Putin's Achilles Heel is Energy

As I watch the sad events of the Ukraine unfold, I am reminded of the way that the POTUS managed the Iranian student uprising, the Syrian uprising, the Egyptian uprising, and the Venezuelian uprising.

There is little to expect from our POTUS in this latest unrest. Clearly active military intervention cannot be a reasonable approach, when Eastern Europe and Western Europe are disinclined to act. We may waste fuel and dollars moving ships around, but Mr. Putin has taken the measure of our man, and he knows that he has Obama in a checkmate, or should that be a Ukrainemate.

The most logical way to get Mr. Putin's attention and respect, is through ENERGY. Sales of Russian oil and gas  coming through the Ukraine to Europe are essential to Putin's economy. The US, with Canada's help, could get Mr. Putin's attention by flooding the European market with cheaper US and Canadian oil and gas which we can produce. That would even shore-up some sagging US-Europe relations, make us richer, happier, reduce our energy costs, and help the overall economy. The Europeans might even start to respect us again. What's not to like here?

Enter the anti-fossil fuel zealots, you remember them? They are the people who do not know enough chemistry or botany to know that without CO2 we could not exist! Repeat after me, "CO2 and H2O in the presence of chlorophyll and light produce SUGAR"….WOW. It is part of the carbon cycle. CO2 IS Carbon and Oxygen! Back to political reality now. Our POTUS could not even consider the "energy gambit" to destroy Russia's power without incurring the wrath of his far left base, many of whom admire the Soviets, and do not care so much for us greedy capitalist anyway.

These folk have been willing to screw our economy out of cheaper energy and recession recovery They have been "looking away" while Don Quixote Obama has literally been out tilting windmills!

So there will be no Obama move to speed up the Keystone Pipeline, free up drilling sites, get out of the way of fracking. We will not hear a single utterance from a single Democrat on this subject. We may not even hear a word from Republicans. Tea Partiers, with  nothing to lose, their reputation already semi-successfully trashed by the MSM, might speak up. I hope so!

Pray for the Republic
Avagadre602

PC on Steriods

The PC police have invented an astounding new forme fruste of  PC disease, called #microagression. It takes the art of twisting and sterilizing the English language to new heights. The emphasis here seems to be that we can manage to offend someone without having the slightest idea of the logic that the offended party used to decide that they were hurt, offended, insulted, diminished, disrespected. The natural extension of this new and exciting PC hazard dictates that body language and facial expressions are also clearly fair game when deciding that some bastard(oops..sorry) has become a bigot or racist, or clod.

What a deal for whiners(oops..sorry). Complete freedom to proclaim victimhood anywhere, anytime. Do not take my word for this!! Take a couple of anti-nausea suppositories(gets you closer to what you are about to read), and Google # microagression to read the pathetic whining that people are capable of.     Is this silliness to be allowed to sterilize our colorful, beautiful, language, destroy metaphor and humor, in the name of WHAT?

Emerson wrote:
Tho you travel the world to find the beautiful,
You must carry it with you or you find it not.

For PC people:
Tho you search the word to find the ugly, the insult,
You must carry it with you or you find it not.

Avagadro602

Saigon traffic validates Ayn Rand's Objectivist theory on the value of selfishness

In Saigon(Ho Chi Mien City), the Rex Hotel sits at the intersection of  a  6 lane boulevard with a 4 lane thoroughfare. This is the hotel where, in 1972, reporters and correspondents of the Vietnam war sipped Mohitos while awaiting their own evacuation from the(lost) war zone.
Today, under the influence of free market progress, since 1992, the city has grown into a bustling metropolis, with 8,000,000 citizens, and 2,000,000 Mopeds, with 1000 new ones being sold daily. I was given this info by a Certified Guide(they are fired for erroneous reporting).

The intersection described above handles tens of thousands of vehicles each business day. There are accidents that occur rarely. I watched the spectacle of hundreds of cars and mopeds per minute negotiating the busy intersection. From the Rex Hotel, it looks like a fantastic half-time integration of the most coordinated marching band in the world !! A ballet of sorts, cars, mopeds, and bikes at 20 MPH.

But wait!! Guess what?? There are NO traffic controls, NO traffic lights, NO cops, and NO rules at that intersection !! Traffic lights and controls are rare in the city. How can this be ?? The only thing that matters in the above scenario is that YOU DO NOT HIT ANYBODY, all that is necessary is that one protect their own personal interests. They are simply watching out for themselves, but consequently everybody wins. It seems to work. Without this freedom of action, guided solely by "selfishness", traffic in Saigon would be paralyzed. More control equals less freedom.

"Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand, pretty much says it all!!

