Sitting and Experience Not the Same Thing

A visitor to this site has challenged K.R.'s skepticism about Joseph Biden by citing the Democrat vice presidential nominee's 35 year tenure in the U.S. House of Gasbags.

The correspondent's premise is flawed.

Biden has not had 35 years of experience. He has had one year of experience 35 times.

Yesterday's News

That guy -- you know, what's his name, the one with the big Dumbo like ears -- no longer is the fresh face on the political stage. He's become dated . . . almost passe . . . supplanted by a newer, younger, and far more attractive rising star.

Who'd Have Thought It?

Senator and presidential candidate John McCain is said by his detractors to be dangerously volatile and unpredictable. So who would have expected him to exhibit the self discipline to keep secret his thoughts about, and the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate? Not having those things leaked in advance is exceedingly rare in and around the District of Columbia swamplands.

The Racism Canard

One of the lackwit commentators whose blatherings are broadcast by the San Francisco Bay Area's National Public Radio outlet was on last night spouting about racially motivated Hillary supporters who won't vote for a candidate because he is black.

There undoubtedly are such voters but I submit that they are far fewer in number than white voters who will support a black candidate either because doing so makes them feel good about themselves (and perhaps even superior) or because of the rational benefits of having a black candidate succeed.

I know this from personal experience in my home town -- a liberal bastion of political correctness in a university community. We never advertised a black friend's sensible and practical conservative views after I convinced him to run or while I was managing his campaign for a local political office. The fact that he was black was enough for us to win handily.

So enough already. Let's stop it with the racism charges unless you want to explain whey it is racism for some unknown and probably undeterminable number of white voters to cast ballots on the basis of a candidate's race while 94% of blacks expressing their intentions to vote for a black candidate is not indicative of any racial bias.

Bogus Experience Argument

Supporters of the Messiah are trying to seize on the supposedly limited experience of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to argue against her election as vice president. The argument won't wash as it is demonstrably bogus.

In the first place, as is set forth in the post immediately below this one, Ms. Palin has far more real world experience than either of the two men who comprise the Democrat ticket. Neither of them has ever done anything in the real world outside politics. They are utterly devoid of accomplishments.

Even in the political world, neither of the Democrats has any executive experience. Neither has ever run anything other than his mouth. Their experiences are limited to serving in legislative bodies -- houses of gasbags who talk and talk and talk and talk and . . . . They are utterly devoid of any accomplishments.

Even as mayor of a small town, Ms. Palin was in a position in which she was responsible for making decisions and acting on them. She did well enough in that role to win election to the governorship of the geographically largest state in America, where she again was responsible for making decisions and acting on them. By all accounts, she has discharged her gubernatorial responsibilities superbly and earned the approval of 80% of her constituents by doing so. That, incidentally, is about ten times the approval rating enjoyed by the Democrat controlled Congress that has spawned the Democrat ticket.

The same dolts who seek to diminish Ms. Palin also may seek to argue that Senator McCain's experience also is limited to serving in the U.S. Senate, the ultimate house of gasbags. But this ignores his having served in the military as an officer with command responsbilities that required him regularly to make and implement real world life or death decisions.

All We Need to Know

As I was dozing off last night it occurred to me that we already know everything necessary to decide on how to vote in the presidential election in November.

The Democrat ticket is made up of two lawyers, one of whom also is married to a lawyer.

The Republican standard bearers are a former military officer who served with distinction and heroism, and an authentic American frontier woman, a mother of five who, in addition to caring for her family, hunts, fishes, flies airplanes, and also cleaned up a lawyer created political corruption mess in her home state.

Lawyers are good at talking, debating, and manipulating symbols (as well as peoples' emotions).

Ordinary people live in and understand the real world. They deal with reality and do real things.

That says it all.

(Note for Full and Fair Disclosure: K.R. is a lawyer although he prefers to describe himself as a recovering attorney or one in rehab.)

