What if I walked up to you a couple of weeks ago and said, a Nigerian man with no passport, a one-way ticket, aided by a sharp-dressed man who said the fellow is a Sudanese refugee was allowed to board a Northwest Airline from Amsterdam to America you’d probably exclaim, couldn’t happen, those are read flags since 9/11. Well, you’re wrong. Another terrorist unsuccessfully attempted a mid-air explosion thanks to a failed detonator and heroic American citizens. But according to the expressionless Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on This Week, she said, “everything went according to clockwork” and further, “the system worked.” If it works so well, how come the rush to more regulations, restrictions and dog sniffers. Lady, I don’t know what clock you’re looking at or what system you think works, but your clock is broken.
Let’s go back to the future for a moment and remember a post-9/11 America. Let’s try to remember a time when someone’s gut instincts told ‘em, hey, something is wrong with this picture. They did not require the services of a sniffer dog, high-tech screener or even a government-issued book of regulations and best practices to follow. Naw, they just used their noggin and gut. It was December 1999, upon arriving on a ferry from Canada, al-Qaida operative Ahmed Ressam was arrested with a trunk full of explosives. His plan: to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. Customs inspector Diana Dean said, “His story didn’t make sense to me,” Dean was working the border that night. On a hunch something wasn’t quite right, she questioned Ressam and asked him to pop his trunk. Inside were big bags of white powder that were first thought to be drugs. The tests came back negative. When investigators looked further, they found timers and realized the powder was explosives. Dean said, “My heart dropped right into my toes when I realized what it was.” She went on to say, “I don’t recall any specific threats,” she added. “I don’t recall anybody saying watch for terrorists.”
There were warning signs about Ft. Hood terrorist and murderer Nidal Hasan. Even as I write this article, according to terrorist and attempted murderer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, there are more al Qaeda-trained young men in Yemen planning to bring down American jets. Twice in 2000, including one time after the USS Cole bombing, Clinton had bin Laden in his sights and failed to pull the trigger, according to a senior Pentagon official familiar with covert counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan at the time. Under President Obama, we’ve gone from The Global War on Terror to the Oversees Contingency Operation. He’s weakened our resolve, embarked on an apology tour for the U.S., collapsed our economy and provided a timeline to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Complacency or its contemporary term, Political Correctness has reared its ugly head. In common man’s terms, I’d call it weakness. George Washington in his first message to Congress on January 8, 1790 said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” On December 3, 1793, Washington elaborated more on this principle: “There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are ready at all times for war.”
I know there are millions upon millions of fine, well-disciplined, hard-working and well-educated Americans from all walks of life who will rise to defeat the same tyrannical challenges our Founding Fathers feared, faced and conquered. What we need today and going forward is a commitment among the good folks of our great country to relieve politicians of his/her duties on November 2, 2010. We will have to fight the good fight. We, and not the government, for the government we once knew is now an amorphous thing that does not honor or abide by the same Constitution written by our Founders. In the coming years, it will be the common man who leads us back to the road to liberty and freedom once again. Here ye! Let freedom and liberty ring loud!
2010 will continue with more of the same Hope-N-Change from Comrade Obama and friends. Hopefully I will start blogging again after the first of the new year. We conservatives need to continue the war against the progressives who are ripping this country in two. Our radical “President” has divided this nation racially more than any other person in US history. Remember when people used to just laugh at you when you disagreed with the government and President? Now you get called a Nazi and a racist, anti-American and anti-(insert just about anything here), words Comrade Obama has used against us himself.
Do yourself a favor, if you haven’t already, read Common Sense by Thomas Paine and also read the Federalist Papers, The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and you will understand better why this nation was founded. Watch National Treasure and listen to the words that are spoken in that movie and watch the reverence the characters have for American history and the Declaration of Independence.
Have a great new year and keep fighting for liberty!
Some Jihadi tries to blow up a plane with explosive underpants, and the TSA promptly does what it has been doing since 2002: slamming the barn door shut after the horse, and catching all our metaphorical dicks in it in the process. The public needs to regain the feeling of safety, so the TSA takes swift steps to prevent any future attacks that may occur in precisely the same fashion.
Have you noticed that all those Jihadis are always so joyless? Like most proper religious zealots, fun seems to be specifically outlawed by religious edict. The fanatics in the hardcore fundamentalist offsprings of the Big Three Abrahamic religions are actually remarkably similar in that respect—they usually prohibit eating tasty stuff, using your body for any pleasurable activity, listening to non-Godly music, chugging booze, or doing anything that’s not directly related to scoring brownie points with the Big Guy upstairs.
Anyway, I thought it might be time for a new business venture, to bring some cheer to the joyless Warriors of Allah. I’ll need some venture capital for this, but I think it has enormous profit potential:
Introducing Kablamnimals™! The first line of explosive underwear with Koran-friendly cartoon characters!
Why put on those ugly homemade long johns when you could be blowing yourself into paradise while your loins are girded with whimsical and amusing animal friends? Choose from any of over two dozen characters, including Ghalib the Goat, Farouk the Fox, Hassan the Horse, and Careem the Camel!
The only explosive underwear on the market with an eternal guarantee! (Available with TNT, Semtex, and PETN liners.) Look for Kablamnimals™ soon at your local JihadMart, Hamas-R-Us, or official Wahhabi World™ merchandise store.
Automatic for the People: The AK-47
by C.J. Maloney
*** begin quote ***
Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist No. 29 that should the federal government ever turn despotic it “can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms.” If every American family had an AK-47 hanging on the wall over the 46” wide-screen plasma, that’d force enough to give any army pause.
So next May Day, assuming you remember it at all, take a moment to honor the memory of the millions slaughtered over the lethally stupid idea of communism, but give a nod to God’s great mercy, to His mysterious way that willed that very same idea to birth the AK-47. It gave to the working masses the ability to defend themselves from the more virulent strain of politicians; it is the sword of the common man. Of all the firearms yet dreamed up by mankind, it is the automatic for the people.
*** end quote ***
Why you might ask?
One: Do you think the politicians or the police fear the people?
Two: See the rising crime rate in unarmed Britan? And the number of home invasions?
Third, See the Tea Party rallies? Congressional Town Halls? They do any good?
(This has been quite a week for natural law thought, what with Princeton philosopher Robert George featured in a New York Times Magazine spread and all. That excellent spread raised a lot of commentary, including a response by homosexual Catholic and erstwhile conservative Andrew Sullivan, excoriating George at his blog for The Atlantic. That commentary was sent to me by a leftist friend with the simple question, “thoughts?” in the subject header. It seemed only natural [pun intended] to put those first-reaction “thoughts” for my friend out there for the world to see.)
As you know from previous discussions, I prefer to let the adversary do the talking, so in response to Sullivan’s quotes:
“There does seem something intuitively right about seeing our ‘nature’ as some sort of guide to the way we should live our lives.”
OK, here’s where he goes wrong. Sullivan is a voluntarist at heart, much like most Western thinkers in recent centuries. He continually defines the “natural” based on what feels right, what occurs in the absence of coercion to the contrary, and what people want to do. When he asks…
“What do we mean by nature? How do emotion and reason interact? How precise and universal can we be in adducing morals from something as diverse and varied as the fruits of natural selection? How can we be sure we aren’t smuggling in all sorts of pre-existing views of what nature is and what morality is when we declare something “unnatural”? How does an argument that designates an entire sub-section of humankind as inherently immoral square with the goodness of God’s creation or the morally neutral power of Darwin’s theory?”
…he’s saying that we mean things that happen by “nature.” He’s implying that emotion and reason interact in such a way that an emotion is an a priori good, justified by instrumental reasoning after the fact (equally true whether it’s homosexuals who employ reasoning to justify their sex lives or heterosexuals who employ reasoning because they want to oppress “the other”). He’s saying that we start with the fruits of natural selection, then adduce morals from them based on what we want/what feels right to us/what empowers us/what we will to do. He’s saying that we do smuggle in “pre-existing views” of nature (he’s kind of correct on that one, and I’ll come back to this in a minute). And he’s saying that an entire sub-section of humankind who wants to do something should be condoned in doing so unless it infringes on someone else’s general liberty, either through God or Darwin.
The problem is that Sullivan’s argument starts with will as the basis for liberty, and looks for ways to justify what we want to do once we’ve determined what it is that we want. George (and I) are intellectual supremacists, arguing that reason has to be the king of the will a la Aristotle and most Western thinkers prior to the so-called Enlightenment. In a nutshell, just because someone wants to do something by nature does not mean that this desire is in accordance with human nature. I can want to have sex with a rock, or to kill my neighbor because of his skin color. But will does not determine morality. Reason does, because reason is at the apex of human nature. Many animal natures, ours included, contain will; only human nature contains reason. Reason looks for purposes and reasonable uses of things. A reasonable use of physical strength is material work or defense of innocent people, not arbitrary violence. A reasonable use of sex that takes into account its primary effect, which is procreation, cannot justify either homosexual or other non-procreative sex.
Sure, homosexual tendencies exist in the will by nature; as Sullivan says, “even” the Vatican recognizes that. But the Vatican isn’t just interested in keeping the gay man down (no sick pun intended). It is interested in preserving the primacy of reason and not the will as the basis for moral liberty. We have all kinds of tendencies that are unnatural. Look at the tendency held by so many towards greed and materialism of the sort you rightly rail against. You acknowledge that economic liberty ought to be oriented around the purpose of fulfilling human need, and I agree with you there despite our many disagreements about the best way to do so. Natural law thinkers extend the same kind of purpose-driven liberty discerned by reason to sexuality, politics, personal choices, etc.
Sullivan is wrong to say that “sexual orientation is the critical category here, not procreation or nature as it is actually found, and the result is to retain a stigma and legal discrimination against homosexuals – simply because they are what they are.” Again, he assumes a lack of reason behind the motives of his opponents (and I don’t doubt that he’s right as far as most on the American Right go). But he sees the entire debate over homosexuality as a clash of wills, not of reasonable positions. Intellectually speaking, that makes it very hard for him to justify his position over the alternative, much though a clash of wills is par for the course in current American politics. Stigmas are not always unreasonable, even if they do condemn something many people want to do.
Finally, Sullivan raises the point that, “You’d think that Christian scholars would be intrigued to figure out the questions – what are homosexuals for? why did God create them? why did natural selection favor their persistence?” An interesting question, to be sure, but not with the assumption that whatever a person desires is an a priori moral right. The question Christian theologians would file these points under is, “Why does sin seem so right and so appealing to a creature made in the image and likeness of God?”
I’m not the only one who thinks His Oneness is on a mission to turn this great nation into something our Founding Fathers would not recognize.
