ARE THE LIGHTS OUT FOR HARRY REID AND OBAMACARE?
"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive," wrote Sir Walter Scott in his 1808 poem, "Marmion." I doubt Senate Majority Leader Harry "Searchlight" Reid (he was born in Searchlight, Nevada) has read "Marmion." But he now has a pretty good idea of what Sir Walter Scott meant. Democrats have been tying themselves into knots in their efforts to conceal from the public the true cost of Obamacare. Yesterday (10/21), their schemes came crashing down around Harry Reid's ears. It may be lights out for Searchlight Harry -- and maybe, cross your fingers, for Obamacare too.
THE SCAM OF CHINA
The headline on Bloomberg today (10/22) is dramatic: China's Economy Grows 8.9%. So the Scam of China continues, one the greatest feats of cook-the-books fraudulent accounting in history, but at least it's a teachable moment in Chinese - and Communist - metaphysics. First, the scam. How is it possible for China's explosive economic growth to be based on gargantuan exports of manufactured goods, for the sale of those exports to fall off a cliff (down over 20% this year), then continue to grow just as explosively without massive exports? The answer is a) you can believe it because you are Alice in Wonderland's Red Queen who could believe "as many as six impossible things before breakfast," or b) the Chicoms are lying. Which do you choose? They are lying because, for Chinese, and for Marxist Communists, there is no difference between make-believe and reality. There is no such thing as reality. There is only what people believe. If people believe something is true, it is. If they don't, it isn't, it doesn't exist. This is best exemplified by the Chinese concept of "face" or lien.
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.
WASHINGTON CAN ONLY OFFER DESTRUCTIVE SOLUTIONS
For at least a century, the Washington political class has been correctly known for creating more problems than solving existing ones. This tendency to enact destructive, rather than constructive, solutions for problems (most often created by government) has now gone into hyper-drive. Many who see this situation often blame it on "excessive partisanship," where the real problem is caused by a bipartisan lust for power that breeds too much accommodation, rather than questioning and resistance to bad ideas. The failure of either political party to get serious about reining in the growth of government has caused despair among small government conservatives, libertarians and others who believe in limited government. And this despair is contributing to the list of "destructive solutions" now infecting Washington.
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.
DISSING AMERICAN DURAKS IN RUSSIA
Durak is a popular card game throughout Russia. The loser among the players is dubbed the "durak" - idiot or fool in Russian. The Kremlin enjoys playing it with Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton was in Russia this week, hoping to "reset" relations with the Russians which, she said, had been damaged by the policies of George W. Bush. She had hoped during her visit to meet with the real power in Russian politics, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He thought a trip to Siberia and China was more important than spending time with the American secretary of state. So while Mrs. Clinton was busy in Moscow unveiling a statue of poet Walt Whitman (you can't make this up), Mr. Putin was in Beijing pulling the rug out from under the sole Obama administration foreign policy "triumph" to date.
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.
OBAMA AS THE ANTI-REAGAN ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY
Is the current recession the worst since the Great Depression? Even though the president, many members of Congress and many journalists keep saying we are in the worst recession since the 1930s, it is an assertion that is premature, to say the least. At the end of World War II, from 1945 to 1946, there was a very sharp drop in U.S. output (12.1 percent) as the war economy began its transition to a civilian economy. The deepest and longest-lasting recession the United States has experienced since then began in 1980, when Jimmy Carter was president (the gross domestic product dropped 9.6 percent in the second quarter of that year) and did not end until fourth-quarter 1982, almost two years into the Reagan presidency. As can be seen in the accompanying chart, both President Reagan and President Obama inherited an economy suffering from a year of no growth, along with rising unemployment. Yet their approaches to the problem are polar opposites.
THE CRACKUP OF THE CULT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Most liberals aren't very religious. But they are people of faith. When reality clashes with a cherished belief, they cling to the cherished belief. It snowed in Minnesota over the weekend. And in Denver, canceling a National League playoff game. Record cold temperatures were set in Washington State, Idaho, western Montana, and Nebraska. It was unseasonably cold in Madison, Wisconsin over the weekend, too. But those who attended the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalists didn't notice. That's because they are members of the Cult of Climate Change. The keynote speaker was former Vice President Al Gore. Mr. Gore is someone only a liberal could regard as an expert on climate change. As The Washington Post reported, he took exactly two science courses as an undergraduate at Harvard, scoring a D in Natural Sciences 6, and a C in Natural Sciences 118. He flunked his college entrance exams in science (488 in physics and 519 in chemistry out of a possible 800 - seems his daddy, a US Senator, got him in to Harvard.)