Season's Greetings

I interrupt this (irregularly updated) blog for a comment on a fun time of year...

As our economy sinks deeper into recession during the time of year that bouys businesses in the face of economic downturns, it is time to think about what this season is really about: GETTING GOOD STUFF FOR CHRISTMAS!

A friend of mine took me shopping for Christmas! :)

This friend is rich -- I mean, he's loaded. His credit has never been a problem, and it never will be. I didn't see what kind of credit card he has, but I think it's like Carte Blanche (do they even still have that?), or maybe like American Express used to be -- his card doesn't seem to have a credit limit. Could it be a debit card, and he has that much money in that account?

Anyway...

He took me shopping, and I loaded up my cart. I mean, I really made out. I got while the getting was good. I filled that cart full of all kinds of fun stuff, stuff I thought I needed, stuff I wanted -- after all, we never know when hard times are going to strike, and it looks like tough times are striking all over the world right now. I grabbed all the goodies I could see.

I'll spare you the details on what all I got. Some of it, I'm sure, you would have liked, but some not -- two people never have exactly the same taste, do they?

Anyway, we were at the checkout and he was paying, and I looked and saw a couple of more goodies, so I grabbed them, too. He eyed me, and I felt a little sheepish. :)

So, he was paying and there I was... I saw something else, so I grabbed it.

He had to be wondering if I was done yet. Well, what would you do in my place?

So the cart was full (it was obscene!) and he paid for it all, but then I pointed out that I just had to have a couple more things... so, on top of this obscenely full (overflowing, really) cart, I piled more stuff.

(I did manage to make it all fit in one cart, because, after all, I call this guy a friend, and didn't want to look like I was taking advantage of him, but especially considering the hard times, I felt I had to get a bunch of stuff.)

So, he paid for this additional stuff, too.

And, I made out like a bandit! :) :)

I hope I haven't made anyone jealous of me. Times are tough, you know.

But, I did want to share this with any readers I may have (just in case :| I have any), so that you, too, will know what this season is really about.

You see, it all started about two thousand years ago. This friend of ours arrived at Christmas to pay for all the stuff we thought we needed because times were tough then, too.

So, as you are getting the stuff you want our need this year (even though, like most in our nation, you may believe you don't have enough), go for it! Get while the getting is good! Fill up that cart!

It was paid for by a friend who was born in some kind of manger or barn or something, because there was no room for him or his mother in the "in places" back then, either. So, back then too, he was all but forgotten in a season that has always belonged to him, and then, a few decades later, he was tortured and executed, left to die hanging on a cross between two criminals, even though he himself was innocent and had done nothing deserving of punishment.

Your cart of goodies is paid for, and times are tough, so what the hell? Pile it a little higher, like I did. After all, it's your patriotic duty to help our nation out of recession.

So, Merry Christmas... Season's Greetings!

We now return to my occasional blogging on political issues.

Maoist Education in Nepal

In light of what has been done to the educational system in this country, it is interesting to look at what the communists are trying to do in Nepal. We consider an article entitled No more private school, Nepal's Maoist government declares by Bikash Sangraula, November 15, 2008.

The former rebels plan to put all children in public schools by 2010, saying it will even the playing field.

Kathmandu, Nepal - The massive election win last April by Nepal's former rebel Maoists put them in the position to set the government agenda, and bring about drastic changes they promised during their campaign.

The same is true in the United States, considering the results of our election earlier this month.

But their initial proposals on education – to end private investment in schools and distribute academic certificates to Maoist fighters – have left many Nepalese worried.

They're concerned that their new government will take the country in too radical a direction that favors its former fighters and Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology.

Again, the same is true in the United States -- we may be moving in too radical a direction, as the Obamanistas take over from Bush's Banana Republicans.

"Recent statements by Maoist leaders are indicative of their political immaturity," says Krishna Khanal, a political scientist at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. "They have made strange announcements to please their cadres and fighters."

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) wields considerable legislative power to advance its policies. The group, which fought a 10-year insurgency from 1996 demanding a new constitution and an end to monarchy, is the largest party in Nepal's 601-member special assembly. With 220 seats, it has twice the representation of the second biggest party, the centrist Nepali Congress.

The government also has few moderates who might push back against a radical agenda. The Maoists' biggest alliance partner is the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), third largest in the assembly, which also has radical roots and a history of armed violence.

An 'unequal education system'

The controversial announcement came Nov. 6, when Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai declared the government would end private investment in education by 2010. Private investors, he added, should limit themselves to investing in universities.

