High Ground Underground

Walk Like an Egyptian? A poll of Egyptians by MEMRI is rather depressing, showing a majority aligning with the overall philosophies of the Muslim Brotherhood – sharia, elimination of Israel, etc.(see/hear Prager’s Feb. 7 hour 1). And Obama says that there are “strains of ideology” in the Muslim Brotherhood that are radical/jihadi? The definition of “strain” is a trace or narrow streak – both implying minute – not the case here. It is basically one and the same as Hamas. The Egyptian revolution was a failure of U.S. intelligence. And the intelligence agency apparently was getting its information on events there from the news networks. On top of that, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said before Congress that the Muslim Brotherhood is “largely secular.” He apparently hasn’t read recent (this month) statements by their leader praising their model, Iran, jihad against the US & Israel, etc. Now the Tunisian & Egyptian governments have fallen, Libya appear...

Bush was belittled for his statement that yearning for freedom from tyranny is a universal phenomenon that we should be supportive of. The Muslim world was supposedly a prime counterexample, with only a single exception – Turkey, which belongs to NATO. Maybe it was culturally genetic, after millennia of pharaohs, shahs, etc. Just like the tsars of Russia to which they are returning after a brief fling with democracy. Then came the massive protests in Iran, and in the last couple weeks Tunisia (leader ousted), Egypt (outcome pending – at the least a change in 8 months), Sudan, Oman & Jordan. The most common denominators seem on the surface to be weariness of oppressive economic, social and political conditions under multi-generational totalitarian sectarian (Egypt et al) or theocratic (Iran) rule. But those were also the bogeymen that were manipulated to bring the Bolsheviks, Nazis and Mullahs to power, replacing one form of tyranny with another. The people knew only they wan...

Pres. Obama’s SOTU speech was more of his best oratory, following on the Tucson shooting memorial speech. Following his “shellacking” in Nov., he seems to be verbally rising to the challenge, and perhaps firing the first shots (oops! -- censor that!) of the 2012 campaign. There were plenty of lofty goals & American cheerleading (for a change) we can all agree on, as evidenced by some bipartisan applause. They hearken back to the “hope & change” mantra (which has produced only the worst of the latter). But the devil is in the details, and while he gave lip service to free enterprise and the deficit crisis, his policies boiled down to continuing significant government “investment” & meddling, and no significant cuts in the deficit. And there the “bipartisanship” ended. And his record of delivering any positive results for all his “change” in the 1st 2 years is abysmal, as even many of his formerly ardent supporters are lamenting. The gap between his words, actions and r...

When I heard that in Tucson a U.S. representative, and a Federal judge, as well as several other innocent bystanders had been shot and some killed, I hadn’t yet heard what the party affiliation of the representative (or judge) was, but felt immediately it was an attack against democracy, as any assassination attempt is. And it made me shocked and angry. That didn’t change when I learned it was a Democrat Representative. What did change, was when we almost immediately began to hear a tirade from almost every media commentator, and the Pima County sheriff, about how this was a result of the inflamed political rhetoric of the Right, the Tea Party, and certain conservative spokespeople. A sheriff, of all people, should rely more on evidence, and be circumspect about personal opinion. There was then, and there is now, no evidence whatsoever that the shooter was aligned with or listened to or influenced by any of them – in fact, perhaps that was his problem – talk shows could have kept h...

Here is Allysia Finley discussing her controversial Wall Street Journal Opinion article on "California: the Lindsay Lohan of States" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592612400443370.html#dummy). We have $70 B of general obligation debt, and $500 B unfunded pension liability. Her article says CA government is run by a brothel of environmentalists, lawyers, public sector unions & legislative bums. We're borrowing over $40M a day to pay for public employee pensions. Sound like Greece? Michael Barone noted that the GOP gained over 670 seats in state legislatures & governors, in addition to the gains in the US Congress.

The “Shellacking” Clearly Nov. 2, 2010 was a very good day for the country, in restoring some fiscal and constitutional sanity, with a historical 61 GOP seats gained in the House, and several in the Senate. We did, indeed, fire Pelosi, and I may now need to modify my byline – we’re now no longer completely out of power. Now they’d better do what they were sent there to do – lower spending & government growth, stop tax increases, and repeal the most egregious parts of Obamacare, if the entire bill is not found unconstitutional in the multi-state attorneys general case. But Obama & his cohorts appear to continue to be tone deaf in understanding the reasons for their reversal of fortune. And this does not bode especially well for the battles ahead. They believe, apparently still, that it was just some irrational fear & lashing out due to the poor economy, and the electorate’s ignorance of the greatness of what he’s done – maybe only in part because he hasn’t explained it w...

And here's Jerry Brown confessing "It's all a lie": http://www.megwhitman.com/media/video/11821/ In other news, Obama on Jon Stewart: "Yes, we can, BUT....." Obama & the Dems/Libs/Left denounce opposition to them & their agenda as based on irrational fear. Right, and who is it that invokes that ultimate fear of the Left by labeling us Nazis? Or fascists? Or that we'll be plunged into the Dark Ages if we return Republicans to power? If you think about it, though, staggering debts and alarming government growth are irrational things to be feared.