Gandalf and the End of the Journey

I was a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien long before the movies had been thought of. I took my children, who are now 39 and 35, to see the original Hobbit, which was animated. I bought them The Hobbit on cassettes and I read them the stories. Tolkien was a devout Catholic and converted his dear friend and fellow academic partner, C. S. Lewis, to christianity, though he adopted the Protestant Anglicanism. Both espoused in their writing the struggle between right and wrong they felt humanity was constantly engaged in. The Lord of the Rings and Narnia hold deeply Christian tenents, something perhaps agnostics and atheists may be unaware of or choose to overlook. While Lewis was more overt in his Christian message, Tolkien's books are deeply imbued with Christian themes, but he worked hard to bury them deeply so that they would enhance rather than detract from the stories. However, in the scene I have included here, which is my favorite scene in the trilogy movies, there is no denying the depth of spiritual message in Gandalf's words to Merry. I have often wondered and been saddened that there are those who do not believe in God and I have wondered what comforts them in life, which can be so very hard, and what comforts them at the time of their death. As for me, I look forward to the world Gandalf describes, being with my family and friends who have gone before me, and waiting for those yet to come. I feel fortunate to have that comfort.

Sarah Palin Brings Down the House at Vanderburgh County Right to Life banquet

Officials at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life banquet in Indiana didn't think there was much chance Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would accept their invitation to the group's biggest fundraiser, but she did.

Tickets to the Evansville, Indiana, event sold out immediately -- even before it was open to the public.

It was little more than a cameo appearance, but the anti-abortion movement is a core constituency in the Republican Party, and the speech was Palin's first this year in the lower 48.

Andrew Klavan on Culture

Bill Whittle from PJ Media discusses The Cost of Media Bias

I wish Bill would put out more videos. He is just brilliant. Another fact that has just come to light from Newsbusters is that this very same reporter from CNN applied for a job with Fox News before she went to work for CNN. That makes her a hypocrit and a few other things I won't mention.

Red Skelton Recites the Pledge of Allegiance - God Bless Him!!!

I wonder what Red would say about where we are today.

John Ratzenberger Speaks to Neil Cavuto at Tea Party

I totally agree with him.

Janene Garafolo on Keith Olbermann - Those who attended Tea Parties are RACIST!!!!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

From my experiences with liberal intellectuals. They begin from the premise of multiculturalism, the unshakeable belief that all cultures are equally valuable, accomplished, and advanced. This is a bedrock liberal belief - all of them embrace, and will angrily defend, this article of faith, and consider anyone who challenges it to be sinister and evil.

Since the West is considerably more accomplished and advanced than other cultures, it is necessary to denigrate the West to satisfy the requirements of multiculturalism. You can only ignore so much poverty and corruption in South America, so many gulags in the defunct Communist sphere, so many Rwandan genocides and barbaric Middle Eastern sewer states - and believe me, they try very hard to ignore these things as long as they can. But eventually, every liberal is confronted with the uncomfortable, demonstrable truth that the West - despite its imperfections - is far ahead of the dark and bloody world that surrounds it.

In order to validate their religious faith in the equality of all cultures, it is necessary for the liberal to bring Western culture down… way, way down. A good example of that would be some of the remarks Ron Howard made this week. They do this by nurturing a belief that Western culture is inherently evil. Since most liberals begin wrestling with the obvious absurdity of multiculturalism in college, they have no shortage of academics on hand to assist them with developing a critique of Western history that nullifies all of its achievements. Thus, it does not matter that the West ended mankind’s thousands of years of slavery - it only matters that the West had slaves. It does not matter that Western theories of democracy and capitalism brought unprecedented prosperity to every corner of the globe that adopted them - it only matters that some Westerners are very rich, and some are poor. It does not matter that America fought mighty battles against the British Empire or the Axis in the name of liberty - it only matters that America was founded on a pile of dead Indians.

By the time a young liberal escapes from his college professors, he hates the history and traditions of the West… and he hates and despises the only acceptable demon figure presented to him, the white European male. But the liberal does not hate himself - he is filled with pride at his superior insight, his elevated appreciation for every culture except his own, and his induction into the society of enlightened socialists that have designed a perfect future that requires the resources, and obedience, of the West to achieve. He knows what needs to be done to overcome the legacy of oppression, slavery, genocide, and greed that defines Western culture, and he is prepared to do it. Because that makes him noble and virtuous, it makes everyone who disagrees with his beliefs base, mean, vulgar, and stupid.

