Return of the Dark Age

As if it weren't ominous enough that al Qaeda is rumored to be close to using radiological 'dirty' bombs and other WMDs in Afghanistan (and don't think they will stop there), the threat of Islam is on the march in other areas as well.  Unless you've had your head buried in the sand or elsewhere, you're probably aware by now that the world is dramatically and rapidly changing around us. In recent months we've seen riots throughout Europe, and now we are seeing them throughout the Mediterranean region, especially among Muslim countries which have until now been quasi-democratic.

This wave of civil unrest currently centered in Egypt is neither spontaneous nor unplanned, to the extent that the Muslim Brotherhood, which has instigated many of the uprisings, is working hand-in-hand with non-Muslim marxist/progressives in ways to coordinate future conflicts for the purpose of toppling governments, which would create the necessary power vacuum for them to assume control of the government. The grand plan is to gradually extend the power and influence of Islam and its attendant sharia la, culminating in the establishment of a global Caliphate. This  worldwide Islamic dictatorship will not be a desirable outcome if you believe in any degree of personal freedom, and especially not if you are a Christian.

The current unrest in Egypt began with rowdy but more or less nonviolent assemblies of up to a quarter-million people protesting the oppressive Mubarak regime. While the army stood by in a show of force in an effort to contain the massive demonstrations, it also initially showed restraint, letting the crowds do their thing without harrassment. However, on Wednesday, things began to turn violent as "pro-government" demonstrators confronted the protestors, with the inevitable violence breaking out, resulting in over 100 deaths, including an attempted assassination of the Egyptian vice-president that resulted in the deaths of two bodyguards. It is interesting to note (especially because the blamestream media refuses to cover such things) that in at least one incident, Egyptian Christians stepped in to protect Muslims from the mob as the Muslims were praying in the street. Journalists - especially from the Western media - became part of the story as the mobs turned on them, beating some and chasing many others away in fear. 

For the Muslim Brotherhood, as with the American radicals, open violence and generalized chaos and fear are the tools to bring about the chaos and revolution they so deeply desire. It is disheartening to see the collusion between American radicals and the Muslim Brotherhood. I say disheartening because these are people - many from well-off families - who have profited from the very American ideal they seek to destroy, yet most have a severely corrupted view of their own country, and even moreso of the ramifications of their own political worldview. Now, becoming intensely hypocritical enemies of a free people themselves, they conspire with other enemies for the same purpose. They seem to be working the principle which they each (rightly) accuse the US government of doing: the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" strategy.  Both live for their dreams of world domination, global slavery (although most aren't honest enough to admit that), and especially with the MB, the destruction of Israel and the death of all its citizens.

Perhaps the most fascinating and ironic part of this mutual pact with the Devil is that neither has any long-term plans to share that all-inclusive territory. Both are dedicated to the use of treachery, lies, deceit, torture and deadly violence on a massive scale to achieve their goal, so it should be interesting to watch - after (assuming) they have disposed with those of us who resist - which one will ultimately win all the chips; the atheist, marxist progressives or the frothing at the mouth radical Muslims who will not tolerate 'infidels'. Any way you look at it, there is a rocky, bloody, horror-filled road ahead. Thankfully, we Christians (you know, the folks who generally give you a choice in how you want to live) realize that there is a greater plan at work that neither of the antagonists have any control over.

The 'Rights' stuff.  It is the word that, perhaps more than any other, signifies the current American worldview: rights.  They are so deeply embedded in the American conscience that we not only have an official list, they also are subconsciously taken for granted by the majority of people (and like virtually everything else, often abused). They are among the primary issues in nearly any political debate. Whenever someone gets arrested they are recited by the arresting officer, and when people of nearly any age get in nearly any sort of trouble, the first thing out of their mouths is, "I have a right..." But do we, really, anymore?

When I was a young man, any adult could walk into a sporting goods store, gun store, gun show, or a friend's house, put down some money, and buy a gun. No forms to fill out, no background check; the clerk would eyeball you, talk to you, and in many cases was quietly evaluating whether or not to sell it to you (another 'right' which also confers a measure of personal responsibility on the seller, as well as the buyer). 

