We Have A Smart President

The President is finally speaking sense:

“The proposition that the government is always right is manifested either in corruption or benefits to ‘preferred’ companies,” he said.

“My choice is different. The… economy ought to be dominated by private businesses and private investors. The government must protect the choice and property of those who willingly risk their money and reputation.”
…
[He] said that the country must begin to attack the problem immediately to avoid “the point of no return from the (economic) models that are moving the country backwards.”

“Corruption, hostility to investment, excessive government role in the economy and the excessive centralization of power are the taxes on the future that we must and will scrap,” he said.

Of course the "we" who have this smart President is the collective "we" (heh). Because it is the President of Russia.

H/T Dave of Classical Values. Well more than a hat tip actually. I practically stole the whole thing from him. But it was a really good idea. And I had to give it my own twist.

The Old Order Is Breaking Down

Commenter Frank asked me to elaborate on my point about the start of the next world war at Palin: Libyans Should Be Protected By Nato. I replied in a comment. I think that comment deserves more eyeballs.

====

Frank,

The world system is breaking down. In America:

1. The lower education/union bubble
2. The higher education bubble
3. The real estate bubble
4. Not enough oil production
5. Drug Prohibition is being recognized as a failure
6. Insufficient food production to support the world system.
7. The Green bubble
8. Unsustainable Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.
9. The Democrat party is near a collapse point. Wisconsin is the leading indicator
10. etc

Europe - similar to the above without oil resources plus a Muslim problem.

In the Middle East:

1. Islam is breaking down due to the Internet/cell phones
2. It will not go quietly
3. Muslim Brotherhood etc.
4. Not enough food production
5. Dictators R us
6. etc.

China

1. Food
2. The Jasmine Revolution
3. Internet/cell phones - see Jasmine Revolution
4. One Party rule - like the Democrats in America only worse

India - I'm going to have to study more. Probably much of the above plus an Islam problem going back at least 500 years only partially resolved with the India/Pakistan partition.

No doubt much more.

The world system is breaking down. Much of the old system that we have been carrying is unsupportable. It will be a better system once the old order is gone. The old order will not go without a fight.

Texas is designing a degree system that will cost the student $10,000. I don't see why the cost shouldn't be more on the order of $2,000. We have the Internet.

The US is well positioned with its TEA Parties to come out on top of this upheaval. But it will not be pretty here either.

Some good places to start for further reading are:

The Origins of The Second World War

and:

The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914

From a review:

The fateful quarter-century leading up to the World War I was a time when the world of Privilege still existed in Olympian luxury and the world of Protest was heaving in its pain, its power, and its hate. The age was the climax of a century of the most accelerated rate of change in history, a cataclysmic shaping of destiny.

Sound familiar?

and:

The Guns of August

May I also suggest Sara Hoyt's blog post Marx Is Dead

Batten the hatches, General Quarters, Incoming! This is not going to be pretty. At all.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Palin: Libyans Should Be Protected By Nato

Sarah Palin says Libya should be declared a no-fly zone.

...Gaddafi is a brutal killer and Libya – not to mention the world – would be better off if he were out of power. Now is the time to speak out. Speak out for the long-suffering Libyan people. Speak out for the victims of Gaddafi’s terror. NATO and our allies should look at establishing a no-fly zone so Libyan air forces cannot continue slaughtering the Libyan people.

You know what the Peacemongers will say:

Damn Warmongers interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. Every nation has the right to kill its own citizens in mass quantities. The Warmongers should stay out and let the slaughter proceed.

I believe that we are witnessing the start of the next world war.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Adam Carrola Rants On The Schools

Adam Carolla has a beautiful rant on the school systems. Don't Miss It. If you only do the first five minutes it is worth it.

Not Safe For Work

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Hunger Coming To Korea

There has been an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in South Korea.

The severe foot and mouth epidemic that started in South Korea at the end of November could have even more serious repercussions for public health. Some 3m head of livestock have already been slaughtered but now the environment ministry is concerned about burial of the carcasses.

Under the pressure of events some cattle were buried alive and the authorities sometimes failed to take the necessary precautions: digging pits four or five metres deep and lining them with two layers of plastic sheeting. Farm animals were buried at more than 4,000 sites, often in easily accessible spots, for instance beside rivers.

As spring temperatures rise the corpses will start to rot. Rainfall leaching through the pits, above all during the June monsoon, could contaminate rivers and aquifers. This could be a hazard for drinking water with the risk of another outbreak of foot and mouth disease. To prevent "an unprecedented environmental disaster" the environment minister Lee Maanee last week called for "a full, detailed study of all the [burial] sites before spring".