Obama has already shown himself quite willing to lie about health care reform — and so much else — that we should expect nothing else from him. Do you really believe the president is so stupid he is unaware that CBO has admitted that the Medicare “savings” were double-counted in the health care bill as both extending the life of Medicare and as reducing the deficit? He knows, and he simply doesn’t care. He is utterly contemptuous of We the People, as are all liberals. Total control of the citizens is his actual goal, and nothing will be allowed to stand in his way, most especially that inconvenient Constitution which constrains the government.
If states’ Attorneys General do their jobs, the American public is about to get some priceless lessons in what that venerable document actually means, on whether the judicial system is prepared to adhere to it, and on who amongst the hogs at the trough, if any, will defend it and you.
Now is the time to decide what you, personally, will do to defend the document designed to protect your liberties. You are gathered with friends and family this season, so why wait for some “better time” to discuss something which affects all your lives? Next year you may get to experience your own version of a state-controlled Christmas.
“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.” – - Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson warned, “If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied … I sincerely believe the banking institutions having the issuing power of money are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.”
The health care debate thus far has been nothing short of scary. What Congress has displayed in the last four weeks indicates that this country has degenerated from one of laws to one without. When the lawmakers are no better than the criminals themselves, what can you expect? We were promised transparency – we have gotten something completely devoid of anything even resembling that definition. It’s no longer embarrassing, but rather quite outrageous. Bob Basso, who plays Thomas Paine in the popular YouTube videos has said it perfectly – they are non-representing representatives.
We are talking about one of the most significant pieces of legislation right now in the senate and one that is arguably one of the most controversial at the same time. In no way have Americans even remotely come out in droves to support this and in good reason. The bill is dangerous, infringes dramatically on people’s rights, and is completely unsustainable. Regardless you still here the monotone talking points about how in some twisted way this creates jobs or cuts the budget by some miniscule amount or saves the people money when in no way does it come close to doing any of those things.
What have we gotten from them so far?
Debate on the senate floor has been one-sided at best. There has been no real willingness to compromise based on any inputs from the republicans and much of what the democrats have done has been through exclusive closed-door kind of conversations. In clear violation of any kind of transparency they promised us, but they continue to maintain that the faster this bill gets passed the better. Harry Reid has used measures on the house floor to cut down the amount of debate time by training presiding senators to denying additional minutes to speak, holding sessions into the twilight hours of the morning. Monday morning was a perfect example of this when the senate held a cloture vote at 1 am, which subsequently passed and have significant more leverage it furthering the progress of the bill. They are moving towards a culmination of a Christmas Eve vote, which is absolutely ridiculous and unprecedented.
What does this all boil down to?
Barack Obama is going to have to give his state of the union speech later this winter and he needs some phony accomplishment to be able to credit to himself coming out of his disastrous first year in office. It would make the script perfect for him, I can picture it now. He’ll be talking about how the democrats have been trying to successfully reform health care for decades and he finally accomplished it himself. After all he needs to find some way to take attention of the failed stimulus among all other things that have gone awry. Job creation has been nothing short of a joke and consumer confidence still is awful. Not to mention the fact that for a fourth quarter in the middle of the holiday season, the returns have been abysmal for him. Quite a nice way to welcome in your new year and wish you a Merry Christmas knowing that you will have an enormous new tax burden that your hard earned dollars will be going to subsidize.
Unfortunately it doesn’t stop with health care as our lovely government has been working very hard to force you to subsidize billions of dollars over seas in the name of phony climate change. We all know that money will solve the mysterious global warming problem – and I say mysterious because I can’t quite detect what they are referring to as warming. New York has already gotten half its average seasonal snowfall and this week marks the first official week of winter. This government certainly does not have the interest of the people in mind and if you can’t tell that by now, I have to ask you where you have been. Just because they say they are looking out for you don’t mean they are. All you have to do is go back to those false claims that the majority of Americans of out in full force supporting what the purport to be health care reform. Clearly the polls have been indecisive at best. We do know that an estimated 40% of the health profession, specifically general practitioners would consider quitting if the new health care bill became law – this would be so incredibly devastating to our medical field you can’t even begin to imagine what the ramifications of that could be.
The only solution to this problem is we the people. This government was founded by those who wanted to make this country free and was meant to be accountable to the people. In 2010 we must hold our representatives accountable. It’s time to vote for people who will not hide behind closed doors and hold emergency Christmas Eve sessions. If the Americans in Congress had any backbone they would walk out on the health negotiations all together to show what this really has been all along – an assault on the Congress of the United States. These people are almost as bad as our enemy overseas. Their near-sighted partisanship is wearing away at the very infrastructure of this great nation – one that has been years in the making; yet, still is the greatest Country in the World.
Every Man has his price. Find that price and own the man.
Washington Post: “Change is never easy, but change is what’s necessary in America,” Sen. Nelson said at a morning news conference, announcing his support as a snowstorm raged outside.
Speaking at the White House, Obama said it appears that a vote is certain on a bill that would provide coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. “After a nearly century-long struggle, we are on the cusp of making health-care reform a reality,” said Obama, who had dispatched senior administration officials to help lock down Nelson’s support.
Democratic leaders worked for days to hammer out a deal with Nelson. They reached a tentative agreement late Friday night. Under the deal, states could choose to prohibit abortion coverage in plans offered through insurance exchanges that the bill would set up for people who lack coverage through their jobs. The compromise is less restrictive than the abortion language contained in the House bill.
Nelson also secured full and permanent federal funding for his state to extend Medicaid eligibility to everyone below 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill would require all states to do so, but Nebraska alone would not be required to pay a portion of the additional cost after 2016.
And there it is, folks, the price of Freedom. The Final Bribe.
Landrieu got $300 Million (The New “Louisiana Purchase”) . Joe Liebermann got some language related to “the public option dropped”(at least in the Senate, in that explicit language) and got lots of attention and I’m sure a little back scratching , and Nelson got a permanent handout.
Nelson deferred all questions on the provision to Reid, saying only that he was “comfortable” the deal took care of Nebraska.
Screw America, Nebraska’s ok.
Gee, that makes me feel so much better.
But another Democratic holdout, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), took credit for $10 billion in new funding for community health centers, while denying it was a “sweetheart deal.” He was clearly more enthusiastic about a bill he said he couldn’t support just three days ago.
And he’s the openly avowed Socialist!
Vermont and Massachusetts were given additional Medicaid funding, another plus for Sanders and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Three states – Pennsylvania, New York and Florida – all won protections for their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries at a time when the program is facing cuts nationwide.
And the Bribes continue:
And the majority leader rewrote a proposed fee on insurance companies to exempt nonprofit firms that spend at least 92 percent of premiums on medical service, a change that would benefit firms in Michigan and Nebraska. That change, made at the request of Nelson and Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), seeks to identify and reward “good actors,” Senate aides said.
“People fight for their own states. That’s the nature of a democracy,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
No, Congressman , it’s the People. Not the State.
But since your re-election is all that matters to you….
Compared to the Trillions they have spent this, I suppose Freedom was a cheap date.
And he won concessions for some nonprofit insurers and for providers of supplemental Medicare coverage from a new insurance tax, and he was able to roll back cuts to health savings accounts.
But all that lovely bureaucracy and crushing tax increases are still there.
Oh Joy.
The revised Senate bill would require every American for the first time to obtain insurance or face a financial penalty for failing to do so. Those without access to affordable coverage through an employer would be eligible to apply for federal subsidies and shop for coverage in the new state-based exchanges, starting in 2014.
So Buy it or go to be fined or go to Jail. The no choice “choice”.
The penalty for violating this requirement could be as high as 2 percent of a taxpayer’s household income.
AP: The package would rely on nearly $400 billion in new taxes. The nearly $1 trillion, 10-year cost would be paid for mainly with Medicare cuts and new taxes on insurance companies and other parts of the health care industry.
NYT: To help finance coverage of the uninsured, the bill would levy annual fees on insurance companies and manufacturers of medical devices and prescription drugs.
And of course, the insurance companies won’t pass along all these new taxes to you, the consumer. No, that never happens.
And the Taxes begin in 2010. Benefit in 2014. States have to pay likely hundred of millions of $$ all by themselves starting in 2016 (All other states have to partially pay for a Medicaid expansion to admit all adults earning up to 130 percent of poverty level, if they haven’t done so already), except Nebraska, of course.
Joyous Rapture.
We’re Saved!
Starting immediately, insurers would be barred from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions. A total ban on the practice would take effect in 2014. Lifetime limits on coverage would be banned, and annual limits would be restricted until 2014, when they, too, would be banned entirely.
Which will raise the premiums. But no one seems to care about that.
You’ll be so happy that they government has come to your rescue that being stuck like a pig and roasted on a spit will be just a occassion for great joy and prosperity.
To appease fiscal conservatives, Reid strengthened cost-containment provisions by expanding the scope of an independent Medicare advisory board, empowering it to implement cuts if costs grow faster than an inflation-based target after 2019.
And of course, they’ll do it.
It’s called “rationing”.
“I’m sorry Mrs Jones but you’re 85. We just don’t think that the operation that will save your life is economically worth it in the long run…”
The cost-benefit analysis is just not in your favor.
NYT:The federal government would provide $25 million a year for a “pregnancy assistance fund.” The money could be used for “maternity and baby clothing, baby food, baby furniture and similar items,” the proposal says.
And this they say will reduce abortions.
Look ma, if I get pregnant I get all kinds of free money!
And then there’s welfare, and Health care, and WIC, Food Stamps ad nauseum.
It’s all Free Money!
Being poor and having a kid never looked so profitable.
AP:“The best thing government could do to ensure more Americans have access to health care insurance is to institute reforms that would rein in costs and make health care more affordable,” said McCain, R-Ariz. “Regrettably, there’s nothing in this legislation that effectively addresses the problem.”
McCain suggested the Obama administration wouldn’t be in such a position if it had governed in a more bipartisan way.
“That’s why they’re in the position of having to purchase the last vote or two,” McCain said.
“A number of states are treated differently from other states,” Mr. Reid said. “That’s what this legislation is all about, compromise.”(NYT)
Seperate and unequal.
But Senator McCain, that was never the intent to begin with. Government, even incrementally, in charge of who lives and who dies was the goal.
And it seems Freedom is doomed.
When all this blows up in their face and they have yet another collosus on bankruptcy in the future it will too late.
Just remember it wasn’t their fault.
It was George W. Bush’s!!
Doesn’t that just make you feel so much better.
Let’s everyone have a Two Minute Hate!
Oh, and it was for the good of the people, despite that annoying 55-61% of people who were opposed to the whole thing!
You’ll never see that in the liberal history books.
And we can’t forget, because they haven’t, about the 12-20 million new Democrats..ahem Illegal Aliens..um, “Immigrants” that have to be added to the system and will undoubtedly be subsidized by you me (“The federal government”).
