Peggy Noonan Gets It Right?

We're Governed by Callous Children
Peggy Noonan is, at least, moving in the right direction in hopes of finding some redemption after her loss of reason during the election season. However she could garner back a bit more respect by acknowledging she was very wrong and very misguided in 2008. She has not come this far yet. It seems the cocktail party circuit elites are finally starting to get a clearer picture of just how off the tracks things are.

However, Peggy still does not realize she falls among the naive she writes about. She attributes the destruction of the country to wanton ignorance and disbelief that the country has limited strength when it comes to enduring the blows it is receiving. Perhaps, she is self reflecting and explaining away her miscalculations when hopping aboard the Obama Express.

On some level, maybe, she wishes to absolve herself of some of her guilt. Peggy Noonan and the liberal Washington DC insider wing of the Republican party contributed in no small way to this Maoist onslaught. In their elitist shells they hold nothing but contempt for the people in "flyover" who actually make the country work. They disassociate themselves with the "teabaggers" and the people who attended town hall meetings to try to participate in the Democratic process and prevent a disastrous bureaucracies from being imposed on us. They sit back and watch as patriotic Americans are ridiculed and painted as radical right wingers and hate mongers.

Noonan is still a bit guileless when it comes to Obama, many of his appointments and much of the far left wing of the Democratic party. They are not deluding themselves or unable to grasp that our system and way of life can not support the endless assaults. They know full well the results of their efforts.

They are subversive forces working to destroy the country. None of their actions stem from confused optimism, bubbled lives of privilege that make them unable to imagine anything else, etc. They are tearing down that which they seek to rebuild. Obama has said nothing contrary to the point.

They seek to build a country and a world where all prosperity, power and material gain comes from the government. They feel their places, their children's places and their children's children's places are secure in this hierarchy. They do not worry for their future. There will be no bread lines or death panel decisions for the ruling class just as there never was in Soviet Russia, Cambodia, North Korea, Cuba, etc.

This is where Peggy still does not quite get it. More often than not it was the sons and daughters of the abundance throughout history who sought to tear it all down.

Hillary Meets Herself

Hillary had a lively exchange with, well, herself of decades ago in Lahore, Pakistan yesterday. When a idealistic young student accused Washington of forcing Pakistan to use military force on its own territory.

Her response, ""If you want to see your territory shrink, that's your choice." She then added she believed it would be a bad choice.
she was also quoted as saying, ""There is a war going on and the U.S. wants to help Pakistan be successful".

Can anyone imagine the Hillary "I loathe the military" Clinton of yesteryear using this speech?

I am not saying Hillary has become conservative or even has a firm understanding or respect of American ideals. Though, I will say she is far warmer to them than any time except maybe her Goldwater Girl days. It is funny what reality can do to youthful idealism.

Tough and Skinny

Proving that it is always all about him once again, Barack Obama, rebuked opposition today at a few separate Florida fundraisers.

"There are people saying mean things about me and folks are worried." Uhh, yeah. Enough about us Obama, what about YOU? Never mind the war in Afghanistan, never mind the double digit unemployment, never mind the imploding dollar. He is going to address the big meanies talking trash about him.

Is this guy made of crepe paper?

"Just 'cause I'm skinny doesn't mean I'm not tough. I don't rattle," Obama said, tongue in cheek and with his fake down home accent.

Seriously though he does have a spine of steel when it comes to the misery of Americans. He is not moved by it one iota. Troop deaths do not show the wear on his face the way they showed on President Bush's face. He is steely cold when it comes to bludgeoning a baby's head in a botched abortion attempt or denying healthcare to an elderly grandmother. For sure, there is some there there. He conserves it, for the struggle of his leftist utopia.

War for the Soul of the RNC

I am all over the board on the issue of the future of the Republican party. I keep reading the idea that the brand is so tarnished that it is not worth trying to salvage it. Conversely, I know the dangers of third parties in this country. They tend to fracture the coalitions that build the parties, leaving the party still in tact to benefit. We saw it with the election of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton never saw more than forty five percent of the popular vote. However, the injection of Ross Perot into the election gave him the room he needed to win the election, both times. Our elections are that close that any defection guarantees a Democrat win.

The cold hard reality is that the Republican leadership has been steadily drifting slowly to the left for well over a decade. With every issue that they have abandoned core conservative principles, they have lost more and more members and supporters. Like a a tree shedding it's leaves, the Republican party has been leaving voters in a political no man's land. Through the years, I have watched the chasm grow through immigration issues, nation building, spending, political correctness and nearly every other left wing idea that comes down the pike.

