Caroline Glick
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.
TEN QUESTIONS POLITICIANS WON’T ANSWER
The past week's debate about health care has shown that in Washington the only things more stubborn than facts are politicians who evade them. In spite of a torrent of independent analyses showing that the so-called health-care "reform" bills moving through Congress will dramatically increase the deficit and cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance, the politicians leading the effort have steadfastly refused to consider that their ideas and policies, rather than the character of their critics, may be flawed. At the same time, the politicians writing the bill still refuse to answer basic questions about how it will be paid for and how it will affect patients. Individual Americans should view the month of August as their best, and perhaps final, opportunity to alter the health-care bills before Congress reconvenes in September. Citizens should ask hard questions without having their motives questioned. I expect such questions at my town-hall meetings. After all, the greater threat to freedom and liberty is not an informed citizenry but an irresponsible, elitist, and evasive political class that refuses to answer hard questions and make tough choices. While I have confidence in the American people to come up with their own probing questions, let me suggest a few questions that my own colleagues have been loath to answer:
HALF-FULL REPORT 08/07/09
Here's a shocker. The HFR, after checking to make sure its glass is really just half-full, raises it this week to... this is not easy, how did this glass get so heavy?... to... take a deep breath... to Hillary Clinton. How is that possible? Two words: Eritrea and Honduras. *** Oh, what about that other Clinton? The one hogging the headlines in Norkland? Was there some sinister sellout, some secret deal Slick made with the Norks to the grave detriment of his country? The answer is no. *** The more the HFR sees these town hall protests escalate, the more it thinks that concern over ZeroCare is just the proximate cause. The real underlying cause is anger over how their country (and in many cases themselves personally as voters) was suckered into electing Zero in the first place. And the more the HFR sees how this anger is escalating, the more it looks at Zero as LBJ redux, only faster. For the anger is not going away until Zero does. It took 3 years to get rid of Lyndon Johnson (1/65 to 3/68 when he announced he wouldn't run again, and he coasted from then on). The anger today, however, will not wait that long, not even close.
LOSING COOL
Until very recently, the embodiment of cool, coolness clothed in human flesh - especially for the young - has been President Zero. So much so that the latest lexicon of slang terms, published by the Linguistics Department of UCLA this month, lists "obama" as a slang term meaning "cool." "That's so obama" according to the dictionary means "That's so cool." Not any more. That's so yesterday. Zero is no longer cool. Proof is how completely off-the-charts viral the Joker poster of Zero has gone in the last few days. Google "obama" + "joker" today (8/06) and you get over 11 million hits. Two days ago it was 6.5 million. Zazzle now lists 2,461 "Joker Obama Gifts" for sale, like t-shirts and mugs. People are printing and posting them up in public places all over the country, from LA to Atlanta, from Sioux Falls to George Washington University in DC. The character of The Joker played by Heath Ledger in "The Dark Night" Batman movie (2008) was a genius of pathological evil. (It was an incredibly impressive performance, for which Ledger justifiably won an Academy Award.) To portray Zero as Heath Ledger's Joker, and for that portrayal to go instantly and wildly viral, is a nation-wide recognition that there is something evil in him. And something very, very uncool.
THE ECHOES OF VIETNAM IN AFGHANISTAN
Our troops in Afghanistan are performing heroically, doing everything we ask of them. But we shouldn't ask them to die without a purpose. We're floundering in Afghanistan -- confusing techniques with strategy. Not one senior official, political or military, has explained convincingly why we're still there. Despicable as they are, the Taliban didn't attack our homeland. We're fighting the wrong enemy, in the wrong place, in the wrong way. And sending more troops won't fix it. The Taliban can't defeat us, but we can't win if we set ourselves absurd goals. Is an endless stalemate in a wasteland worth it? My TTP readers know I believe in killing our enemies wherever we can find them. But I don't believe in killing our own troops because our leaders duck fundamental questions.
HALF-FULL REPORT 07/31/09
There's such a cornucopia of delectable items to choose from this week, so where does the HFR begin? How about with the increasing awareness that the corruption within the Democrat Party is so pervasive that the entire party should be RICO'ed? What more perfect case for prosecution under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act could one ask for? The Democrat Party is no longer a political organization - it is a criminal conspiracy... ...Yet the HFR also has a confession this week - it's developing a strange sort of fondness for Joe Biden, like folks have for their crazy uncle in the attic... ...It may go down in history as one of the classic put-downs of Zero. When asked what the president's contribution was to the "beer summit" yesterday (7/30) between police officer James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Gates at the White House, Crowley said: "He provided the beer." Which prompts me to extend the length of this HFR beyond normal and tell a story.
IT WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS
In 1935, Cole Porter wrote a song for his musical Jubilee. It's been a classic for crooners ever since, from Bing Crosby to Ella Fitzgerald and of course, Frank Sinatra. You've heard it a thousand times. Millions of Americans this week began singing It Was Just One Of Those Things along with FS to express their infatuation with President Zero. Or as Kelly King, a black female officer of the Cambridge Police Department expresses it: "I supported him. I voted for him. I will not again." In late February of 1989, I gave a briefing to a group of Congressional staffers on the impact of the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan (completed on February 15). "The entire Soviet Empire will now begin to unravel," I predicted. "What will stun everybody is the speed of its collapse. This is going to happen fast." Less than nine months later the Berlin Wall fell (on November 9th - formally designated by presidential proclamation as World Freedom Day.) It's been less than nine months since Zero was elected the 44th president of our country - and it's now safe to say that his presidency is disintegrating as fast as the Soviet Union was 20 years ago.
