THE VERY BIG HAT TRICK
September 30, 2003
It seems I’m in to sports metaphors recently. So, let’s get the hockey puck into play by summarizing what’s going on as we enter the 4th turn- the 4Q of 2002
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
First, there’s POLITICS which runs everything, usually into the ground. Sen. Torricelli gave one of the most self-serving speeches I’ve heard in a long time. Basically he’s stepping down for the good of the Democratic party, so that they can stay in control of the Senate and keep those nasty Republicans out of control. The bottom line is, if I can’t win, I’ll step down and hope someone else can win. What ever happened to if you can’t win you LOSE? But alas, this IS politics.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Secondly, there’s WAR or the thought of it and it’s tarnished by politics as well. The sight of two Congressmen from the USA standing on Iraqi soil proclaiming how good Saddam is and how corrupt our politicians and president is really makes my stomach turn. How can our elected politicians say they don’t trust Bush but they believe Saddam? Someone raise the “treason” flag. Yes, we’re Americans and we have the right to speak our minds- and also to pay the price for irresponsible speech! The First Amendment is not inviolate.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Then there’s the real war. I have said repeatedly that we’d be at war by the end of September. Didn’t happen. I missed it- but by how far? Congress will give Bush the approval he needs this week or next. Then, it will be just a matter of time: a short time.
So there it is. Three items, but all three smell of politics and it’s the thread that holds the fabric together.
PILING ON!
September 29, 2003
In football, it’s a fifteen yard penalty and an automatic first down for piling on. In politics, there is no penalty if it works, but the penalty is huge if the strategy doesn’t work. The jury is currently out, but the pile is getting bigger.
Last week kicked off with Al Gore taking the first leap. Everyone, including the Democrats are trying to figure out just what he said and why he jumped. But, not to be out done, Daschle jumped up and down on the Senate floor the next day. People are still scratching their heads over that one.
But, one by one, the sound of 1960 “Peaceniks” could be heard. The week ended with a dissertation by Ed Kennedy. While the speech was more moderate than his buddies, I’m still at a loss as to what he said also. The only thing I’m certain of is that they’re all anti-Bush, anti-war, and duped by Saddam.
Then this weekend we’re hearing from three Democrats who are in Baghdad and they say that Saddam has promised them that the inspectors will have “unfettered” access. I’ll look that word up later but why bother as I’m sure Saddam has his own defintion that’s different from what Webster says.
The pile is getting pretty big and for some reason I feel the need to ask the question, is Bush under there? It seems as though every time the Democrats think they have smashed him he pops up somewhere else. As we begin a new week, and come Tuesday, a new month, we shall see.
PS. Did I mention the Barbara Streisand pile-on? 
With elections now just a month away, I wouldn’t be surprised at anything: maybe even holding, clipping, a personal foul here or there, but then I digress in my metaphors.
NAS-duck WARNING?
September 27, 2003
I’m amazed to still see people like Joe Batipaglia on Fox News today hyping the bull market. He’s now moved into “bank stocks”. I don’t think he’s ever seen a stock he wouldn’t buy- with YOUR money!
Joe is symbolic of the perma-bulls that know no bad days to be buying stocks. There is no such word as BEAR in their verbage. Joe was pushing Nasdaq when it went over 5,000 saying it was headeed to 10,000+. He was a bull when it hit 4,000. He was even more excited about spending YOUR money when it hit 3,000.
Of course if it was a buy at 5,000 it had to be a buy at 2,500! When it fell below 2,000, the rally was on. Of course 1,500 was an absolute steal. Now with the Nasdaq below 1,200….oh well, you know the story. But there’s another very similiar story that you might consider before you give people like Joe YOUR money.
Germany had (past tense) an exchange much like our American Nasdaq. It was called the “Neuer Market”. In the last 2.5 years it has lost 96% of it’s value. There was a public announcement that “to reassure investors, the market will close forever.” REASSURE? After a 96% drop?
REASSURE who, what?
Get the picture? Duck, the Nas-duck is falling! And, this is no ‘Chicken Little” story.
PS. The Dow is very sick as well with September possibly (one day left to trade) being the 6th month in a row for it to drop, and that’s NEVER happened before in HISTORY- not even in the 1929-32 depression!
MUDDLING THROUGH?
September 26, 2003
To muddle means to be befuddled, but at least it’s progress. Back on the farm where I grew up, we called this process watching grass grow.
