Woke up yesterday with a burning urge to buy a car. So I did. That's what you do when you're retired. I went down to the local Ford dealer and (curse me, if you must) traded my Vette for a just-arrived-that-day brand new black 2015 Mustang GT Premium with the GT performance package, Recaro seats, and a six-speed manual transmission. Precisely the combo I wanted. I refused to consider the 50th Edition "Appearance" Package which consists of a couple of fancy floor mats, a decal, and the Mustang logo on the gas cap all for an extra $1600!
I had to endure some idiocy at the dealer involving a--literally--last minute attempt to slip a $10,000 premium into the price, and some nonsense about my Vette having been in an accident (it has not) and, therefore, having lost much of its trade-in value. I didn't put up with either, and threatened to leave.
In addition, I unleashed my wife--World Champion Haggler--on the obnoxious sales manager, and he soon relented on the premium, the basic price and the attempt to devalue my Corvette trade-in.
I have been enjoying driving the new beast around town. It's probably not as fast as my ol' Vette--few cars are--but it handles very well, has great acceleration, steering, braking, and suspension, and looks and sounds very aggressive--love that V-8 rumble. It gets lots of attention and I end up in long conversations with folks about the car. It is also about $40,000 cheaper than the 2014 Stingray I had been considering.
I said this wasn't about politics (mostly) but there're politics involved.
Buying the car you want is an example of freedom. This car is now much more affordable thanks to fracking--opposed by the Obamistas--which has helped (along with some other factors) drive down the price of gasoline considerably. It is a slap in the face to the global warming and nanny-state advocates, and all the progressives who want to destroy fun and individual choice.
Off to cruise the freeways . . .
Friday, October 31, 2014
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
The Big Election Fraud, Part II
I have written before (here, here, and here, for example) about the Democrats' practice of widespread electoral fraud, including the use of of non-US citizens. I am glad to see that many others are raising the same alarm, e.g., see the always excellent Legal Insurrection. And, friends, I swear Hell Hath Frozen Over Thrice: even the Washington Post, yes, THAT NEWSPAPER, has "discovered" that non-citizens are voting and might just be the edge the Dems need in certain localities, and that--IT CAN'T BE!--the imbecilic Senator Franken of Minnesota probably owes his seat to the votes of non-citizens.
None of this can come as a surprise to anybody with an IQ greater than Willie Shoemaker's boot size. I have written before that I have served as an election monitor in elections all over the world. Using the standards we employed in that monitoring there is no way that I could certify US elections as free, fair, and open. Electoral fraud is rampant, most notably wherever Democrats are in control. With my own eyes I have seen people casting votes who clearly were not US citizens. The identification process in many if not most of our electoral districts is ludicrous; it comes from a different era, a largely rural era, one in which neighbors all knew each other, and there was a public ethos which labeled electoral fraud as a bad thing.
The ongoing dumping of illegal aliens by the Obama misadministration forms a part of the ongoing Democrat effort to alter permanently the demographic and electoral map of the United States, much as has been done by Labour in the UK. I noted back in January that,
The whole argument about voter ID is now moot. The Dems are going to hand them out right along with the welfare checks to anybody who shows up. Not even Boss Tweed could beat that . . . At one time I had naively thought that a national identification card would be the way to eliminate voting fraud. How foolish of me. The Dems would in no time control the issuing of those cards and then . . . . well, you know the rest.
None of this can come as a surprise to anybody with an IQ greater than Willie Shoemaker's boot size. I have written before that I have served as an election monitor in elections all over the world. Using the standards we employed in that monitoring there is no way that I could certify US elections as free, fair, and open. Electoral fraud is rampant, most notably wherever Democrats are in control. With my own eyes I have seen people casting votes who clearly were not US citizens. The identification process in many if not most of our electoral districts is ludicrous; it comes from a different era, a largely rural era, one in which neighbors all knew each other, and there was a public ethos which labeled electoral fraud as a bad thing.
The ongoing dumping of illegal aliens by the Obama misadministration forms a part of the ongoing Democrat effort to alter permanently the demographic and electoral map of the United States, much as has been done by Labour in the UK. I noted back in January that,
The plot underway is nothing less than to make US citizenship meaningless . . ..
The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security tells us that the eleven million or so illegal aliens in the US have earned the right to be citizens. <...>
The good Secretary cannot tell us what exactly these people who have broken our laws have done to earn citizenship except to demonstrate an ability to defeat the half-baked efforts of our Keystone Kop immigration services to apprehend and deport them . . . {B}eing a successful outlaw did not form part of the citizenship test when my parents and my wife took it.
