Comment on Belmont Club "The invisible man"

An artificial nation that exists largely as a product of external agitation designs and manufactures itself to generate the maximum conflict and exists primarily to generate transfer payments to kleptocrats, media, fraudulent charities and bureaucrats. The surprise is that there are any genuine human beings caught up in this show. The Palestinians are the Truman show nation that now gets to interact with Obama, the Truman show President.

The real costs are as always the opportunity costs. Not just in the terms of real humans killed or terrorized but the billions misspent and as Wretchard and Mr Landes make clear in terms of crowding out the visibility and access to scarce resources, of finance, political will and of visibility, that could be devoted to more worthy causes. The victims of Hamas include the dead of Darfur, Tibet, Mexico and many other places.

Jan 21, 2009 - 9:06 pm

Comment on Belmont Club "Wilders"

Where will a man like Wilders find refuge? No country in Europe will have him, will the US or China? Ideally some Civil Libertarian of the Left will invite him into America. The best would be if it was Deval Patrick and Bobby Jindal that pushed for him together.

The United States, like other nations, developed a full range of tools, legal, administrative and cultural, for protecting itself from subversion. They did this while grappling with the problem of welcoming and assimilating immigrants and becoming a great power with a global trade network. It took 150 years to build and refine these tools after the failure of the first effort known as the Alien and Sedition acts. It took less than 30 years to abandon those tools. Worse they were not actually destroyed but only abandoned, left unused against the threat of infiltration by the left or a foreign political-religious movement but available for those same forces to pick up and use against the decaying Establishment or other vulnerable minorities.

There are similar cases in history. The Romans ceased the persecutions and offered toleration to the Christians by Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 and in 380 Theodosius outlawed Paganism. The Christians were only to happy to pick up the discarded tools of oppression.

Jan 21, 2009 - 5:07 pm

Comment on The Belmont Club, "The Grand Inquisitors"

The transformation of the arab peasantry into moslem fedayeen and then into the urban mass of Gaza and other cities was an unintended consequence of Islam. Mohammed’s original intent was that the Moslems would be an elite force of parasites living off the labor of dhimmis. Unfortunately he was as poor an economist as he was a theologian. He was however a good psychiatrist, psychotics often are. Given the relentless degradation that non-Moslems were subjected to the masses converted within a few generations. Given that Islam destroys the creative and sympathetic impulses necessary for economic growth while also removing the incentives for the dhimmis to invest in wealth generation outside of trade the stagnation of the urban societies was inevitable. The rejection of the foreigners of al-Qaeda by the elites of Anbar does not provide a good model that we can count on for Gaza. For the Gazans to be a population that can serve as a viable source of law rejecting totalitarian movements like Hamas they would need to be reoccupied and reeducated for at least 2 generations. Moses had to lead the children of Israel into the desert for 40 years to burn off the habits of slavery. The children of Ishmael will need no less.

The transformation of Germany only happened because the totalitarian regime had while widespread in its influence not sunk very deep into the culture after only 12 years. Japan’s transformation was more interesting. Possibly the rapid changes brought about by industrialization within 2 generations had created an unusually flexible psyche that when combined with the shock of total defeat had allowed for the installation of new democratic values.

Comment on Belmont Club "Horowitz on Obama"

Subotai Bahadur (a BC poster) poses an interesting problem, “We are two very different nations and cultures uneasily occupying one country” sounds familiar. America has sailed into the same emotional territory occupied by the Israelis and the Philistines. One hundred and fifty years ago the Democrats refusal to trust in constitutional protections and process coupled with their paranoid refusal to share the political stage tore the nation apart. Subsequently their superior skills at recruiting immigrants, despite their nativist roots, and the over reaching of Republicans (Rum Romanism and Rebellion backfired) saved the Democrats. Later under FDR they learned that by focusing on the goal of building a coalition rather than the task of restoring prosperity they could become the semi-permanent party of government. Now they are again edging towards a scorched earth campaign to eliminate the honest and the productive, because they are honest and productive. They cultivate the permanently alienated at home and import more to base their power on the aggrieved, because the aggrieved can be a constituency that will not assimilate away from them. The Republicans are left with America’s Israelis in the figurative sense. The productive, the law abiding, the temperate, are becoming an isolated minority in their own country. The current attachment of most American Jews to the Democratic Party is an historical aberration that will eventually be resolved but unfortunately it will probably be to late. The Democratic coalition are both figuratively and literally America’s Philistines.