The only way to atone to the rest of humanity for the West’s dark history is to engineer a just, fair, equitable, compassionate society. America cheated to get where it is today - that’s the only explanation that fits with the sacred belief that all cultures are equal. America stole its land, its riches, and even its science from the other peoples of the world… and the ignorant, racist, greedy rulers of reactionary white America are still cheating and stealing, still oppressing women and minorities, still clutching their ill-gotten wealth and waving guns at the enlightened progressives and their Party. Somewhere, out there, at this very moment, a rich white guy is counting his money, while a poor undocumented immigrant is shopping for his kids in a thrift store, and that’s just not fair.

Since the liberal was assured by his professors that progressive socialism is the only valid form of political expression, everything a reactionary does is presumptively illegitimate. That’s how the people who tried to steal the 2000 election with dangling chads, psychic election officials divining the intention of unpunched ballots, and military votes disqualified by squadrons of oily lawyers can tell you with absolute passion and sincerity that Bush stole the election. That’s how they can declare a tired old fraud like John Kerry was the greatest soldier who ever lived, and his fellow Swift Boat veterans were a pack of paid liars who probably met in Rupert Murdoch’s backyard. That’s how the people who voted for the favorite disciple of a viciously racist church - who racked up 96% of the vote from people who shared his skin color but could not have named one of his policies, legislative achievements, or running mate on a bet - can sneer that a tax protest a quarter-million strong was the equivalent of a coast-to-coast Klan rally. It’s not exactly hypocrisy, because to the liberal, there is no other side: there are the brave progressive heroes of history, and there are the villains. The West has been sentenced to a thousand years of community service for its sins, and political activity that attempts to thwart liberal goals is tantamount to a parole violation.

Notice that many of the signs help up by the "tea baggers" are no worse than many signs I saw during the Bush administration. In fact, the Bush is Hitler mantra was an every day occurrence. I never once saw one of these "progressives" say that was wrong. They thrive and live on double standards. It's what they do. (comments courtesy Dr. Zero, HotAir)

That is why Janeane Garofaolo hates you: because if she didn’t, she would have to hate herself.

Abortion Pride

Sorry if this picture offends you. There are no nice pictures of abortion. The author below describes abortion as a "loving" thing to do. For whom, may I ask? After decades of warring against the proabortion industry and those individuals and institutions that support it, this has to be the most profoundly egregious piece of garbage I have ever read regarding abortion "rights." I could hardly make my way through it. I hope you have better luck than I. Horrid stuff. Written by Marcy Bloom (click on her name for full article).

The importance of abortion as a human right integral to women's dignity, the destigmatization and normalization of the experience as common for women - there are now more than 46 million abortions occurring in the world today (close to half of which are illegal and unsafe) and one in three U.S. women will have an abortion by the age of 45 - and ending the silence and shame that women may still feel cannot be underestimated in the global struggle for reproductive justice and gender equality. When we normalize abortion as a fact of women's lives, and discuss abortion as an honorable and loving choice that helps women to become better mothers in the future, we are showing respect, understanding, and support for the complexity of women's choices.

(SNIP)

I passionately agree. I also believe that the framework for such a movement already exists and is quite powerful. Talking about abortion pride as a social change movement, destigmatizing abortion - and by extension, destigmatizing women - are concepts I have believed in and fought for all of my adult life. Apple refers to the stigma that abortion still carries: "In contrast to women who have foregone abortion, women who have chosen to terminate their pregnancies are rarely encouraged to take pride in their decisions. This is unfortunate...women who step up to the ethical plate and have the strength to say, ‘This is the wrong time,' or ‘This is the wrong fetus,' should hold their heads up high in the street."

