What alien has traded places with Gideon Rachman, the Chief Foreign Correspondent for The Financial Times? In his latest composition, "End the hypocrisy and talk Turkey" (24 August), Mr. Rachman raised the question of what exactly is the European Union (EU) strategic goals vis-à-vis Turkey. Make no mistake, the debate is important, and it provides the West (not just the EU) with a sense of the future.
Mr. Rachman believes, "It would indeed be a wonderful thing if Turkey were to join the EU." Mr. Rachman writes, Turkey is a "secular democracy." Under the Constitution promulgated by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey is a secular democracy. However, under Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Prime Minister of Turkey), sadly it is no longer true. Mr. Erdogan has purged all opposition in Turkey, including the military that has been the protector of Kemal Ataturk’s Constitution. So today Turkey is an Islamic state in all but name. In the end, Turkey in the EU would be the beginning of the end of western civilization in Europe.
Mr. Rachman makes less and less sense since he began carrying water for the Miliband brothers (England’s Labor Party). To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, 'it’s not that the Milibrand brothers don’t know anything, it’s just that everything they know is wrong.’ Unfortunately, as result of this liaison, Mr. Rachman has compromised his craft.
In conclusion, Mr. Rachman should heed the words of another Englishman -- "But in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, He remains an Englishman."
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
AN OPEN LETTER TO AN UNITED STATES SENATOR
16 June 2010
Dear Senator;
Last night President Barack Obama gave a national Oval Office address to the American people. It dealt mostly with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast.
Yet, more alarming than the fact that President Obama had no answers on how to “pug the leak,” or why his administration has acted so slowly to bring all available resources to the problem – is the shameless use of this catastrophe to further his political agenda, i.e. cap and trade legislation. It should be an embarrassment to the President of the United States and his supporters that he would proffer Rahm Emanuel’s sordid bromide, “you never let a serious crisis go to waste,” as a panacea to this historic American disaster.
With, Cap and Trade as with the rest of the Obama legislative agenda: only special interest groups will profit; it will further economically ruin the American economy; and fail to address the problem. What it does do, is to perpetuate the twin hoax of global warming and that green energy can meet all our energy needs.
After a year and a half of the Obama Administration and a Congress controlled by Democrats in both the House and Senate, let’s add up the score:
1. TARP – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Bankers and Hedge Funds.
2. US Auto Makers -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Auto Worker’s Union.
3. Stimulus Bill -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Public Sector Employee’s Unions, i.e. State and County Workers, Teacher Unions.
4. AIG Bailout – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout again Bankers and Hedge Funds both foreign, i.e. German, Swiss, French, English, etc., and domestic.
5. Health Care Reform – destroy the best healthcare system in the world, bankrupt the US Economy, and do nothing to correct the real problem in healthcare, which is Tort Reform, and hence pay off America’s Trial Lawyers at the expense of the American people.
6. Financial Reform – a 3,000-page reform legislation (House and Senate bills) that nobody has read, that addresses the wrong problems, and that no one understands. Buried in those 3,000 pages are numerous clauses and sub-clauses, codicils, caveats, and amendments, to say nothing of the rule-making process, that will surely complicate reform and create another giant Federal bureaucracy. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, health care reform. As in heath care, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress wouldn't do what's needed because of their friends, in this case, the "banksters," and "hedgies," and "AIGs." We need Glass-Steagall. A 34 page document that served America for 60 years. We need Banks that are Banks, and not casinos.
7. Military Retirement Pay – finally, after the trillions of dollars the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress authorized to the Bankers, Hedge Funds, AIG, Auto Unions, Public Sector Unions, Teachers Union, Trail Lawyers (indirectly), and ACORN, all at the American tax payers expense – for the first time in recent memory Obama and his Democratic cohorts’ could not find “one cent” for an Annual Cost of Living increase for America’s retired military.
Yes, George W. Bush, did support and sign into law TARP and the Auto Union bailout, but I never liked him much either.