In recent years - and the trend is only increasing - what we have traditionally viewed as rights are being more and more treated as privileges, and what are clearly privileges granted by government are being treated as rights. And as much as I am in favor of adult citizens being able to buy a firearm, I don't agree with a push for legislation that would force someone to buy a gun if they don't want to. However, in this instance, it appears the effect is primarily to spark debate on the legitimacy of the Obama malAdministration's plan to force Americans to purchase health insurance. If that is the case, I agree with the intent.

As others have noted, the issue of rights have been severely skewed over the past century. For example, since 1973 it has become a 'right' to consent (the mother) to the murder of an unborn infant and to commit (the abortionist) the act under the rubric of "choice," while the choice to publicly protest such an aberration has been refined, from the right of free speech, to an arbitrarily-limited privilege which is, more often than not, refused. It is ironic that only the most blatantly egregious (and careless) of these legally-sanctioned human butchers ever faces justice, while the horror of that dark 'art' is a megacorporation protected by governors, judges, presidents and congresspeople for the past 38 years. For the children who actually get to be born, this liberal version of child sacrifice is a social norm. No wonder there is so little respect for one another anymore.

Low 'Volt'-age.  A few weeks ago, I touched on the topic of the electric cars that our government is trying to push on us; way too expensive, too limited in range (all-battery models such as the Leaf), taking too long to recharge, etc. But recently several news organizations, including the Washington Post, are pointing out some other inconvenient truths about the battery-mobiles that are especially applicable to those of us living or traveling in the colder climes.

And lest you think I'm just picking on electric vehicles; there is a report from the UK revealing a troubling but obvious (to most people) aspect of the 3,000+ wind turbines the Brits are relying on to eventually provide up to 30% of the country's electrical needs: they don't work when the wind doesn't blow. Yes, I know; you're as shocked as I was. But during a recent severe cold spell where the windmills were still, they had to fire up the old coal plants to keep people from freezing. What's worse, they had to use power from those plants to turn the windmills to keep them from freezing up as well. Something worth keeping in mind when you're trying to use the technology to supply one-third of your nation's power demands.

Cold, hard truth.  Gotta love those environmentalists (to be honest, the "mental" part of it is largely coincidental).  Really, don't you long for the days of yore, when national leaders would seek wisdom, and actually put a modicum of thought into what they were forcing their populations to live with? Instead, they are using faux science and outright lies to back a series of treasury-draining initiatives that have marginal (if any) positive value. 

Getting to the point: The weather really sucks lately. Have you noticed it has become colder and snowier over the past couple of years?  According to everyone we are supposed to believe, "global warming" is to blame. Really? Predictions from some folks in the know indicate even colder weather coming for the foreseeable future, putting additional strain on increasingly  limited fuel and food supplies. Those shortages will be felt more acutely because of government interference in every area of life, from taxation, to rising prices for everything, to restrictions on energy production and increasing control over all aspects of the food supply. Doesn't it tell you something when one of the founders of Greenpeace makes the argument in a new book explaining that global warming, as well as global cooling, are part of an inescapable natural cycle that, first and foremost, is influenced by the sun.

The science of climatology is extremely complex, not fully understood, and largely based on faulty data. The politics of global warming - which at this point affect most of the otherwise-authorative sources - focus on two main points: that global warming is produced by man's effect on the environment, and that man can dramatically alter the climate. I join those who posit that both are faulty positions. The effect of mankind on the global climate is relatively miniscule compared to, say, volcanism and solar effects. The efforts some nations (primarily the US and Western Europe) have made great strides in countering the environmental effects of the early industrial age, and those efforts do and should continue to mitigate pollution. Of course, the willingness of the West to be good stewards of the Earth is somewhat offset by the wanton and unrestricted pollution of emerging industrial nations such as India and China.

Equilibrium

It's amazing how history so often seems to attempt to balance things out over time, at least in this country (could it be due to that "God bless America" thing?).  After decades of Leftist/Progressive dominance of the culture, we seem to be in the midst of a swing back; if not to the Right, at least to the Center.  May I add; I certainly hope so.

