Laigle’s Forum

You can’t have it both ways. Either you want to stop the tyrant or you want to assist him.

by Don Hank

Pat Condell has a unique way with language, as a recent video shows.

Look at this delightful phrase: ” [the EU]…will collapse under the weight of its own illegitimacy.”

It occurs to me that, due to their opposition to tyranny, atheists like Pat are actually in the same boat as biblical Christians, though seemingly at opposite poles, and our plight –  as well as our tragic inability to grasp it – is as described by Martin Niemöller in that famous quote

“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist…[etc]“

A sincere and questioning mind will, absent bias and external obstructions, come round to the truth. Atheism can be a painful first step in questioning received wisdom, but it may never be the last.

National unity means joining in common cause with everyone who opposes the common enemy, at least in the opposition to that enemy and until he is vanquished. There are no superiors or inferiors in that struggle, just people yearning for their share of the rights and voice that are rightfully theirs. Their God-given rights as we say. The term “God-given” may offend some people with claims to “higher enlightenment,” but consider that it was precisely the notion that man can create rights out of thin air that gave birth to the despotic EU – just as the corollary notion that central banks – part of that same entity — can create money out of thin air contributed mightily to our current financial malaise. Those perverse ideas are twins.

I doubt it has ever occurred to Pat that his militant atheism is part of the cultural Marxism that has been foisted on Europe for generations by the very elites he rails against. After all, the Fabian Society was founded (in London) for a twofold purpose:

1. to spread socialism, and

2. to eliminate Judeo-Christian culture.

Today’s elites are the spiritual and ideological heirs to that agenda, and yet, many of their putative opponents are unwittingly assisting them in their quest to destroy our Western culture and heritage by assailing Judeo-Christianity.

Pat is part of our landscape, his words are too powerful to ignore, and he is absolutely right that the EU has stolen from Europeans. But he needs to understand that opposing only the political agenda of the Imperial Powers he rails against is an incomplete task — even a futile one — unless we oppose their social agenda as well. Opposition to the enemy’s destructiveness is a vital first step. Railing against constructive faith that ultimately can replace what that agenda has torn asunder negates that opposition.

This is because a vital second step is restoring what the enemy has destroyed, and the will to restore it comes in no small measure from our inner spiritual resources invested in a common vision of national health and prosperity.

The myth that atheism was a vital component of the Enlightenment is false. There were in fact two Enlightenments, one that sought to reconcile the thought of Aristotle, for example, with Christianity, as Lawrence de Medici had done in Florence, and the other Enlightenment – embodied, for example, by Voltaire, which taught that religion itself had held back progress and needed to be abolished. Devotees of the latter branch cite, by way of support, the difficulties that some scientists like Copernicus and Galileo, have encountered with the Vatican. Yet they seem unaware that Roger Bacon’s pioneering work on the scientific method was in fact sponsored by Pope Clement IV.

Those spiritual resources we will need to rebuild our civilization once the enemy is overcome are, to paraphrase Pat, like the air we breathe and the water we drink.

We can’t afford to throw this baby out with the bath water.

http://kleinverzet.blogspot.com/2011/11/dose-of-cold-hard-truth.html

Hey, that ain’t hair you’re cutting. It’s our kids’ future!

by Don Hank

My mom used to give me haircuts, but she was always a little nervous and often nicked me in the ear with the scissors. That really hurt.

This haircut on the Greek bonds will hurt a LOT MORE.

Quote (see link below):

In essence, the haircut on Greek debt [haircut: partial default, in this case, decreed by law. DH] is a signal to investors that they should require a much higher rate of return on the debt of all of the PIIGS.  This is going to make the financial collapse of all of the PIIGS much more likely.

Absolutely. Not only that, the Greek government officials and Greeks benefitting from government largesse have lived high on the hog for years, and for them, that is an unalienable entitlement. Many of them get nasty when someone touches their entitlements. They burn tires, wreck vehicles, throw stones through windows, etc, breaking things they can’t afford to replace.

