What Would Mussolini Do?

Over the next few years for better or worse, this will be the question asked. Why? Despite the fact that Il Duce is history, Il Duchess and the President now run the show.

It is trite to compare political opponents to World War II villains, but in the case of economics this works. Mussolini used an economic crisis to vault himself into power, then slowly transformed Italy into a country where the private sector could not move an inch without the government's say so.

Is it really getting that bad? Yes. In the past two months alone, Obama and Nancy Pelosi (Il Duchess) have, one or the other or both, proposed to limit executive salaries by law, fired the CEO of General Motors, contemplated taking over the banking system, forced Chrysler into a merger with a foreign company, and created such massive debt that we will only be able to pay it off by taxing the bejesus out of everyone or conquering an empire. Fascists usually end up doing both.

In a recent Wall Street Journal column, Stuart Varney explained that there was anger, not jubilation, when some of the banks had the guts to return TARP money. What the Bush Administration would have hailed as the resilience of capitalism, made the Obama crew angry. Their goal is control of the banking industry.

Nothing gets a fascist more hot and bothered than controlling a bank.

When the government takes so much control over economics, bad things happen. When a company abuses workers, the environment, or anything else, it can be held to account. Who holds the government to account when it steps beyond its bounds? During the Great Depression the government forced thousands into homelessness because some bureaucrats wanted to turn Tennessee farmland into hydroelectric power sources. Did anyone care about all those families on the streets? No, because the liberal bureaucrats kept saying it was for the greater good. For whose greater good? Certainly not those families now homeless who had been there since the 1700s. Many of them received those lands as grants for service in the Revolution. No private corporation could force those people from their property without paying them what the owner thought it was worth. And most would not have sold at any price anyone would have been willing to pay.

This is what happens when government takes over economic functions. People get hurt and there is no chance of accountability. It's called fascism. It happened before to a limited extent. What will our dabbling in fascist economics lead to this time? How many people have to have property and freedom stripped away before the voters say enough is enough?

The Media would have attacked Bush for this.

Bow Movements

The leader of the free world should show respect to world leaders, but never show subservience.

Somali Pirates, Q-Ships and Convoys

As early as 1783 Islamic Pirates were attacking US Merchantmen off the coast of Africa capturing them and demanding ransom. In 1786 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams tried to negotiate with a representative of the terrorist. They were told, “It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every muslim who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise” by Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja.

On August 1^st, 1801 the frigate USS Enterprise engaged and defeated an Islamic Pirate ship in the Mediterranean that had been attacking US shipping. It was the first time that a nation had stood up to the Islamic terrorist. Europe then as now just paid ransom and practiced a process of appeasement with terrorist. For the next few years the US Navy patrolled the Mediterranean defeating the terrorist on the high seas and US Marines attacked on shore. The battle of Tripoli, Libya is remembered in the Marine Hymn and was the first time America took on the Islamic Terrorist and won over 200 years ago.

Today the Islamic Pirates are at it again off the coast of Africa. They captured another US Merchantmen, the “Maersk Alabama,” but unlike the other Merchantmen of the world, the US crew fought back. After 200 years the Islamic Pirates have forgotten how Americans react, but the US Navy must respond as it did 200 years ago.

The world has changed, but the one thing the terrorist understand hasn’t and that is a show of force. We learn from our history, or at least we should. Two things that have worked in the past will work here. The first is to form convoys as was done in World War I and II. This is where merchant ships form a fleet and are escorted through hostile waters by armed naval vessels. This has worked in the past and will work here. The Somali Pirates would be fools to take on actual warships.

Since the Islamic Pirates are not likely to attack an escorted convoy, they will look for easier prey, those lone ships that wander into their hunting ground. This is where the Q-Ships come in. Q-Ships were used to lure German U-boats to the surface in both World War I and II. The Q-Ships look like normal merchant vessels, but in reality caring no cargo. They are crewed by navy personal, carried hidden heavy weapons, and the cargo holds are filled with empty oil drums to keep them afloat should they be damaged in battle. When the U-boats would surface to attack the unarmed merchantmen, the Q-Ship reveals its armament and attacks. Today a modern Q-ship would be the perfect weapon to take on the Muslim Pirates and destroy them, leaving enough survivors to warn other pirates that all merchantmen are not what they appear. On second thought leave no survivors, let them all come out to engage the Q-Ships.

Barney Frank doesn't like being ask a question

This Canadian Has It Right

I was lucky enough to get to go last weekend to the Society of Military History Conference in Tennessee. There were way too many panels for me to get to see all of them, but the ones I attended were very interesting.

