Vaclav Klaus: Czech Republic President To Take Turn At EU President

This is rich. Vaclav is a free market guy and strong skeptic of the frothy global warming scare tactics. He has famously called Al Gore the “apostle of arrogance.”

The New York Times article is here.

PRAGUE — In the 1980s, a Communist secret police agent infiltrated clandestine economics seminars hosted by Vaclav Klaus, a fiery future leader of the Czech Republic, who had come under suspicion for extolling free market virtues. Rather than reporting on Marxist heresy, the agent was most struck by Mr. Klaus’s now famous arrogance.

“His behavior and attitudes reveal that he feels like a rejected genius,” the agent noted in his report, which has since been made public. “He shows that whoever does not agree with his views is stupid and incompetent.”

My favorite quote: “Klaus is a provocateur who will twist his arguments to get attention,” said Jiri Pehe, a former adviser to Vaclav Havel, Mr. Klaus’s rival and predecessor as president." Hmmm, pot meet kettle.

Like many people who grew up in a communist country, the cool factor of Marxist ideas and enforcers like Che and Uncle Joe is quite low.

Those who know Mr. Klaus say his economic liberalism is an outgrowth of his upbringing. Born in 1941, he obtained an economics degree in 1963 and was deeply influenced by free market economists like Milton Friedman.

Mr. Klaus’s son and namesake, Vaclav, recalled in an interview that when he was 13, his father told him to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to better understand Communism’s oppressiveness.

“If you lived under communism, then you are very sensitive to forces that try to control or limit human liberty,” he said in an interview.

After Vaclav, I'll wager the EU will find a way to end the rotating presidency thing.

David Mamet's Inspiring Speech In Protection Of Free Speech and Condemnation of the 'Fairness Doctrine'

This should be required listening for conservatives, as many of Mamet's points are understood at the gut level but here are drawn out in precise and engaging language.

Click on the BBC link here.

On political Correctness:

"It goes against the American grain. It just will not wash, for we know that it means ‘totalitarian’. How can any politics or speech be correct? A person’s politics may be acceptable or unacceptable...but to deem it (speech or politics) correct implies it adheres to the one true form which can only take place in a dictatorship."

UPDATED: How Can Hillary Even Be Considered For SecState?

Update from the NYT Clinton Vetting Includes Look at Mr. Clinton

A team of lawyers trying to facilitate the potential nomination spent the weekend looking into Mr. Clinton’s philanthropic organization, interactions with foreign governments and ties to pharmaceutical companies, a Democrat close to both camps said. While Mr. Clinton has used his foundation to champion efforts to fight AIDS, poverty and climate change around the world, he has also taken millions in speaking fees and contributions from foreign officials and businesses with interests in American governmental policies.

Obama advisers are discussing what Mr. Clinton would need to do to avoid a conflict of interest with the duties of his wife, who is said to be interested in the post. “That’s the first and most important hurdle,” said a senior adviser to Mr. Obama. “He does good work. No one wants it to stop, but a structure to avoid conflicts must be thought of.”

They have done good things with that money...therefore it's OK? That's the sniff test here? I guess if I give 25% of the money to ACORN, it would be OK to rob a bank as well. UGH.

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I thought "we" already discussed this? Bill and Hillary have magically made tens of millions since he left office and most of it came from foreign governments. The library cash from the Saudis. The special consulting deals in Dubai and other middle eastern nations. The Clinton's bank accounts are just brimming with foreign dough and the media has pulled another convenient Mel Haney memory trick to pretend that the conflict of interest issues here are "nothing to notice."

Maybe this is a "helping Hillary pay off her campaign debt" thing? If it is, I would rather Obama just cut the check from his campaign account than put Billary back in a position of power while they pile up money from foreign governments.

How much money did Bill get from the Chinese Internet company? How much illegal cash did Hillary get from Chinese nationals? Who could forget their phony bundling efforts in NYC's China Town where buss boys were cutting $2000 checks like extra heapings of fried rice? Who could forget the phony addresses near the LA Airport where bags of cash were magically appearing and Chinese nationals (again) were found responsible? Who could forget all of that? The big bad main stream media...that's who.

On the other hand, if you need details about Joe the Plumbers taxes from 14 years ago, the MSM has it on the tips of their forked tongues. That kind of opposition research seems to reside in the hard-wired RAM of the MSM, while the massive conflict of interests created by Bill Clinton have never been explored.

For that matter Sean Hannity, who's dreams must consist of sweat-filled del Toro-esque vignettes of William Ayers and crazy preachers, and much of his fellow "alternative media" seemed to miss this point as well.

And the point is this: In most of the developed countries in the world, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton would never be able to serve in government again after taking these consulting fees and direct donations in grotesque amounts from foreign interests. After they left the White House, these two acted like game show contestants in one of those cash grab money boxes and now, forgetting the damn shame of this behavior, we are supposed to accept Hillary as a high federal official again.

The media will continue their search for a human interest story and ignore the political one right in front of their noses. Forget about the Fairness Doctrine, this country needs a Competence Doctrine.

Over the next week the media will ask "will she or won't she," when the better question is "how dare she..."

My Two Point Plan Alternative To The Pelosi Three Point Plan For The Auto Maker Bailout

Here's the Pelosi Three Point Plan(from Detroit News).

The auto industry's survival plan must meet several conditions, Pelosi said:

• Restructure the automobile companies to ensure their long-term economic viability;

• Meet standards for fuel efficiency that ensure the competitiveness of U.S. autos, including new fuel-efficiency standards; and,

• Deploy advanced vehicle technologies required to compete in the domestic and global market."

Here is my Two Point Plan.

• Buy Toyota and Honda with this bailout (TARP) cash and let congress run them for a few years.

