Dr. Jack Wheeler
HALF-FULL REPORT 05/01/09
It's glorious to be in Paris on May Day with a beautiful woman - especially if she's your wife. We're here this week to see our youngest son who's spending his junior year in high school studying in France. On May Day, the streets of Paris are filled with sellers of muguets, the sweet-smelling flowers of Lillies of the Valley. Every man buys a muguet for his sweetheart. I am no different. Unfortunately, communists and lefties of every stripe use May Day - a happy day of celebration of springtime since ancient times - to vent their envious hatred of capitalist prosperity. Demonstrations and protests took place today in hundreds of French cities - and Paris was no exception. Seeing these angry "workers" and "students" marching along in rage and resentment demanding the world provide them with a living while ignorantly denouncing the only economic system that can provide it is an amusing "Walpole moment." As in Horace Walpole, who observed, "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel." (See What We Have Got and They Have Not.)
100 DAYS OF BEING A LAUGHINGSTOCK IN PARIS
Paris, France. It is very cool to be a French intel guy. A spectacular meal at a Parisian bistro with $90 entrées and a $200 bottle of Bordeaux? No problem. I'd known this fellow since he got me out of a jam in Sudan years ago. His James Bond days are over, but still, riding a desk for the DGSE -- Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (General Directorate for External Security), France's military intel agency - in Paris has its decided benefits. One of them is not being infected with Obamamania. "My agency considers him a joke," he confides. "Every day there is some fresh lunacy that we cannot believe. Mr. Bush would often make us angry. But at this man we just laugh." "In truth, it also makes us sad," he continued. "French resentment towards America is strong, so being able to laugh at your country feels good. But it is such a sad and strange thing to see America - America The Great! - do something so crazy as to elect this ridiculous man." "There are many people in America who think he isn't a legitimate president as he wasn't born in the US and isn't a natural citizen. What do you think?" I asked.
OBAMA’S ANTI-AMERICA DOCTRINE
After a mere 100 days, the "Obama Doctrine" for our foreign and security policies has emerged. And it's terrifying. The combination of dizzying naïveté, dislike of our allies, disdain for our military, distrust of our intelligence services and distaste for our own country promises the worst foreign policy of our lifetimes. That includes President Jimmy Carter's abysmal record of failure. The core tenets of the Obama Doctrine to date would make a charter member of the terrorist Weather Underground cheer. Here's a compilation:
PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM MEXICAN SWINE FLU
The incompetence of President Zero and his DHS secretary Janet Napolitano has now reached lethal levels in their refusal to militarily close the US-Mexico border or even airplane flights from Mexico. Yet now that the swine flu epidemic has spread from Mexico into the US, we cannot worry about Zero, much less expect him to protect us in any way. Let's focus on what you can do right now at this moment. The CDC has identified the virus as a H1N1 virus called swine influenza A. This virus has been known for over 40 years, infecting humans directly from birds such as ducks (avian flu) or pigs (swine flu). Never before could it be transmitted from one human to another. The virus has now evolved to where it can. This new human-to-human transmission is what is making the H1N1 pandemic. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw suggest the following prophylactic measures to protect their friends at To The Point. As Durk says, "I'm afraid that you are not going to like this, but I really do know my biology..."
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/24/09
Here's the question of the week: Why do Democrat presidents insist on having evil idiot lesbians in their Cabinet? It would be very hard for an American to be more evil than Bill Clinton's alcoholic lesbian Attorney General Janet Reno - as revealed years ago in America's Saddam. Now it seems that another lesbian named Janet -- Zero's DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano - wants to try. Lucky for us, she's even more of a moron than Ms. Reno. After labeling anyone with conservative small government/prolife views a "right-wing extremist" and Iraq war veterans as potential terrorists - then completing an imbecile hat trick by blaming Canada for 9/11 - it's small wonder that demands for her resignation are growing. She has quickly become a complete laughingstock in Canada. The National Post, one of the country's major papers, wants to know how she got her job, because she is "as knowledgeable about border issues as a late-night radio call-in yahoo." But she's also not the only Dem laughingstock this week - here are three more.
DOES AMERICA DESERVE THIS PRESIDENT?
Does a country always get the government it deserves? Do the people of, say, Zimbabwe deserve to be ruled by Robert Mugabe? He is an apotheosis of corruption and depraved fascist evil. Millions of Zimbabweans are suffering monstrous tyranny and outright starvation because of him. Do they deserve this? Shift the perspective to ask: to what extent are people responsible for their fate? And then ask: how would America's Founding Fathers have answered this question? Certainly the American colonists suffered far, far less under the rule of King George III than Zimbabweans under Mugabe. Yet they were men and Zimbabweans are sheep. Each got what they deserve. America has been on the road to cultural and constitutional ruin for a long time. It did not start on January 20, 2009 with the inauguration of President Zero. But if Americans become like their founding forefathers and stop being sheep, it will end with his one-term presidency.
