll each have a wee dram in praise of... Let's see, first would have to be celebrating the ongoing travails of Senator Tombstone Burris. He has become such an embarrassing joke to the Dems that not only has the Chicago Tribune and Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn called for him to resign, the black pastors of Chicago have as well... ...What was it that W. C. Fields said about water? That it was the stuff that rusts pipes, that you can't trust it because even a straight stick turns crooked in it, that fish do unmentionable things in it. In light of another of his famous quips, that "Once in the wilds of remotest China, I lost my corkscrew, and was forced to live on food and water for days..." he might get a chuckle out of this headline of February 16: "Parched China to Slash Water Consumption by 60 Percent" ...Amidst all the outrage over our new terrorist-pardoning Attorney General, Eric Holder, accusing America of being "a nation of cowards," shouldn't we notice the irony that Holder is right, in precisely the opposite way he intends? America is a nation of cowards for electing Obama. The only reason he was elected is because he is black.
THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE
The European Union faces its first existential crisis. The EU worked well in the good times, when dissenting voices could be bought off, but worsening hard times threaten to knock it apart. Half of Europe is broke (but still putting on the dog), while the other half tries to shun its spendthrift neighbors. Not long ago, the Europeans smugly lectured the US on our financial incompetence. Now it looks like their mistakes were worse. Greed is universal. But it's especially dangerous when masked by self-righteousness. European financial managers and investors were at least as greedy as our worst Wall Street wizards. They just fell for different -- and even bigger, even worse -- scams.
WHAT WE HAVE GOT AND THEY HAVE NOT
One of the more arresting observations of the way we view history, past and current, was that of 18th century British writer (and son of England's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, 1676-1745), Horace Walpole (1717-1797): "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel." This is because those for whom rationality runs their brains rather than their emotions are more in charge of their lives and destinies. They can thus look upon the Obozos of history as droll. Those who only have their feelings to keep them afloat are mere flotsam in the river of events. As such, they can't help but see themselves as helpless victims in a tragedy beyond their control. There is another difference between those who think and those who feel: they react very differently in a crisis, with one consequence being the former survive more than the latter. Especially if the former are better armed.
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/13/09
With every passing day now, we're subjected to another episode in an amateurishly bad TV sitcom starring Obozo the Clown President. Try changing the channel and the sitcom morphs into that ghastly 1988 horror flick Killer Klowns From Outer Space. It's enough to give you coulrophobia. For it really does seem that space aliens looking and behaving like clowns have seized Washington and are engaged in destroying our country. While this is not literally true, what would be the difference if it were? *** Well, one difference would be a plain vanilla sex scandal submarining Obozo's Plan for a Fascist America - or at least the health plan part of it... *** And as long as we're in to juicy Washington gossip, here's the juiciest - or what will become so.
THE SOLUTION OF CHINA
Zihuatenejo, Mexico. My wife and I have managed a quickie escape from Zeroland to stay at a friend's home here. If this isn't paradise, it will certainly do until paradise comes along. My rationale for being here (as if I really needed one) is that my buddy who lives here has been a top advisor to more Global Fortune 100 companies for more years than perhaps anyone else on earth. Who better to talk to regarding the meltdown of the global economy? Name any major insider or player in global finance or global business, and the odds are high that my friend has known them well for a decade or two. He's been calling them up, asking them the same question I had for him: What the hell is going on? Their answer, which is the same as his answer? "Damned if I know." He tells me: "Jack, I know the heaviest hitters out there. And I'm hard put to think of any who weren't blind-sided by this. You could see damage coming, a recession, okay. But a multi-multi trillion dollar total global wipeout? No one I know saw it, nor can explain it, nor knows what's coming next. We're all flying blind, and going broke doing so." Naturally, I needed another Margarita after that. Then we started to think about real solutions.
THE STIMULUS IS A STEP TOWARDS A SOVIET AMERICA
[Senator Coburn, R-OK, recently gave this speech on the floor of the Senate] With this Stimulus Bill, we are going in exactly the wrong direction. We ought to be standing on the principles that made this country great. I want to make sure the American people know what is in this bill. I think once they know what is in this bill, they are going to reject it out of hand. We are at a seminal moment in our country. We will either start living within the confines of realism and responsibility or we will blow it and we will create the downfall of the greatest nation that ever lived. This bill is the start of that downfall. To abandon a market-oriented society and transfer it to a Soviet-style, government-centered, bureaucratic-run and mandated program, that is the thing that will put the stake in the heart of freedom in this country.
