Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick

Israel now has three German submarines carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles off Iran's shores. In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, "Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?"

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7140282.ece

Ebola Virus Cure

The Ebola virus has been a staple of movies where vast numbers of people are infected and die horribly, a very real threat to scattered populations of Africans, and a horrendous possible weapon in the hands of terrorists. Now scientists at Boston University have conducted experiments with a new drug that has been 100% effective in curing test monkeys infected with the virus. The lead researcher has expressed concern that, assuming the new medicine continues to test well, it will be commercially produced because there is not a large enough market in Western nations. If so, then even though I am a free marketeer, the government should fund development because of the national security implications and the humanitarian use with affected populations in Africa. Nice job BU team!

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127226355

The Week That Was

Where does one start with this Administration? It's been quite a week. I guess we should start with the President. Sigh.

Harry Truman made decisions,big and small. The atomic bombs on Japan come to mind. Having sat back and watched his Administration dither on the BP oil spill, Obama in contrast says about the spill that:

"This is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed tonight thinking about,"

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/27/AR2010052701172.html

Well great, but what most of the country is concerned about is getting the well capped and stopping the immense oil leak. Perhaps the oil-well-fixer fairies will come during the night and plug it while he sleeps! The buck definitely stops with him. (P.S. -it's Bush's fault!)

Then there's Hillary. Hillary thinks the answer to our economic doldrums is to tax the bejeepers out of the "rich" just like Brazil. After all, Brazil has some of the highest tax rates in our hemisphere and they are growing rapidly. www.thefoxnation.com/business/2010/05/28/hillary-rich-arent-paying-their-full-share Really? Brazil?

"Let's go to the CIA World Factbook for some relevant comparisons between Brazil and America (figures are from 2009, except as noted):

• GDP per capita: Brazil $10,200, U.S. $46,400
• GDP per capita, rank: Brazil 105th, U.S. 11th
• Unemployment rate: Brazil 7.4%, U.S. 9.3%
• Population below poverty line: Brazil 26% (2008), U.S. 12% (2004)
• Share of nationwide household income or consumption, lowest 10%: Brazil 1.1%, U.S. 2%
• Share of nationwide household income or consumption, highest 10%: Brazil 43%, U.S. 30%

The U.S. does better on all these measures except 2009 unemployment--and a year earlier, the U.S. rate (5.8%) was considerably better than Brazil's (7.9%). The average American is more than 4.5 times as productive as the average Brazilian, and a Brazilian is more than twice as likely to be impoverished by Brazilian standards than an American is to be impoverished by U.S. standards.

Brazil's GDP actually shrank last year, by 0.2%, though it grew 5.1% in 2008 and 6.1% in 2007. For America, the figures were a 2.4% decline in 2009, 0.4% growth in 2008 and 2.1% growth in 2007. But developed countries seldom grow at 5% or 6% a year; developing ones experience such growth because their economies are smaller to begin with. "

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704596504575272542364164212.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

And this lady is our Secretary of State. Go figure.

How about that John Brennan, one of the President's national security advisers, and the subject of my 5/21/10 post? He's at it again.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he said:

"Nor do we describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children ..."

www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/27/counterterror-adviser-defends-jihad-legitimate-tenet-islam/

Yup. And the jihadists own writings make clear that one of the ways they do this is by murdering innocent men, women, and children. Sheesh. I really think he needs the Arab headdress if he is going to keep this up.

Last but not least is the State Department's Michael Posner. He preemptively brought up the new Arizona immigration law to the Chinese in a discussion of China's dismal record on human rights. www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/18/state-department-defends-official-expressed-regret-chinese-arizona-law/ He bragged that he "brought it up early and often." Of course, he hadn't read it, which is apparently the order of the day for Team Obama (see Attorney General Eric Holder's statement). I'm sure the Chinese were impressed.

A little background - Michael Posner ran a George Soros'-funded organization, Human Rights First, before going to the State Department. He is known as "... a fierce critic of the George W. Bush administration’s war on terror, calling on Americans to rally against enhanced interrogation techniques and supporting U.S. entrance to the International Criminal Court." That is he wants to haul folks like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld up before this court and charge them with "war crimes" yada, yada.

www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Michael_Posner

All in all, quite a week for the folks in Obamaland. Did I mention that the President's approval rating is down to 42%? Keep up the good work!

