Hot August Sunday With Nuts

On this bright, hazy summer day, Pittsburgh is receiving air quality warnings – the first since last summer, I believe. Quite a contrast with the old days when downtown businessmen had to take an extra shirt to work so they could change at lunchtime. And my building still has some “legacy soot” stuck to the brickwork -- kind of nostalgic, really. But the main point is that no one is complaining about the heat, because, up to now, this has been known as “the year with no real summer”. I expect the community pool will be overstuffed with pale bodies before long... and the ice cream stores might finally be able to turn a profit. So in honor of the occasion – and of the global warming that seems to have spared Southwestern Pennsylvania so far – I offer a few random gleanings from the current press.

Heart of Blackwaterness

New revelations concerning the mercenary outfit formerly known as Blackwater indicate that, as far as those guys were concerned, we really were (and are) waging war on Islam – not to mention the Iraqi people. Hey, way to make friends and influence people, guys. I always suspected there was something highly bogus about the Bush administration's protests that “Islam is a religion of peace” and we invaded Iraq in order to liberate its people from an evil regime. It makes much more sense – in terms of traditional American prejudices – to be over there because we hate Islam and care not a whit about any of its adherents. The Blackwater revelations also make it quite clear that they were not acting in any way contrary to the policies of the Bush/Cheney administration – that, in fact, there was a meeting of the minds and a total symbiosis. All of which might lead one to the naïve belief that Obama, champion of “change”, is going to drastically alter our “special relationship” with outfits like Blackwater, or whatever they're calling themselves these days. But this is, of course, not about to happen – the momentum is too great, the corruption too total, the vested interests too powerful, for Obama or anyone else to make any serious inroads – even if they wanted to, which is doubtful. Thus, we will continue to wage what is now conclusively shown to be a religious war in the Middle East. Any wonder all of our “coalition of the willing” partners are bailing? They know a lunatic folly when they see one.

We're All Nazis Now

This is rich. Here's Abe Foxman, who apparently never sleeps, complaining about “Nazi comparisons made by conservatives in the health care debate”. This is from a guy who has a special voice chip, like a Buddhist prayer wheel, that continually spins out accusations of not only anti-Semitism but also Nazism and being “the Hitler of...” whatever particular country, or part of the world, is being discussed at the time. So what is he complaining about again? Well, it seems that certain conservatives – you know, “birthers” and “teabaggers” as the liberals mockingly call them – have “used Nazi imagery to compare President Obama to Adolf Hitler and congressional Democrats to Nazis” in the context of the health-care debates. Well, as crude as those comparisons may be, the core idea is not far off base – government taking over an entire sector of the economy and dictating policy? Sounds like an earmark of fascism to me. But what does Abe say? “The use of Nazi symbolism is outrageous, offensive and inappropriate... Americans should be able to disagree on the issues without coloring it with Nazi imagery and comparisons to Hitler." Interesting advice coming from a guy who “colors” every single issue imaginable with references to Hitler, Nazis, and anti-Semitism. For the big-time Holocaust pusher, no issue is too remote to be dragged into their core myth, or meme... and no one who disagrees with them on any point, no matter how little relevance it has to 20th Century history, is immune from the “anti-Semitism” smear. The Horst Wessel Song echoes forever in their ears, and they hallucinate it every time they encounter anything but liberalism or Zionism. And if “comparisons to the Nazis are deeply offensive and only serve to diminish and trivialize the extent of the Nazi regime’s crimes against humanity and the murder of six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust”, why do Foxman and the ADL spend every waking hour (which, I suspect, is every hour) thinking up more ways to do that very thing? Yeah, I know – Nazi guilt is something that the ADL has a patent on. It can only be used against conservatives, but when someone tries to turn the tables they take great offense. Just another day in the “land of free speech”.

And we should add a comment by the American Jewish Congress: “(The comparisons) reflect a nasty and hyperbolic tendency on our political culture, one which makes reasoned discourse impossible, confuses disagreement with evil, and which makes it impossible to distinguish evil from ordinary politics. ... It behooves all participants in the political process to unequivocally disavow the comparison and to make it plain that peddlers of such noxious comparison have no place in our politics, no matter how large their audiences.” Hmmm... “nasty and hyperbolic”? Ever tried talking to a liberal about global warming? They want to put everyone in jail who disagrees with the myth. Or... how about questioning affirmative action? Yeah, that will bring out a lot of “reasoned discourse”... and how many times have I heard liberals refer to conservatives as “evil”, even though, technically, they don't believe that there even is such a thing as evil? Again, it's simply the process of liberals making up the rules of debate and discourse – rules which guarantee that they will always win, and conservatives will always lose. Nothing especially new about this, except that the bulk of the American people accept it as the way things naturally are, and ought to be.