Now that Europe has given a 50% haircut on their sovereign debt, many will figure they can continue to live like kings and the next time around, good old Germany and the ECB and EFSF will just bail them out again, with more “haircuts” for their bonds and more leverage. Dream on. The German people are already PO’d! And with good reason.

As this author points out, the party can’t go on forever. They are tightening the noose around Europe’s neck.

“Leverage” in this context means that the banks will be able to lend 4-5 times more than before simply by issuing more credit — NOT MONEY, because they have no money at the bottom line of the balance sheets, only debt. Now even before this re-leveraging, they were leveraged to the max and already issuing loans against nothing but hot air. That’s the same as printing money, as they did in the failed Weimar Republic. Weimar failed BECAUSE they did this, but the money printing was sold as a “solution” to their problem. Now they’re trying a little — no a LOT — of hair of the dog that bit them in the butt before, except not just Germany but most of Europe. How short their memories are.

This money the banks are lending is money they don’t have. It is debt, the opposite of money. They are dealing in red numbers, paying off red numbers with more red numbers. That is like climbing higher up the mountain to reach the bottom. GUARANTEED it won’t work and when the crash comes it will be dramatic, people will get hurt and Greeks will be back burning tires again.

Maybe someone will hire them to do that. They’re getting pretty proficient at it.

by Don Hank

The site linked to below (The Economic Collapse) had predicted just a day or two ago that the “haircut” on Greek debt would increase the chances of recovery of the PIIGS. It didn’t take long for that prophecy to be realized, as they report today.

Here are my 2 cents, incl a prediction of my own. I hope it turns out to be wrong:

According to the Greek language online newspaper “Express,” the European “leaders” met with the bankers before this “haircut” edict was handed down. They had originally spoken of a 21% hiarcut, but they were faking. They knew it would be 50% but they had to soften up the bankers.

It is my humble opinion that they made these bankers a deal they couldn’t refuse. First they TOLD them the haircut would be 50%, at variance with what they had said (they had lied, to put it nicely).

According to this Greek article, the rip-off to the European banks amounted to 67.5 billion euros, or 20$ less that the Greek government would have to pay.

My prediction (I truly hope I am wrong):

The European powers (remember, this is the group that exported “democracy” the the Arabs, but they won’t give their own people democracy. THEY make all the decisions) will eventually get around to utilizing one of their many financial tentacles — e.g., the ECB, the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) or other, perhaps one to be created — either to BUY PIIGS bonds outright or to financially assist private buyers to buy them (using both European and US public funds — see last link below!), in order to circumvent the market. This is because no private person or entity will eventually touch a Greek bond, for ex, with a 3 meter pole, unless enticed with promises of public money.

I say this because I know:

1–the past behavior of the European elites

2–their Marxist philosophy underlying that behavior.

The real raîson d’être of the European Empire (European union) and its tentacle agencies has always been to redistribute wealth. Unlike the Soviet Union, they no longer can do that — for political reasons — openly, from one group to another. But by pretending to “stabilize” Europe, they can distribute the wealth from northern countries with a sound work ethic to southern countries with no palpable work ethic at all. [Footnote: this is analogous to the way the US government orchestrated our current financial crisis by first forcing the banks to lend to the insolvent under the infamous CRA, another wealth redistribution scheme].

By allowing the fiscally irresponsible Greece to join the Euro Zone, they knew they would ultimately be able to transfer billions of euros of wealth to that country under the pretext of “stabilization.” They won’t quit even now that they have literally destabilized the whole continent by their so-called “stabilization measures.”

They have all the power and they will continue to rob the citizens of each member country until they — and we — are dirt poor or until the people rise up and throw off their yoke.

It will be a true European Spring and the elites will not be in charge this time.

Don Hank

How the US will pay for the scam:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPMFMxuhHAM

Obama’s Libya:

I don’t mind one bit saying “I told you so” to all those — particularly journalists – who ignored my objective, fact-supported arguments against Western military and foreign policy in the Middle East and wound up with egg on their face as a result. (I have been trying to revive the nearly-lost scientific method and apply it to journalism, which has become nothing but a series of propaganda mills. So far, there seem to be no takers).