According to a survey carried out in the eastern province of North Gyeongsang, where the epidemic started, more than one in 10 burial sites needs to be reinforced. New pits may be dug and lined with concrete.

The new problem comes on top of those posed by the epidemic itself, which has already cost South Korea 2,000bn won ($1.75bn) and pushed up food prices. The price of pork rose by nearly 12% in January alone. With about 5% of beef and dairy cattle having been destroyed the authorities are afraid there may be milk shortages, production having dropped by as much as one-fifth in some places.

Could it infect humans? Yes but it is rare.

Because FMD rarely infects humans, but spreads rapidly among animals, it is a much greater threat to the agriculture industry than to human health. Farmers around the world can lose huge amounts of money during a foot-and-mouth epizootic, when large numbers of animals are destroyed and revenues from milk and meat production go down.

And there are animal vaccines. It is looking bad for South Korea. But at least they have resources to buy their way out of the problem.

North Korea is in worse shape although the infection has not spread so far there.

SEOUL—A swiftly moving disease that has decimated South Korean livestock and damaged the country's food production now appears to be out of control in North Korea.

It is unclear where or when the latest outbreak of the airborne, easily transported illness known as foot-and-mouth disease began on the Korean peninsula. But in a sign of the pressure North Korea is facing over the issue, its state media on Tuesday reported that the outbreak originated in the South and that other countries, including Malaysia and Mongolia, have been hit with outbreaks in the past.

North Korea, which faces chronic food shortages and whose authoritarian government resists interaction with outsiders, hasn't taken any apparent steps to cull animals infected with the disease, as South Korea did.

Visitors to North Korea reported as far back as December they suspected the country was battling foot-and-mouth disease, but North Korea's state news agency didn't officially confirm the outbreak until Thursday when it said "more than 10,000 head of draft oxen, milk cows and pigs have been infected" and "thousands of them died."

In addition to reducing the North's already-constrained food supply, the disease's spread to oxen, widely used in place of tractors there, will limit the ability of North Korean farmers to carry out planting and other tasks.

And of course China, which borders North Korea is at risk. This is going to cause a spike in food prices world wide.

The rich countries will be stressed. Many of the poor countries of the world will be broken. Add in the recent freezes in in the US and Mexico and the world food supply is going to be strained severely. And yet the Delta Smelt has shut down a lot of food production in California (brilliant that) and we are using vast acreage to turn corn into alcohol. You have to wonder if the people running the show in America were born stupid or did they have to take classes?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Biker Flags

Note the outlaw biker contingent in the video.

What is this all about? It is about a boy who was told not to ride his bike on school property with an American flag on his bike. From 12 November:

13-year-old Cody Alicea rides with an American flag on the back of his bike. He says he does this to be patriotic and to honor veterans, like his own grandfather, Robert. He's had the flag on his bike for two months but Monday, was told to take it down.

A school official at Denair Middle School told Cody some students had been complaining about the flag and it was no longer allowed on school property.

"In this country we're supposed to be free," said Cody. "And I should be able to wave my flag wherever I want to. And they're telling me I can't." Cody had to take the flag off his bike and put it in his backpack, where he kept it all week.

Cody's grandfather says the school was concerned about racial tensions or uprisings because of the flag. He feels if there was really a problem it should have been brought up two months ago, not during Veterans week. And if it was an issue of safety, parents should have been contacted.

That video was such a thrill for me. I love the sound of Harleys in the morning. It sounds like victory. So when you watch - turn it up.

H/T Instapundit

Taking A Bath

Divias For Geeks explains exactly how government assets and income will be apportioned when the financial meltdown reaches its final crisis.

...the creditors of the "broke" entity take what is called "a bath." That means that under the bankruptcy laws of the United States of America they are paid a fraction of what they are owed. Because well, there just ain't enough money to go around, other wise the government, business or person wouldn't be "broke."

There is one small difference when governments go "broke" though. Then instead of bankruptcy law we have to rely on our Congress our Senate and fifty state legislatures to figure out who gets paid and who takes "a bath."

Those decisions will be made as follows. The least politically powerful people will be screwed first and hardest. The most politically powerful people will be screwed last and least.

He ends his note with a pointed suggestion.

That's how it's going to work. I don't tell you this because I dislike you. I tell you because I figure maybe you can use the warning to plan ahead, and buy lots of canned goods and a wood stove.

Sounds good to me. Don't forget to have a rotation plan for your canned goods and other semi-perishables. Keep your stocks fresh. Even if you can't afford a firearm, ammunition is always good for trade. Then you have to start thinking about alternate stashes. Depending on just how dark you think the days ahead may be.