We see calls for amnesty and "pathways" to citizenship coming not only from the usual Democrats and their crony capitalist allies and lobbyists, but from the RINOs who populate the ranks of the GOP. We hear lachrymose speeches about how an illegal alien who fought for our country in the military should have the right to become a citizen--these speakers "forget," of course, that, for now, it is illegal for an undocumented or a nonresident alien to enlist in the US military. We do not have Gurkhas. This is a variation on "if they're old enough to fight, they're old enough to vote," and is equally as bogus.
It gets worse.
If it were "just" an effort to get citizenship and the benefits and obligations that go with it, it might earn a little more respect from me. It is nothing of the sort. It is a smokescreen for electoral fraud. Citizenship is under assault from another direction, as well. Voting I.D. Yes, that is the main weapon being used and the one which reveals what is really going on. Our Attorney General Eric "Fast and Furious" Holder tells us that his agency will be very vigilant re attempts by states to use voter identification requirements to "suppress" turn-out. The DOJ has been filing lawsuits against states with voter I.D. requirements (here and here, for example.) The justification? The progs conjure up an imaginary poor rural black too stupid, too poor, and living in such a remote place that he or she just cannot afford or otherwise get valid state identification. Nonsense. Many states offer free identification cards, and, more important, poor, middle class, and rich black people have valid identification documents for driving, buying property, getting bank loans, voting, etc., just like everybody else. Progs have a Hollywood version of race in America which they sell to the willing media, and seek to turn into public policy.
As further evidence of the plot underway, I turn to no less an authority than the California Department of Motor Vehicles. For a variety of personal reasons, I have to establish residence in California (the hit to my State Department pension is considerable!) One of the things I must do is obtain a California drivers' license. In the old days, one could merely swap the out-of-state license for a California one, pay a fee to an unpleasant bureaucrat and be on one's way. Not any more. I must retake the written portion of the driving exam. I, therefore, dutifully picked up a copy of the "California Drivers' Handbook," and like some sixteen-year-old have been poring over this fascinating volume in preparation for the exam --which I can take in some 16 languages.
Buried in the bureaucratic verbiage was the following (my bolding),
Application Requirements For A Basic Class C Driver License
To apply for a Class C driver license, you must:
So basically, my friends, all the identification requirements for a driver license go out the window next January 1. Dear readers, please guess what document one uses in California to register to vote? Anybody? Anybody?
- Submit a completed and signed Driver License or Identification Card Application (DL 44) form. Signing this form means you agree to submit to a chemical test to determine the alcohol or drug content of your blood when requested by a peace officer. If you refuse to sign this statement, the DMV will not issue a permit or driver license.
- Present an acceptable birth date/legal presence document.
- Provide your true full name.
NOTE: Pursuant to AB 60 (Ch. 524, Stats. 2013), DMV will begin issuing driver licenses to applicants who are unable to provide evidence of their status in the U.S. As such, requirements for driver licensing will be modified in accordance with the effective date of January 1, 2015.
- Provide your SSN, if eligible, which will be electronically verified with the Social Security Administration.
The whole argument about voter ID is now moot. The Dems are going to hand them out right along with the welfare checks to anybody who shows up. Not even Boss Tweed could beat that . . . At one time I had naively thought that a national identification card would be the way to eliminate voting fraud. How foolish of me. The Dems would in no time control the issuing of those cards and then . . . . well, you know the rest.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Murder in Canada: "Experts" Wrong, Again
As I write this, we have not yet heard all the details of the assault on Parliament in Ottawa and the murder of two Canadian soldiers, one by an automobile hit-and-run in Quebec Province and the other in front of the War Memorial in Ottawa. As is usual, one should always take with a grain or two or three or four of salt initial press reports. They almost always have a high inaccuracy quotient brought about by a combination of factors such as, the natural confusion surrounding violent events; media outlets desire to scoop each other which leads to reporting gossip, rumor, and hyperbole as facts; and, of course, the demands of political correctness which force journalists and officials to censor certain and often obvious facts.
What do we know as of this moment?
Islam. That is what we know.
Recent converts to Islam carried out both brutal murders.
As this humble blog has noted re the horrid Lee Rigby beheading in England (here and here), the Kenya Westgate mall massacre (here and here), the Boston Marathon bombings (here and here) the shootings at Ft. Hood, the DC Beltway Sniper (What was his name? Oh, yes, John Allen Mohammed), the Oklahoma beheading and so many more incidents in the US and elsewhere, media, "experts," and officials prove so reluctant to place the blame where it belongs that it is almost comical, well, comical in a horrible sort of perverse manner.
We have the inevitable statements about there not existing a "link" between the particular incident under discussion and international--code for Muslim--terrorists. We have the desperate search for a culprit who is not Muslim: e.g., in the Ottawa shooting we had initial press reports of a Native American gunman. The press gleefully jumps on the fact that many of these crimes were by people born in the countries where they carried out their crimes: e.g., lots of coverage of the Ottawa shooter being Canadian-born.
