The Hermit Kingdom - Update

A tip of the propeller beanie to the Boston Globe for picking up and re-publishing the article by Jean Lee of the Associated Press entitled N. Korea Food Shortage is Worst in Years. It seems that after the great 1990's famine, the state established an ostrich farm which it hoped would help feed its people and develop export products. North Korea has many attributes, but a balmy climate is not on of them. In fact, to keep the bird's warm during the brutal winters, they have been equipped with quilted vests. You just can't make this stuff up. Beyond becoming an exotic menu item at some of "Pyongyang's finest restaurants" (maybe they still have a Howard Johnson's or two)those yummy ostrich burgers just haven't found their way to the local commissaries. Meanwhile, the people have been busy, of late, punching multiple new holes in their belts to better facilitate tightening.

Citing a litany of causes for the food shortfall; such as, rising global food prices, shortfalls in fertilizer (there's a good line there somewhere) and adverse weather, the state is quietly sending out requests for aid to avoid mass starvation of its population. Not given as a cause is the abject failure of the communist government which excels only in rattling its nuclear sabre. Apparently, this time around,foreign governments and Relief Agencies are not rushing to provide aid. Probably because this calamity bears a striking resemblance to the famines of the last twenty years or so. Go back and read the prior VIEW POST on this topic. Hasn't anyone over there learned anything during this time? Weren't there at least a few Teachable moments, to coin a phrase.

There is also suspicion that the government is stockpiling food in order to distribute gift baskets during next year's one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the late president, Kim Il Sung. Won't those be welcome by those that manage to survive until then. Agencies that might otherwise provide food relief are also demanding guarantees that any relief supplies will, in fact be given to the people rather than being stolen by the military and resold on the black market, an all too common practice. Once again, we are not making this up, read the AP article.

Please understand that this is no excursion into schadenfreude as we take absolutely no pleasure in the suffering of the North Korean people. But an ostrich farm? This sounds like one of Ralph Cramden and Ed Norton's get rich quick schemes. How can this government, or any government, with 24 million souls under it's wing, continue to exist in face of this totally inept and incompetent record? While you think about it, ponder this: gaggles of ostrich, wearing quilted vests, wobbling around, trying to stay warm, all to the tunes of an accordion ensemble.

The American People

We don't know about you, but we are more than mildly annoyed every time The President tells us what the American people want. I mean, no one has asked me, and I am very definitely a card-carrying member of this ultimate special interest group.

What to do? Beside the obvious remedy that will be available in November of 2012, you can drop the Pres an email (Hey, let technology work for you) by clicking here: YO, MR.PRESIDENT. No disrespect meant, he was a community organizer.

A few pointers, however.

Be sure to identify yourself as one of The American People. Even better, indicate that you are part of the subset that votes.

Be brief and concise. Short declarative statements are best. The Pres is much too busy to read long treatises, no matter how well constructed. So many vacations, so little time. So get to the point and hit it hard and plain.

Once you get started, move on to the other co-conspirators. Drop an email to your senator(s) and congressman.

For Example: Senator Scott Brown If anyone needs the encouragement and support, Senator Brown, as the Bay State's lone Republican on the state's legislative delegation, needs to hear the love. Go Scott!

keep going.
To find other Senatorial emails, search U.S. SENATE

For Congressmen, search; USCONGRESS

Don't stop now. Consider contacting legislators who serve in key chairs, like House Speaker John Boehner and Republican Minority leader Mitch McConnell. It also doesn't hurt to include those in the opposite party. Harry Reid may not be thrilled to hear from Republicans, but we need to let folks like him think a bit before speaking for the American people.

Admittedly, this might seem like a small step to take, but if enough of us take the time to pass on our views, they may just start to get the idea that they don't, in fact, speak for all of us. At the least, you will feel a little better. Don't curse the darkness, light a match.

Priorities

Did you ever notice (maybe you were on Mars for the weekend) that every time government is looking for new revenue, or taxes as we know them, the pols roll out the same threats to discontinue the most sensitive services. Top of the list is always the possibility of interrupting Social Security checks. Visions of grannies scrambling for a crust of bread are envisioned, followed closely by shutting down help for the poor, the sick and the lame. On a local level, the perennial favorite is a reduction of public safety entities. No cops to answer the 911 calls and get ready to watch your house go up in flames for lack of adequate fire protection. Laying off teachers is usually in the mix too. And the (greater) we usually fall for it. If legislators comes out against new taxes, they will be pilloried during the next election for fiscal crimes against humanity.

We aren't buying it.

Here are a few suggestions for alternative measures of reducing the spending gap. Rather than raising taxes, they could:

Defer indefinitely the plans for new high speed rail lines. Who would notice?

Cut the funding for pork-laden earmarks. Talk about a target-rich environment.

It may be too late, but who thought that we had to have all those new mile-marker signs on our highways at two-tenth mile intervals. These could wait, maybe forever.

