Author: VD

The demographic countdown:

There is no question that Obama owes a debt to the Kennedys – but it may be far greater than he or they realize. Yes, Senator Edward M. Kennedy offered a crucial early endorsement, comparing the Obama of 2008 to the Jack Kennedy of 1960. And certainly Caroline and others in the Kennedy family worked hard on the campaign trail. But the greatest Kennedy legacy to Obama isn’t Ted or Caroline or Bobby Jr., but rather the Immigration Act of 1965, which created the diverse country that is already being called Obama’s America.

That act is rarely mentioned when recounting the high points of 1960s liberalism, but its impact arguably rivals the Voting Rights Act, the creation of Medicare, or other legislative landmarks of the era. It transformed a nation 85 percent white in 1965 into one that’s one-third minority today, and on track for a nonwhite majority by 2042.

Before the act, immigration visas were apportioned based on the demographic breakdown that existed at the time of the 1920 Census – meaning that there were few if any limits on immigrants from Western and Northern Europe, but strict quotas on those from elsewhere.

I understand that many, if not most, Americans believe that people are simply people, all scientific knowledge and even evolutionary biology notwithstanding. But, it’s amazing that so many of them are perfectly willing to gamble not only their country, but their children’s future, on this assumption without even a shred of scientific support except for an obvious intra-species ability to breed.

So, here’s the obvious question. What if this assumption is, in fact, wrong? What if it is determined that there are, in fact, qualitative differences between different human populations? And wouldn’t it have been a good idea to see a non-European culture demonstrate a proven capacity for Western civilization and Western societal norms before permitting the unlimited migration of its members? It’s true that Japan has demonstrated a genuine capacity for Western civilization, but then, Japan is not Somalia, Mexico, or Pakistan and the migration into America is not primarily made up of Japanese.

And if Somalis, Mexicans, and Pakistanis can’t manage Western civilization in their own countries, what is the basis for the belief that they can do so in Western countries? This is a particularly important question given the known consequences of historical migrations in addition to the empirical evidence of modern Londonistan, the Parisian banlieus, and Washington DC.

Democrats are not yet a permanent majority, but they appear to be only two generations away from becoming one prior to splitting into a new bifactional ruling party. In this sense, the Republican squish faction is correct to push for a Republican makeover in the Democrat Lite mode; if current trends prevail, there will be two major parties in the USA, the Democratic Socialists and the Social Democrats. One thing that immigration observers often miss is that two of the three major Mexican parties – the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the Party of the Democratic Revolution – are to the left of the Democratic party, being members of the Socialist International.

If they had any economic sense at all, the American and European central banks would have been raising rates sooner rather than later:

Russia lifts rates to 12pc to save rouble as crisis deepens

Russia’s central bank has raised interest rates a full percentage point to 12pc to prevent a collapse of the rouble following a day of mayhem on the Moscow markets, prompting concerns that the financial crisis may be spiralling out of control. The surprise move last night came after the authorities had spent $7bn of foreign reserves in a matter of hours trying to defend the currency, at a lower level. The central bank has now spent $84bn of its reserves over the last month…. Expecting trouble, the Kremlin has mobilised the police to crush dissent.

It seems there are two models for the American future, the Russian one and the Japanese one. Neither looks particularly appealing, but they’re both to be preferred to the Weimar Republic’s hyperinflation.

The OC emails with a thought-provoking question:

The question was posed: what will El Presidente Big Daddy Obama’s proposed Civilian National Security Force be able to do that the existing National Guard cannot already do?

The answer is, being a “civilian” agency, anything the National Guard and other established military forces are forbidden to do within the borders of our country by the 1876 Posse Comitatus Act.

Well, isn’t THAT a happy little thought now! I shall have to ponder my own expectations of the new president-elect.

First of all, I sincerely thank everyone who participated and bought a book. The surge was hugely successful, as according to Marcher Lord, 172 copies of Summa Elvetica were purchased during those twelve hours. What was especially great about this was that it pushed SE over Marcher Lord’s breakeven point, which significantly increases the possibility that there will be a sequel. In fact, they have already informed me that they would like me to write a second novel in the setting, pending approval of the synopsis.

So thank you, again, for making it possible. I hope you will all enjoy the books when they arrive, and that a few of you will see fit to post your reviews of it on Amazon. Also, if you write a review on your blog, let me know and I’ll be sure to link to it here.

UPDATE – It sounds as if people are beginning to receive their books today.

Barack Obama begins with the first ritual betrayal of his base:

President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party.

