Posted by
Janos Curtis on Friday, June 06, 2008 6:59:24 PM
As a newly self-declared pundit, I plan to adhere to some good counsel heard recently over the airwaves: (paraphrased) Shoot from the hip, speak with absolute confidence… and never look back. With that in mind, here goes nothing.
Opening shots:
Barack Obama will go “supernova” before November 4th and John McCain will be the 44th POTUS. You may view this as wishful thinking on my part, and you may be right. However, I believe that history will show Obama’s meltdown can be traced back to his messianic “acceptance” speech on June 3rd. That is not to say the string of gaffes, incoherent policy pronouncements and radical associations that have revealed themselves in recent months were simply a prelude to his inevitable political self-destruction. On the contrary, they all represent incremental bricks in the wall – or of the caricature, as the case may be. In truth, when I heard Obama’s soaring – if not ridiculous – rhetoric on the radio for the first time, I pictured his promises to “make the oceans recede… and heal the planet” with a backdrop of Charleton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments. SNL could not conjure this fodder any better. Lorne Michaels should just thank the good heavens and promptly send the Obama campaign a fruit basket with his most sincere gratitude.
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At the Military Tribunal that will determine his right to continue to live on this planet, Ramzi Binalshibh – alleged 9/11 conspirator – plainly stated, "I have been seeking martyrdom for five years.” He apparently shares this view along with fellow defendant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. I cannot think of a single argument more compelling for withholding the death penalty for these evil men. In fact, I am only too happy to deny that which they desire so much. That said, I must admit to being a capital punishment critic in a more general sense. This personal position has evolved over many years and is mostly due to the ridiculous machinations that are required to actually carry out a death sentence in the US, regardless of the wanton nature of the crime or the certainty of guilt. But that is a topic for another day.
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The uniformity of views from our current slate of Presidential aspirants with regard to the environment in general and “Climate Change” hysteria more specifically causes me more heartburn than any other issue. This global governmental regulatory and tax scheme represents the single largest threat to our individual liberty and economic prosperity at the present time. Given the massive geo-political changes in just the past two decades – not to mention the rise of the existential threat from radical Islam – it is indeed striking to top the threat list with the global warming kooks. Alas, it is due to their large numbers of mind-numbed adherents as well as their near-universally acclaimed noble (Nobel?) intentions – “Save Mother Earth!” – that makes this threat all the more likely to manifest itself in direct opposition to rational public policy. Further, their seemingly righteous blindness and massive propaganda machine serve to gloss over the complexities of the science they claim as evidence of this looming catastrophe. Yet, when confronted with the utterly insignificant impact that their “solutions” will generate – based on their own flawed models, no less – they retort, “We must do something!” Really? In fact, the air and water in the United States are cleaner now than they were 30 years ago and that trend continues to improve. Unfortunately, the average American does not likely understand these facts because they are bombarded by the ceaseless dogma spewed from the public education establishment and the main stream media. Please allow me a personal anecdote as a real life example of the improvement of urban air quality in the US in my lifetime: I grew up in the Los Angeles area and I have vivid memories of “tightness” in my chest after swimming on smoggy summer days as a boy. My children have never experienced this phenomenon and, unless our family relocates to Beijing in the coming months, they thankfully never will. Make no mistake, however, the government’s plans to ration energy in the form of cap & trade or other more onerous regulations will have devastating impacts throughout our economy. History has clearly demonstrated that economic freedom and innovation lead to prosperity which in turn provides the capacity to elevate environmental concerns to a level of priority and action. It makes sense: if a people are scrapping out the barest of existence, they have little capacity (regardless of desires) to dedicate resources beyond that which they need to survive. It is only by the success of capitalism that the United States maintains the world leadership in attracting investment, encouraging innovation and developing technologies that have solved many challenges in the past century. To adopt the socialist/central planning model of former superpowers and declining states while the most prosperous countries are actively supporting the transformative change of free markets is utter insanity.
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OK, so that’s at least a start. I appreciate your willingness to indulge a novice blogger in his opening salvo of random thoughts within the world of New Media. I welcome your thoughtful and candid response. Cheers!