Me? I'm looking forward to the Rejection in Nov of this year to fix at least the slide if not totally reverse the course.

Some Speculation On War

Donald Sensing asked me to write up an e-mail conversation we were having about the coming war in the Middle East. You can find it at The Coming War.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Visit To A Trade Show

Jeff Id visited a trade show in St. Louis and brings back a report.

First, there is a definite but slight recovery in in industry at this moment. Good news.

The second, is that industry is absolutely angry at what BHO and the extremists in charge are doing. Now understand, these include rank and file union and non-union workers, equipment builders, sales people, engineers, corporate heads and owners alike. The warriors of capitalism who provide and feed the world. This IS your food, it IS the funding which drives your banking jobs, health care and the rest. These are the people who know what it takes to get a job done, how to build a power line, what is required to move product, plumb a building, fill a pothole, how proper equipment is made.

They are universally afraid, and have learned a lesson from this economy which is unstated in media.

Recently the Tea Party movement has been marginalized by the MSM, however the extreme political hacks of the MSM haven’t figured out what the movement is OR why they have lost nearly all their viewers. The point is that the ‘tea party’ movement is not a group, it is a symptom. They don’t need a new party to divide them as the media is trying to sell. They are America, and the politicians had better start listening.

The same industry which has powered the world has been pushed right to its limit by both the wall street Republican and somewhat more culpable Democrat power brokers. It’s at the brink of collapse and there is a palpable fear in industry. We are right at the edge of loosing America. It’s far closer than you think, and these bankers and socialists owe humanity a greater debt for their blatant corruption than any humans have ever owed to a population.

Read the rest to find out why he says that.

And if you want to help out add this to your blog:


Click on the above image and learn how to spread it around.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

They Kill Patients Don't They?

Government run medicine in Britain strikes again.

A man of 22 died in agony of dehydration after three days in a leading teaching hospital.

Kane Gorny was so desperate for a drink that he rang police to beg for their help.

They arrived on the ward only to be told by doctors that everything was under control.

The next day his mother Rita Cronin found him delirious and he died within hours.

She said nurses had failed to give him vital drugs which controlled fluid levels in his body. 'He was totally dependent on the nurses to help him and they totally betrayed him.'

An isolated incident you say?

Don't bet your life on it.

Hospital bosses received huge pay rises as up to 5,000 patients in their care died needlessly

Three thousand needless deaths every year in hospital as watchdog fails to spot poor standards

Patients were 'routinely neglected', says most savage indictment of NHS trust

And that is not all. It seems the hospitals in Britain have a cockroach problem. And a rat problem. And mice too. Did I mention maggots?

British Hospitals Overrun With Rats, Bed Bugs, Maggots, Cockroaches

Hospital maternity unit closed after cockroach infestation

NHS hospitals report thousands of pest infestations

At least 30,000 patients were starving in NHS wards in 2007

Evidently the Brits don't need death panels. They let individual staff decide on a case by case basis who lives and who dies. Of course if we get government health care in America things will be different.

H/T JLawson Talk Polywell

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Bilingualism

I was reading a story about how the US Navy exchanges officers and men with other Navies. Royal Navy Lt. Angus Essenhigh, a navigation officer, was part of that exchange. He was part of ship's company on the USS Winston Churchill. How fitting.

Essenhigh found this out when he tried to lay one of his “British” navigation words on the ship’s captain, Cmdr. Michael Franken.

“I said, ‘making a sternboard,’ ” Essenhigh recalled.

Franken was thrown. “What’s a sternboard,” he said. “That’s not a word.”

Essenhigh had to show his skipper the word in a dictionary of British nautical terms. It was an old sailing term retained by the Brits and dropped by the Yanks. “Making a sternboard” means “coming astern.” Essenhigh is outnumbered 350 to one — he now says “coming astern.”

Essenhigh had to watch his language in other instances, too. He can no longer shout out “5 cables” when he really means “1,000 yards.” Or when he wants to turn the ship, he can’t give the order “at wheelover.” No one will know what he’s talking about.

Well, some of the Churchill sailors do. Essenhigh has made some adjustments, but so have some of the other crew members.

“Like QM1 here,” Essenhigh said. “He’s practically bilingual. He understands me now.”

For those not up with Navy terminology QM1 is a "Quartermaster First Class". An enlisted rank. Quartermasters deal with navigation and ship handling.

All of this was brought to mind by a Winston Churchill quote:

Americans and British are one people separated only by a common language.