I have seen it on the micro-level on the barometer of the state of the Republican party and largest conservative website, Free Republic. Countless members have left. Lines were drawn. Sides were taken. Bad blood and animosity formed. We were fractioning and with every issue it seemed we were doing it more and more.

So many of us were placated during the Bush years. I am guilty of this myself. He was our guy and, hell, he was not Clinton or (shudder) Al Gore. We were making money and times were good. Sure he was spending like a drunken sailor, sure the border was open, sure he seemed a little unprincipled but we hung on to the things he did right. Meanwhile, the party held onto to their belief that their future was on the left and march left they did.

I also accept we have a healthy contingent of people on the right who will never be happy. Nothing will ever be conservative enough for them. No one passes their litmus tests. The founding fathers could be reborn and brought back down to earth and the malcontents among us would find reasons why they are unprincipled and not true conservatives. They are problematic but not an excuse to accept leftism without abandon.

In the next two years, the fight for the soul of the Republican party will be fought out. We see the beginning salvos at this point. The election in upstate New York is one such pivotal event. We have a bonafide conservative Republican, Hoffman, standing up against a more liberal than the Democrat Republican, Scozzafava. There is a civil war happening in the Republican party at this very moment. The first front on this war is against the unprincipled and soulless RINOs. We must purge the party of the coreless and cowardly who have time and time again capitulated to the Democrats and inturn turned the country over to a merry band of real, live communists.

In the coming elections we will know the direction of the party and if our future lies as a part of it. In upstate New York, if Hoffman wins, there will be many nervous establishment Republicans. If Scozzafava wins, it will only harden their stance that the liberal Republican way is the way to go. Most importantly, these watershed elections are a test of our might and ability to effect the future of the nation.

Barack's Missing Executive Experience Found!

For those of you who think Barack Obama would not know a balance sheet from a two-ply sheet, details have finally emerged that Obama does actually have some real life, executive experience. Two children have been found in Indonesia and said to have run a kool aid stand with Obama.

Obama, they said, promised all the residents in the neighborhood a sweet and tart mixture of the most fabulous kool-aid imaginable. He painted glorious pictures of the thirst quenching beverage while reading speeches written by, Andidi, one of the three partners in the stand.

"When it came time to mix up the kool aid, Barack was no where to be found, instead he told us to just take the ingredients from the Wijaya family down the street", claimed the third partner Rahmet.

"It was all ready strange", claimed Andidi, "Barack never actually showed up to his shifts to man the booth but instead was found in the recreation hall dancing and eating Happy-Tos. Sometimes he would be bowling or other times playing basketball."

Rahmet told us the prestige that came with running the stand may have gone to his head. "He asked the art department to design an insignia for him, everytime he spoke he had everything surrounding him emblazoned with this strange logo". "We didn't care about some stupid logo, man, we just wanted him to help us mix up the kool aid".

He seemed to develop and insane obsession with the competing and opposing drink stand the next neighborhood over. He incessantly tried to discredit them and began spreading rumors that the kids who ran the stand peed in the kool aid. Subsequently, he asked everyone in the school to not visit or talk to the kids who ran that drink stand.

"He was always with two other kids, one kid who was a ballet dancer and the other who sported a Hilteresque mustache. When we had any questions, you know, just wanting to know why he wasn't actually showing up or doing any of the work, we were told to take it up with them. That's when I found the dead fish in my bed."

At that point the Andidi and Rahmet just continued to do the work of running the lemonade stand and putting Barack's name on it. By then it was too late. The competing drink stand was growing leaps and bounds. Andidi and Rahmet finally grew tired of Barack's empty rhetoric and joined forces with the other stand.

"It was then that we found him, in the park, standing on a rock giving a speech to about five kids. He was saying "I am not tired, I am just getting started..I'm not tired at all".

Omelettes, Eggs and O's Mop

Ofcourse, I am referencing the words often quoted to numerous collectivist regimes but belonging to French Revolutionary Maximilian Robespierre at the eve of the bloody French Revolution. "One can't expect to make an omelet without breaking eggs"

Obama keeps referencing his use of a mop to clean up the messes left behind. Many probably think he is pointing his finger to President Bush when he makes that statement. I would guess he is referring to the entire past 233 years.

Good thing he has this mop because he may be needing it to clean up a whole slew of eggs in his tireless effort to transform America...or is it the world?