So what’s the score? I have it:
Special Interests Everything;
The American People Nothing.
In sum, we need to learn from others when they speak good sense. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the phrase “ all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” is astonishingly germane to the Obama agenda this past year and a half. It is only the Special Interests* who thrive in the Obama Administration, to detriment of the greatness and welfare of the American people.
In the last analysis, you don’t represent me Senator.
* Economist James M. Buchanan and other "public choice" theorists explain, a special interest is any community that attempts to gain a particular advantage from government.
Dear Senator;
Last night President Barack Obama gave a national Oval Office address to the American people. It dealt mostly with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast.
Yet, more alarming than the fact that President Obama had no answers on how to “pug the leak,” or why his administration has acted so slowly to bring all available resources to the problem – is the shameless use of this catastrophe to further his political agenda, i.e. cap and trade legislation. It should be an embarrassment to the President of the United States and his supporters that he would proffer Rahm Emanuel’s sordid bromide, “you never let a serious crisis go to waste,” as a panacea to this historic American disaster.
With, Cap and Trade as with the rest of the Obama legislative agenda: only special interest groups will profit; it will further economically ruin the American economy; and fail to address the problem. What it does do, is to perpetuate the twin hoax of global warming and that green energy can meet all our energy needs.
After a year and a half of the Obama Administration and a Congress controlled by Democrats in both the House and Senate, let’s add up the score:
1. TARP – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Bankers and Hedge Funds.
2. US Auto Makers -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Auto Worker’s Union.
3. Stimulus Bill -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Public Sector Employee’s Unions, i.e. State and County Workers, Teacher Unions.
4. AIG Bailout – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout again Bankers and Hedge Funds both foreign, i.e. German, Swiss, French, English, etc., and domestic.
5. Health Care Reform – destroy the best healthcare system in the world, bankrupt the US Economy, and do nothing to correct the real problem in healthcare, which is Tort Reform, and hence pay off America’s Trial Lawyers at the expense of the American people.
6. Financial Reform – a 3,000-page reform legislation (House and Senate bills) that nobody has read, that addresses the wrong problems, and that no one understands. Buried in those 3,000 pages are numerous clauses and sub-clauses, codicils, caveats, and amendments, to say nothing of the rule-making process, that will surely complicate reform and create another giant Federal bureaucracy. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, health care reform. As in heath care, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress wouldn't do what's needed because of their friends, in this case, the "banksters," and "hedgies," and "AIGs." We need Glass-Steagall. A 34 page document that served America for 60 years. We need Banks that are Banks, and not casinos.
7. Military Retirement Pay – finally, after the trillions of dollars the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress authorized to the Bankers, Hedge Funds, AIG, Auto Unions, Public Sector Unions, Teachers Union, Trail Lawyers (indirectly), and ACORN, all at the American tax payers expense – for the first time in recent memory Obama and his Democratic cohorts’ could not find “one cent” for an Annual Cost of Living increase for America’s retired military.
Yes, George W. Bush, did support and sign into law TARP and the Auto Union bailout, but I never liked him much either.
So what’s the score? I have it:
Special Interests Everything;
The American People Nothing.
In sum, we need to learn from others when they speak good sense. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the phrase “ all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” is astonishingly germane to the Obama agenda this past year and a half. It is only the Special Interests* who thrive in the Obama Administration, to detriment of the greatness and welfare of the American people.
In the last analysis, you don’t represent me Senator.
* Economist James M. Buchanan and other "public choice" theorists explain, a special interest is any community that attempts to gain a particular advantage from government.
Friday, June 11, 2010
BP, Obama, and the United States Coast Guard?
In the Ron Howard movie Apollo 13, the 1970 US Space Program mission to the moon had to be aborted because a fault in electrical equipment inside one of the Service Module’s oxygen tanks produced an explosion. The response by NASA was immediate and adroit. Its leader gave his agency one critical directive – ‘work the problem people.’
