What???  Another national
emergency?  Like we haven't
gotten over any of the others
yet!

Yes, President Obama today
declared yet another national
emergency, this time over the
H1N1 flu outbreak.  Numbers
of cases are increasing in
nearly every state.  However,
the strain has mutated since
this spring as has become less
of a killer.  This does not mean
that could it still not have a
serious impact on the health
care system nor the economy.

Young children and those
adults with chronic health
issues are the most endan-
gered by the H1N1.  If you're
between 21 and 60 and in
generally good health, the odds
are that should you contract
the H1N1, you'll probably just
be no sicker than had you
contracted an average season-
al flu.

So why has Obama declared
an emergency?  What do you
think?  He's playing politics to
keep the health care legislation
moving forward.  This is sad,
indeed.  But it is what we have
come to expect from this
White House.

Obama the Magician is trying
to keep us all distracted from
his continuous power-grabs.
On Thursday, the 'net-neutrali-
ty' legislation was passed with
little or no fanfare.  This is the
first step in Obama's plans to
seize control of the Internet.

The economy is still a joke!
(BTW, you ought to be also
reading my new posts at
Mr. Capitalist and follow my
tweets as mrcapitalist) Iran
is thumbing their noses at
us.  The whole ball of wax
seems on the verge of un-
raveling under Obama's eyes.

This 'swine' flu thing is just
another distraction for Obama
to use and manipulate the
discourse of events.  His
administration needs a crisis
to justify their actions.  So
what better than a pandemic
to justify health care reform?

When will people wise up?
Especially those in the media?
Obama’s poll numbers conti-
nue to decline, yet we are
still being fed a steady diet of
how wonderful he is.  In truth,
he is little more than a bully.
A misguided man-child who
throws a tantrum whenever he
does not get his way.  Obama
is still trying to blame Bush for
every problem.

By not taking ownership,
Obama has yet to begun to
actually govern.  He is still
in full campaign mode, as
highlighted by the many
fund-raisers he has attended.
28 so far as president, while
Bush and Clinton only went
to 5 and 6 respectively during
the first nine months of their
presidencies.

The lack of leadership from
the White House has allowed
Congress to behave any way
they choose, and they have
chosen to act like spoiled
children.  Obama had promised
during his ‘real’ campaign that
the legislative process for the
health care reform would be
open to the public and covered
by CSPAN.  Instead, the lea-
ders of the Democrats in
Congress have locked the
doors, even changed the locks!
Nobody really knows what is
being worked on or how much
it will cost?

Today’s declaration could put
the Federal government more
in control of the health care
system.  Even exercising more
authority over insurance and
pharmaceutical companies.
But I think the real germ we
need to fear is not the H1N1,
but those of Obama and his
pals in Congress.  The disease
they carry will not only make
us all sick, but ruin the nation’s
health.  The only vaccine that
is available is the truth, and
if the government can control
the flow of information over
the Internet, the truth will
become a casualty.

There was then a senator who
was known as Max Baucus. He
lived in the wicked city that was
Washington, DC.  Baucus was
not special in any way, and yet
he still loved and worshiped his
Lord Obama.  

Then one day, as Baucus was
walking to the Senate,  he saw
a pillar of light and heard the
voice of Lord Obama.  "Max
Baucus!  I am Obama, your
Lord and Master.  I have
chosen you to deliver unto me
10 Republican votes in the
Senate for MY health care bill,
so I may claim it is truly bi-
partisan."

"Oh, my Lord Obama!  I shall
obey and seek 10 Republican
votes!"  Thus, Baucus went to
the Senate and sought out 10
Republican votes for his Lord
Obama's health care bill.  But,
alas, he could not find any.

The next day, Lord Obama
spoke once again to Baucus.
"Baucus, my servant, have
you done as I ordered?"

"Oh my Lord Obama.  I have
failed you!", replied Baucus.
"I was unable to get 10
Republicans to support Your
health care bill."  With this
news, dark clouds appeared
and a rumble of thunder was
heard.  Baucus feared Lord
Obama and offered to find
five Republicans votes.

"Very well,", boomed Lord
Obama.  "Go forth and bring
me five Republican votes to
support MY health care bill
so I may claim a bipartisan
victory."  And with his new
orders, Baucus set forth and
went to the Senate to obtain
five Republican votes.  But,
alas, he could not.

The next day, as Baucus again
walked to the Senate, Lord
Obama spoke unto him.  

"Baucus, I am your Lord
Obama.  Have you done as
I command and obtained for
ME five Republican votes?"