Maybe he could start by cleaning up the dog poop on Air Force One. Just a thought.

The World They'd Build

Equality, egalitarianism, fairness, a more equitable society -- these are all phrases the left like to throw around. Really, though what can history tell us about the world they seek to build from what would be the ashes of the American dream?“

History tells us they intend to build a two tier society. They intend to to take their rightful place as a large part of a distinct elite class. The talk about egalitarianism is just a tactic used to ferment execration resulting in the destruction of those who have achieved elite status by traditional methods. This would include wealthy business people, people who are not of the pedigree of politically connected families, people not of protected status via race, sexuality, victimology or simply people who were not educated into their line of thought in Ivy League institutions. These are the people they resent. The people from whom they have garnered their superiority.

It was Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist, who gave an explanation why those in academia hate their own country. If memory serves he suggested that the professoriat hated the USA on account of hot dog vendors making more money than they. They simply couldn’t abide a country where a laborer could make more money than those in ivory towers. There’s some truth to this; people generally hate what they envy. It can not go without saying, these are the sort of individuals who support Marxism and, by default, Obama's vision to fundamentally change the world.

Make no mistake, not one of these people intend to be subjected to the grey and unanimated life they wish to inflcit on most of us. Not one. They may pose for photo ops with, for instance, bicycles but they have no intention of using one as their main mode of transportation. They will never be subjected to their health care plans just as their children, now, are not subjected to their public schools. The only difference will be you will no longer have the option of progressing to this class through the old methods of hard work, sacrifice, maybe a good idea and a little luck.

America was the one, true egalitarian society. The socialistic and communistic train that we are on is the anti-thesis of American values and it will build a society that most Americans would never recognize.

Where does it end?

The evidence mounts that something is very wrong in the halls of our government. We now know we have a self-professed admirer of Mao Tse-Tung in an appointed executive position of policy in our White House. Anita Dunn, passionately and unhesitatingly, invoked the life and work of a mass murderer of somewhere between 20,000,000 to 70,000,000 of his own people. Mao Tse-Tung was easily the largest killer in the 20th century.

The average man on the street does not know this. He knows nothing of this history. That is why and how these fellow travelers have gotten as far as they have. Americans tend to be a naive and trusting people. We have a national mindset of "it could never happen here". Relatively speaking, most have lived charmed lives of ease and security. Couple that with an academic ignorance of the world and history around them and it makes them ripe for such a picking.

This ignorance of history is precisely why America has no idea what Obama means when he speaks of fundamental changes to our country. What we are witnessing in the United States is a classic revolution. Revolutions are never supported by the vast majority but they generally idly sit by, watch and endure the results.

White House Communications Director, Anita Dunn's words were:

"In 1947, when Mao Tse Tung was being challenged within his own party on his plan to basically take China over, Chiang Kai‑shek and the Nationalist Chinese held the cities, they had the army, they had the air force, they had everything on their side. And people said, “How can you win? How can you do this? How can you do this against all of the odds against you?” And Mao Tse Tung said, you know, “You fight your war, and I’ll fight mine.”

Funny how she worded it as "his plan to take over China". Was this deliberate white washing or bonafide ignorance? His plan was to eliminate classes completely and to do so by eliminating the people and the memories they had of such a system. He was largely successful.

My opinion still stands, only with more evidence strengthening it, we have had a coup by Marxists. Our country is in the midst of a constitutional crisis and the vast majority do not know it. I do not even think the spineless and ineffective Republicans and supposed conservative Democrats are aware of it.

Jingo Art

Perpetually Undecided

The undecider has decided he's close to deciding on a decision regarding Afghanistan. Actually, it has been said that after five "intense" information gathering meetings, he is fixing on making a decision. He is deciding to decide. After one more meeting which is going to occur sometime next week.

Administration spokesperson and all around annoyance Robert Gibbs has said he doesn't know how long it will take to make the decision but he estimated weeks. Great news if you are one of the guys (or gals) in Afghanistan that has stuff blowing up all around you and you are reaching into your pocket making sure you still have a copy of the Miranda rights handy.

Have no fear troops, Obama is in the "decision making process". Whatever that means. I do not know if the process started before or after Latino Dance Night at the Whitehouse on Tuesday but we have arrived to the critical point of deciding. Perhaps he was deciding while doing his one and only patented dance move with Thalia? Maybe he does his best deciding while recreating? He seems to do enough of it.

