Another Round of Buchanan Doom and Gloom

Our craving for another Pat Buchanan "doom and gloom" on the American economy has been given its fix.

The impetus to today's rant was Moody's warning that the United States Treasury bonds, which, for a century have been considered the world's most secure investment, are in danger of losing their triple-A investment rating.

While Republican candidates for president promise to continue to expand our military empire, the Democrats promise universal health care for the 50 million Americans that no longer have it. The dollar sinks, oil breaks $100 per barrel, Wall Street suffers a terrible January, foreclosures mount, credit card debt goes rotten.

Inflation in '07 in the U.S. appears to have been a considerable 6.7%.

America's falling banks are being bailed out by the Chinese, the Saudis and the Kuwaitis.

Yes. Doom and gloom. These are the conditions out of which Adam Archetype will emerge.

Huckabee's Trouble With Baptists Could Translate into Victory

Huckabee's tense relations with the conservative wing of the Baptist church, while ostensibly a sign of weakness in the Huckabee base, could actually turn out to be the issue that wins over republican moderates.

Huckabee's recent surge has frightened many of the moderate, secular, business-oriented republicans. While the republican party likes to project the image of piety, the actual presidency of a former Baptist minister frightens even professed religious Americans who may indulge in secular interests and who believe government should be essentially a secular affair.

Robert Novak's article in the Washington Post titled "Baptists Not on Board", in exposing a conservative opposition to Huckabee within the church, could actually help Huckabee to win the gift of the nomination. The conservative base of the Baptist church have not actually endorsed Huckabee and some conservative leaders have even spoken out against him. "More than personality explains why not all his Baptist brethren have signed on the dotted line for Huckabee. He did not join the 'conservative resurgence' that successfully rebelled against liberals in the Southern Baptist Convention a generation ago."

While Huckabee's protection of secularists in the Baptist church may have failed a generation ago, this past failure may translate into a future success in the primaries. The "glass jaw" of Huckabee may prove to be no glass jaw at all. Rather than representing the "fire and brimstone" pastor who frightens children by threatening the wrath of God, he may represent the friendly, God-inspired pastor who understands humanity for what it is and the true meaning of Christian forgiveness of sin.

NIE on Iran Nuclear Threat

It seems significant that the NIE report, which declares "confidence" in the notion that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons development back in '03, is very convenient for all parties involved.

The Bush administration is able to claim that they were right to be concerned in the first place. The "threat" is vindicated. But Iran can also claim that they are not pursuing nuclear weapons. The UN and the USA are able to find common ground.

It seems especially significant in light of the fact that the "surge" has been working so well in Iraq. How much of this success may have been determined by the fact that Iran has actually ceased its subversive activities? Directly, or indirectly, there seems to be a trade-off taking place. I think the key player in making this work is probably the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which for all of our criticism of them, we must admit they have done a as good a job as possible balancing friendly relations with both Iran and USA.

The success of the government in Baghdad looks more hopeful than it has since its establishment.

But while this may be a temporary easing of tensions between Iran and the West, it is probably only "temporary". The basic problem remains the same. Iran continues to pursue mastery of nuclear technology. Sanctions are still being pursued. Tensions are still high. Perhaps this is a way for Bush to offload the problem to the next administration.

Scratch Chavaz's Victory

Scratch last night's blog about Chavez's victory; the morning brings another result. It is a breath of fresh air to see that it seems as though the elections in Venezuela were truly fair. Not so much with Russia.

Chavez and Putin

What is the meaning of the coincidence of these two events on December 2, 2007: the victory of Putin's Party in Russia and the victory of Chavez in Venezuela. Both seek to transcend the problem of term limits in order to control the direction of government over a long period of time.

Even before the end of the day, the USA has already urged Russia to investigate widespread allegation of fraud to beckon the call of the rising tension between the United States and Russia. In name, we still call Russia our friend, but how far must things go before Russia falls back into the heap with Cuba and Venezuela?

To: Senator Barack Obama, From: Karl Rove, Subject: How to Beat Hillary

Now this is a fine piece of political writing by one of the greatest political hacks of America: Rove's Memo to Obama: win Iowa or lose the race

Patrick Buchanan's Doom and Gloom

When I am in the mood for some American social-economic doom and gloom, I like to order from the Patrick Buchanan Menu.

A great Buchanan quote:

"Say a prayer for Ben Bernanke. He may have to eat the football that scrambling quarterback Greenspan tossed to him far behind the line of scrimmage."