Blogs For Victory

Stuart Rothenberg is thinking “wave” – and writes an excellent piece laying out his reasons for rejecting “anti-incumbent”.

I’m not one to argue too much with someone of Rothenberg’s political skill – but I will say that it is neither anti-incumbent nor GOP wave going on out there. It is a strange hybrid of both – with the caveat, in my view, that the GOP still has not closed the deal to turn what will be a good year for Republicans in to a stunner.

There is great anger out there over government in general – how corrupt it is; how out of touch it is; how arrogant some in the political class are. Given that Democrats are in charge, the beneficiaries of this are Republicans – but in the nomination of people like Sharron Angle (and she’s only one of many such) we see that while people are turning to the GOP, they aren’t just turning to any, old GOPer who happens along.

The Republicans who are doing the best – and who could turn this November in to a blow out – are those who are most emphatic in their stated desire to change things in DC. Sue Lowden would have been a fine Republican Senator – but she lacked credibility on the change issue. No one really trusted her to go in to the Senate and shake things up. Angle says she will – and she has the political “street cred” to make her assertions believable.

If the national GOP can craft a solid message of radical change and convince the Republican candidates up and down the ballot to sing from the same hymnal, then a historic victory can be won. We’ll see if we’re up to it.

An excellent article on the gold standard and what has happened to the world since we went completely off it in 1971. A quote:

Everything changed because the United States, having removed gold from the world monetary system, could “pay” everything in dollars, and without the gold standard as a limiting institution, it could print dollars ad libitum – without limit. Thus, in the 1970s the United States started to buy huge amounts of high quality products from Japan, while the Japanese boasted: “Japan sells; Japan does not buy.” A SITUATION THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE UNDER THE GOLD STANDARD BECOME PERFECTLY POSSIBLE UNDER THE FIAT DOLLAR STANDARD. The Japanese became gigantic producers, their country an island transformed into a factory. Japan accumulated vast reserves of dollars sent from the US in exchange for Japanese products. This in turn triggered the de-industrialization of the US.

Take for example the US manufacturers of T.V. Some of the famous US factories that built TV receivers by the millions were “Philco”, “Admiral”, “Zenith”, and “Motorola”. The Japanese had better and cheaper products, and since the abandonment of the gold standard allowed Japan to sell without buying in turn, and allowed the US to buy without selling in turn, the result was that all the huge factories producing these TV’s in the US were closed down. That’s how “going off gold” closed down US industry.

Do read the whole thing – its what I’ve been one about for a long time, but this article explains it far more ably than I could.

Getting back to the gold standard is the only way for us to revive a genuine economy which has work and materials as the basis for wealth. We’ve used funny-money for decades and piled up massive amounts of debt to mask the loss of our wealth-creating industries. The problem we have now is the natural and inevitable outcome of the system we set up starting really in the 1930’s, but which only came to full flower in the 1970’s – and which has been progressively wrecking our economy ever since.

We can do this – all we have to do is trade in our nearly worthless fiat money at a 100-1 ratio, peg the US dollar as 1/35th of an ounce of gold (or the silver equivalent) and we’ll be back to a stable currency which will permit the genuine creation of wealth. On a gold standard, we went from an agricultural backwater of the world to the pre-eminent global industrial power…since we went off gold, we’ve not only lost our industrial pre-eminence, but we don’t even farm as much as we used to.

You want America back? There are lots of things we need to do – but gold plating our finances is vital to all else we’ll wish to do.

Just disgusting:

An Israeli cargo ship arriving in Oakland today was forced to sit idle and not offload its containers when longshoremen joined forces with a coalition of communist and Islamist groups who picketed the port in protest against the recent violent incident off the coast of Gaza.

The ship, owned by Zim Lines, was not carrying any controversial cargo, nor is Zim involved in politics in any way; it was targeted simply because the shipping company is based in Israel.

The Jew-hatred of the left grows apace – anything which can be done to make life miserable for Jews is being done and will continue to be done.

Now comes the time for everyone on the left to choose: do you wish to be party to the New Holocaust, advocated by the Islamo-fascists, or will you have no part in it? Pick a side, and let us know where you stand.

The good news just keeps rolling in, doesn’t it? From the Financial Times:

The US remained the world’s biggest manufacturing nation by output last year, but is poised to relinquish this slot in 2011 to China – thus ending a 110-year run as the number one country in factory production.

