Alan Caruba
Obama is America's new Jim Jones
By Alan Caruba
On November 18, 1978, the world was shocked to learn that more than 900 members of the People's Temple had committed suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. They took their lives at the urging of Jim Jones, the Temple's founder.
Until 9/11, it was the single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster and the tragedy still ranks high among the largest mass suicides in history. Jones had been a charismatic preacher who founded the Temple in the 1950s in Indiana, later moving it to California.
It is increasingly evident with every passing day that Barack Obama is America's Jim Jones, undermining the U.S. Constitution while urging Americans to drink his Kool-Aid lies. Need a reminder? Here are a few:
Stimulus Act Kool-Aid
Obamacare Kool-Aid
Financial Reform Kool-Aid
Reach out to Muslims Kool-Aid
Mosque at Ground Zero Kool-Aid
Amnesty for illegal Aliens Kool-Aid
Bailout General Motors Kool-Aid
Cash-for-Clunkers Kool-Aid
Union Card Check Kool-Aid
Green Jobs Kool-Aid
Close Down Gitmo Kool-Aid
Climate Change Kool-Aid
Regulate Carbon Dioxide Kool-Aid
Gulf Oil Drilling Moratorium Kool-Aid
Americans are resisting the behemoth of the federal government under Obama's control. The Tea Party movement is evidence that the American spirit is far from spent. Many states are joining together in legal suits to oppose Obamacare and to demand the federal government shut down the border traffic that is breeding crime and other costs.
It is a life or death struggle for America. Niall Ferguson, a British historian and author of "The Ascent of Money," recently gave a lecture for the Center for Independent Studies in Sydney, Australia. He warned that "In the history of empires the end is abrupt and those that rely on them need to be ready."
I have often referred to America as an empire and so have others, given its global military presence, the global reliance on the U.S. dollar as the standard against which other currencies are measured, its moral stature as a defender of human rights and advocate for freedom, and its vast worldwide cultural impact.
"Alarm bells should therefore be ringing very loudly in Washington," said Ferguson, "as the United States contemplates a deficit for 2010 of more than $1.47 trillion, about ten percent of GDP for the second year running." He further warned that "half the U.S. federal debt in public hands is in the hands of foreign creditors. Of that, a fifth (22%) is held by the monetary authorities of the People's Republic of China, down from 27% in July last year."
"The United States is on a completely unsustainable fiscal course with no apparent political means of self-correcting," said Ferguson.
The indicators are, however, that on November 2nd, the midterm elections will provide a self-correction IF the power in Congress changes from the Democrats to the Republican Party. It's a very big IF because, short of anything less, the damage that President Obama can inflict is still significant. Even so, some of his more noxious programs can be defunded.
The President and the Democrats in Congress are possibly the most anti-energy administration in the history of the nation. Everything in our economy and our lives is dependent on access to plentiful and affordable energy whether it comes from oil, coal, natural gas or hydroelectricity.
The Obama administration has blandished billions on "alternative," "clean" or "green" energy in the form of solar, wind, and biofuels. Nothing about any of these options represents a reliable and viable power source to replace or provide the nation's huge energy requirements.
The most rogue federal agency in U.S. history, the Environmental Protection Agency, is pursuing the power to regulate "greenhouse gases" despite having no authorization to do so. The justification offered is the totally discredited "global warming" theory. Other nations that have invested in solar or wind power only to discover that neither provides sufficient energy and both eliminate jobs in the process.
That, I suggest, is the very reason why the Obama administration wants to impose them on the nation while at the same time gutting the oil and coal industries.
The moratoriums imposed on the drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, despite two court injunctions against them, will cost the Gulf Coast states an estimated 8,000 jobs or more, nearly $500 million in wages, more than $2.1 billion in economic activity, and nearly $100 million in state and local tax revenue. Outside of the states immediately affected, the moratorium will cost the nation 12,000 jobs and nearly $3 billion, including almost $200 million in federal tax revenues.
Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire will raise taxes across the board at the worst possible time in the midst of a major recession.
This isn't delusional, it's intentional.
It is Barack Obama's Kool-Aid for America.
