Shell game

An unprovoked North Korean artillery barrage against the South Korean island of Yeongpyeong on Tuesday carries the potential to be a major game-changer that could potentially affect all our lives if it spirals out of control (and such events rarely remain in control). In another of its typical "We did it but we're blaming you" attempts to justify the attack, the North claimed the shelling was in response to South Korean military drills in the area - which were directed away from the North.

The reason this is a major incident is because diminuative dictator Kim Il Jong - like his father before him - has for years steadily been building a huge military offensive capability which now potentially has at least a handful of tactical-grade nuclear weapons at its disposal. It has also been in a dangerous game of "catch me if you can" with the South, highlighted by the torpedo sinking of a South Korean naval vessel earlier this year. Because of the North's close ties to China (which is believed to be helping them with their illegal nuclear program), and because we have a defense pact with the South, there remains a distinct possibility of a tactical nuclear exchange that could escalate into a global nuclear war.  Just one more reason to be glad if you kept those Y2K supplies close by, and a good reason to bone up on your nuclear survival skills.

North Korea has a long record of playing the brinksmanship game with his military assets. Usually they are designed to blackmail the West into giving his country fuel, nuclear technology, commodities and food (little of which makes its way to the starving population). The question is, what game is he playing now? What is the goal this time? Is there a line he won't cross?

New enhanced security searches
photo: RIGHTNETWORK

The (Boarding) Gates of Hell?  If you've flown commercially or watched the news lately, you know about the Gestapo-esque tactics being used by the TSA on passengers, and with some exceptions, aircrews. It has become so prevalent that at least one clever blogger has taken to calling it "Gate Rape."  The inconvenience, abrasion of our most personal rights, and the humiliation is currently not being uniformly applied (not that that would be any more acceptable) and there is no apparent consistency to the types of people the invasive searches and interrogations are applied to. Children, cancer survivors, amputees and certain others are not exempted - although most pilots (after numerous complaints from their union) and certain politicians are. There is also the little-discussed problem of basic hygiene, since the gloves only protect the screeners and not the pubic...uh...public from cross-contamination of various diseases and parasites.  Oh, and the lies they tell you about the new body-scanner pictures not being a problem are being dispelled as we find out that simple photo-processing software can be a voyeur's dream come true.  You might be a tough guy and be willing to let some stranger literally man-handle you or , but do you still think it's OK to have your wife or kids go through it?

When recently interviewed on Fox & Friends about the inspections and asked whether profiling - proven to be one, if not the most effective countermeasure - was even being discussed, TSA chief  John Pistole admitted its effectiveness but claimed the US won't use it "because America doesn't profile." Too bad the American people don't get a vote on that.  If the current "inspections" aren't egregious enough on their own, consider that they aren't always done purely for reasons of security. There have been instances where these personal intrusions have been performed as "a joke".

This sort of thuggery lends to the question: if the groping technique is so essential, why aren't these legally-sanctioned groping sessions committed behind translucent or opaque screens, at least in the knee-to-neck range, to provide the offended passengers even a modicum of privacy? Why are they being conducted in plain view of other passengers and passers-by? Why is TSA apparently hiring and harboring some of the most low-class, least-trained people to enforce these actions? And why do they steadfastly refuse to consider profiling by well-trained and carefully selected personnel - the very technique that has kept the most-threatened people in the world safest in the air.  It becomes apparent that this is all designed to promote outrage, not deterrence. The fact that the leading promoter of the invasion of the body-scanners, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was making big money from their sale  (and so was George Soros) doesn't settle too well, either.

I believe in leading by example (something I wish more Muslim "martyrdom" leaders would consider doing). Therefore, I think all government employees, and especially every politician and agency official, should be required to go through the exact same process as the other passengers. The number of top officials shown to be corrupt and working against the best interests of this nation indicates that potential terrorists could be anywhere, so why should anyone flying be exempted?

All this leads me, as opined by Glenn Beck, to believe it may be part of a plan to purposely infuriate the public, with the expectation that eventually the rancor would "force" the government to stop the searches. This in turn would invite another terrorist attack. In the wake of a successful attack, the president would then claim the "necesssity" to declare a national emergency and clamp down even further on our rights. So, either this is a postulated power-grab, or it is intended to destroy the US airline industry - which would have a ripple effect on rental cars, hotels, restaurants, fuel companies, oh; and the pilots, airline mechanics', and flight attendants' union members (but I'm pretty sure the union officials will be OK, so don't worry). In either case, it leads us to one of two logical conclusions: either we are being led by grossly incompetent people, or we are being led to slaughter by people whose life work and inclination has been to wreck the United States, which they have been programmed to believe is the enemy of the world.

The current system is broken, because we are giving up liberty for the illusion of security. We should keep the machines we've already bought, and do the invasive searches when appropriate. But they shouldn't be our primary or sole reliance for safety. The bottom line is that we need to keep all options on the table. If we don't, we may soon find out the government has taken "the table" and everything on it away from us...for our own protection, of course.