When some gutsy Western country, such as Australia, pre-empts the killers and breaks up their plot--one strikingly similar to what happened in Canada--well, the "experts" immediately "raise questions" about the ability of ISIS, or Al Qaeda, or some other group to carry out such long-range activities.
Increasingly I am coming to the conclusion that "expert" is just another word for "naive fool."
In addition, we see what I previously called the "rush to exonerate." Writing about the disappearance of a Malaysian B-777, I noted that,
There is no need for an ISIS indoctrination, logistics line, training, or other support. The Quran and the local mosque provide all that is needed.
What do we know as of this moment?
Islam. That is what we know.
Recent converts to Islam carried out both brutal murders.
As this humble blog has noted re the horrid Lee Rigby beheading in England (here and here), the Kenya Westgate mall massacre (here and here), the Boston Marathon bombings (here and here) the shootings at Ft. Hood, the DC Beltway Sniper (What was his name? Oh, yes, John Allen Mohammed), the Oklahoma beheading and so many more incidents in the US and elsewhere, media, "experts," and officials prove so reluctant to place the blame where it belongs that it is almost comical, well, comical in a horrible sort of perverse manner.
We have the inevitable statements about there not existing a "link" between the particular incident under discussion and international--code for Muslim--terrorists. We have the desperate search for a culprit who is not Muslim: e.g., in the Ottawa shooting we had initial press reports of a Native American gunman. The press gleefully jumps on the fact that many of these crimes were by people born in the countries where they carried out their crimes: e.g., lots of coverage of the Ottawa shooter being Canadian-born.
When some gutsy Western country, such as Australia, pre-empts the killers and breaks up their plot--one strikingly similar to what happened in Canada--well, the "experts" immediately "raise questions" about the ability of ISIS, or Al Qaeda, or some other group to carry out such long-range activities.
Increasingly I am coming to the conclusion that "expert" is just another word for "naive fool."
In addition, we see what I previously called the "rush to exonerate." Writing about the disappearance of a Malaysian B-777, I noted that,
It would seem that at a minimum police and media would want to shut up about whether this aircraft disappeared because of terrorism. I also wish media and others would stop citing Interpol as some sort of great investigative agency. It is just a collector of data sent on a voluntary basis by police and intel organizations around the world. It is hardly a complete data base. I love the phrase, "there's no evidence to suggest either [passenger] was connected to any terrorist organization."<...> Would terrorists generally use people "known" to be connected to terrorism to board aircraft? The murderous Clown Posse that flew the planes into the Pentagon, the Twin Towers, and the Pennsylvania countryside had no "known" connection to terror groups, or they would not have gotten their visas in the first place.Whether these killers were born in England, Canada, Australia, Russia, the USA, or elsewhere, they all had one thing in common. Guess. Can you? Try. Yes, they were all "radicalized" to use the oh-so delicate PC phrase in vogue among the progressive bien pensant. In other words these thugs were Muslim, many of them social losers and recent converts to that totalitarian creed.
There is no need for an ISIS indoctrination, logistics line, training, or other support. The Quran and the local mosque provide all that is needed.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Progressive Putrefaction
The ice caps are not melting; the snow in the Himalayas is not melting. The only thing melting is the Obama misadministration.
The Ebola mess provides the latest sign of many that this misadministration is dying right before our eyes. Like a dead Ebola victim, however, the body still presents serious dangers.
Glad to see others catching up with the ol' Diplomad on Obama and ebola (here and here, for example) and on the whole bureaucratic, corrupt, politicized government health industry and lobby.
I see lots of commentators finally realizing--Shock!--that the CDC is not full of dedicated doctors in white lab coats working for humanity. Most are politicized bureaucrats who respond to the dictates of their masters in Washington and to popular fads, e.g., global warming, and are perpetually seeking more money.
I have made the point before that liberalism/progressivism kills,
The Obamistas hate borders, hate the idea of national defense and national interests, and, let's face it, hate America and the West. They have done everything possible to undermine the West in its struggle with jihadism; they have done everything possible to undermine our ability to defend our borders from a tsunami of people seeking free stuff; and they now have great difficulty defending us from a disease from West Africa. The only thing we know for sure about ebola is that it comes from West Africa--everything else is open for debate. The one thing the government could do right away is a ban on flights, ships, and people from West Africa. That, however, would lead to politically awkward questions about why we can't also defend our southern border from massive illegal immigration; do something about jihadis coming to our shores; and do something about our dysfunctional immigration "system" that serves no purpose except to funnel into America new and poor wards of the state and voters for the Democratic party.
In keeping with the murderous destructiveness of progressivism we now have the ebola "Czar," Ronald Klain.