Obama and NATO must bear the responsibility for the fall of Kaddafi, and I have warned that this fall of a stable secular Middle Eastern leader will come back to bite the West hard in the butt.

Now Fox News and others are finally cautiously discussing the fact that the rebels are an unknown quantity and may not be as benign as they were portrayed back when they seemed to have much less chance of winning. Last night it was pointed out by Sean Hannity and Oliver North that they are a mix of tribal representatives and terrorists and their new proposed constitution already calls for sharia law, in stark contrast to Kadaffi’s secular constitution (miss him yet?).

Most telling was the remark: “Obama owns Libya.”

In case you have forgotten our direct military involvement in Libya, in addition to Obama’s repeated calls for Kadaffi (sp Gadhaffi in the linked article) to step down, here is the report on the joint French-American Operation Odyssey Dawn the day after it happened:

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x617854948/France-U-S-bomb-Libyan-positions

 Back in March, I found no mainstream commentators on the left or right criticizing the West’s role in this operation or in Egypt. In fact, there has been a steady stream of “conservative” criticism against Obama for not going after Kadaffi more resolutely. (The clueless candidates — most recently Bachmann — mostly followed their clueless lead, bleating similar statements). Generally, there is a dearth of substantive criticism of any Western military involvement by left or right, no doubt for political or career reasons (many fear appearing unpatriotic, even though honest and objective commentary would ultimately save Western lives and Western embarrassment), but also due to a serious shortage of brain power. Now that a Marxist is in the White House, mainstream conservatives are finally criticizing our involvement in a Middle East conflict, but mainly because they can pin the fallout on the Left. But none of them mentioned that the regimes in post-Carter Iran, post-Clinton Kosovo, post-Bush Iraq, post-rebellion Egypt and the Ivory Coast, once ruled by secularists, are now in the hands of democratically elected Islamist leaders or mobs who openly persecute and murder Christians wholesale  (see, for example, the 4th link below on the Ivory Coast massacre of Christians presided over by the UN) and do not believe in Israel’s right to exist. (A nation that allows Muslims to live within its boundaries, whereas Muslim nations typically forbid Israelis — or often any Jews — even to visit. How fair and democratic is that?).

By contrast, I (who have nothing to lose, am not being paid for this and answer to no one) was warning repeatedly about the error in our involvement in the Middle East, not just by Democrat presidents, notably Obama, but also by Republicans (BTW, Reagan, who pulled us out of Lebanon, was an exception), and pointing out then-unheeded facts to state my case, reminding, for example, that the local Christian populations were always the ones who paid the biggest price when a stable secular leader was replaced by a mob, which eventually, inevitably, turned into an Islamic-led government with significantly less freedom for the people than under the “cruel dictators” we replaced – as well as vastly less diversity, which, oddly, Western powers prize in their countries. Israel, of course, came closer to the brink of war with each successive “win” and Iran was given a permanent pass by the West, as though these merciless enforcers of brutal Sharia law, who execute countless people for sexual misdeeds and inappropriate clothing, were lily-white defenders of human rights (as we speak, there are 2 Americans jailed in Iran for “spying,” on flimsy evidence). I sent links to each of my articles on this subject to thousands of potential readers, including major news outlets, inclucing to all Fox News personalities. News people typically do not respond, but judging by last night’s commentary by Sean, perhaps they had read some of what I said here:

http://laiglesforum.com/my-government-is-killing-me/2159.htm

here

http://laiglesforum.com/spare-me-the-crocodile-tears-when-northern-africa-explodes/2215.htm

here

http://laiglesforum.com/how-western-powers-abet-christian-persecution/2513.htm

here

http://laiglesforum.com/us-media-cover-up-ivory-coast-massacre-details/2398.htm

here

http://laiglesforum.com/why-i-am-not-on-our-side-any-more/2174.htm

here

http://laiglesforum.com/the-far-left-connection-to-the-near-east-rebellion/2224.htm

and here

http://laiglesforum.com/2286/2286.htm

Olavo de Carvalho also warned you here:

http://laiglesforum.com/strengthening-the-enemies/2126.htm

Look, I don’t mind people calling me crazy. But you journalists who lead the Western world by providing information to decision makers, should know by now that, in the long run, ignoring warnings about the West’s disastrous involvement in the Middle East is going to hurt you a whole lot more than it does the warning party.

