Purple Fingers Do Not A Democracy Make...

In re: Iraqi Elections.

The newscasts are making a big deal of this. If you were a supporter of G.W.B., the fact that Iraqis can vote is a sign that the invasion and the death of so many thousands of Americans and allied soldiers was worth it. Iraq is now "on it's way" to becoming a "stable democratic nation" which will "take it's rightful place in the world" and serve as a "shining example to the Muslim world" that pluralistic society and free-market economics is a better system than dictatorial rule of both church and madman.

If you opposed the war., Iraqis flashing dyed fingers is a symbol that Obi-Won Obama can finally fulfill his campaign promise to begin bringing Americans home from an ill-advised foreign adventure that was undertaken on behalf of Haliburton, Big Oil and McDonalds by the Evil Shrubby McBushhitler, and which caused the deaths of millions of innocents (Their innocents somehow still have more moral standing that Our innocents to Lefties). Yet, somehow, Joe Biden can still claim "victory" for a strategy of "stay the course" that his own side bitterly opposed (but somehow couldn't bring themselves to de-fund), in the name of the Great Obambi.

My view is simply this: so fucking what? Your view of democracy is seriously warped if you believe either theory. Democracy,as I've said here many times before, is not like a piece of software; you don't just "install" it and have it run seamlessly after some minor technical troubles and customization. One of the reasons, I think, why American diplomacy often fails in some respects is because people who think this way happen to be in charge of the government, or at least, ensconced within the bureaucracy. We somehow believe that democracy is easily transportable, and therefore, are eager to believe any asshole in a Third-World Shithole who claims to be a Democrat (it's why we keep supporting "Iranian Opposition" groups, and "dissident" Chinese, you know, with no tangible results or even an indication that many people actually believe them or would follow them). There is a belief in the upper eschelons of government that "Inside every ________ is an American dying to get out!".

This is a very poor formulation, which discounts the history and culture of democratic nations.

Because Democracy is a cultural phenomenon, with a 4,000-year old pedigree. It is not just a set of rules which people agree to follow, as it involves much more esoteric features than just The Law and Government. It is a system which has evolved in those 40 centuries to include a bunch of often-mutually-exclusive conventions which have all been modified, tempered, and adjusted by experience. I call these, for lack of a better term, Institutions.

The Institutions required for true democracy are as follows: Secular Rationalism -- the separation of politics, science and economics, and just about every other human endeavor, from the tyranny of religious orthodoxy. The Word of God is not always the final arbiter of what "works" for the greater good of society, particularly when cold, demonstrable experience contradicts the Scripture. A secular-rational society does not dismiss God entirely, but it does diminish the power of religion and superstition when these threaten to narrow the human worldview, deny the impeus towards achievement and discovery, or when they prevent the individual from being included in the Second Institution, which is;

A belief in the Rights of the Individual. All people are born with the assumption of equal capacities, if not actual, equal talents, and equal worth. We are entitled to certain courtesies (rights) by virtue of the fact that we are alive and may contribute, in whatever way we might, to the greater (but never-perfect) communal good. This means that the Individual is born with the right to own property, to enjoy a measure of personal safety against the use of arbitrary power, and to be able to use their talents, skills, and energies for their personal enrichment and growth. For this reason, Systems of Law have evolved from their predecessors --enacted and enforced precisely to protect the exalted status of Church or Monarch, and excuse and justify their arbitrary use of power -- to where they now (theoretically) protect the individual citizen against tyranny. This attribution of rights to the individual brings us to the Third Institution:

Equal Application of the Law. It's all well-and-fine to be free from the use of power of the church and state, and recognized as an individual with rights, but these mean nothing if there is no system within which they can be exercised freely, securely, and with some corresponding responsibilities. This is where the Law and Governments enter the equation, as they are specifically created and empowered by the free citizen for our mutual support and protection. In our own Western culture we have experimented with various forms of government; direct democracy, republics, proportional representation, Socialism and Communism in various forms, Anarchy, Feudalism, Dictatorship, and so forth, but always these systems come up short in some respects, and are continually refined by the application of experience (that is, by the use of secular-rationalist methods being exercised by people enjoying the right to do so without threat of retribution by those in power). One of my heroes, Winston Churchill, once described democracy as "the least-worst system of government yet devised by man..." which tells you that he, at least, thought the experiment was not over.