K.R.'s Turnaround: A Change of Mind and Heart

Over the past several weeks, K.R. has observed with admiration the superb campaign being conducted by and on behalf of John McCain.

The rapid fire production and airing of excellent radio and television ads have quickly taken advantage of opportunities presented by current events as they occurred. They have deftly skewered the Obama candidacy and demonstrated its absurdity in a light and good humored but effective way.

However, neither the professionalism and intelligence of the campaign nor my admiration and respect for Senator McCain's military service or for him as an individual was sufficient to overcome the serious disagreements I have had and continue to have with him politically. For the reasons set forth in an earlier positing (which remains and can be viewed in the archive section) on this site, I never budged from my determination not to vote for him.

That changed this morning with his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to run for vice president on the ticket that he heads. Ms. Palin has a compelling story. She is an intelligent, honest, practical, and highly competent American frontier woman and her public service record as well as her private life and achievements provide more than adequate evidence of these characteristics.

The Democratic standard bearer constantly talks about change but when choosing a running mate he picked an aging party hack notable only for consistently bad judgments and a failed attempt to plagiarize another politicians biography and pass it off as his own. Furthermore, Obama never has supported any reform efforts or deviated in any meaningful way from the agendas of any of the special interest groups that are his party's base.

The contrast could not be clearer. McCain has demonstrated his independence throughout his senate career, often to the dismay of much of his party and its regulars. With his selection of Ms. Palin to run with him, he demonstrated an agility of mind and the capability for flexible and independent decision making necessary for national leadership.

The move and its timing demonstrate strategic ability of the highest order. His opposition was and remains flummoxed and their reactive efforts to belittle Ms. Palin and her candidacy have been absurd or odious or both. They would have done better to remain silent.

In any event, if anyone is interested, K.R. is going to be voting for the McCain - Palin ticket.

Abe's Apt Advice

A serious administration would have begun long ago with prosecutions of Senators Harry Reid and Dick Durbin and Representatives Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha.

. . . and the same should apply to those in the media. Please note at The New York Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, et. al. Not long ago, in a less punctilious era, the editor and publisher of The New York Times would have been hanged as treasonous traitors from lamp posts in Times Square. Just think about the salutary effects that would have on the practice of what currently passes for journalism.

P.S. to Dependencies, Domestic and Foreign Post (below)

The photos below capture a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect wildlife in the USA . Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of being on welfare.....as they have apparently learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide for their care and sustenance.


Still waiting

Myth to Cloud Men's Minds

For a truly incisive description of how socialists . . . oh, pardon me, they now call themselves progressives . . . periodically manage to fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, scroll down to the August 25 Quote of the Day on this site.

Compounding Embarrassments

Our feckless leader would do well to take note of the words of a far wiser man who observed that

"It is better to remain silent
and be thought a fool than to
speak and remove all doubt."

By our President's justified but utterly futile criticisms of Russia's barbarous imperialistic attack on the Republic of Georgia, he only draws attention to the unhappy fact that the West has neither the means nor the will to do anything about it.

With every pronouncement he makes clearer that the once formidable American eagle has been diminished to a chirping sparrow.

For more on this subject, click here.

Too Big To Fail: A Fanciful Cover Story for Political Cowardice and Governmental Ineptitude

Hardly a week goes by now without our hearing about the need for a government bailout of some business that is said to be "too big to fail."

The argument is that the enterprise teetering on the brink of bankruptcy is so large that our entire economy would be severely damaged if we just let the failing business go down the drain without throwing a hefty lifeline of taxpayer dollars to it.

We're soon going to be hearing a lot about the "need" for the U.S. Treasury to rescue the nation's former "big three" auto makers (and K.R. will have more to say about that balderdash in the coming days).

The fact of the matter is that a free market economy must necessarily include the freedom to fail as a consequence of poor decisions and corrective punishment for imprudent business and financial practices.

