North Korean Eyes South Korea – No Fears of Retribution – Boast Missiles Capable of Hitting U.S. – Déjà vu 1979

North Korea shown by satellite at Night - clearly a nation in the dark -image: chartercities.org

The secretive and, one might consider, mad, monarchical dictatorship that is the Communist State of North Korea, once again has its eyes on uniting the peninsula under one leader - the South Korean’s are preparing for the worst case scenario, in light of direct threats made by the North Korean regime. (VOAnews). The North Korean’s are seeking to “reduce the South Korean’s to ashes”, while 30,000 American troops are stationed in South Korea USA Today, unmasking the paper tiger so to speak - there simply is no fear of retaliation by the United States, and that coupled with the stability of the North Korean Leader is a recipe for impending disaster.

It is not so much the fact that the North Korean’s are a poverty stricken bunch, with every penny going to the military, while keeping it’s citizenry under control by threats of sending entire families (down the 4th and 4th cousins) to camps where they are detained until death) should a family member dare to speak out, or worse, attempt to leave the country – it’s the fact that they are not stable, by any reasonable measure – they are literally in the dark. The impending North Korean crisis is some what similar to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, where a westernized and modern nation was decimated by a group of religious zealots.

Once the Mullah’s were completely installed, they took American’s hostages, they forced women back into the stone age, and well, the rest as they say is history. They are still a thorn in the side of everything decent, however, at the very least, their people, the Persian People understand that they are ruled by crazy people and have attempted a revolution. It was Carter who’s “give peace a chance” foreign policy lost Iran to the religious right, and the Iranian people were plunged into the Stone Age.

There is no comparison "crackpot wise" when it comes to the reclusive regime of North Korea, at least with the Iranian Mullah’s, who are driven by some distorted interpretation of the “Religion of Peace”, there is no excuse for the North Korean’s – making them somehow more dangerous.

Unless of course, one counts the religion of secular worship of one man - Kim Jong-un, who had spent time receiving an education in, of all places Switzerland (Reuters) - He was sent there as a child of undetermined age, and spend 8 years there before going back to the underground world of North Korea exposed to the tutelage of his family.

What we are dealing with in an unknown but clearly unstable entity, one which is now suggesting that North Korean is capable of hitting the U.S. with a missile! The North Korean’s insist they can make a credible attack on the U.S. – the U.S. response:

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned North Korea not to engage in any further provocation.
He told reporters in Brazil that he had no knowledge of any specific actions being planned by North Korea but said he would "strongly urge" the North to avoid any destabilizing acts.

(Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Depending upon how advanced (with a little help from the Chinese Government) the North Korean’s may be (which is played down somewhat, however, they are sticklers for perfection, and although the last test failed (missile, satellite), they now are fairly certain this one will get off the ground , let’s just hope that they change their minds, on this nuclear test/rocket planned for perhaps Today.(ABS-CBN News).

If the regime is capable of getting a missile (nuclear or not) off the ground, and airborne, likely targets are Hawaii and Alaska – Hawaii, perhaps in some convoluted recollection of Pearl Harbor, where the Japanese, who literally owned Korea, began WWII’s Pacific arm, otherwise, blowing up a tourist attraction may be of little use- Alaska, however, with natural resources and tons of snow, might be the more preferred target – and both are within easy reach - the most likely spot – the ocean (given past history).

What the problem is precisely is that the nation of North Korean will continue to try, simply because it can, due to a lack of any ability to bring it under control by those that value life, and non-irradiated fish. They do not fear the U.S., or any other military power – of course, China, lent a helping hand in getting the right materials to the North Korean’s – or at least one of their companies did, and one knows, communist countries, own everything, there are no private corporations in China (CanIndia.com) (well, with the exception of General Motors and G.E.).

When will the international insanity stop? When the U.S. has an administration that is looked upon as somewhat “dangerous”, one that just might launch a weapon, or retaliate if the North Korean’s get out of hand – one cannot recall the Iranian’s and the North Korean’s acting like saber rattling toy soldier’s when the Bush Administration was in “power” – it’s all in the delivery. Therefore, one the one hand, Romney asked: Are you better off than you were four years ago? (Speaking of economics, the answer, of course, is “no”, and perhaps he may have asked: “Do you feel secure in leaving your fortified home bunker?” (Seriously there is as program called “Doomsday Preppers”, these people read the news, no doubt”).