A WIMPY METROSEXUAL HOOKED ON THE COCAINE OF ADULATION
My president went to Trinidad and Tobago, and all I got was this lousy Che Guevara T-shirt. At a Caribbean resort, Obama grinned through a semi-erotic encounter with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, then failed to answer a "strategic rape" charge lodged against America by ex-Sandinista Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua (who knows plenty about rape). Ignoring America's allies in favor of photo ops with anti-American leftists, such as Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Chavez, Obama blamed the United States for Latin America's problems. Obama needs to get up off his knees. Foreign leaders have already pegged him as the wimpiest metrosexual this side of the men's grooming-products counter at Barney's.
SHOULD PAKISTAN’S NUKES BE DESTROYED LIKE IRAN’S?
In the current era of ideological polarization, throughout the West, the Right and the Left diverge on almost every issue. One of the few convictions that still unifies national security strategists across the ideological spectrum is that it would be a global calamity of the first order if al-Qaeda gets its hands on nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, due to the rapid demise of nuclear-armed Pakistan as a coherent political unit, this nightmare scenario is looking more possible than ever. Indeed, if events continue to move in their current direction, it is more likely than not that in the near future, the Taliban and al-Qaeda will take possession of all or parts of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Given the failure of the US's political strategies of securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal by supporting Pakistan's government, and fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, it is becoming apparent that the only sure way to prevent the Taliban/al-Qaeda from taking control over Pakistan's nuclear weapons is to take those weapons out of commission.
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/17/09
We can raise a full glass of your favorite adult beverage to all the Tea Party participants - and to the one group of Americans the Zerocrats despise above all others: our soldiers in the US military. All of us want to raise our glass the highest this week to the Navy SEALs who popped those three Somali pirates. And I'm sure you want to hear the real story of what happened. Especially because there is a revoltingly opportunistic and cowardly side to it. Guess which side Zero is on. Why, for example, did it take SEAL Team Six (aka DEVGRU, Navy Special Warfare Development Group, the Navy's equivalent of Delta Force) over 36 hours to get to the scene? Because Zero refused to authorize the SEAL deployment for those 36 hours, during which the OSC - the on scene commander, Cmdr. Frank Castellano of the USS Bainbridge - repeatedly requested them.
FATS AND FAIRNESS
"Hey, guys! Got a hot date? Be sure you treat her to a nice salmon dinner!" That's the message young bachelors could get from a recent study. Another message of the study is that socialism may get less attractive to Americans as they age. How could the same research study have both of these results? It all has to do with the relationship between fats and fairness. The research is in the new interdisciplinary field of Neuroeconomics, which studies how the brain makes economic decisions. It was conducted jointly by the Interdepartmental Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and psychiatrists in the Department of Applied Health and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Pavia in Italy. The implications of the research are politically vast.
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/10/09
Ahh, Friday. Here in the US, folks say TGIF. Our British cousins, however, say THITWA - thank heavens it's the weekend again. Time to settle in to a quiet corner booth in the HFR Saloon with a pint of Theakston's Old Peculier real ale, and enjoy reading a good British newspaper, the London Telegraph. Particularly today (4/10), as the Brits simply unload on Zero, giving him a new nickname, President Pantywaist. Calling him "the new surrender monkey" for his performance at the G20, they note his Europe trip is "the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow." And you thought he was losing popularity on our side of the Pond. *** Let's stay overseas for awhile. Some good things are happening.
CHINA’S ZERO-SUM GAME
The evidence is now as high as Everest that America's greatest foreign threat is not a bunch of illiterates chanting verses of the Koran and willing to blow themselves up in order to have 72 whores in heaven. It is Red China. Yet the Chicoms are not simply a threat to America. They are the greatest threat to freedom world-wide. A good example as any is a fellow named Joel Fitzgibbon. He's the Defense Minister of Australia, and he's in town (DC) today (4/09) to meet with his American counterpart Defense Secretary Bobby Gates for the annual Australia-US Ministerial (AUSMIN) meeting. Gates and his aides will be very cautious in talking to him, however - because Mr. Fitzgibbon has been having an affair with a spy from Chinese Military Intelligence. The scandal has now exploded all over Australian newspapers. Not only will Fitzgibbon have to resign, but so might the man who appointed him - because Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's best friends are all Chicoms. He speaks Mandarin fluently, travels to China at every opportunity, promotes China buying up Australia's natural resources, and consistently takes China's side in most any dispute. To many Aussies, it looks like their leader is as much of a Manchurian Candidate as America's.