Avagadro602

40 years out, Vietnam war not in vain

Just returned from a tour of Vietnam(north and south), and Cambodia. I visited prisons in Hanoi, and in Phnom Penh. My small group interacted with people from the north( Hanoi, HaLong) , the south (Ho Chi Minh City), and Phnom Pehn in Cambodia. We spent days in the minute villages along the Mekong, and hours in street markets of small and large villages along the Mekong river and delta. I drank tea, squatting with Hanoi sidewalk squatters, was blessed by a Bhuddist monk, hugged a pertty little Cambodian street vendor, rode an elephant like a Khymer king around the Angor Wat, bought salt in a mind boggling farmers market, did not buy any of the rat testicles on sale on the street, rode tuk-tuks and rickshaws through the steets, gave pencils to smiling children who would not beg, just smile and beguile me with happy eyes, melting all resistance.
I cried the same tears that came at Normandy when I visited the killing Fields and inhuman Khymer Rouge S-21 Prison in Phnom Pehn. The War Remnants Museum in Saigon was full of photographs that produced the same response. I was saddened by the continuing legacy of both Agent Orange and Land Mines.
I luxuriated with Dar(short for Darlene) in 5-star hotels in Hanoi, Siem Reap(Cambodia, and Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City). In Saigon we drank Champagne on the 23 floor of a hotel looking down on the Rex Hotel, where in 1972, correspondants drank and waited to be flown out of a disastrous Lost Cause. From our Champagne perch, we could see the a new 67 story bullet shaped new building with a heliport at the 52nd level. The skyscraper, tallest in SE Asia, 3 years old.

I can say that during my time there, I did not meet resentment, hateful eyes, or anything other that acceptance. Remarkably, I felt truly welcomed. Herein lies the reason for the title of this post:
Recall that during the war, the Soviets, not yet "kneecapped" by that crazy Reagan, and the Communist Chinese, not yet "mollified" by that crazy Nixon, were enabling the North, and the Communists in Cambodia(soon to become the genocidal Khymer Rouge after US pullout in 1972).
After 1972 up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economies were ruled by an iron fist. In 1992, after collapse of Soviet control, the economies were allowed to capitalize, own property, become more like Hong Kong. The Khymer were chased out around 1979 by the Vietnamese, and, with Vietnam became more capitalist in 1992.

In 1992, Saigon(HCMCity) was population of 2,000,000. Now, under more free market, it has grown to 8,000,000. That is what my Vietnamese guide told me.

Ironically, I was told that, generally speaking, the Vietnamese now do not like either the Russians, or the Chinese, but "love' the Americans. I had cause on my visit to believe the latter, and so did Dar. I believe that these very philosophical peoples have now seen what we, the USA, Canadians, Aussies, were fighting for. It was for thier freedom. I have to believe that myself. I hope freedom continues to grow, and further justify the grave sacrifices of the past.

Avagadro602

The New Fascism

A colleague of mine, who tends to be progressive, but who otherwise has always seemed to have good sense,  recently told me with emphatic conviction that the Tea-Party was a "bunch of anarchists". This colleague, clearly a victim of the misinformation activities of the liberal press, the liberal Democrats, and a few misguided Republicans, was simply parroting what he managed to hear between hockey games.
One is surprised by the certitude with which liberals are comfortable opining on issues they know nothing about. This colleague had no knowledge of either George Soros, or the work of Cloward and Pivens, nor of Mr. Hayek's " The Road to Serfdom".
A result of progressive policy that aims to create income equality is always a pure form of slavery, and progressive central planning to effect income equality inexorably becomes Socialism, as in the Germany of Hitler, or Fascism, as in the Italy of Mussolini. Misery is not lessened, but inevitably spreads, people die.
Mr Obama has declared war on the constitution, with "my pen and my phone" in yesterday's speech. The mainstream media is a necessary ally in this war, as an uninformed public is needed to achieve the deception required to be able to lie to the public at will. We have been witnessing this for 4 years now.
When is a lie not a lie? When the liars are protected by barriers that stifle and intimidate any outcry of protest. That scene is set using the intimidating label Racist, and now "anarchist",Tea-Partier,  and greedy capitalist.
Upon utterance of these key words, a willing press needs no coaxing to action. Witness the hoax that was scripted to injure the Tea Party when the Socialist-Democrats gave the "finger" to the whole country parading the Obama Care Bill around and lying that a racist tea-partier spat on one of them. Never confirmed on camera, breathlessly reported by the MSM. Even if it were to happen, I believe it would far more likely be an "agent provocateur", as has happened in past dust-ups.
There is so much that needs to be said. I now find myself able to do more of this, and more will follow. Please join the battle. Remember the words of Sir Edmund Burke, ca. 1775, "ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR EVIL TO FLOURISH IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING"

LATER
Avagadro602

Know-Nothing President

Listening to the news this morning over coffee. Hearing about the latest thing our President did not know about, the phone taps on Heads of State in France, Germany, Spain. Of course, we have already been told that Obama did not know anything about the government gun-running operation "Fast and Furious". Then the there was that unfortunate situation in Benghazi that he did not know anything about, and the IRS government boot on the neck of the Tea-Partiers, just as elections were heating up, that he knew  nothing about. Oh yeah, then there is the 600 million dollar glitch is the Obama-Care on-line registration that the President did not see coming down the road. (You might have given up a round of golf to get that briefing.)
I bet that Obama cannot "see" Iran getting a nuclear bomb, that he cannot "see" Israel being vaporized. I bet that Obama cannot "see" the entire Middle East falling to radical Islam.

I have news for you, Mr. President, what you don't know or care to know can hurt us! Either you are the most inept, ill-informed US president in history, or you are a liar and a deceiver. Either is an indictment of your leadership. Sorry, it is hard to see it any other way.

As for your fans, the only way it makes sense to me that reasonable people can support your direction is that they are hypnotized in what S.T. Coleridge, 19th century poet called " willing suspension of disbelief",  they are obligate socialists, or are chronically ill-informed by a biased media, regarding your imperious rule.

The problem with most progressives is "the do not know what they do not know.

Avagadro602

New beginnings

It is time to be heard again.