I am talking about the debate on Capitol Hill about war, Iraq, and Homeland Security, which the debate is really NOT about at all. The rancor that’s going on in D.C. is really about politics or what’s been coined as “atomization”: the individualistic process of looking out for your own interests. You see everyone is into themselves. Everyone has a selfish interest but it’s couched in utilitarian concepts for others. Yeah, right!
Somewhere between here and there we will get a Homeland Security bill. Somewhere between now and then we’ll get a U.S. resolution on the war with Iraq. Somewhere, sometime, something of value and importance will happen in Congress.
After all, we are muddling-through and Webster’s definition of that term is to make progress in the midst of confusion: to be mentally confused, inept, and blundering.
Sounds properly descriptive to me.
WAR- DAY # 2
September 25, 2003
Al Gore led the charge Tuesday with his opening salvo blaming the Bush administration for losing the initiative after 9-11. What initiative? He seems to think that the world was once on our side and that Bush has somehow alienated the world. The last I checked, France, et al. never was favorbale to much of what the U.S. has done regardless of who the president might be.
Wednesday, Tom Daschle went into a frenzy saying that the president was making the war a political football and acting more like Bush was the enemy and not Saddam or UBL.
Seems to me as though the enemy has us where he wants us. We’re divided! We’re spoiled. We have many interests- mostly our own individual needs. We’re overly pampered and it appears that we’re well on our way to fulfilling the Chinese proverb that says, “Whom the gods want to destroy, they prosper for 40 years.”
The Romans said it this way, “We can destroy a culture by taking away all of their books for one generation. No matter how it is said, the bottom line is that it’s hard for politicians (Democrats or Republicans) to lay down their own individual desires and do what’s right for the nation.
Anyway, the domestic-politcal war now heads to day three or can we get a grip on what’s really happening and put the nation first? Maybe!
LIED TO ONCE AGAIN?
September 24, 2003
How many times in the last three years have you heard someone come on television and tell you that we’ve reached the bottom, we’re setting in the bottom, or the bottom is around the corner. Sure is a long corner isn’t it- or maybe a BIG bottom?
Of course the last time most people were lied to was back in July: the twenty-third to be exact. The Dow hit a low of 7,702 and one week later it was at 8,734 and everyone was declaring the summer rally, though late, was now here. On August 22nd (a month later), the Dow had risen to 9,053 and the bulls were full of it- themselves.
Well, that was then, this is now. Today the Dow dropped below that July low, closing at 7,683. The Nasdaq and the S&P500 had already violated the July lows. Hey, remember that new economy, the red-hot, can’t fail Nasdaq that was over 5,000 two+ years ago? It’s now flirting with triple digit levels closing at 1,182 today while the S&P has been living below 1,000: closing at 819 today.
Want a painful summary of the year so far? Dow down 2,458, Nasdaq down 724, and S&P down 364. Ouch!
We’re no place close to the bottom either. Well, yes, we are closer but it’s a long way off. Tired of being lied to? Got any more money in that 401(k) that you want to give to your mutual fund manager to lose? Just get on the phone and ask him if now’s a good time to invest and you’ll have the latest lie told to you.
Ahh, tomorrow, back to the good stuff- WAR!
THE WAR HAS STARTED!
September 23, 2003
I said that we’d be at war by the end of September, but that was the war with Iraq….and it’s still a good possibility. But, the war that I’m talking about here is the ‘04 War which started in San Francisco on Monday, September 23rd.
Showing that he still makes his decisions based on POLLS, Gore lashed out at George W. Bush for losing all of the good will, sympathy, and world support immediately following 9-11. In other words as someone has said, Gore wants the approval of people who cannot even vote for him: a strange position for a presidential candidate.
Gore has taken a very radical and opposite position of Bush. While he told the crowd at the Commonwealth Club that he would officially make a decision to run in December, he unofficially put his hat in the ring- and might I add that he also shot himself in the foot as well.
I am so glad I did not vote for Gore. It’s not because I am a hard-nosed conservative because I am not. I try to vote for the MAN and not the party. As an example (probably lost on young readers) I voted for both John F. and Barry (Kennedy and Goldwater). Not in the same year of course.
In one of the dumbest statements to his audience Gore said, “If you are going after Jesse James, you ought to organize the posse first.” First, it’s not the wild, wild west. Second we don’t need a posse when the sheriff will do. Third, we know where Jesse is hanging out. And fourth, we’re already organized- and with the law on our side.