THE SPRING APOLOGIES TOUR
The real climax of Mr. Obama's Spring Apologies Tour wasn't his photo op with our troops in Baghdad or even his "American Guilt" concerts in Western Europe. While fans in the press cheered wildly at every venue, the real performance came in Turkey. And it was a turkey. For those who believe Obama means well - or that Jimmy Carter, his policy godfather, meant well: the road to embassy takeovers and strategic humiliation is paved with good intentions, coupled with distressing naïveté. On every stage, Obama draped Lady Liberty in sackcloth and ashes, drawing plentiful applause but no serious economic or security cooperation in return. Then, in Turkey, he surrendered our national pride, undercut our interests and interfered in matters that aren't his business.
THE BURSTING OF MR. OBAMA’S GREEN ENERGY BUBBLE
With the selling of Mr. Obama's economic agenda now reported in full gear, it is an opportune moment to take another look at what he has told us he would do and, more importantly, what he hasn't told us about the economic cost of his energy plans. The answer to the former question is straight forward. In his address to Congress, he pledged to double the production of renewable energy in the next three years, lay down thousands of miles of new transmission lines and introduce a "market-based cap on carbon pollution" to promote clean energy, fight global warming and "put Americans to work making homes and buildings more efficient." Perhaps the best place to start seeking answers as to how costly and realistic this agenda is likely to turn out is to look at the record of the three countries Mr. Obama specifically mentioned as leading the United States in the renewable energy revolution: China, Japan and Germany. That record shows that such a revolution is a fantasy and that the green energy bubble has burst.
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/03/09
Well, that settles that - he's a Moslem. No one, much less a President of the United States, who is not a Moslem would deeply bow to a Saudi Wahhabi tyrant in an act of utter submission. 
This is the most disgraceful act of any president in American history. Wahhabism is the most evil religion on earth, a religion of hate which the Saudi king spends billions promoting around the world. To bow to its principal proponent is submission to evil, an announcement of one's true beliefs. No patriotic American can ever again, upon seeing this picture and understanding its meaning, consider this man to be the legitimate president of his country.
WHEN MONEY DIES
Inflation is a way that governments can pay off their debts (albeit with depreciated currency) without outright default or overt tax increases. In the U.S., government debt has grown to impossible-to-pay levels. Yet the spending is rapidly accelerating. The immensely costly new programs being created on an almost daily basis by the Obama Administration and the Democrats (mostly) in Congress come at a huge price, most of which (along with the continuing burden of Medicare and Social Security, etc.) can only be paid for by continually increasing the money supply into hyperinflationary territory. It is thus highly instructive to read the best account of what actually happened during Germany's hyperinflation of the early 1920s. Until now, this was difficult and very expensive to do. Amazon, for example, has only one single copy of When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse by Scottish writer and Conservative politician Adam Dugdale Fergusson. The price is $2,500! Now there is a way to read it for free.
WHERE IS JOHN GALT?
All readers of Ayn Rand's masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged, know its central question, "Who is John Galt?" Written over half a century ago, it is clearly the greatest and most influential novel of the 20th century. Over six million copies have been sold, averaging 77,000 copies per year in the 1980s, 90,000 in the 1990s, 137,000 in the 00s - until recently. 200,000 copies were sold in 2008, and sales so far this year are at triple those of last year. This is because, according to the Ayn Rand Institute, "there are uncanny similarities between the plot-line of the book and the events of our day." We discussed these similarities last December in Atlas In America. Reading Atlas for the first time in 1966 was the single most intellectually thrilling experience of my life. And yet, there was something that bugged me. Asking who is John Galt presupposes there is a John Galt. As I witnessed the cultural destruction of America in the 1960s, I realized the terrible truth that there is no such person. He is a Platonic invention. Today, the fascist nightmare that is destroying America is hideously similar to that described by Rand over fifty years ago. But if we ask today, not who is John Galt but where is John Galt, the question echoes in the wind with no answer.
TIME TO BOOGIE
Want to take a break from the nonstop fascism emanating from Washington? Then let's boogie! The happiest, most irresistibly foot-stompin' music has got to be Boogie-Woogie. The greatest boogie-woogie piano player in the world is Silvan Zingg from Switzerland. What's more, the two greatest boogie-woogie dancers in the world are also Swiss - Maéva Truntzer and William Mauvais. For the last 8 years, Silvan Zingg has sponsored the International Boogie Woogie Festival in Lugano, Switzerland. Thousands of folks from all over Europe will be at the one this year, April 16-18. Yes, the Swiss, believe it or not, really know how to boogie. Who knew? So sit back, turn up your computer speakers, listen to Silvan Zingg, and watch Will and Maéva boogie like you've never seen. This is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, while your feet won't be able to stay still. You won't be able to watch it just once - so anytime you want to feel happy and put the Zero Blues aside, here it is:
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.