Israel Has a Friend in the Middle East

Our church has an active and growing mission in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. People who have visited invariably comment on their warm reception as Americans in a part of the world (think Iran) not known for warm hospitality toward U.S. citizens. Interestingly this welcoming attitude extends to Israel, which Kurds see as another minority like themselves persecuted by Arabs in the Middle East. Cliff May's article sheds some light on this and makes the interesting point that: "The ongoing religious and ethnic cleansing of the "Muslim world" may be the biggest story journalists are not telling, political leaders are not highlighting and human right activists are not protesting." Neither the Bush or Obama administrations has been very concerned about protecting these minorities. Before the world has another Darfur on its hands, maybe they should.

townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2010/05/27/kurdistan_the_second_israel

US Responds to North Korean Provocation

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for the world to respond to the "unacceptable provocation" of North Korea's sinking of a South Korean patrol boat which killed 46 sailors. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37329506/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

North Korea Foreign Ministry responded at a meeting of Southeast Asian nations in Thailand that Secretary Clinton is "by no means intelligent" and a "funny lady. " www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/23/us.north.korea/index.html

Unnamed sources report that a crisis atmosphere has gripped Washington, D.C. and several divisions of Code Pink have been ordered to mobilize and report to embarkation ports in San Francisco and Seattle.

Auf Wiedersehen!

The European Union - the EU - the United States of Europe, the European Superstate. Well, probably not. The financial troubles in Greece have triggered a $1 trillion response from the rest of the EU to hold the euro together. Of course, Greek unions are unhappy and don't care about the fate of the rest of Greece as long as they get theirs, but the greater problem is that Portugal, Spain, Italy and even Britain are already in line for their share of handouts and who is going to pay the freight for them? And therein lies the rub.

Despite the surface veneer of a European Union, it is merely a cosmetic paint over some very different countries. All of them share a welfare state where recipients are simply outstripping the ability of a dwindling number of producers to generate enough wealth to pay for everything, which is the underlying problem. The inevitable result is a succession of increasing deficits and with a dwindling birthrate, no ability to cover them in the years ahead. Those already in line with hands out lack the will to put their economic houses in order and so must look to the more stable countries to underwrite their sloth.

And then there are the Germans. I write as one of German descent and Germany is a great country, a productive country, but one that is not, shall we say, always very empathetic with its neighbors. Germany finds itself in relation to most of the rest of the EU as the U.S. has often been to Europe. There are signs that it doesn't like this role very much and, despite chipping in a chunk to bail out Greece, one has to wonder about how sanguine Allemagne will be when the other states line up for their share of German largesse. I'm going to guess that largesse will quickly begin to run in short supply and, if so, the EU will slowly deflate like a big balloon and sink on to history's dust pile. The ancillary and more interesting question is: where will Germany go and what will it do? Historically Germany has vacillated between East and West. Russia is a basket case itself, in spite of its vast natural resources, but with a little German know-how... Ve shall see, ja?

Aloha!

A Republican was elected to Congress in Hawaii's 1st District for the first time since the Jurassic Period. Republicans simply do not get elected in Hawaii. Let's see, Scott Brown in Massachusetts, Christie in New Jersey, Djou in Hawaii - it's almost enough to make you think something is going on politically out there.

www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/DN-hawaii_24nat.ART.State.Edition1.1f73b7ab.html

The Gathering Storm

Charles Krauthammer is the best foreign affairs commentator in the U.S. today and the recent picture of the leaders of Brazil and Turkey holding lifted hands with Iran's Ahmadinejad over a uranium exchange deal has made him apoplectic. His analysis of what lies behind the photo gives the big picture of current American foreign policy:

"This is not just an America in decline. This is an America in retreat -- accepting, ratifying and declaring its decline, and inviting rising powers to fill the vacuum.

Nor is this retreat by inadvertence. This is retreat by design and, indeed, on principle. It's the perfect fulfillment of Obama's adopted Third World narrative of American misdeeds, disrespect and domination from which he has come to redeem us and the world. Hence his foundational declaration at the U.N. General Assembly last September that "No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation" (guess who's been the dominant nation for the last two decades?) and his dismissal of any "world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another." (NATO? The West?)

Given Obama's policies and principles, Turkey and Brazil are acting rationally. Why not give cover to Ahmadinejad and his nuclear ambitions? As the U.S. retreats in the face of Iran, China, Russia and Venezuela, why not hedge your bets? There's nothing to fear from Obama, and everything to gain by ingratiating yourself with America's rising adversaries. After all, they actually believe in helping one's friends and punishing one's enemies."

Krauthammer is right. Power always moves to fill a vacuum; the Age of Aquarius will not be breaking out as a result of this fatally-flawed foreign policy. Instead, tomorrow's forecast calls for instability, unrest and scattered acts of serious violence including a possible afternoon nuclear detonation.

townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2010/05/21/the_fruits_of_weakness

Who Are These Guys?

