Earthquakes -- Physical & Political
A Tale of Two Systems (& Cities)
More accurate estimates are now coming in – some 111,000+ dead from the earthquake in Haiti. A terrible toll, with great needs for humanitarian relief. And once again, the US is providing the brunt of that aid, with resources & generosity surpassing other nations by virtue of the fruits of free-market capitalism & Christian values. You can donate at:
https://secure3.convio.net/ldsp/site/Donation2?df_id=1861&1861.donation=form1&s_src=14705
or
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ggl_main&s_subsrc=Red%20Cross&s_src=F7FWE001&gclid=CIre49qGvp8CFSBJagodoDlU0w
But as in any disaster, there are valuable lessons to be learned for the future. It is noteworthy that in the 1994 Northridge, Calif. earthquake of similar magnitude, under just as populated an area, fewer than 70 died. Clearly, it is buildings that kill, and especially shoddy ones. And Haiti has totally inadequate or nonexistent building codes, and ostensibly inadequate resources to build to good codes.
But it goes deeper than that. For decades we’ve been pouring in vast aid (and time and time again sending the military for one crisis or another) to a corrupt government that diverts it from the true needs of the populace. Just another example of throwing money at a problem without addressing the underlying problems (other examples include our education system, the welfare state,....). But as any good liberal-leftist knows, it’s intentions that count, and how much you spend on the problem. And once again, we see the results – the poorest nation in the hemisphere just continuing to suffer under the dole, and now more than ever.
How long does it take to learn a lesson? In California it’s taking a few decades. How many other money pits are we pouring our now even-more-limited resources into? At the current rate of spending and socialization, the cash cow will soon be milked dry, and who then will come to the aid of the needy? Not all the other already socialized nations.
The Scott Heard ‘Round the World
Speaking of earthquakes, there was one of the political kind in Massachusetts this week in the special election to fill the Senate seat vacant due to Ted Kennedy’s death. That seat was held by Kennedy for nearly 50 years, and Democrats obviously were not very concerned about it, in the most liberal state in the Union – just another “entitlement.” But as Scott Brown said when asked about his hubris in going for “Kennedy’s seat,” “That’s the peoples’ seat – not a person’s or party’s.”
In some other great lines in his victory speech, he repeated that “our tax dollars should be spent for weapons to fight our enemies, not lawyers to defend them.” He quoted John F. Kennedy on stimulating job growth through tax cuts (interesting to see how liberal the Democrat party has become since then). And that “we can do better” on health care reform. And the people chanted “yes, we can,” an ironic use of the same phrase used in Obama’s campaign. And he pointed out that if it can happen in Massachusetts, it can happen all across the country. Barbara Boxer, be afraid – be very, very afraid!
And the people of Massachusetts agreed. They also agreed with the clear & consistent platform he ran on, against the Democrat/Obama agenda that is taking us headlong & secretively into deep debt & socialization. And so it was a referendum on Obama & the Democrat Congress.
Still reeling, the Democrats are anxious to spin it otherwise, to prevent further erosion of their support among independents and Democrats. Obama glibly brushed it off as just more of the same kind of anger/discontent with the overall situation (economy, war) as what swept him into office. He continued to blame Bush for the previous 8 years, so why, then, would a liberal state elect a Republican espousing the same ideals, if it weren’t because they recognized that Obama’s direction is even worse? His rate of national debt increase is dramatically more than Bush’s (& soon already to surpass the absolute amount, in far fewer years) – just this week they raised the ceiling by 1.9 trillion dollars.
Obama’s other rationalization is that despite his great oratorical & intellectual skills, he just hasn’t explained things well enough [to us idiots, who apparently now are ignorantly angry, vs. those who were intelligently angry for his election], and so he went out on the stump to do so. He said he couldn’t think of anything he would/should have done differently. He defiantly said he won’t stop fighting! And that he’ll take his lumps. So NJ, VA & MA were not big enough lumps to adequately send the message – lets give him more so that he comes to his senses, or becomes powerless to continue his course if not. And apparently his ego, delusions and arrogance about his great powers of persuasion have not been diminished by 2 failures in Copenhagen and one in Massachusetts. Still in a fantasy world – a real danger to our country at home and abroad. Apparently he thinks his election was a blank check with no expiration.
Along the same veins, Howard Dean’s brilliant explanation was that voters were angry, yes, but because they wanted (or needed?) more of Obama’s agenda to get us out of the mess – they’re not doing enough! Another moment in great liberal logic – elect a conservative to reinforce the liberal agenda. Quite an insult to the intelligence of the voters of Massachusetts -- keep it up, Howard, and you'll lose that state for a long time. And princess Pelosi – “We heard, we will heed & we will move forward.” Sounds like more Obamaspeak.