No business should be permitted to become too big to be subject to that discipline of free enterprise. Instead of bailing out such pitiful helpless giants, we should restrict or reverse their growth and, if necessary, split them up.

History Repeating Itself Inversely?

The Soviet superpower disintegrated in 1991 largely as a result of:

* Getting bogged down in a war it couldn't win in Afghanistan,

* Declining domestic oil production and dependence on expensive and unreliable foreign sources of supply to meet its energy needs,

* Soaring military expenditures necessary to keep pace with what the world's other superpower was doing,

* Unsustainable budget deficits and foreign debt,

* Its political and governmental institutions and systems having become bloated, balky, unresponsive, corrupt, and incapable of reform, and

* Delusions of grandeur that prevented honest discussions of the problems it was facing.

Who's currently in such a situation?

When Your Number Is Up

Dependencies, Domestic and Foreign

With all the carping about our numerous failings, faults, and mistakes, few critics of America ever focus on the destructive effects of our almost universally praised well intentioned policies.

Coming back to bite us now is our having provided a shield for the Western European countries devastated by World War II. We helped them rebuild their industrial bases and economies. Our military protection against an aggressive and expansionist Soviet Union was part and parcel of this assistance. It spared Europeans the necessity and expenses of providing for their own defenses.

The unfortunate unintended consequence of our having done this is that its beneficiaries got used to the free ride. In the six plus decades since Hitler's defeat, Western Europe has rebuilt its industrial base and become an economic power. However, none of the nations that make up Western Europe ever reassumed responsibility for its own defense. They participated in NATO but their participation, militarily and economically, was nominal -- just enough to give them a significant role in formulating policies, strategies, and decision making.

They all were content to let the U.S. continue to bear a disproportionate share of the defensive burdens. Doing so, they lost their traditional martial virtues and the will to defend themselves, their cultures, their values, or anything and everything else. They became what has been referred to, not unfairly, as a collection of weasels. At the same time, they came to resent their dependence on the U.S. In turn, that resentment led them to criticize and undermine any and every action taken by the U.S. to extend to others or defend western civilization.

Now the Russian bear has risen again and the weasels are all atwitter, dithering, temporizing. They again appear to be hoping to be the last to be eaten by the beast and that words will appease, satisfy, and soothe it. Unable to rouse themselves to take any meaningful action, they give every indication of reacting to Russian aggression in the same way their predecessors reacted to Hitler's.

At home, our affirmative action efforts provide a parallel to what has transpired in Western Europe. Dismantling and eliminating laws that permitted racial discrimination and those that prevented full participation by blacks in the nation's life and its political processes, and economy obviously was the right and moral thing to do. Had we stopped there, black citizens would have had the same opportunity that America afforded to those who made up the waves of immigrants that came to our shores -- the opportunity through individual struggle and effort to succeed, to gain a role and place in the American society commensurate with what they were able to achieve.

Instead, with a multitude of very expensive programs we attempted to foster the advancement of the previously disadvantaged racial minority.
What these efforts actually did was a disservice to our black citizens and the country. It conveyed to those citizens that they were incapable of achieving on their own the same successes that had been achieved by others, that being victims they needed and deserved the government's help.

Does anyone seriously doubt that doing this created a long lasting -- and quite possibly permanent -- dependency, an angry, resentful, and violence prone underclass of parasitic victims constantly demanding more? Attention to what those who are seen as leaders of the so-called black community -- race hustlers such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton -- should dispel any doubts about this. If this isn't enough, one need only look at the contrast between those who waited for rescue from flooding in New Orleans with those took care of themselves and one another in the far more widespread upper Midwest floods.

Individuals and societies reach great heights and earn self esteem and respect from others through self sufficiency, taking and discharging responsibilities, and pulling at least their own weight in endeavors undertaken jointly with others.

On the other hand there is a lesson in the foregoing that we all should learn and apply: dependency is enervating and destructive for everyone -- for all parties -- involved in it -- those who create, support, and permit it as well as those who accept and become reliant on it.