The best presentation came from Sean M. Maloney from the Royal Military College of Canada. He is a professional historian whose job is to follow Canadian combat forces in Afghanistan and write the official history of battles.

Maloney talked in general about military history and one of the dominant themes was respect. He explained to the audience that officers and enlisted men alike deserve the benefit of the doubt in writing about war. Sometimes this means no Monday morning quarterbacking, in other words do not judge the actions of officers and troops making decisions on the fly if they turn out to be wrong. What may seem foolish when sitting on one's comfortable couch was still a decision most likely made by a man under intense stress trying to win a victory and avoid losses as much as possible. Maloney said "you sleep much better after your big decisions than do these men after theirs."

He also spoke of the violence of the battlefield, that we cannot judge the actions of men in combat zones, even if they sometimes seem excessive. Again, people make judgment calls in the most extreme of circumstances. Sometimes they are correct, other times not. The point is to treat soldiers and officers with utmost respect because we do not walk in their boots.

Maloney then went on to describe the very different culture of Afghanistan. Historians and especially journalists need to take his words to heart. They need to remember when they write words or snap a photograph that these are men and woman who choose to sacrifice for their country and they deserve a high standard of respect when one is writing about them.

"Debt As Far As the Eye Can See"

Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito in a Charleston Daily Mail editorial blasted the Democratic budget as one that threatens to saddle our future with unmanageable baggage.

She stated:

Families throughout our state continue to tighten their belts, watch their family budgets, and look for new ways to limit their spending. They're looking for responsible ways to cut back and save for the future.

Their prudence, however, is in stark contrast to the debate taking place in Congress over a $3.5 trillion federal budget that spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.
This $3.5 trillion is, of course, in addition to the $700 billion financial rescue plan, the $787 billion economic stimulus package, and trillions of dollars used as a backstop for AIG, Citigroup and other firms.

As I've said before, some of that spending - particularly key infrastructure spending through the stimulus package - can have an important economic impact.

Yet a pattern is emerging that is troubling to me, to many of my congressional colleagues and to many West Virginians. Simply put, Congress is setting the stage for an unsustainable level of debt.

In fact, the budget we considered last week lays out a framework to add yet another $5 trillion to our nation's debt over the next five years.

There's little question that the president and his new administration inherited debt, but it doesn't strike me as the best course of action to expand it at a record pace.

The proposed budget would increase taxes by approximately $1.2 trillion over 10 years, placing a heavier burden on job-creating small businesses. It would increase spending by $1 trillion over five years, placing even more of a burden on regular taxpayers.

In 2010 alone, government spending amounts to 25 percent of our nation's gross domestic product. The deficit for 2010 stands to top a trillion dollars.

As Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee has said, "We're seeing the prospect of another doubling of debt, and that's unsustainable."

Even worse, according to Capito, the Obamacrats seem to intend to institute cap and trade regardless of the opposition of the United States Senate. In other words, create federal regulations without the input of Congress. This would cripple West Virginia's coal industry, which provides over 1/3 of all tax revenues for the state. Obama and the left wingers do not care if West Virginia collapses, we did not vote for him anyway. According to Obama himself "I won." And that is all that matters to him.

Shelley Moore Capito and Robert C. Byrd have ferociously attacked Obama's plans in this regard. They are from different parties, but on the same page on this issue crucial to West Virginia. Hopefully West Virginia's remaining delegation will fight just as hard for the state and not fear the wrath of Nancy Pelosi.

Who pays when left wing Democrats want to pass heavy taxes and spend on nonsense plans? We do. For a long, long, long time.

Over stepping TSA officials meet a 25 year old that knows his Constitutional Rights

West Virginia got a Reprieve

The "Cap and Trade" plan supported by Al Gore failed a crucial test in the Senate this past week. It is a victory for the US economy and especially for energy producing states like West Virginia. 66 Senators voted to require a 60 vote majority to impose any "Cap and Trade" legislation. This will make it harder for the Obama administration to pass this anti-economic growth legislation.

The fear is that the Obama administration will try to by pass the Congress and the Constitution by imposing stricter regulations through the Environmental Protection Agency. Some of these regulations will reach deep into local governments causing increasing taxes across the board putting even more strain on the sluggish economy.

Potomac Highland Readers Support Drug Testing

This weeks poll asked:

Should lawmakers pass a bill requiring people who receive government assistance, such as welfare, unemployment, food stamps, etc, be required to pass a drug test in order to receive those taxpayer funded benefits?

75% Responded Yes
25% Responded No

The Sample Size was 49

Senator Dave Sypolt declared top lawmaker in Charleston

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