The appointment of Rahm Emmanuel as Chief of Staff wasn’t an actual stab-in-the-back, it only suggested – albeit strongly – that a whole series of betrayals was coming. No libertarian will be the least bit surprised to learn that Obama has no intention of giving up any of the police state powers that President Bush inveigled from the Congress or manufactured ex nihilo by executive order. But there will surely be many civil rights enthusiasts who will be as horrified by this as conservatives were appalled by Bush’s creation of a prescription drug entitlement.

And I look forward to mercilessly reminding conservatives of their idiotic support for the Patriot Acts when Obama begins to find novel uses for them.

106 Mounds View Meerkats (7-3-0)
61 Burns Redbeards (6-4-0)

76 Silver Spooners (5-3-2)
41 Greenfield Grizzlies (4-5-1)

87 Valders Valkyries (5-5-0)
58 Masonville Marauders (3-6-1)

113 Black Mouth Curs (3-7-0)
67 Judean Peoples Front (4-6-0)

73 Winston Reverends (3-7-0)
46 Alamo City Spartans (8-2-0)

What a great weekend of football! The NFL in HD, the Vikings beat the Packers, and last but not least, the Meerkats slap around Burns like a red-bearded stepchild.

My grandfather was, in the words of one of the former Marine Corps Commandants, a Marine’s Marine. There’s even an Advanced Squad Leader counter commemorating him in Blood Reef: Tarawa. (It’s only an 8-0, but he was a definite 9-1 in real life.) I’ve never known a man who smiled more easily or more often, and some of the most delightful moments of my life were spent at his home, in his company.

With the exception of his wife, his family, and his God, there was nothing that my grandfather loved more than the Corps, especially his 2nd Marine Division.

So, Happy Birthday, USMC. And may you show yourself faithful and true, even when all others prove false.

America appears to be rapidly approaching outright corporate feudalism:

The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn’t require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

Keep in mind the amount of data the average American citizen has to turn over just to buy a $50 cell phone or open a bank account. You can’t even withdraw $5,000 of your own money from your savings account without a report being filled out and sent to the FBI, but the Federal Reserve is permitted to not report where $2,000,000,000 is going.

Steve Sailer observes the same movement of the neocons back to their natural home that I have noticed:

If Obama makes Summers his second pick, after Rahm Emmanuel, that’s basically a message that the neos (neoliberals and neocons) are in the house and they ain’t going anywhere.

One of the main areas that Obama’s supporters are going to get the Bush treatment is with the wars. I see no sign that Obama is going to depart from the Bush administration’s aggressive foreign policy; he may not put it on steroids like McCain would have, but he’s unlikely to withdraw troops from anywhere unless it’s to send them to Pakistan, Kenya, or the Congo.

They’re RELIABLY wrong. Always keep that in mind when Republican squishes like David Brooks offer advice as to how Republicans should go about reclaiming the political power they’ve squandered for the last eight years:

I’m dreaming of the successful presidency this country needs. I’m dreaming of an administration led by Barack Obama, but which stretches beyond the normal Democratic base. It makes time for moderate voters, suburban voters, rural voters and even people who voted for the other guy….

They’ll do things conservatives disagree with, but they’ll also show that they’re not toadies of the liberal interest groups. They’ll insist on merit pay and preserving No Child Left Behind’s accountability standards, no matter what the teachers’ unions say. They’ll postpone contentious fights on things like card check legislation. Most of all, they’ll take significant action on the problems facing the country without causing a mass freak-out among voters to the right of Nancy Pelosi.

On the same weekend Brooks wrote this, Obama’s transition team announced that they’re considering a series of executive orders in order to quickly flush out the influence of the previous administration while bypassing that unnecessary and annoying procedure otherwise known as “the legislative process”. Needless to say, this will almost certainly upset those “conservative” members of the commentariat who waxed enthusiastic about the Bush administration’s expansive view of the unitary executive theory.

UPDATE – Obama’s Chief of Staff confirms the next administration’s intent to push left and push hard: “US President-elect Barack Obama intends to push a comprehensive programme of social and economic reform beyond an immediate emergency stimulus package, Rahm Emanuel, the next White House chief of staff, indicated on Sunday. Mr Emanuel brushed aside concerns that an Obama administration would risk taking on too much when it takes office in January. He said Mr Obama saw the financial meltdown as an historic opportunity to deliver the large-scale investments that Democrats had promised for years.”

A socialist seeing historic opportunity in financial crisis? That would certainly be new. At least Americans can console themselves that Obama appears to be more of an international socialist than a national one.