As if there was any doubt.  In yet another startlingly candid admission of what many conservatives have been saying all along, Ottmared Edenhofer, a leading UN IPCC official, told a German interviewer that, "...one must clearly say that we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy...One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy."  Edenhofer should know; According to Newsbusters.org he was co-chair of the IPCC's Working Group III and co-authored the group's 2007 report which helped fuel the "illusion".

Thankfulness.  As I send out this Thanksgiving edition, I want to offer my own thanks to those of you who bother to read this tacky little blog.  I obviously don't write this for personal gain, and in fact it takes considerable time to put it together. This is my way of expunging my own frustrations with the world around us; a means of letting off steam and hopefully, alerting others to some things they might not have been aware of. Or at least, to start thinking about certain things in a different light. I'm nowhere near rich but I have a lot of people to be thankful to, and that list begins with God, who has given me the light to see things, the ability to put the words together, and the opportunity to put those words out for others to see. I want to thank my wife, friends and family members who put up with me even though they mostly hate what I have to say (honestly, I don't like a lot of it either, but it needs to be said). I'm also thankful for those who have helped to open my eyes and who inspire me to be more than I'm normally inclined to be. I'm extremely thankful for having been born in this country at a time when I could still grasp the reasons for some of its greatness. My hope now is that there will be an America worth being thankful for, next year.

Momentum

This truly is their moment. "Carpe diem" is their call. For decades the activists and intellectuals of the Left have been continuously plotting, planning, infiltrating and slowly subborning nearly every critical area of America's popular culture, leadership, educational establishment, the entertainment and news media, unions, the managers of the economy, gradually rising to the the top echelons of the military, judicial, law enforcement, diplomatic, and intelligence 'communities'.  The most radical elements of society (and I use that term "society" more and more loosely) believe that since the Obama immaculation we are on the cusp of true Soviet-style revolution; the total and dramatic transformation - and reduction - of history's greatest republic into a globalistic second-(or third-)world hegemony, brought to you via a rogue government, financial conspiracies and orchestrated violence and chaos. Despite what they view as a temporary setback radicals throughout America, reeling from the mid-term losses, are once again trying to rouse the rabble, and violence is not off the table. 

But all they want to do is to make life better for everyone, right? Uh, not really, although they'll never tell you that.

In actuality, the only people who believe socialism or progressivism is to benefit "the masses" are "the masses" themselves, the 'useful idiots' that the movement depends on to do the heavy lifting, heavy hitting, and most of the bleeding. Those at the top - the strategic plotters such as Soros, Pelosi, the Rockefellers, et al, understand that it is ultimately nothing more than a return to a merciless, feudalistic caste system comprised of the royalty (political elites who will do absolutely anything to claw their way to the top of the social structure), the warrior class who enforces their will on the people, the merchant class who must obey the dictates of the elite if they want to stay in business, and the serfs who slave for their basic sustenance and are seldom allowed to move upward.

Apart from that relatively small portion of the US population who are trying to return us to sanity, most Americans may soon find themselves trying to keep up with the flurry of changes and challenges to our day-to-day existence. They may also find themselves lining up to buy large quantities of aspirin, antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs in an attempt to quell the headaches from trying to process it all, the manic depression that truth can bring, and the overpowering frustration of battling the urge to fight back against the myriad injustices, but with no real, effective means.

The culture (another term loosely used) is rapidly degrading into a self-absorbed sort of quasi-savagery, and the cost of basic goods such as cotton, food, fuel, electricity and other commodities is rising rapidly and may not level off before we reach Depression-era levels. And did I say the government is reaching for more and more control over our daily lives and activities, even to the point of requiring cellphone scramblers in our cars, grossly insulting and assaulting airline passengers, and threatening to shut down websites that don't pass the new regime's muster?

I'm sorry; am I bumming you out already? I don't know why, other than the constant stream of news we might expect from a nation in turmoil, a formerly free people desperately trying to throw off the shackles of despotism. Oh, wait; that's modern America.

But it really isn't just in America that this purpose-driven turmoil is happening.  For example, new estimates indicate that as much as 40% of the world's population face horrific levels of food price inflation. Keep in mind that hungry people aren't noted for patience or restraint.

No way to fight a war.  First it was a medal for not shooting the enemy in combat. Then (as of last May), we heard about troops being ordered to not load their weapons in a combat zone.  Now, Afghanistan's corrupt president Kharzai wants our troops to stop US military night missions, which are among the most effective ways to combat the insurgents without taking a lot of casualties.

You might laugh if you saw this inane sort of warfighting in a Saturday Night Live skit, or if they were blue-helmeted UN troops; but this is the sort of mission-meddling that costs the lives of US troops. Yeah, the same brand of troops that helped (just a little) save half the world from tyrants in two world wars. Apparently most of the world - and most Americans - have forgotten the important and tragic lessons learned only a little more than a half-century ago. Those lessons will have to be learned all over again: that slavery has not disappeared, that evil fills the vacuum left by the inattentive, that liberty has an extremely high cost. Unfortunately, when this juggernaut of evil overtakes the entire world, there will be no cavalry to come to the rescue, and there will be no safe refuge to flee to.