I looked into the subject a little deeper and found this:

`We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language' - Oscar Wilde

Help is available for the language challenged or those wishing to improve their bilingual skills:

Bum Bags and Fanny Packs : A British-American American-British Dictionary

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The American Dream

Bill Whittle has made another excellent video about the American Dream. He talks about the efforts of the Alinsky Left to break our hopes and our dreams. The funny thing is even the left acknowledges the power of hope in America. They ran their election campaign on it.

Bill's diatribe is an exhortation to, as Krishna says to Arjuna to "get up and fight." We have our own Krishna, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain who is reputed to have said, "Stand firm, ye boys of Maine, for not once in a century are men permitted to bear such responsibilities." And so it is again our turn as keepers of the American Dream to stand firm and uphold that dream.

We have books:

Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign

And we have videos.

Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition)

And we have excerpts from the videos.

Get inspired. Stand firm. We have not yet begun to fight!

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Business Idea

A Palin detractor in the comments at Althouse has this to say:

But I don't know how a book can be the number one best seller before a single reader has his hands on one.

To which I responded:

The left will NEVER understand business.

They will always be failures in America. Which is why they need government.

I wonder why more businesses don't cater to that market though. There is obviously a need for TP with instructions written on every sheet. Perhaps Sheryl Crow could be induced to write them. For a fee.

It could be a best seller.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Obama's Iran Policy

Obama's policy on Iran seems to be to lay low and hope the whole thing blows over.

Meeting with the press before President Obama's speech to the American Medical Association in Chicago, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "I think there are a number of factors that give us some concern about what we've seen."

"Obviously we continue to have concern about what we've seen. Obviously the Iranians are looking into this, as well," Gibbs told reporters. "We continue to be heartened by the enthusiasm of young people in Iran."

What the heck does heartened by the enthusiasm of young people mean?

Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is not too happy with Obama's position.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) lambasted the White House in a statement Monday afternoon, as reports came out of Iran of at least one protester killed in the tumult after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed a landslide victory over challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi on Friday.

"The Administration’s silence in the face of Iran’s brutal suppression of democratic rights represents a step backwards for homegrown democracy in the Middle East," Cantor said. "President Obama must take a strong public position in the face of violence and human rights abuses. We have a moral responsibility to lead the world in opposition to Iran’s extreme response to peaceful protests.

“In addition, Iran’s clerical regime has made clear that its nuclear program will move forward," he said. "The United States cannot trust the aspirations of a nation that is a state-sponsor of terrorism, and the Administration must work with Congress to do everything in its power to deny Iran nuclear weapons.”

And Harry Reid's position? Too disgusting to even mention. That man is whipped.

Well Michael Totten has pointed to some photos of youthful enthusiasm in Iran. The question is: will it burn itself out or can it be sustained long enough to overthrow the current regime?

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Queen Of Spain Vs American Peasants

The above is queen Sophia of Spain from Barcepundit.

And of course below are our American lovelies.







H/T Susan in the comments at Classical Values for the Queen of Spain. Original idea suggested by Judith Weiss on Facebook

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Right Says No To Bailouts

Yep. The right is up in arms about the cost of bailouts. In Europe.

BRUSSELS – Conservatives raced toward victory in some of Europe's largest economies Sunday as initial results and exit polls showed voters punishing left-leaning parties in European parliament elections in France, Germany and elsewhere.

Some right-leaning parties said the results vindicated their reluctance to spend more on company bailouts and fiscal stimulus amid the global economic crisis.

First projections by the European Union showed center-right parties would have the most seats — between 263 and 273 — in the 736-member parliament. Center-left parties were expected to get between 155 to 165 seats.

Right-leaning governments were ahead of the opposition in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, while conservative opposition parties were leading in Britain and Spain.

Mr. Obama might want to keep that in mind. If people don't see results commensurate with expenditures his party will be in trouble. No matter how much patronage Obama has bought at Government Motors.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

State Run Utopia

Here is the book Klavan mentions: Democracy in America

and a more modern look at the phenomenon:

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change

H/T Video suggested by Brendan Wright on Facebook

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Islamic Crusades - British Rule Of India

Islamic Crusades: An Introduction
Islamic Crusades 1: The Occupation of Constantinople
Islamic Crusades 2: Before Islam... Egypt, Iran, Iraq
Islamic Crusades 3: The Co-Option of Jerusalem
Islamic Crusades 4: Lessons From the Thai Jihad
Islamic Crusades 5: Why did they hate us in 1783?
Islamic Crusades 6: India's Millennial Burden
Islamic Crusades 7: India's Modern Struggle - Above Video

Detailed Account of the Fall of Constantinople

The Occidental Soapbox has lots more on the videos and other stuff. Have a look.

