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Ben Stein's Diary
It’s Later Than Any Dare Think
When republics fall, it’s not always slow.
Saturday
It is smoky up here in North
Idaho today. Apparently there are major fires in Washington State
and they are belching smoke. The smoke is blowing our way into the
Idaho Panhandle. I can feel it in my pitiful weak lungs even with
the windows closed and the air conditioning on.
I slept most of the day and then Alex and I roused ourselves and made our way west and north to Hill’s Resort. The ride is beautiful along the Pendoreille River, with its vast width and sunny smoky meadows.
We stopped at the little store in Laclede and a kindly man from Canada gave me a lovely Exacto knife to allow me to open CD cases. Just out of the blue. I love that.
Then, gasoline in Priest River at Mama Mac’s and up to the Falls Café, a tiny little bar/restaurant with a pool table about halfway between Priest River and Luby Bay. The Falls Café just might be the most perfect-looking small restaurant in the world. It has a glass floor in a place where you can look at the falls of a swift creek running under the building. It also has a pool table.
Today, there was a three generational family having dinner. Grandparents, parents, aunt, and children. As far as I could tell, it was a birthday party for a 12-year-old, incredibly pretty daughter. She smiled at me and I told her she would be a movie star. Her brother, possibly a twin, said, “Wait! I want to be a movie star, too.”
On that note, I left. I did find out that the family was from Priest River. For some reason, Priest River has an amazing number of good-looking men and women. That whole family were great looking, male and female. I think their name was “Clark.”
At Hill’s, there was a big wedding so we ate in the bar very quickly, but alas, I got a HORRIBLE case of heartburn from a potato chip I had on the way up from the Falls Café. Nothing would help except my mother’s home remedy — peppermint Lifesavers — and my sister’s home remedy, Tazo Refresh tea.
I got the hot water for the tea back at the Falls Café. The manager/bartender told me about his 15 years as a cowboy in Montana. He said he worked fifteen-hour days, often starting at two in the morning, for room and board and $1500 a month. But, he loved the outdoor life. Now, he’s planning to grow and sell organic vegetables and stay in Idaho. His name was Chance and he was as pleasant as can be.
About ten minutes later, as we were entering Priest River, the speed limit rapidly dropped from 60 to 35. Many are the tickets I have gotten there. Sure enough, a police car pulled me over just as I approached Mama Mac’s gas station and café and general store. When the policeman saw it was me, he laughed, agreed I was not driving too fast, and said he just wanted to see if I had been drinking too much.
“I haven’t had a drink since 1988,” I said.
“Probably a good idea,” he said.
He laughed more and walked away.
We stopped for more hot water at Mama Mac’s just as it was closing. A very kind man with a shaved head who was sweeping up and closing the place shouted, “Drive safe, Ben.” That touched me very much. I love being known in these small towns in North Idaho.
The main thing to be grateful for is how patiently my saint wife waits for me while I buy Tums and Pepto and tea and so forth. I am married to a goddess.
Sunday
Back to current events.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (184) | Leave a comment
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Von Mises Jr| 9.17.12 @ 8:34AM
While many Catholics and other Christians attended Mass yesterday and our Jewish brethren began their Holy Feast, do they realize that losing freedom of speech that offends Islamist or socialist does not end well for them.
This is NOT about a film maker with a shady past. This is about YOUR ability to continue Free Speech and Freedom of Religion.
Ask the Coptic Christians being crucified in Egypt.
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 10:02AM
The Coptic Christians know very well their place in Egypt: as Mubarak toadies. Period.
Mubarak and his cabal wanted to do business with Israeli and euro interests all of the time and the only way for him to get it done was through Coptic proxies and Turkish redirects.
The restructuring going on in Egypt - while pointless and childish, as most Mohameddan exercises are - is nonetheless a consequence of Coptic relations with the Sadat/Mubarak regime.
They would be wise to stay undercover for a while as Egypt adjusts to a crushed economy under Morsi and his merry band of misfits. The military will retake power in a few years and another Mubarak-type leader will emerge. Copts will have their day in the sun again.
C. Vernon Crisler | 9.17.12 @ 10:29AM
canuckistani, this is disgusting.
RCV| 9.17.12 @ 12:19PM
Utterly disgusting.
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 2:02PM
Are you suggesting something else explains the Copts now relevant peril?
Don't take my word for it, talk to a real Copt about it. You may be shocked to hear my theory is pretty close to the truth.
Ask a Maronite Lebanese the likelihood a Mohammedan regime without oil can expect to emerge from the dark ages without Christian-sect know how.
All modern engineering, banking, planning and structural changes in Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq were completed with Christian business influence. They are the links to the west.
When you are a 10:1 minority in these countries, it is best to lay low as the majority kills eachother. The Coptic moron that made the film broke that code.