• Remove all congressional restrictions on the Big Three.

GM, Ford and Chrysler won't have any more trouble selling cars in this country or any other.

A Short History Lesson For Congress As They Get Ready To Buy Into The Car Business

I can hear Barney Frank asking me if I would like an undercoat with that new Buick.

From an AP article via Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats are pushing legislation to send $25 billion in emergency loans to the beleaguered auto industry in exchange for a government ownership stake in the Big Three car companies.

I guess this is a natural fit since the only people more detested than the cheesy used car dealer is the Dem controlled congress. But before we throw the rice on this new marriage, it might be helpful to review the history of government operated car businesses. It's a beaut!

Renault (French)

After WWII the company was confiscated and nationalized. By 1981 saw Renault became the largest car maker in Europe, with a production rate of 2 million cars annually. Perhaps the road was too straight, it sought expansion towards America as well as Scandinavia. Firstly, it took major shareholding in AMC (American Motor Corporation) in 1980, which led to the production of Alliance (Renault 9) and Encore (Renault 11) in the United States. Secondly, it took full control of US truck maker Mack. The American adventure turned out to be a disaster as sales in Europe was also declining. Heavy loss led to the sold out of AMC to Chrysler in 1987, since then Renault did not return to America again.

So we have French government engineers to thank for the
Gremlin


and the AMC Pacer



Of course, the whole mess was bailed out by Nissan.

How could anyone forget the car that would fall apart as you drove it off the lot...the YUGO! It was so incredible that the factories were deliberately bombed by NATO forces during the Kosovo War.


I don't want to imply that all government owned car companies make shit cars, but I don't have to...their success at the landfills and recycled pot metal dealers speak volumes.

I would be remiss to ignore the great cars that came out of the Soviet Union.

I think they called them Mosckvithe's or something like that.

After these words (and pictures) of caution, I'm sure I'm worrying about nothing. As long as the new GM design team has Nancy Pelosi signing off on their designs and Ford engineers run new safety features past Harry Reid, this whole thing will come off smashingly well.

Commies Hate 007 Too

Poor Olga Kurylenko, she thought she was playing a movie character in a farsical movie about spy games.

Wrong.

The Ukrainian actress, who plays a Bolivian secret agent opposite Daniel Craig's 007 in "Quantum Of Solace", has also gained ire of the Communist Party of St. Petersburg, which in an open letter on its website condemned her for aiding "the killer of hundreds of Soviet people and their allies." The group's statement describes 007 as "a man who worked for decades under the orders of Thatcher and Reagan to destroy the USSR."

Now, I am not sure which Bond they are talking about, but I would guess it's the Sean Connery.

"The Soviet Union educated you, cared for you and brought you up for free but no one suspected that you would commit this act of intellectual and moral betrayal."

Now for the real reason I linked this article.

Balkanization, Should We Really Be Worried?

For the last six years, we have heard that phrase about the "rule of law" so much that maybe Valerie Jarrett tripped over herself when she said "Obama needs to be ready to rule from day one," on Meet The Press.

Maybe. But the attitude that would lead one to use the word "rule" has been popping up frequently enough to convince me that this is more than a slip of the tongue.

Soon after the polls opened up in his favor, Obama began talking about compulsory national service and a "civilian national security force" that is just as strong and well funded as the military. I wonder what such a force would do on days when they don't have to attack the bad guys? They would probably do what other national police forces do in other parts of the world...enforce the rulers' wishes on walking around everyday people. For the United States, such a force would probably end up being the official enforcer of all things "PC." Given the selective enforcement of rules or wishes that would surely ensue, such a force would probably be seen as an occupation army in a certain southern segment of this country.

I strongly disagree with Rep. Paul Broun that these things along with Obama's "spread the wealth" comments represent a new Marxism or Nazism. Quite the opposite.

Instead of a strong sense of nationalism and the creation of a renewed world power, Obama is proposing a pull-back, a blaming of his own nation for the ills at home and abroad. No, the Obama movement lacks both the outward focus and hyper-nationalism found in both the Marxist and Nazi movements.

Instead we have a fracturing country never able to unite behind any single leader as the political poles seem to drift further apart. The renewed push for the fairness doctrine (or variants thereof) will be more about punishing the other side. More of the spite-filled politics intended to infuriate and divide.

I'm reminded of Joe Biden's instincts when it came to Iraq. He proposed splitting Iraq into three pieces in a plan that was the only thing that Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish leaders agreed on in 2006. They hated the idea because they understood what a permanently fractured country looks like. It looks like the Balkans - divided in pieces and permanently hostile.

It is exactly this prospect of Balkanization in the United States that has the rest of the world so happy with this election. Most of the world believes that an outward focused, or interventionist, United States is a major problem. In many places the US is seen as a bigger problem than terrorism. Most public polling around the world confirms that unless you have recently been ruled by a communist dictator, you probably dislike the US...by a wide margin. The polling consistently indicates that the world roots for the underdog, even the underdog that brutally represses it's people. It is probably the same psychology that makes me hate the NY Yankees, even when they play the Kansas City Royals.

That Obama has not directly addressed the heightened concerns raised by the promises of our spiteful congressional leadership is a good reason to be worried. Obama does not need the powers of "the one" to unite the country, he only has to stop politics of division and the rest will take care of themselves.

Obaaaaama, It's Time To Play

So This Is Why Obama Will Need A Civilian Police Force...To Be His Bodyguard When He Bankrupts Your Local Energy Companies

Obama's Civilian Federal Police Force (Read KGB) That Is "As Well Funded And Powerful As The Military"

Obama must believe he has this won. Why else would you roll out your "police state" proposal in front of a bunch of clapping idiots. He might as well have been talking about killing children and those fuckheads would still be clapping.