Living in Historic Times
To say that we live in historic times is an understatement of historic proportion. Just in my lifetime I have seen the ending of WW II, the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the beginning and ending of the Cold War, the Korean War, Elvis, the Civil Rights Movement, the first man in space, the assassination of a President, the resignation of a President, the modern computer, the break-up of the Soviet Union, Feminism, Aids, Gay rights, and 9/11. And throughout all these monumental events the common thread of America, as a free democratic republic, was the constant of unwavering stability.
Enter the 21st century, despite all the hopes and dreams attendant with science and technology, we as a nation stand at the precipice of the most historical cultural and political shift of our lifetime and one for the ages of recorded history. Follow now the unfolding scenario of this precarious and seemingly unalterable course.
A precursor is the Alice through the Looking Glass quality of Barack Obama’s statements, as with his declaration that America is not a Christian Nation and the U.S. is one of the world’s largest Muslim nations. The Christian nation statement is patently false while completely disregarding the nation’s Judeo Christian heritage. As far as the U.S. being one of the larger Muslim nations citing a population of 7 million Muslims (some studies indicate 9 million), in the U.S., places the U.S. among a gaggle of third world countries.
President Obama gaffes are easily commensurate with the gaffes of his VP, but are much more revealing of the inner man; a man whose roots are more Islamic than Christian and whose economic philosophy appears to reflect more of Marxism than Capitalism. Giving the President the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he was looking forward when making his Muslim statements. Startling demographic research portends a vastly different world on the horizon, one more closely aligned, it would seem, to the President’s perspective.
Demographics of the Future
Now for the harsh demographic facts, let’s start with the fertility rate necessary to maintain a culture for more than 25 years. A fertility of rate of 2.11 children per family is required; anything less and the culture will decline. Historically, no culture has ever reversed a 1.9 fertility rate; a 1.3 fertility rate is impossible to reverse because it would take 80 to 100 years to correct itself and there is no economic model that can sustain a culture during that time.
As the population rate shrinks, so does the culture. As of 2007, France had a fertility rate of 1.8, England 1.6, Germany 1.3, Italy 1.2, Spain 1.1; across the entire 31 countries of the European Union the fertility rate is 1.38. Historical research tells these numbers are impossible to reverse. In a matter of years Europe as we know it will cease to exist.
In the last 30 years Great Britain has seen their Muslim population grow from 82 thousand to 2.5 million with over 1,000 mosques. Fifty percent of the Netherlands newborns are Muslim; in 15 years half of their population will be Muslim. Russia has 23 million Muslims, one in every five Russians; 40% of the Russian army will be Muslim in just a few years.
Currently in Belgium 25% of the population and 50% of newborns are Muslim. The Belgium government has stated that 1/3 of all European children will be born to Muslim families by 2025. The German Federal Statistics Office has issued the following statement: “The fall in the German population can no longer be stopped. Its downward spiral is no longer reversible…..it will be a Muslim state by the year 2050.”
Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya says “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe, without swords, without guns, without conquest. We don’t need terrorists, we don’t need homicide bombers. The 50 plus million Muslims in Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent in a few decades.
There are currently 52 million Muslims in Europe; the German government has said that number is expected to double to 104 million in twenty years. Closer to home in Canada the fertility rate is 1.6 nearly a full point below what is necessary to sustain a culture and Islam is now the fastest growing religion. Between 2001 and 2006, Canada’s population increased by 1.6 million and 1.2 million of those by immigration.
In the United States the current fertility rate is 1.6 children per American citizen family; with the influx of Latino immigration the fertility rate rises to the bare minimum of 2.11 children necessary to sustain a culture. To better understand the rapid growth of Islam in the U.S., in 1970 there were only 100,000 Muslims in America, today there are over 9 million Muslims in this country. Three years ago the Islamic Strategy Conference held in Chicago, composed of 24 Muslim organizations, reported that the Muslim population in America is expected to reach 50 million in thirty years
The Catholic Church recently reported that Islam membership has now surpassed Catholic membership. It is estimated that in 5 – 7 years Islam will be the world’s dominant religion. The Muslims have been trying to accomplish this for centuries.
Enter Charles Martel
In 732 AD, Charles Martel (The Hammer), the Frankish military and political leader, turned back the Muslims in the Battle of Tours (France) that kept Europe from coming under Islamic rule, in one of history’s most important epochs by one of history’s greatest generals.
An amazing victory because the Christian army under Martel was composed entirely of foot soldiers against an Arab army consisting almost entirely of cavalry and had behind them a long and unbroken series of victories extending over a century. The day following the furious and bloody battle only the Christian cross flag remained flying while the crescent banners of Islam lay on the ground.
Martel would be turning over in his grave if he knew how Europe has relinquished the nations to the Muslims without a fight. A sad commentary that is now at America's doorstep aided by a President that says we are not a Christian nation. The numbers of Christians in the U.S. still predominate. What Obama should have said while on his apology tour is that he is not Christian.