Being something of a procrastinator and all around unproductive sort myself, I know all too well talking about deciding is generally cover for "I don't have a frikking clue what to do next" or "I really need to do this but flying to Copenhagen would be so much more less taxing". I engage in this practice quite often. I recognize the symptoms. Except my decisions are usually unimportant and do not effect anyone's lives.

Sigh, meanwhile all this deciding talk has made me realize I really miss "the decider". At least he actually made decisions.

Déjà vu All Over Again

After Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's announcement that sanctions against Iran were not in the foreseeable future I got this sinking feeling we've been here done this vis-à-vis Iran, the bomb and the Clintons. Maybe because we have with Pakistan.

Let's do a little recap:

1989-1990--reports of secret construction of nuclear research reactor with components from Europe.

July 1991 - Reliable reports from Islamabad confirm that Pakistan had frozen production of HEU and halted the manufacturing of nuclear weapons components.

1992--Pakistani foreign secretary publicly discusses Pakistan's possession of `cores' of nuclear devices.

Late 1992 -- The US Government determines that China had transferred items controlled under the international Missile Technology Control Regime to Pakistan.

25 August 1993 -- The United States imposed "Category Two" sanctions against certain Chinese and Pakistani entities that were involved in an M-11 missile-related transfer, which is prohibited under US law.

Late 1993 -- The Clinton Administration, citing what it considered to be asymmetrical treatment accorded to Pakistan and India over their respective nuclear programs, proposed revising the amendment and certain "country-specific" sections of the Foreign Assistance Act. The administration argued that by the time nuclear nonproliferation provisions had been added to the Foreign Assistance Act, India had already acquired the capability to build nuclear weapons and thus Pakistan had borne the brunt of most United States sanctions.

April 1994 - Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott visits Islamabad to propose a one-time sale of F-16 fighter aircraft to Pakistan. Delivery of the planes would be contingent on specific commitments from Pakistan regarding its nuclear program, including a verifiable cap on the production of fissile materials. Talbott states that there is "broad agreement" between the United States and Pakistan on the goal of "first capping, then reducing, and eventually eliminating weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles from South Asia."

March 1996 -- Pakistan commissioned an unsafeguarded nuclear reactor, expected to become fully operational in the late 1990s, that will provide it with a capability to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

Late 1996 -- Pakistan's main nuclear weapons laboratory, the A.Q. Khan Laboratory in Kahuta, purchased 5,000 ring magnets from China. The ring magnets would allow Pakistan to effectively double its capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons

06 September 1997 -- Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claims Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons, saying that: "Pakistan's nuclear capability is now an established fact. Whatever we have, we have a right to keep it...." production.

28 May 1998: Pakistan detonates five nuclear devices.

History is about to repeat itself with the second Islamic bomb. If this weren't enough it appears that Poland and the Czech Republic were not thrown under the Obama bus in a back room deal but more as a gesture of good will in hope that Russia would compromise on the Iranian issue. The Russians told Obama to go pound sand. It is at this critical point when we are now negotiating from a position of weakness.

Socialism in Guyana

-had to share this excellent first hand experience.

By Rehana Wolfe,

Imagine for a moment what life would be like if you had to queue up at every grocery store just to get basic food items for your family. While you’re standing in line, your palms get sweaty , your heart pounds hard against your chest. Waiting to get to the point of sale seems like an eternity. While in line, your fear intensifies with every step forward to the counter. Your fear is that you would have spent several hours in line only to be turned away at the counter with the dreaded words, 'sorry, come back next week. We just ran out of ….' For many, this is a difficult scenario to comprehend, but for my generation and that of my parents, this was reality during the 70’s and 80’s in Guyana, South America when we lived under the dictatorship of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, the first President of this small South American country of only 83,000 square miles and a population of under one million people.

Guyana, once a British colony, gained its independence in 1966 under the leadership of Burnham. Under his ideology of nationalization and self sufficiency, he gradually steered the country into the abyss of socialism from 1966 until his death in 1985. In an already poverty stricken environment, 1966 marked the beginning of political and economic chaos accompanied by growing racial tensions between the East Indians and Blacks who together form the majority.

Guyana, conquered from the Dutch, came to be developed under British rule. Under the British Slave Act, shiploads of African slaves were cast on the shorelines of Guyana, followed by indentured laborers from India, Asia, and Europe. These slaves and laborers were brought to Guyana to work on the sugar plantations.