So it’s a Joyous Christmas Season.
The Season of Giving.
“This bill will do so many good things for so many people,’’ said majority leader Harry Reid.
Little Timmy is just overjoyed!
So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause. And lots of Christmas Cheer.
Courtesy of Sen. Ben Nelson and his Cornhusker Kickback.
So we can replace the politically incorrect coal in your stocking with Corn.
On February 15, 2003 coordinated anti-war protests across the world against the imminent invasion of Iraq saw the largest protest in human history. Millions of people took to the streets in approximately 800 cities around the world. According to the BBC (always conservative in their estimations) between six and ten million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th; other estimates range from eight million to thirty million. The BBC figures seem less likely when you consider that the protest in Rome alone involved around 3 million people, and is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally in history.
The Iraq war went ahead regardless.
Last week in Copenhagen world leaders gathered to discuss acting on potentially the most pressing problem humans have ever faced, climate change.
With the future of six billion people in the balance the proceedings ground to a halt thanks to the ineptitude of a few old men who frankly will be dead soon and have little to worry about in the immediate future except for keeping a tight hold on their obscene power and wealth (excuse our ageism, but we’re rather pissed!). But the latest scientific evidence suggests that everyone below the age of fifty will live to suffer the effects of an increasingly more treacherous and unpredictable climate.
To call this state of affairs democratic is an insult to 99.9% of the human race. We need real change, and we need it now. We’ve said it before and we’ll keep saying it, the infrastructure and technology exists to do away with the aged (oops, sorry, there goes the ageism again) and corrupt political systems that serves the interests of banks and corporations instead of people and planet. The celebrity freaks who claim to be our ‘leaders’ have proved themselves to be inept and should be abandoned completely. But we also need to question the fact that these leaders are drawn from people unqualified for the job in hand; if your boiler blows you don’t vote for the guy with the whitest smile, you get the guy with the right training. We have the technology (see we told you we’d keep saying it) to ensure that the right minds are applied to the right problems - now we just need the balls to make it happen!
IBD: We’d guess Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana sums up the Beltway wisdom when he says that tension across party lines makes it tough to rein in the debt and deficits. “Democrats want to spend more than we can afford,” he said. “Republicans want to cut more taxes than we can afford.”
And since politicians don’t cut programs, especially their own pet ones, tax hikes are inevitable.
And these could be on the backs of the Health Reform Taxes and potentially Cap & Trade taxes.
Cap & Trade is looking doubtful, but not impossible, as the Copenhagen Summit collapsed under it’s own weight late in the week.
They created enough of their own self-obsessed “carbon footprints” to choke a few African nations and came away with nothing really.
Anyone ever heard of Net Meeting?
John Sauven, Greenpeace UK’s executive director, said: “There are no targets for carbon cuts and no agreement on a legally binding treaty. It seems there are too few politicians in this world capable of looking beyond the horizon of their own narrow self-interest.” (examiner)
No truer statement, especially these day.
And especially when it comes to Democrats, Republicans, and the spoilers, Independents like me.
And Partisanship has hardened more and more in the last 10 years.
WSJ: Last year, for example, Democrats voted with the majority of their caucus 92% of the time in the House and 87% of the time in the Senate. Republicans voted with the majority of their caucus 87% of the time in the House and 83% of the time in the Senate. In other words, in only a small percentage of cases do either Democrats or Republicans buck the party line. That’s a picture of lockstep partisan voting, and it has been that way since the late 1990s.
So the Democrats, who have a majority, want to spend like it doesn’t matter on The Agenda. And the minority wants to cut taxes to stimulate the economy. But to Democrats the phrase “tax cut” is an evil 4-letter word…
You have a real mess.
So when this President foolishly or naive promised a post-partisan atmosphere he was obviously either disingenuous or permanently on Nitrous Oxide.
Making any meaningful reductions very hard indeed.
It hasn’t always been this way. Look back 40 years, and Washington behaved in a quite different manner, with Democrats and Republicans both showing far more willingness to break ranks and reach across the aisle to the other side. In 1969, for example, House Democrats voted with their party’s majority just 61% of the time and House Republicans just 62% of the time. In other words, lockstep voting was roughly a third less prevalent than it is today.
If it had been as strident then as it is now the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960’s would never have happened.
GOP Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who with Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota came up with the idea for the panel (8 Republicans, 8 Democrats 2 Obama Admins to try and work out a deal), sees the parties in conflict joining hands and jumping “off a cliff together.” As inspiring as that would be for many voters weary of Washington’s insatiable appetite for other people’s money, it’s not likely to turn out that way.
Likelier, those who recommend spending cuts will be pushed off the cliff and unable to oppose tax hikes.
Which brings us back to Bayh’s comment that “Republicans want to cut more taxes than we can afford.” It’s tax hikes, not cuts, that we can’t afford. We can’t even afford the taxes being imposed now.
Research has found that economic growth is maximized when combined federal, state and local taxes are 23% of the gross domestic product. The combined rate today is close to 30%.
America is the economic engine that moves the world. If the task force recommends tax hikes, and the Democratic Congress passes them and the president signs them into law, the shock will be felt here and abroad.
But if the panel does an honest analysis, it will find Washington has spending issues, not a revenue problem.
But like any drug addict they have to admit they have a problem first.
And I don’t see the Democrats doing that, even in an off year re-election cycle.
Example: The culmination of years of runaway socialism has left the Greek public resentful, bitter and unwilling to pay taxes. “Why should I pay?” a Greek citizen told the New York Times. “I don’t care about my government, I don’t care about my country.”
Let the rich pay them. Let the “greedy” corporations pay them.
Their country’s bond rating was just lowered, making their money worth less and borrowing more expensive.
Our Future or our Present?
It’s all about Me.
What’s in it for Me.
Screw you.
It’s all about The Party.
It’s all about The Agenda.
The Politicians and their divide on one side.
The People on the other.
So you have a divide within a divide.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of voters nationwide say that it would be better to pass no health care reform bill this year instead of passing the plan currently being considered by Congress. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 34% think that passing that bill would be better.
However, 70% of liberal voters nationwide say it would be better to pass the legislation rather than passing nothing at all. Most moderates (54%) and conservatives (80%) hold the opposite view.
Compared to the average government worker, most Americans think they work harder, have less job security and make less money.
In fact, 59% of Americans say the average government worker earns more annually than the average taxpayer, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Among those who have close friends or relatives who work for the government, the belief is even stronger: 61% say the average government worker earns more than the average taxpayer.
Feeding that belief is the finding that 51% of all adults think government workers are paid too much. Only 10% say they are paid too little, while 27% say their pay is about right.
And they have FEHBP, the platinium standard for perfect health care.
So the partisan divide widens.
And with Mainstream Media very much partisan, you can’t even get the news without the spin cycle, just pries the wedge open farther. After all, conflict is good for the new business and pushing The Agenda is their partisan need.
The War on FOX by the White House and the Mainstream Media earlier this year should give us a good clue there.
Why they heck would they want to cover the news “objectively”? That’s so old fashion and not “crusading” enough for your average “journalist” today.
There’s nothing in it for them to just report the news.
That’s boring.
Especially, if THEY disagree with it.
Cynic: a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions.
“a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.” –Ambrose Bierce
Patient Care will Suffer in this Health Care bill
Health Bill Author: No Senator Can Understand Health Care Bill
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Illegal Aliens Can Buy Health Insurance Plans–No ID Needed:–Demand Criminal Alien Removal and Deportation!
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Broom Budget Busting Bums: Replace The Entire Congress–Tea Party Express and Patriots–United We Stand!
Public Option = Government Option = Pathway to Single Payer = Single Payer = Socialized Medicine = Blue Pill = Poison Pill
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Two interesting developments: The first, legal. The Department of Energy has issued a “litigation hold notice” to employees at its South Carolina Savanah River Site for “global warming, the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia In England, and/or climate change science.”
From this one can presume that a law suit has already been filed or such a filing is iminent
The second developmnent concerns the media treatment of AGW. Behold: The Daily Express’ “100 Reasons Global Awrming is Natural.”
Have a nice day, Warmers. Bwuhahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Barack promised change — and sure enough, things changed for the worse
(Note: Patrick Ward, associate editor of the UK’s Socialist Review asked Joe to write a piece for the party publication. This is the unabridged text of Joe’s submission.)
By Joe Bageant
Well lookee here! An invite from my limey comrades to recap Barack Obama’s first year in office. Well comrades, I can do this thing two ways. I can simply state that the great mocha hope turned out to be a Trojan horse for Wall Street and the Pentagon. Or I can lay in an all-night stock of tequila, limes and reefer and puke up the entire miserable tale like some 5,000 word tequila purged Congolese stomach worm. I have chosen to do the latter.
As you may know, Obama’s public approval ratings are taking a beating. Millions of his former cult members have awakened with a splitting hangover to find their pockets turned inside out and eviction notices on the doors of their 4,000 square foot subprime mortgaged cardboard fuck boxes. Many who voted for Obama out of disgust for the Bush regime are now listening to the Republicans again on their car radios as they drive around looking for a suitable place to hide their vehicles from the repo man. Don’t construe this as support for the GOP. It’s just the standard ping ponging of disappointment and disgust that comes after the honeymoon is over with any administration. Most Americans’ party affiliations are the same as they were when Bush was elected. After all, Obama did not get elected on a landslide by any means; he got 51% of the vote.
Right now his approval ratings are in the 40th percentile and would be headed for the basement of the league were it not for the residual effect of the Kool-Aid love fest a year ago. However, millions of American liberals remain faithful, and believe Obama will arise from the dead in the third year and ascend to glory. You will find them at Huffington Post.
This frustrating ping pong game in which the margin of first time, disenchanted and undecided voters are batted back and forth has become the whole of American elections. That makes both the Republican and Democratic parties very happy, since it keeps the game down to fighting the enemy they know, each other, as opposed to being forced to deal with the real issues, or worse yet, an independent or third party candidate who might have a solution or two.
Thus, the game is limited to two players between two corporate parties. One is the Republican Party, which believes we should hand over our lives and resources directly to the local Chamber of Commerce, so the chamber can deliver them to the big corporations. The other, the Democratic Party, believes we should hand our lives and resources to a Democratic administration — so it alone can deliver our asses to the big dogs who own the country. In the big picture it’s always about who gets to deliver the money to the Wall Street hyena pack.
Americans may be starting to get the big picture about politics, money and corporate power. But I doubt it. Given that most still believe the war on terrorism is real, and that terrorists always just happen to be found near gas and oil deposits, there is plenty of room left to blow more smoke up their asses. Especially considering how we are conditioned to go into blind fits of patriotism at the sight of the flag, an eagle, or the mention of “our heroes,” even if the heroes happen to be killing and maiming Muslim babies at the moment. Patriotism is a cataract that blinds us to all national discrepancies.