He is a joke; a second-rate political hack known as the "brains" behind Joe Biden (PLEASE INSERT MERCILESS COMMENTS HERE). He will report to two bosses: the always truthful and oh-so politically tuned-in National Security Advisor Susan "Blame it on a video!" Rice and the hapless political hack Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell. If you are going to appoint an ebola Czar--and this administration has nearly forty Czars on various topics--you don't need a doctor, but you do need somebody who knows how to knock heads, make tough decisions, and transmit a sense of authority, responsibility, urgency, and competence. Can and will Klain do that? No. Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, the man who headed up the incredible Manhattan Project, was not a nuclear physicist, but he certainly knew how to get things done. Klain is no Groves.
Remember: Progressive fantasies will kill you.
Eric Holder and his fantasies about getting rid of the second amendment ended up killing hundreds of Mexicans and two US federal agents with "Fast and Furious." Obama and Clinton with their fantasies about the the Middle East and the nature of Islam killed thousands of people in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and have put the West at risk. You can come up with dozens more examples of how deadly progressivism is and always has been. Proceed doing so.
The Ebola mess provides the latest sign of many that this misadministration is dying right before our eyes. Like a dead Ebola victim, however, the body still presents serious dangers.
Glad to see others catching up with the ol' Diplomad on Obama and ebola (here and here, for example) and on the whole bureaucratic, corrupt, politicized government health industry and lobby.
I see lots of commentators finally realizing--Shock!--that the CDC is not full of dedicated doctors in white lab coats working for humanity. Most are politicized bureaucrats who respond to the dictates of their masters in Washington and to popular fads, e.g., global warming, and are perpetually seeking more money.
I have made the point before that liberalism/progressivism kills,
"Liberals love humanity and hate people." Oh, and by the way, liberals will get you killed. Yes, killed. Modern liberalism kills people, and does so by the millions, all in the name of humanity, of course. It should have a warning label that asks you not to practice liberalism at home, or something along the lines of "I am a trained professional, do not attempt liberalism on your own."The current ebola fiasco is a natural outgrowth from the ideology of progressivism and the beliefs of the one-worlders now in control in the White House and the Senate.
The Obamistas hate borders, hate the idea of national defense and national interests, and, let's face it, hate America and the West. They have done everything possible to undermine the West in its struggle with jihadism; they have done everything possible to undermine our ability to defend our borders from a tsunami of people seeking free stuff; and they now have great difficulty defending us from a disease from West Africa. The only thing we know for sure about ebola is that it comes from West Africa--everything else is open for debate. The one thing the government could do right away is a ban on flights, ships, and people from West Africa. That, however, would lead to politically awkward questions about why we can't also defend our southern border from massive illegal immigration; do something about jihadis coming to our shores; and do something about our dysfunctional immigration "system" that serves no purpose except to funnel into America new and poor wards of the state and voters for the Democratic party.
In keeping with the murderous destructiveness of progressivism we now have the ebola "Czar," Ronald Klain.
He is a joke; a second-rate political hack known as the "brains" behind Joe Biden (PLEASE INSERT MERCILESS COMMENTS HERE). He will report to two bosses: the always truthful and oh-so politically tuned-in National Security Advisor Susan "Blame it on a video!" Rice and the hapless political hack Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell. If you are going to appoint an ebola Czar--and this administration has nearly forty Czars on various topics--you don't need a doctor, but you do need somebody who knows how to knock heads, make tough decisions, and transmit a sense of authority, responsibility, urgency, and competence. Can and will Klain do that? No. Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, the man who headed up the incredible Manhattan Project, was not a nuclear physicist, but he certainly knew how to get things done. Klain is no Groves.
Remember: Progressive fantasies will kill you.
Eric Holder and his fantasies about getting rid of the second amendment ended up killing hundreds of Mexicans and two US federal agents with "Fast and Furious." Obama and Clinton with their fantasies about the the Middle East and the nature of Islam killed thousands of people in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and have put the West at risk. You can come up with dozens more examples of how deadly progressivism is and always has been. Proceed doing so.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Back from Progressive Land . . .
Made it back.
Avoided infection of the deadly brain-killing progressovirus. Had a few close encounters, but I think I am safe.
Will take up the keyboard shortly.
Avoided infection of the deadly brain-killing progressovirus. Had a few close encounters, but I think I am safe.
Will take up the keyboard shortly.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
On the Road . . .
Heading off on a road trip to the very heart of the liberal virus's "hot zone." Yes, we are heading for northern California. Visit some family.
I will wear my HAZMAT suit the entire trip, and shall avoid bodily fluids from progressives . . .
I am taking my creaky IPAD and might be able to offer a few thoughts in the new few days, but if not, I will be back online next week.