The Maoists have long opposed private investment in primary and secondary schooling, arguing that it produces an unequal workforce – those coming from private schools have an edge over their peers from public schools, they claim.

And communism cannot permit that anyone can have an unfair edge over their peers -- except for the communists themselves, and whomever they should favor, who get all the advantages of power.

"We have fought against this unequal education system for years now," said Himal Sharma, general secretary of All Nepal Free Students' Union (Revolutionary), the Maoist party's student's wing.

Obviously, the only way they can equalize the results of the educational system is to bring everyone down to the same low, miserable level of incompetence and underachievement.

I can almost here "Dubya" telling us now that "No child will be left behind."

Only don't kid yourselves, the Obamanistas will work on social issues with a vengeance that the Banana Republican neocons and Clintonite neolibs would be hard-pressed to match in their wildest dreams.

"We are pushing for a declaration next year of free education in public schools till class 8. And a year after that, we want the provision expanded for up to class 12. Ideally, we would want an end to private investment in schools by then," he said.

"Ideally, we would want an end to private investment in schools by then."

But the announcement has experts worried that the transition will undermine youths' quality of education. According to the Ministry of Education, private schools account for nearly one-third of the country's 41,000 schools.

First of all, it should be pointed out that the private schools in Nepal is, generally, the third of the education industry that actually works.

Notice how it is the third that the Moo-ists want to eliminate.

Does that ring any bells?

"The plan is extremely ambitious and highly unlikely to succeed," says Mani Wagle, principal and proprietor of Miniland School in Kathmandu that runs classes from nursery to 12. "Two years aren't enough time for the government to provide an alternative arrangement for millions of school-going children and thousands of teachers in private schools."

Second of all, the Moo-ists want to eliminate it well before they have in place a workable alternative.

This will ensure that those who heretofore had an adequate education will suffer the most. Success must be properly penalized, or equality of outcome cannot be achieved!

Nepal's government-run schools tend to have poor infrastructure. Newspapers here regularly run stories of government schools in the remote hilly areas where classes are conducted outside due to insufficient number of classrooms.

The next thing the Moo-ists will have to do is shut down those newspapers, so the truth about how miserable the system is won't leak out.

Of course, once enough of their comrades get into power in the media, the truth will get drowned out anyway -- kind of like it does here under a "free" press.

The passing rate of public school students is poor. According to figures from the Ministry of Education, 82 percent of private school students who take the School Leaving Certificate exam pass the test, compared with 36 percent of public school students.

Remember, this is the level of achievement that will be stardardized at -- inequality cannot be tolerated, so those who actually are able to pass the test now must have the part of the system they use destroyed.

People like Professor Khanal, of the Tribhuvan University, say that privately-run schools have provided the quality education that public schools have not.

Suprabhat Bhandari, president of Nepal Guardian's Association, calls the announcement ridiculous. "Is the state intending to produce a mediocre manpower in the name of equality? And how will the state ensure that Nepalese children who do their schooling outside Nepal are not more competent than those who study in the public schools here?"

"Is the state intending to produce a mediocre manpower in the name of equality?"

That's exactly what they are going to do.

That is what they do with health care, that is exactly what they do with incomes, that is what they do with the safety of citizens in the face of criminals -- standardize on the lowest level, so it will all be equal.

That means if you have health care, money, or a means to defend yourself against thugs, it must be taken away from you.

That is how it works -- except for those in power.

Read on:

Fighting for a degree

Mr. Battarai further announced that the government is working to give academic certificates to Maoist fighters who couldn't attend schools during the war.

"Our friends who could not continue their education due to involvement in the armed conflict but have the necessary skills and knowledge should receive due academic recognition," he said.

Notice how they will deny opportunity from those who are making something out of it, but give rewards to those who have not done so.

That is how the wealth redistribution of the Obamanistas will work, too.

Except that the Obamanistas, like the Banana Republican neocons and Clintonite neolibs before them, will be careful that their own privileges are not infringed.

Khanal, calling the idea unacceptable, likened it to the thinking during China's Cultural Revolution, when a degree holder in agricultural science was valued less than a farmer who hadn't received formal education.

"These are the same revolutionary leaders who said Nepal's formal education is useless, and asked youths to leave schools and join the war. Why the need for certificates now?" he says.

It's exactly the kind of thinking that made China's Cultural Revolution so successful.