John Brennan is Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. And he is now referring to Jerusalem by the Arab name of "al-Quds", as in "al-Quds Martyr Brigade" which is the name of Iran's special ops force actively advising terrorists around the world including, some believe, in the U.S. Perhaps if he dressed in traditional Arab garb for his press conferences he would be even more effective.

Hugh Hewitt often plays a movie audio clip on his radio show, "I don't like you because you're gonna get me killed!" Just thought you might like a photo to go with the audio.

www.breitbart.tv/al-quds-top-obama-advisor-refers-to-jerusalem-by-arabic-name/

Global Warming Update

Late May snow covers Mt. Hood

www.kgw.com/news/Late-May-Snow-on-Mt-Hood-94543709.html

The "Gift" That Keeps on Giving!

The headline of this column in the business section of The Oregonian is, "Oregon Falls Furthest in CEO Survey of Best States for Business." In fact, we have fallen all the way to #38. I particularly liked this quote:

"Oregon is highly rated for its living environment -- higher, in fact, than Texas which is rated number one in the overall rankings this year," said magazine editor-in-chief J.P. Donlon. "But faced with a budget shortfall, Oregon decided to hike taxes, raise fees and basically take the path that New Jersey usually took—before it elected its now current governor—when faced with deficits."

I thought this was also special:

"Donlon added that CEOs also say the state’s attitude to business increasingly is becoming more adversarial and likened to California, especially when it comes to matters involving environmental regulation."

Thank you Measures 66 and 67! Thank you Peoples Republic!

www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/05/oregon_falls_furthest_in_ceo_s.html

Morocco Deports Christian Missionaries

A story that has been under the radar for some time is the success that Christian missionaries have been having in the Muslim world with converts to Christianity. Apparently this success has been officially noticed as Morocco has begun deporting Christian missionaries wholesale. One of the interesting things about the converts is that many of them say that Jesus Himself appeared to them in a dream and they then sought out the missionaries. The Islamic government may have some success in deporting the missionaries, but good luck with stopping God and the dreams!

www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0311/Christian-aid-worker-purge-Morocco-orders-dozens-in-five-cities-to-be-deported

The Supreme (and Unelected) Rulers

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 ruling this week that is yet another step in a disturbing trend. A Court majority ruled that it is "cruel and unusual punishment" under the 8th Amendment to imprison juveniles for life. www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/us/politics/18court.html?scp=3&sq=supreme+court&st=nyt Five of the justices cited as one source of authority for their decision a U.N. treaty that has not been ratified by the Senate. Chief Justice Roberts concurred with the result in this particular case, but not with extending the ruling to all juveniles. By so doing, the Court majority was clearly legislating and not ruling judicially on a case-by-case basis as the Constitution sets out the function of the Court.

An excellent article in Imprimis by a Michigan Supreme Court justice traces the trend of the Supreme Court in becoming an unelected super legislature and what this portends for the future.
www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp The core of the battle is between jurists who see the role of the Court as measuring specific cases against what the Constitution, as written, requires in a particular instance and those jurists who see the Constitution as a "living, breathing" document that they alone interpret and which gives rise to sweeping policy pronouncements like the case cited above. The tricky part is that both sides use the same words, but with very different meanings. Although this may seem esoteric and something that only lawyers would find interesting, it is a life or death subject for the future of democracy in this country.

I have previously written about the strong streak of authoritarianism that runs through liberalism. The reason is that when they enact their policies into law, as is happening now with a Democratic President and Congress, they remind voters anew how arrogant and anti-Democratic they really are and lose the next election - often by a huge margin. Thus, they need another way to keep foisting their statist agenda on the country and what better way than the courts, whose members are unelected, appointed for life and, when it comes to the Supreme Court, not subject to any review. The method used by the judges is the "living, breathing" method of "interpreting" the Constitution, which really means "It is what we say it is, so shut up and sit down!"

Elites always think they know better than the people at large. Thus, in Europe there are no juries but rather just magistrates to decide your fate and, by the way, you have the burden of establishing your innocence. The EU has a corps of bureaucrats in Belgium that decide every minute detail of peoples' lives and the citizens of the EU countries have no recourse if they disagree because the bureaucrats are unelected. The same is true in health care. You get what you get and if you don't like it, you can't get a second opinion unless your are wealthy enough to travel to the U.S. The Founders of the United States explicitly rejected this model and created a system of checks and balances on the three branches of government and reserved ultimate power for the people. The elites in the U.S. are rejecting our historic differences from Europe and trying to erase the grand experiment that is the United States. To do this, they will use elected politicians if possible who ignore the will of the people once in office or, if that doesn't work, by five unelected justices of the Supreme Court.