But, government only really exists to ensure that "The System" is fair, equitable and applied (yes, through use of force, Libertarians!) in a way which ensures that liberty is protected against those who would pervert it, or take it away. The Law is simply one of the more powerful weapons in the arsenal of free peoples, but it, too, is not perfect. It also evolves through a process which is similar to the one which creates governments -- free people, accorded equality, who are able to apply the lessons of experience to it's betterment and refinement. When this requirement is met, you are now ready for the final cornerstone of democracy:

Economic Freedom. This is the ability to exercise your rights to own, trade, sell, and profit from your work, talents, mind, skills and assets. It is the right to pass on your property from one generation to the next without it being taken away (except by reasonable circumstance, like fair taxation for the benefit of the citizenry as a whole) by the use of the overwhelming power of the state. Without the Marketplace, the place where the whole system of secular-rationalism, individual rights, the Law and Government all meet, whether of goods, services or ideas, the system as a whole could never be supported.

Without Economic Freedom, people are reluctant to work. They would refuse to co-operate except in the most extreme of circumstances. They would fight amongst themselves even more than they do now. Without the knowledge that there is some reward (a full belly, a roof over one's head, the ability to afford a minimum of comfort beyond those base requirements), people are not motivated to better themselves, their community, or their country. There must be a system of rewards for work and success (and this, naturally, also requires there be penalties for failure), regulated by fair law and custom, equally applied by governments given the authority to do so by free individuals by mutual consent, and always subject to public audit.

If you do not have those Four Institutions, you cannot have a democracy. If you have no history, no cultural record at all, of these conventions then it doesn't matter how many purple fingers there are, you're only going through the motions.

The real test as to whether voting Iraqis ultimately create anything of lasting value to the world or themselves, is whether or not they manage to establish these institutions on their own, or whether they will continue to be implemented under the cover of American guns for the next few centuries. Because what is passing for "democracy in action" in Iraq is nothing of the sort: Arab nations, and especially Arab nations under the influence of Islam, don't believe in Secular Rationalism, Individual Rights, Equality under the Law, Government by Consent of the Governed, or Economic or Intellectual freedom.

Right now, we might be protecting the next generation of would-be Saddam Husseins who are simply waiting for us to go home so that they can start blowing each other up in earnest in order to re-establish the pre-War status quo. It's what their history and their culture, compels them to do. We'll see if the fledgling "Iraqi Democracy" (and ditto for Afghanistan) manages to survive the removal of the American prop, but I wouldn't bet on it.

In the meantime, let's stop all this nonsense that George W. Bush is now somehow vindicated, or that Barack Obama has, miraculously and vicariously, accomplished something where his efforts were so much in obvious opposition. If memories really are that short -- Because Bush cited WMD's, and Obama was against the War and the Surge that seems to have "won" it --or that fungible, then we have some serious problems here at home to fix.

Note: As for me, my support for the Iraq War was always predicated on a much baser and cruder formulation; anything which promised to kill Muslims in large numbers in the wake of 9/11 was just fine by me. Where I opposed the War was the timid nature in which it was fought; there was less War -- and more Public Relations Campaign with Guns.

Discussion?

Yes, Cowboy, We Really DO Miss You, Part II...

The people who were against the Surge, campaigned vigorously against it as a signal of frustration and failure in an Unnecessary War Fought on behalf of Dick Cheney's friends at Haliburton, but who nonetheless repeated the strategy in Afghanistan, the war they called The New Vietnam...are now claiming victory for it's success. With video.