Then there's Obama's "acquaintance", the unrepentant anti-American terrorist Ayers, who has expressed an interest in molding the minds of our young...

Which makes me wonder whether Obama will give Hillary another shot at America's health care system....

Regime Change America

Now that the Obama-Biden team has won the election, it is important to know where US foreign policy is going.

As has been previously addressed in the blogosphere, Senator, and now Vice President-elect, Joe Biden is on the payroll of ethnic Albanian organized crime and Islamic terrorists, through an associated PAC based in the US.

These connections from ethnic Albanian organized crime and Islamic terrorists lead not just to Vice President-elect Biden, but to the man who lead the battle against the Obama-Biden machine in this most recent election cycle. Another post can be found which also documents these connections in the context of the 2008 US Presidential election, and which has links to several other posts that spell out in detail these connections, and address some of their ramifications.

As the allegations alluded to above are very serious in nature, you should please take a moment and read the posts linked above, and the posts linked to from them; for the purposes of this post, it is assumed you are familiar with that material.

We now review As Vice President, Joe Biden Will Be Central to Barack Obama's Administration, by Kenneth T. Walsh, dated November 11, 2008:

Joe Biden is hoping to be Barack Obama's indispensable man. The vice president-elect was chosen by Obama for his Washington experience, as a senator since 1973, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Obama advisers say Biden will serve as an éminence grise and senior counselor to the new commander in chief from Day 1 and won't be relegated to the role of fill-in at funerals and odd man out in policy discussions. This marginalization has been imposed on some vice presidents in the past, especially when they have seemed disloyal or untalented. Biden is neither.

The importance of Biden to the foreign policy of the Obama administration was also addressed in a post entitled Two Plus Two, Part 8, which chillingly states:

The expectation is that they will use nuclear weapons to show everybody how tough Obama is.

Two Plus Two, Part 8 ends with this assessment:

Clinton was bad.

Bush-43 has been worse.

But, under Obama, America would be a nuclear-armed thugocracy, coordinating its efforts with one of the worst organized crime cartels in modern times.

We now continue with As Vice President, Joe Biden Will Be Central to Barack Obama's Administration:

Associates of the two men say that before Biden accepted the No. 2 spot, he insisted that Obama agree to meet alone with him at least once a week, and Obama said yes. This is the same arrangement enjoyed by presidents and vice presidents going back at least five administrations. The tête-à-têtes usually are set up as weekly lunches.

Decision making. "Biden will be especially instrumental in helping on the urgent foreign policy matters," says a well-connected Democratic strategist who has served in the White House and has known the Delaware senator for many years. Biden, who turns 66 on November 20, is also expected to help coordinate decision making on foreign policy inside the labyrinth of the executive branch, making sure that Obama's wishes are respected and his preferences enforced. As an influential senator, he has traveled widely around the world. And as a man who is at home in many lands, he will serve in the traditional role of globe-trotter and message-bearer for his boss and is expected to undertake regular diplomatic missions for the administration.

Obama's connection to terrorist Ayers was addressed, because it was safe to do so. But, both Senator McCain (McCain's Ties to Islamic Terrorists -- and Heroin Traffickers?), who sought the Presidency, and Senator Biden, who was Senator Obama's running mate, do the bidding of Kosovo's thugocracy, so Obama's connection to terrorists via Biden will not be addressed, because it is a connection shared by McCain.

International terrorism is today funded largely by international organized crime, and, flush with money from illegal drugs, especially a surge of heroin from Afghanistan, as well as from trafficking of arms, nuclear secrets, and women for forced prostitution, terrorists and mafiosos buy themselves not just respectability, but true political power.

With Biden on their payroll, and with Biden influencing Obama's foreign policy, Obama will not just be doing the bidding of organized crime factions he has associated with in Chicago; neither will he just be doing the bidding of billionaire George Soros (see Proxy Fight, beginning with Part 1) -- the Obama Administration will be tied to foreign organized crime groups and Islamic terrorists who themselves are tied to Osama bin Laden.

President Clinton supported Kosovo's thugs, despite their ties to organized crime and Islamic terrorists (including Sheikh bin Laden) as documented by Senate Republicans in 1997.

President Bush (-43) continued supporting these same thugs, despite their ties to his enemy in our "War on Terror".

Now, the Obama Administration will likely be in their pocket, as its expert on foreign policy, Vice President-elect Biden, has long been on their payroll.

This is change we can believe in.