Sadly, Islam is a religion that perverts Christianity. The inhabitants of Arabia were descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham and half brother of Isaac. They were heathen, worshipping idols and believing in many gods. In this heathen country of Arabia a boy was born in the city of Mecca named Mohammed in 570 AD. As a youth he was a shepherd and later became a merchant where his travels took him to many countries meeting Jews and Christians and learned something of their religions. Mohammed claimed to have received a revelation from the angel Gabriel, resulting in him forming a new religion he called Islam.
The teachings of Mohammed were later collected and written in a book called the Koran, which is the sacred book of the followers of Islam. Mohammed's fundamental teaching is: There is but one God (Allah), and Mohammed is his prophet. The followers of Islam, called Muslims sum up their religion in the saying: Allah is great, and Mohammed is his prophet.
Mohammed gained a few converts, but most of the people of Mecca believed in many gods and did not like his teachings and the opposition grew so great that in 622 he and his followers had to flee Mecca to the city of Medina. This flight is called the Hegira. In Medina, Mohammed's teachings were warmly received, and with the help of his converts in ten years' time he made himself master of Arabia. The influence of Islam did not die with Mohammed in 632, and over the next hundred years the crescent moon lay across northern Africa with one point resting on Asia Minor and the other on France. It appeared that the crescent moon might become full and that all of Europe might become Muslim until the Battle of Tours repulsed the Arab invaders and halted the advance of Islam into Europe.
Of course, Islamic and Christian hatred was exacerbated during the period of the Crusades (1096-1291); the military expeditions encouraged by the Catholic Church for the purpose of wresting the Holy Land and its sacred places from the hands of the Muslims.
The arithmetic is simple and almost irreversible. Will another Charles Martel arise? With the Muslims growing and Obama dismantling the republic, it is a good time to remember the scriptural admonition of being in this world…..not of this world.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Brinksmanship as a Governing Strategy
The term brinksmanship was first introduced into the American lexicon in the 50’s as part of the Cold War vernacular. Brinksmanship is simply the strategy of pursuing a desired outcome by pushing a highly dangerous situation to the limit (brink) rather than concede.
My experience with brinksmanship was forged in the crucible of labor negotiations as the corporate head of labor negotiations, representing the company in labor contract negotiations with the unions. The symbiotic relationship between management and the union, seeking mutual self interest, was hard baked into the economy of the industry, where profitability, jobs, and growth were an immutable part of the economic equation of bargaining. Under ideal circumstances each side sought an enlightened approach to differences that would hopefully result in win/win solutions. Our approach was guided by Fisher and Ury’s principles of win/win negotiations as captured in their classic book Getting to Yes.
Brinksmanship is a seldom used strategy in labor negotiations any longer, by either management or labor, primarily because of the long lasting, if not permanent, consequences of executing a successful brinksmanship strategy. The scars from a strike or work stoppage create wounds that are slow healing, sometimes requiring a generation for recovery.
On the international political stage, brinksmanship has a history punctuated by two particularly monumental examples:
1.) President JFK’s stand down of the Soviet Union in 1962, over the Cuban Missile Crisis when he demanded the removal of all ballistic missile capability from Cuba while ordering a naval blockade of Cuba. Soviet Chairman Khrushchev accused Kennedy of pushing mankind "to the abyss of a world missile-nuclear war." Khrushchev backed down and ordered cancellation of missile deployment in return for an American promise not to invade Cuba.
2.) President Ronald Reagan’s "peace through strength" defense philosophy was the hallmark of his administration and was directly responsible for the economic and political collapse of the Soviet Union from super power status. During his presidency Reagan increased defense spending by 35%, 7% of the GDP. Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), included the creation of an anti-missile defense system dubbed Star Wars that caused the Soviet Union to raise the share of its defense spending from 22 percent to 27 percent of GDP in 1989, while it froze the production of civilian goods at 1980 levels and ultimately caused Soviet Chairman Gorbachev to throw in the towel – no mas.
As the nation now stands at the crossroads of socialism and capitalism, I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s words on Socialism, a philosophy that I consider as anachronistic as organized labor, “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” Churchill went on to contrast capitalism with socialism, in the negative in typical Churchillian fashion – “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
From Churchill to Obama is a distance of galactic proportion, but that’s where we are today, riding the Obama crisis creating brinksmanship machine, hell bent on driving the United States into a socialistic state.
Brinksmanship is the coin of the realm of the Obama administration and its shibboleth is expressed simply by the President’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel – “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste”.
Well it seems that everything is a crisis today and Obama is directing the brinksmanship. The crises are established once the President opts for the state solution (borrowing or printing money) over a free market solution (Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand). Both are painful, but only one offers an ultimate solution. This administration is choosing the wrong solution for every problem all guaranteed to collapse in a heap of broken dreams and disillusionment, while eviscerating the very soul of America.