End Games

But hey, speaking of healthy debates on health care, what about that “end-of-life counseling” provision that's an integral part of the program? It's clearly an idea whose time has come – or so the Obamaites think. What I suspect is that this is the idea that necessitated the “ClintonCare” meetings be top secret. I've always suspected that the euthanasia issue had something to do with all the secrecy... and I can't imagine but what the ObamaCare program is nothing more than a retread of ClintonCare. So... suspicions confirmed, and it's going to be very interesting to listen in on the debate concerning this issue.

Good News Is No News

I suspect the reason the major liberal rags – like the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – are so insipid these days, and spend all their time on “human interest” stories, is that they have nothing more to say. They've won! That is, their political allies have won... socialism is triumphant... the Republicans are in disarray... conservatives are in hiding, waiting out the storm... and the Neocons have gained “strange new respect” in Washington, since they and their allies remain the most powerful political force in the country, especially when it comes to foreign policy (which, you'll notice, has not shifted an inch from Bush's). And this is the perennial drawback of being on the winning side – no longer a part of the loyal (or not) opposition. Nothing to protest... nothing to object to... nothing to debate, even. Just a matter of policing up the battlefield, and consolidating gains. It is the “boredom of victory”, which is never as appealing as the stimulus of defeat. At least defeated parties have a cause; the winners no longer have a cause – all they have is a huge maintenance job. Well, fair enough, I say. Liberals have been complaining for decades that the work of the New Deal was left unfinished; now's their chance to finish that work... and the country as well.

Strange Brew

A Scottish brewery has come out with a “cure” for binge drinking – a 18.2% beer, which, they expect, will be “so strong drinkers will have only one.” Um... yeah. That's about as realistic as believing that one bailout will be enough for a bank, or auto company. No – they'll be back for more before the first one is even digested. But I imagine the Scots beermakers could get jobs in the Obama administration – or vice versa – since they seem to share the same delusion.

It's a Start

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently published an editorial calling for the legalization of marijuana – and their arguments are well-reasoned, rational, and humane – which is precisely why they will they will never be listened to by anyone in authority. If you take the aggregate of profits from the illegal drug trade – just the marijuana sector, if you like – and add it to the total job generation from the “War on Drugs” -- again just the marijuana sector – it has to add up to one of the biggest businesses in the country. Now how eager do you think the people who benefit from this business – on either side – are going to be to see it all come to a sudden end? And how much influence do you think they have in federal and state legislatures? The answer is that their influence is overwhelming... and anyone who seriously proposes legalization is immediately dismissed as some kind of freak. But, having said all this, it's still encouraging to see a “major metropolitan newspaper” come out in favor of sanity. Maybe someday, in the far distant future, we'll see some change.

Cheese it, the Climate!

Well, at least now we know who is responsible for global warming – it's the citizens of the Alpine villages of Fieschertal and Fiesch (sounds like a law firm, doesn't it?), who started, back in 1678, praying for the local glacier to stop growing and threatening to engulf the town. And even so, the glacier reached its maximum extent as recently as 1862. But guess what – the prayers have apparently worked, and the glacier is now in hasty retreat – too hasty, in fact. So now the villagers are asking permission from the Pope to pray for its non-shrinkage... or, actually, against global warming in general. And I'm sure their intercessions will avail – but, given the history of the matter, we should still see unabated global warming at least up to the year 2193. By that time, you won't have to fire up the old fondue pot to make the favorite Swiss apres-ski snack; the cheese will come pre-heated, bubbling and golden brown.

CEO Dim Sum special

One can only sigh with longing at the news that China has executed – executed, mind you! -- still another corrupt corporate executive, er, government official, er – well, actually they're the same thing over there – on charges of corruption. And look at what a paltry sum is involved – a mere $16 million! That doesn't even count as chump change to the characters over at AIG or Goldman Sachs. But it does, at least, set some precedent for what may happen in the near future, as government and business merge into one entity. If American courts are so enamored of “precedents” set by foreign courts, it's not too hard to imagine a day when corrupt fascists (i.e., people running government-business chimeras) will be sent to the gallows. But in the meantime, they get to keep their jobs, their perks, and their bonuses. Let us all hope for the day when America becomes more like China.