It is almost pitiful to see them in denial. But not pitiful enough for me to overly concern myself with bursting their fantasy world bubble. If they don’t course-correct towards the center, they’ll only dig their hole deeper, and raise the price they’ll pay in elections this year. Yes, a short year (almost to the day) into Obama’s term, I believe we’ve seen their “high water mark.” George Will said he managed a faster reversal of his own approval, & re-invigoration of the Republican Party, in 1 year than what LBJ managed in 2 years. And to use another war expression, I believe that Obamacare was the Left’s “bridge too far.” Hopefully not only the end of Obamacare, now that their 60-vote steamroller has been broken, but also cap in trade, etc. He wouldn’t voluntarily deliver on his promises of bipartisanship and openness, and so now he will be forced to work across the aisle.
It all seems a great ironic tease – the Dems being handed a 60-vote majority by the barest of margins (much less than Bush’s in 2000) by the cartoonish Franken’s several-vote victory. Then they had a whole year, thinking they could do whatever they pleased without regard to opposition Congressmen or the people in Town halls & Tea Parties, and going through great machinations and plots & shady deals, working right up to Christmas Eve & beyond. And then, just as they were nearing the finish line, seeing it all come to naught, in the greatest irony of all – loss of the seat they most took for granted in the most liberal state after Ted Kennedy’s timely death. Kennedy of course being the foremost proponent of nationalized health care, providing the rallying cry for Democrats to “win one for the Gipper!”
It all seems beyond the possibility of coincidence. Perhaps finally some justice or karma after Chappaquiddick, and the great deception of the American people in Obama’s election – the socialist in Democrat clothing (see the previous post). The Greek theatrical term was “deus ex machina.” It would seem that many prayers for this country, and sacrifices, were answered -- and in the nick of time.
It does appear that even the arrogant Democrats in Congress are not now willing to blatantly ignore the American people by delaying seating Brown, by hurredly passing the Senate version of the health care bill in the House, or other shady deals.
Airheads America
And in another coincidental irony, Air America just announced it is filing for bankruptcy. It claims it is due to “difficult economic times.” Again with the leftist tendency to blame everything on economics and materialism, rather than values and content. Maybe their listeners are finally weary of Bush-bashing and other name-calling, and realizing that their emotional "arguments" can't compete in the marketplace of ideas, any more than socialism can compete with capitalism. And more great liberal logic – they fail to note that conservative talk radio is thriving in the same “difficult economic times.” Of course, being liberal means your ideas are just religiously, dogmatically correct, and don’t require validation by the unwashed masses, historical facts or logic. And it also means never having to say you were wrong, as Obama evidenced after Massachusetts.
More accurate estimates are now coming in – some 111,000+ dead from the earthquake in Haiti. A terrible toll, with great needs for humanitarian relief. And once again, the US is providing the brunt of that aid, with resources & generosity surpassing other nations by virtue of the fruits of free-market capitalism & Christian values. You can donate at:
https://secure3.convio.net/ldsp/site/Donation2?df_id=1861&1861.donation=form1&s_src=14705
or
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ggl_main&s_subsrc=Red%20Cross&s_src=F7FWE001&gclid=CIre49qGvp8CFSBJagodoDlU0w
But as in any disaster, there are valuable lessons to be learned for the future. It is noteworthy that in the 1994 Northridge, Calif. earthquake of similar magnitude, under just as populated an area, fewer than 70 died. Clearly, it is buildings that kill, and especially shoddy ones. And Haiti has totally inadequate or nonexistent building codes, and ostensibly inadequate resources to build to good codes.
But it goes deeper than that. For decades we’ve been pouring in vast aid (and time and time again sending the military for one crisis or another) to a corrupt government that diverts it from the true needs of the populace. Just another example of throwing money at a problem without addressing the underlying problems (other examples include our education system, the welfare state,....). But as any good liberal-leftist knows, it’s intentions that count, and how much you spend on the problem. And once again, we see the results – the poorest nation in the hemisphere just continuing to suffer under the dole, and now more than ever.
How long does it take to learn a lesson? In California it’s taking a few decades. How many other money pits are we pouring our now even-more-limited resources into? At the current rate of spending and socialization, the cash cow will soon be milked dry, and who then will come to the aid of the needy? Not all the other already socialized nations.
The Scott Heard ‘Round the World
Speaking of earthquakes, there was one of the political kind in Massachusetts this week in the special election to fill the Senate seat vacant due to Ted Kennedy’s death. That seat was held by Kennedy for nearly 50 years, and Democrats obviously were not very concerned about it, in the most liberal state in the Union – just another “entitlement.” But as Scott Brown said when asked about his hubris in going for “Kennedy’s seat,” “That’s the peoples’ seat – not a person’s or party’s.”
In some other great lines in his victory speech, he repeated that “our tax dollars should be spent for weapons to fight our enemies, not lawyers to defend them.” He quoted John F. Kennedy on stimulating job growth through tax cuts (interesting to see how liberal the Democrat party has become since then). And that “we can do better” on health care reform. And the people chanted “yes, we can,” an ironic use of the same phrase used in Obama’s campaign. And he pointed out that if it can happen in Massachusetts, it can happen all across the country. Barbara Boxer, be afraid – be very, very afraid!