This is an outright disaster and proof that our economic system is fundamentally flawed. We have a massive government, special privileges for some companies which work out as restraint of trade for small and start-up firms, a burdensome tax and regulatory climate which makes it easier for corporate pinheads to move factories to China rather than keeping them here. And it all adds up to a system which makes life hard for the working poor and middle class.

The very rich and the very poor get on ok with this – only in America are the non-working poor overweight, driving cars and watching cable TV. Meanwhile, the super rich are still out there buying luxury goods at a fast pace while regular retailers face bankruptcy.

Revolution, my friends – it is the only way. We must overturn this bastard combine of corporatism and socialism and build an economy fit for regular men and women to work in. November will likely prove a good first step in this, but keep in mind that it is just a first step – if we are not relentless post-November, then our own GOP will slip back in to the bad, old ways.

Never let up – the fight is just beginning and it will take a generation to complete.

Have at it, boys and girls – I’m afraid I failed you a bit and just couldn’t get it together in time to have something good for Sunday morning.

Lots to talk about though – possible Dow of 1,000; the hole still ain’t plugged; Obama is making us worse than France; what to do when confronted with a German biker gang…

Lots of things to talk about…

Man up:

The greatest gift a father can give his family is to be a man; and not just any man, but a man after God’s own heart. This is the message that Fr. Larry Richards has been taking to men’s conferences and retreats around the country for a very long time.

His new book, “Be a Man!” goes into great detail on what that means as a challenge to men who live in a culture that is working hard to remove their masculinity.

“Men are created to be protectors, supporters and providers,” Fr. Richards remarked. “We are, by definition, givers. So, the way men relate to God, then, is different from a woman, they are action oriented. I challenge men to give themselves to a higher cause.”…

There is a war against manliness in our modern society. Think about this – in our sublime Declaration of Independence, it is noted that we resisted royal demands with “manly firmness”. Can you imagine the heart ache which would ensue if an American politician in 2010 repeated that phrase? If he were to say, for instance, that we must confront our enemies around the globe with “manly firmness”? There would be an explosion of outrage!

But we do need a bit of that. Being a man does not mean being violent; but it does entail the willingness to use violence, at extreme need. It doesn’t mean being arrogant; but it does mean making an actual decision. It doesn’t mean being top dog but, rather, being top servant – a servant who goes straight to the heart of the problem and does what is right, regardless of consequences.

Think about this – if the men who are the father’s of our rising generation refuse to do the right thing, then how will that generation even know what the right thing is? A great deal of our modern problems stem from the fact that ever increasing numbers of youngsters have not had a man in their life – they might have had someone they knew of as “dad”, but all too often he doesn’t play his role. A recovery of our sanity will require that men recover their masculinity – and we’d best get at it, before it gets too late.

Its getting a bit bad over there:

…California’s fiscal hole is now so large that the state would have to liberate 168,000 prison inmates and permanently shutter 240 university and community college campuses to balance its budget in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Think of California as Greece on the Pacific: bankrupt and desperately needing a bailout.

Except that a bail out just won’t do the trick. It would stave off complete collapse, but only for a little while and then only ensure that the final collapse is worse than ever.

What must California do? Cut the budget until it is balanced. There is no other way out – heck, its the only way California will be able to roll over its existing debt at anything like an acceptable interest rate.

Liberalism has crushed the life out of California – and now budget cuts are necessary to crush the life out of California liberalism. Only then can California breath again, and start to recover.

From CBS News:

…a senior administration official tells CBS News that the federal government will indeed formally challenge the law when Justice Department lawyers are finished building the case. The official said Justice is still working on building the case.

This is would be an egregious and unwarranted interference of a sovereign State. And to double the bad news, its all being done because the Obama Administration refuses to enforce US border security laws – rather than enforce the laws, Obama is preferring to make political hay over a State attempting to protect the liberty, lives and property of its citizens!

It is most emphatically not a violation of the United States Constitution for a State to inquire in to the residency status of persons detained in the course of normal law enforcement activities. If we allow this Obama Administration action to go forward we will be allowing the federal government to entirely usurp the powers reserved for the States and the people. Obama is, perhaps, just grand standing – but the effect of such an action would be the overthrow of the United States constitutional order.