After Burnham gained Guyana’s independence in 1966, his political platform and cabinet were very race oriented, empowering the Blacks and resulting in growing tensions and dislike for each other among the Indians and Blacks. There were no general elections between 1966 and 1985. Human rights and civil liberties were suppressed. There were many political assassinations of brilliant scholars and political activists who tried to bring change to Burnham’s socialist regime. Two unforgettable assassinations were Walter Rodney and Vincent Teekah.

The tensions between the Blacks and Indians continued to grow and eventually rose to the level of riots, looting, burning, and killing. I’ll never forget the riot of 1971. At eight years old, it would be my first glimpse and real understanding of the racial pain. It was a beautiful day. At around 9 a.m., the sun shone in all its glory but the calm and beauty of the day was disturbed by the echoing cries of people running for cover as the loud bang of gunshots filled the air. My sister and I were at school when suddenly my Dad burst into the classroom and grabbed us without much explanation. He had to brave the violent streets on his bicycle, dodging bullets to get his two daughters back home safely. My Dad put my sister and me on the bike, both on the middle passenger bar and pedaled as fast as he could to get us home safely. When we got there, he rushed us into the living room (which was upstairs) and told us to lie on the floor behind the sofas. There would be many more of these riots in the years ahead.

Let’s go back to the scene at the beginning of this story. Many institutions were nationalized; travel and foreign currency were restricted. Therefore, waiting in line for basic food items was the norm. Burhnam’s idea of self sufficiency meant that we produced our own flour, rice, sugar, etc. Of course, importation of these items was illegal. Many businessmen tried to smuggle them in but couldn’t meet the demand. While Guyana could supply itself with rice and sugar, we could not produce wheat flour (He urged the people to make flour from rice), milk, and other nutritional foods.

Infant formula was not sufficiently available. Mothers improvised to feed young babies. The baby formula ration was one five pound can of per month. How did working mothers feed their babies when they were not available to breast feed? I was one of those mothers who added pureed plantains to the formula to make it last until it was time for the next can.

Many things were in short supply. At the gas station where we purchased propane cooking gas by the canister there were lines too. And not every day, only on certain days when the canisters were in stock. Here the lines would form the previous evening. At around 6pm people started taking their positions to make sure they were among the first 20 or 50 or whatever the quota was that day. They would take turns sleeping and watching each other ‘s position until dawn.

Electricity was another big problem. It was constantly interrupted – to the point where many residential areas would go without electricity for an entire day or night. This affected not only electrical appliances but also the flow of water to our homes. We were constantly keeping buckets of water for the shower, toilets, and all other needs.

Education was good until the student got to the university. A four year college became a three-year one, with the third year being obligatory national service. After graduation, students often had to sign a five year contract with the government. One had to work for the government and could not leave the country during this period.

All travel abroad was controlled. Permission to travel abroad was granted only after your tax records were checked and it was confirmed that you were tax compliant. Foreign currency restrictions were tracked by stamping the last page of the passport with the date and amount of cash issued per trip.

Guyana’s socialism gradually faded after the death of Burnham in 1983. And it wouldn’t be until 1992, after 28 years of dictatorship, that Guyanese citizens would experience their first free and fair election. Cheddi Jagan would become President – yes the same guy that lost the rigged election to Burham in 1963.

In conclusion, I must say that amidst all these sufferings and struggles, one cannot leave amiss the emotional distress that a population suffers from under socialism. While trying to find food, and nurture growing babies, families yell at each other in anger and frustration – life becomes a barren desert upon which love and compassion are hard to cultivate.

Rehana Wolfe, born in Guyana, now lives in Pennsylvania. She has a Master's degree in Communications from Villanova University.

"You're Either With Us...

Or with the terrorists". Everyone remembers President George W. Bush's ultimatum sounding words in the days following 9-11. Fast forward eight years. My how things change! It is a similar rallying cry. However it is now "It's us against them". Only this time the "them" is Fox news and by default conservatives, Republicans and anyone who dare question or criticize the Obama administration's inability to put together a cohesive strategy on any front.

Again, it makes you question if Obama has any political instinct. Fox News is in the midst of it's best year yet. They are not only soaring with the cable news competition but they are cutting in to other viewing network share as well.

The left wing remains in denial. All Faux News viewers are stupid, old, white, less intellectual, etc. Saul Alinsky #RULE 5 is employed with full force: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. And yet, Fox soars. Ten years of ridicule and self righteous bashing and Fox only grows in profitability and popularity.