I will wear my HAZMAT suit the entire trip, and shall avoid bodily fluids from progressives . . .
I am taking my creaky IPAD and might be able to offer a few thoughts in the new few days, but if not, I will be back online next week.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Civil War in the Land of the Pajama Boys: Carter Calls Obama Weak
You know you're in trouble when Carter calls you a weak foreign policy president.
According to an interview given to the Star-Telegram, America's second worst President,
We have a new champion!
It is worth noting that Carter has a better grasp of the current situation in Syria and Iraq than does the man who took away his title of America's Worst President.
According to an interview given to the Star-Telegram, America's second worst President,
[S]aid it was hard to figure out exactly what President Obama’s policy is in the Middle East.
“It changes from time to time,” Carter said. “I noticed that two of his secretaries of defense, after they got out of office, were very critical of the lack of positive action on the part of the president.”
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was the most recent to criticize Obama, in remarks he made to USA Today while promoting his new book, Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace.
Carter acknowledged that the ISIS situation is complicated and he thinks the U.S. waited too long to respond.
“First of all, we waited too long. We let the Islamic state build up its money, capability and strength and weapons while it was still in Syria,” he said. “Then when [ISIS] moved into Iraq, the Sunni Muslims didn’t object to their being there and about a third of the territory in Iraq was abandoned.”Let us remember that Carter convinced the Soviet Union that we were on the way out, allowed the Soviets and their Castroite stooges to establish themselves in Nicaragua, and helped produce the ongoing disaster in Iran. He lost his own presidency largely because of his foreign policy blunders. Up until now, he routinely has gotten labelled America's Worst President.
We have a new champion!
It is worth noting that Carter has a better grasp of the current situation in Syria and Iraq than does the man who took away his title of America's Worst President.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Is Sharyl Attkisson the Only Real Journalist?
Every time I read a piece by Sharyl Attkisson or see her on some talk show or another, I keep wondering how different the world would be if we had another dozen or so like her. She seems to be just about the only journalist not interested in being part of the Obama spin machine, and in seeking the ever elusive Truth. She seems not to pull her punches or to favor one party or political flavor over another. Her pursuit of the truth on Benghazi and Fast and Furious, of course, cost Attkisson her job with CBS, the Clinton Columbia Broadcasting Service.
She has an eponymous and outstanding blog which everybody should read.
I mention this because I just read her piece on the enterovirus. She raises a point which I also raised in my much inferior piece of a couple of days ago on ebola. In my little posting, I noted that it is difficult to believe the healthocrats on ebola because of their ineptness in handling all the other "earth-ending" viruses of the past fifteen or so years. I noted, in addition, that political correctness prevents us from taking elementary steps to protect our nation if in fact the ebola virus outbreak is as serious as the healthocrats claim--that is, when they are not claiming that everything is under control. I wrote,
If this virus is, finally, the big one, the one we all have been expecting, then the government should do some simple things such as admit not knowing how it's transmitted, and shut down travel to and from the infected areas until it does. Enforce our immigration laws and put some security at the borders and other points of entry. These things, naturally, won't be done because they are not politically correct. The growing number of cases in the USA of TB and cysticercosis, for example, is just about entirely explained by massive illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America where these nasty diseases are rampant. Political correctness, of course, forbids us from mentioning that. (Emphasis added)When I wrote the bolded sentences I originally mentioned the enterovirus which is affecting hundreds of US-based children and noted that it is common in Central America. At the last minute, I pulled the reference, as I had no real evidence that there was a link between the enterovirus outbreak and the massive recent influx of Central American illegal children and their dispersal all over the United States by the Feds.
It seems the first casualty in these virus "outbreaks" is the truth. The truth is feared more than any virus and is allowed to die or at least go into remission.
Well, Attkisson is less timorous and a better researcher than I, and stated the following re the enterovirus outbreak,
The CDC hasn’t suggested reasons for the current uptick or its origin. Without that answer, some question whether the disease is being spread by the presence of tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children from Central America admitted to the U.S. in the past year.
The origin could be entirely unrelated.
However, a study published in Virology Journal, found EV-D68 among some of the 3, 375 young, ill people tested in eight Latin American countries, including the Central American nations of El Salvador and Nicaragua, in 2013. (See Fig. 3)
Though the U.S. government is keeping secret the locations of the illegal immigrant children, there are significant numbers of them in both cities in which the current outbreak was first identified, Kansas City, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois, according to local advocates and press reports.I think she has hit on a big iceberg: Yet another potential and major Obama cover-up of a criminal disregard for the health and safety of the American people. I hope Congress and others begin to question whether there is a link between the massive influx of Central Americans and the sudden outbreak of hundreds of cases of enterovirus infection.
The fact that the Feds are keeping secret the locations of where they dumped these people speaks volumes. I hope Attkisson and others follow up, and remember the CDC is about as politically correct as you can get.
