Farewell to 2011, a Weird Year
As 2011 breathes it last, we stand on the precipice between a disaster-filled year (the Japanese earthquake-tsunami-nuclear meltdown; the Virginia earthquake; Hurricane Irene; wildfires in Texas; and the Halloween storm in the Northeast; the spring tornado outbreak, wiping out Joplin, Mo.) and a year that promises political to disasters to come, following on the Arab “Spring” and the Occupy Wall Street protests, not to mention the siege of the Wisconsin State Capitol.
There were some happy moments in the midst of mayhem: the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Kate has restored modesty, maturity, and manners to the fashion world (Lady Gaga take note). The gossip tabloids have it that Kate is pregnant with twins and suffering the same eating disorder as her deceased mother-in-law.
2011 was the year of the bizarre: Charlie Sheen, Anthony Weiner, the Wisconsin protests, and Occupy Wall Street. Then there was the tragic: the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering, and six others who were not so fortunate. The tragedy took a bizarre turn when Liberal pundits tried to blame the shootings on Conservative pundits.
The top news story was, or should have been, the killing of Osama Bin Laden. The heroes of SEAL Team Six took him out in very prompt, no-nonsense fashion. Had he been disposed of ten years ago, as he ought to have been, there would have been celebrations in the streets. Bells would have been ringing. But our executor-in-chief insisted on muted approval, lest we offend Osama Bin Laden’s followers.
Bin Landen’s execution was followed a few months later by the execution of Moammar Ghaddafi. His execution came after the full fruition of the Arab “Spring”. Because he refused to step down and said he would fight to the death, that is precisely what happened: he was hunted down like an animal and promptly shot. No one is shedding any tears over his death. Justice took a fearful turn toward the barbaric, though.
In Tunisia, a local fruit vendor in the town of Sidi Bouzid set himself ablaze and died on Jan. 4, after a run-in with the law over lack of a vendor’s license. He immolated himself over alleged humiliation by a female officer. This was the spark for which socialists in the Middle East had been waiting. The revolutionary fire spread all over the Middle East, forcing a number of Arab potentates to resign, including Hazni Moubarak.
Protesters claimed they were simply tired, and understandably so, of the corruption taking place in high offices. Out of the ashes, however, the Muslim Brotherhood has arisen like a phoenix to, in all likelihood, establish Sharia law throughout the Middle East. Meanwhile, Iran is reaching its goal of nuclear capability, as surely and steadily as Hitler’s Nazi Germany did under the blind, uncaring eye of Europe and the British government.
Here at home, it has been the battle of the unemployment, with the government propagating disingenuous unemployment numbers that do not reflect the great numbers of workers who have not found jobs and have run out of unemployment benefits, putting them off the official count.
The stock market has been up and down, with a case of the jitters over what is probably the inevitable collapse of the Euro. Germany has been expected to bail out less responsible and productive states like Greece and Spain. It’s anyone’s guess how it will fall out. Meanwhile the U.S. is some $12 to $14 trillion dollars in debt itself, with investors bailing out Europe with money borrowed from China, itself in no very great economic shape, with its inflated yuan and burgeoning middle class.
This was the year, also, of the Green Scandals, namely Solyndra, which never produced an ounce of an energy or anything else that resembles the color green (like profits). They simply took the taxpayers money and ran. Agenda 21 is running at full steam, meanwhile, with our bureaucrats engineering planned cities around 21st transportation modes, oblivious to the news from China, where they’re having considerable trouble with their high-speed trains. Seems the Chinese no more want to ride trains than we do, if we don’t have to. Once they’ve accumulated enough money, they buy their own cars.
Here in New Jersey, meanwhile, our tea party efforts failed to prevent further redistricting in favor of the Democrats. We do have Gov. Corzine in our corner, if he doesn’t decide to accept a nomination as Vice President.
The 2012 campaign for president has already begun, with the Republican candidates tripping over one another’s feet and their own tongues and making a beeline for the middle as much as they can, though they’re beginning to heed our conservative voices more than they had.
The stock market is ending on a high note. Wall Street is gleeful right now, especially since Zoocotti Park was relieved of its creatures. Yes, they’re ecstatic over all the bail-outs that made their particular surge possible. How much of the growth is real, and how much of it is a polyethylene balloon remains to be seen.
Finally, the Media is celebrating Obama’s return home of the troops. Cheerleading right along with the Left are many Moderate and even Conservative pundits. Less to be celebrated is our reduction in arms and our many agreements to arms treaties that our co-signees will never honor. China’s fleet is growing, just as Germany’s did 80 years ago.
We’ve seen some ominous signs in 2011 – the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street protests, Agenda 21, redistricting in suburbs, high unemployment, even higher debt. Retailers were ho-ho-hoing over huge Christmas sales. Who were those crazy people buying all that stuff? What exactly were they celebrating?
Finally, there’s the 9/11 Memorial. This year was the 10th anniversary since the attacks. We now learn that construction on the memorial museum has ground to a halt (again) in a monetary dispute between the City and the Port Authority. At least the outside falls are in operation.