Jan 19, 2009 - 6:54 pm

Comment on Belmont Club "The business of Princes"

The English despised Benedict Arnold, the disloyal are never trusted, not even by those they transfered their loyalty to. The CIA of Valerie Plame will not find a home even among the conspiratorial apparatchiks who stuffed envelopes and wrote Kos diaries for Obama while dreaming of being Chekisty. Does the United States need an organization such as Ishmael Jones envisions? Absolutely it does and the lack of one has cost American lives. Is there a snowball’s chance in hell that Obama’s people will produce the professional lean focused organization desired? The incoming administration is already set to produce an orgy of competing turf wars, scandals, incompetence and waste. It will not be a movie, lives and liberties will be lost.

We can only hope that there will be a dawn to come. The alternatives may be dhimmi to the Islamists or kow-tow to the Chinese. Which will be the worse fate? When they clash who will survive? If we see India patch up its quarrels with China to face the greater threat then that great divide for the future may happen with surprising speed.

Jan 6, 2009 - 9:43 pm

Comment on Belmont Club "I Talk to the Trees - then and now"

The problem with the Earth First crowd is that like all terrorists, and they are, they are profoundly selfish. They are consumers. They are consumers of nature who contribute nothing to preserving or maintaining any form of life. They are vampires.

Many many years ago a girl that I probably should have married told me that her plan was to buy 100 acres in Indiana and plant it with Black Walnut trees in the expectation that our grandchildren then would not have to work. That is wisdom. It is the opposite of the “Hooking Up” culture that Amy Alkin defends.

——-
@Doug (a BC poster),
Jamie Gorelick having destroyed the foundations of capitalism at Fannie Mae and the foundations of national security at Justice, leading to both the housing meltdown and looming Depression as well as 9-11 and global war, moved on to Schlumberger. Where do I turn to for protection as I believe she is to her vast profit stalking me?

Dec 14, 2008 - 9:51 am

Comment on Belmont Club "The Age of Pyramids and the power of illusion"

“The Law in its infinite majesty forbids the rich man as well as the poor …”

Why does the GOP get blamed for this? All the evidence is that the Democrats are the party of the very rich and of people who derive incomes from services and rentiers, as well as the clueless rented. The Republicans are the party of small business and skilled labor.

Dec 11, 2008 - 11:47 pm

Comment on Belmont Club "Disappearance of the future"

Marriage rates should be for % of adult population. Given that the population has doubled over the last 60 years it sure looks like a declining rate to me.

Adam Smith was a Professor of Moral Philosophy. Really that meant that he taught 4 year long courses to what we could consider very hard working under 20 secondary school students. We have a compilation from his first year Ethics course in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. He makes it clear that the cultivation of “sympathy” is essential for all further social activity. That would include his subsequent lecture courses in Rhetoric, Jurisprudence and Political Economy. We do not have his work for the middle two subjects. The Wealth of Nations is of course the culmination of both his life’s work and of what was intended as a systematic train of thought based on a moral perspective.

Dec 10, 2008 - 9:23 pm

Comment on Belmont Club "Rules for radicals"

Islamism is different. Islamist schools are different. The threat from Islamist subversion is different and it is real. Given that how do we respond? You can go with fred (a poster on BC) and call for mass expulsion and bloodshed or you can think of what actions to avoid, because they increase the threat as creating a seperate Islamic educational system will, and what actions to encourage, such as a range of other vibrant religious and secular institutions..