Much of the rest of the world seems plagued with similar cataracts that keep it from noticing the chasm of discrepancy between what Obama says and what he actually does. The Nobel Committee awarded the 2009 Peace Prize to the very person who dropped the most bombs and killed the most poor people on the planet during that year. The same guy who started a new war in Pakistan, beefed up the ongoing war in Afghanistan, and continues to threaten Iran with attack unless Iran cops to phony US-Israeli charges of secret nuclear weapons facilities. It’s weapons of mass destruction all over again. Somewhere in the whole fracas has been forgotten that Iran has been calling for a nuclear free zone in the Middle East since 1974. Iran has also been consistent in its position that “petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable to burn for electricity,” and that nuclear energy makes much more sense, given that our food supply, whether we like it or not, is fundamentally dependent upon petrochemicals and will remain so until the earth’s population is reduced to at least half of what it is now. The Iranian attitude has been to use the shrinking petroleum deposits as judiciously as possible.
To which oilman George Bush replied that “There will be consequences for Iran’s attitude.” Obama has reinforced Bush’s sentiment, stating that not only will there be consequences, but that a military strike on Iran “is not out of the question.” Although nuclear weapons are in direct opposition to the Muslim faith, 71 million Iranians must have shuddered and paused to think: “Maybe an Iranian bomb isn’t such a bad idea after all.”
Under cover of being the first “black” president, Obama is looking to best one of the Bush administration’s records. And that is causing unshirted hell for anybody two shades darker than a paper bag, particularly if they are wearing sandals (Obama himself being only one shade darker than the bag and given to size eleven black Cole Haans). So far, two million Pakistanis have been, in official US State Department jargon, “displaced” by U.S. backed bombing and gunfire — which will surely displace a fellow if anything will. A significant portion of them are “living with host families.” Translation: packed into crowded houses ten to a room, wiping out food and water supplies, crashing already fragile sanitation infrastructure, and serving as a giant human Petrie dish for intestinal and respiratory diseases. Many more are still living in the “conflict area.” Makes it sound like living next door to a neighborhood domestic squabble, doesn’t it? God only knows how many more innocent people will yet be killed in the conflict area of Obama’s “war of necessity.” You know, the “good war.” The war that is supposed to offset the interminable bad one in Iraq, where we continue to occupy and build more bases.
Afghanistan: Grab the opium and run
Then there are Obama’s noble efforts to fight terrorism by beefing up troop “deployment” in Afghanistan. Deployment may be construed to mean an American style armed gangbang, in which everybody piles on some wretched flea bitten hamlets for all they are worth, with periodic breaks for pizza and video games.
Now if you look at the deployment of US forces in Afghanistan, compared to NATO country forces there, you’ll find them in a nice even line along what could easily be mistaken for an oil pipeline route. One that taps into the natural gas deposits in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and, by the purest coincidence, just happens to bypass nearby Russia and Iran. But we all know that “It’s about fighting terrorism over there so we won’t have to fight it here!” That still plays in Peoria, so we’re sticking with it.
At the moment, out-of-pocket cost of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is $900 billion. Interest on the debt incurred, plus the waste of productive resources on the war, pushes the cost to three thousand billion dollars (Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz). By comparison, the entire 2009 government budget for elementary and secondary education is slightly above $800 billion. Or to look at it another way, how far would three thousand billion dollars go toward establishing energy independence? As Harvard monetary expert Linda Bilmes points out that there is “no benefit whatsoever for any American whose income does not derive from the military/security complex.” I sent an email to Obama pointing this out, suggesting that we pull out of Afghanistan, grab the opium and run. I got a nice reply saying that my president is grateful for the input. So there ya go.
Lately there has been a ruckus about our little “slap shop” in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Despite Obama’s promises to close down, “Cigarland,” it is still open for business. Word has it that Cigarland may be moved to an “underused” maximum security prison (one would think a scarcity of criminals for a maximum security prison would be good news, but what do I know?) in the desperately broke community of Thompson, Illinois. Locals there tell the national press, “Sure, put it in our backyard. No problem.” Or, “This town is in the prison business. Prisons R Us.” Or more bluntly, “We know how to handle these creeps and we need the jobs.”
It’s the kind of job creation Stalin would have understood.
Happiness is a warm tent
But at least the recession is over. This, according to Obama’s monetary point man, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. For British readers unfamiliar with the US system, the Federal Reserve is not a government agency, despite its agency like name. “The Fed” is an offshore private banking cartel that decides just how much bogus currency can be printed and circulated profitably for bankers without wrecking their Ponzi schemes. And the chairman of that august body has announced that the recession is over. Well halleluja! We can quit rolling our own cigs and buy ready mades, and run recklessly through the Dollar Store scooping up dented canned goods and cheap Chinese tube socks.
That makes us luckier than the three and a half million Americans, most of whom led normal lives a few of years ago, who are now homeless. That includes one million school children sleeping in tents, shelters and other makeshift arrangements, and trying to look presentable each morning at schools that have not even the mercy to let them use the school showers. By the administration’s own calculation, the number of homeless and people out of work will continue to escalate at least into the next year. Home foreclosures, and therefore homelessness, “has not topped out yet,” says Obama.
But Bernanke has announced that the recession is over. So there you have it. A grateful nation breathes a sigh of relief. And besides, he is right about it being over. The recession is over for the most important members of a capitalist society, the oligarchs and banksters, who have made fortunes off this recession, thanks to our unique economic system, and may now return to their standard garden variety usury.
Economic systems are merely belief systems. I didn’t say that. Keynes said that. For instance, if the early Assyrians believed a shekel was worth a jar of wheat, then it was worth a jar of wheat. American style capitalism eventually stretched belief to the absolute limits of fantasy to the snapping point, as regards general credulity. Nobody abroad still believes the dollar is worth folding up and sticking in a wallet, certainly not worth exchanging for a good old fashioned shekel. However, be it shekels or dollars or euros, there is no economic system at all if there is no production. And there is no production if there are no jobs. Hence the obsession with unemployment rates.
The U.S. Ministry of Truth has announced that our unemployment rate is at 10%. I’ve yet to meet an American who does not know the official unemployment rate is a complete fiction. One half of the unemployed — the half that has been unemployed for more than one year — are simply erased from the official count. Poof! The real rate is somewhere around 20%. But if we acknowledged that, we’d have to admit to being on par with Europe’s unemployment rate. And by diddle damned we can never do that. Every American fully understands that the purpose of life is to hang onto one meaningless job or another, two of them if possible. And by the state’s official numbers more Americans have a white knuckled grip on life’s purpose than any of those pussy socialist European nations with their free healthcare, low infant mortality rates and ridiculously long vacations.
But the bad news, which the Obama administration openly acknowledges, is this: Unemployment will in all likelihood go higher. And nobody on earth knows how to reduce it (although no one in the administration is about to acknowledge that). The factories are all but gone and they are not coming back. Not unless American workers are willing to work 13 hours a day for two Chinese yuan an hour, which is about 31 cents. What US factories remain are laying workers off due to high interest rates, and waiting for a lower interest rate policy before deciding if it is feasible to call any workers back into production.
During their wait they can watch hell freeze over. Banks know a fatter hog when they see it. And that hog is the consumer credit business (nobody has figured out yet that consumers need paychecks before they can consume anything, on credit or otherwise ). To that end the Federal Reserve has logically set a low interest rate policy. And in true accordance with banking logic, the banks took the Fed’s money, then raised the annual percentage rate (APR) on credit card purchases and cash advances and on balances that have a penalty rate because of late payment. Next they raised the late fee. What the hell? If Americans are on the ropes, struggling to make their payments on time, then the logical thing to do is to stick it to them. Bleed ‘em for all they’re worth. It’s an American free market tradition. We the people do not complain. We expect no mercy. America is a business and the American concept of business is pure ruthlessness.
A Deutsche Bank analyst tells me a near term worst is yet to come. Bank failures and home foreclosures have not peaked. A commercial real estate bust is coming down the pike. He says that, while there will be some minor periodic upswings, the fraudulent value of the dollar is now evident as it falls against every other currency, even the Russian ruble (13%), except those unlucky enough to be pegged to the US dollar. As former Assistant Secretary of Treasury Paul Craig Roberts says: “What sort of recovery is it when the safest investment an American can make is to bet against the US dollar?” My Deutsche Bank friend, who is younger and has a family to think about, has taken what he considers more appropriate action. He’s buying gold and moving to an undeveloped Central American country.
But Mr. Bernanke assures us that the worst is indeed over. Despite the outside world’s serious doubts, but Bernanke’s announcement just might fly in the U.S. We believe whatever our Ministry of Truth tells us. We believed that debt was wealth, didn’t we? And we believed in WMDs, and have come to believe warfare is a prerequisite to peace.
The saddest thing is that Americans are cultivated like mushrooms from birth to death, kept in the dark and fed horseshit. Consequently, they haven’t the slightest idea that there is an alternative to the system in which they labor at the pleasure of corporate and financial elites who own both their government and their every waking hour. That alternative is democratic Socialism. Self governance for the broadest common good. Which the Ministry of Truth has defined for them as fascism.
Healthcare and environment? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha
I would guess that you have heard about the “debate” over “healthcare reform in America.” There really wasn’t much debate, just a lot of thuggish behavior and wild tales of geriatric death panels by the right, and groveling capitulation on the left. The “reform” turned out to be a $70 billion a year giveaway to the insurance companies, by forcing those 45 million folks who cannot afford insurance at all to buy it anyway. Taxpayer dollars will make up the difference between what can be wrung out of the working poor, and what insurance corporations can demand and get because they have a throat lock on both of the other parties involved — the doctors and the patients. As for the doctors, they have played it so cool butter wouldn’t melt in theor mouths, and successfully avoided the question of whether their quarter million dollar and up incomes just might be contributing to the exorbitant cost of healthcare. Even with a majority in Congress, the best Obama and the Democratic Party’s corporate lapdogs could come up with was total handover to the insurance industry. If this smells a bit suspicious, it is the sweat of cold fear you are smelling. The insurance companies have always made it clear they have billions to spend in defeating and destroying any elected official not on their side.
As for environmental legislation, under the Obama administration environmentalism is pretty much reduced to “cap and trade.” In the truest spirit of capitalism, corporations will be able to sell their pollution for a profit, instead of ending it. And even this legislation barely made it through the House of Representatives. Moreover, environmental legislation has had the snot knocked out of it by the economic crash, and opinion polls now show the American public believes the price is too dear. It should be interesting to see what price their children will be willing to pay for oxygen and water.
Goldstone who?