The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast. As a doctorate student in Public Policy with specialization in implementation, I was taught that bureaucracy was not a pejorative term. Yet, what we must understand, and this is the critical point, is that you should not ask or expect any bureaucracy to do something that is not part of its mission and institutional capacity.
The mission of the United States Coast Guard has five fundamental roles (Mission Statement US Coast Guard Website www.uscg.mil/top/missions):
It is clear that the Obama Administration made a critically mistake appointing the US Coast Guard as the lead US Government department/agency to deal with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This is a catastrophic disaster that requires expertise and knowledge of oil drilling in deep waters, geology, deep-sea exploration, etc. The US Coast Guard does not have this expertise. You wouldn’t send the US Public Health Service on a combat mission to Afghanistan.
The Obama Administration was slow to act, did not correctly assess the full extend of damage this spill will cause, failed to expeditiously bring together the “best and brightest” to work the problem, and assigned the problem to the wrong department.
This analysis is not meant to degrade the capabilities of the US Coast Guard or the leadership of its Commandant, Admiral Bob Papp. Rather, in the last analysis, you can blame BP or some other private company for causing the spill; still it is the Obama Administration that has failed America.
The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast. As a doctorate student in Public Policy with specialization in implementation, I was taught that bureaucracy was not a pejorative term. Yet, what we must understand, and this is the critical point, is that you should not ask or expect any bureaucracy to do something that is not part of its mission and institutional capacity.
The mission of the United States Coast Guard has five fundamental roles (Mission Statement US Coast Guard Website www.uscg.mil/top/missions):
Maritime Safety: Eliminate deaths, injuries, and property damage associated with maritime transportation, fishing, and recreational boating. The Coast Guard's motto is Semper Paratus—(Always Ready), and the service is always ready to respond to calls for help at sea.
Maritime Security: Protect America's maritime borders from all intrusions by: (a) halting the flow of illegal drugs, aliens, and contraband into the United States through maritime routes; (b) preventing illegal fishing; and (c) suppressing violations of federal law in the maritime arena.
Maritime Mobility: Facilitate maritime commerce and eliminate interruptions and impediments to the efficient and economical movement of goods and people, while maximizing recreational access to and enjoyment of the water.
National Defense: Defend the nation as one of the five U.S. armed services. Enhance regional stability in support of the
National Security Strategy, utilizing the Coast Guard’s unique and relevant maritime capabilities.
Protection of Natural Resources: Eliminate environmental damage and the degradation of natural resources associated with maritime transportation, fishing, and recreational boating.
It is clear that the Obama Administration made a critically mistake appointing the US Coast Guard as the lead US Government department/agency to deal with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This is a catastrophic disaster that requires expertise and knowledge of oil drilling in deep waters, geology, deep-sea exploration, etc. The US Coast Guard does not have this expertise. You wouldn’t send the US Public Health Service on a combat mission to Afghanistan.
The Obama Administration was slow to act, did not correctly assess the full extend of damage this spill will cause, failed to expeditiously bring together the “best and brightest” to work the problem, and assigned the problem to the wrong department.
This analysis is not meant to degrade the capabilities of the US Coast Guard or the leadership of its Commandant, Admiral Bob Papp. Rather, in the last analysis, you can blame BP or some other private company for causing the spill; still it is the Obama Administration that has failed America.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
US Bank Reform: Another Folly
Who would have thought that the insolvency in Greece would be the blueprint the Obama Administration and its Democratic cohorts in Congress would adopt to lead America out of the Great Recession? Now the Obama Administration and Congress take on financial reform. Another 1,300 page bill that nobody has read, that addresses the wrong problems, and that no one understands. Buried in those 1,300 pages are numerous clauses, sub-clauses, codicils, caveats, and amendments, to say nothing of the rule-making process, that will surely complicate reform and create another giant bureaucracy in order to implement. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, health care reform. As in health care, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress wouldn't do what's needed because of their friends (in this case) the "banksters," and "hedgies," and AIGs. We need Glass-Steagall. We need Banks that are Banks, and not casinos. Is that so hard?