America is poised on the edge of free-fall and economic calamity. 2011 was a downhill year. Thanks to every mistake made since 2008, when Obama was elected, we have no reason to expect any bright promise from the coming New Year.
There were some happy moments in the midst of mayhem: the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Kate has restored modesty, maturity, and manners to the fashion world (Lady Gaga take note). The gossip tabloids have it that Kate is pregnant with twins and suffering the same eating disorder as her deceased mother-in-law.
2011 was the year of the bizarre: Charlie Sheen, Anthony Weiner, the Wisconsin protests, and Occupy Wall Street. Then there was the tragic: the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering, and six others who were not so fortunate. The tragedy took a bizarre turn when Liberal pundits tried to blame the shootings on Conservative pundits.
The top news story was, or should have been, the killing of Osama Bin Laden. The heroes of SEAL Team Six took him out in very prompt, no-nonsense fashion. Had he been disposed of ten years ago, as he ought to have been, there would have been celebrations in the streets. Bells would have been ringing. But our executor-in-chief insisted on muted approval, lest we offend Osama Bin Laden’s followers.
Bin Landen’s execution was followed a few months later by the execution of Moammar Ghaddafi. His execution came after the full fruition of the Arab “Spring”. Because he refused to step down and said he would fight to the death, that is precisely what happened: he was hunted down like an animal and promptly shot. No one is shedding any tears over his death. Justice took a fearful turn toward the barbaric, though.
In Tunisia, a local fruit vendor in the town of Sidi Bouzid set himself ablaze and died on Jan. 4, after a run-in with the law over lack of a vendor’s license. He immolated himself over alleged humiliation by a female officer. This was the spark for which socialists in the Middle East had been waiting. The revolutionary fire spread all over the Middle East, forcing a number of Arab potentates to resign, including Hazni Moubarak.
Protesters claimed they were simply tired, and understandably so, of the corruption taking place in high offices. Out of the ashes, however, the Muslim Brotherhood has arisen like a phoenix to, in all likelihood, establish Sharia law throughout the Middle East. Meanwhile, Iran is reaching its goal of nuclear capability, as surely and steadily as Hitler’s Nazi Germany did under the blind, uncaring eye of Europe and the British government.
Here at home, it has been the battle of the unemployment, with the government propagating disingenuous unemployment numbers that do not reflect the great numbers of workers who have not found jobs and have run out of unemployment benefits, putting them off the official count.
The stock market has been up and down, with a case of the jitters over what is probably the inevitable collapse of the Euro. Germany has been expected to bail out less responsible and productive states like Greece and Spain. It’s anyone’s guess how it will fall out. Meanwhile the U.S. is some $12 to $14 trillion dollars in debt itself, with investors bailing out Europe with money borrowed from China, itself in no very great economic shape, with its inflated yuan and burgeoning middle class.
This was the year, also, of the Green Scandals, namely Solyndra, which never produced an ounce of an energy or anything else that resembles the color green (like profits). They simply took the taxpayers money and ran. Agenda 21 is running at full steam, meanwhile, with our bureaucrats engineering planned cities around 21st transportation modes, oblivious to the news from China, where they’re having considerable trouble with their high-speed trains. Seems the Chinese no more want to ride trains than we do, if we don’t have to. Once they’ve accumulated enough money, they buy their own cars.
Here in New Jersey, meanwhile, our tea party efforts failed to prevent further redistricting in favor of the Democrats. We do have Gov. Corzine in our corner, if he doesn’t decide to accept a nomination as Vice President.
The 2012 campaign for president has already begun, with the Republican candidates tripping over one another’s feet and their own tongues and making a beeline for the middle as much as they can, though they’re beginning to heed our conservative voices more than they had.
The stock market is ending on a high note. Wall Street is gleeful right now, especially since Zoocotti Park was relieved of its creatures. Yes, they’re ecstatic over all the bail-outs that made their particular surge possible. How much of the growth is real, and how much of it is a polyethylene balloon remains to be seen.
Finally, the Media is celebrating Obama’s return home of the troops. Cheerleading right along with the Left are many Moderate and even Conservative pundits. Less to be celebrated is our reduction in arms and our many agreements to arms treaties that our co-signees will never honor. China’s fleet is growing, just as Germany’s did 80 years ago.
We’ve seen some ominous signs in 2011 – the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street protests, Agenda 21, redistricting in suburbs, high unemployment, even higher debt. Retailers were ho-ho-hoing over huge Christmas sales. Who were those crazy people buying all that stuff? What exactly were they celebrating?
Finally, there’s the 9/11 Memorial. This year was the 10th anniversary since the attacks. We now learn that construction on the memorial museum has ground to a halt (again) in a monetary dispute between the City and the Port Authority. At least the outside falls are in operation.
America is poised on the edge of free-fall and economic calamity. 2011 was a downhill year. Thanks to every mistake made since 2008, when Obama was elected, we have no reason to expect any bright promise from the coming New Year.
posted by Belle | 8:47 PM
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