In case you've had a lapse of attention, things haven't been going so well for the dedicated Left recently. The environuts are going spastic over the revelation of a flurry of reports of lies, half-truths and data manipulations regarding their favorite ecotastrophe. Among the latest heresies is a British media report citing that there has been no global warming since 1995.  As if that weren't bad enough for them, the UN's top climate official has resigned, and several major corporations are pulling out of the US Climate Action Partnership.

New York's junior Senator Kirsten Gillebrand is drawing fire over plans to join a forum with self-avowed communist and former Obama environmental czar Van Jones, who admitted to being a "9-11 truther" (believing that the Bush administration participated in the 9-11 attacks). Such a collaboration is sure to put even more strain on her upstate constituency, which is generally more conservative than the more liberal urbanites.

It's becoming clearer that the stimulus plan is a monumental bust, and the greatest accomplishment (from the Left's perspective) will be when the two-thirds of the money that hasn't been spent yet will go to grease the way for the upcoming Democrat campaign season. I seem to recall that those hundreds of billions of dollars they printed were supposed to make "shovel-ready" jobs. Yeah; not so much. We're still at over 10%unemployment, government doesn't seem serious on saving American jobs, more businesses are threatened with extinction or relocation offshore, and worse things may be coming. How's that 'Hope and Change" working for you?

Meanwhile, the conservative (small 'c') movement is resurgent in an increasing number of venues. The Conservative Union's annual C-PAC convention is taking place as I write this, with guest speakers ranging from a 14-year-old prodigy and conservative author Jonathan Krohn to keynote speaker Glenn Beck. Petitions are popping up, including the Mount Vernon Statement and the Oathkeepers' Declaration of Orders, which is geared toward reminding those in uniform that immoral orders are illegal orders. The focus of these various statements is to refocus our attention on the values and foundational principles that Americans have traditionally honored, if not always personally adhered to.

Parting shots.  The heavy Left side of the news is always quick on the draw to accuse conservatives of being latent terrorists. They're already scrambling to associate suicidal pilot Joe Stack with conservative movements like the Tea Parties, although his "manifesto" is a mishmash of ideologies and excuses for his own failures and misfortunes, with more of a leftward slant. There is always plenty of lunacy lurking out there, and it crosses all lines; but at least the news on the Right will generally try to give it to you straight.

Somehow, though, I don't think you'll hear about this in the lamestream media; but it's been reported that the Alabama University killer - Amy Bishop - is an Obama-loving radical leftist. In addition to shooting her own brother to death and skating away 20 years ago, she also tried to bomb a professor who was evaluating her doctorate work in 1993. I wonder if she had a crush on Bill Clinton at the time.

Strategy for failure

On Tuesday, speaking from West Point, the "Silver-tongued Devil" himself, Barack Obama, once again showed his talent for talking out of both sides of his mouth. He opened his speech by reiterating that our reason for the war was "19 men [who] hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people." He never referred to them as terrorists; merely as "extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the worlds great religions." He equivocates for a few 'misguided Muslims' for mass murder, yet for nearly a year in his travels around the world he has been bowing and scraping before foreign world leaders, apologizing to everyone except the American people, and implicitly blaming the US for all the world's problems.

But the bloom is coming off the rose. All things considered, the world is not greatly impressed with him as either a president or a commander-in-chief. If anything, Obama has become a behind-the-scenes laughing-stock, at least to other world leaders.

As I watched the speech, I was more intent on the faces of the cadets. These are the young men and women who will be subject to the orders of the president. They and the soldiers in their charge will be the ones who suffer and die when grand strategies fail. I saw real concern as Obama told a worldwide audience what amounted to our plans for not fighting to win over the terrorist elements.

In the larger picture, the president pleased no one but the non-thinkers. Even megalomaniacial leftists like Chris Matthews, who called West Point "the enemy camp," criticized Obama. "The president said tonight that we're fighting in Afghanistan because al Qaeda is in Pakistan," he said. "Is that what this is all about? Is that why we're fighting and some are dying in Afghanistan?"