Anyway, that “other” war is now officially on and it just could be that if fate has her way, Gore could have just fatally shot himself in the foot: like he’s going to bleed to death. We’ll know come November 5th. Think about it.
IMPERIALISM REVISITED?
September 22, 2003
Seeing the movie, “The Four Feathers” got me to wondering if America has become the Britain of 100 years ago. In this incredible film which took place in the Sudan in 1898, British troops try to take their “morality & lifestyle” to a country and a people that understood it not.
Today, America is pushing a lifestyle of “democracy”, which is something entirely different than our Republican form of government though I’m not sure our Congressmen or politicians know that.
Currently we seem to possess the power to do much of that. The “war on terrorism” has just opened the door for us to think that we “know it all”, much like Britain a century ago. I hope and pray that the results will not be the same.
Cultures vary throughout this planet, and greatly so. I am not sure it’s our destiny to save the world- as Americans. I am certain though that it is our destiny to save people in the world- as Christians. But, I am equally sure that most Christians today don’t act or think in a way that upholds the name or principles.
I’ve learned down through the years that often times love isn’t pushing your values on others as much as it is in just “loving”. Almost too simple, and therein lies the problem. I know that this new attitude of imperialism is founded in a “thought of love” but in it’s application , I’m afraid it’s doomed to failure.
A VERY DIFFERENT WORLD
September 21, 2003
Man is in the process (again) of out-foxing himself. So often the peril comes when we GET what it is we have been striving for. One of the old addages that I have learned from, often the hard way, is that there are two tragedies in life. The first is that you don’t get what you long for and the second is that you do!
We lost thousands of lives on the beaches of France back in WWII and France has been one of our worst critics in the last twenty years. We poured tons of resources into Germany and were instrumental in getting the wall knocked down that divided the country. Now they don’t want to support us in our differences with Iraq and the justice minister’s likening Bush to Hitler shows how deep the rift has become- in spite of Schroeder’s apologies.
Tearing down the Berlin wall is looked upon by historians as the line of demarcation between the modern and post modern world. I think the event of 9-11 will be far more significant.
Since there are no mega-powers to challenge us (China will in the near future), we have guerilla warfare, otherwise known as terrorism. We have the coming out of the closet of a very radical brand of Islam that is trying to transform the entire world to Mohammed’s teachings- or die!
What’s all this mean? Alvin Toffler wrote a book many years ago that became a best seller. The title was Future Shock. He got a lot of things right but what we’re becoming now neither he nor any other one foretold. Why? Because our lives, lifestyle, and destiny are being formed as we live and we know not where it will all end.
THE BEST DEFENSE IS?
September 20, 2003
The Democrats wanted Bush to go to the U.N. and get their approval before attacking Iraq. So, he did and they stood with their mouths open as the world embraced his speech. Then they (Congress) wanted him to come to them for approval. He now has and the ball is in their court. Finally, they wanted specific reasons why we should attack first. He sent them that information yesterday. They now have egg on their face.
So, it seems that every time they ask for something, he gives it to them- in SPADES. Who was it that said a soft answer turns away wrath? Who was it that said the best defense was a good offense? Who was it that said a YES trumps a NO? I am not sure who said all those things but I do know who is demonstrating them- George W. Bush.
It’s a whole new world. Analog is out and digital is in. The modern world has given way to the post modern world. And, the old defensive, we’ll not attack anyone first concept, is out the window. The terrorists have given Bush a license to do things that he could not have done in any other way.
If the Democrats and the opposition are smart, they’ll quit asking Bush to do things!
NOT!
HITLER OR CHURCHILL?
September 19, 2003
Just when we thought partisan politics on the Senate floor, and in America generally, couldn’t get any worse, along comes Herta Daeubler-Gmelin. What’s up with all these “double names”? Anyway, he is Gerhard Schroeder’s justice minister (Germany in case you couldn’t detect the names). He’s on the hot-spot now for saying that Bush is like Hitler.
On the other side of the pond, many are comparing Bush, and his courage, to take on the world, to that of Winston Churchill. For me, I think he’s just being George W. Bush and it’s too early to compare him to other historical “greats”. He is placing his name in the “hat” of men who could go down in history in a major way. It doesn’t even have to be WWIII though that might be the case. The stakes are high!
Taking out Saddam is no minor thing and changing the guard in Iraq has ramnifications way beyond anything we can comprehend or predict. We are opening up that proverbial box known by the name of PANDORA! Every day the headlines get wilder and more scary. Nuke Iraq, take out Saddam, and you’re either “with or or against us”. These are those black & white words and phrases that give little wiggle room, if any.