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/06/09
The HFR can only raise a truly half-full glass to the Daschle Disaster this week. Exposing the former Democrat Senate Majority Leader as a tax cheat and millionaire political fixer was good enough. What compounds the benefits is that Zero's attempt to take over and destroy health care in America has been seriously damaged. The number of appointees in Zero's White House who owe their political lives to Daschle is very large. He was the guy who could shepherd and coordinate the health care takeover, and now he's gone. This is a fantastic two-fer. It's countervailed by the Dems not approving another tax cheat - one more blatant and disgusting to taxpayers than Timmy Geithner. For if Daschle had not withdrawn and had been approved with Zero saying he "absolutely" supported his tax cheating and making millions from influence peddling - and with every comic from Jay Leno on down making fun of him - then the one thing America most needs would have been greatly accelerated. A tax revolt.
THE SUBMISSION OF OBAMA TO ISLAM
How appropriate that Barack Hussein Obama featured Aretha Franklin in his inaugural festivities since her signature song is "Respect." Literally from the moment she finished belting out "My Country Tis of Thee" on January 20, the new President has been conveying his "respect" the Moslem world. Unfortunately, the way he practices it seems to be spelled S.U.B.M.I.S.S.I.O.N. Several observers have noted in recent days that Mr. Obama's outreach to the Moslem world is not only defensive and apologetic. It explicitly embraces a narrative that is factually erroneous and deprecating to his own country. What is really worrying is that Mr. Obama's actions and rhetoric are almost certainly being perceived by his target audience as evidence not of respect but of subservience-- precisely what Islam (the word "islam" literally means "submission" in Arabic) requires of all of us, Moslems and non-Moslems, alike.
THE BEAUTY OF 2010
Right now, it is dawning on folks all over the country that Zero really isn't ready for prime time, that they were conned by the leftstream media to elect an empty suit who has never managed as much as a corner store and is a clueless naïve fool who doesn't know what he's doing. When the public has maniacally high expectations, only to see them thwarted and dashed to the ground, heroes turn into zeros very, very fast. What happens to Zero when he is no longer worshipped but hated instead? For someone whose personality consists primarily of empty narcissism and hubris, it could be psychologically catastrophic. When that someone is the single most powerful human being on earth, it could be catastrophic for all of us. This disturbing question was asked by a perceptive TTPer on the Forum, who notes that: "The One having a functional, emotional and psychological breakdown under the calamitous pressure and problems of office in the next year is a very serious possibility." Underneath that famously calm and cool exterior lies a fragile ego, like that of all narcissists. As his failures and flounders mount, as his inability to deal with the monumental problems and threats voters expect him to solve becomes obvious no matter how much the media covers for him, his ego could disintegrate.
THE AMERICAN OPTION
The stimulus bill that is being championed by Mr. Obama, which was passed by Democrats in the House last Wednesday (1/28), is the worst piece of economic legislation Congress has considered in a hundred years. Not since the passage in 1909 of the 16th Amendment--which cleared the way for a federal income tax--has the United States seriously entertained a policy so comprehensively hostile to economic freedom, or so arrogantly indifferent to economic reality. This bill is not a stimulus, ladies and gentlemen; it is a mugging. It is a fraud. Conservatives who fear proponents of this bill want to inch our economy closer to European-style socialism are kidding themselves. The proponents of this bill want to strap a big rocket on the back of our economy and launch it all the way to Brussels! This massive spending bill is fatally flawed. It will not rescue our economy; it will strangle it. That is why this bill must be stopped dead in its tracks. It cannot be fixed in the Senate by adding a few tax cuts or taking away a little spending. It must be scrapped entirely.
ELECTORAL VICTORY IN IRAQ
I don't suppose this will get much coverage in the States as the news is so good. No, the news is unbelievable. Something didn't happen in Al Anbar Province, Iraq today, Saturday January 31. Once the most violent and most dangerous places on earth, no suicide vest bomber detonated killing dozens of voters. No suicide truck bomber drove into a polling place collapsing the building and killing and injuring over 100. No Marine was in a firefight engaging an Al Qaeda terrorist trying to disrupt democracy. What did happen was Anbar Sunnis came out in their tens of thousands to vote in the first free election of their lives.