K.R.'s Assessment of Putin

Notwithstanding the donning of fashionable Italian designer suits and other similarly superficial pretensions, a brutal, uncultured, uncivilized, barbaric, and bullying thug is still a brutal, uncultured, uncivilized, barbaric, and bullying thug.

Putin's Aims -- From the Heritage Foundation

Nearly two weeks ago, Russian forces crossed into Georgia, a staunch American ally in the Caucasus. While fighting has largely stopped, Russian forces remain on Georgian soil despite Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s promises the troops would withdraw.

Heritage Foundation expert Ariel Cohen explains that Russia has five goals in its campaign against Georgia:

1. Expulsion of Georgian troops and termination of Georgian sovereignty in South Ossetia and Abkhazia;

2. “Regime change” by bringing down President Mikheil Saakashvili and installing a more pro-Russian leadership in Tbilisi;

3. Preventing Georgia from joining NATO and sending a strong message to Ukraine that its insistence on NATO membership may lead to war and/or its dismemberment;

4. Shifting control of the Caucasus, and especially over strategic energy pipelines, by controlling Georgia; and

5. Recreating a 19th-century-style sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union, by the use of force if necessary.

[K.R. agrees with the above but believes that Putin also is intent on humiliating the West, NATO, and the U.S., and demonstrating their impotence. The more we prattle without taking any effective action, the more we help him in this effort.]

This campaign could serve as a prelude to subsequent actions elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Cohen warns. In particular, Russia could turn its sights on Ukraine, which controls the strategic Crimean peninsula and has a substantial ethnic Russian minority.

Russia’s latest adventurism demonstrates that it wants to reestablish itself as a great power, Heritage’s Peter Brookes argues in his New York Post column. “Today’s Kremlin is cocky, nationalistic, rich and bent on asserting Russia as a great power with distinct interests - not only in its neighborhood or ‘near abroad’ - but across the globe.”

At the bottom of his article, Brookes provides a useful summary of Russia’s interests, alliances and recent troublemaking.

Cohen urges the United States and its allies to continue their opposition to the Russian incursion. They “need to send a strong signal to Moscow that creating 19th-century-style spheres of influence and redrawing the borders of the former Soviet Union is a danger to world peace.”

Georgia’s ambassador speaks at Heritage:

“The last few days have shown without a shadow of doubt that Russia is using this moment to project the message to the world that it is back as an imperial power and the free world is powerless to respond,” Georgian Ambassador Vasil Sikharulidze told a standing-room-only crowd in Heritage’s Allison Auditorium Monday.

Sikharulidze urged the free world to stand up to Russia’s aggression, which he said “can and must be resisted. The power of the free world requires unity. Otherwise, if they sense weakness and disunity, we will find ourselves in much direr circumstances very soon.”

Noble Sounding but Empty Words

"The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone."

. . . President George W. Bush in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, May 2005

Restoring the Empire

Old Ben Saw Him Coming

"Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason."

-- Benjamin Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanack, 1735)

Reference: Franklin: Writings, Lemay, ed., Library of America
(1198)

Profiles in Cowardice

Random House should hear from all of us about this.

Remembering Our Time's Estimable Senator

It has been observed that the U.S. Senate lost well over a majority -- some even say more than 90% -- of its brainpower with the departure of the 1% of its membership that was Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Unfortunately, Mr. Moynihan failed to lead his party and more often than not he voted with his party instead of with his brain.

Nonetheless, he graced the Senate and he was a formidable force and presence in it.

Some say that the charming, humane, and erudite New York gentleman drank . . . and yes, indeed he did, deeply and well. Yet, as Ronald Reagan napping was better for the country than the Uriah Heapish peanut farmer he replaced ever was at the height of his alertness, Mr. Moynihan in his cups was superior to the best of his most sober colleagues.

We are unlikely to see a senator approaching Mr. Moynihan's stature in the foreseeable future. Only a handful of the Senate's current members possess either a brain or a character that is not dwarfed by the accompanying ambition and ego.