Romney, of course, is no Bush, not even as hard as the Obama Campaign will try and portray him as such, he doesn’t pull of a cowboy hat with any panache, and is more comfortable in a business suit, which is fine – one can issue a stern threat in a business suit, still be seen by the European’s as despicable, and well, keep the crazy’s at bay, even if they only offer a small threat to a school of flounder in the Pacific, does it matter?

Mitt Romney Expected To Win CT, DE, NY, PA, RI Republican Primaries April 23 – Newt Gingrich to Reassess His Campaign – Obama Clinches DNC Nomination

The 2012 Presidential Candidates: Mitt Romney (R) and Barack Obama

Mitt Romney is expected to add to his lead in the GOP primary race today by winning the five April 23rd GOP primary contests in five states: CT, DE, NY, PA and RI. (CNN) After Rick Santorum bowed out of the race, the two remaining challengers, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, would have little opportunity in theses state contests. Gingrich, who currently has 137 Delegates according to the New York Times, will reassessing his campaign after today’s primaries(WXIA-Atlanta). With Gingrich out of the race, Ron Paul, with fewer than 100 delegates, will be the last “competitor” Romney will face in the remaining contests. With Santorum’s exit, Romney literally became the presumptive nominee, given the low delegate count of the remaining candidates, and the number of available delegates remaining added to a dose of reality.

Turn-out is anticipated to be low in all five primary states – including the Democrat Primary’s, where Barack Obama is the only candidate on the ballot - MSNBC summed up the Democrat Primary contest as: Ho Hum Obama on Brink of The Democratic Nomination.

To say the least, the 2012 contest excitement collapsed after Rick Santorum excited the race – and that excitement was on the GOP side, with the most enthusiasm coming from political junkies, pundits, reporters and the various candidate supporters.

The next phase: picking the V.P. (once the nomination is secure by virtue of accumulated delegates on the GOP side), followed by the beginnings of the General Election Campaign. The debates between the two candidates: Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, might not be a “grab the popcorn” moment, but then again, Romney, who’s debate skills have sharpened in recent years, has a take no prisoners approach to the debate, and the President, who’s oratorical skills are the legend of the media, may be found to ramble on a bit if cornered – between the two candidates, it may end up being more entertaining than previously imagined. In addition, Romney, who has been seriously vetted during the primary process, leaves little for the President to attack: should he attack Romney’s Health Care Mandate as Governor - Or Romney’s change of heart on issues? (Notably both candidates have flipped and flopped over the course of the past four years with lightening speed.) Romney, on the other hand has mounds of ammunition, those relating to the economy, foreign policy, and scandals within the green energy companies which were propped up by the Administration (see Solyndra).

What is somewhat unfortunate, in any general election, is that the State’s who hold primary contests after March, are left out of choices, other than protest votes, should they not approve of a candidate. The last competitive race in a general election was in 2008 between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The race ended with the June Primaries, and was settled at the Democrat National Convention by virtue of Super Delegate votes handing the nomination to Barack Obama. Clinton had the popular vote going into the Convention, the rest is, as they say, history.

Mitt Romney and the Press – let the Negatives Begin

Romney versus Obama - Image CNN Political Ticker

Mitt Romney has not yet clinched the Republican Nomination, although he is seen as the presumptive nominee due to little competition and large primary states coming up between now and May, which will put him over the top. With that “title”, the press has begun to ratchet up the negatives, while the number of news alerts on Google has dwindled to a trickle. It is John McCain II – once the “say anything to get a story” Mike Huckabee finally conceded to McCain, it was as if McCain has fallen off the face of the earth – the news outlets given exponentially greater time to Candidate Obama, and an obligatory short story, on McCain. One can expect that this will be attempted a second time, however, success may elude the press, as well as the President.

One article of out of the 7 alerts over the weekend that contained an article on Mitt Romney, was fairly positive, and that came from the Washington Post, and op-ed by Jennifer Rubin titled: “5 Things About the Romney Campaign”. In order: Romney can walk and chew gum at the same time, Romney’s Campaign understands what it needs, (regarding hiring the right support staff), Romney’s game plan for reaching out to Hispanics (he has one), Romney has rallied the base without moving to the right, and finally, Romney isn’t going to turn himself inside out to “bond with voters”. (WAPO).