"Oh my Lord Obama," did
answer Baucus, "I regret that
I have failed You again.  I was
unable to convince five Repub-
licans to vote for YOUR health
care bill."  And with that news,
the sky once again grew dark
and cloudy.  A loud clap of
thunder roared as Lord Obama
spoke.

"Baucus, you have failed me.
Let it be known that MY wrath
shall be felt and I shall turn
you into a pillar of salt!"

"Oh my Lord Obama!  Please
forgive your humble servant!",
begged Baucus.  "What if I
were able to obtain two votes
from Republicans for Your
health care bill?"

"Very well, Baucus.  You have
been a good and obedient
servant and I shall refrain MY
wrath unto you if you can bring
unto me two Republican votes
so I may claim a bipartisan
victory."  Baucus thanked his
Lord Obama, and went forth
to the Senate to seek two
Republican votes.  But, alas,
he could find none.

The next day, as Baucus again
walked to the Senate, he was
afraid of what would happen.
A pillar of bright light again
appeared and Lord Obama
spoke unto Baucus.

"Baucus, I am your Lord
Obama.  Have you obtained
two Republican votes for MY
health care bill so I may claim
a bipartisan victory?"

"Oh my Lord Obama, I regret
to say that I have failed you.
I was unable to find two Repub-
licans who will support Your
health care bill.  Please forgive
me, my Lord Obama!"  Once
again the sky grew dark and
great clouds appeared over
the head of Baucus.  A loud
clap of thunder knocked him
to the ground.  The earth shook
as Lord Obama spoke.

"BAUCUS!!!  You have failed
me yet again!  For this I shall
turn you into a pillar of salt as
a sign of MY wrath!"

"Oh my Lord Obama, please,
please let me try again! ",
begged Baucus.  "What if I
were to bring you one Repub-
lican vote to support Your
health care bill?  Would that
be enough for you to claim a
bipartisan victory?"

There was a long pause as
Baucus cowered on the ground
awaiting the answer.  Then,
Lord Obama spoke.  "Very
well, my faithful servant.  If
you can deliver unto me one
Republican vote I shall not
turn you into a pillar of salt."

"Oh thank You, Lord Obama!"
exclaimed Baucus.  "You are
truly my Lord of hope and
change!"  And with that, the sky
cleared and Baucus rose and
continued on his way to the
Senate.  There, he did find one
Republican, if one could call
her that.  Olympia Snowe then
promised Baucus that she was
willing to support Lord Obama's
health care bill.  But she had
some conditions to her support.
She would only vote for it in
the committee and would not
promise yet to support it on the
floor of the Senate as a whole.
She was also concerned over
the costs and the means to
pay for the program.

On the way home, Baucus
felt pleased that he finally had
good news.  The pillar of light
returned and Lord Obama
spoke unto him.

"I am your Lord Obama!  Have
you done as I commanded and
obtained for me one Republi-
can vote so I may claim a bi-
partisan victory?"

"Yes, my Lord Obama!,", did
answer Baucus.  "I have one
Republican vote for Your
health care bill."

"Baucus, that is very good!  I
am pleased.  Who's vote have
you delivered unto me?"

"It was Olympia Snowe's vote,
my Lord Obama.  She shall
support Your health care bill in
committee.  However, she did
not promise to support it on the
floor of the Senate as of yet.
She cited concerns over it's
cost and how it shall be paid
for?"

With this news, Lord Obama
gave out a long, loud sigh.
"Baucus, I shall keep our
covenant and not turn you
into a pillar of salt.  Now go
forth and appear on MY
faithful servant, Chris Matthews
TV show and proclaim that
I, Lord Obama, have achieved
a great, bipartisan victory!"

And Baucus obeyed and did
as so ordered by his Lord
Obama.  And the world was
told how great a victory Lord
Obama achieved with truly
bipartisan support for HIS
health care bill.

The End.  LOL!

This may be the wrong day for
me to comment on the decline
of the U.S. dollar.  Or it may
be the ideal day to do so, I
shall let you decide.  For those
of you who do not know, just
over three years ago, I nearly
perished in an accident.  It
was a long convalescence and
has complicated my life greatly.
With an approaching weather
front, every bone, joint and
muscle in my body aches. I
feel like a truck has dragged
me several miles.

There are several economic
weather fronts approaching.
Reports from the UK Telegraph
and other sources of a recent
meeting amongst key nations
like France, China and the oil
kingdoms.  They apparently
are talking about replacing the
U.S. dollar with a basket of
other currencies, called SDR,
for oil transactions.

The mere rumor of this meet
sent gold to new record levels.
On Tuesday, the COMEX
price index was $1045 per
Troy ounce.  Wednesday it
still crept higher and this
morning crossed the $1050
mark.  Since 2001, the dollar
has lost some 67% of it’s
buying power, nearly half of
that in just the past year!
In the same time frame, gold
has tripled in value.

