A view to the future

Predictably, it didn't take long for the euphoria in the civilized world over the death of Osama bin Laden to give way to the hand-wringing and second-guessing over America's role in the demise of this mass-murdering maniac. And of course, those closest to him are condemning the United States in general, and president Obama in particular, for offing him without benefit of trial.  But in the course of time perhaps it is only natural for serious contemplative thought to set in. Interestingly, the Left has complicated its normal routine of criticizing ostensibly conservative (e.g., military) actions because this time, it is their own man who gave the kill order; while simultaneously vying to see who can give our enemies the most information on how the mission was accomplished. In fact, it is being reported that some of the SEAL team members involved are now worried about possible terrorist reprisals against their families.

But there is another aspect of this that needs careful consideration. Since the overwhelming majority of Americans profess some sort of religious faith, how does that faith deal with the event; how does it - or does it attempt to at all - justify the moral imperative of executing someone like Osama bin Laden?  If the Church doesn't explain the biblical implications of major world and cultural events, how much more difficult is it to ingrain God's preeminence not only in our personal lives but in the larger culture? After all, doctrine is essential, but so is the context which makes it relevant.  In any event and virtually every context, I believe our individual faith will take on an even greater importance in our lives in the months and years to come, as we grapple with the unravelling of the world we knew.

Yeah, Chuckie-Downer is at it again. But more so than any time in my life, almost all the signposts point in the wrong direction. It is as though events were all converging and trying to crush us, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. You know; like that whole apocalypse thing that gets so many people acting crazy. I'm thinking "crazy" will be an integral part of the apocalypse; I'm not a "rapture-watcher," but only the spiritually and intellectually blind cannot see something big is happening around the world.

Some of the signposts are subtle, in that you might not make anything of it if you didn't bother paying attention: things like our most unpresidential President, who campaigned on being "the most transparent administration in history, not so suddenly becoming leader of what is perhaps the least transparent malAdministration in our history. The only things this bunch seem completely open about are our national security secrets (and those of our allies), the taxpayers' wallets, and our borders.

Other indicators are the growing coarseness and dissonance in the culture, as I've noted in previous editions of this tacky little blog. From random acts of violence, to the disparagement of our national symbols by those who should be helping to teach respect for them, and of course, the ongoing threat of terrorism, life in these disUnited States is rockier than ever before. And it's likely to get worse before it gets better.

There is also the little problem of not being able to trust what used to be respectable institutions, including news agencies that we depended on to inform us of events the teachers who have so much influence in our lives (whether we realize it or not), and the leaders who direct the course of our lives through regulation, taxation, and intimidation.

When an entire society becomes unable to trust those people and institutions that once formed the bedrock of their existence, that culture itself becomes a type of endangered species. We've been driven to a point in our national existence where we cannot trust what the "experts" teach us, what the reporters are telling us is happening, or what our leaders are doing to us behind our backs.

I believe we may be headed toward a sort of feudalism, with a ruling class of elites at the top of the social pyramid who go to the best schools, hang out with the most influential people, and who stand to gain the greatest wealth by way of manipulation of government regulations and access to the "back doors" of industry, finance and corporatism. They are, (or will be) protected by a military and police system that dominates the ordinary citizenry, watching their every move and terrifying them by making extreme examples of those who rebel against the system.

Of course, at the bottom of the pyramid, lies the "everyman," which are split into two major categories:  on the one hand, you have (and absolutely need) the average working stiff who makes the whole thing actually function - the garbage collectors, the plumbers, the builders, the burger-flippers, the accountants, the truck drivers, etc.  They will be allowed just enough subsistence to keep them plodding on, working to support their families, but increasingly restricted from the liberties most of us older folks knew when we were young.  The illusion of freedom will be maintained just enough to keep the already busy workers distracted by a combination of entertainment and obligation. 

On the other hand, you have the dependency class: the timeless "victims" who have milked the sentiment that results from falsely-inferred guilt against the working portion (typically based on racial or cultural differences). These products of the Cloward-Piven strategy are used as political leverage to keep the ruling class in power by the perpetuation of government goodies, which are all borne on the backs of - yep - the workers.

I realize virtually no one reads this stuff I put out, and it gets frustrating. Myself and others like me truly worry about the future of our country and our families. We butt our heads against the twin walls of apathy and sensory overload. But unless Americans take back our culture of inclusiveness (and make it better and stronger than ever before), we will certainly fall into that "dustbin of history" which the communists of a generation ago bragged it would send us to. I urge you to re-examine your faith, your heritage, and your personal motives, and decide which road you want to travel to your destiny.  