Yes, they should - and many do. I also agree with the writer - because I witnessed it for more than 35 years in my clinical work of abortion care provision - that the difficulty and pain of a private decision such as an abortion that a woman may feel does not mean that she has any doubt regarding the moral clarity and ethical foundation of her abortion choice. We all frequently experience ambivalence when faced with a deep and life-changing crossroads in our lives, and the choice of an abortion is an example of that. Women can feel initial sadness, but simultaneously know what she needs to do, that the abortion is the absolute best choice, and ultimately feel resolution, peace, and pride. In fact, many women do feel goodness, empowerment, increased self-esteem, and pride in the wisdom and the awareness that they took control of a frequently chaotic situation - unwanted pregnancy - and made a moral and ethical decision that was beneficial for their lives, their futures, and, ultimately, was also good for society.

Of course, we don't live in that world yet. Like Appel, describing abortion as safe, legal, and rare" has always deeply offended me...the rare part, that is. Should women be rare? Should our sexuality and sexual expression be rare? Should abortion providers be rare? (They already are.) Should sexual activity be rare? It is, of course, unwanted pregnancy that needs to be rare. Unfortunately, due to misogynistic beliefs and policies, it isn't. As a result, there needs to be as many safe, legal, accessible, funded, and compassionate abortions as women freely chose. As Appel writes: "Choice is merely a foundation. Ultimately, women - if they so desire - should feel comfortable expressing public pride in their brave and wise choices."

Of course they should - and this is the goal of the movement for the normalization of abortion. Women are already speaking out about their abortions, normalizing its occurrence in our lives, and sharing feelings about the importance of voluntary motherhood. This is not a trivialization - a common anti-choice attack - but a recognition of the significance that the abortion experience has in women's lives. We actually already have an Abortion Pride Movement. We need to make it more powerful, more visible, and more influential as a social justice change mechanism and continue to strive to change attitudes about abortion. Society needs to know that safe abortion is a moral good for women, understand more fully why women make this choice, and provide support and respect for women's moral and ethical decision-making. We need to create a world where a woman having an abortion is as respected and supported as a woman having a baby. As the movement for abortion pride and the recognition of women's human rights progresses, we will continue to speak out with our voices, our experiences, our bodies - and our lives. YES - ABORTION PRIDE!

I wanted to include one letter in the comment section on this article. It was written by Colonel Neville and it is just simply brilliant. Having given him full credit, I hope he won't mind my using his words. He said it so much better than I.

Marcy Bloom Celebrates Abortion! Bravo and five stars for the logical dead end of leftard liberal freakville. Abortions are FUN! What part do you like best? The blood or the screaming? I already know you DON'T like that they're "rare!" Riiiight. Yeah, of course we need MORE abortions. Millions and millions more! We ALL need dead babies. Day and night. Er, NO. Ah, the hideous brave new world of inverted nihilist immorality and without limits. The madness of equivalence, parading as an ironically single pushed "choice". Choice means more than one uber-dominating PC paradigm. Yeah, I can see ya really care. Balls. Thus Margaret Sanger was a racist eugenicist admired by Hitler and was an avid speaker at KKK rallies, and thus a left liberal Democrat heroine! Since 1973 13 million black babies aborted out of a black population of 14 million! And a huge money spinner at $70 million for one clinic chain. [PP clinics etc are often proportionately over-represented in poorer and black areas.] "I'm proud to have aborted a million babies" said the male owner. If the rest of America had the same rate, that'd be around 280 abortions since 73! Yes, chopping up live babies that scream and wriggle is "normal? How "right on". How freakishly crazy. "Exterminate the negro race". Margaret Sanger founder of Planned Parenthood. margaretsanger blogspot com. But then the Marxist left liberal has ALWAYS been utterly pro-eugenics. Thus ALL left liberal "values" rest on support for the expanding eternal welfare state, abortion and identity politics. It pay$ off in a permanent voter base, eh? Are you an insane moral vacuum or just merely a perfectly indoctrinated Marxist leftard liberal? Could your mentality be any more of a pure smiley faced void of Nazi-like indoctrination, fascist and totalitarian control freak rottenness? Your "values" are that you HAVE no values. Your core values are a narcissistic "normalisation" of violent death. Thus you have NOTHING. You are profoundly, wilfully deluded. You are sickening as you are terrifying. A "respectable" nihilist.