Just when you think your country has reached the limits of raw shame and the outer banks of rogue internationalism occupied by Korea’s Kim Jong-Il and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, it surprises you with some new and worse outrage. America’s latest is right up there with holocaust denial in sheer unmitigated abrasive gall — putting the kibosh on the UN’s Goldstone Report. The report documents Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Ghetto, where 1.5 million Palestinians have been held miserable hostages by Israel. Admittedly, leadership both in Gaza and Israel is nothing short of a pack of criminals. But the Israeli attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure such as hospitals and schools, using illegal munitions such as skin melting white phosphorus, was a war crime by every definition. The UN and the world agree that it meets and exceeds the Nuremberg standard that the US established in order to execute Nazis. But as any American will tell you, the United States has never considered itself part of the rest of the world or in any way obliged to join. So the rest of the world was not surprised when the US House of Representatives voted 344 to 36 to condemn the Goldstone Report. The Obama administration has promised Zionist groups that it will never let the report get to the criminal court. The perps are safe. Zionists everywhere threw their hats in the air and cheered. The AIPAC boys at the back of the room nodded in approval: “Now tell us Congressmen, who’s yer daddy?”
I might add at this point that I am not one of those conspiracy freaks who see Zionist plots behind everything. The Zionists are but one of many backstage operators with a death grip on some aspect of U.S. policy. Frankly, of all the greaseballs and thugs muscling US domestic and international policy, I fear the Wall Street and the bankers far more than I fear any Zionist (except maybe that spooky shapeshifting motherfucker, Rahm Emanuel. Brrrr!).
In any case, most Americans have never heard of the attack on Gaza or the Goldstone Report. They were prevented from hearing the outside world’s news coverage of the grisly two week long specter. Residing in a free Central American country at the time, I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to hear the daily dispatches from inside Gaza, despite Israeli efforts to suppress them. About the only place the Zionist misinformation machinery really worked was in the United States, where it successfully repressed media coverage of Israeli atrocities and genocide. Not that it required great effort. American politicians and media long ago learned, as a client state of Zion, to look the other way. Or if that is not possible, to support one of the prepackaged lies conveniently provided the U.S. media by the Likudnik media management apparatus. “And besides, weren’t the Palestinians the fuckers who danced in the streets after 9/11? Screw ‘em! We now return to Cable News coverage of last night’s America’s Got Talent winners, the ZOOperstars!”
The man with the plan
The same day the assault on Gaza began, January 4, 2009, president elect Obama announced he would create or save three or four million jobs during his first two years in office. Ninety percent of them were to be in the private sector, of which about 400,000 would be in building roads, bridges, schools and broadband lines. Another 400,000 were predicted in solar panels, wind turbines, fuel-efficient cars; and one million in healthcare and education. The key term here was “jobs saved.” Any job not lost apparently goes in the jobs created column. I’m rather math impaired, but it seems to me that with real unemployment at about twenty percent and rising, and job losses predicted by the administration to continue for at least another year, it’s hard to see how the claim can be made. I suppose that as long as three million jobs remain in the US economy, Obama can claim to have saved them. I’d be the first to admit it’s all over my head, and a damned good example of why I am not suited for public office. Then too, I never did understand Bill Clinton’s surplus either. Political math is done in some fourth dimension anti-space where terrestrial rules do not apply.
One thing I do know is that for every dollar a worker would earn under Obama’s plan, a capitalist corporation employing the worker would earn almost two dollars. That Mexican guy balling sod along the new highway’s median strip for the contractor may be making eight bucks an hour he wouldn’t have otherwise earned. But he is making his employer about $15.50 on the same hour. As a younger man in Colorado I balled sod, hired the Mexicans and passed out the paychecks, so I know. First rule about capitalist math is: The capitalist owner gets to do the math.
So Obama’s plan lines more corporate pockets than those of the working man. This being America however, Obama was charged by conservatives with having an anti-capitalist socialist agenda. These businessmen conservatives are more than happy to take the money. But the rule of thumb in America is “Show No Gratitude! Bite the living hell out of any hand that feeds you, on the chance that it may give up more. Maybe even drop everything it is holding so you can grab it up and run while a crowd gathers to stone the alleged socialist.”
But the truth is that Obama’s jobs would have done nothing to help the economy “recover” anyway. There is no economy left to recover. It moved to China and India. Things such as road projects do not generate capital. Under capitalism roads are worthless unless they make money, and they can do no economic good if there is nothing being manufactured to haul on them.
Likewise education that does not contribute the gross national product (otherwise known as corporate interests) by producing higher wages to exponentially pump up American consumer fetishism is considered worthless. And let’s face it, higher education has become, for the most part, another racket. The student is saddled with massive loan debt (again, there is the odor of hyena banker spoor in the air) on the promise of eventual higher wages. Or at least that the graduate will work in a nice warm dry video store and never have to ball sod. Unfortunately, the number of jobs that require “college educated” Americans — quite an oxymoron, given the caliber of U.S. colleges these days — is shrinking right along with the Empire. All those jobs middle managing the Republic, such as helping us cheat on our taxes, brainwashing the school kids, and devising sales strategies for beer, grow scarcer by the day. Even book editing and reading medical scans are being outsourced to Asia. There’s a nasty rumor that American medical scans are being read in India by trained Buddhist temple monkeys to save rupees. The US healthcare industry has been mum on the subject.
Obama’s recovery plan depends on going deeper in hock to the Chinese. For Christ sake, aren’t there any of our tax dollars lying around anyplace other than in Wall Street vaults? Apparently not. So the Treasury Department keeps cranking out more funny money to make payments on the pawn ticket for the Empire. Rather like those doddering old Englishmen one meets on estates in rural Kent sporting “The Queen’s Own” military ties, we still prefer to think of ourselves as an Empire.
But the Chinese are looking askance, questioning the wisdom of pouring more money down a rat hole, based upon the US Treasury’s allegation that the other end of the rat hole comes out somewhere in China and not on Wall Street. Chinese talk shows publicly question American loans, when upcoming powerhouses such as Brazil are so ripe for investment. You can bet that if it’s on television in China, the public is being issued an official state sanctioned opinion they may feel free hold as their own.
The big heist
In the end the campaign rattle and prattle about Obama’s recovery plan turned out to be moot anyway. Wall Street moved in and heavied up on the whole damned country, in one of the ballsiest heists in American history. It was a stroke of pure genius as theft goes. Following a meeting of the Five Families, Citicorp, Bank of America, Morgan Chase, Wachovia, Taunus Corp., the financial cartels said, “The rip-off is in. We got it all. Now if you don’t hand over all the people’s savings and assets so we can loan it back to them, the whole flaming ball of shit you call the services and information economy is gonna come down on everybody’s asses like a giant meteor. So you can load three trillion bucks for now into the armored cars lined up out front and nobody will get hurt. Or you can watch the national economy shrivel up until the schmucks out there in the cul de sacs and cardboard condos can’t even put together cab fare for their ride to the poor house. It’s your call Barack.”
There are still a few delusional souls out there who believe Obama is trying to do his honest best to fulfill campaign promises, but just cannot get past the pack of vampire financial corporations and cold blooded Republican lizards. Which is true in a sense. He cannot get past the Wall Street pack because he is running in the middle of it. Obama’s nefarious relationship with Wall Street’s power players has been ongoing for years. It is no accident that Wall Street got to select the members of the president’s financial cabinet. My mutton eating friends, it’s a sad and sordid tale, one I have neither the space nor the stomach to cover here. Especially since better journalists such as Matt Taibbi and others have written extensively about it in detail.
Last I heard, the banks never un-assed the dough. Never let it circulate in the people’s hands or even through business loans. Instead, they declared a profit, divvied it up in bonuses, and congratulated themselves. Indeed, this was the sort of sheer brilliance we have come to expect from the Yale/Harvard MBA crowd. Getting rich by going broke. Then getting even richer by sticking up the US government and the entire American public, and eventually the entire world, leaving 1.5 quadrillion dollar cloud of toxic derivatives girding the world, to hoover up more money for them before imploding like a dark star. And indeed, the derivatives are even astronomical in nature. They represent $180,000 in debt load for every man woman and child on earth (although I cannot understand why, if the money isn’t real, why we should consider the debt real). It is impossible to produce our way out of this calamity. There aren’t even enough resources left on earth to sustain that scale of production.
For now the financial mobsters have retired to Tuscan villas to savor their haul. The poor schmucks out there in the US heartland are left to devise new ways of hiding the family ride from the repo man. Never once, though, do they doubt capitalism. They figure it is all just a big financial accident. Fate. And that will somehow “work our way out of it,” like we always have. These things happen in a dynamic free market economy.
A new mob moves in
To backtrack, that was when the smell of long green flying out of the public — the insurance industry. Insurance racketeers moved in with their own muscle to fill the void left by the Wall Street gang. The insurance syndicate dispatched its made men and soldiers throughout the halls of Congress, and, voila! They were able to pass the aforementioned $70 billion a year political blackmail job off as “reform legislation.” Say what you want to about my country, but pillage and looting have never been so elegantly ritualized, institutionalized and executed.
Realistic people on the left have long known that the last act of American strong-arm capitalism would be a massive gunpoint redistribution of wealth from the public to the owning class through the private financial sector — which the owning class happens to own. But few would have expected it to be executed under a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate. Or under a Democratic administration honchoed by the first black president. One liberal blogger wondered aloud, “Imagine what the Republicans would have done had John McCain been elected?”
The same thing, brother. The same thing. Only with a different cover story. Both parties exist at the pleasure of the same crime syndicates.
How to join the rackets
As I remember, it was a Mexican diplomat who once told me that graft, theft and bribery are socialized in his and other Latin American countries — democratically distributed throughout much of society. But in America, he said, this sort of criminal activity is legislatively institutionalized. Only the elites are allowed to practice usury, theft, insurance blackmail and other forms of non-violent looting (violent looting being reserved for oil bearing Middle Eastern countries). The first step in building one of these rackets is to become a legally recognized interest group, in order to access the key Congressional players you wish to bribe or strong-arm into acquiescence or complicity.
The banking mob, the insurance mob, and other criminally organized legislative muscle men, cartels and commodity syndicates, are all officially sanctioned as “interest groups” operating alongside hundreds of others in that whorehouse by the Potomac River.
To list just a few, there are environmental interest groups such as the Sierra Club, which exists so its officers can draw fat salaries and meet movie star environmentalists. There is an interest group for education, which exists to assure the mediocrity of our public schools. Munitions manufacturers are an interest group. Gambling casinos and tobacco corporations are interest groups. There is an interest group to force feed us corn sugar, in order to sustain Midwestern Republican farmers and ensure the future of the ever expanding weight loss and diabetes industries. There are even lobby groups to protect the interests of syndicates in other countries, such as Israel. There is an interest group for everything except we ordinary American pudwhackers. The folks who just want to raise families in peace, and maybe have modest financial security in old age. And there are thousands of interest groups whose purpose is to make damned sure we never get either one.
