High Ground Underground

Leveling The Playing Field Regarding the GOP race, this is no time to count any chickens before they’ve hatched. As has been pointed out, at this time in the last election, John McCain was only polling 3%. There are still at least a couple of very possible strong, late entries, missteps and key endorsements to be made, debates to be won and lost, and domestic and international events to unfold. The debate this week saw the boxing gloves put aside for now, and niceties from and for all except Barack Obama. But warning shots like “Obamneycare” had already been fired, and the truce will no doubt be only temporary. Nonetheless, polls last week showed Romney leading the GOP pack, and the only one beating Obama in a head-to-head contest. Of course part of that is due to name recognition from the last election, and the dilution of votes among the wide and lesser-known field of candidates. But the post-debate polls show Romney at 33% of GOP likely voters, and Bachmann at 19%, with the re...

Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead It’s been nearly 2 weeks since the world awakened to a day with one less terrorist mastermind (“bin who?”). And except for the expected Al Qaida & Hamas condemnations, there was nearly global public unanimity that the world is better off. There was the usual squabbling over minutia – should the Americans have notified Pakistan, should they have read “bin who?” his Miranda rights or shot him if he didn’t have an obvious weapon in his hands, and brought him to trial. Or should they have given him such a respectful Islamic funeral & burial at sea (he got more than he deserved), or have published his death photo. Or should we be jubilant and celebratory over this (what was good enough for the Munchkins is good enough for me, although of course this isn’t the end of the battle). All this matters little compared to the key point that if you mastermind the organization that killed thousands of Americans in a day nearly 10 years ago, you can run, but ...

Saving Congressman Ryan Flashback (or deja vous?). The Fuhrer had come to power with mesmerizing oratory and promises of new national salvation. He rallied his forces and drove deep into enemy territory, overturning the old order. The war had been fully engaged for over 2 years since the Fuhrer launched his blitzkrieg, and daring advances. The national socialists had advanced their control to the coasts, and were deeply entrenched in defensive positions. They appeared impregnable. But an invasion force of young brave men gathered to storm those beaches, and ashore they went to turn back those losses. The battle was fierce, and every weapon available was used against them. The enemy snipers directed their fire especially at one young soldier who seemed especially threatening, and those immediately around him, cutting him off from many of his comrades. But a force was sent in to save Private (er, Congressman) Ryan, and the valiant cause and powerful weapon he carried – a deficit...

The Japan Disaster Fatality estimates continue to rise into the tens of thousands in the wake of the monster 9.0 earthquake in Japan, and resulting tsunami. Our prayers and relief efforts need to go out to them. And consider that they are probably the most prepared of any nation on earth for those types of disaster. The Haiti earthquake was 100 times weaker, but deaths tens of times higher. Clearly the buildings did very well against the quake, but coastal villages and sea walls could not withstand the tsunami. There are lessons for us here, of course – especially L.A., and the Pacific Northwest (Washington/Oregon) with their earthquake/tsunami threats. The civility and orderliness in Japan contrast markedly with New Orleans after Katrina. But even in the developed nation of Japan, there were problems for many days with food, water & energy supplies, and real hardships. A testament that everyone should have some emergency storage. And keep gas tanks full for possible evacua...

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...