On China: A Re-Run
I wrote the following piece over two years ago. Given what we now see happening in Hong Kong, I think it remains a valid assessment of China's "century."
April 2, 2012
Years ago in Jakarta, I occasionally would meet, lunch, or dine with a husband-wife team of correspondents for two prominent American newspapers. They were very pleasant, had a sense of humor, and a great deal of experience overseas, mostly in Asia. They were well-educated, wrote well, and had the standard liberal biases of their class--e.g., they hated President Bush, hoped John Kerry would win the 2004 election, and viewed the United States as a seriously flawed country on the way to the dust-bin of history. They saw the 21st century "belonging" to China in the same way that the 20th "belonged" to us. They made the usual arguments about China's manufacturing prowess, well-coordinated and determined political class, social discipline, and education--which is the real kind, not the "women's studies" kind. Their writing reflected these views. This narrative continues today from other purveyors of conventional faux wisdom such as the annoying and boring Thomas Friedman, and the condescending and insufferable Fareed Zakaria.
Don't buy it. The 21st will prove "China's century" only if we destroy ourselves; but, if we do, odds are we're taking China with us--and the Chinese rulers know it (more to follow).
I love Chinese history; been to China several times; and like and respect the Chinese people--they work hard, they like Americans, and want to study and live in America. I have dealt with China's very slick, tough, and well-trained diplomats. That said, I have found it impressive over the years to see how China has transformed itself from a poor, brutal authoritarian police state into a poor, brutal, authoritarian police state with large foreign currency reserves. Sorry, but shoddily-built skyscrapers, and streets clogged with Fords, BMWs, Lexus, and Buicks, and lined with luxury stores and restaurants cannot hide the hard facts.
Confucius's 2500-year old Analects still provides an accurate account of China's philosophy of governance in which every person has an assigned role; failure to keep to it has dire consequences. I saw the repression at work in a visit to Tibet which escaped the control of our handlers. Even outside Tibet the legal system, to put it mildly, remains opaque, capricious, subject to political manipulation, and harsh. Avoid Chinese cops--who seem to be everywhere--and courts. For all the vaunted economic progress, control of the legal-political system remains with an unelected and corrupt Communist Party cadre. These rulers have agreed among themselves that not one will have the total power once wielded so disastrously by Mao. The top jobs rotate; major decisions are not made solo. Progress? I don't know. We saw a similar development in the USSR after Stalin: how is the USSR doing these days? The people remain cut out. The elite decide what's best, the people must comply--see Confucius. This secretive, stale, corrupt, aloof, and repressive system remains a major hindrance for China's development as a true power. Despite ham-handed attempts to block outside influence, word spreads of ways to live which do not involve fear and blind loyalty. We probably will not see a Chinese 21st century, but we will see a "Chinese Spring," and it could get nasty.
We hear a lot of heated nonsense about a GOP "war on women." To see a real war on women, go to China. Thanks to Chinese preference for sons, the one-child dictate means females in China are disappearing: they are being aborted, killed, and given for adoption overseas. This is gendercide, a human rights disaster of major proportions and one almost ignored. Moral issues aside, China is heading for demographic disaster. Marrying age men vastly outnumber women. Among those who can afford it, there is a hunt on for foreign brides. Large groups of young Chinese men charter planes to Indonesia, Malaysia, and elsewhere, and hold "speed dating" sessions at local hotels in the hunt for brides, stoking the anti-Chinese hatred which lies just beneath the surface of many Asian societies.
In East Asia, China is deeply feared and resented. East Asian leaders would much rather deal with the United States, and are big proponents of an active US military and economic presence in the area. They do not want China (and previously Japan) as the undisputed big gorilla in the region. As a senior Vietnamese diplomat once told me, "Everybody wants to be American. Nobody wants to be Chinese. Even the Chinese want to be American." This from a man whose father, he said, died fighting the US Marines in Hue, and whose own son was studying in California. Unless you're wealthy and can isolate yourself from Chinese reality, China is an unpleasant place to live for a foreigner, especially one from another Asian country. It has little in the way of "soft power" or uplifting universal values; it does not welcome immigrants, and views foreigners with the same sort of suspicion and disdain that Chinese citizens themselves find in much of East Asia.
Even in the economic sphere there is less than meets the eye. Most Chinese, the overwhelming number of them, live in crushing rural and urban poverty, work under appalling conditions, and suffer levels of environmental pollution and food contamination that no Western society would tolerate. The mass education system is a disaster. Increasingly foreign firms, which, after all, have fueled China's economic growth, are encountering shortages of skilled and semi-skilled workers, and are no longer quite so eager to set up shop in China.