Yet never meeting a dictator or mass murdering totalitarian he would not have a Come to Jesus Meeting with, Obama declares war on Fox News. To what ends?

Under normal circumstances, Fox will not be damaged by this. Fox has more viewers on an off time slot than any of the other networks, probably, combined at prime time. However, Obama’s popularity and political capital will suffer. As he becomes more and more impotent, he shows every indication making more and more desperate moves. Making normal circumstances an endangered species.

We keep waiting for some fruit of his tenure to come to fruition. Yet, it never does. In his world, taxing is investing, winding down the clock with incessant debate is action, and his ever constant campaigning is leadership. With this nine month blue print we see what the results are going to be. Stagnation, higher unemployment, lower popularity, more scrutiny, loss of congressional seats and, hope against hope, the nails in the coffins of healthcare and climate change taxation.

His war on Fox News is a Chavez styled move and there is no doubt it comes straight from the top. Obama is completely intolerant of criticism and dissent. The question remains how far will he go to silence it?

Next Stop-Failed State?

Conspiracies theories aside, these are the people calling the shots. This image portrays the scene as 50,000 people showed up in Detroit hoping to get one of the 5,000 applications available for aid money to be released from the stimulus funds. Chaos ensued, fights broke out, police were called in and a handful of people were taken away in ambulance. The YouTubes tell the story. When interviewed the stimulus seekers said the money was coming from "Obama's stash".

The most dispiriting aspect of this scene is that these are the people that are now in charge and they have elected one of their own. That isn't meant as a racial remark, it is a mentality observation. Talk show hosts compared this to the Katrina aftermath. They are wrong it is more like Zimbabwe with little smatterings of Argentina and Yugoslavia thrown in for seasoning.

This is a growing subculture. A free republic can not withstand this kind of wanton ignorance, systemic immorality and inability to control impulse. It's mostly urban but the mentality is alive and well in the rural areas as well. It is a black thing, a white thing and a brown thing. Truthfully, it is more prevelant in African American communities because that is where Democrats have had a stranglehold on power. It’s the result of seventy-five years of New Deal liberalism and nearly fifty years of the “War on Poverty”. When I wrote the other day of the results of a system making people less, this was exactly what I had in mind. People who otherwise may have made their way except for the spirit crushing policies of the programs above.

What has changed in the least century? Unemployment in Detroit hovers at about 20 percent. I would wager it is higher. Those are Great Depression numbers. However during the Great Depression people pulled together. They did anything they had to do to get by. A large enough chunk in the image above would just assume shoot you for the $20 in your pocket than mow your lawn for it. The next time the media pundit tells you this is the next great depression, remember this is not your grandparents "Great Depression, this is something else entirely. It may be the beginnings of a failed state.

The Guy Who Didn't Win the Nobel Peace Prize

Meet 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Greg Mortenson. Mortenson is a New York Times best selling author and a man who is responsible for dedicating his life to building schools for girls in Pakistan. His belief is that education is the key to stopping middle eastern violence, especially education of the women. His reasoning is that male suicide bombers must go to their mother to ask for permission to fulfill their missions.

With, in large part, help from Mortenson Pakistani school enrollment went from 800,000 in 2000 to 8.4 million in 2008. You can frequently find him on the lecture circuit telling his story of education, failure and triumph over failures. This man was one of many in a record year of Nobel Peace Prize nominees.

Meet Barack Obama. 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner. Nominated after sitting in the office of the United States Presidency for two weeks. Reads a teleprompter really swell. Um, yeah, that's about all I have got.

What we should walk away from this with, if we haven't already with previous winners Al Gore, Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat, is that the Nobel Peace Prize is a political basketball. It is rewarded as a political gold star with no real basis of accomplishment. Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize simply for rejecting the ideals of his own country. It shows of the extreme levels of anti-Americanism in the institutions the left has co-opted. Most importantly it shows us the insular and corrupt group think the left engages in when gathered together in their institutionalized circle jerks.

It is beginning to make the days of Khrushchev beating the shoe and simultaneously yelling "We will bury you!" at the UN seem like the good old days. We are living in precarious times.

Let's Stick With The First BOR

Cass Sunstein, Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, has written a book which calls for a second Bill of Rights. This, apparently, complemented his conference at Yale Law School where he calls for a reworking of the constitution by the year 2020. Because, you know, the founders weren't insightful enough we need the likes of Cass Sunstein *shudder* telling us how we are going to live. Sunstein's list of rights read something like the how I would have liked to see the world when I was seven years old and really could not comprehend why it just was not like it should be. It's the stuff of small child fantasy.

