The statesman can only wait and listen until he hears the footsteps of God resounding through events; then he must jump up and grasp the hem of His coat, that is all. Thus Otto von Bismarck, the great Prussian statesman who united Germany and thereby reshaped Europes balance of power nearly a century and a half ago.
Last week, for the second time in his presidency, Barack Obama heard those footsteps, jumped up to grasp a historic opportunity and missed it completely.
#1
I have a strategy for the U.S. Cut government spending. Lessen the power of public unions. Have a national right to work law. The only lobbyist in the U.S. government ought to be the American voter. Reform government by making it smaller and responsible/responsive to the American people. Washington needs to trust in the American people. Rid the country of the progressive ideology which has just about killed the country. Get rid of political correctness and multiculturalism. Enforce and control immigration at the borders. Get a sensible tax law. Pass a balanced budget law and live by it. Have policies/taxes that encourage businesses to be in the U.S. Examine our entire regulatory process and seriously reform it.
#3
Well said JohnQC. Wish list indeed. Palin said we don't have another Regan. I believe we do. The person need only follow Ronald Regan's formula. He showed us the way. So many however will be against him or her should they do what needs to be done. So we need a strong leader with us then "lets roll".
#6
Dim ROcks, you say that about Reagan is if it means he is similar to the big spenders in there now. Not so.
The difference is Reagan's deficits were due to tax cuts that tamed double digit unemployment with double digit inflation, kicked off massive growth, and spent rebuilding a decimated and neglected military.
Remember, he inherited 12% inflation and 12% unemployment, an army where some of the lower enlisted were on food stamps, and when he left, he had won the cold war, and left Bush the Elder a military that was second to non, and far superior to any in the world, and the economy was booming. And Reagan was the last president to actually reduce the size of the Federal Register (the list of all hte laws and regulations of the Federal government). SO he did reduce the size of government and its intrusion.
Stick to comparing apples to apples, friend.
Unlike the current socialist who are piling up debt for social programs and growing the government.
#7
Brite Pebbles Hello; True true but we live in imperfect world. Pragmatic may be our only tool at this time. The course correction will require room to maneuver. What they are dealing with will either bring out the best or the worst in us all. Clear goals, decisiveness projected by a strong leader with support of the House and Senate. The media?. They have abandoned this country long ago. Someone once said let the dogs bark this wagon train is move'n on. The beginning must start somewhere. The Tea party has started motion in the right direction. The military, police, fire and rescue, and the heart of America want what is best for our country. Either a leader comes forward our we will flounder.
#2
Junta or not, grom. Da S is about to hit he F. Too many things that can go wrong--some are already in that territory, and Murphy sez hence they will.
#2
The Arabs like Big Moustache, they eat it up. They traded a venal Mubarak for a Military Junta. Those poor suckers are never going to get the vote or a new Constitutiuon. What they are going to get is promises an Barnacle Bill the sailor.
And the Palestinians are never going to build a damn thing. They have had fifty plus years to squat in their own feces keeping their feet warm...and whining at the top of their lungs about how the Jews wear shoes.
The Arabs are never going to be anything but what they are. And they are what they are because they have Koranic values.
The Koran produces exactly what you see when you see Arab countries. Exactly what you see. Take a good look.
#3
Dribble, you are correct. The "root cause" of all the problems is Islam. As long ago as the 9th century the leading Arab scholars were discussing philosophy and science AND THE BAD GUYS WON!.
The "correct" teaching of the Koran makes the entire idea of cause and effect haram. Allah wills all causes and all effects and there is nothing that prevents him from providing the causes with no effects; or effects with no causes.
If that is the principle on which a society is based then there is absolutely no way forward.
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
02/14/2011 9:31 Comments ||
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#4
The Koran is symptomatic of the culture, not the cause. From the time of Gilgamesh at least the common man was the servant of the gods. In the Sumerian creation myths the lesser gods rebelled against the high gods because they had to do all the work. To placate them the high gods created man.
The will of the gods was, naturally, interpreted by holy men.
Arabian society is built on a lack of freedom. Back in the temple days the Sumerians and their successors were more organized than the primitive tribals around them. The Arabs adapted to compete and we can see their success in the switch from Turanian to Semitic languages.
That was 5000 years ago and they're still trying to compete on that model. It's competitive to the same extent as any totalitarian regime. In the 7th century they imposed the Arabic language and culture on a swath of land running from Syria through Paleostine and across North Africa.
Syria and Lebanon and Paleostine spoke Semitic languages but they were distinct branches from Arabic -- the Phoenician and the Syriac group that included Aramaic, that Christ spoke. None of the native languages of North Africa are Semitic. Egyptian is representative of the Hamitic language group, and the Berber languages are a part of the Afroasiatic group. These language speakers' entire cultures and most of their languages are wiped out and an alien culture imposed on them. The Paleostinians don't even recall not having been "Arab."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 10:05 Comments ||
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I went to an indoor soccer game today and looked upon the face of bravery.
Two of my grandsons, Sporkleman and Gus, play on the same team in the 8-12 year old league. My son, Officer Friendly, coaches.
We arrived while the kids were having their pre-game practice and I immediately noticed that their Green team looked a little light. There was Sporky and Gus, a gangly Indian or Pakistani boy with glasses, and two cute little blond girls. None looked older than nine. The two little girls looked about six, though they had to be at least eight.
The rest of their team hadn't shown up.
The other team, the formidable Oranges, were also practicing. They not only looked up to strength, they looked like they'd brought friends. Where our team was at the lower end of the age spread, theirs was closer to the upper. At least one of the boys looked old enough to drive. Three of the girls looked old enough to be dating and one of them looked marriageable.
The Greens had the choice of forfeiting or getting clobbered.
Officer Friendly somehow recruited three kids who just happened to be there. Maybe he drafted them. Maybe he promised them signing bonuses. I think they were siblings of kids on the Orange team. They played in street clothes and they were as good as anyone on the Greens and many on the Oranges, even though one brought to mind Steve Urkle.
I've seen games where the Greens have played all over the floor, just chasing the ball. That wasn't today. All of them played their hearts out. Sporky, who had woken up with a headache this morning and hadn't intended to play, played guard, a skinny, awkward looking kid who kept at it, regardless: miss one, try for the next. Gus, who's short for his age and delicate looking, roamed the floor, aggressively trying to get his foot on the ball. The gangly kid with glasses was never still, always in there, once getting trampled. Julie, the little girl who played goalie the second half, proudly displayed the fresh scrapes on her knees. Steve Urkle was surprisingly good, making one of the two goals our kids managed. I'm not sure who made the other. Maybe it was an accident.
The final score was 9-2, I think, which is a clobbering. But our Greens earned those two goals, and they earned the admiration of all the parents and grandparents there.
They lost, but the other side knew they'd been in a game.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Is Egypt the next Iran? Pakistan? Indonesia? Turkey? Albania???