Dec 2, 2008 - 10:16 am

Comment on Belmont Club "Contingent events"

Fuel Cell Systems are coming along and offer a far quieter power system without detectable waste products. The Germans and the Russians are both bringing these to production. The US has allowed the Nuclear power union to stop all possible competitive alternatives to current power technology. I like the benefits that nuclear propulsion brings but that is no reason to avoid developing good non-nuclear inshore submersible systems. The Israelis and the Taiwanese both want to buy such boats from the US.

Nov 24, 2008 - 6:10 pm

Victory in Iraq Day

Today is VI Day and a hearty well done to our troops.
America's best have done America proud.

Victory in Iraq

VI day, an excellent idea. The MSM, who have achieved the election of a man with no real accomplishments, indeed with no real proof of his work history, education or even birth, now seek to create a virtual defeat to offset our real victory. For this I will agree with an old Rabbi who said "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Spread the truth.

Comment on Belmont Club "Black Sea blues"

I see three possible outcomes (for almost everything I see 3 possible outcomes, it was the training :-).)

1. Obama really wants to be a “Good President” but he feels trapped when his incompetence is exposed and the Bad Guys start moving chess pieces. Result massive warfare and avoidable death leading to Global Depression and more bloodshed.

2. Obama really is in the tank as a tool for Soros, Putin or some other Looney Tunes Marxist anti-American and anti-Semitic crowd. The result is we implode relatively peacefully as the world dissolves into ignorance poverty and hate.

3. Obama is incredibly lucky as the “Bad Guys” collapse even faster than America does. He ends up looking like a hero as professionals manage to kick the can down the road again.

Anyone want to take bets?

Nov 15, 2008 - 12:51 pm

Comment on PJM "Top 30 Errors the Doomed McCain"

The Democrats could have nominated any other candidate and won this year without the criminality, fraud and foriegn terror money. They choose to submit themselves and the nation to this grab from the extreme left.

Comment on PJM "Obama Supporter Assaults Female McCain Supporter in NY"

I was there 2 minutes after this happened. The cops were right there on the spot. The McCain people were doing everything correctly and by the book. Not obstructing traffic, holding signs, offering small flyers and calling out politely things like “McCain for Manhattan” or “Good afternoon, John McCain for President.” Occasionally some angry looking older woman or very arrogant and angry looking young man would walk past us and yell over their shoulder “Go home” or “More War.” One woman did come up and say “Don’t you want the war to end?” and another yelled “Zionists.” A few young Blacks stood in the intersection and started chanting “Obama” for a couple of minutes. Most out of towners were very friendly and enthusiastic and maybe one out of four locals gave us a quick thumbs up or said something encouraging. More of the McCain support seemed to come from working class rather than people in business suits but it was spread out. A percentage of the people, maybe one in every 20, would say something like “You are brave to do this” without identifying their position.

Obama told his people to “Get in their faces.” Obama is responsible for all the violence in this campaign. The McCain campaign is obsessed with being inclusive. Black Americans are present, often in leadership roles, at most events. If anything, a sign, a chant, anything at all, has even a hint of being in questionable taste everyone jumps all over it to stop it.

I have spent years in Hyde Park/Kenwood. I do not know the Obamas personally but I know the people around them. The reality is almost as bad as the imaginings on the web. I have met the McCains and the Palins. They are OK. That is the best I can offer you as advice.

Regarding Colin Powell’s motives, see The Belmont Club threads on PJM on the money linking Obama, radical Carbon Offset control of the economy and Powell.

Comment on Belmont Club "God's green earth"

The implosion of American wealth and power that this transformation to socialist regulation leads to will cause a global depression. However the relative impact will fall hardest on the US. Therefore the Third World and the Arabs will suffer from a loss of power but will see their relative positions improve compared to that of the Americans. The liquidation of Israel and the subjegation of Eurabia will be able to proceed without interruption.