Why is all this happening?
The answers are numerous
and vary in ease.  The most
simple answer is that other
nations are losing confidence
in the United States.

We are spending ourselves
ever deeper into debt.  We
have inflated the money sup-
ply dramatically the past year
or so in response to the
financial meltdown.  Citizens
are defaulting on mortgages
and credit cards in alarming
numbers.  The government
continues to plan to spend
even more money than it al-
ready has.

Private and commercial debt
are each in the $3 Trillion
dollar range.  The Federal
debt is approaching $12
Trillion.  Thrown in the states,
local governments and that
ever enigmatic realm of
‘obligations and contingencies’
(moneys borrowed from Social
Security, etc...) adds another
$50 to $100 Trillion dollars of
debt, depending who is crunch-
ing the numbers.  That’s a lot
of crunching!!!

So is it any wonder that China
and other countries, who own
substantial sums of our debt
(China holds the note for about
$800 Billion dollars of our debt)
are getting nervous about our
prospects for fiscal responsi-
bility?  What have we done
lately to demonstrate that we
will eventually fix the problem
and get back on a rational
program?  NADA!  Absolutely
not one blessed thing!

People just do not ‘get it’.
Here in Detroit, MI, we saw
this week a classic example.
As part of the Obama stimulus
bill, Detroit got $15 Million
dollars to distribute amongst
those needing help with rent
or mortgages.  Checks for
$3,000 would be issued to
applicants.  Thousands of
people applied, far more than
have a hope of receiving any
cash.

Local radio station, WJR, had
a reporter at the scene where
folks were waiting in line to
file applications.  He posed a
question to one woman in line,
“Where does the money come
from?”  She replied from the
city or state.  “Where did they
get the money?”  She guessed
it came from Obama.  “Where
did HE get the money?”  She
basically answered that he’s
got it because he’s the presi-
dent.  LOL!

While I lament here in my achy
body, my mind reels from the
general lack of economics
which exists in America.  Our
education system has com-
pletely failed in teaching sound
economic principles.  Unless
you are amongst those who
attended the handful of good
colleges, like Hillsdale, or are
self-taught reading the works
of von Mises or Hayek, then
you probably have few clues
how our economy actual works.
Even more fundamentally, how
our currency is created.  

The simple reality is that we
are printing money faster now
than ever before.  It still is not
enough to pay our bills or even
actually stimulate economic
growth.  WHY?  Because as
each new dollar is printed, it
devalues the rest already in
circulation.  That’s why the
flight to gold, and silver, are
in full swing.  That’s why China
and others are thinking about
a post-dollar world.

The money machine cannot
keep going on forever.  At
some point, one of two out-
comes will occur.  Somebody
in the Federal Reserve will
turn off the printing press and
raise interest rates, causing
our sluggish economy to be-
come even more sluggish.
Or, the whole thing crashes
down on our heads.

Our last bout with inflation was
some 30 years ago and it got
very ugly.  It took Fed chairman
Paul Volker and President
Reagan nearly 3 years to turn
things around and end the slide
into the abyss.  Volker may still
be around but Obama is no
Ronald Reagan.  At least not
yet.  Maybe he’ll get religion
and have a ‘come to Jesus’
moment and choose sound
economic policy over the re-
distribution of wealth/poverty.

Some truly believe that Obama
actually is working to destroy
the dollar, as it will open the
door to social justice.  This is
pure folly, as social justice
translates to Socialism.  That
alone is enough to frighten
those nations holding dollars
as reserve currency. 

So, it's a bad day to be me
and a bad day to be the U.S.
dollar.  Both of us are on the
verge of being crippled.  In
my case, I'll feel better once
the weather changes.  For
the dollar, well, we'll see
which way the wind blows.

I may surprise some of you
with this edition of my blog,
but I am actually somewhat
sympathetic to President
Obama's position in the dust
up with General McChrystal.
HOW ABOUT THAT!?!?

For starters, generals ALWAYS
want MORE.  Patton wanted
400,000 barrels of gas.  Back
in the Civil War, McClellan
always begged for more troops
and the time to train and organ-
ize them.  So the fact that the
new man in charge in Afghani-
stan wants more is not out of
the ordinary.  The real ques-
tions are how will they be used
and what is our goal?

Now, the goal question we may
lay squarely at Obama's feet.
One would hope our goal is
victory.  The way some of the
Democrats in Congress, as
well as VP Joe Biden are now
talking, victory is not our ob-
jective.  More and more are
advocating various forms of
retreat or withdraw.  Thus far,
the White House is being very
vague as to what our long term
objectives are.