Hi There Taxpayer, New In Town?

And speaking of China, a survey there indicates that “prostitutes are considered more trustworthy than government officials and scientists” -- no surprise, but I doubt if a survey of this type would be feasible in this country. How would people even be able to tell the difference?

A Pause in the Proceedings

The summer doldrums have an impact on even Obama's warp-speed program to forever alter the face of America. The health care issue is being stretched into fall... and of course foreign policy is off the table, as it was always meant to be. We will be fighting for “democracy” in the Middle East long after our own has vanished from the earth. And the Dow is not only above 9,000, but who knows, it might be flirting with 10,000 before long. And guess what, all those outfits that received “bailout” money have discovered that they actually had a lot more cash on hand than they thought – mostly contained in coffee cans, cookie jars, and old jeans pockets. One of the “Big Three” auto industries actually appears to be doing OK, and the others – now that they are government agencies – are no longer accidents waiting to happen. And – most importantly, perhaps – the Obamaites are having a heckuva time actually spending all that “economic stimulus” money. This is a little-known fact about the bureaucracy – as greedy as it is, and as covetous as each agency is of the budgets of other agencies, it's not all that easy, in many cases, to spend a lot of money in a hurry. The reason for this, class, is what is called the “procurement system”, which is basically a sheltered workshop staffed by morons who, nonetheless, feel compelled to show their great and invincible power by “not” approving contracts. As you might guess, this situation is purely a creation of the government itself – it was not imposed on us by a hostile foreign power – but it has had roughly the same impact. And as to the question, can't this inefficient, incompetent arm of the government simply be bypassed, and done away with altogether? The answer is no, and the reasons are legion – but among them is that old enemy of efficiency and competence, “affirmative action”. Now do you understand the problem? So the delicious irony is that newfangled politics are being defeated by old-fangled politics. But the benefit is the the ESP (Economic Stimulus Program) is being held hostage by the very same system, and mind set, that it originated from – which means that the promised consequences, i.e. hyperinflation and the ultimate debasement of the currency, have also been put on hold. So, folks – as the saying goes, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die (economically)”.

Mighty White of You

Headline in today's paper: “Godfather claims he's dad of Jackson's daughter.” I guess he shouldn't have asked the question, “What do you want from me?” (But, I have to add, “I told you so” -- i.e. that there was not a snowball's chance in hell (so to speak) that those kids were, biologically, Jacko's.)

Gambling Across the Greensward

But above all of this, today is a red-letter day in Pittsburgh – because today is the day the new, sparkling, strategically-located casino opened, just a stone's throw from Heinz Field. Thus, an even newer and better way to part fools from their money. But hey, it's “entertainment”, right? And it's not even gambling, remember – it's “gaming”. And of course, the gambling addiction hot lines were already up and running before the first slot handle was pulled. And one might ask, in these dire economic times, where people even get the money to blow on slot machines? Well, let's put it this way – you pay the rent on your trailer, buy your month's supply of pizza and whiskey, and the rest is available for the bus ride to Pittsburgh and a day or two on the slots. Easy, right? Gosh, maybe these people have the right idea after all...

Nipped by the Budd

A real American hero died on Wednesday – Budd Schulberg, who broke ranks with his leftist/pinko colleagues in show biz and testified against them before the HUAC in 1951. I've always thought the real heroes of that era were not the ones who closed ranks along with the rest of the chic, sophisticated crowd that was dutifully following orders from Moscow, but the ones who, like Schulberg, woke up to what a mortal danger communism was. And, not atypically, he had been a card-carrying communist from 1936 to 1939, along with so many of his peers (in the occupational and ethnic senses) – and he was disillusioned, as were so many of the “useful idiots”, by the Hitler-Stalin pact. Now, in retrospect it is clear that that pact – as temporary as it was – was inevitable. After all, evil will make common cause with evil in order to destroy the good... after which there is the ultimate face-off. But that's not how it was seen at that time – and it's scarcely how it is seen today. There is still more than a hint of nostalgia for “Uncle Joe” and his merry band of red-starred comrades, who fought so heroically at Stalingrad (after they had succeeded in starving out a large part of the population of Ukraine, that is). And Uncle Joe, after all, is the dude who totally slickered an ailing FDR and a pompous Winston Churchill – so he deserves some “ups” for that as well. But guys like Schulberg, fortunately, weren't buying any of it – they had learned their lesson, and were even willing to spill the beans for “evil fascists” like Joe McCarthy. So... RIP, Budd Schulberg, and thank you !!