It'll make you puke. Especially since it's delivered by Robert Gibbs, who has all the attraction of syphilis, but with none of it's charm.

With every passing day, George W. Bush begins to look more and more prescient and Presidential than his floundering, whining successor ever will.

George W. Bush was caricatured as the spoiled, paralyzingly-stupid, sophomoric, drink-and-drug addled scion of Well-Connected-Old-Boy-Network Oil Money, but the more Barack Obama appears on my television set to complain, play the bait-and-switch pitchman, posture, lecture and ultimately FAIL in full view of 300 million Americans, while continuing to blame the problems of the Nation on the Man-Who's-Policies-He's-Adopted-and-Claimed-Credit-For-About-Half-the-Time, the more George Bush looks positively Churchillian by comparison.

So much for Change You Can Believe In.

Gee, Where Did I hear That One Before?

Sweet Jesus on Roller skates, the man really thinks we're that stupid!

That speech (by the way, could he waste even more time gladhanding people who secretly hate him?) was basically a recycling of every Republican/Conservative idea of the last 30 years;

Fiscal Responsibility
Paying down the Deficit
Nuclear Power, Offshore drilling, More Coal
Capital Gains and other (as yet unidentified) Tax Cuts (hey, weren't the Bush Tax cuts what helped destroy the economy in the first place?)

I guess he figures you're too stupid to realize that he's basically lifting the entire platform of the people he's spent the last three years demonizing?

By the way, when it comes to his own (failed) ideas Stimulus, Health Care, Bashing Wall Street, Phony War on Terrorism (which was all about him, in case you didn't notice) -- the only thing I heard was: full speed ahead!

Here's a really neat game you can play at home;

Who said this?

"...“Through stricter accounting standards and tougher disclosure requirements, corporate America must be made more accountable to employees and shareholders and held to the highest standards of conduct...."

Answer: George W. Bush, in his 2002 SOTU Address...and Barack Obama in his speech tonight.

Okay, here's a tougher one. Who said this?

"...Many of you have talked about the need to pay down our national debt. I listened, and I agree. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act now, and I hope you will join me to pay down $2 trillion in debt during the next 10 years..."

Answer: George W. Bush, in his 2001 SOTU Address...and Barack Obama in his speech tonight. It's freakin' freaky, man! It's like, Obama copied all of Bush's speeches or something, and here i was thinking that dems thought Bush was some sort of drooling idiot, and stuff. I guess we're supposed to believe all these things sprang from Obama's fertile and superior mind, right?

The Cato Institute is currently investigating the number of times Obama has lifted the exact words or themes of George W Bush's SOTU Addresses and recycled them as his own tonight. I'll post that link when it's up and running. Figuring since he's already been busted twice, it'll probably be a substantial number.

Oh, and you thought I was only kidding about the chin thing, right?

(H/T Instapundit)

And let's not forget his stunning assault on the First Amendment, vis-a-vis the Supreme Court's recent striking down of parts of the Campaign Finance Reform monstrosity. You know, the one that Obama had to have an argument about with Justice Alito before he finally took the podium to bore the shit out of me?

It was already an excruciating burden to bear in waiting for the Mid-Term elections to finally get here so that we could stem the tide of Government stupidity. Now it appears that 2012 can't get here fast enough, either. This man is both brazen con artist and clueless asshole.

And by the way, can we stop having these things? I mean, putting the entire Congress, the President and Vice President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Supreme Court all into the same building, making it a nice, fat target for terrorists just so we can be lied to and bored out of our boxers is getting to be a rally bad idea. Doesn't anyone in Washington read Tom Clancy?

Obama Asks G.W.B To Help With Haiti Relief...

Considering what democrats, including Obama, have said about Bush's handling of the two great disasters of his Presidency, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, it seems to me to be highly hypocritical for a democrat to ask GWB for anything disaster-related.

