Eleanor Duckwall's Spotlight

The World Financial Crisis - A "Prescribed Burn"?

Also known as a "controlled burn," forest-service personnel are known to set whole tracks of woodlands on fire to "eliminate" underbrush and decaying matter that could fuel wildfires created by any kind of spark. On-the-line fire fighters also set up "fire lines" and "back fires" in order to deny fuel to in-progress blazes, or to direct fires away from populated areas.

Landowners also have used controlled burns to clear fields or to eliminate "unwanted species" of flora or fauna. Could it be possible that this concept could be applied to social problems and human beings in the form known as "creative destruction"?

Social unrest is part of the human condition. We are made more aware of this fact because of our own discount here in the West.

A Blast from the Past - "How Dagger John Saved New York's Irish"

My family, more Anglo-Saxon than Irish, enjoys "celebrating" St. Patrick's Day by watching the annual parade on Television an consuming Irish-style fare, we can't help but remember, as my mother puts it: " 'how this dark side' of the family was responsible for "unfortunate happenings" in our personal history and that of the United States."

Here is William J. Stern published in 1997 at City Journal:

We are not the first generation of New Yorkers puzzled by what to do about the underclass. A hundred years ago and more, Manhattan’s tens of thousands of Irish seemed a lost community, mired in poverty and ignorance, destroying themselves through drink, idleness, violence, criminality, and illegitimacy. What made the Irish such miscreants? Their neighbors weren’t sure: perhaps because they were an inferior race, many suggested; you could see it in the shape of their heads, writers and cartoonists often emphasized. In any event, they were surely incorrigible.

Combating Lawfare - A "Soft" Jihad

The most insidious way of conquering another is to rot from within. Some very astute groups are using America's own institutions for that purpose. Lawfare is one strategy now being used by Islamists and others to manipulate our institutions for their advantage. Here's the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT):

Obama/Pelosi Perfect the Friday Night Document Dump --- An Outrage!

Here's a pdf of the long-awaited ObamaCare (HR-3590) "Reconciliation Bill." The expected vote is in two days on Thursday.

So much for transparency. Not only will Congressmen have difficulty reading this monster, the comptrollers that are supposed to evaluate the COST will have to SCRAMBLE to analyze and get their report out BEFORE the vote as well as those that are determined to limit the most egregious attempts to intrude into our lives.

It's an outrage that there is so little time to consider a bill that will give government power to significantly intrude into our lives!

The COST will be tallied in more than money...

Robert Spencer Speaks at Reagan Ranch Conference, March 13, 2010

Spencer speaks at the Young America's Foundation High School Conference in Santa Barbara, CA, at the Reagan Ranch Center.

Slouching Toward a Police State?

"You better read this sitting down" is the exhortation of many bloggers and commentators. Your reaction will either cause you to faint or, my favorite: "...cause blood to shoot out of your eyes," Glenn Beck's line.

Yes, although I don't agree with everything he says, I admire the way he breaks down his message so that every shlub is able to understand his point, most important: Why.

"Why," my favorite word, the one that drove my parents bonkers.

Explaining the how is a matter of laying out the facts, but explaining why, showing how one arrived to a conclusion, and what it means is education and should be the crux of every teacher's lesson plan, as opposed to instruction of skills, concepts and facts. Thus, I find Beck to be an educator rather than an instructor who gets up in front of millions to regurgitate facts dug up by his staff. I like that.

In case you haven't guess, I plan to explain how we are moving a police state, and why I formed my opinion, what it means, and yes, you should be sitting down. (And grab a roll of paper towels or box of tissue because blood could begin to spurt out of your eyes.

My recent posts in a series have been chronically the excesses of the present Cuban government, how the dictator was able to enslave a nation, and what it means for us, now and in the future.

It could never happen here, right? I am sure that the Cuban middle and upper classes in a country with a 400 year history thought that such dreadful metamorphosis could not happen there ... either.

Contemporary Conditions in Cuba: Lessons for Americans?

A series explaining how Castro was able to come to power during the late 1950s will continue, but I can't pass up this gem explaining what contemporary Cuba is like.

I asked these questions in a previous post: "Why should we care what happens in Cuba?" and "What lessons could the Cuban Revolution teach us?" Here is the answer:

Megan Smith, The Cuba I Saw at The American Thinker:

Interested in seeing Barack Obama's dreams for the U.S. in real time? Pack some toilet paper, Tylenol, and towels. Then hop a plane to Cuba. Just ninety miles off Florida's coast, Obama's ideas are alive and kicking.

In fact, visiting Cuba today may be more meaningful than ever before. Touring the country of 11 million lets you see everything the far left "knows" is right, just, and good for all of us.

Step out at Havana's José Martí airport to throngs of Cubans. The people -- warm and welcoming -- meet friends and relatives at the airport. Hundreds wait for arrivals. Though the government boasts 3.4% unemployment, judging by airport greeters and others hanging around town, those stats are questionable.

Cuba has two currencies: the CUCs (Cuban Convertible Pesos, pronounced "kooks"), which buy the good stuff, and the Cuban peso: fairly worthless. Cubans are paid in pesos. Twenty-five pesos equal one CUC. It's nearly impossible to earn enough pesos to purchase the number of CUCs needed to buy better items. So Cuba's black market is thriving.

Friends and associates that have traveled to Cuba confirm that arriving Americans are required to convert dollars to CUCs. Here, here, here, and here are some sites giving vert interesting information.

Lessons of the Castro Revolution - The March 13, 1957 attack on Batista in the Presidential Palace; parallels in US and world contemporary events - Part 1

March 13, 1957, a group of insurgents, radicalized students attempted to assassinate the then Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista in the office he used in the imposing Presidential Palace located in the center of Havana, Cuba, the "Paris of the Caribbean."

Batista had been in power since the 1930s either as the "power behind the throne," or as a sitting president, and although his policies caused unrest, his grip on the nation seemed secure.

Led by Menelayo Mora, the young gunmen quickly overpowered the few armed guards, entered the building, found the office empty. Signs of recent occupancy were the remains of his lunch and an ashtray as Batista had broken his normal routine to return to the upstairs family quarters to check on his young son who was ill at the time.

After trying to get to the family residence, they were gunned down by remaining soldiers and police in a shootout in the street.

Disillusioned but not gone

Readers of this blog have probably wondered why posting has been sparse, even non-existent.

The fact is I'm disillusioned, smacked down, bummed out.

But fury is building again. I hope upcoming posts will bring you back for more.

Eleanor

Obama at the Bat - This is GREAT!!

Hattip: American Digest blog