Monday, April 26, 2010
South Park: The Jihadist Is At The Gate
“South Park,” the irreverent comedy show on the Comedy Central cable television channel, apparently found its ‘bridge too far.’ After lampooning everything from God to Carrot Top, the powers that be at Comedy Central and their parent company, Sumner Redstone’s Viacom, have determined that satirization of the Prophet Mohammed is beyond the pale in the United States of America. Hence, with mind-boggling stupidity and cowardice, the First Amendment and a basic tenet of American liberty is quite simply disposed of by a businessman.
Wake up and buck up America, the Jihadist is still at the gate. He’s multiplying, and he’s not going to leave you be, no matter how nice you make.
That said, I submit to my readers the following opinion piece, written in September 2006:
The Pope makes a speech in which he philosophically quotes a 14th-century Byzantine Emperor critical of Islam and most of the Islamic world is up in arms - literally. Previously, the Middle East erupts - literally - over a cartoon. These events should not be minimized or ignored as a cultural misunderstanding or the machinations of an Islamic lunatic fringe. It is being used, like the alleged flushing of the Koran at Guantanamo, as part of the propaganda war being orchestrated by radical Islam's Goring and Goebbels. It is time to stop pretending that the West and the world of radical Islam, where terrorism is seen as a legitimate expression of political opposition, can peacefully co-exist.
When Pakistan's Foreign Minister opines, "Even if our government is pro-west, our people are increasingly not," we are right to ask, 'Why do they hate us?' There has been no paucity of hand wringing explanations such as poverty and lack of opportunity, but the answer is really very simple. In many cases they hate their governments, which are undemocratic and repressive, and correctly blame the West for supporting these governments. They hate us because their governments through their state controlled media tell them to hate us. They hate that they can't help but admire our modern world, its technological innovations and Hollywood glamour, and we, in turn, respect nothing more of theirs but the oil reserves upon which they sit, eat and pray. But, most of all, they hate us because they have been taught to hate us. Day after day, year after year, young children are taught to hate the infidel. Is there any wonder we are where we are today. Still, why would these Middle East regimes teach their children to hate the West?
One explanation is this. When government is not "of and by the people," and all is not well in the kingdom - then someone or something else must be blamed other than the government. The West, the infidels, the outsiders, have always served this purpose for Middle East rulers. By blaming the West for all that is not right the Ruler cannot be blamed. Their perfidious gambit has been this: on the one hand, behind closed doors and in English, you tell Western leaders how terrible this all is and that freedom of expression is as important to you as them; and on the other hand, you are increasing your funding to the Mullahs so they may spread their venous attacks against the West throughout the Muslim world, speak in Arabic and Farsi, and beat the drums of hatred through your state controlled media. This is a farrago of disingenuousness.
There is a war of civilizations. The first salvos were the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the bombing of the US World Trade Center in 1992, the bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the attack on the USS Cole, September 11th, the Madrid train bombings in 2004, and the London Subway bombings in 2005, to name some. How many times do we need to hear, read, and experience the ranting and deeds of radical Islam before we accept that their intent is to destroy us?
It is Islam's responsibility to lift its' religion out of the hands of radicals and extremist mullahs. We have yet to hear those other voices in Arabic and Farsi.
Appeasement results from mental laziness. Calls for calm and understanding may be well meaning but they are naive, and prefer the ostrich to the lion. There is no going back the Rubicon has been crossed - the struggle has surely begun. The pundits will proffer that this is only an expression of radical Islam and not the will of the majority of Muslims. Then, where are they? Certainly not in the West Bank or Gaza after Hamas's victory. In how many other Middle East counties, given a fair election, will the extremists win? When will the Iranian citizens take to streets to demand that their government seek better relations with the West? (Note: The situation in Iran today deserves closer scrutiny.) It is foolish to believe that these peace-lovers number in the majority. It contradicts every reality.