China's banks are a mystery. They are secretive, corrupt, and work closely with the Party and the government. China pursues a policy which will be coming to the end of its rope soon, that of keeping its currency artificially low to keep exports cheap, and try to keep the job creation machine churning. The central bank, which holds the largest foreign currency reserves in the world, must come up with ways ("sterilization") to sop up the currency generated in China by the influx of foreign currency to prevent inflation and prevent the Chinese currency from appreciating against other major currencies. This involves forcing the banks to keep an ever increasing reserve, and forcing them to buy low or no yield government bonds. I am no expert, but the ones whom I know wonder how long that can continue. The experts ignore another aspect to this: the overseas political side of it. China's trading partners, the US and Europe most notably, are reaching the end of their patience with China's currency manipulations. A trade war is not inconceivable; China would have the most to lose.
One of the greatest threats to China's future is President Obama. His administration's reckless spending and conjuring of dollars out of thin air is ruining us, and stretching the Chinese ability to "sterilize" the effects of all the dollars pouring in. It is no wonder that Chinese authorities have been lecturing Obama on the need for fiscal restraint and budgetary responsibility. China is tied to our mast. If we sink, they go with us--their billions and billions of dollars in US bonds, worthless. Let's view it as a backhanded compliment to our silly President.
As stated at the outset, China will have as much power and influence as we let them have. China's future as a superpower will be decided in Washington, not in Beijing. Under the Communists, China has not proven an inventive or innovative society; their technological progress is bought, borrowed, copied, or stolen. The USSR tried that, too. They offer no compelling alternative vision to the West's prosperity and freedom. They can try to become a military bully, but that will go only so far in their very complicated neighborhood and with the serious structural and resource weaknesses they suffer.
China should copy and try one thing from the West it has not so far: it works in Japan, in the Republic of Korea, and, ironically, in the "breakaway" Chinese province of Taiwan. I am talking about freedom, the real kind, not the Communist Party kind.
April 2, 2012
China's Century? Not if We Don't Give It Away
Don't buy it. The 21st will prove "China's century" only if we destroy ourselves; but, if we do, odds are we're taking China with us--and the Chinese rulers know it (more to follow).
I love Chinese history; been to China several times; and like and respect the Chinese people--they work hard, they like Americans, and want to study and live in America. I have dealt with China's very slick, tough, and well-trained diplomats. That said, I have found it impressive over the years to see how China has transformed itself from a poor, brutal authoritarian police state into a poor, brutal, authoritarian police state with large foreign currency reserves. Sorry, but shoddily-built skyscrapers, and streets clogged with Fords, BMWs, Lexus, and Buicks, and lined with luxury stores and restaurants cannot hide the hard facts.
Confucius's 2500-year old Analects still provides an accurate account of China's philosophy of governance in which every person has an assigned role; failure to keep to it has dire consequences. I saw the repression at work in a visit to Tibet which escaped the control of our handlers. Even outside Tibet the legal system, to put it mildly, remains opaque, capricious, subject to political manipulation, and harsh. Avoid Chinese cops--who seem to be everywhere--and courts. For all the vaunted economic progress, control of the legal-political system remains with an unelected and corrupt Communist Party cadre. These rulers have agreed among themselves that not one will have the total power once wielded so disastrously by Mao. The top jobs rotate; major decisions are not made solo. Progress? I don't know. We saw a similar development in the USSR after Stalin: how is the USSR doing these days? The people remain cut out. The elite decide what's best, the people must comply--see Confucius. This secretive, stale, corrupt, aloof, and repressive system remains a major hindrance for China's development as a true power. Despite ham-handed attempts to block outside influence, word spreads of ways to live which do not involve fear and blind loyalty. We probably will not see a Chinese 21st century, but we will see a "Chinese Spring," and it could get nasty.
We hear a lot of heated nonsense about a GOP "war on women." To see a real war on women, go to China. Thanks to Chinese preference for sons, the one-child dictate means females in China are disappearing: they are being aborted, killed, and given for adoption overseas. This is gendercide, a human rights disaster of major proportions and one almost ignored. Moral issues aside, China is heading for demographic disaster. Marrying age men vastly outnumber women. Among those who can afford it, there is a hunt on for foreign brides. Large groups of young Chinese men charter planes to Indonesia, Malaysia, and elsewhere, and hold "speed dating" sessions at local hotels in the hunt for brides, stoking the anti-Chinese hatred which lies just beneath the surface of many Asian societies.