Alan Keyes speaks out about Obama's Record on Abortion

Alan Keyes was a featured speaker at a fundraiser for the Triple A Crisis Pregnancy Center in Hastings, Nebraska, on February 19, 2009, where a reporter from KHAS-TV interviewed him about his thoug...
Alan Keyes was a featured speaker at a fundraiser for the Triple A Crisis Pregnancy Center in Hastings, Nebraska, on February 19, 2009, where a reporter from KHAS-TV interviewed him about his thoughts on Obama. With conviction, Alan firmly stated that Obama is a radical communist (which he is) and a usurper (which he has done since he hasn't produced an original birth certificate). And that Obama supports infanticide--the killing of babies born alive after botched abortions.

Things You Have to Believe to be a Liberal Today

Things You Have to Believe to Be a Democrat Today

Hat tip Alain


Things You Have to Believe to Be a Democrat Today

Now featuring bonus entries thanks to some liberal whiners who can’t stand reality.


Originally authored Jay D. Dyson in 2004; updated in 2008 - Now featuring bonus entries thanks to some liberal whiners who can’t stand reality.

Drug addiction is a disease that should be treated with compassion and understanding...unless the addict is a Conservative talk show host.

The United States should be subservient to the United Nations. Our highest authority is not God and the U.S. Constitution, but a collective of tinpot dictators (and their appeasers) and the U.N. charter.

Government should relax drug laws regardless of the potential for abuse, but should pass new and unConstitutional anti-gun laws because of the potential for abuse.

Calls for increased security after a terrorist attack are “political opportunism,” but calls for more gun control after a criminal’s spree killing is “a logical solution.”

“It Takes a Village” means everything you want it to mean...except creeping socialist government involvement in the nuclear family.

Disarming innocent, law-abiding citizens helps protect them from evil, lawless terrorists and other thugs.

Slowly killing an unborn innocent by tearing it apart limb from limb is good. Slowly killing an innocent disabled woman by starving her to death is good. Quickly killing terrorists, convicted murderers and rapists is BAD.

Every religion should be respected and promoted in public schools the name of diversity, so long as that religion isn’t Christianity.

The best way to support our troops is to criticize their every move. This will let them know they’re thought of often.

Sexual harassment, groping and drug use are degenerate if you’re the governor of California, but it’s okay if you’re the President of the United States.

Sex education should be required so that teens can make informed choices about sex, but gun education should be banned because it will turn those same teens into maniacal mass-murderers.

Minorities are blameless for the hatred of the racist; women are blameless for the hatred of the rapist; but America is entirely at fault for the hatred of Islamofascists.

Poverty is the cause of all terrorism...which is why the leaders of al Qaeda are typically U.S.-educated and were raised in wealth and luxury.

The Patriot Act is a horrific compromise of Constitutional rights, but anti-Second Amendment laws and Franklin Roosevelt’s Presidential Order 9066 must be regarded “reasonable precautions.”

We should unquestioningly honor the wishes of our age-old allies, even when said allies no longer act like our allies and have vested economic interests in propping up our enemies.

Socialized medicine is the ideal. Nevermind all those people who spend every dime they have to get to the United States so they can get quality medical care...that their nation’s socialized health care can’t provide.

Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky and Natalie Maines are perfectly qualified to criticize our leadership, but Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlton Heston, and Dennis Miller are just ignorant political hacks.

John Lott’s research on how gun ownership reduces crime is junk science, but Michael Bellesiles is still an authority on why gun control is good (even though he was forced to resign from Emory due to research misconduct over his book “Arming America”).

Bush’s toppling the Saddam regime was a “diversion,” but Clinton’s lobbing a couple of cruise missiles at Iraq in the thick of the Lewinsky sex scandal was “sending a message.”

A president who lies under oath is okay, but a president who references sixteen words from an allies’ intelligence report should be dragged through the streets naked.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning Second Amendment rights and shopping the courts for judges sympathetic to causes that wouldn’t pass in any legislature.

“The People” in the First Amendment means The People; “the People” in the Fourth Amendment means The People; “the People” in the Ninth Amendment means The People; “the People” in the Tenth Amendment means The People; but “the People” in the Second Amendment (ratified in 1791) means the National Guard (created by an Act of Congress in 1903).

You support a woman’s “right to choose” to kill her unborn child, but don’t believe that same woman is competent enough to homeschool the children she bears.