"If," said Churchill, "a mad dog makes a dash for my trousers I shoot him down before he can bite." It was another wise Englishman who said:
"For all we have and are,
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and take the war,
The Hun (Jihadist) is at the gate! "
Wake up and buck up America, the Jihadist is still at the gate. He’s multiplying, and he’s not going to leave you be, no matter how nice you make.
That said, I submit to my readers the following opinion piece, written in September 2006:
The Pope makes a speech in which he philosophically quotes a 14th-century Byzantine Emperor critical of Islam and most of the Islamic world is up in arms - literally. Previously, the Middle East erupts - literally - over a cartoon. These events should not be minimized or ignored as a cultural misunderstanding or the machinations of an Islamic lunatic fringe. It is being used, like the alleged flushing of the Koran at Guantanamo, as part of the propaganda war being orchestrated by radical Islam's Goring and Goebbels. It is time to stop pretending that the West and the world of radical Islam, where terrorism is seen as a legitimate expression of political opposition, can peacefully co-exist.
When Pakistan's Foreign Minister opines, "Even if our government is pro-west, our people are increasingly not," we are right to ask, 'Why do they hate us?' There has been no paucity of hand wringing explanations such as poverty and lack of opportunity, but the answer is really very simple. In many cases they hate their governments, which are undemocratic and repressive, and correctly blame the West for supporting these governments. They hate us because their governments through their state controlled media tell them to hate us. They hate that they can't help but admire our modern world, its technological innovations and Hollywood glamour, and we, in turn, respect nothing more of theirs but the oil reserves upon which they sit, eat and pray. But, most of all, they hate us because they have been taught to hate us. Day after day, year after year, young children are taught to hate the infidel. Is there any wonder we are where we are today. Still, why would these Middle East regimes teach their children to hate the West?
One explanation is this. When government is not "of and by the people," and all is not well in the kingdom - then someone or something else must be blamed other than the government. The West, the infidels, the outsiders, have always served this purpose for Middle East rulers. By blaming the West for all that is not right the Ruler cannot be blamed. Their perfidious gambit has been this: on the one hand, behind closed doors and in English, you tell Western leaders how terrible this all is and that freedom of expression is as important to you as them; and on the other hand, you are increasing your funding to the Mullahs so they may spread their venous attacks against the West throughout the Muslim world, speak in Arabic and Farsi, and beat the drums of hatred through your state controlled media. This is a farrago of disingenuousness.
There is a war of civilizations. The first salvos were the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the bombing of the US World Trade Center in 1992, the bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the attack on the USS Cole, September 11th, the Madrid train bombings in 2004, and the London Subway bombings in 2005, to name some. How many times do we need to hear, read, and experience the ranting and deeds of radical Islam before we accept that their intent is to destroy us?
It is Islam's responsibility to lift its' religion out of the hands of radicals and extremist mullahs. We have yet to hear those other voices in Arabic and Farsi.
Appeasement results from mental laziness. Calls for calm and understanding may be well meaning but they are naive, and prefer the ostrich to the lion. There is no going back the Rubicon has been crossed - the struggle has surely begun. The pundits will proffer that this is only an expression of radical Islam and not the will of the majority of Muslims. Then, where are they? Certainly not in the West Bank or Gaza after Hamas's victory. In how many other Middle East counties, given a fair election, will the extremists win? When will the Iranian citizens take to streets to demand that their government seek better relations with the West? (Note: The situation in Iran today deserves closer scrutiny.) It is foolish to believe that these peace-lovers number in the majority. It contradicts every reality.
"If," said Churchill, "a mad dog makes a dash for my trousers I shoot him down before he can bite." It was another wise Englishman who said:
"For all we have and are,
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and take the war,
The Hun (Jihadist) is at the gate! "
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