Don Hank

by Don Hank

If the latest report by Debkafile is true, then the Libyan war is unofficially over, Obama has made Russia the peacemaker, and NATO has ended its air strikes. A reasonable layperson’s analysis of this report might be this:

The EU has overextended itself politically, economically and militarily.

1–Politically: It has always been a de facto dictatorship. It was originally touted as a strictly economic scheme and the trusting nations of Europe bought it on that basis. Then, surprise, it started adding massive bureaucratic trappings, mostly of a political nature – a court of justice, a Constitution, a Parliament, a Commission, a ministry of foreign affairs, etc, whose functions went far beyond the economic realm and into the everyday lives of every European. Result: It now looks a lot like an empire, but without the usual sense of nationhood that has typically supported empires in the past.

No one loves the European flag. Yet, oblivious to the fact that people can be controlled indefinitely only if they love their nation or have some traditional loyalties to it, the EU has threatened UK groups who refuse to fly the EU flag on Europe Day.

They have also made and enforced laws favoring the Muslim minority but discriminating against the Christian majority.

Because of its strong-arm tactics and its contempt for the people the EU pretends to rule, euroskeptics are gathering strength everywhere and the popularity of the European central government is on the wane. UK citizens in a recent poll have said they want out. The analogies with the USSR are too numerous to mention.

2–Economically: The EU started pushing for an end to national currencies. For example, it pushed aside the Deutschmark, which if left intact today, would easily outperform the euro. Then it started taking from the rich nations to give to the poor nations. Keen observers knew, for example, that Greece was not really eligible to join ranks with richer nations with a more mature sense of fiscal responsibility. But the motive was not to have peers join together in common cause but rather to redistribute the wealth Marxian style. Most were deceived into believing the “communism is dead” narrative and couldn’t quite grasp that Marx’s wealth redistribution scheme doesn’t have to apply only to individuals or groups within nations. It can — and did — apply on a nation-to-nation level. The EU Comrades gave “to each [nation] according to its need” without concern for the corollary: ”from each according to its ability.” Italy is the latest domino to have fallen in a cascading collapse and there is no one left to bail it out.

3–Militarily: The EU joined forces with the UN and the US to oust stable leaders in the Middle East and replace them with whoever screamed the loudest, destroyed more property and burned more tires. De facto, parading as “democracy” or “freedom,” it was a veritable blood bath for Christians.  The Assyrian Christians were forced to flee Iraq. The Copts are fleeing Egypt. 1000 Christians were slaughtered in the Ivory Coast in an area under UN control. And so on. The last nation they attacked, Libya, resisted, and now they — and their US partners — are out of options.

If he wanted to, the layperson might also point out, as an aside, that the EU is failing on the propaganda front as well.

The EU was the biggest donor to the Climatic Research Centre of the University of East Anglia, which was purportedly charged with compiling and analyzing world climate data over the decades, but de facto, knew that its real job was to prop up the “global warming” narrative to support the policies of the EU and most Western national governments. A group of hackers revealed this real mission to the world.

The latest propaganda effort is a worldwide campaign to foist the EU’s latest scheme to legalize drugs on an unsuspecting world, based on a report originally issued by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, purportedly showing that Portugal’s decriminalization experiment is a “resounding success” in reducing drug use in that country. The EMCDDA is wholly owned and operated by the EU. Like the global warming “research,” this report is also unraveling, thanks to the efforts of a valiant group of Portuguese doctors who have shown that drug use is actually on the increase in their country. (See the last 7 reports at Laigle’s Forum).

On the whole, the sum total of the EU’s efforts has amounted to a stinging defeat on all fronts.

Economically, militarily and politically – not to mention propaganda-wise – the EU looks to be headed for the dust bin of history.