Of note, Rubin’s column is entitled “Right Turn”, however to note that Romney can walk and chew gum at the same time, suggests that his ability to return a punch is on target, and frankly, that’s a given. Romney’s rough and tumble primary had prepped him for anything, and he’s able to take punches with the best of them – looking righteous rather than petty. He also believes that he can make the economy work, and work with Democrats to get things moving again in Washington – he knows this because he accomplished this, in part, in Massachusetts. In part, only because as Govenor, he was vastly outnumbered by Progressive and often felonious legislators, who gave no quarter to the Governor. Working with a more national body of legislators, Romney would be able to convince and leverage. He also acts with a sense of urgency – something that has been missing for the past four to twelve years.

Romney’s campaign knows what it needs: both in terms of balancing its own budget and making cuts hewn necessary, in months where the campaign need to spend heavy, to bring it up to a surplus, and in hiring, one has to know Romney did not get where he is in the business world by hiring friends and supporters rather than actual qualified individuals.

Romney’s plan to reach out to Hispanics is anyone’s plant o reach out to Hispanics, Hispanics as a group (like women, like Asians, like anyone who is an American), are hurting economically – they know it, and are not blindly partisan – the promise of prosperity versus more entitlements is the key which Romney holds. Hispanics, like any other American, wants to succeed, own a businesses, work to send their children to college- they, like anyone else living in the Untied States, understand we’ve gone backwards, not forwards, and it is a question of leadership.

Romney has rallied the base without turning to the right – The base, and or anyone that remotely considers themselves a Republican or Independent or Democrat leaning Republican does not necessarily care if Mitt Romney or Mickey Mouse is the GOP #1 – It’s the press who cares, Romney need only be himself – which is “anybody but Obama” – In 2008 some of the GOP electorate felt McCain and/or Palin as his running mate, was not particularly exciting, so they had no real reason to get out and vote (and by the way, the constant Romney as inevitable nominee, managed to keep voters at home in the primary – which is not the general). Romney may not be able to carry at tune, he may even be burning at times, but now the electorate has a comparison – Romney or – Obama. Republicans are going to vote, and so are Independents, and one might hazarded to guess more than a few moderate to conservative (blue dog) Democrats who have had enough.

Romney’s bond with voters – One has to be living under a bubble not to have noticed that Romney is at the least trying to bond with voters, and looks more comfortable doing so – plus he has Ann Romney – no need to go further. In the primary process, with individuals choosing candidates and sides, the rhetoric often becomes heated – mean-spirited, and ridiculous – that’s the point, once those “hard feelings” fade away (well before August), one will see a bond that is tighter than one might imagine. (See hard feelings and PUMA vis a vis, the Obama – Clinton wars leading through June and up through the Democrat Convention in 2008.

One of the many ridiculously “why Obama is the better Choice” or “What wrong with Mitt Romney” articles, comes from the Daily Beast, of all sites: entitled: “Democrats Have Bigger Anti-Mormon Problem in Election Than GOP” a recitation of a Gallup poll on religion and preferences with voters, who apparently cannot readily accept Mormonism as easily as say Catholicism (ask Rick Santorum about that point), the gist, more Democrats take issue with Romney’s Mormonism and religion in general because they are secularist.

The reality, Democrats as a whole are more bigoted.

When one considers, that your basic Progressive believes in a system that elevates “elites” and the rest of the population is delegated to the role of the “masses”, that should send off warning bells left and right. The notion that the minorities must be “taken care of” simply because they are not capable of taking care of themselves, is a big theme – and that includes: Hispanics, African American and Women – all of whom are too stupid to understand what they might need to do to help them. To bring up religion as an issue with a Progressive or Democrat, is not particularly germane to their bigotry, but more as a point of order when it comes to the campaign. If a Religion is different, then they have something to go on, and, as the macho, rank and file, (masses of the union), get their heads wrapped around a talking point – its businesses as usual. Meanwhile, press releases will be out and the press will tout the Democrats as the party of unity, which literally means putting groups into units, or categories which are more easily controlled as voting blocs. Strong words, true, however, how else does one explain the utter hypocrisy of a political group that categorizes, and then continues to do little to improve the “plight” of each category?