Proven draft-dodging is irrelevant, but baseless claims of AWOL status is crucial to national security.

Threatening to boycott Dr. Laura’s and Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers is exercising Freedom of Speech, but threatening to boycott CBS’s “The Reagans” and Liberal actors over their asinine anti-American remarks is censorship and McCarthyist blacklisting.

You fervently believe that rabidly referring to your political opponent as an “idiot” is a good idea...even after that “idiot” whipped your ass in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Everyone must unquestioningly support a junior senator with negligible political experience for president. ’Cause, like, if you don’t, well...dude, you’re a racist!

All cultures must be treated as equal. This is why we have to make excuses for Muslims when they riot, rape and slaughter, but vilify Christians when they organize letter writing campaigns.

America can only be great if it raises taxes, punishes the successful, rewards the lazy, creates bigger government, and funds more socialist programs. It worked for the Soviet Union, right?

Being against illegal immigration is racist. Nevermind that illegal isn’t a race.

Global warming is caused by humans burning fossil fuels, which is why the Ice Age ended a mere 10,000 years before the invention of the internal combustion engine.

Everyone has the right to disagree, but only with Republicans.

The only way to be a “real American” is to hate everything America stands for.

The only unbiased media is the European media, but only because they hate the United States of America even more than the liberal media in the U.S.

Congress must create a “Fairness Doctrine” to counter the commercial success of conservative talk radio and the resounding failure of Air America. (Nevermind that we already have a government-subsidized liberal mouthpiece called National Public Radio.)

Any Republican who sides with Democrats should be instantly assigned the role of “leading Republican” in all media reports. This position is immediately forfeited the moment said Republican starts acting like an American again.

The pseudoscience of "global warming" must be unquestioningly accepted because a consensus of scientists say it's real. Nevermind that there was also once a consensus among scientists that the Earth was flat, the Sun revolved around the Earth, and that caucasians were genetically superior to all other races.

THOSE ARROGANT AMERICANS

Those “arrogant” Americans.

CLICK ON PICTURE TO VISIT ALAIN'S NEWLETTER. GOOD STUFF THERE!

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Andrea Lafferty


I was getting my little one’s breakfast together and waving the remote to see what the morning news looked like when I found MSNBC (which I discovered does not stand for Marxist-Stalinist News Broadcast Company) and a discussion of the Americans who retook their pirated cargo ship off Somalia.

MSNBC reports dutifully that President Obama does nothing wrong and Republicans do nothing right. In the case of the Americans who retook their ship from the Somali terrorists, guess who was wrong in MSNBC’s not-very-humble view? Those “arrogant” Americans.

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Their Pentagon correspondent explained that the Americans who fought back against the terrorists and drove them off their cargo ship into a lifeboat. They took the ship’s captain with them as a hostage but this story can’t have a good ending for the pirates. They are over 350 miles from the nearest land in a life boat and they have just been joined by a big gray ship with numbers on the side which is (for the benefit of the analysts at MSNBC) a U.S. Navy destroyer or the good guys.

Any day in which you are 350 miles at sea in a boat made for a ride at Coney Island and looking down the barrels of those big destroyer guns cannot turn out well for the terrorists.

But the MSNBC guy at the Pentagon says into the microphone that the brave Americans who took on the terrorists had actually interfered with the shipping company’s plan to just pay whatever amount of money the terrorists demanded wherever and at any time the terrorists demanded it. “It’s the cost of doing business….,” the correspondent stated rather grimly.

SINCE WHEN??????

Since President Obama started talking about “negotiating” with “moderates in the Taliban”?

Those 20 Americans are heroes on any other day of American history (except for the early days of the Carter Administration, maybe).

After a big parade and White House ceremony, they should be dispatched to the State Department, the Congress and the Department of Homeland Security where they could recount for their uninitiated listeners what you do when you come face-to-face with terrorists. YOU FIGHT.

There are no moderates in the Taliban. We may not be at war with Islam but it sure does look like radical Islam is waging a cowardly and deceitful war against us (or at least the unarmed and mostly women and children of us).