Speaking of signs, how about those beauties that announce the fact that the federal government stimulus money is paying for road maintenance? Insult added to injury.

Obamacare off the table? Trimming this porker might just restore fiscal sanity and mental health all by itself.

Social Security was designed to be an insurance plan. Everyone received benefits in proportion to what they had contributed. This was not a handout funded by general tax revenues. Moreover, the contributions were to accumulate to pay benefits, not to be looted to fund pork. Tip O'Neill said that Social security was the third rail of politics. Politicians who tried to cut benefits got fried. On the other side of the coin were those demagogues who would vote benefit increases in order to be able to crow about it during the next election. To the uninformed it seemed like a free lunch, when in fact, it was a step towards destroying a reasonably equitable, albeit government-mandated, program.

You get the idea, there are at least a zillion things that could be deferred or even eliminated before you need to go after the Golden Agers. Send in your suggestions and we will give you full credit when we compile the comprehensive list.

A Tale of Two Arguments

Sometimes it's hard to keep things straight when listening to the two conversations going on in the federal government. Both sides claim to be addressing the same issue, but their collective arguments seem to exist in parallel universes.

Lead by the democratic president, the left has produced at least two blockbuster spending bills. First there was the stimulus package which seemed to be a thinly- veiled attempt to re-pay public employee unions with a flood of federal money ostensibly to revive the flagging economy. Why is anyone surprised that the economy hasn't revived? Next came the massive new federal health care program, which we are still trying to figure out. The only thing about this monster, that was rammed through congress with Houdini-like deftness, is it's massive costs that spiral off into the future like the Eggplant that Ate Chicago.

So now, the creators of these two deficit-busting gems are arguing that taxes must be raised, while Republicans stand like the Dutch boy with their collective fingers in the dike of fiscal restraint.

The left is calling for higher taxes, even in the face of a protracted recession as well as warnings from the debt-rating agencies that U.S. debt stands a good chance of losing its AAA rating. This comes while, at the same time, vilifying the Republicans who want to solve the problem by reducing spending and who recognize the dangerous fiscal abyss that yawns ahead.

Often, in these discussions, the metaphor of the household budget is used to illustrate the problem. Ok, so it's not sophisticated economics, but it does have some illustrative value. To wit: Families have recognized for eons the importance of living within one's means. New purchases, no matter how rationalized, must be subjected to a means test. The choice is usually clear. If you can't afford it, you can't buy it. If the expenditure is, in fact, absolutely necessary, then cuts in other areas of the budget must be made to accommodate the new item. The alternative to making these adjustments, is to crank up the credit card balances, or perhaps tap into the equity in one's home through additional mortgage debt. Well, maybe that option isn't quite as available as it used to be. Such actions may bring temporary relief, but the eventual result can be a painful reconciliation with reality. Being underwater on your mortgage, or in default, or both, can be very unpleasant as way too many of us now know.

It's easy for demagogues to paint the Republicans as uncaring tightwads. In fact, they are the last bastion of fiscal restraint standing in the way of our country's slide into third-world status. We have a president who has a vision of the U.S. as neo Sweden. A president who claims that 80% of the U.S. population wants higher taxes! A president who, doesn't know what he doesn't know. A president who is supported by the takers of the left. Our only hope is that the Republicans can prevail and preserve our precious way of life as the August 2nd debt-limit deadline approaches.

The Hermit Kingdom

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, aka North Korea, is a country of almost 24million souls governed by a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship under a personality cult headed by several generations of the Kim family. North Korea is one of the most isolated impenetrable societies on earth and is ruled through continual and intense propaganda and iron-fisted control of virtually every facet of day-to-day life. So little is known about this country that the fact that it suffered an almost decade-long famine during the nineteen nineties during which an estimated 2 million people perished, was hardly known in western countries. The actual number is probably higher, as many deaths were classified as having been caused by collateral diseases.

In her book, Nothing To Envy, journalist Barbara Demick presents an oral history of several North Koreans who were able to defect to economic powerhouse, South Korea. It is through these stories that the desolation of life in the Hermit Kingdom can be understood. The particular, but by no means only, example of the miseries foisted on its citizens brings home the extent to which the residents of this closed society have been forced to suffer. The state's ability to provide fundamental nutrition for its people experienced a massive breakdown resulting in continuous foraging for scraps and even edible weeds causing sickness and death on a massive scale.

One very sobering story is told by a former kindergarten teacher who's pupils would arrive at school wearing ragged hand-me-downs, layered to counter the lack of heating in the classrooms. The children themselves being so undernourished that they appeared to be several years younger than their actual ages.

After the students had settled into their seats, the teacher would bring out her accordion to lead the class in a rousing rendition of "We have nothing to envy in the world."