General McChrystal asked for 80,000 troops, but said he would make due with 40,00. What he got from the president was a commitment for only 30,000 troops; not enough to win against a guerilla force in a rugged country the size of Afghanistan; but just about enough to fight a war of attrition with an implacable foe that is willing to sacrifice innocent lives - or their own (except their leaders) - for nothing. On the other hand, our overly-sensitive rules of engagement put our troops at increased risk, giving the enemy an advantage over us.

As if to add injury to insult, Obama also told our enemies how long they need to stay low before we pull out - which is coincidentally around the same time as the next primary election (and is also when most of the remaining stimulus funds is expected to be handed out - yet another incredible coincidence, eh?). He even gave them our proposed operating budget for the war, which indicates the measure of our resolve and the limits of our will to (not) win.

Does anyone remember a little place called Vietnam? We have met the enemy, and he is our leader.

Global hype. Notwithstanding Al Gore's legacy of lies and his totally undeserved Oscar for Best Propaganda Piece and Nobel Prize for Global BS, and after years of embarrassments such as global warming conferences being held during blizzards and a population explosion among polar bears, the truth about this worldwide scam is finally leaking like an open porthole in the Titanic. The discovery that raw climate data was intentionally thrown away, and a number of e-mails in which global warming advocates write about concealing unfavorable evidence are exposing the bogus pseudo-science that is being pedalled as political necessity. Addtionally Gore himself has faced a rising tide of discontent during his most recent book tour, as critics brave his bodyguards to get answers to simple questions.

The scale of the swindle is mind-boggling when you consider it is being used as the framework to restructure the entire Western world and to transfer the bulk of what wealth we have left to those with an even greater propensity to squander it than our own congress. The swindlers will reap in huge profits, and America will continue its descent to third-world status.

Actually, the Earth has been in a cooling trend for nearly a decade. Nevertheless, an estimated 16,500 UN delegates, activists and reporters is set to descend upon Copenhagen this month for the UN Climate Conference 2009, leaving a cloud of CO2 emissions in their hypocritical wake. The primary intent of the summit is to formulate what amounts to a global tax on American productivity and life in general (because it would hike the cost of everything). God help us if Obama signs anything other than another expensive restaurant bill.

Fed up. You can tell it's bad when avowed socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) agrees with a number of Republicans in trying to hold up Ben Bernanke's reappointment as head of the Federal Reserve Board.

The Fed has the legal (cringe when you hear that word; not every law is moral or good) authority to literally create fiat (false) money out of thin air merely by adding numbers to a favored account.

Case in point: During the stimulus package giveaway, the Fed padded AIG's books, simply by adding zeros to their ledger. Keep in mind that although it is intimately entwined with the government, the Fed is not a government agency but a privately-owned financial conglomerate that has controlled the US economy since its inception in 1913. Now AIG is paying back the Fed with the profits from selling off two of its subsidiaries - to the Fed! Thus a huge fortune is made by investing in thin air, but the economy suffers because the dollar is devalued in the exchange, meaning that everything costs more. The top execs at the Fed are mostly mega-million and -billionaires. Meanwhile, businesses close down and millions of American citizens are out of work, with no real good news forthcoming.

If the truth be told, the Fed is, at its core, perhaps the greatest con game ever foisted upon a people. In 1913 the government granted it the authority to print money and set interest rates for selling that money to banks. Those interest rates affect our credit and debt. The ultra-rich get richer, and the rest of us go deeper in debt. But this isn't about class envy, it's about institutionalized dishonesty. The Fed - which has never been audited - should be abolished.

'Net threat. While our attention is focussed on healthcare, the war, and Tiger Woods' unexplainably stupid indiscretions, a bill has been silently wending its way through the US Senate. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (S. 773) threatens to give the government unprecedented power over internet communications; including the authority to shut it down upon a declared "emergency". It may come as no surprise that the bill was authored by that globalist extraordinaire, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

Each new propsal to limit our freedom for the sake of "security" moves us closer to slavery. And yet, the majority of Americans are content to sit silently on the sidelines, as though nothing will interrupt their "lives of quiet desperation". Alas, Babylon.