HALF-FULL REPORT 7/24/09
As the HFR goes to press this Friday morning, a Kabuki drama is unfolding on the Honduran-Nicaraguan border. Exiled former president Zelaya is reported by the Miami Herald to be in Esteli, Nicaragua trying to cross into Honduras. Soldiers and opponents of Zelaya have gathered at the Las Manos Honduran border crossing, as well as a few Zelaya supporters. It so happens that I am familiar with the Honduran-Nicaraguan border, having crossed it several times surreptitiously with the Contras in the 80s. This is rough country, and I can assure you Zelaya will not try this as I did, on foot through mountainous jungle. He's not in shape and he's too big and fat for his people to carry. Thus his options are very limited and easy to stymie. He is engaged in nothing more than a media stunt. Zelaya is sinking fast -- even the left-wing Miami Herald admits it. One person we have to thank for this is Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC). Yet who knew Senator Jim DeMint's real name is Arthur Wellesley?
THE ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE OBAMACARE
As a physician who has authored books on preventative health care, I was given the opportunity to be the keynote speaker at a Congressional Dinner at The Capitol Building in Washington last Friday (7/17). The presentation was entitled Health Care Reform, The Power & Profit of Prevention, and I was gratified that it was well received. In preparation for the presentation, I read the latest version of "reform" as authored by The Obama Administration and supported by Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid. Here is the link to the 1,018 page document: http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf Let me summarize just a few salient points of the above plan. First: The underlying method of cutting costs throughout the plan is based on rationing and denying care. There is no focus on preventing health care need whatever. The plan's method is the most inhumane and unethical approach to cutting costs I can imagine as a physician.
THE BRAVEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
On July 30, 1502, on his fourth voyage to what he thought were newly-discovered lands in far eastern Asia, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), reached an island which he called Guanaja, low-land. Sailing due south, he soon came upon a massive coastline which he knew was no island. He also came upon a massive storm. Racing east in the deep waters along the coast, he reached a cape which provided him protection. "Gracias a Dios!" he exclaimed. "Que hemos salido de estas honduras!" Thanks to God, we have escaped these treacherous depths. On a beach of what his men now called Gracias a Dios Cape, he held a mass to commemorate his salvation, and in a solemn ceremony, claimed the territory and adjacent island for the Kingdom of Spain in the name of his sovereigns, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille. Columbus' men named the land Honduras. 507 years later this land is being demonized for its devotion to democracy and freedom. Instead of being applauded for adhering to its democratic laws and avoiding their demise, much of the so-called Free World - the UN, the EU, and the US via the White House - joined with the Communist World led by Chavez and Castro to hysterically denounce Honduras instead. This, folks, is a terrifying wake-up call as to the extent the forces of darkness are gaining strength, and the forces of freedom are cowering in retreat. All of sudden out of nowhere, little Honduras catalyzes this process and becomes a pivot point in the struggle between good and evil on earth. Let's take a look at those who lead the forces of darkness arrayed against Honduras.
HALF-FULL REPORT 07/17/09
It's been busy. Non-stop travel for the past three weeks - driving 2,200 miles in California and Nevada alone - regarding my Achilles Heel Project (to be revealed at the Winning the Revolution Rendezvous in September). On the way, Rebel and I met a lot of wonderful people who love America. I can't resist sharing with you an insight of one of them - a doctor who lives near Palm Springs, California. As a physician, he's very observant of changes in people's dimensions. As a conservative he's noticed something about Mrs. Zero. Based on it, he has devised a scientific formula with intriguing predictive value. He calls it the ACR, which stands for Ass Circumference Ratio. The ACR predicts that Mrs. Zero's derriere will widen or narrow corresponding with how her husband's presidency is failing or succeeding. Notice how it's been expanding lately? That's the ACR at work. At the rate Mr. Zero's popularity ratings are heading towards the basement, it won't be long before Mrs. Zero will be a real porker. Thanks for the tip, Doc.
PHUKET IN AMERICA
Phuket ( the "h" is silent: poo-ket), Thailand, is one of the most paradisiacal places in the world. In December, the weather is as perfect as it gets on earth. The water in the ocean is perfect. The soft sand beach is perfect. The gentle breeze rustling through the palm tress is perfect. The service in the five-star hotels on the beach is perfect, the 90 proof tropical drinks with the pineapple slice and cocktail umbrella are perfect. On December 26, 2004, tourists from a score of countries from around the world were enjoying this perfection. The sky was cloudless, the sea calm and crystal clear. You could not ask for a more beautiful day in paradise. Unbeknownst to them, 500 miles away in the Indian Ocean, 19 miles beneath the surface, a tectonic plate ruptured with such force that the entire planet rang like a bell. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded - 9.3 - and it shook the ocean so violently that a massive tidal wave was soon bearing down upon Phuket. The tourists were enjoying the beach and the sun and the tropical drinks without a care in the world. They had not an inkling of their fate. The tsunami came without warning out of the blue sea, and minutes later 9,000 of them were dead. When I was in Las Vegas this past weekend at the FreedomFest discussed by Richard Rahn, I thought of Phuket.