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/30/09
The Age of Zero is only ten days old at this writing (1/30), and already this is a failed presidency. On the eve of Zero's Immaculation, his approval rating was 83%. Now Rasmussen reports it's 63%, a 20% drop in less than two weeks. The goofball mistakes are piling up, but here's the top three, a Stupidity Hat Trick. His first international interview is with a Moslem news outlet, earning him the label: "President al-Arabiya." He grovels and apologizes to the Moslem world for America being the target of their hatred, as only a liberal embarrassed to be an American can. In return, Mahmoud Ahmadinutjob spits in his face and demands that Zero beg for forgiveness for America's sins against Iran, the number one terrorist state on earth. Zero follows up this demonstration of brilliance by attacking Rush Limbaugh by name, petulantly demanding that Republicans not listen to him. Did Rush somehow bribe Zero to say this? Now, everybody is listening to Rush - who immediately takes maximum advantage of his Zero-provided megaphone and offers an extremely clever proposal:
THE BLANK SCREEN OF A DECEPTIVE DICTATOR
Barack Hussein Obama is a beguiling but confounding figure. As he said of himself in "The Audacity of Hope," "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." It is indeed audacious that he should proclaim this consciously disingenuous attribute. And as one reads his inaugural address, it is hard not to conclude that it was crafted shrewdly to perpetuate such confusion. Run-of-the-mill politicians try to hide their duplicity. Only the most gifted of that profession brag that they intend to confound and confuse the public. And it is working. Many of my fellow conservative commentators are embarrassingly eager to search Obama's words, groveling for hopeful signs that he is not a radical intent on changing the face and nature of our republic.
CAREFREE IN AN UNCAREFREE WORLD
It's not easy to summarize in a few hundred words all that was discussed over many hours at Carefree. What's far easier is to summarize what we all experienced: the straightforward joy of getting together with fellow TTPers. Here's a collection of photos, courtesy of Maureen Bowen, to give you an idea. Or see the Forum posts by attendees such as Spartan and Mitch Rapp. Thanks to Google Earth wizard Dan Barak, we could focus in on any country or geographical location in the world and discuss it - which we did for dozens of countries all over the planet. When it came to the main event, however, what we didn't discuss regarding the United States was how and why Zero and his "Stimulus" will be catastrophically bad. We all knew that the entire $800+ billion stimulus program will make the economy much worse, because its purpose is not improving the economy but increasing the political power of Democrats and their fascist allies on the Left. There was no point in discussing this. So we focused instead on: what do we do about it, how do we get out of its way, how do we keep our freedom and save our financial derrieres?
THE ISLAMIZATION OF EUROPE
[You may have seen news stories, such as on Fox News, about the Dutch member of parliament, Geert Wilders, being prosecuted in Dutch courts for "insulting Islam." Recently, Mr. Wilders delivered this speech in New York. After reading it, you may watch his 15-minute film Fitna. Geert Wilders is a hero of Western Civilization, and he may go to jail for it. ] I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The danger I see looming is the scenario of America as the last man standing. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. The Eiffel Tower and Trafalgar Square and Rome's ancient buildings and maybe the canals of Amsterdam. They are still there. And they still look very much the same as they did a hundred years ago. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world, a world very few visitors see - and one that does not appear in your tourist guidebook. It is the world of the parallel society created by Moslem mass-migration.
PROOF THAT THE TREASURY SECRETARY IS A TAX CHEAT
Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for writing federal tax legislation. Last September, he admitted he did not pay the required income taxes on some of his private income (Caribbean rental properties, etc.). Although Republicans demanded he resign his chairmanship, Speaker Nancy Pelosi firmly supported Rangel. Yesterday (1/27), Timothy Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary, despite the fact did not pay $34,023 in self-employment taxes from 2001 to 2004 when he worked at the International Monetary Fund. Geithner said that his failure to pay self-employment tax was due to mistakes made by his individual tax return preparation software, which he identified in his testimony during his Senate confirmation hearing as Turbo Tax. This is a provable lie. And it gives the Republicans a golden opportunity: to introduce the "Rangel-Geithner Equal Treatment Under The Tax Law Bill."