When this case comes down we, the people, must stand with Arizona – in defense of the American system of government against an out of control federal government.

UPDATE: 56% oppose this Administration effort.

Michael Yon over on Facebook links to two must-read articles about Afghanistan. One is an analysis piece for the Associated Press, the other an article in Foreign Policy dealing with the specific inability of the British army to gain control, and the transfer of a good part of the fight to the military. Both pieces are sobering and call for a review of our effort in Afghanistan.

Michael Yon has made it clear that he doesn’t think General McChrystal’s strategy is working – that while our troops and allies are doing some good work, the basic strategy of trying to provide security first and attacking the Taliban second is not bearing fruit. Yon considers his exclusion from Afghanistan likely due to his criticism of the effort – and asserts that such actions by the authorities betray their own concerns about the success of the mission (that they are, in effect, trying to hide the truth of the matter).

I can’t render any hard and fast judgment on that though Yon has my respect for the honesty and courage of his reporting since the entire War on Terrorism began. When he says something, it must not be dismissed out of hand – there’s something to it. The distinct impression I get is that our troops – as usual – are behaving magnificently – doing all we ask of them and as much as soldiers have ever accomplished. But war isn’t just fighting – it is politics by other means, and the concern is that on the political side, we’ve set ourselves up for defeat no matter what our troops do.

My view is that the flaw stems from the fact that President Obama, in announcing the surge to Afghanistan, pledged less force than the military apparently asked for and what might prove quite fatal for the whole enterprise, he pledged to start drawing down our forces in 2011. He announced when the war would end – and thus provided the Taliban a time line for when they will be able to start advancing, again. For the Taliban, it has been a matter of just enduring until we start to leave.

For the Afghan people, the fact that we have not pledged to stay for as long as it takes puts them in a difficult position: they don’t support the Taliban, but they also know just how savage the Taliban will be with those who opposed them. As we’re not pledged to protect the Afghan people indefinitely, it becomes for them a calculation: will the Taliban be defeated before America leaves? One can only assume that events on the ground have convinced the Afghan people to, at best, sit on the fence – but fence-sitting on their part is a strategic defeat for us; a political defeat which does not appear amenable to a military fix.

It must be kept in mind that our victory in Iraq’s Anbar province was predicated upon convincing the Iraqi people that we would not leave until the job was done. The actual start of our victory somewhat predated the surge and was well under way by the time we maxed out our forces in Iraq. President Bush was convincing on this – and knowing we wouldn’t abandon them as we had in 1991, the people of Iraq decided to jump off the fence and help us route the terrorists. Obama’s decision about Afghanistan was just about the worst he could have taken – even ordering an immediate withdrawal in 2009 would not have been as bad as ordering a half-effort with the end date pre-marked on the package.

So, what do we do? The only way to retrieve the situation – with or without a command shake up, which may be necessary – is for Obama to clearly and forthrightly state that given the changed circumstances, the 2011 draw down date is suspended indefinitely and we’ll fight on in Afghanistan as long as it takes for victory. That plus a possible command change – with possible changes in tactics on the ground – would open up the prospect of getting the Afghan people enthusiastically on our side, thus allowing us the real power to defeat the Taliban for good.

It is highly questionable if Obama can do this – or would be willing to do it, supposing he felt strong enough with his base to drag them kicking and screaming in to an enhanced effort in Afghanistan. Obama is already a much diminished figure on the left – calling for longer and bloodier war is not the way to refurbish a tarnished image. But this is part of the job of being President – not always thinking of the political calculus, but of doing what is best for the nation as a whole.

Make no mistake about if, if our effort in Afghanistan ends in anything other than a semblance of pro-American government in Kabul, then disaster would follow. The terrorists would be emboldened not just in Afghanistan, but around the world. The immediate effect would be stepped up attacks around the world and in the United States – the long term effect would be an unwillingness of more moderate Moslems to work with us. No one wants to back the side which will cut and run, leaving its allies to be beheaded by victorious Islamists.

We’ll now see if Obama has the stuff in him of an American President. The stakes are high, victory or defeat hangs in the balance. The decision is entirely President Obama’s – no one can make it for him, and no one can hide the consequences of his action or inaction.

Excellent set of short videos exploding the myth of overpopulation: