Were you in the 2/7 at Ia Drang?

The head tilt, displaying his nostrils for all to admire, is highly revealing.

“The big puzzle with Obama is where is the reality?”

Frankly, I think the reality is that his original ambition was to sell a few books, make some money, and get known a bit. He didn’t count on depth of identity politics in the Democratic party and the ranking system that places blacks at the head of the line, even in front of women, regardless of worth. Now he’s riding a train that he really can’t control with tons of advisors who are pulling him along as a excuse for their ambitions.

I think it is safe to say that before I was a Jesuit seminarian, during my time as one, and for awhile afterward, when I was still on the Left, I was a Pelagian heretic. It took awhile, but when I finally could not get around Michael Novak’s criticisms of Liberation Theology and I had done some reading of psychology, neuroscience, and genetics I came around to the view that human nature cannot be changed and that the utopian fantasies which are the core of Marxism are permanently disabused. I had hoped to find a way around it. There is no way around it. I glad I did go on my journey into the Left and out of it; there is value in it. What is discouraging is to see so many of today’s young Leftists wallowing in intellectual sloth. They don’t take ANY critiques seriously. Just pick up the banners and slogans and march. Truly useful idiots.

Culture does shape politics. Any serious thinker knows this, since politics are a reflection of the values, principles, and myths of the dominant culture. Politicians appeal to portions of that milieu.

I have met many politicians. No great boast there and it doesn’t make me important, just a matter of time and place. By observation I am convinced that most are basically lazy slobs who have found a good way not to work. Joe Biden is the man whose photograph is in the dictionary when you look up “Pol.” PJ O’Rourk was correct, they are genuinely interested in people the same way fleas are genuinely interested in dogs.

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As funny as PJ O’Rourke is as a political commentator, I wish he had kept his “day job” as a writer for National Lampoon.

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That’s because they have jobs.

(disclaimer:I’m conservative and “unemployed”)

The Secretary of the Treasury will be given a $1.5 Trillion Dollar line of credit. (Take your prozac, everybody.) He may issue bonds
up to that amount, but preferably less.

The cash from the bonds, or the bonds themselves, will be used to satisfy the statutory requirements of Fannie and Freddie,
and the “credit swaps” of AIG. And no more. The unused portion of the line of credit will be in reserve for 18 months to two years in case something else pops up.

Now these bonds will be revenue bonds. The kind that pay interest and return principle
when, as, and if, earned. They are to be serviced directly from Fannie/Freddie income,
from AIG investment banking income and so forth and so on.

They are to be sold at an original discount
(say 75% to 80% of face value) and pay a hefty 10% to 15% on the face value—–all tax free of course.

If after a certain period of time—5 years say—- if they are not serviced/retired adequately a randomly selected portion of the unserviced may be surrendered each year at face value in lieu of federal taxes owed.

This means that those responsible for the mess
turn themselves into indentured servants until
they pay what they owe. While the taxpayer
escapes any direct draines on his or her income.

I now await my well-deserved accolades, not to mention the inevitable number of brickbats
from the narrow-minded.

PS I have run into a misconception in the last few days. Namely that the Federal Reserve is taxpayer-funded via Congressional appropriations. “Taint so. If any of you all run into this, please try to correct. It won’t be easy. But it is the type of misconception that makes corrective actions more difficult.