The president of the United States, amidst a string of stinging diplomatic failures, appears to be doing everything he can to weaken our military morale. I served in the Army during the early 1970s, and morale was pretty dismal because of Vietnam and the wafflehouse on Crapital Hill. The situation, as I see it, is about to get much worse.

Say "cheese," don't squeeze.  Mr. Obama, in his godlike self-image of wisdom, directed Homeland Security to install full-body scanners at major airports, at an estimated cost approaching $1 billion (incidentally, isn't is interesting to know that George Soros made millions on the deal before strategically dumping the stock). These graphic imagers caused a backlash among fliers, from regular passengers to aircrews themselves; but instead of looking for security methods that are proven to work, TSA instead chose to loose an army of wannabe Brown Shirts that have humiliated and molested innocent people regardless of age or gender. Is this merely another collossal blunder in judgment, or is it part of a grander plan to destroy America's economy by causing the collapse of the entire airline industry?

Conservatively Speaking...

If you were to assume that the preponderance of liberal backwash throughout the lamestream media was the consensus of mainstream opinion, who would have thought that conservatism was actually the rising philosophical star in the United States (again)? According to a Gallup poll, conservatives ended 2009 as the dominant ideology with 40% of respondents, versus 36% for moderates and 21% admitting to being liberals.  Of course, for a lot of people, the way they swing changes with the winds of Providence - especially among moderates - although most diehards on either end generally remain firm in their beliefs.

One of those diehards who earns an honorable mention is Fox News analyst and former anchor Britt Hume. The networks of the Left were all spastic when Hume answered a question about Tiger Woods by stating unequivocably that, if he really wanted to find redemption and salvation, Woods might seek the Christian faith.

Heads up!  Ever seen someone who thinks they're 'hip' wearing a 'Che' or a 'Mao' tee-shirt? Find out the real story on those and other mass murderers when Glenn Beck airs his first documentary on Friday, January 22.  Fox News Channel. 5 PM. Don't be one of the "useful idiots" (Vladimir Lenin's term of endearment for those who were fooled into supporting communism without understanding what was really happening).

Meanwhile, if you want to bone up on history that matters, you should really check out Judge Andrew Napolitano's five-part series on The Constitution and Freedom  (about 5-7 minutes each) on the Fox Nation. He does a great job of simply explaining the great ideas that gave us this nation we take so much for granted.

Not so friendly skies.  After eight and a half years, you'd think that the government would have worked out most of the bugs in its airport security system. But in the case of Michael Hicks, not so much.  Michael - or Mikey, as family and friends call him - has been getting frisked by TSA officials for the past eight years; which happens to be just as long as Mikey has been alive. It seems that 8-year-old Mikey's name is the same as someone on TSA's 'watch list', which means additional scrutiny each time the young Cub Scout flies, which is fairly often.  Nearly a decade after the 9-11 attacks, and nearly three decades after Muslim extremists began targeting Americans in earnest, we still haven't learned that real security relies heavily on common sense and is only hampered by political correctness, includingthe prohibition against profiling those persons most likely to be terrorists.  Even in the wake of several embarrassing episodes - including at least one actual terrorist attempt, the current malAdministration continues to pander to the very forces who threaten us.  With that sort of leadership and misdirected efforts, we are sure to be clobbered again. May God have mercy on the victims.

Dumb and dumber.   I believe that one of the major reasons this country is going to Hell in a handbasket is due to the (non)educational system, which steadfastly refuses to teach American history accurately and completely (meaning, if you're going to teach all the bad stuff, you should also teach all the good stuff). This week the Texas Board of Education held public hearings and a preliminary vote on the content of new schoolbooks.  If you think that's inconsequential because you don't live in Texas, think again.  Because of the massive size of Texas and the amount of textbooks they buy each year, what happens in the Lone Star State affects the schoolbook buyers throughout the country.  By default, Texas sets the national schoolbook standard.  So when the progressive/liberal/socialist/atheist/marxist types line up to get their two cents in at the hearings, the cumulative effect can determine what school-children of all ages will be learning for years to come.

What happens in the schools will also affect this nation for decades, because it is the schoolteachers who very often have the greater influence over their students, simply because they become the de facto authority figure in so many kids' lives.  The school often directly or indirectly influences how the kids see the world, how they respond to events, and their basic knowledge of the world around them. In other words, teachers - who were probably taught by socialist college instructors - only pass along the lessons they themselves have - or have not - learned.  And for those who haven't been following my tacky little blog, let me note again the prophetic statement of crreation studies evangelist Ken Ham, who told an audience it only takes one generation (that has forgotten its values and virtues) to produce a society of savages.