In East Asia, China is deeply feared and resented. East Asian leaders would much rather deal with the United States, and are big proponents of an active US military and economic presence in the area. They do not want China (and previously Japan) as the undisputed big gorilla in the region. As a senior Vietnamese diplomat once told me, "Everybody wants to be American. Nobody wants to be Chinese. Even the Chinese want to be American." This from a man whose father, he said, died fighting the US Marines in Hue, and whose own son was studying in California. Unless you're wealthy and can isolate yourself from Chinese reality, China is an unpleasant place to live for a foreigner, especially one from another Asian country. It has little in the way of "soft power" or uplifting universal values; it does not welcome immigrants, and views foreigners with the same sort of suspicion and disdain that Chinese citizens themselves find in much of East Asia.
Even in the economic sphere there is less than meets the eye. Most Chinese, the overwhelming number of them, live in crushing rural and urban poverty, work under appalling conditions, and suffer levels of environmental pollution and food contamination that no Western society would tolerate. The mass education system is a disaster. Increasingly foreign firms, which, after all, have fueled China's economic growth, are encountering shortages of skilled and semi-skilled workers, and are no longer quite so eager to set up shop in China.
China's banks are a mystery. They are secretive, corrupt, and work closely with the Party and the government. China pursues a policy which will be coming to the end of its rope soon, that of keeping its currency artificially low to keep exports cheap, and try to keep the job creation machine churning. The central bank, which holds the largest foreign currency reserves in the world, must come up with ways ("sterilization") to sop up the currency generated in China by the influx of foreign currency to prevent inflation and prevent the Chinese currency from appreciating against other major currencies. This involves forcing the banks to keep an ever increasing reserve, and forcing them to buy low or no yield government bonds. I am no expert, but the ones whom I know wonder how long that can continue. The experts ignore another aspect to this: the overseas political side of it. China's trading partners, the US and Europe most notably, are reaching the end of their patience with China's currency manipulations. A trade war is not inconceivable; China would have the most to lose.
One of the greatest threats to China's future is President Obama. His administration's reckless spending and conjuring of dollars out of thin air is ruining us, and stretching the Chinese ability to "sterilize" the effects of all the dollars pouring in. It is no wonder that Chinese authorities have been lecturing Obama on the need for fiscal restraint and budgetary responsibility. China is tied to our mast. If we sink, they go with us--their billions and billions of dollars in US bonds, worthless. Let's view it as a backhanded compliment to our silly President.
As stated at the outset, China will have as much power and influence as we let them have. China's future as a superpower will be decided in Washington, not in Beijing. Under the Communists, China has not proven an inventive or innovative society; their technological progress is bought, borrowed, copied, or stolen. The USSR tried that, too. They offer no compelling alternative vision to the West's prosperity and freedom. They can try to become a military bully, but that will go only so far in their very complicated neighborhood and with the serious structural and resource weaknesses they suffer.
China should copy and try one thing from the West it has not so far: it works in Japan, in the Republic of Korea, and, ironically, in the "breakaway" Chinese province of Taiwan. I am talking about freedom, the real kind, not the Communist Party kind.
Friday, October 3, 2014
The World is Coming to an End, Again
Almost a year and half ago I wrote,
In the course of my long career with the State Department, I don't know how many times I had to deal with the impending end of the world as declared by the WHO, the CDC, the media, and a host of "experts" who inevitably demanded (and got) more money for their organizations. By now, of course, we all should be dead from AIDS, SARS, swine flu, global warming, depleted ozone layer, mercury in our fish, etc. It, however, would appear from anecdotal evidence that we're not.
I guess one of these days we might have the real deal. Even the boy who cried wolf eventually got it right, but who (no pun intended) will believe the warnings?Well, the healthocrats of the world are at it, again.
This time the world will end because of the Ebola virus. The only way to save us, apparently, is to give the healthocrats huge amounts of our money.
Look, I don't know anything about the Ebola virus, but the healthocrats at the WHO, the CDC and the myriad other alphabet health organizations around the world don't either. The virus is not airborne, the virus is airborne; the virus cannot live outside its host, the virus can live for several days outside its host; you can only get Ebola from contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, you might get it other ways, as well; it is not coming to America, it is here and poses a great threat to America, etc.
The healthocrats are talking until they think of something to say. They should do us all a simple favor: Shut up until they know that what they say is true.
If this virus is, finally, the big one, the one we all have been expecting, then the government should do some simple things such as admit not knowing how it's transmitted, and shut down travel to and from the infected areas until it does. Enforce our immigration laws and put some security at the borders and other points of entry. These things, naturally, won't be done because they are not politically correct. The growing number of cases in the USA of TB and cysticercosis, for example, is just about entirely explained by massive illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America where these nasty diseases are rampant. Political correctness, of course, forbids us from mentioning that.
It seems the first casualty in these virus "outbreaks" is the truth. The truth is feared more than any virus and is allowed to die or at least go into remission. The WHO, the CDC, and the other healthocrats have proven so inept and so wrong in the past that they have little to no credibility on Ebola.
What and whom to believe?
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