Calmness is the cradle of power.
Josiah Gilbert Holland
North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il Dead
The second of North Korea's fusion Communist family dynasty, long reported to be in ill health, has passed on. Last year the North Korean dictatorship announced that his third and youngest son, the foreign-educated 27-year-old Kim Jong-un, would succeed him.
North Korea is a failed state with millions of malnourished citizens and thousands of political prisoners while plowing; never the less, it manages to fund a huge standing army and to devote resources for developing nuclear weapons, possibly triggering a nuclear race in east Asia. One of the tragic results is evident from the standpoint of stature; of course, the deceased leader's 5'3" height was notable, although one should point out that the Communist and army elites usually ate better than their other countrymen. Traditionally the northern Koreans were as tall if not taller than their southern colleagues. In 2004, a story was reported of a 16-year-old boy, Myung Bok, whom, unlike his mother and younger sisters, was unable to flee 4 years earlier to China but finally managed to escape and reunited with his family. At the time of the family's escape, 2-years-younger Eun Hang stood a head shorter than her big brother; now she could look over her 4'7" brother's head in her bare feet. There were other sad stories of young North Korean men defecting to South Korea but found that most South Korean women are significantly taller, felt that they would never be able to find a wife, and asked to return to North Korea.
The real question is how Washington will respond; I'm concerned with China's response. I personally would like to see a reunification of Korea, but I don't think China is comfortable with a Western-leaning state on its border and has made references to Western propaganda speculating on North Korean leader succession. It seems the chosen successor has expressed concern on one or 2 occasions about the living conditions of the country's citizens.
My personal suggestion is that we use the occasion to make a new start with the North Korean leadership and encourage economic assistance; I think a revived North Korean economy would be in the best interests of regional stability, including China. (I'm sure China doesn't want to deal with waves of refugees from a destabilized North Korea.)
Political Potpourrri
Romney has had a good week. He picked up endorsements from two prominent Tea Party-endorsed candidates, South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley and last year's Delaware US Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell expressed preference for a former or active governor (which strongly implies Romney, given Perry's continuing debate problems). Former Senate Majority leader and former GOP Presidential nominee Bob Dole has endorsed Romney, and Romney just picked up a coveted endorsement from a leading Iowa newspaper. MJ Perry's Carpe Diem blog often charts the odds (Intrade) on the GOP Presidential race, and the odds had recently seen Romney falling and Gingrich rising to all but a tie, but Romney's odds have considerably rebounded. Gingrich still has a lead in national polls although it seems to have eroded somewhat.
Sunday talk soup had Speaker Boehner, Michele Bachmann, and Nikki Haley on Meet the Press. I like the way Boehner was able to handle Gregory's questioning; among other things, Gregory was trying to provoke Boehner over how hard it was to hold his majority together on House votes over spending, the payroll tax holiday extension, etc. Gregory was also trying to link poor Congressional approval ratings to GOP opposition and suggest that, unlike the President, GOP opposition was not principled but simply political in nature. The fact of the matter is that the Senate Dems have Obama's back. Keep in mind, for instance, that Obama insists that a "balanced" solution involves class warfare tax hikes--never mind the tax hikes, ignoring tax base changes, amount to less than 10% of the government deficit. Just the payroll tax hike alone is a multiple of increased revenues. What Obama is doing is not only very bad economic policy but it's all political posturing. He has yet to advocate a serious spending cut of any kind; he prescribes paying for one year's payroll tax cut with 10 years of class warfare hikes. (I mean, what would he do if the economy fell back into recession and many more people are looking for work?)
Gregory is also trying to stir up trouble over Gingrich. He tried to get a reaction from Boehner--whom at one point was a key lieutenant under Gingrich. He suggested that Bachmann's allegations of Gingrich's connection to the GSE's was debunked by a fact checker. I felt that Gregory, like other mainstream journalists, is trying to prop up Gingrich, because Gingrich constantly polls under Obama, even with a current 41% approval from Gallup.
This blog is not favorably disposed towards a Gingrich Presidency. But let me quote this from a current Wall Street Journal article:
Then on December 2 our colleagues at the Journal reported that as late as April 2007 Mr. Gingrich had defended Fannie and Freddie as examples of conservative governance. "While we need to improve the regulation of the GSEs, I would be very cautious about fundamentally changing their role or the model itself," Mr. Gingrich said in an interview at the time.Mr. Gingrich added in that interview that there are times "when you need government to help spur private enterprise and economic development." He cited electricity and telephone network expansion. "It's not a point of view libertarians would embrace, but I am more in the Alexander Hamilton-Teddy Roosevelt tradition of conservatism," he said, adding "I'm convinced that if NASA were a GSE, we probably would be on Mars today."
I can hear Glenn Beck's head explode from here with Gingrich praising one of the patron saints of the progressive movement, Teddy Roosevelt. And Alexander Hamilton was very pro-bank and a protectionist. And did I just see outlined in red above that Gingrich thinks industrial policy is a GOOD idea? And, pardon me, this, as Bill Clinton might say, "fairy tale" that the GSE's were paying Gingrich a boatload of money to tell them that they shouldn't make loans to high-risk applicants? Heck, I've been saying the latter point for FREE in this blog. Anyone thinking that the GSE's were paying money for his advice--not his perceived influence with former Congressional colleagues--is on something worse than the cocaine and marijuana Obama experimented with as a young adult.
Musical Interlude: Nostalgic/Instrumental Christmas
The Little Drummer Boy.
TV Special/Vienna Boys Choir.
Bob Seger. Classic rock version...
The London Symphony Orchestra (instrumental) .
Bing Crosby and David Bowie.
Harry Simeone Chorale. (The classic hit version.)