Take the time to read the Imprimis article. We still have the right to vote and we should use it to elect responsible politicians who will take care in approving appointments to the Federal courts (can you say Kagan?), e.g. - judges who will be faithful to the Constitution as written and not to their own idea of what should be.

Character Counts

I just finished an article in Sports Illustrated about Big Ben (Roethlisberger), the Pittsburgh Steeler's quarterback, and it's not a very pretty picture. Ben is a legend in his own mind. Allegations of multiple sexual assaults, routinely boorish behavior, and driving around on his motorcycle without sticking a helmet on his big fat $102 million noggin are just a few of the reasons that the Super Bowl superstar has Pittsburgh fans ready to put him out with the trash. But wait, there's more!

How about Tiger, Kobe, or Tim Geithner? Who the Sam Hill is Tim Geithner? Nope, he's not an athlete - just the Secretary of the Treasury and former head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank who "forgot" to report a chunk of income and pay taxes on same. How about the Wall Street trader who was knowingly selling crap investments to a customer and laughing about it to his fellow traders? Then there is Mayor Sam Adams in Portland who hits - and I mean hits - on a teenage boy intern. You can look at any major sector of our society and find similar stories with people famous and not. It's enough to make one want to shout out across the whole country, "Have you no shame?" Sadly, the answer in most cases any more is "No."

Feeling a sense of shame presupposes some sense of morality on the part of the transgressor. When "It's all about me!" is your guiding principle, the only morality is what gratifies you at the moment. Without a sense of morality that comes from outside oneself, however, a conscience if you will, then "unfortunate" incidents like the ones cited above are merely tactical public relations problems. A good PR guy is called and after mouthing some soothing bromides to the public, the bad actors go right back to being bad again, albeit hopefully more discreetly. The problem from a societal standpoint is that individuals who cannot recognize evil in themselves cannot recognize it in others and put not only themselves but others in danger.

In the movie Die Hard a weaselly executive from the company being held hostage wants to get out and tries to negotiate with the terrorist/robbers. He sees no reason a deal can't be cut and gives up the name of John McClane's wife without a second thought. He is rewarded for his efforts with a bullet in the head. You have to know with whom you are dealing. Perhaps he got his just desserts, but he also put McClane's wife at risk. The end result is even worse when a nation is involved.

If you look at Obama's approach to Iran, it is illustrative of the same approach. Obama wants to focus on installing a permanent Democratic majority with him as the new FDR. Iran is a hindrance - a tactical problem to be solved so he can go back to what really interests him. To deal with this tactical issue, the Administration believes if it just makes a deal sweet enough for the Iranians, they will buy in and problem solved. The only hitch is that what the Iranians want to get back to is erasing Israel from the face of the world and installing a new Caliphate to rule the world, or at least the Middle East and parts of Europe. They are willing to die to accomplish this goal. When bad things happen, which they will, those pulling the levers at the top in D.C. will not have a clue what happened because they do not have a clue about immutable principles, as evil as those may be in the case of the Iranians. Everything is relative, everyone has a price. Just like Chamberlain believed when dealing with Hitler and LBJ believed when dealing with the North Vietnamese. Too bad they were wrong. Too bad Obama is too. You have to know with whom you are dealing. You have to have something outside of yourself informing your strategic goals and tactical decisions. Duty, honor, country would be a good place to start.

A Family Resemblance?

Am I the only one to notice a remarkable resemblance between President Obama's new nominee to the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, and Lou Costello or Horatio Saenz from SNL?

Summer, 2010

Retired Gen. Paul Vallely often appears on Fox as a military affairs commentator. Here is a very sobering video of an interview between Vallely and Bill Whittle of PJTV about the Middle East this summer. He predicts a possible preemptive Iranian attack against Israel to head off an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Centered in Lebanon, Scud missiles have been shipped into the area that can hit virtually all of Israel. That's bad enough, but an Iranian sub has been photographed within the last 2 weeks offloading something that required the sailors doing the work to wear gas masks and haz mat suits. Probably not just onions. In response, Israel has been passing out chemical protection kits to its citizens in the last week.

This is very serious stuff. So far as I can tell, the U.S. has been either trashing the Israelis or leading choruses of Kumbaya. I hope we have a Plan B because it could really hit the fan this summer.

www.pjtv.com/

A New Sweetheart for the Stein Family

Meet Ms. Emma Catherine Stein, our first little girl grandchild! May the Lord bless you and keep you and direct your steps your whole life long. Welcome to the world, young lady.