At MSNBC’s New York headquarters there may be some confusion about what to do with a terrorist but in most corners of America and on the deck of that cargo ship, there was no doubt.

p.s. – None of what I said about MSNBC should reflect on Pat Buchanan. I loved his remark that his favorite television show is “24” because (I don’t have the exact quote) they start off terrorist interrogation on the right note by kneecapping them first and then asking the questions. There are areas in which Pat and I may disagree but this is definitely not one of them.

My Grandaughter, Megan, at the ROTC Ball

I am so proud of her. She has really blossomed in the school ROTC program and was chosen to attend leadership camp this summer. She plans on staying in ROTC all through school. Her date bought her a corsage and she was thrilled. Doesn't he look handsome in his uniform? I will put one of her in her uniform on here once I get it developed. Way to go Megan!

I.O.U.S.A. America's Addiction to Debt

Please take time to watch this nonpartisan documentary about the national debt and America's seeming addiction to debt, perhaps the reason so few seem to care about the generational theft occuring even as I am writing this. From the website:

Wake up, America! We're on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.

Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation's financial practices and policies. The film follows former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America's unsustainable fiscal policies to its citizens.

With surgical precision, Creadon interweaves archival footage and economic data to paint a vivid and alarming profile of America's current economic situation. The ultimate power of I.O.U.S.A. is that the film moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer potential financial scenarios and propose solutions about how we can recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations.

Creadon uses candid interviews and his featured subjects include Warren Buffett, Alan Greenspan, Paul O'Neill, Robert Rubin, and Paul Volcker, along with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's own David Walker and Bob Bixby of the Concord Coalition, a Foundation grantee.

Pointedly topical and consummately nonpartisan, I.O.U.S.A. drives home the message that the only time for America's financial future is now.

Saturday Night News Busted for a little comic relief

There's a lot of truth in there, too!

Disinvite Obama from Speaking at Notre Dame

Cartoon courtesy of Zach Brissett
I mean, what were they thinking? Inviting perhaps the most liberal proabortionist of our times, including partial birth abortion, late term abortion, even going so far as to say that babies born alive from abortion should be set aside to die, inviting THIS man, Obama, to speak at a Catholic University! And giving him an honoary doctorate as well. What has happened with some members of the Catholic faith? We have Kennedy, Pelosi, Kerry, et al, strong proabortionists and also supposedly strong Catholics. I am not a Catholic but I certainly always thought that one of their strongest tenents was the sanctity of life. I don't see how any Catholic could have voted for Obama with his voting record. Here's a snippet of Bishop Doran of Rockford to Fr. Jenkins at Notre Dame. Priceless.

I would ask that you rescind this unfortunate decision and so avoid dishonoring the practicing Catholics of the United States, including those of this Diocese. Failing that, please have the decency to change the name of the University to something like, “The Fighting Irish College” or “Northwestern Indiana Humanist University.” Though promotion of the obscene is not foreign to you, I would point out that it is truly obscene for you to take such decisions as you have done in a university named for our Blessed Lady, whom the Second Vatican Council called the Mother of the Church.

~ Letter from Bishop Doran of Rockford to Fr. Jenkins at Notre Dame. As quoted by : Mark Shea’s Blog

BURN!

Please take a moment to visit and sign the petition to stop Obama from speaking at Notre DameTHIS WEBSITE. It's important. You have to stand for something or you will stand for anything.

Mark Steyn on the global sellout of the United States, maybe even the world

Feel Like Getting Nasty?
The G20 wants international regulation that will export their mistakes to the entire planet.

By Mark Steyn


During the Obama administration’s foray to London this last week, officials provided a special telephone number to journalists interested in discussing foreign-policy issues in an “on-the-record briefing call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jones.”

Unfortunately, as part of the curious run of bad luck currently afflicting our new Secretary of State, upon dialing the number the gentlemen of the press were greeted by a honey-voiced seductress, presumably not Secretary Clinton, offering them “phone sex” and seeking their credit-card number if they “feel like getting nasty.”

No, it’s not a White House April Fool’s gag. This was April 2nd.

Alas, what with the collapse of the newspaper industry and major metro dailies filing for bankruptcy every 20 minutes, sticking phone sex on your expense tab isn’t as easy as it once was. So many of these big-shot correspondents were forced to hang up, call the White House Press Office, get given the correct number, and listen to Hillary droning on about the NATO summit for half an hour. The deputy press secretary, Bill Burton, insisted that the White House handing out sex-line numbers was no big deal and only Fox News would make a fuss about “a corrected phone number.”

