So far, people can say anything they want about President Obama as long as it is pretty.    But there are those who don’t have to worry, because they’re not on this continent, and not affected by the mainstream media as we know it, and they can say and write what they want. 

Pravda columnist (translated from the Russian) Mikhail Leontiev, who is deeply critical of the West, and the US in particular, fires multiple broadsides, which would send the American Left in a hissy fit of gargantuan proportions if mentioned by anyone in the States.  Leontiev begins by providing the Hollywood myth:

Barack Obama’s accession to power reminds the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster about America’s future, where the US president is is often portrayed as a black intellectual, who is greatly concerned about saving America from an imminent catastrophe.

We have all of that now: the black intellectual and the catastrophe. Let us just try to understand what it all means even if we are not average Americans.

Barack Obama appeared as the voice of many changes and the embodiment of changes during the elections. […]

And then he swerves into a head on collision with the Clinton Administration:

All vectors of the current US politics were built under Clinton’s rule. The NATO expansion, the bombing of Yugoslavia, the separation of Kosovo and even the doctrine to topple Saddam Hussein (Biden and Clinton took direct participation in its development) were all built during Clinton’s presidency. The Clinton’s administration used to have a much greater involvement in Russia’s internal affairs using the phenomenal loyalty of the Russian leadership of those times. It is worthy of note that Obama emerged as a politician against the background of anti-war sentiments.

[…]

The current crisis [economic crisis] was basically formed during Clinton’s stay in the office in spite of the fact that Bill Clinton is considered the President of the American Dream. Social and pension funds were emptied during Clinton’s presidency, and a colossal bubble was made on the stock market. Poor Bush could only delay the inevitable end.

The Clinton years lay the ground work for all Leontiev offers up as President Obama lack of understanding:

Obama himself can only say that the crisis has been caused with an irresponsible distribution of money and cheap loans. He has not been taught to deal with anything else.

“Only government can break the vicious cycles that are crippling out economy where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs which leads to even less spending; where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit,” Obama said.

“I think he is going to have a strong message for the bankers,” David Axelrod, a top Obama advisor said. “We want to see credit flowing again. We don’t want them to sit on any money that they get from taxpayers,” he added.

Leontiev even seems to ruminate over the fact that the American taxpayer is footing the bill:

The taxpayers’ money was spent long ago along with the money of the future generations of taxpayers. This is what they call a system crisis.

Obama said the American Dream was about people’s faith in the lives that they were building for themselves and for their children and grandchildren, to make their lives even better.

Peter Peterson, the former US Commerce Secretary believes that those empty promises only mean that children and grandchildren will have to pay today’s bills. Billionaire Peterson said that the current generation of Americans had guzzled away the lives of the next two generations. This is the end of the American dream.

Obama embodies the peak of this dream. A son of a Kenyan shepherd has become the president of the USA. This is the peak, and the downfall is inevitable.

Obama, who has not done anything bad to anyone yet, is destined to become the embodiment of the failure of great hopes and colossal illusions.

Keeping in mind the source of the article, which does mirror the thoughts of many Americans, as another bailout which will hit the trillion dollar mark is in the making, this analysis isn’t pretty.

Presently, this kind of criticism exists outside the mainstream media bubble.  The planners of the Obama/Democrat economic package better hope it pans out.  If it doesn’t, and then mutates into an economic monster, the media bubble will break.  Reality will rush in and wash the planners away, leaving an economic wreck behind. 

In a sadly ironic way, only a Russian can say what should be said right now.  Granted he’s not a friend, but facing the possibly of a serious economic clean-up is what is call, “Facing reality,” which ultimately means, we’ll need a woman to clean up the mess. 

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Some terrorists in Algeria died of plague.  “Boy, they got theirs!  Hip-hip-hurray!”  And it gets better!  Infected members just might pass the infection onto other Al-Qaeda cells in Afghanistan.   Isn’t that great?

But is it that great?  The big assumption is these guys just ‘got’ the plague, but no one was asking how.  Well, we do know some things and some things we don’t:

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication between the leadership of al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb (AQIM) and al Qaeda's leadership in the tribal region of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official.

"We don't know if this is biological or chemical," the official said.

So, we don’t know if it was Bubonic plague or something else, but the issue is the deaths occurred because al Qaeda and it associated cells aren’t giving up.  Inspiration—even desperation—is the Mother of Invention.  

I suspect that accidents like the one in Algeria won’t discourage committed terrorists, because the deaths have proven one thing, the biological or chemical weapon worked. 

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Yes, it is true that the worst aspect of the America’s economic difficulties is job loss, but falling oil prices have affected a notable drop in consumer prices:

For 2008, energy prices were down by 21.3 percent, with gas costs down by 43.1 percent. Food costs were unchanged in December, and rose by 5.8 percent for all of last year.

The sizable slowdown in overall inflation gave consumers more spending power. Average weekly earnings, after adjusting for inflation, showed an increase of 2.9 percent last year, a big improvement from 2007 when average weekly earnings fell by 1 percent.

Sounds good, right?  But—there’s always a ‘but’—the mainstream media just can’t help editorializing and speculation on the negative. 

However, the typical household may not feel those benefits as they watch the value of their homes and stock holdings plunge, and see job layoffs soar.

Again, job losses are a serious concern.  No one should argue that.  But any positive economic news, even the mood of the average American consumer, is targeted and negated by the Media:

Consumer confidence did rise slightly in January but remained at comparatively depressed levels, with continued expectations of a deep and long recession, a survey showed on Friday.

Anyone in his right mind might simply say, “Confidence is high, even though there’s a rough road ahead,” but not the Media.   The continual assault on consumer confidence has been on going since 2007: 

Consumer confidence, holding in the face of increasing gas prices and word of weaker job growth, matched its 2007 average this week.