Oct 20, 2008 - 5:48 am

Comment on Belmont Club "Sing for change"

Regarding the song Tomorrow Belongs to Me from Cabaret; people do confuse it with the Horst Wessel. There is some satisfaction in noting that Jewish artists could make a better Nazi anthem than the real Nazis could.

The bad news today is the closing of the NY Sun. The world is a smaller darker place with fewer brave and free voices being heard against the panic of the herd and the braying of the barbarians.

Sep 30, 2008 - 10:05 pm

Comment on Belmont Club "Memory lane"

The Republicans have to offer some straight talk. Here is a script proposal.

This financial panic was not largely caused by deregulation. A few good regulations, such as the “uptick rule” and other controls to prevent abusive short selling should be restored. This panic was caused by bad regulations, beginning with the Community Reinvestment Act that forced banks to offer loans to unqualified buyers and then sell those sub-prime loans to other institutions. Once the buyers of those homes began to default on their mortgages it created a cascade of bad debt that has swept through the entire system. Banks that did not participate in these risky practices were threatened by Congress members and the very agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that had been created to keep the industry operating smoothly and safely. Senior officers of those agencies collected millions of dollars due to what may have been fraud while concealing the growing insolvency. Therefore any program to restore liquidity to the economy, which is essential so that businesses can hire and ship and qualified buyers can buy the homes that are now more reasonably priced, must include the repeal of those laws and regulations that created this disaster.

In addition no business or agency should be considered “To big to fail.” That would open the public treasury to blackmail by every large and inefficient business competing against clever but smaller new firms. It would stifle the entrepreneurship that renews America. Any large firm facing such a crisis should have an opportunity under the bankruptcy laws to reorganize as smaller units with a better chance of surviving. If a firm is a threat to the overall safety of the nation due to its size and possible weakness then the government might need a procedure to order the firm divided, as we have done in other cases with Anti-trust law. As part of the recovery from this crisis we will propose that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be divided into 12 smaller units. Each will be tied to operate within a Federal Reserve district and operate under the eye of the local Federal Reserve Bank to promote the health of the economy in its assigned region.

This is not a sign of a fundamental weakness in the American economy. We are facing a largely self inflicted wound caused by bad politics and greed. We can fix this and permit the American people to continue to create new industries and build new wealth. Other real concerns that can affect our future prosperity, such as dependence on foreign oil, will have to be dealt with. We will work on that. We will also lay out a policy to expand and restore the global reach and flexibility of our Armed Forces. That will include a significant expansion of industrial activity that will stimulate the economy. For now be assured that this crisis, while serious, can be surmounted.

Sep 29, 2008 - 9:50 pm

Comment on Belmont Club "Both Ends and the Middle"

The US needs to ensure the survival of our army in Afghanistan. We would benefit from the Indians placing an army to the West of Pakistan but that just duplicates the problem. How is the Indian army expected to get to Afghanistan or get supplied once it is there? Now if the Pakistanis cannot provide America with a secure route from the sea to the Khyber Pass then we may have to consider writing down our investments in Pakistan and supporting an Indian move through Lahore to the Khyber. If the Pakistanis see this as an existential problem than they might secure transit rights for the Indians and Americans but frankly I doubt it. In all probability Pakistan dissolves and hundreds of thousands or more will die until some new structure is established. We need to be working now on how to keep our army alive during the coming implosion. We may have to march to the sea. What route should it be, East through the Khyber or South to Karachi? While many would hope for a coordinated move on Iran that option is clearly no longer on the table.

Comment on Belmont Club "Who Won the Debate?"

My theory, and I’m sticking with it, is that the script trolls whether for Obama or Putin are really the same people. In fact I suspect they are the employees of phone/web-chat sex boiler rooms who are rented out for the occasion. They may be domestic or in India depending on the market. Notoriously they are portrayed in literature and TV as little old ladies supplementing their social security by following scripts that protray them as 23 year old bombshells. Posting for Obama is a holiday for them by comparison.