Finish reading As Vice President, Joe Biden Will Be Central to Barack Obama's Administration if you wish; the rest of it is pretty boring.

I Regard Them and I Think

I regard them and I think,
As they snicker and smirk,
Snaking down our corridors of power
And going about their slimy work.
How has it come to this?
I wonder, my mouth agape.
Our great nation is victimized;
The crimes: pillage, plunder and rape.
We vote them into power,
Time and again the election is bought;
We vote each as he thinks,
But their media programs our thought.
If we say this we are extremists,
Partisanship and conflict they decry;
So meekly we approve their agenda
And seldom do we ask "Why?"

They have seized our schools;
They say "Education is a must!"
Teaching "Neither parents nor God,
But in government do trust."
The motto on our coins is
Not "in government", but "in God";
But I am a dolt they say,
Uneducated; backwards; a clod!
Why then, I wonder,
Is the same thing not true
Of jihadists who seek the death
Of Hindus, Christians and Jews?
"Racist" I am called,
But Islam is not a race;
No matter, not logic,
But shouts put me in my place.

The tax law they give us
Numbers easily a thousand pages;
Ten times that of regulations,
Enforce these official outrages.
To navigate this labyrinth
Accountants and attorneys we need;
If we dare to object,
We are then accused of greed.
But is it not they
Who benefit from this welter?
Those many pages hide loopholes
For them and their cronies a shelter.
To struggle with this outrage
The rest of us are left,
And civil penalties await
Anyone who is not deft.

Our thriving financial sector
They are supposed to regulate
Spotting trouble, minimizing its impact,
Before it becomes too late.
This, as so much else,
They fail miserably to do;
Worse even than all that,
I see corruption, too.
The problems were spotted,
Early, by the regulators;
The only people alerted
Were unscrupulous speculators.
They took over their competition
As fortunes were made and lost;
Government giveaways, leveraged buy-outs --
And taxpayers bear the final cost.

Under circumstances that were dubious,
They marched us off to battle.
Lives lost or ruined, trillions in debt;
"More, more," like sheep they prattle.
Much trouble from Saudi Arabia,
But hatred's kingdom they won't touch:
That source of jihadis and money,
A hateful ideology and such.
The terrorists came from Arabia,
So we attack Iraq!
In Tora Bora Bin Laden slips away,
For another trip around the block....
The real reason found
In heroin smuggled amidst a war
And cost-plus contracts to buddies,
As they loot Iraq, America and more.

Stability, we are told,
Is what we must seek.
Partisanship to be avoided;
Agreeing, we remain meek.
They have been there in power,
Some of them for many years,
Yet tolerate them we do
Though, more than money, they cost tears.
Racketeering, narcotics, espionage,
Corruption, kickbacks and more;
Trafficking women as forced prostitutes,
But they themselves are treasonous whores.
I regard them and I think,
As they trample our Constitution,
Stability be damned --
I want REVOLUTION!

Redress can still be peaceful,
As our nation is still great;
Let's take back our country,
Before it gets too late!

Change Has Come to America

Our government, to whom we were loyal, was changing. It was becoming increasingly oppressive of us, the governed.

Some of us lived in a city on the coast. One day, they tricked those of us there out of our arms -- and then their elite troops emerged from that city to seize the arms from the rest of us.

We knew that, once we were disarmed, there would be no end to their tyranny. So, reluctantly and apprehensively, yet with indignation and righteous anger, we picked up our arms, determined that our weapons would not be taken from us while we were still able to use them.

That decisive day, a series of events was set in motion, the results of which reverberate around the world, even to this day, now well more than two centuries later.

In the aftermath of the struggle that began that day, a new nation was born -- a nation that was conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the ideal that we are all created equal in the eyes of Him Who created us, and that we should all be equal before the law.

Our ideal, summarized in the document in which we declared our Independence from our oppressors, soon became codified in a new document, which was to be the supreme law of our great land.

While preserving our right to keep and bear arms, with an eye to defending all our rights against future tyrannies, our new Constitution was written by those who had endured struggle and oppression, and it was written to ensure that future struggles would be as peaceful as possible; so, our rights to freedom of speech and of assembly, our rights to be secure in our persons and our properties against unreasonable searches and seizures, our rights to participate democratically in a Republican form of government which is charged to guarantee those rights to all of our citizens -- these rights are backed up by one more right: the right to alter or abolish any government that becomes destructive of these, our rights, which were assigned to us by our Creator, and not by any earthly power.