I covered Oakland’s occupation march and shut-down for Townhall.com. My deadline was noon the following day. I’ve never had such a tight deadline. But I got it done. This is my take on the state of our endangered Republic.
It was a good day for the 99% movement.
Oakland Mayor, Jean Quan
In attending the occupation of Oakland, I was struck by how the American Left has coalesced around the advocacy of Saul Alinsky, a man that 99% of the so called 99%ers have doubtlessly never heard of. In the 1930’s Alinsky created the “crisis strategy” which prescribed flooding well-fare rolls in order to bankrupt cities.
David Horowitz has led the country in detailing how it was the Alinsky model which profoundly influenced Barack Obama and gave birth to vast “shake-down” organizations such as ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). But even more importantly, he points out it was Alinsky, though not a communist, that united the various socialists, anarchists, union workers, the disadvantaged and disaffected into a nihilist common cause—the seizure of power… (whole article at Townhall.com)
In the wake of the first ever Tunisian elections, it is worth reflecting upon the Athenians of the fifth century BC who first conceived of a system of governance where the many would rule the few, and worth considering that it was the Romans who refined the concept of democracy with the construction of their republic. But it was the democratic republic of America’s founders which was further refined and profoundly influenced by Judeo/Christian principles. As David Goldman writes in How Civilizations Die, “The American Founding notion of “inalienable rights” stems from the Hebrew covenant: a grant of rights implies a Grantor which irreversibly grants rights to every human being.”
While westerners hope that the elections in Tunisia are a harbinger of a great new Islamic awakening, the notions that an all-powerful Allah would constrain his powers and extend inalienable rights to mankind, including women and especially non Muslims, are antithetical to Muslim orthodoxy. More »
The Flea Partiers don’t occupy they infest
I’m protesting with the occupiers of Wall Street. And I believe that Obama needs to stop pussyfooting around with trying to raise taxes on income. That’s chicken feed. For the sake of fairness, he needs to go after wealth that exists. He needs to appoint a new fairness czar and create a new agency to define the proper amount of wealth that people will be allowed to retain. The president needs to draw a line just like we do with tax rates. Above a given net worth, he needs to tell the American public—what more do you and your family need?
Obama needs to stop being so damn chummy with hoarders More »
As you watch the United States Congress and the Obama administration lurch toward the financial collapse of the American economy, and as the international credit rating agencies are poised to downgrade the US. AAA credit rating, don’t expect Obama to do what is best for the country. Expect him to do the opposite.
Regardless of what the Federal Reserve does now, soon the demand for American debt will wane. The world is rapidly seeing us as less than credit worthy and More »
On Sunday May 1, the night that President Obama announced to the world the elimination of bin Laden, he was adamant in asserting, “We’re not now nor will we ever be at war with Islam.” This unsolicited statement must have been encouraging to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his bosses, the Mullahs running Iran, given that they are arming Hugo Chavez, the Dictator for Life of Venezuela, with medium range missiles capable of striking the United States. It must have invigorated Dr. Imad Mustafa of Egypt’s al-Azhar University, the most respected Islamic institution in the world, who early in 2011, endorsed al Qaeda’s doctrine of “offensive jihad” against non-Muslims who prohibit sharia law, that is, all western powers which refuse to allow polygamy and the murder of apostates. It must have encouraged the elements within the Muslim world which, in the midst of the so-called “Arab Spring,” are now on the move, blowing up police stations in Pakistan and in Iraq, attacking our troops in Afghanistan, planning and carrying out “lone-wolf” attacks inside the U.S. It must have been reassuring to jihadists worldwide to know that the President of the United States pledged that there is no war with Islam. More »
Liberal progressive politicians and policies have destroyed the black community and family—and no where is this more evident than in Oakland. The damage done has devastated the once-great city.
Original Article in April 2011 Townhall Magazine (pdf)
Thucydides, our primary source for the 27-year Greek civil war we call the Peloponnesian War, portrayed Athens, his home city, conquered by Sparta, as a tragic hero possessed of both greatness yet fatal flaws.
Oakland, which occupies one of the most spectacular bucolic sites on the planet, is a city suffering much the way Athens did—plagued by the catastrophic unintended consequences of the democratic process, which in Oakland has delivered a radical, left-wing one-party rule. A tragic sinister aura always lurks just beneath the seemingly idyllic surface. Despite its picturesque environment and perfect weather pattern, it is among the most dangerous cities in America. More »
The following is excerpted from my forthcoming book on the Lessons from Fallen Civilizations.
In AD 450s the Roman Empire’s sovereignty over Western Europe had shriveled to just a few provinces in central Italy and southern Gaul. Two decades earlier, Germanic invaders, Vandals, who controlled all Iberia (today’s Spain and Portugal) were led by a very able general and king, Gaiseric. They gained control of a fleet of ships, landed in North Africa and captured, Mauritania and Numidia (today’s Morocco and Algeria). In 439, they captured Carthage (in today’s Tunisia) which had become the second largest city in the West.* In so doing, they stripped away the West’s primary food source and its largest surviving tax base. More »