We ain’t mean, just thrifty
Yesterday I watched a CNN host ask two experts: “Is stepping up the war in Afghanistan really the best use of our tax dollars?” The killing, maiming and displacement of untold thousands is discussed in terms of the best use of capital. A dehumanized and monetized capitalist society sees everything in dollars and cents and return on investment. Even infant mortality is rated that way, though seldom does anyone admit it. Saving a black ghetto baby has a low return on investment, according to some human services analysts, as regards their lifetime contribution to the gross national product. I actually heard an expert on a television panel show say this.
Yet Americans sitting in front of their TV sets do not find this one bit odd. Or even mean spirited, much less an indication of a cruel society. No American thinks of himself or herself as cruel, or connected in any way with the world’s largest human and environmental killing machine. No American doubts his inalienable right to drive around or run air conditioning or drink wine from grapes grown in Chile at the expense of a national war on the environment and those of the world’s people who have been born amid energy resources. If there are things such as cruelty and injustice, we the people aren’t the ones doing it. We the voters and taxpayers are not the CIA snatching people off to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to be raped with broken bottles and boiled alive to extract those “terrorist confessions” that keep the war on terror alive. We simply finance such operations.
And accountability? Well, on the very slight chance that someday the world will hold America accountable (which will never happen so long as we possess more armaments that the rest of the world combined and are quite clearly willing to use them toward our own ends) we the people can express our shock and disgust as citizens. We good people would never, never, never have approved of all those awful acts. And besides, there is not much the ordinary person can do about such things anyway. Right?
Maybe not. But it was Americans who so loudly proclaimed that complicity through silence is no defense, when we rubbed the German people’s noses in the grisly filth of the concentration camps and hung their national leadership.
The revenge of Smirking George
We haven’t heard much from George W. Bush since he packed up his comics and moved to Dallas. But his policies remain like dog piss stains to stink up the Obama White House. Rendition and assassinations continue, as does warrantless spying on the citizenry, along with other civil liberties violations in the name of the “war on terror.”
All of these are terrible things for a president who ran on reform and change to continue to do. But it is the thing Barack Obama and his party did not do, the thing they did not insist upon, that will have the greatest ongoing effect on this country. Obama and the Democrats refused to prosecute Bush and Cheney, ensuring that:
1 — No quail hunter is Georgia will ever be safe as long as Cheney’s pacemaker still functions;
2 — The precedents set by the most criminal administration in US history remain. Until they are confronted and rectified, America will not to have the opportunity to heal and recover. Honestly speaking though, the patient has been dead since the 2000 election fraud went unchallenged.
Obama’s election was the only chance America had to hold the Bush Republicans accountable for their crimes. Now it’s gone.
Opportunities to exercise moral principles as a nation and a people are rare to begin with, and fast vanishing. At some point they will be extinguished by the exigencies of human species survival. It doesn’t take a prophet to know this. Anyone paying attention to planetary population, resource depletion and the eco-collapse understands it in the gut. The mounting worldwide competition for human survival will not allow for much high mindedness. So we should exercise principle and administration of justice while principle and justice are still possible.
There are endless rationalizations proffered as to why Obama has not come within a mile of fulfilling the promise and potential of his presidency, and the Democratic Party is writing more of them every day. Disappointed Democratic voters grab at them, and desperately defend each one on internet forums and in letters to the editor. But we must use our own personal capabilities as free rational human beings to assess Obama, and decide why he is failing. Or not failing. To hell with highly crafted official explanations about “wars of necessity” and trillion dollar blackmail payments.
George W. Bush left office wearing the same smirk he came in with. Perhaps it’s congenital. But if Bush was smirking when he left office, he must now be convulsed in crazed hysterical laughter. His gang not only got away clean, but Obama carries on the dark Bush-Cheney legacy. And, almost as if to top the whole black escapade with a cherry of irony, the most inarticulate president in American history is now on the motivational speaking circuit at $200,000 a pop. Never let it be said that the Devil does not care for his own.
Will Americans ever rise up in defense of their own common well being through such things as education, health and a productive peace caring society? Nope. Because it has been seen to that socialism — the administration of the nation solely for the common good and benefit of all the people without preference or privilege — doesn’t stand a chance in America. For over a century those who have attempted to further socialism have been shot, hanged, burned alive in their beds on Christmas Eve, imprisoned, falsely accused of crimes and falsely convicted, and demonized by the capitalist elites of the corporate state. The cause of socialism has effectively been wiped out in the US. Few Americans can even define the word. Most think it is a political system when it is a social philosophy. Hell, half the socialists these days think it is entirely a political system.
But even if Americans understood socialism, they are too terrified to ever admit to its virtues, much less publicly support the cause. And without free and open public participation in some democratic form of socialism, regardless of the name or label given it, there can be no recognition of the people’s common welfare and good. And so the most egalitarian social philosophy ever conceived dies within a nation, with very little chance of being reborn because such an ideal, by its definition, cannot exist within the narrow mindset of bankers and oligarchs.
Bush smirks, Obama breakdances in and around the minefield of his false promises, and Wall Street CEO bonuses are higher than ever.
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I’ve said for years, and on this blog for months, that the AGW agenda is all about global governance, and in particular, the destruction of the United States because no socialist state can compete with a free* economy. Ergo, the productivity of the US has to be stifled and its resources siphoned off to the welfare states of the world.
Taxing CO2 via a carbon trading Ponzi scheme is the perfect mechanism to achieve this end. It is brilliant. It places a governor on the US economic engine and allows international banking interest and well positioned elites to make untold riches while forcing the citizenry into feudal servitude.
Warmers, you true believers, I know you laugh, thinking I am ranting about a conspiracy. But this is not a secretive cabal. The gods to whom you would give this authority have said exactly the same thing as I–you either haven’t heard them, or it is you who are the denialists.
Barking Spider took the time to collect some of these statements. Now, who is in denial?
*Yes, creeping socialism has made the US economy less free than it once was, but even so–before the engineered collapse in late 2007–it runs rings around the EU. And from an environmental point of view, the US is the only country capable of generating enough wealth to clean up its environmental mistakes. Your favored command economies–there are parts of Russia that are about as habitable as Venus and they will remain that way for decades to come.
Never mind that Al Gore the UN have said so. Never mind that the Boxer-Kerry Themageddon legislation would require the USA to “Assure the carbon market.” Never mind that Anthony has uncovered NASA deleting its raw temperature data–and hiding a decline. and that the Kiwis were caught adding “adjustments” to perfectly good raw data to portray an increase that isn’t there.
Not only are the UN and the Obama administration refusing to investigate the integrity of the data on which they base their “we’re all going to die without massive global (read US) taxes on CO2″ agenda, but when faced with opposition, they ignore those they are elected to serve and forge ahead to consolidate their rule.
Here is the latest example from Australia. Despite a Senate turnover resulting in a vote to kill its carbon trading scheme, the Rudd government is setting up a carbon auction anyway. So much for democracy. Science? What science? There is no explanation for such actions other than the lust for absolute power.
Al Gore has studied the Climategate emails with his typically rigorous eye and dismissed them as mere piffle:
Q: How damaging to your argument was the disclosure of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University?
A: To paraphrase Shakespeare, it’s sound and fury signifying nothing. I haven’t read all the e-mails, but the most recent one is more than 10 years old. These private exchanges between these scientists do not in any way cause any question about the scientific consensus.
And in case you think that was a mere slip of the tongue:
Q: There is a sense in these e-mails, though, that data was hidden and hoarded, which is the opposite of the case you make [in your book] about having an open and fair debate.
A: I think it’s been taken wildly out of context. The discussion you’re referring to was about two papers that two of these scientists felt shouldn’t be accepted as part of the IPCC report. Both of them, in fact, were included, referenced, and discussed. So an e-mail exchange more than 10 years ago including somebody’s opinion that a particular study isn’t any good is one thing, but the fact that the study ended up being included and discussed anyway is a more powerful comment on what the result of the scientific process really is.
In fact, thrice denied:
These people are examining what they can or should do to deal with the P.R. dimensions of this, but where the scientific consensus is concerned, it’s completely unchanged. What we’re seeing is a set of changes worldwide that just make this discussion over 10-year-old e-mails kind of silly.
In fact, as Watts Up With That shows, one Climategate email was from just two months ago. The most recent was sent on November 12 – just a month ago. The emails which have Tom Wigley seeming (to me) to choke on the deceit are all from this year. Phil Jones’ infamous email urging other Climategate scientists to delete emails is from last year.
How closely did Gore read these emails? Did he actually read any at all? Was he lying or just terribly mistaken? What else has he got wrong?
(Thanks to readers Sinclair and Peter.)
UPDATE
Reader Barry:
Actually the e-mail archives are named by Unix timestamp, ranging from Thu, 07 Mar 1996 14:41:07 GMT through to Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:17:44 GMT. This is a strong indicator they are extracted from an enterprise archive, probably by the FOIA Compliance Officer and not hacked from individual’s workstations.
UPDATE 2
Could those carefully vetted journalists who are allowed an audience with the Great Green Guru please – for once – confront him with his exaggerations, distortions, fake evidence and absurd predictions? I’ve done this myself over this issue, and can guarantee you will get a far funnier and more interesting reaction than another of his sermons. You may also get something rather closer to the truth.
It’s that time of the year again…time to go bowling. Here are my bowl predictions for 2009:
New Mexico
Fresno State (8-4) vs. Wyoming (6-6)
Fresno State has had a decent year, primarily to the fact that their offense ranks 19th nationally (435.9 yards per game), which is anchored by Ryan Matthews, who leads the nation in 151.3 rushing yards per game. Ryan Matthews is a dynamic running back who has been under the radar all season. Wyoming will have no answer for him as their defense gives up 170.5 rushing yards per game. Fresno State wins big.
Pick: Fresno State
St. Petersburg
Central Florida (8-4) vs. Rutgers (8-4)
Tom Savage leads the Scarlet Knights into Florida to face off against the Knights of Central Florida, who are playing virtually a home game at Tropicana Field. The freshman quarterback has shown his merit this season by tossing 12 touchdowns with only 6 interceptions. Both offenses match up well with each other so a close game is expected to take place. Though the crowd will predominately be for Central Florida, Greg Schiano will have his team prepared as this will be the perfect venue for him to “showcase his talented athletes.”
Pick: Rutgers
R + L Carriers New Orleans
Southern Miss (7-5) vs. Middle Tennessee State (9-3)
Don’t be fooled by Southern Miss’ record. A tough out-of-conference schedule, with road trips to Kansas, Louisville, and Houston, have contributed to their five losses. Southern Miss brings a one-two punch in Damion Fletcher and Martevious Young. Both teams feature two impressive defenses as this game will be a tough, close game.