But Obama is so desperate to help a sinkhole like Haiti (it'll be good for his "legacy" in that Peace Prize-heal-the-Universe-vein, and besides, if we don't keep the Haitians there, they'll be a mass Inner Tube exodus to Miami) that he'll even turn to someone his 'side' has told us for a decade is the Most Colossal Boob in the Solar System for help.

If it were me, I'd tell Obambi to go fly a kite. Fortunately for the people of Haiti, GWB and his father are better people than that. Fortunately for Obama, they have enough class not to tell him to go fuck himself. They'll help him look more "Presidential" -- but not for the credit, they'll do it because it is the right thing to do.

Pray to whatever you hold holy that when the next disaster strikes (a mushroom cloud over an American city because the Obama Administration won't frisk Muslims in airports), that men like GWB and GHWB are here to actually DO something, rather than just SAY something and then implore others to do the heavy lifting.

In the meantime, if you can manage it in these tough economic times, give whatever you can to he people of Haiti in their time of need. Yeah, I know, they'll never repay the kindness, and the Obama Taxmen won't let you deduct the donation from your taxes because there's an illegal alien who crossed the border because Mexico doesn't provide free treatment for her like chronic dry eye and restless leg syndrome, who needs free medicine courtesy of the US Taxpayer... but do it anyway. It's the right thing to do, and good Americans always try to do the right thing.

There's a baptist church (yeah, in Staten Island, go figure!) around the corner from my home which is holding a clothing drive for Haitian relief. I'm donating whatever old clothes that I can, plus some new stuff, half-a-dozen servicable blankets and an old 4-man tent that I don't use anymore, but which could be put to better use there. Apparently, this church either has, or is associated with, some missionaries already on the island, so I know the relief will go straight to the people who need it, instead of being stolen by corrupt government officials on it's way there.

And don't give the UN a dime.

Update: President Obama has ordered 12,000 American health care workers to be placed "on alert" for movement ot Haiti. It seems that when it's convenient for Our Savior, our excellent healthcare stinks on ice, is unresponsive and kills people in it's spare time, just for fun, but when it comes to providing emergency medical relief in a disaster area they're apparently just the people to call upon. Try explaining that bit of political about-face, Mr. President. Maybe you could do that on C-Span, too? Jackass.

Also, I made my clothing delivery early this afternoon, and I'm told by the church workers I was speaking to that small-scale efforts like theirs will take more time to get relief supplies to Haiti, and that they have been working with Catholic Charities -- which has a great many people in Haiti already -- to collect and distribute relief supplies. You could make a donation there, if you wish to help out.

Strengthening the Old Alliances...

The Age of Obama was supposed to be one of 'smart diplomacy' aimed at 'strengthening our old alliances'.

Until it wasn't. That was really just yet another rhetorical club used to clobber GWB over the head during the campaign.

The reality ever since has been a foreign policy that is frenetic, apparently driven by polls and personalities, untethered from reality, sluggish and disorganized, the landscape polluted by unearned Nobel Prizes, joke 'reset' buttons, Outing as a criminal-- and then publicly backing --Hamid Karzai, Iranian intransigence over it's nuclear program, Chinese lecturing America's President on the finer points of capitalism, North Korean laughter at the Kid with Big Ears.

But, at least there's been the photo ops. Anytime you can photograph Obama at least looking Presidential, he considers it a victory of sorts.

And speaking of unearned Nobel Prizes, it seems the President intends to be ungracious to the Norwegians when accepts the prize.

Ask Tiger Woods what happens when you piss a Scandinavian off, Mr. President.

The British, perhaps our most important allies, haven't been feeling the love for some time. Obama has treated Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, as if he were the 'special' cousin your family kept hidden in the attic. Anglo-American relations are at an all-time low, so much so, that Obama has pulled off the near-impossible, and has both the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail pissed off at him. Way to go! And they said George Bush was the clueless one?

Someone is in way over his head and doesn't know it yet. Unfortunately, the enemies of the West and of all decent people know it all too well.

Your President: Whining Pussy...