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/23/09
What could be more appropriate, on the eve of the TTP Carefree Rendezvous, than to hoist a pint of Four Peaks Ale brewed here in Arizona to an inspiring woman Republican governor who drives liberals out of their minds because she is a pro-family, pro-life, pro-Christian, anti-tax, anti-government spending, anti-illegal immigration Reagan conservative. Nope, we're not talking about Sarah Palin - however much the HFR is happy to hoist a glass in admiration of her at any time. We're talking about... ... Right next to the HFR Saloon is the Schadenfreude Bar, which serves goblets of frothy glee over liberals' misfortunes. One patron was happy that Tim Geithner was going to be confirmed as Treasury Secretary. "It will be wonderful to have a guy that cheats on his taxes be in charge of the IRS," he said. "Now millions of us will say, ‘If he can, so can I'." ... Let's spice up the HFR this week, shall we? With a spice that can be a solution to terrorism. Oh, and a microbe that can be a solution to energy independence.
NOTO PATRIOTISM AND THE GSY REVOLUTION
It's Wednesday morning here in Washington D.C., January 21, 2009. Tell me, did something unusual happen here yesterday? I heard there was some kind of ruckus on the Mall near the Capitol, some kind of circus - but there weren't any elephants, and what's a circus without any elephants? There were a lot of jackasses instead, somebody said. Anyway, I was writing all day, working on my novel, The Jade Steps, and wasn't paying attention. Well, I did take a break and turn on the TV - to watch a Clark Gable-Ava Gardner classic, Mogambo. Evidently, I learned, some guy, nobody knows who he really is, with a goofy name and big goofy ears was giving a speech full of fluffy puffy cliché-ridden platitudes and nothing else. I enjoyed my movie. Yep, I was adhering to my motto: If you can't beat them - ignore them. Or tell them GSY. We'll get to that in a moment. For these are the only two ways to cope with the terrifyingly deranged glorification of Zero.
I HOPE HE FAILS
TTP salutes Rush Limbaugh for having the courage to state what all rational conservatives feel. I got a request here from a major American print publication. "Dear Rush: For the Obama [Immaculate] Inauguration we are asking a handful of very prominent politicians, statesmen, scholars, businessmen, commentators, and economists to write 400 words on their hope for the Obama presidency. We would love to include you. If you could send us 400 words on your hope for the Obama presidency, we need it by Monday night, that would be ideal." Now, we're caught in this trap again. The premise is, what is your "hope." My hope, and please understand me when I say this. I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, "Well, I hope he succeeds. We've got to give him a chance." Why? They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year-and-a-half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed. So I'm thinking of replying to the guy, "Okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails."
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/16/09
The HFR starts off this week by celebrating the first nomination of the year for the coveted Darwin Awards. As you may know, these awards are given to individuals of such inspiring idiocy they have contributed to the benefit of mankind by removing themselves from the gene pool. So it is that a Darwin Award is hereby bestowed upon the eight Somali pirates who a few days ago capsized their speedboat escaping with $3 million in ransom cash. Five of them drowned, three swam to shore, all the money was lost at sea save for $153,000 found on the body of one of the five who washed up on a beach. Now if all the Somali pirates could be removed from gene pool. There is a quick and easy way to do this. In the middle of the Indian Ocean not far from the Somali coast is an island called Diego Garcia. It belongs to the Brits, and leased by them to the US as a military base. We have B52s there.
AMERICAN SILHOUETTE
Reflecting upon what lies ahead for America in 2009, I'm tempted to think of Al Jolson, and his famous quote, "You ain't seen nothin' yet." But I'd rather think of Madame Pompadour. Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquess de Pompadour (1721-1764), was the royal mistress of King Louis XV of France (1710-1774). She ended up running Louis' government. So much so that when Frederick II of Prussia intemperately called the Empress of Russia (Czarina Elizaveta Petrovna), Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and Madame Pompadour "the three first whores of Europe," she engineered a war: an alliance of France, Austria, and Russia against Prussia. The Seven Years' War bankrupted France. So Pompadour did what all governments do with a fiscal crisis: raise taxes, and punitively. In 1759, she had Etienne de Silhouette, known for his writings on England's financial system, appointed controller-general of finance. For eight months he ravaged France with such rapacious taxation that everyone from nobles to wealthy merchants to peasants bitterly complained that they reduced to mere shadows of their former selves. By the time Pompadour was forced to fire him, an inexpensive art form had caught on, a shadow of one's profile cut out from black paper. They were called silhouettes. France never recovered from her loss of empire and wealth, yet her rulers continued to lavish money upon themselves while the people were ground into further penury - until the latter exploded with the French Revolution and the former led to the guillotine. So now comes a question as we step into the unknown of 2009: will Barack Hussein Obama be the American Silhouette?