Don’t expect to hear accuracy in projections from Obama – unemployment numbers, new jobs or saved jobs, national debt, revenue, medically uninsured, illegal aliens, Muslims, et al. Prevarication is the cornerstone (the end justifies the means) of any good community organizer raised under the teachings of Chicago radical Saul Alinsky. Alinsky’s two books Reveille for Radicals and Rules for Radicals greatly influenced Barack Obama the community organizer. I suspect that Obama can more easily quote from these two books than he can from either The Holy Bible or The Koran.
Saul Alinsky states in his first book that “War is not an intellectual debate, and in the war against social evils there are no rules of fair play.” Perhaps nowhere is the sheer evil of the content and intent more clearly stated than the dedication of his Rules for Radicals – “From all our legends, mythology, and history (and who knows where mythology leaves off and history begins- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer."
The Obama Imperial presidency with its 21 czars, more than a Russian dynasty, from the bail out czar to the latest cyber-security czar operate without legislative oversight and report only to Obama.
Make no mistake about it, Obama and his party have created a finely tuned democracy destroying machine moving at a break neck pace ready to move to the brink.
My experience with brinksmanship was forged in the crucible of labor negotiations as the corporate head of labor negotiations, representing the company in labor contract negotiations with the unions. The symbiotic relationship between management and the union, seeking mutual self interest, was hard baked into the economy of the industry, where profitability, jobs, and growth were an immutable part of the economic equation of bargaining. Under ideal circumstances each side sought an enlightened approach to differences that would hopefully result in win/win solutions. Our approach was guided by Fisher and Ury’s principles of win/win negotiations as captured in their classic book Getting to Yes.
Brinksmanship is a seldom used strategy in labor negotiations any longer, by either management or labor, primarily because of the long lasting, if not permanent, consequences of executing a successful brinksmanship strategy. The scars from a strike or work stoppage create wounds that are slow healing, sometimes requiring a generation for recovery.
On the international political stage, brinksmanship has a history punctuated by two particularly monumental examples:
1.) President JFK’s stand down of the Soviet Union in 1962, over the Cuban Missile Crisis when he demanded the removal of all ballistic missile capability from Cuba while ordering a naval blockade of Cuba. Soviet Chairman Khrushchev accused Kennedy of pushing mankind "to the abyss of a world missile-nuclear war." Khrushchev backed down and ordered cancellation of missile deployment in return for an American promise not to invade Cuba.
2.) President Ronald Reagan’s "peace through strength" defense philosophy was the hallmark of his administration and was directly responsible for the economic and political collapse of the Soviet Union from super power status. During his presidency Reagan increased defense spending by 35%, 7% of the GDP. Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), included the creation of an anti-missile defense system dubbed Star Wars that caused the Soviet Union to raise the share of its defense spending from 22 percent to 27 percent of GDP in 1989, while it froze the production of civilian goods at 1980 levels and ultimately caused Soviet Chairman Gorbachev to throw in the towel – no mas.
As the nation now stands at the crossroads of socialism and capitalism, I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s words on Socialism, a philosophy that I consider as anachronistic as organized labor, “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” Churchill went on to contrast capitalism with socialism, in the negative in typical Churchillian fashion – “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
From Churchill to Obama is a distance of galactic proportion, but that’s where we are today, riding the Obama crisis creating brinksmanship machine, hell bent on driving the United States into a socialistic state.
Brinksmanship is the coin of the realm of the Obama administration and its shibboleth is expressed simply by the President’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel – “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste”.
Well it seems that everything is a crisis today and Obama is directing the brinksmanship. The crises are established once the President opts for the state solution (borrowing or printing money) over a free market solution (Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand). Both are painful, but only one offers an ultimate solution. This administration is choosing the wrong solution for every problem all guaranteed to collapse in a heap of broken dreams and disillusionment, while eviscerating the very soul of America.
Don’t expect to hear accuracy in projections from Obama – unemployment numbers, new jobs or saved jobs, national debt, revenue, medically uninsured, illegal aliens, Muslims, et al. Prevarication is the cornerstone (the end justifies the means) of any good community organizer raised under the teachings of Chicago radical Saul Alinsky. Alinsky’s two books Reveille for Radicals and Rules for Radicals greatly influenced Barack Obama the community organizer. I suspect that Obama can more easily quote from these two books than he can from either The Holy Bible or The Koran.
Saul Alinsky states in his first book that “War is not an intellectual debate, and in the war against social evils there are no rules of fair play.” Perhaps nowhere is the sheer evil of the content and intent more clearly stated than the dedication of his Rules for Radicals – “From all our legends, mythology, and history (and who knows where mythology leaves off and history begins- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom – Lucifer."
The Obama Imperial presidency with its 21 czars, more than a Russian dynasty, from the bail out czar to the latest cyber-security czar operate without legislative oversight and report only to Obama.
Make no mistake about it, Obama and his party have created a finely tuned democracy destroying machine moving at a break neck pace ready to move to the brink.
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