And if you find the subject of interest you may find this book helpful:

The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

I did find this reviewof the book interesting. Especially his conclusion:

For those Arabs today who mourn the loss of empire and feel humiliation and inferiority at the hands of the West, they would do well to study the lessons of this book. Tolerance of other cultures and religions - not rigidity and exclusion - is the key to greatness and power.

However imperfectly we practice it, tolerance of other cultures and religions is built into the American scheme:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

H/T Gates Of Vienna

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Our New National Anthem

I'm Here To Spread Panic

And why not? Europe is headed for the rocks. And it appears that there is nothing that can save it. The rocks are Eastern European debt.

If mishandled by the world policy establishment, this debacle is big enough to shatter the fragile banking systems of Western Europe and set off round two of our financial Götterdämmerung.

Austria's finance minister Josef Pröll made frantic efforts last week to put together a €150bn rescue for the ex-Soviet bloc. Well he might. His banks have lent €230bn to the region, equal to 70pc of Austria's GDP.

"A failure rate of 10pc would lead to the collapse of the Austrian financial sector," reported Der Standard in Vienna. Unfortunately, that is about to happen.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) says bad debts will top 10pc and may reach 20pc. The Vienna press said Bank Austria and its Italian owner Unicredit face a "monetary Stalingrad" in the East.

So let me see are the banks the Russians or the Germans? Would it make a difference?

Stephen Jen, currency chief at Morgan Stanley, said Eastern Europe has borrowed $1.7 trillion abroad, much on short-term maturities. It must repay – or roll over – $400bn this year, equal to a third of the region's GDP. Good luck. The credit window has slammed shut.

Not even Russia can easily cover the $500bn dollar debts of its oligarchs while oil remains near $33 a barrel. The budget is based on Urals crude at $95. Russia has bled 36pc of its foreign reserves since August defending the rouble.

"This is the largest run on a currency in history," said Mr Jen.

In Poland, 60pc of mortgages are in Swiss francs. The zloty has just halved against the franc. Hungary, the Balkans, the Baltics, and Ukraine are all suffering variants of this story. As an act of collective folly – by lenders and borrowers – it matches America's sub-prime debacle. There is a crucial difference, however. European banks are on the hook for both. US banks are not.

And just a while ago the Russians were doing so well. They were making money faster than their elite could steal it. But all the oil producers are in the same fix. Not enough buyers in the market. Too many sellers.

And Europe on the hook for American and Eastern European debt? Priceless.

The real question though is this: why didn't any of the oil producing countries see a threat to their economies when oil went from $100 a bbl to $150 a bbl? And another question. Why is the US Congress restricting drilling in the US which would help stabilize oil markets?

Almost all East bloc debts are owed to West Europe, especially Austrian, Swedish, Greek, Italian, and Belgian banks. En plus, Europeans account for an astonishing 74pc of the entire $4.9 trillion portfolio of loans to emerging markets.

They are five times more exposed to this latest bust than American or Japanese banks, and they are 50pc more leveraged (IMF data).

Spain is up to its neck in Latin America, which has belatedly joined the slump (Mexico's car output fell 51pc in January, and Brazil lost 650,000 jobs in one month). Britain and Switzerland are up to their necks in Asia.

Whether it takes months, or just weeks, the world is going to discover that Europe's financial system is sunk, and that there is no EU Federal Reserve yet ready to act as a lender of last resort or to flood the markets with emergency stimulus.

The Europeans have an excellent system for maintaining the value of their currency. They contract their money supply when their economies turn south (well at least some of them do that). However, that makes them vulnerable to countries that are inflating their money supply (the USA) because they then lose production to the lower cost suppliers. Further weakening their economies.

"There are accidents waiting to happen across the region, but the EU institutions don't have any framework for dealing with this. The day they decide not to save one of these one countries will be the trigger for a massive crisis with contagion spreading into the EU."

It all comes down to this: civilization runs on energy. The higher the cost of energy the less the civilization. So I'm hoping America will do something serious on the energy front. Drill for oil, build more nukes, add more refineries, build a HV DC backbone across the US for electricity, get serious about fusion research. Something.

Because - until we lower the cost of energy we are (at least for a while) going to have to do less with more. Never a cheery prospect.

Why hasn't Polywell Fusion been funded by the Obama administration?
Bussard's IEC Fusion Technology (Polywell Fusion) Explained

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values