Frosting the Left, Betraying the Right

I want to open with kudos for Glenn Beck, whose newest flash-point book, "Common Sense" is set to be No. 1 on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, which has to really hack the NYT off. I'm almost finished reading my copy, and I'll probably wind up buying more to pass around. It is the wakeup call for America, perhaps one of the few we have left. This inexpensive book should be given to every high school and college graduate, and every citizen should read it. Get it, read it, act on it. Now! Go!

Unfortunately, now I have to kill that buzz by noting with regret the debacle surrounding South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's bizarre admission of an adulterous affair with an Argentinian woman. His early claim is that it only recently became a physicial relationship, but that he and his wife (who has known about it for several months) are at least trying to reconcile. Amid a spate of Republican embarrassments in the last couple of years, at least this time it's a woman.

Enemies? What enemies? Last Wednesday on The O'Reilly Factor, Barney Frank told Bill that he wants to take money from F-22 procurement because "we don't need them anymore," indicating that we no longer face a Soviet air threat. Guess again; both the Russians and Chinese are developing fighters with F-22 capabilities, and they intend to market them to our potential adversaries (which are increasing almost weekly). Just a reminder; our enemies never sleep, and they do not wish us well.

Shut up! A report that the EPA suppressed findings that questioned the science behind global warming hype. When EPA analyst Alan Carlin tried to tell the White House that there was a problem with the data, and that it looks like the earth has actually been in a cooling trend for the past 11 years, his supervisor, Al McGartland, refused to forward Carlin's report, reassigned him, stating, "The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward on endangerment, and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision," he wrote, according to the e-mails released by CEI. "I can only see one impact of your comments given where we are in the process, and that would be a very negative impact on our office." He later wrote an e-mail urging Carlin to "move on to other issues and subjects." "I don't want you to spend any additional EPA time on climate change. No papers, no research, etc., at least until we see what EPA is going to do with climate," McGartland wrote.

I don't know about you, but I see this as further proof that this malAdministration is out to silence any opposition to its agenda, which is not based on what's best for the country.

Crap N' Trade. If you weren't like most Americans who were obsessed with Michael Jackson's death, you might be aware that Friday marked the cardiac arrest of the US economy, when the congress passed (in the middle of the night, which seems to be their current modus operandi) the president's climate control bill, alternatively referred to as "cap and trade". It's major effect will most likely be to dry up productivity, destroy initiative and cripple the American family with debt even for the basics of life, including energy, food, and transportation.

The sneakiness carries over to the proposed healthcare blunderbuss bill, which Mad Madam Pelosi and Hapless Harry Reid want to exclude from public scrutiny.

Rad rant. We are rapidly being taken over by a rogue government with utter contempt for the rule of law. There does not seem to be a legal mechanism in place to deal with this threat to our form of government, our economy and our very lives. Oh, certainly, there are laws on the books to deal with the various crimes of malfeasance and suborning of our laws and institutions we're witnessing almost daily, but the enemy isn't just within the gates, it controls the gates, the schools, most of the courts, the media, the FBI, IRS, CIA, NSA, the Fed and even the National Parks Service (which could be used to influence or 'subtract' history in the future). The larger bloc of the public which does not have access to, or interest in, conservative news sources will never hear the whole truth; nor will young people in the future indoctrinated in public schools learn of our actual history or have the knowledge to understand what they've lost.

Who in the FBI will be able to investigate and get a warrant against their own bosses? Who in the courts would swear out a warrant against the President for subversion when the Congress is ruled by his accomplices? How do we vote them out when they are working overtime behind the scenes to fix future elections by gerrymandering and enticing dependent classes as a perpetual voting bloc? Does anyone realize what alternative remains?

If you think this stuff is fun for me, you're totally wrong. I actually try to look for good news. Even the people who are as doubtful as I am don't seem to see this far ahead. Right now, we are moving toward socialist/facist statism. However, human nature being what it is, that condition will eventually degrade into an absolute, totalitarian, Nazi nightmare, because unrestrained power yearns to be unlimited power.

If we don't change things - with God's help - the nightmare hasn't even begun yet.