To paraphrase Barack Hussein Obama:

"There's only one President of the United States at a time..."

That was the refrain we heard during the historic 'transition' when the historic Hopenchanger didn't want to answer a question. If the question asked had nothing to do with the Obama Daily Infomercial during that time, it was referred back to George W. Bush in a back-handed way with that retort. Usually, Obama trotted that out when he was asked a question that actually had anything to do with anything that mattered.

Ask a question about Afghanistan or Iraq back then:

"There is only one President of the United States at a time...."

Ask about TARP, Economic problems, the Real-Estate Crisis:

"There is only one President of the United States at a time..."

Ask about Sasha and Malia anticipating their first night in their new bedrooms in the White House, and the President could wax poetic. Or he could show great drive, enthusiasm and energy for something that never seemed to matter to anyone except over at (P)MSNBC.

It became a habit with Obama. When something was too difficult, it was because GWB made it that way. When something passed out of a democrat-controlled (like the so-called Stimulus Bill)Congress didn't work as advertised, it was GWB's fault. Everything in the Age of Obama has been GWB's fault...somehow. The reason why the Chosen One hasn't shit rainbows and peed Skittles for Everyone is somehow GWB's fault.

You'd think GWB was still President, in some respects!

A year into his lackluster reign, and GWB is still blamed for everything from the Cretaceous Period to the Mystery of What Happens to Socks That Get Lost in the Dryer.

It's gotten old, and stale, and it smacks of crybaby pansy-ism. Michael Goodwin says:It's about time you stood up and became a Man, Obama.

Clinton-Bush Debate Cancelled...

Bill Clinton is a pussy!

Recently, there was a bunch of hype about a debate or some kind of moderated discussion event to be held in New York's Radio City Music Hall between William Jefferson Clinton and George Walker Bush. Tickets went on sale, I think, the day before yesterday, starting at something like a few thousand dollars for the good seats.

This would have been a classic. I would have loved to have seen the President who really fell asleep at the switch in the City of 9/11 have to face the President who finally did something (although nowhere near enough) about Osama Bin Laden.

Now comes word that Mr. Clinton is...ahem...pulling out...of the event, because the promoters apparently went overboard and advertised the thing in a way not to his liking. They have publicized this event as if someone is going to have to answer some questions, and in New York City, when you talk about these two it could only mean one thing; which one of you is more responsible for the death of 3,000 of our fellow citizens?

Clinton doesn't want to answer that question, because his record leading up to that disaster is already well-known; given the chance to capture or kill Bin Laden something like seven times, Clinton punted, and refused action. No need to kick that sleeping dog, is there, Billy-boy? Especially not when Hillary might want to run for President again, or maybe (God forbid!) Governor of New York, right?

So, you found a bullshit excuse to walk away from the deal.

You were a gutless piece of shit while you were in office, and you're even more so now.

GWB would have wiped the goddamned floor with you, you coward!

The New York Post has the sorry details here.

Of Feet and Mouths...
Vis-a-vis the recent brouhaha about Governor Sanford of South Carolina and his infidelities and travel habits (More on this later), it was reported, by various sources, that one Senator John Kerry (Moron-Massachusetts) is said to have lamented that it was, indeed, unfortunate that Governor Sarah Palin wasn't the one who left the country.

We're told that the good Senator was just having a jest at the Governor's expense. He meant no harm, 'twas but a jolly good ribbing, and all that, and besides, Chris Matthews found it hysterical (one can assume).

Of course, no one ever accused Sen. Kerry of having either class or intelligence. He makes this joke just a few weeks after Mrs. Palin and her daughters are slandered on the David Letterman show, and after months of democratic 'reporters' and 'bloggers' and 'operatives' and 'concerned citizens' prying into every aspect of the Palin's lives, from who is Trig's real mother to seeking the governor's, and her eldest daughters, gynecological records. They've been taking crap, especially from various vicious precincts on the left (you know, the side of the political spectrum that defends the rights of women so vociferously and diligently?), for a year already. You'd think a gentleman would let up. You'd think a gentleman who fancies himself respectable wouldn't pile on. You'd think someone who knows what it is to have his life examined in minute detail, and who also lost an election, might be somewhat more circumspect.

