Comfortably Numb

They have called it a quagmire. They have referred to the country as lost in chaos; anarchic; on the threshold of civil war. They have called the Bush administration's efforts to democratize 'futile' and 'naive', so much wishful thinking. They have tossed around words like 'partitioning', and they've talked about the 'unsuspected power of insurgency.'

Odd, don't you think, that a country apparently so lost, so forsaken and unmanageable; a country so steeped in chaos and pain and anarchy, nonetheless manages to elect interim governments, draft and approve legislation, and hold successful elections? Odd, isn't it, to hear critics claim that Kurds and Sunnis and Shiites don't want democracy, have never wanted it; have resented it being forced upon them, and yet they turn out to convene and petition and vote, all the while facing threats of death and mayhem daily? Odd that the insurgency with all its apparent might has failed to deter democracy?

Iraq. It is an odd thing indeed.

Never before have I heard the party of tolerance remain so dogged in their abuse of a people. For the Democratic Party, composed ostensibly of those who claim to see the best in people, nevertheless have a dour, dire and pessimistic view of the Iraqi people; that the Iraqis cannot and will not govern themselves democratically, and that they will devolve into warring tribalists the second America stops propping them up. So much for beneficence. So much for a party of hope, or hope for a party. This is the party-pooping party, if you think about it.

I once wrote that the insurgency in Iraq was puny, and I remain defiant. It is puny. Its success is hardly success; and its strength can only be described in terms of weakness, impotence, detumescence. There is nothing turgid there; there is nothing awesome or fearsome; there is nothing standing tall. It is a mere kicking of the shins; it is a flailing of flaccid arms.

But I've been known to be wrong. Odd, don't you think, that there are people who hope I am wrong; who hope the insurgency is bigger, badder, better? But what could be odder than that these same people are Americans, Americans who act as if they want the insurgency to be massive and competent? It's a crazy time indeed.

Go, patriots!

***

Last week the most fair-minded among us gathered in rooms in Washington to investigate profits. Not just any profits: not the profits of wedding photographers or tort lawyers or movie-makers or doctors; but the profits of "BIG OIL." You know, those bad guys at ExxonMobil, for example, who made $10,000,000,000 in profits over the last three months of this year. Anyhow, far be it from me to point out, as Ron Insanta has done with erudition, that Exxon's sales for the quarter A) were worldwide and B) totaled more than $100,000,000,000; and thus the profit margin was a mere ten percent, far below most industries and far below most credit card companies (apparently). Of course, no one else is being dragged into the Capital for hearings, for full disclosures, though the companies by law must produce transparent ledgers, which they have. And far be it from me to point out that Exxon investors have experienced a 9% return, which is hardly the highest on the planet and is, apparently, finally one of the highest in Exxon history. And far be it from me to point out that Exxon, a colossus who has clients the world over, did not make $10 billion in profit JUST FROM SALES IN AMERICA.

Why should I bother with this? Simple. The predators in Congress, with Democrat Dennis Kucinich leading the way, want to dip into Exxon's profits to distribute, where? You guessed it: Only in America. You see, these hearings are only important if someone can exploit the naivete of people (most Americans are economic idiots), raise their ire, and press companies to be embarrassed for their worldwide successes, shaming them into economic concessions. Of course, Congress, at least those congressmen with a socialist bent, want to distribute the money gained, not to African families or Nicaraguan schools (all of which allegedly have been "gouged" by big oil), they want to give it to Americans. As if America is the center of the economic world.

Here's a little news item (from the Wall Street Journal, Friday Nov. 11): Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group, "a large private-equity firm" he co-founded in 1985, is in contract to sell his home in South Hampton, New York. He bought the property 13 years ago for $4 million. As of right now, he is set to sell the property for MORE than his asking price of $42 million. The 15.8 acre Long Island property with 291 feet of ocean frontage sits in a tony section of the country where property values have tripled in the last five years. But Schwarzman's profit is far more than triple his investment. So I can only conclude one thing: Congress needs to investigate. But, alas. Schwarzman is, among other things, the chairman of the Board of Trustess of John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. I doubt Congress will be holding real estate hearings any time soon.

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