National Politicians: How to Cope With and Prevail Over Them

"Don't believe them, don't fear them, don't ask anything of them."

That's the saying that the recently deceased Alexander Solzhenitsyn (who in 1970 won the Nobel Prize for literature) developed and used to survive and beat the GULAG and, ultimately, the Soviet Union itself. In more detail, his prescription for surviving and prevailing involves:

* Not paying any attention to national politicians as they are colossal distractions encouraged by attention,

* Staying focused, and

* Not even making fun of them (tempting as it is to do so -- and even though K.R. can't resist this temptation)) because ignoring them will made them fade from the scene even faster.

This is a time-tested, time and energy saving approach to national politics that is guaranteed to work in and for any collapsing superpower . . . and all such powers do eventually collapse.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Soviet superpower disintegrated in 1991 largely as a result of:

* Getting bogged down in a war it couldn't win in Afghanistan,

* Declining domestic oil production and dependence on expensive and unreliable foreign sources of supply to meet its energy needs,

* Soaring military expenditures necessary to enable it to respond to what its real and imagined challengers were doing,

* Unsustainable budget deficits and foreign debt,

* Its political and governmental institutions and systems having become bloated, balky, unresponsive, corrupt, and incapable of reform, and

* Delusions of grandeur that prevented honest discussions of the problems it was facing.

Who's currently in such a situation?

Real Polution Hazard

Dog Wisdom

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

When it's in your best interest, practice obedience.

Let others know when they've invaded your territory.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back in the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout .. Run right back and make friends.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough.

Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you're not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

And never trust anyone until you have sniffed their butt.

Another CBS News Pratfall

A supposedly humorous lackwit commentator at CBS News was on the air this morning displaying the depth of his ignorance by equating Russia's violation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Georgia with what he referred to as the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Perhaps he is too young, too unread, and too ignorant to know that:

* The U.S. initially led a multinational force against Iraq in response to, and to repel an invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.

Does CBS News think Georgia invaded a neighboring country?

* Iraq made certain commitments in connection with the cessation of the above-mentioned hostilities and despite repeated demands and warnings failed to honor those commitments.

What commitments does CBS News believe were made and breached by the Republic of Georgia?

* The second U.S. led coalition attack on Iraq followed Iraq's ignoring repeated UN resolutions calling for it to abide by the above-mentioned commitments.

Can CBS News cite any UN resolutions calling on the Republic of Georgia to do anything and/or any failure by Georgia to meet any such resolutions or any international commitments whatsoever?

* Iraq was governed by a brutal dictator whose regime routinely tortured and killed vast numbers of the country's citizens.

Does CBS News believe the democratically elected government of the Republic of Georgia was merely a cover for a similar regime or that similar atrocities were taking place within Georgia?

* U.S. and numerous other nations' intelligence agencies during the Clinton Administration as well as during the current one concluded prior to the second Gulf War that Iraq had and/or was developing weapons of mass destruction.

What comparable intelligence information regarding the Republic of Georgia does CBS News possess? (One might simply ask whether CBS News possesses any intelligence at all.)

The inescapable conclusion from the foregoing is that CBS News's commenting mental midget was just stretching for a way to be cute and politically correct by blaming the U.S. for something and bad mouthing the Bush administration.

Cute, hunh?

Nope . . . not cute . . . just stupidly displaying and fostering stupidity.

An Obama Supporter's Plea

Leave Barack Alone

West Dithers, Talks, and Deludes Itself; Russia Acts and Wins

Dark Lord Changes the World

U.S. and the West Opened the Door to Russian Action Against Georgia

In wresting Kosovo from Serbia, the West, led by the U.S., established the precedent -- and therefore bears some measure of responsibility -- for what Russia is doing in the Republic of Georgia, at least if the Russians aims there are limited.