But John Kerry thinks he's above all that stuff, and is entitled to make jokes at other people's expense. Particularly if that person just happens to be 'on the other side'. Common courtesy and decency (you know, the kind he would most assuredly ask for himself) are out the window. So, not that the governor needs me to defend her, but allow me my shot at the good Senator. All in good fun, you know.

John Kerry is a pompous ass, who's only talent is for marrying the publicly-alcoholic widows of wealthier men (I just know from having seen it on TV, that Ter-ay-ZUH was giving a speech while hammered on the campaign trail at least once. In today's world of journalism, this constitutes 'proof'). If Sen Kerry wants to do something about it, I'll meet him in the dark alley of his choice. But because he's a gutless coward, he'll probably sic a lawyer on me, or use his office to prevent me from getting a government job. That's how punk-ass turds like him operate, isn't it?

And I'd be overjoyed if he left the country, but no one will grant him a visa on the grounds that dreary old dolts who look like Droopy Dog and who selected an even bigger slug (John Edwards) as a running mate are considered liable to lower the national IQ and pollute the atmosphere with smugness and pomposity.

So, I give a great big middle finger to John Kerry; a man so mediocre, he couldn't even beat the swaggering cowboy with no command of the English language! How does it feel to know that you lost to such a man? One that your side was quite convinced, and insistent, was a drooling dunce?
One who will go down in history as one of the greatest liberators of men. God will bless G.W. Bush; the world will soon forget John Kerry.

If I had your record, Senator Buttwipe, I'd shut the fuck up.

The Scales Have Fallen From Their Eyes...
Pity the lefty press. Their adulation for The Won, their schoolgirl-pantycream-puppylove-crush, is now officially over. Barring some miracle, President HopeandChangeYouCanBelieveIn has been revealed as the Emperor without Clothes. The Press which did such a wonderful job in the election of covering for this man, have now discovered that they simply cannot continue to provide the same level of camouflage as they did before.

It's too obvious: he doesn't know what he's doing. He's in over his head. He relies too much on people who have 'been-there-done-that', only those people don't know what they're doing, either. It's the Presidency of Whine; "I inherited this...", "Everyone's a critic...". Reduced to trying to be self-deprecating, but failing terribly because it stumbles over it's own political correctness and poor taste, vis-a-vis the Special Olympics 'joke' on Leno. The best summing-up of this phenomenon I've heard to date, is a joke; even Jesus could build a cabinet. Remember that kerfuffle in the campaign between Obama and Sarah Palin, about lipstick and pigs? The analogy was apt: Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter in fresh lipstick.

The Press Corp rats are now abandoning the S.S. YesWeCan. Below is a round-up of some of the most prominent lefty...ahem...journalists who are amongst the first overboard. You just know you're a dead man walking as a leftist hack when both Frank Rich and Paul Krugman abandon you, and one of them refers to your last week in office as your 'Katrina Moment'.

America, get used to the fact that the man who inhabits the White House now is officially a caretaker. He's politically dead, and the burial is just a matter of time. He can talk all he wants, he can pontificate, he can drag his teleprompter from coast-to-coast, but it will avail him nothing. He has become, far from the symbol of American unity and promise that he was back in January, a very bad and painful joke.

The New York Times premier lefty snobs, Rich and Krugman. The Newser's Michael Wolff takes the O-Man apart in that terribly condescending tone lefties adopt when speaking to the peasantry. The New York Post openly mocks the Prez and his inability to speak contemporaneously (wasn't that something the left used to crucify GWB for?)

UPDATE: More from the NY Post on Obambi's Worst Week Ever, here.

Almost Makes You Nostalgic...
I want one of these.