Pick: Southern Miss
MAACO Las Vegas
Oregon State (8-4) vs. BYU (10-2)
One of the more interesting early bowl games, features two impressive quarterbacks in Max Hall and Sean Canfield. With the lack of defenses both teams have exhibited throughout the season, this should be set up for quite the barn-burner. Jacquizz Rodgers of Oregon State should have a big day as he will rush over 100 yards. Though the Las Vegas bowl can be considered BYU’s home-away-from-home, Oregon State will be out with something to prove as they just missed out playing in Pasadena.
Pick: Oregon State
S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia
Utah (9-3) vs. California (8-4)
Not the season finale Cal had in mind at the beginning of the season. However, with the return of Jahvid Best, Cal’s offense will get a much needed boost. Back again in the bowls is Utah, after having an incredible season last year, concluding with the win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The Utes will look to continue the success and go for their ninth straight bowl win. Terrance Cain and David Reed for Utah will connect often, as the Utes get bowl win number 9.
Pick: Utah
Sheraton Hawaii
Nevada (8-4) vs. Southern Methodist (7-5)
Welcome back June Jones. The former Hawaii coach will be making his first return back to the state after leaving in early 2008. However, this reunion will be not be so welcoming, as the Mustangs must square off against the 2nd ranked offense in the country in total yards. Featuring three 1,000-yard rushers, Vai Taua, Colin Kaepernick, and Luke Lippincott, Nevada will roll over SMU as the Wolf Pack offense puts up huge numbers.
Pick: Nevada
Little Caesars
Marshall (6-6) vs. Ohio (9-4)
Marshall comes into this game losing 3 of its last 4 remaining games this season and also with a new coach, as Mark Snyder stepped down with the conclusion of the regular season. Ohio, on the other hand, is riding a hot streak, winning its last 4 of 5 games. The distraction of having a new head coach won’t be a problem for Ohio, as they win this game, like they have been most of the year, through the air.
Pick: Ohio
Meineke Car Care
Pittsburgh (9-3) vs. North Carolina (8-4)
A botched extra point attempt cost Pittsburgh a shot at playing Florida in the Sugar Bowl. A heart-breaking loss now has Pitt slated against a terribly inconsistent Tarheel team. With wins against Virginia Tech and Miami, UNC has the capabilities and the team to win against good teams. However, Dion Lewis and Bill Stull pose a serious threat to the UNC defense, as they both have excelled this Panther offense. I think the disappointment will still be lingering over the heads of the Panthers after missing out playing in the Sugar Bowl. Butch Davis will have his team prepared and get a win in this mild upset.
Pick: North Carolina
Emerald
Boston College (8-4) vs. USC (8-4)
Not the bowl you would have thought USC would playing in at the beginning of the season? Inconsistent play on both sides of the ball is one reason USC is 8-4 and playing against BC. Though Matt Barkley has a bright and promising future ahead of him, he has not lived up to the preseason hype. Coach Frank Spaziani has far exceeded expectations for Boston College, as his team was predicted to finish last in the Atlantic Division in the ACC. BC has been known for their stingy defense this season but will have their hands full with the Trojan offense. Look for Barkley to air the ball out more than usual as USC will make more plays down the road than BC.
Pick: USC
Gaylord Hotels Music City
Kentucky (7-5) vs. Clemson (8-5)
It is a shame that C.J. Spiller will not be spending the weekend in New York City. As the very last game of his collegiate career, Spiller wants nothing more than to go out a winner. To achieve this, Clemson will have to take care of business against Kentucky. Randall Cobb, only a sophomore, of Kentucky poses a problem for the defense of Clemson and we will see how they respond to him. Though not one of the more interesting match ups, look for Spiller to have another good day.
Pick: Clemson
AdvoCare V100 Independence
Texas A&M (6-6) vs. Georgia (7-5)
If you still don’t know who Jerrod Johnson is, maybe you should refresh your memory by watching the Texas/Texas A&M game again. There is no doubt that Georgia is well aware of him. Leading the 5th ranked offense in the nation in total yards per game, Jerrod Johnson will be up against a Georgia defense that has been anything but good, and the Aggies’ defense isn’t much better. I expect this to be high scoring game with Jerrod Johnson and Joe Cox putting up big numbers. Also, look for the resurgent Georgia ground game, with the combination of Washaun Ealey and Caleb King, to also have a good day.
Pick: Georgia
Eaglebank
Army (5-6)/UCLA (6-6) vs. Temple (9-3)
Temple? 9-3? As crazy as that sounds, it has become reality. Al Golden has done an incredible job this year with the Temple Owls. We are still waiting the results of the Army/Navy game to determine if Army or UCLA gets the invitation. Pending an upset on the part of Army, UCLA, more than likely, will end up getting the bid and facing Temple. If this scenario were to unfold, though Temple has had a great season, Rick Neuheisel and company will be ready to go and get the job done.
Pick: UCLA
Champs Sports
Miami (FL) (9-3) vs. Wisconsin (9-3)
The key to this game will come down to who commits the least amount of turnovers. Jacory Harris leads the nation in interceptions, however, Wisconsin isn’t known for their smothering secondary. The Hurricanes are going to need to key on the explosive John Clay of Wisconsin, who just took home the Big 10 Offensive Player of Year award. If they can limit John Clay’s yardage and productivity and force the game upon Scott Tolzien’s shoulders, Miami has a great shot of winning this game. This will be a great match up between the “power” of the Big 10 against the “speed” of the ACC. In the end, Miami’s speed will win this game.
Pick: Miami
Roady’s Humanitarian
Bowling Green (7-5) vs. Idaho (7-5)
What a Cinderella story Idaho’s season has been. Robb Akey has turned this team around from a dismal 2-win season last year. Continuing their success with a bowl win won’t be easy as they have to face Tyler Sheehan and Freddie Barnes of Bowling Green. This game should turn out to be a high scoring affair. Though Bowling Green and Idaho are not marquee programs, this should turn out to be an enjoyable game to watch as the scoring should come soon and often from both sides. I like Idaho’s Cinderella story to continue and get their second-ever bowl win.
Pick: Idaho
Pacific Life Holiday
Arizona (8-4) vs. Nebraska (9-4)
What a tale of two stories…well in regards to the conclusion of the regular season. Arizona is still on Cloud 9 after finally defeating USC. On the opposite side, Nebraska was literally one second away from pulling off the upset of the season and throwing BCS officials in chaos. Now, it’s time to stop cheering and crying and get ready to play one more. Mike Stoops, every year, seems to be constantly improving his Wildcats. It will be interesting to see how sophomore Nick Foles handles Heisman candidate Ndamukong Suh and the rest of the Nebraska pass rush. For Nebraska, its offense has been terrible all season and almost looked nonexistent against Texas. I know, Arizona isn’t Texas. The Nebraska defense will be fired up and will completely dominate the Arizona offensive line. Look for Nebraska to rely on their running game.
Pick: Nebraska
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
Houston (10-3) vs. Air Force (7-5)
Don’t expect Houston to run away with this one. Case Keenum has put up ridiculous numbers this year and it will interesting to see how he does against the nation’s leading pass defense in Air Force. Air Force hasn’t received much attention this year, but remember they almost beat TCU. Of course the key word there being “almost.” A rematch of last year’s exciting game, I predict the same from this year’s version. Look for Houston to continue their postseason success.
Pick: Houston
Brut Sun
Oklahoma (7-5) vs. Stanford (8-4)
If only Sam Bradford could foresee this season’s happenings, last year. A knee injury, a shoulder injury, and five losses later, the preseason top 5 team couldn’t have envisioned a worse set of events. However, what is done, is done. Stanford comes knocking with Heisman candidate Toby Gerhart leading the way for a potent offense. Stanford might be without Andrew Luck, after getting surgey to repair an injured thumb, which could make things interesting. Regardless, I think the postseason blues continue for Bob Stoops and the Sooners.
Pick: Stanford
Texas
Navy (8-4) vs. Missouri (8-4)
Navy comes into this game ranking dead last, well almost, in average passing yards per game. I guess you don’t really need to pass when you rank 3rd in the nation in average rushing yards per game. However, this, combined with a tough front seven for Missouri, could give Navy some problems. An explosive Missouri offense, though still young, will keep the Navy defense on their heels.
Pick: Missouri
Insight
Minnesota (6-6) vs. Iowa State (6-6)
It still amazes me how Nebraska ever lost to Iowa State this season. I guess that is what committing 8 turnovers will get you. Without star wideout, Eric Decker, Minnesota has definitely felt the effects of the lack of a down field threat. Minnesota will need to rely on its defense in this one, as the Golden Gopher offense has not been real productive. Iowa State, more than likely, will come out and try to establish the run early as its passing attack has been dismal. Don’t expect many fireworks from this game. Anticipate a low scoring affair with Minnesota’s defense being the difference maker.
Pick: Minnesota
Chick-fil-a
Virginia Tech (9-3) vs. Tennessee (7-5)
The city of Atlanta has not been kind to the Hokies, as they are 1-3 in the last two years. Lane Kiffin hopes to capitalize on Virginia Tech’s misfortunes in Atlanta, particularly in the Georgia Dome. ACC Rookie of the Year, Ryan Williams, leads the Hokie offense against a tough Volunteer defense anchored by All-American Eric Berry. The key for the Volunteers will be in their front seven. Stopping the run, which Tennessee has excelled at this year, will put the game on Tyrod Taylor’s shoulders and the Hokies’ passing attack. Though a much improved offense from last year, the Hokies must establish the running game if they are to going to win this game. Also, the Hokies’ defense hasn’t been what is used to be in previous years and has been susceptible to big plays. Jonathan Crompton and Montario Hardesty are just the kind of guys to make those plays happen. One of the most exciting games thus far in the schedule, defense will be they key, and that favors Tennessee.
Pick: Tennessee
Outback
Northwestern (8-4) vs. Auburn (7-5)
Gene Chizik’s first year at Auburn is about what we all expected; not great but not terrible either. In comes a hot Northwestern team hungry for some postseason glory. Auburn didn’t finish the season like most fans would wanted them to, losing its last 5 of 7. I think Chris Todd and Ben Tate will give more then what the Northwestern defense can handle. Look for the Auburn pass rush to continuously bring the heat and keep Northwestern’s Mike Kafka under pressure.
Pick: Auburn
Capital One
Penn State (10-2) vs. LSU (9-3)
This heavyweight bout will definitely be an intriguing one to watch. It features two teams that were determined to receive a BCS bid but both came up a little short. The quarterback play favors Penn State as a seasoned Daryll Clark leads the Nittany Lions’ offense. Jordan Jefferson has shown us glimpses of his potential but the inexperience has also been displayed on a number of occasions. The key for him is ball security and making intelligent decisions with his passes. I believe Jefferson and the LSU offense will also get the ball more times the Penn State offense, thanks in part to the very fast LSU defense. Les Miles and Tigers get the W.