It is not to say that Republicans are much better, because they fail to point out the obvious often enough. Also one has to admit – Pink Elephants – the women’s arm of the GOP – could have been renamed something less insulting – it sounds like a cocktail.

Now the Beast was referring to the fact that one the one-hand there is the incumbent-African-American President and on the other, a Mormon! The aforementioned are just two groups that have face discrimination, one of ethnicity and one of religion - its comparing apples to oranges. There we go with the categories again – Going back to the day Roger Williams left the rigid Pilgrims in Massachusetts to form Rhode Island and offer a bit more religious freedom than allowed under the Massachusetts Colony – religion has been a point in the American Culture. This is most probably the point of the Constitution pointing out most explicitly that there would be separation of church and state, and no one state religion would be allowed. The purpose was not to remove religion from the public square; it was to prevent a religion from being a state religion, with all members of the nation, practicing the same. (See Iran).

From the beginning, whether was a Papist (Roman Catholic), a Jew, or any number of the Protestant denomination, and later in the 1800’s a Mormon; one faced some sort of disdain from the other. The fact that the Mormon question is appareling more frequently suggests that the Press and the President’s campaign will use that as a way to leverage votes among those masses who are not bright enough to think for themselves. (Women, Hispanics, African-American’s, the list goes on).

Here’s the crux of the matter, none of the above matters in this election. The only thing the voter has to ask themselves is: Are you better off today than you were four years ago? This does not necessarily apply to the very little left of the middle income American’s who are struggling, but to those who are trying to make ends meet on fixed incomes, or smaller incomes (even with families working two jobs). All the promises, and the rhetoric in the world, all the lies, and the division that will come from the left (speaking of division) will more than probably fall upon deaf ears.

The things about history and its repetitive cycle is that if one lives long enough, one can see the patterns develop that have a déjà vu about them – predictive of an outcome. Although with a certainty, one can say Mitt Romney is no Ronald Reagan, one can most certainly look to a comparison between Carter and Obama and see the writing on the wall. Which may account for the Ostrich effect shown by the Media (of which, it is apparent, Romney has no problem letting them know where he stands, a plus), in attempting to either hide (by lack of coverage) or demean (though coverage) Mitt Romney’s candidacy.

Bloggers Note: Those who have read this blog, even causally, understand that this blogger had supported every GOP candidate with the exception of Ron Paul, as the “anti-Romney” – for reasons as simple as “Fees” versus “Taxes” and the whole mandate on insurance, or on anything for that matter, including use of helmets – it is, the streak of independence that pervades, and the inclination to “stick it to the guy who raised the cost of fishing license.” (That would be Mitt Romney). However, in the real word, those aside, one is faced between the lesser of two evils, and in reviewing Romney, with all his flips and his flops, one finds him infinitely preferable to the current resident of the White House. Romney knows ups and downs, he’s won, he’s lost, he’s lived in an apartment and he managed to make something of himself – a success – one can disagree with business tactics, but that’s a 1960’s school of thought that sees all “corporations” as evil (See Hippies, including those leftovers that are currently Professors or teachers in our schools and on campus). Finally, it’s the pocketbook – as I watched my salary decline, while actually rising, as I watched food prices slowly rising and packaging slowly shrinking, as I watched people in grocery stores look at meat, meat, and walk away (see fixed incomes), watching the job market shrink and well-qualified, degreed and competent individuals be grateful to work for retail at minimum wage rather than face unemployment again. We have downsized as a nation, where those of us old enough to remember understood that was not the natural order of the U.S., that we would rise, and that we would have retirement savings or the ability at least for modest savings, that we would be self-sufficient, and enjoy the protection of the government (i.e. military protection to trash pickup), rather than rely on the government for the basics of food and shelter.), that our children would go to college, and find employment and be able to comfortably find an apartment, and pay off their student loans, similar to what those of this bloggers generation did in the 1970’s – this is not the course we are on now, and the only way out is to exercise to vote. Warn to Romney – You betcha – hook, line and sinker.