SEALS of approval

The week began with one of the best news items Americans could hear after years of daily doses of depressing reports: that the reviled Usama (or Osama) bin Laden had been killed in a gun battle with the most elite unit of the already elite US Navy SEALs, on loan to the CIA. Incidentally, we might not have known who was responsible if not for Vice-president Big Mouth. Thank God we didn't have Joe Biden around during World War 2; we might all be speaking German and eating rice...or wearing chains.  But I digress. 

The scumbag who planned the 9-11 attacks was shot and killed while "heroically resisting," his body was positively identified, and after far more care and respect than he deserved his corpse was dumped in the sea, presumably to prevent his followers from having a graveside shrine for recruits to take their blood oath over. What makes it all the more sweet was that there were no American casualties other than a helicopter they had to abandon and destroy, and they didn't have to waste half the neighborhood in the assault on bin Laden's compound in urban Pakistan, either.

Lest anyone feel that we've spent too much attention on finding and finally getting UBL, we should remember that hundreds of thousands of lives have been taken or adversely affected and hundreds of billions of dollars wasted, all because of this lousy excuse for a man. It was directly because of his incitement, planning and financing that two huge towers fell in New York City with the loss of nearly three thousand people, more than a hundred lost at the Pentagon, dozens more in a field in Pennsylvania, thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of natives in Afghanistan and Iraq (would we ever have gone there without the impetus of bin Laden's actions?), the loss of our freedoms due to "security needs" and the overt and subtle changes that resulted from his affect on civilization around the world. All that tragedy justifies, in my mind at least, all the initial celebration on the success of this mission as well as the immense pride in our own armed forces, especially the most elite arms of those forces. 

The signing of the order to attack may have been president Obama's singular shining moment in the eyes of American conservatives, reminding us that even a stopped clock is right twice a day (although the White House seems as in the dark as we are on the details).  Signing off on the mission, which reportedly took him 16 hours to decide, came as a welcome surprise to most of us, especially since so many indicators, including his choice of advisors, leads us to believe his primary interest isn't the best interest of the American people. But he had barely announced the completion of the mission when Obama deflated us once again, by reminding us that "America is not at war with Islam." He seems to still not understand (or thinks we're too stupid to notice) that Islam is at war with us. They have been working against the voices of freedom (as have progressives and other socialists) openly, surrepticiously, and historically. While there are Muslims who do not join in that jihadist doctrine, those friendly - or at least, neutral - voices are few and far between; most remain utterly silent (although, I can understand why they hesitate to speak up - noisy sheep are often the first to fall to the wolves).

As might be expected, within a day or so after the mission's successful outcome was announced the PR aspect of our military success began falling apart. On the one side you have malAdministration officials telling us the photos of Osama's ventilated corpse would be shown, only to later be contradicted by Obama himself, who refuses to release them, purportedly because showing such photos would "inflame the Muslim world" and "could endanger our troops." Yeah; he seemed not to be so concerned with that possibility a couple of years back when he wanted to release more Abu Ghraib photos, which did indeed incite recruitment of terrorists and attacks at the time.

The question is, does his current stance point to some sort of maturity in the office, or is it merely politically expedient? Do I really have to ask?  Besides, does it really take a picture to inflame the Muslim world against us? I mean, what doesn't piss them off?

Meanwhile, the president's continual undermining of our security in other matters - such as granting citizenship to convicted terrorists still perplexes and endangers us.

Another thing that endangers us may be even more insidious than the terrorists themselves. A recent Yahoo report reveals that the majority of teens today don't have any idea who Osama bin Laden was, or why we were so happy to get him. After nearly a decade of war and terrorist hits around the world, young people are clueless as to who the good guys and the bad guys are.  Most of the young people revelling in the streets after the announcement were merely exercising another excuse for a party, with no real idea why.

But is that any surprise, really?  Too soon after 9-11, the major networks decided not to show the planes hitting the two towers or the Pentagon. The Left went into overdrive to convince those who did take an interest that it was all an "inside job." The rest of the generation born shortly before the day of infamy or since have been so wrapped up in their own self-gratification or the sensuality and single-mided pursuit of fame of American Idol (-worship), Glee, Gossip Girls and other vanities that most truly have no idea of the real world around them. We may have literally protected many of them to death, because their blissful ignorance will get them killed by not taking the threat seriously.

Nevertheless, no one should be deluded into thinking this act of retributive justice will make us any safer. To the contrary, new threats are already appearing from Muslims who can't quite get the hang of "what goes around, comes around." There are groups of Muslim radicals such as Hezbollah which have already set up operations at and across our border.  Certainly, there will be more attacks against unsuspecting civilians, unwary military targets, and if they get the opportunity, against our economic centers and infrastructure. But lest you fret too much over the next act of "revenge," keep in mind that they never rest from finding new ways to kill us, so any new threat is merely a mask over the old ones. All the more reason to keep our heads on a swivel, be aware and be as mentally and physically prepared as possible.