            […]

Other factors have likely had a balancing effect, such as low unemployment and positive wage growth. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week reported a cooling job market, with fewer new workers added to payrolls than economists were expecting -- the fewest since November 2004. And the bureau said wage growth was showing signs of slowing.

[…]

The question is whether other, more positive factors can keep confidence afloat. There is a chance: In one component of the CCI, 65 percent rated their personal finances positively this week, up four points from two weeks ago.

Comparing 2007 and 2009, the reporting all starts to sound the same.  The good news overlaid by the bad.  Some may say reporting is reporting, rhetoric is rhetoric, but words, as used by the mainstream media, appear to be a cudgel with which to beat down real signs of economic optimism. 

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An Oscar nomination can do much for an actor or actress*.   Along with more money, more visibility, a greater latitude in choice of films and parts, the availability of the ‘soapbox’ increases as one spends more time in front of the camera and being interviewed.   

Mickey Rourke, having been nominated for Best Actor for The Wrestler, knows this as well and used it: 

ROURKE: 'BUSH WAS IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME'

Monday January 12,2009

Actor MICKEY ROURKE sympathises with U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH - insisting he doesn't know how any politician could have successfully navigated America after the 9/11 attacks on New York.

The Hollywood tough-guy spoke out about his political views in a candid interview with Britain's GQ magazine, and admits he doesn't understand why so many people blame Bush for a string of world issues - including Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism in the West.

            […]

Mickey Rourke has always been a favorite of mine, and it’s good to see him make it to the top, again, after a twenty year climb, but I hope his habit of being candid doesn’t precipitate another Hollywood-induced tumble down the hill.

*As soon as there’s no Oscar award for ‘Best Actress’ etc., I’ll stop using the word actress.

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As we all know the world economic downturn took the price of oil with it and OPEC moved fast to try and bolster the price of crude.  In December 2008, OPEC decided on a production cut:

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a bold but not unexpected move to prop up falling oil prices, said Wednesday that it would cut production by 2.2 million barrels a day starting next month. The cut is the largest ever announced by OPEC.

OPEC hopes the cuts will stabilize prices, which have dropped by more than $100 a barrel since reaching a record high in July. The worsening economic downturn has sapped demand worldwide.

It didn’t work out.

[. . .] traders were unmoved by the production cut, which had been widely expected. U.S. crude for January delivery sank $3.54 to settle at $40.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

But there was hope, the fighting between Hamas and Israeli drove the price passed $47 a barrel, but Israeli military operations are not the kind of market forces Middle Eastern countries are interested in.  Any conflict involving Israeli has unsettling effects, but OPEC should have no fear, because the mainstream media is always seeking out new signs of hope:

Gasoline prices rose for the sixth straight day Monday, according to a nationwide survey of gas station credit card swipes - a sign that oil companies expect higher demand later this year.

The price of regular unleaded rose 1.4 cents to a national average of $1.672 a gallon, motorist group AAA reported.

Rising prices at this time of year are a sign that oil companies are preparing for an increase in demand in the spring and summer, according to Jason Toews, co-founder of GasBuddy.com, a service that lets motorists post local fuel prices online.

Oil companies "don't like to shock us," said Toews. "They like to ease us in to higher prices."

The media has no aversion to higher fuel prices either, so between oil company expectations and armed conflict, it would seem that increasing gas prices are in the bag.  Still, hope can be fleeting, even though 555 have died and close to 3000 have been wound, the fighting in Gaza just isn’t enough.  

 [. . .] dealers said they did not expect prices to continue their rally despite the conflict in the oil-rich Middle East.

"Even though the short-term geopolitical issues of Gaza are keeping the strength in oil, continuing poor economic sentiment will put a lid on prices," said Victor Shum, a senior analyst at international energy consultants Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global said the conflict was a factor but was probably not significant enough in isolation to sustain a rally in oil prices.

What is left to do when the cutting of oil production and armed conflict fail to foment a rise in oil prices?  “Shum said the fundamentals of the market remain unchanged and prices would only improve if there is "clear evidence of output cuts...”  So, the only hope is putting the ball back in OPEC’s court:

 (OPEC), whose 12 members together produce about 40 percent of world oil, last month agreed to cut output by 2.2 million barrels per day in a bid to shore up crude prices.

Iran's OPEC representative, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, said on Monday that the organisation would hold an extraordinary meeting in Kuwait next month, the state television website reported.

But he added the exact date has not been fixed yet and no invitation has been sent to OPEC members.

The media undoubtedly considers this meeting ‘hope postponed’ but in the Middle East petroleum props up governments.  The cutting of production has not increased the price and another cut may do nothing but decrease an already dwindling profit margin. 

When OPEC and armed conflict become unreliable, all the media can do is wait and watch for some other sign of hope, such as government intervention. 

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The New Congress WMD Report entitled:

WORLD AT RISK:
The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism

is available to be read anyone who wants to click on the title. 

Here’s a quote from the report:

“Only a thin wall of terrorist ignorance and inexperience protects us.”  Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig

How thin is the wall?  No one really knows.  

I haven’t read the entire report, just a parts, but from what I’ve read and taken in from others, a biological attack is the most probable form of terrorist attack.  Not nuclear.  Actually, a nuclear a attack, even a ‘dirty’ bomb has to many moving parts simply because of the radiation involved.

Now, for those who may be interested the RAND Corporation has a report on the effects of a nuclear attack:  Considering the Effects of a Catastrophic Terrorist Attack.  It is worth the look.

Getting back to another terrorist attack on American solid, I just wonder how surprised people will be if one occurs.

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