Pick: LSU
Konica Minolta Gator
West Virginia (9-3) vs. Florida State (6-6)
Should Florida State be playing in the Gator Bowl? Well, that is up for debate. Unfortunately, for Florida State and college football nation, the circumstances that have transpired over the course of the season is not the way a legendary coach should go out. As history would have it, Bobby Bowden and his Seminoles will be playing against the same team when he won his first bowl game. There is no doubt that the Seminoles will be playing inspired football and that is bad news for West Virginia. Noel Devine is a shifty, quick running back that the Florida State defense needs to contain if they are to win this game. Though the FSU’s defense has been shredded this year, I think the team will rally around their coach and give him the proper exit he deserves.
Pick: Florida State
Rose
Ohio State (10-2) vs. Oregon (10-2)
Wait…what? No, USC? Hard to believe, I know. But, another team, other than USC, is playing in the Rose Bowl Game. Oregon, which has an offense as predictable as their uniforms, will give everything the Ohio State defense can muster. Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James lead the high-powered rushing attack for the Ducks, which should be an interesting match up against the 5th ranked rushing defense in the nation. But this offense is a whole different animal then what the Ohio State defense has seen all season. The key for Ohio State is time of possession. Ohio State needs to have long, time consuming drives to keep the dynamic Duck offense on the bench. If the Buckeyes can sustain long drives, eliminate the plaguing problem of going 3 and out on numerous occasions, and score touchdowns and not field goals, then they will a shot. History is also on the Ducks’ side, as Ohio State has a notorious reputation of collapsing in BCS games. Could the Buckeyes be finally due for a BCS bowl win? Yeah, I don’t think so either.
Pick: Oregon
Allstate Sugar
Florida (12-1) vs. Cincinnati (12-0)
Can it really be Tim Tebow’s last game? Relax, I am not showing any jubilation or sadness. But you cannot argue that when he does leave Florida, he will, more than likely, be remembered as one of the greatest college football players ever…I don’t care who you are. A classic proverbial match up between David and Goliath. Good thing I am not Brian Kelly. There are not a whole lot of weaknesses that Florida exhibits. Cincinnati will need to find a way to establish the run, even though that is not their strong suit. Tony Pike cannot through 45-50 times during this game. The Bearcats will also need to have long, successful drives to keep the powerful Gator offense on the sidelines. The Cincinnati defense needs to try and keep the Gators out of the endzone; limit them to just field goals. Florida is going to score, but limiting the opportunities to do so is imperative. But, when the clock ticks down to :00, the Gators will be celebrating another BCS win and also closing the chapter on an era.
Pick: Florida
International
South Florida (7-5) vs. Northern Illinois (7-5)
Another inconsistent team in South Florida, you just never know what to expect from this Bulls. Much like their 2007 season, a great start by the Bulls evaporated and then mediocracy set in. South Florida’s rushing attack is lead by freshman B.J. Daniels, who will be a stud one day. Northern Illinois has a potent rushing attack of their own that ranks in the top 20 in the nation. Running back Chad Spann of the Huskies, might have some difficulty with the quick and talented front seven of South Florida. A game that is not very appealing, I think the Bulls, thanks in part to their running game, come out victorious.
Pick: South Florida
Papajohns.com
South Carolina (7-5) vs. Connecticut (7-5)
Who couldn’t root for the Connecticut Huskies this year, especially after the tragic death of Jasper Howard? UConn has been on a hot streak recently and is looking to carry that momentum into this match up with the Gamecocks. South Carolina has had some problems as of late, but got a much needed win over their in-state rival, Clemson. The Huskies will want to win this game for their fallen teammate, however, the South Carolina defense won’t be so willing to accommodate. The Connecticut players will be playing inspired football but they will come up a little short as the Gamecock defense is the difference in this game.
Pick: South Carolina
AT&T Cotton
Oklahoma State (9-3) vs. Ole Miss (8-4)
It seems that Ole Miss has fallen victim to the Sooner-syndrome. No, not because of devasting injuries but because of terribly high expectations that were never met. The Rebels sat atop the preseason poll ranked #8 in the country. After climbing as high as #4, losses started mounting up and the realization that Ole Miss wasn’t going to challenge for the SEC West started to be evident. A similar story can be told about Oklahoma State, especially after their opening win against Georgia. Now, these two teams square off against each other in what should be an entertaining game. The Rebels have one of the most dynamic and versatile players in the SEC in Dexter McCluster and also boast Jevan Snead, who can be said that he, just like his team, has underachieved this season given his expectations. Nonetheless, these two will give the Cowboys’ defense some trouble, especially in containing McCluster. Zac Robinson, like most of the season, will be without Dez Bryant, who was the Cowboys’ deep threat target but that hasn’t stopped Robinson or the rest of the Cowboys from racking up 9 wins. This could possibly be one of the most difficult games to predict the winner as both teams seems to match up with each other well. I am counting on McCluster’s play making abilities and Rebels defense to get the job done.
Pick: Ole Miss
Autozone Liberty
Arkansas (7-5) vs. East Carolina (9-4)
Skip Holtz’s team finished the season with their signature win of the year after having upset Houston. However, with Houston being the exception, every decent team ECU faced, the outcome was the same: loss. The Purple Pirates now face an offensively gifted team in Arkansas, led by Ryan Mallett. ECU defeated Houston but Case Keenum still tossed for 527 passing yards. I predict Ryan Mallett will have a similar day. He won’t throw for 500 yards but he will have a great day through the air. ECU’s defensive unit will keep the team in the game but look for Arkansas to pull away late, thanks in part to the Razorback’s offense.
Pick: Arkansas
Valero Alamo
Michigan State (6-6) vs. Texas Tech (8-4)
This is one game that should on the top of most people’s confidence sheets. Texas Tech has the second best passing attack in the nation. What else would we expect from Texas Tech? Taylor Potts had enormous shoes to fill with the departure of Graham Harrell last year and for the most part, has done a great job. Potts now goes up against a Michigan State team that has been inconsistent all season, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. The Spartan secondary ranks 96th in the country in pass efficiency defense. Look for Taylor Potts to have a huge day as Texas Tech wins.
Pick: Texas Tech
Fiesta
Boise State (13-0) vs. TCU (12-0)
I am not going to dwell too much on the controversy of this bowl as my previous post reflected my opinion of what I think of this bowl (Fiesta Bowl Bust). From a purely competitive standpoint, I think this will be a great game: great offense vs. great defense. Furthermore, don’t discredit TCU’s offense, which ranks 4th in the country in total yards per game and 5th in points scored per game. The Horned Frogs’ stingy defense is anchored by Jerry Hughes, who just collected the Ted Hendricks award, which recognizes the country’s best defensive end. The front seven of TCU will definitely challenge the offensive line of Boise State and pressure Bronco quarterback Kellen Moore. Kellen Moore has looked great all season, tossing 39 touchdowns on the season with only 3 interceptions. TCU’s secondary will be constantly challenged from Moore and his receivers. A rematch from last year’s Poinsettia Bowl, which TCU edged out Boise State 17-16, this version should be one heck of a game, as the stage is larger and the stakes higher. I think there is not a whole lot these defenses can do to completely each other’s offenses. However, TCU’s defense I believe is the real deal. TCU wins this game in a close one.
Pick: TCU
FedEx Orange
Iowa (10-2) vs. Georgia Tech (11-2)
How do you stop Paul Johnson and his Yellow Jackets’ triple-option attack? It’s not easy, but Iowa has the defensive unit to do it. They don’t win gracefully and put up 40 points but they do find ways to win. I guess it was inevitable that Iowa wasn’t going to stay undefeated forever because every week it came down to the fourth quarter against a team that the Hawkeyes should have beat by double-digits. I feel sorry for all of you gamblers out there that constantly kept picking Iowa to cover the spread. Now, comes arguably the greatest challenge the Hawkeyes have faced all season. Paul Johnson might be the most creative and strategically offensive mind in the country. He doesn’t have a game plan because his game plan changes after every play unfolds. Kirk Ferentz and his defense will have their hands full. If they can manage to slow down Georgia Tech’s triple-option and keep them out of the endzone, which is like asking you to walk on water, then Iowa might have a chance. The Hawkeyes will be happy to welcome Ricky Stanzi back from injury and this will give the Iowa offense a much needed boost since his departure. It is hard to pick against Paul Johnson and it is amazing that in only his second year as the Yellow Jackets’ head coach, he will have one his first Orange Bowl.
Pick: Georgia Tech
GMAC Bowl
Central Michigan (11-2) vs. Troy (9-3)
For those who don’t know, Notre Dame was originally slated to play against Central Michigan. Instead, Notre Dame officials withdrew their name and Troy is now the lucky school that must face Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour. And who could blame Notre Dame? Dan LeFevour is probably the most successful player in Central Michigan football history, accumulating three MAC Championships in the four years he has been quarterback. Now, his successful career is coming to a close with only one game left. The Chippewas are out to avenge two consecutive bowls losses and LeFevour would like nothing more than to go out on top. What is predicted to be a high scoring battle, both Central Michigan and Troy will put up huge numbers offensively. The leadership and inspiration to finish a winner will drive Dan LeFevour and the rest of the Chippewas to a victory.
Pick: Central Michigan
Citi BCS National Championship Game
Texas (13-0) vs. Alabama (13-0)
The most anticipated game of the postseason, the Longhorns square off against the Crimson Tide. This game not only features two Heisman candidates but also two of the best defenses in the country. The game is still a little less than month away and I am hearing it already from other blogs and analysts, “how Texas doesn’t have a chance,” in this game. I know it is easy to look back a few weeks and see how Texas struggled both offensively and defensively, especially when Texas A&M embarrassed the Longhorn defense. Another example can be shown from just as recent as last week’s Big 12 Championship game, where Nebraska almost cost Texas its shot at the national title and its undefeated season. But don’t forget, Texas did finish undefeated in the Big 12. Call it what you want, but the Longhorns have earned their spot in this game. Alabama comes into this game with all the momentum in the world after trouncing Florida in the SEC Championship game and it looks like the Crimson Tide might just roll over Texas and give the SEC its fourth consecutive national championship. However, Texas is in a great position to be in. With so many doubters and disbelievers, Texas might just shock the Crimson Tide. Momentum won’t carry much weight a month from now and teams are coached to have a short memory. I expect this game to be closer than what most experts are calling. However, in the end, Mark Ingram and the Crimson Tide win the national title over Colt McCoy and the Longhorns and give the SEC four straight.
Joe Bageant
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