© Alan Caruba
August 15, 2010
On November 18, 1978, the world was shocked to learn that more than 900 members of the People's Temple had committed suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. They took their lives at the urging of Jim Jones, the Temple's founder.
Until 9/11, it was the single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster and the tragedy still ranks high among the largest mass suicides in history. Jones had been a charismatic preacher who founded the Temple in the 1950s in Indiana, later moving it to California.
It is increasingly evident with every passing day that Barack Obama is America's Jim Jones, undermining the U.S. Constitution while urging Americans to drink his Kool-Aid lies. Need a reminder? Here are a few:
Stimulus Act Kool-Aid
Obamacare Kool-Aid
Financial Reform Kool-Aid
Reach out to Muslims Kool-Aid
Mosque at Ground Zero Kool-Aid
Amnesty for illegal Aliens Kool-Aid
Bailout General Motors Kool-Aid
Cash-for-Clunkers Kool-Aid
Union Card Check Kool-Aid
Green Jobs Kool-Aid
Close Down Gitmo Kool-Aid
Climate Change Kool-Aid
Regulate Carbon Dioxide Kool-Aid
Gulf Oil Drilling Moratorium Kool-Aid
Americans are resisting the behemoth of the federal government under Obama's control. The Tea Party movement is evidence that the American spirit is far from spent. Many states are joining together in legal suits to oppose Obamacare and to demand the federal government shut down the border traffic that is breeding crime and other costs.
It is a life or death struggle for America. Niall Ferguson, a British historian and author of "The Ascent of Money," recently gave a lecture for the Center for Independent Studies in Sydney, Australia. He warned that "In the history of empires the end is abrupt and those that rely on them need to be ready."
I have often referred to America as an empire and so have others, given its global military presence, the global reliance on the U.S. dollar as the standard against which other currencies are measured, its moral stature as a defender of human rights and advocate for freedom, and its vast worldwide cultural impact.
"Alarm bells should therefore be ringing very loudly in Washington," said Ferguson, "as the United States contemplates a deficit for 2010 of more than $1.47 trillion, about ten percent of GDP for the second year running." He further warned that "half the U.S. federal debt in public hands is in the hands of foreign creditors. Of that, a fifth (22%) is held by the monetary authorities of the People's Republic of China, down from 27% in July last year."
"The United States is on a completely unsustainable fiscal course with no apparent political means of self-correcting," said Ferguson.
The indicators are, however, that on November 2nd, the midterm elections will provide a self-correction IF the power in Congress changes from the Democrats to the Republican Party. It's a very big IF because, short of anything less, the damage that President Obama can inflict is still significant. Even so, some of his more noxious programs can be defunded.
The President and the Democrats in Congress are possibly the most anti-energy administration in the history of the nation. Everything in our economy and our lives is dependent on access to plentiful and affordable energy whether it comes from oil, coal, natural gas or hydroelectricity.
The Obama administration has blandished billions on "alternative," "clean" or "green" energy in the form of solar, wind, and biofuels. Nothing about any of these options represents a reliable and viable power source to replace or provide the nation's huge energy requirements.
The most rogue federal agency in U.S. history, the Environmental Protection Agency, is pursuing the power to regulate "greenhouse gases" despite having no authorization to do so. The justification offered is the totally discredited "global warming" theory. Other nations that have invested in solar or wind power only to discover that neither provides sufficient energy and both eliminate jobs in the process.
That, I suggest, is the very reason why the Obama administration wants to impose them on the nation while at the same time gutting the oil and coal industries.
The moratoriums imposed on the drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, despite two court injunctions against them, will cost the Gulf Coast states an estimated 8,000 jobs or more, nearly $500 million in wages, more than $2.1 billion in economic activity, and nearly $100 million in state and local tax revenue. Outside of the states immediately affected, the moratorium will cost the nation 12,000 jobs and nearly $3 billion, including almost $200 million in federal tax revenues.
Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire will raise taxes across the board at the worst possible time in the midst of a major recession.
This isn't delusional, it's intentional.
It is Barack Obama's Kool-Aid for America.
© Alan Caruba
Read about Jim Jones at The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