The rationale for what we did was that the people in Kosovo were being mistreated by Serbia's government and people. Russia is claiming that it acted and is acting to protect people who were being similarly mistreated in two Georgian provinces -- people with less affinity with Georgia than with Russia. Although the two cases are not as similar as the Russians claim, they are correct in pointing to the precedent we established for splitting up a sovereign country.

Serbia was and is friendly with Russia, which protested vehemently to no avail when we tore Kosova from its ally. So it's payback time and we now are as humiliatingly powerless to help Georgia as Russia was to help Serbia when we ignored Serbia's national sovereignty and borders. This, of course, assumes that Russia does no more than establish the autonomy of the Georgian provinces in question.

It will be an altogether different story if the Russians go farther and replace Georgia's democratically elected government and leaders with a puppet regime.

Nor does the foregoing detract from the fact that Russia is an uncivilized and barbaric power acting as a brutal bully . . . but then, what major power's government doesn't behave this way?

In fact, Russia's actions to this point have been far better planned and far more efficient, effective, and intelligent than anything that the government of the U.S. or that of any of our western allies has done in recent memory.

On this last point, see: A Czar Is Born

Appear to Have Struck a Nerve in the Kremlin

Someone in Moscow with a Russian government ISP has posted a 'comment' to K.R.'s piece entitled Getting It Right on Russian Aggression (reachable by clicking on that title in the archive list below in the right hand column). The 'comment' is not written. Instead, it is a lengthy -- more than an hour long -- piece of pretty slick and elaborate -- despite a smattering of silly errors -- piece of propaganda disguised as an English language news broadcast. Click on the comment link following the post and where it leads you to view the video, which takes a while to come up an get to the English language section.

Guess it's flattering to get this notice.

The search words "Russian aggression" led the commentator to K.R.'s blog in general and the particular piece to which he or she appended the video.

Advice For and About the Former Captive Nations of the Soviet Union

The nations that were captives of the old Soviet Union now have to face the unhappy fact that the U.S. has allowed itself to become powerless for all practical purposes . . . and that Putin is all too happy to fill the vacuum, shove that fact in our faces before the entire world, and take advantage of the situation to restore the old empire.

The more Bush says the more he demonstrates the current impotence of the U.S. and NATO. The fact is that the West is incapable of imposing any penalty of any significance on Russia or deterring future aggression by it.

Perhaps the other nations that used to be captives of the Soviet Union -- Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics. the Baltic states, Ukraine, etc. -- will see the handwriting on the wall and band together in an effective mutual defense organization with sufficient strength to make Russian action against any one or more of them unacceptably expensive.

With NATO worse than useless. the best we can do would be to provide arms, technology, training, and political support to the gutsy Eastern Europeans.

P.S. to Earlier Post -- the One that Appears Below This One

You can bet the the Chinese with their eyes on Taiwan are watching, weighing, and formulating plans on the basis of how the U.S. responds to Russia's invasion of the Republic of Georgia.

Friends Are Going to Be Few and Far Between

Witnessing the way the U.S. has turned its back on the Republic of Georgia and its democratically elected government, other independent nations are going to think carefully at least twice about allying themselves with, or providing any help or support to us as Georgia did. Our responding to the attack on Georgia only with carefully modulated and totally ineffective words, muted criticism, is going to make allies hard to come by going forward.

Two more worthwhile things to take a look at on this:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858625630435059.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121858681748935101-email.html

Questionable Intelligence

Where were our lavishly financed intelligence agencies in the weeks in which Russia was assembling its forces for its invasion of Georgia? Let's consider the possibilities.

Perhaps they failed to detect the buildup. If this was the case we have been wasting our intelligence dollars and we would be well advised to fire everyone in the chain of command responsible for the failure.

A second possibility is that our 'leaders' did know in advance what was coming and did nothing except prepare the statements expressing outrage that they issued after the fact.

