High Ground Underground

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 code...

Another Epiphany! Giving credit where credit is due, apparently Pres. Obama has had yet another epiphany similar to those in his (ig)Nobel prize speech (that there IS evil in the world that can NOT be negotiated with but must be fought). The other day he actually used the words “war on terror” for the first time, instead of “overseas contingency operations,” or “man-caused disasters.” The Left must be fuming. It is not yet clear whether this is a real conversion from the liberal-left virtual world to reality, or just Augustinian political expediency. If the latter, our outcries may be getting through – liberals just have to feel loved, and apparently he wasn’t feeling the love being returned from the rest of the world (his "foreign affairs") after his apology tours, so he’s starting to make another try at patching things up back home. Socialists in Democrats' Clothing There were hints in the campaign, like the little slip to Joe the Plumber about “spreading the wealth....

Anti-American-Exceptionalism & Pseudo-Science Exposed The Left loves to undermine the ennobling concept of American Exceptionalism (a “shining city on a hill” -- see also the Prager University video link in my favorite links), to make it easier for us to go the way of other countries & their failures. One of their favorite tactics is to besmirch our Founding Fathers, and thereby delegitimize or dismiss the system they produced – they are prone to reject completely anyone or thing exhibiting what they perceive as the slightest hypocrisy. They seem to jump at any opportunity or possibility, and propagate it in school textbooks and other works. Well, here is an example of where they took a blind leap into error, as has now been demonstrated. But of course being liberal or Left means never having to say you’re sorry, or wrong. William Hyland has published “In Defense of Jefferson,” about our 3rd president who has long been accused of fathering a child through a slave girl, Sal...

Climate Gate Occasionally Jon Stewart throws conservatives a bone: “Poor old Al Gore... global warming was just debunked by the same internet he invented.” Sounds like my family’s East Anglian emigrants left behind some real rif-raf who conjured up “Climate Gate.” On the same subject, I understand Copenhagen was providently hit by a serious snowstorm & cold in the midst of the global warming (or “climate change”) conference. And Pres. Obama just can’t get enough “No’s” there, can he (after the Olympics pitch)? Can’t be one of his favorite places – he always comes away empty-handed. Echos of Bush However, maybe there’s a glimmer of hope for his teachability. At the Nobel ceremony, he apparently got true religion – there really IS evil in the world, and some you CAN’T negotiate with but must confront to have peace. Amazing when reality and responsibility finally hit you! He almost sounded like Bush, and it was funny to see the dumbfounded looks on the faces of Europeans there ...

20 Years Later.... President Obama today called the Ft. Hood massacre "a tragedy that is incomprehensible..." Despite all his other fine words at the memorial, in this he is dead wrong. And precisely because of that kind of wrongness, many are dead. We DO understand already Maj. Hasan's motivations -- he'd been speaking them loud and clear for years, as it's coming out now, and shouted them loud and clear as he began shooting -- "Allah akbar!" His loyalties were long in question. The US media has been tripping over itself to ignore the obvious, and blame it on everything but the obvious -- even coining new terms like "pre-traumatic stress," or blaming hazing, or our involvement in a war the Left is anxious to blame, and that as Rev. Wright said, "our chickens have come home to roost." As Occam's razor goes, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. The British press is the only press with integrity to report his Al Q...

Obama’s second 100 days have gone by since my last post – I’ve been dying to post but pre-occupied with higher priority projects and deadlines. I’m working from a few rushed notes and memory, and hardly know where to begin. The Emperor’s Clothes There actually does seem to be some evidence of Obama’s divinity – he has seemed almost omnipresent lately. Except at Fox News. But the true Christ went even to preach to the spirits in prison, so it would appear that Obama is not the Messiah, after all. And many believed greatly in Obama’s almost divine powers of speech and persuasion. Until those powers were proven lacking against the Olympic selection committee (even with the similarly divine Oprah), and Ahmedinejad, and the blue dog Democrats, and American opinion polls and townhalls, and..... But perhaps there’s another explanation – perhaps all of those are Philistines, Scribes and Pharisees who just can’t appreciate true personal greatness when they see it – such seemed to be the ex...