So, now it’s up to Congress. It’s obvious that the U.N. isn’t going to do anything, and it’s further obvious that Bush is telling them to do it now or get out of the way and he’ll do the job! Bush has sent his “resolution words” to Congress. With elections coming up in six weeks, WOW!
PS. We just passed the 10,000 mark (since we went to this new format). Thanks for visiting the web page.
GEOGRAPHY LESSONS
September 18, 2003
It’s been said that our public schools are not teaching the facts any more. History is being altered from what really happened. Kids can’t read or write. Math? Forgetdaboutit!
Alas, to the rescue comes Bush and Rumsfeld to save our kids from failing at geography, at least. On our anniversary date of 9-11, I asked what nation had a population a little larger than Montana and a bit smaller in size than Delaware. Just to be a help to the NEA, I gave the answer- QATAR!
Okay, how about this one? What nation has a population about the same as Wyoming and a geographical area about the size of Vermont? Let me give you a really good hint. The president is Ismail Omar Guelleh! Give?
The nation is Djibouti and like with Qatar, it’s playing a critical “staging role” for our intelligence and Special Forces who think some “bad guys”, as Bush calls them, are hiding out across the pond in Yemen.
So, if nothing else, this war on terrorism is giving us some real insights to this planet in a way that schools are not. Why not sit down with your kids and with an Atlas in hand, go over where the hot spots are, and maybe even build some interest in them for this world we all live in.
JUST SAY NO!
September 17, 2003
It’s a different presidency and it’s not the first lady. Mrs. Reagan ushered in the war on drugs with the motto- Just Say No! It still lives with us today. It was a positive in our world. We now embark on this phrase once again but in a different time, with a a different meaning.
It seems to me that after Saddam said that he’d let the inspectors back in that Bush was anxious to do just that. The inspectors have met with Iraqi officials and they are wanting another meeting in ten days, and then maybe another month, and then, well, you know all of the excuses and about-faces that Saddam is so good about offering up.
Bush is anxious to get the “action” going. All Bush wants is for the inspectors to move as fast as they can and to do something that Saddam will have to say NO to. Bush wants Saddam to just say NO- to ANYTHING. Are your reading this print? The strategy is as plain as the print on your monitor.
And guess what, I believe that Bush will get his wish. What I am not sure about is just how that all plays out. Will it be a good in our society when Saddam says NO? I have a 20 year-old son that is in the reserves so maybe I’m a bit more sensitive to the declarational meaning of a “NO”.
But then again, much like Tuesday’s post (you do know you can go back and read past posts don’t you?), I have more questions than I have answers. I’m not even sure that my answers are the “best” answers. It seems it’s a multiple choice quiz these days with no answer being entirely wrong: none entirely right. Maybe we’re asking the wrong questions.
WHAT ARE WE BECOMING?
September 16, 2003
I have to say that it seems there is an ill wind blowing. It’s more like a gentle breeze currently but the hairs on my arms raise a bit when it blows telling me that there’s danger afoot.
It seems as though America is caught up in something we wished we were not a part, something that we cannot escape. It’s as though we’re walking through a valley and there are enemies on both sides: damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Surely there is a way of escape. Isn’t there?
You have to go outside of America to really feel the wind. Out there, there’s not that fear about al Qaeda because they see UBL as going after America (or Israel) only. Europe doesn’t feel threatened, Africa isn’t in the cross hairs, and Asia or South America aren’t even on Islam’s radar screen. Real or not that’s how they feel.
So, how’d America get this rap, take on this burden. Is it the “king of the mountain” thing wherein whoever is on top is the enemy? Is it our past foreign policies, our current ones? Are we really that bad? Are we the 800 pound gorilla or the bully on the block that no one likes? How does one step outside of self and do an objective analysis? It seems as though I have far more questions than answers.
What is obvious to me is that America will probably not be around to celebrate it’s 300th birthday. We’re in the prime (maybe even the dusk) of our existence. Then there’s this whole issuse of the U.N. or one world government. I know, it won’t fly, but it’s a fly in the ointment now.
What we’re becoming, comes out of who we ARE. I wish it were more, better, something more grandiose. That it is not does not mean that it can’t change or won’t change, and therein lies my hope(s).
Visit Our Sponsors...
Advertisements