I’m not sure why the White House needed to correct it. It’s the perfect radio ad for the administration. Call 1-900-OBAMA and Timothy Geithner will demand your credit-card number and ask whether you feel like getting nasty, because he certainly does. He’ll be wearing a steel-tipped basque, and the squeals in the background will be an AIG executive or the former CEO of General Motors hanging upside down in the Treasury Department basement while he feels the firm lash of government “regulation” from Barney Frank and Mistress Pelosi.

Well, we all hate “the rich,” don’t we? Last week, David Paterson, the governor of New York, said that if he’d known his latest tax increase would persuade Rush Limbaugh to sell his Manhattan apartment and leave the city, he’d have raised taxes earlier. Ha-ha. Very funny. In New York City, as Mayor Bloomberg has pointed out, the wealthiest 1 percent contribute 50 percent of municipal revenue. How tiny a number of people does Governor Paterson have to drive out before it causes significant shortfalls in the public coffers?

On the other hand, the rich can only be driven out if they’ve got somewhere to be driven to. At the ludicrous G20 summit in London last week, the official communiqué crowed over a “clampdown” on tax havens — those British colonies in the Caribbean and a few other offshore pinpricks in the map. “The era of banking secrecy is over,” the G20 proclaimed.

Does anyone seriously think a Swiss bank account or a post office box in the Turks and Caicos are responsible for the global meltdown?

No, but the world’s governments have decided to focus on irrelevant scapegoats. In the current crisis, Japan, Germany, and Italy (plus Russia) are in net population decline that’s only going to accelerate in the years ahead. So, unlike the U.S., they can’t run up the national debt and stick it to their kids and grandkids, because they don’t have any kids and grandkids to stick it to. If New York is running out of rich people, Germany is running out of people, period. The Chinese and other buyers of Western debt know that. If you’re an investor and you’re not tracking GDP versus median age in the world’s major economies, you’re going to lose a lot of money.

If government has a role in this crisis, it ought to be to reverse the combination of unaffordable social programs and deathbed demographics that make a restoration of real GDP growth all but impossible in many European nations. But that would involve telling the citizenry unpleasant truths, and Continental politicians who wish to remain electorally viable aren’t willing to do that. President Sarkozy, the Times of London reported, “said that the summit provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give capitalism a conscience.” What he means by “a conscience” is a global regulatory regime that ensures there’s nowhere to move to. If you’re France, which has a sluggish, uncompetitive, protectionist, high-unemployment business environment whose best and brightest abandon the country in ever-greater droves, it obviously makes sense to force the entire planet to submit to the same growth-killing measures that have done wonders for your own economy. But it’s not good news for the rest of the world. The building blocks for a global regulatory regime and even a global central bank with an embryo global currency (the IMF and the enhanced role of “Special Drawing Rights”) are an ominous development.


Let it be said that in recent years in America, the United Kingdom, and certain other countries the “financial sector” grew too big. In The Atlantic, Simon Johnson points out that, between 1973 and 1985, it was responsible for about 16 percent of U.S. corporate profits. By this decade, it was up to 41 percent. That’s higher than healthy, but it wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near that high if government didn’t annex so much of your wealth — through everything from income tax to small-business regulation — that it’s become increasingly difficult to improve your lot by working hard, making stuff, and selling it. Instead, in order to fund a more comfortable retirement and much else, large numbers of people became “investors” — albeit not as the term is traditionally understood: Instead, you work for some company and they put some money on your behalf in some sort of account that somebody on the 12th floor pools together with all the others and gives to somebody else in New York to disperse among various corporations hither and yon. You’ve no idea what you’re “investing” in, but it keeps going up, so why do you care? That’s not like a 19th-century chappie saying he’s starting a rubber plantation in Malaya and, with the faster shipping routes out of Singapore, it may be worth your while owning 25 percent of it. Or a guy in 1929 barking “Buy this!” and “Sell that!” at his broker every morning. Instead, an exaggerated return on mediocre assets became accepted as a permanent feature of life.

Please read entire article at National Review on Line HERE