As for McChrystal, he does
have a chain of command to
follow.  The last time I heard,
the Uniform Code of Military
Justice does list as a viola-
tion for military members to
make public statements
critical of elected officials. I
do not believe, from what
I have read so far, that he
said anything which would
violate the UCMJ.

How McChrystal will use the
extra troops is the matter at
hand.  Word, or rumor, is
that McChrystal wants the
extra forces to be located
within the population centers
much as 'The Surge' in Iraq
was executed.  He wants to
withdraw from the remote
outposts, where our forces
are more vulnerable.

Politically and demographic-
ly, Afghanistan is much differ-
ent than Iraq.  The Iraq stra-
tegy was successful due in
large part to turning Sunni
leaders away from Al Qaeda.
Many needed to be bribed,
but most were just fed up
with Al Qaeda and their strict
adherence to Shiria Law. The
Sunni's, historically, were al-
ways a bit more cosmopolitan
in Iraq.

By building up from the local
towns and provinces, we
achieved excellent results in
stemming Al Qaeda and other
insurgent groups.  In theory
this may work in Afghanistan
as most people do not trust
the national government in
Kabul.  Indeed, the recent
elections are being challenged.

Dealing more directly with
local politicians, warlords and
tribal elders is probably a good
idea in general.  Along with an
increase in troops to protect
towns and villages, additional
funds for training local security
forces, building infrastructure
and eradicating opium crops.

Some like Biden are calling
for a pull back to base camps,
and just launching periodic
missions against Al Qaeda and
Taliban targets.  This is a bad
idea.  It's the same silly 'fire-
base' mentality that failed in
Vietnam.  On the other hand,
pouring large numbers of
troops into towns and villages
may also offend the locals,
creating more hostiles than
before.

Clearly, a well thought out
approached based on good
intelligence and discussions
with local leaders would be
the way to determine if a
surge would have positive
results.  Defense Secretary
Robert Gates has repeatedly
stated in the past week that
such plans are being reviewed.
The Iraq surge took many
months to plan and execute.
We are now in week 5 or 6
since McChrystal's report to
Gates?

So we need to have a bit of
patience.  It seems like every
issue these days must be
rushed.  The war in Afghani-
stan will be a long one.  It's
not going to be over anytime
soon.  While there has been
an increase in violence, we
are far from a crisis situation.

So I will cut Obama some slack
on this issue and allow the pro-
cess to work it's way through
the system.  I am confident that
should the weak sisters gain in
numbers, people like Gates
and McChrystal will resign in
protest.  I am also pretty sure
that even with the proposed
surge, we will still be engaged
in Afghanistan come January,
2013, when President Palin is
sworn into office.  HA-HA-HA!!!

In a normal Universe, the
President of the United States
of America is considered the
leader of the free world.  The
office is one of prestige, honor
and decorum.  An office of
dignity and respect.

President Barack Hussien
Obama has ended all of that.
He has completely trashed
this noble position.  If his
appearances on late night
comedy shows was not bad
enough, Obama has now
become little more than a
traveling salesman, trying
to sell snake oil to the
world at large.  His shilling
for the 2016 Chicago
Olympics was disgraceful.

Never before has an American
President appeared before
the International Olympic Com-
mittee to pitch for the games.
But Obama did, and he failed!
I could almost understand if
he had gone knowing in ad-
vance that Chicago would win
the bid for hosting the games.
It would be exactly the sort of
cheap stunt Obama would do
to claim personal victory.

But alas, NO!  The I.O.C. had
the good sense to award the
2016 Summer Games to Rio
de Janeiro.  It will be Brazil’s
first time hosting the Olympics
and a sign of their new status
as one of the world’s top 10
economies.

This would have been the sort
of thing a president sends an
underling to.  His wife, Oprah,
and underling Valerie Jarrett
did go, along with the usual
US Olympic staff types.  But
Barack Obama felt compelled
to go there himself.  As if his
mere presence would make
all the difference and tip the
scales in Chicago’s favor.

If anything, his 4-hour stop-
over in Copenhagen had the
exact opposite effect.  As it
was, the previous presenta-
tions delivered by his wife and
the rest fell flat, providing few
details.  Obama’s appearance
was considered ‘bad form’ as
he only spent four hours.  The
other national leaders who did
attend all spent a few days
there in order to schmooze the
Olympic officials.

After Obama’s awful speech
at the United Nations, and a
series of international missteps
the past month, such as selling
out Poland on the anniversary
of Poland being stabbed in the
back by the Soviet Union, his
standing on the world stage
has sunk like a rock.  The
waffling on Afghanistan, the
spineless policies towards
Iran, his support for the former
president of Honduras who
tried to become a dictator, all
point to a general naiveté.
And others are speaking out
about it!