"Mommy why can't we just not have money and go to the store and get whatever we want?" Who has not been asked that by their children? I have, years ago, by my, now, 12 year old daughter. I remember the conversation vividly and the funny thing is when I explained the "why" to her, she got it. She didn't like it any better but she grasped it and it is a lesson that has stuck with her to this day.

Except, Sunstein is a grown up. He shapes and molds young thinkers in our most prestigious and respected universities. And he is in the halls of our government today. Sunstein has a whole spectrum of crazy ideas from limiting and criminalizing free speech to extending legal rights to farm animals we tend to rely on for protein sources. However, like most leftist radicals, he speaks the quiet, careful and thoughtful educated speak of an Ivy Leaguer. The kind of serious, polished demeanor and bio that would lead one to take him seriously and would never associate with crazy.

Behold his eight simple mandates:

1) The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

2) The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

3) The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

4) The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

5) The right of every family to a decent home;

6) The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

7) The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

8) The right to a good education.

"Decent" home, "good" education, "adequate" food -- sure leaves a lot of wiggle room. I am guessing as the five year plans keep on expiring what constitutes good, adequate and decent becomes a little less good, adequate and decent. Good healthcare can become an aspirin and a dirty cot, a decent education can become sharing the same book for 10 students, decent housing can become Soviet style three families sharing one apartment where the heat sometimes works. You can bet, like every other experiment in Utopian style remaking of society, it will. When enough of the people who make society work finally object to being financially obligated by force to support the voracious appetites of those who do not or who were made less by such a system.

How about we just stick to being the place where you have the opportunity to acquire these things through hard work, effort and, even, a little luck? It is a formula that has served us (and the rest of the world) well for 229 years. It is the reason why more people dream of coming here and risk life and limb to do it. How about we reject the recycled utopian worldview that holds humanity in contempt, and that has enabled some of history's worst mass murderers and suffering?

The American Consumer, The Great Bolsterer

I have been pondering two questions for the past few days.

1. How much has the American consumer subsidized the European decades long experiment with socialism?

2. If our system continues the lurch leftward what will then be the effect on all the countries we have, in effect, been propping up?

I was thinking about Norway and how the socialists in that country have been successful using the countries vast oil wealth to, essentially, buy off the population. Which then led me to the conclusion that it is because, in great part, of American consumption and innovation that the oil has the value that it does. They can balk and turn their noses at us, but we have been the enablers of socialism on much of the European continent.

Another way we have done this is by providing Europe with protection and our military might. This saved them countless billions over the decades, billions which have allowed the welfare state mentality to flourish and take hold in the psyche of the people. Although Europe was and continues to be heavily influenced by Marxist intellectual thought, perhaps allowing them to feel the pain of such a system would have allowed ideals more closely aligned with ours to gain a foothold in the collective mind of the people. While we were fly swatting leftist regimes around the globe, we allowed Europe to become what it is today. Like a child playing parent to an over-indulgent and dysfunctional parent, we were the enablers.

Healthcare is another sector that we have continued to let feed off the trough. 70% of pharmaceutical research funding comes from the United States. Both US and European drug companies sell their products for a premium in the US. European countries with socialized medicine sell these same medicines at or just above cost. In other words, the American free-market consumer subsidizes the European socialist counterparts in the prices paid for needed medicines. Then we allow Europeans and like- minded left leaning Americans to question how a first world country could not have socialized medicine.

Instantly, we can see in this example what will happen if we continue in the direction we are headed. If the Obama administration is successful in nationalizing the American healthcare system one of two things will happen, either the funding for research will dry up or the costs for drugs in Europe and Canada will increase. Those are the laws of the market.

The United States consumer and standard of living has been propping up the European (and Canadian) love affair with socialism for at least the last half-century — in all sorts of ways.The European elite leadership may be, at least, somewhat aware of this and, on some level, they must know if they kill the golden goose Europeans will start to look inward rather than to the United States for their ills. Additionally, I believe it may be a part of why we are seeing quite a bit of defiance toward the Obama administration coming from the European continent.

However, the average European citizen would never believe this. They buy the Marxist opiate hook, line and sinker. I interact with them in cyber-space regularly. They really believe the state “gives” you everything you need—your health, your childcare, takes care of old age, removes the responsibility of adulthood. It may be well past time the Europeans were taught a valuable lesson--no socialist society has ever succeeded without subsidy from somewhere else, namely the much sneered and jeered American consumer.