And the people of Massachusetts agreed. They also agreed with the clear & consistent platform he ran on, against the Democrat/Obama agenda that is taking us headlong & secretively into deep debt & socialization. And so it was a referendum on Obama & the Democrat Congress.
Still reeling, the Democrats are anxious to spin it otherwise, to prevent further erosion of their support among independents and Democrats. Obama glibly brushed it off as just more of the same kind of anger/discontent with the overall situation (economy, war) as what swept him into office. He continued to blame Bush for the previous 8 years, so why, then, would a liberal state elect a Republican espousing the same ideals, if it weren’t because they recognized that Obama’s direction is even worse? His rate of national debt increase is dramatically more than Bush’s (& soon already to surpass the absolute amount, in far fewer years) – just this week they raised the ceiling by 1.9 trillion dollars.
Obama’s other rationalization is that despite his great oratorical & intellectual skills, he just hasn’t explained things well enough [to us idiots, who apparently now are ignorantly angry, vs. those who were intelligently angry for his election], and so he went out on the stump to do so. He said he couldn’t think of anything he would/should have done differently. He defiantly said he won’t stop fighting! And that he’ll take his lumps. So NJ, VA & MA were not big enough lumps to adequately send the message – lets give him more so that he comes to his senses, or becomes powerless to continue his course if not. And apparently his ego, delusions and arrogance about his great powers of persuasion have not been diminished by 2 failures in Copenhagen and one in Massachusetts. Still in a fantasy world – a real danger to our country at home and abroad. Apparently he thinks his election was a blank check with no expiration.
Along the same veins, Howard Dean’s brilliant explanation was that voters were angry, yes, but because they wanted (or needed?) more of Obama’s agenda to get us out of the mess – they’re not doing enough! Another moment in great liberal logic – elect a conservative to reinforce the liberal agenda. Quite an insult to the intelligence of the voters of Massachusetts -- keep it up, Howard, and you'll lose that state for a long time. And princess Pelosi – “We heard, we will heed & we will move forward.” Sounds like more Obamaspeak.
It is almost pitiful to see them in denial. But not pitiful enough for me to overly concern myself with bursting their fantasy world bubble. If they don’t course-correct towards the center, they’ll only dig their hole deeper, and raise the price they’ll pay in elections this year. Yes, a short year (almost to the day) into Obama’s term, I believe we’ve seen their “high water mark.” George Will said he managed a faster reversal of his own approval, & re-invigoration of the Republican Party, in 1 year than what LBJ managed in 2 years. And to use another war expression, I believe that Obamacare was the Left’s “bridge too far.” Hopefully not only the end of Obamacare, now that their 60-vote steamroller has been broken, but also cap in trade, etc. He wouldn’t voluntarily deliver on his promises of bipartisanship and openness, and so now he will be forced to work across the aisle.
It all seems a great ironic tease – the Dems being handed a 60-vote majority by the barest of margins (much less than Bush’s in 2000) by the cartoonish Franken’s several-vote victory. Then they had a whole year, thinking they could do whatever they pleased without regard to opposition Congressmen or the people in Town halls & Tea Parties, and going through great machinations and plots & shady deals, working right up to Christmas Eve & beyond. And then, just as they were nearing the finish line, seeing it all come to naught, in the greatest irony of all – loss of the seat they most took for granted in the most liberal state after Ted Kennedy’s timely death. Kennedy of course being the foremost proponent of nationalized health care, providing the rallying cry for Democrats to “win one for the Gipper!”
It all seems beyond the possibility of coincidence. Perhaps finally some justice or karma after Chappaquiddick, and the great deception of the American people in Obama’s election – the socialist in Democrat clothing (see the previous post). The Greek theatrical term was “deus ex machina.” It would seem that many prayers for this country, and sacrifices, were answered -- and in the nick of time.
It does appear that even the arrogant Democrats in Congress are not now willing to blatantly ignore the American people by delaying seating Brown, by hurredly passing the Senate version of the health care bill in the House, or other shady deals.
Airheads America
And in another coincidental irony, Air America just announced it is filing for bankruptcy. It claims it is due to “difficult economic times.” Again with the leftist tendency to blame everything on economics and materialism, rather than values and content. Maybe their listeners are finally weary of Bush-bashing and other name-calling, and realizing that their emotional "arguments" can't compete in the marketplace of ideas, any more than socialism can compete with capitalism. And more great liberal logic – they fail to note that conservative talk radio is thriving in the same “difficult economic times.” Of course, being liberal means your ideas are just religiously, dogmatically correct, and don’t require validation by the unwashed masses, historical facts or logic. And it also means never having to say you were wrong, as Obama evidenced after Massachusetts.
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