French President Sarkozy
was very critical recently on
the mishandling by Obama
of Iran’s secret nuclear fuel
factory.  Sarkozy and other
NATO leaders wanted to
raise the issue at the U.N..
But Obama delayed and
instead chose to announce
this latest violation by Iran
at the G-20 Summit held
last week in Pittsburgh.  

After caving into to Russia
and scrapping the missile
defense system for Poland
and the Czech Republic,
some pundits claimed that
Obama did so in order to
secure their support on the
subject of Iran.  But, alas,
Russia has shown little
support.  Oh, some of
Obama’s pals, such as
the CEO of General Electric,
Jeffrey Immelt, did get a
cozy business deal from the
Russians.  Hmmm!

Bill Clinton turned the Oval
Office into a bordello.  Obama
is turning it into a Blue Light
Special.  America is becoming
the bargain basement for the
world.  

Yesterday on The Glenn Beck
Show, Glenn responded to an
error pointed out by the White
House bloggers.  On Wednes-
day, Beck mentioned that the
city of Vancouver went $1 Bil-
lion dollars over budget when
they hosted the Olympics.  In
fact, they hadn't had their
games yet, as they are hosting
the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Beck admitted his error, he
confused Vancouver with the
games held in Calgary.  But
oddly enough, he was still not
far off the mark.  Vancouver
is about $800 Million dollars
over budget currently.  He also
added that London, England,
which is hosting the 2012
Summer games, is now some
$8 Billion dollars over budget.
China and Greece also went
way over their initial budgets.
So one has to wonder why
anybody would want to host
the darn thing?

Today, the International
Olympic Committee will select
the site for the 2016 Summer
Games.  Madrid, Rio de
Janeiro, Tokyo, and Chicago
are in the running.  President
Obama, along with his wife and
Valerie Jarrett, are in the city of
Copenhagen to attend the
festivities.

So how on earth would a city
like Chicago, running budget
deficits and forced to close it’s
offices one day per week, will
be able to fund the billions of
dollars needed to host the
Olympics?  An even bigger
question is how the money will
be handled given that Chicago
is probably the single most
corrupt city in the United States
if not the whole planet?

We already see the signs of
who and how billions of dollars
will be siphoned off by the
crony machine.  For example,
Aon Insurance looks to make
some $1.1 billion insuring the
Olympic stadiums and facilities.
Aon’s founder, Patrick Ryan,
is an old pal of Mayor Richard
Daley.  Not long along Ryan
gave Daley an unethical dona-
tion of $100,000.  Aon was also
recently fined $5.25 million dol-
lars for bribery and corruption
of public officials.

Valerie Jarrett, long time friend
of the Obamas and a White
House adviser, is the VP for
the Chicago Olympic Commit-
tee.  Jarrett, former CEO of
Habitat, a land management
firm, is plugged into the real
estate industry in Chicago.
Several properties managed
by Habitat, such as Grove
Parc and Lawnsdale Restora-
tion, both dilapidated, are in
the area planned for the
Olympic Village.

The I.O.C. generally does not
award the honors to cities
where the local population is
opposed to hosting the games.
There are conflicting polls as
to how much support there is.
One TV station’s news team,
from WFLD-TV, has been
threatened by the Chicago
Olympic Committee for airing
stories about local protests
and opposition against the
games being held in Chicago.

So while not one shovel of
dirt has been dug yet, the
Olympic games already have
all the signs of becoming a
costly and corrupt boondoggle.
Just imagine what will happen
once the money starts to really
flow!  I’ll bet even Tony Rezko
will make a few bucks while
in prison.  LOL!

The other issue, all be it a
minor one, is why the White
House is playing this silly
'gotcha' game with Glenn
Beck?  Didn't they learn
their lesson after making
Rush Limbaugh the head
of the Republican Party?
Limbaugh's radio audience
doubled as a result.  Beck
is already closing in on
having a TV audience the
same size as Fox's Bill
O'Reilly, who is on at 8pm
whereas Beck is on at 5pm.
This is remarkable for a
cable 'news' program to
have such ratings at such
an off-beat time.

Once again the episode shows
the general lack of experience
and wisdom in the White
House.  The Obama Admini-
stration is easily distracted
and too sensitive to any criti-
cism.  They never stopped
being in 'campaign mode'.
Instead of governing they
waste time and energy in
pointless minutia.  With nearly
a year gone and so much
still unresolved, when will
the Obama Administration
start doing some real work?