Our father, we have nothing to envy in the world.
Our House is within the embrace of the Workers Party
We are all brothers and sisters
Even if a sea of fire comes toward us, sweet children
do not need to be afraid
Our father is here
We have nothing to envy in the world

The "father" is of course whichever Kim happens to be in power. The government supplies framed Photos of the Kim's for every home and public building, but can't seem to bridge the massive food deficit.

It turns out that the accordion is the official "people's instrument" which all teachers must master before graduating. In addition to schools, forced labor parties are also serenaded with accordion propaganda tunes. This brought to mind the great lamented Boston writer, George V. Higgins, who maintained that nothing good ever came from any event at which an accordion was played.

This might be funny if it weren't for the widespread suffering of the North Korean people The Kims can find money for nukes, but let the people forage for roots and weeds to eat. George Bush was right, this country has definitely earned its place on the axis of evil.

Against All Odds

It would seem that any concern over whether or not it is too early for Scott Brown to ramp up his re-election effort can be put to rest. In a half-page OP-ED PIECE in today's Globe, old friend, Joan Vennochi makes a case for a rematch between Brown and Mass. Attorney General, Martha Coakley. Citing a recent poll by the Democratic polling company, PUBLIC POLICY POLLING, the article shows that Coakley appears to be the best match up against Brown of the seven potential candidates included in the poll. At that, the poll shows Brown ahead of Coakley, 49%to 40% in a head to head match. Coakley's relative strength appears to stem solely from her high name recognition.

When Scott Brown's autobiography, Against All Odds, was released earlier this year, it seemed as though all anyone wanted to talk about was Brown's brush with an attempted sexual abuse by a camp counselor when he was ten years old. Not to minimize the seriousness of such an event, but the book is 324 pages, and there are a number of more important topics covered.

First of all, the story of Brown's early life is sobering, to say the least. Dealing with the insidious effects of a broken home life: his father's abandonment at a very early age, his mother's bouts with alcohol and her several husbands, including at least one psychopath named Larry McShane who threatened to break Scott's hands, which would have curtailed his basketball career. Not only was basketball his first love, but would also become his ticket to a college education. The fact that Brown was able to rise above these circumstances speaks volumes about his character. Even more amazing, is by the time he was running for office later in life, he managed to salvage a good relationships with each of his parents.

Towards the end of the book, Brown writes about his political philosophy.

There is a core set of beliefs that have shaped my thinking since the beginning of my service in public life. They are uncomplicated and straightforward. I believe that government is getting too big. We have too many laws, and we don't need more of them. I have always felt that we need to get rid of some of our laws and streamline the ones we keep, and we need to better enforce the laws that we have.........

I believe strongly that taxes are too high. But they are now getting much worse. Congress and the administration dithered over taking still more money out of the pockets of hardworking Americans......

Lowering tax rates encourages citizens to invest and to save and also to spend. It encourages businesses to hire new workers. It encourages entrepreneur's to start new ventures. We can solve a significant portion of the federal government's fiscal mess by growing our economy.

I believe that power concentrated in the hands of one political party, as it is in Massachusetts leads to bad government and poor decisions. That holds true for Democrats and Republicans...... There is little uglier than the arrogance of power or the bashing of our opponents for partisan and selfish ends.

Yes, Scott Brown is a Republican, but is not an ideologue. His main goal is to find solutions to our common problems and is willing to work with good ideas regardless of their source. We would argue that he is the prototype of a new politician, one that Massachusetts badly needs if it is to get beyond the morass of corruption and pandering to special interests that that threatens to drag the state down. Read "Against all Odds" and learn the rest of the story.

Re-elect Scott Brown

It's hard to believe that with seventeen months to go before the election, Scott Brown, and the Brown Brigade, are up and running in full re-election mode.

The Senator was in town yesterday to make the case that, given all the hot air coming from the left, not to mention the cadre of candidates lining up for the nomination, it is not a bit too early to start generating support for the re-election of the only Republican holding high state or federal office in Massachusetts. Brown was frank and open, especially regarding some of the votes he has made as senator. "I didn't go down there to do nothing", Scott stated and was unabashed in his willingness to work with whomever could develop new ideas to solve our serious fiscal problems. "It's all about jobs", he continued. "We must enable businesses to begin hiring and put people back to work". This requires the re-establishment of a sense of tax and regulatory stability to encourage investment in the future.

With respect to the federal deficit, Scott cited a dangerous "precipice" yawning out into our future if nothing is done to stop the out of control spending. He reassured those in attendance that raising the debt ceiling without serious and meaningful cuts in spending is a giant non-starter. Attendees were also assured that efforts are underway to tame Obama care, especially its most damaging provisions.

So don't be a wallflower. Get it on and start thinking Re-election for Scott Brown. The other side has already spent an incredible $45 million in an early effort to capture this most important Senate Seat. Don't let it happen. Click on Scott Brown for Senate to learn more.