The Mrs.

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I have to admit it, I have developed a sort of odd fascination with Michelle Obama. Daily, I search Free Republic to see what fashion faux paux she committed for the day. Each extravagant and self indulgent outing gives up more and more insight into her person. And I am hooked. I like to study personalities and hers is nothing if not casebook.

How high up will her belt be today? Is she still wearing the green pumps with every outfit? How big is the bow today? Why, with all her resources, did she never get that highly unattractive under-bite fixed? How much did she spend on her sneakers? Inquiring minds need to know.

I have to admit I never liked her. She always came off as angry and mean spirited to me. The more of herself she shows us, the less I like her. But, she is something like a well written villain on a soap opera, she is the reason you keep tuning in everyday. You just can not wait to see what disaster she will be in the middle of next.

Interestingly enough, I am finding out that I am not the only person with this syndrome. Blogs devoted to her are popping up all over the ether. I came across two just today.

Antidote to Mrs. O's Mania and Style

Michelle Obama's Mirrors Blog

I have to admit I am a little envious I did not think to do this first. I'd never run out of material. Another thought, I think we might be hitting on a cottage industry here.

Embarrassment of Olympic Proportions

They say the number one rule of selling anything is belief in what you are selling and conveying that enthusiasm to the prospective client. It's easy to sell the notion that we are a bad, bad country that needs atonement when you believe it and your clients already believe it too. It is a bit difficult to sell a vacuum cleaner when just last week you were selling the competing vacuum cleaner and pointing out all the flaws and deficiencies of the brand you are trying to sell today.

I have to admit I have a bit of schadenfreude today. Watching Michelle and Barack fly back to the United States without the olympics was enjoyable. As a rule, I don't find pleasure in my country losing anything. However, the last thing needed was a city as corrupt and dangerous as Chicago on the world stage. The last thing Barack Obama needed was a shallow victory to distract attention away from his mounting pile of failures. The American public has short memories and is naively forgiving.

The humiliation by the fiasco in Copenhagen should be examined by the left. I doubt it will be and more than likely they'll give shallow excuses. I have already begun hearing murmurings and "analysis" of the institutionalized racism in Europe. Left wing blogs are purporting that Europe still has a long way to go when it comes to overcoming racism. I find that interesting considering they are usually busy holding the United States up as THE racist society. The left is nothing if they aren't expedient when it comes to manipulating their opinions.

Additionally, they should really examine the idea of being "liked". The narcissist of Barack Obama never entertained the notion that he was not going to win the olympics. He felt his simple presence was enough to do the trick. Common sense adults should now know different. Europeans embraced Barack Obama simply because he was destructive to the United States. They reject leaders like George Bush because , although maybe often misguided, they do put the best interest of our country first. Be it consciously or subconsciously they were not embracing the man himself but the idea of bringing us down a few pegs.

Barack Obama is his worst enemy. His inability to be humble and realistically evaluate himself are hurting him. His thin skin is growing thinner. He does not see himself the way the, soon, majority of Americans see him. His continued pushing of Michelle Obama into the spotlight shows how out of touch with mainstream America he is. She is offensive, elitist and angry. Yet, he continues to allow her to be thrust out into the public eye whether it is pushing healthcare or trying to bring home the olympics. Regardless of how many times she appears on Good Morning America to talk about organic vegetables or how she maintains the tone in her arms, she does not resonate with anyone other than his hardcore supporters.

There have been many times we have seen examples of the lack of respect of the office he holds. The cheap and unthoughtful gifts to the Queen of England were a prime example. Investing the prestige of the office of the presidency was a colossal blunder. Aside from foreign and the right wing niche media, this will never properly be addressed. The water carriers in the US mainstream media will spin it into a positive. Although, as they keep trying to repolish this turd, most of us are beginning to notice he is not any of the things they are trying to tell us he is.

Now, he is back in the Oval Office. Back to the issues he successfully avoided for the last 24 hours. The news cycle, to all but the political junkies, was co-opted by Obama, Oprah and Michelle's junket to Copenhagen and that was by design. Now instead of rallies and olympic coverage they are forced to cover more serious issues. A floundering healthcare bill, eroding approval numbers, the "dismal September jobs report", 10 percent unemployment, mounting terror intelligence and American blood spilling in Afghanistan are all the hot plates on his desk at the moment. I predict another diversionary boonboggle in less than two weeks.