A realpolitik cynic would bet on a third possibility -- that the Bush administration did have advance knowledge of Russia's military aggression through some combination of intelligence and advance briefings and consultation by and with the Putin bunch. This would mean that the whole thing -- the invasion and our administration's limiting its response to the attack to harshly critical words -- was scripted ahead of time.

George W. Adapts Teddy Roosevelt's Maxim

Seeking to emulate Theodore Roosevelt, our intrepid leader has modified Teddy's admonition to "talk softly and carry a big stick." The Bush version is:

Talk Strongly and Carry a Feather Duster

To complete the picture of the political leader he actually resembles, our president should take to carrying a bumbershoot.

Getting It Right on Russian Agression

Good reporting, observations, and commentaries on Russia's move to reestablish dominance over the countries that previously were the Soviet Union's captive nations:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121849981801531625.html?mod=djemITP

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121850039382131705.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121848870627030979.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/russo_georgian_war_and_balance_power

Bloody Price of Befriending the U.S. & the Ugly Rocky Road Ahead

It must be a great comfort to those slain by the savage Russian attack on the Republic of Georgia to know that our George W. Chamberlain looked into Vladimir Putin's heart and determined that the Russian leader is a good man. (Incidentally, were he not a good man his having effectively made himself Russia's president for life might lead one foolishly to conclude Putin is an autocratic despot or a dictator.)

Georgia is paying the price for having befriended the West in general and the U.S. in particular. It even joined Neville Bush's "coalition of the willing," sending its troops into Iraq alongside American soldiers.

In return our president mouths useless platitudes, mindless and futile prattlings, as a democratic ally is dismembered and its citizens are slaughtered. His bombast and vague but obviously toothless warnings are embarrassing as he clearly has neither the intention nor the means to take any effective action to reverse what the Russians have done or even to compel them to discontinue their aggression.

Georgia's bid to join NATO was rejected. The U.S. wouldn't or couldn't deliver even that. Of coarse, the comfort loving and cowardly European weasels, hoping to be eaten last by the Russian bear, didn't want to do anything that might have ruffled Mr. Putin's feathers as he was preparing to reassemble the Soviet empire.

This latest step in that endeavor has multiple benefits for Putin -- it demonstrates the resurgence of Russian power, it serves as powerful warning to other former member states of the Soviet Union that neither true independence nor friendship with the west will be permitted, and -- best of all from Mr. Putin's standpoint -- it demonstrates to all the world that the U.S. under its fawning leader and NATO have become dependent paper tigers . . . to the point of impotence . . . truly pitifully helpless giants.

The fact is that Czar Putin's actions stunned the west and disoriented and confused its leaders. Europe is dependent on Russia for energy and the U.S. needs Russian cooperation or, at least, neutrality, on Iran and in the Middle East. Accordingly, we lack the power as well as the will to counter Putin's aggression in any meaningful way, and this already has become clear to the former Soviet satellite states.

We can anticipate that our Alfred-E-Newman-like president will assure us any day now that his buddy acted or is acting in Georgia solely to champion the cause of other Russians, that the conquest of Georgia marked or will mark the end of Putin's territorial ambitions in Europe, and that with the conclusion of this adventure we will have peace in our time. He will not mention that this will be true only until Russia regains super power capabilities or that in the meantime it will without hindrance bring all of the Soviet Union's captive states back into its sphere of influence and under its domination.

Police State Olympics

Click on Image to Enlarge It

Recommended Reading on the Passing of a Prophet

See:

http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=2339

$24 BILLION A YEAR JOKE IS ON US . . . Courtesy of Our Government

What was the stated reason for establishing the multi billion dollar Department of Energy during the Carter administration?

It was very simple.

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WAS INSTITUTED TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

NOTE: IN 2008 THE BUDGET FOR THIS DEPARTMENT IS $24.2 BILLION. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES.

Some Enchanted Leader

Click on Image to Enlarge It

Pushing Our Mass Transit Future

Dedicated to PETA -- People Eating Tasty Animals

Great Ad from Scotland