CJW| 9.17.12 @ 3:47PM
This is Purpland.
OKC08GT500| 9.17.12 @ 12:37PM
Wrong. The Muslim Brotherhood is in the process of establishing a Middle East Caliphate with the help of 0bama. Egypt is a part of that Caliphate.
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 2:10PM
And then what? Suddenly the sons of Ali are in the good books with the Wahabbis? Mohammedans will suddenly be injected with the wisdom and productivity to help them emerge from living in their own feces?
Ain't gonna happen. This is just simple, juvenile Arab tribalism tilting at another windmill.
Other than basic tactics, there is very little daylight between the aims of the Hagee's of the world and the crazies in Tehran. Simple mystical delusions about the return of some dead guy.
They use rocks and grenades - and even planes into buildings, we use $1T, 2M troops and a legion of spin doctors to tranquilize the excited masses back home.
Folks, Junior used Gog and Magog in a convo with a world leader and has not been universally condemned like we condemn minor infractions on here.
'Nuff said.
Jack in Wi| 9.17.12 @ 3:57PM
Islam was a economic, cultural, and intellectual backwater until we tried to take over their countries. We also mostly abandoned our Christian and Jewish religious values. 100 years ago the Middle East was at least 20% Christian. Constantinople was over half Christian. Christians and Jews lived well in many places because they did a lot of the intellectual and economic heavy lifting in those places. Even today most Middle Eastern countries need Christians to operate a modern economy. In my opinion they need us more then we need them. Lets leave those people to run their own countries and lets have peacful relations with them. What we have been doing for the last 100 years has been a total disaster.
LindaF | 9.17.12 @ 6:20PM
It's too late - those who would cooperate with Christians and Jews are gone. The fanatics are in charge.
It's time to draw the clear line in the sand. We will not budge on our freedoms.
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:50AM
Yeah, when the Moslems didn't decide they were too "uppity" and start killing them, or just take what they wanted (like one of their wives, say).
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 5:08PM
Last I looked?
Mubarek wasn't Burning down the Koptic's Churches, and he wasn't Murderring them in the Streets.
It must be terrible, being you.
Or, even Knowing you.
I'm assuming that your Mother Slit her own Throat, when she realized what she had done, by not Aborting you.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 8:47PM
You, to be redundant, are disgusting. Coptics in Egypt have been for centuries the equivalent of India's "untouchables."
No wonder the scum of America gravitated to Canada to avoid serving their country in the Viet Nam War and later.
Birds of a feather.
Ralph Novy| 9.17.12 @ 11:01PM
Interesting analysis, canuckistani.
I'm inclined -- albeit a bit reluctantly and cynically -- to agree with you.
Keep it up!
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:43AM
So helping the economy is bad? Relations with Israel and Europe are bad? If that is so, why would the US give Egypt the time of day, and why did Israel give them the Sinai oil wells and security depth?
There was a time when the Copts led anti-Jewish pogroms, but that was then. I support them in their hour of travail.
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:50AM
So the Copts helping the Egyptian economy was bad?
scotchieguy| 9.17.12 @ 10:24AM
No, this is not about a film maker with a shady past, this is GOTCHA played expertly by the shills in the media and sucked up like candy by half the nation who would rather watch football and American Idol and be told how greedy and evil Romney is for doing well in life.
Ralph Novy| 9.17.12 @ 11:02PM
Utterly untrue.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:28AM
The intolerance for freedom of religion has come solely from the right for at least sixty years & continues to this day. I don't care if you feel concern for coptic christian in Egypt. But until you learn that you don't get superiority over any religion here in America with you d- bible, you have no right to talk. The christian right hates all non bible believing religion & openly tries to destroy us. You can't deny it, go to Glenn Becks, or Sean Hannity sites & see. I fought if from Breitbart for year. But since Santorum lost, the only one who believed in the freedom of even deists & atheists from the right, of course you bible thumpers are up to your same old hates again. The right throws gutter balls from the grooves it's worn over the years. The right doesn't fight because it's stale old shallow mind, won't switch to a winning game, if it has to leave it's old familiar losing track.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:31AM
for years, whatever, the von c- eater is a closed minded right sided despot who won't here freedom at any cost anyway. type error, I fought it for years, & won only when Santorum echoed freedom for all individuals in America. but, go ahead, carry on the hate von c-eater
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 5:32PM
The Right hates all Religions, other than Christianity?
As I recall, it was the Democrats who were the Knight Riding KKK. Robert Byrd was a Democrat. George Wallace was a Democrat. Al Gore's Father, and Bill Clinton's Mentor - Fullbright - voted Against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Ask the Jews, who they think their Greatest Friends are. It's Evangelical Christians.
We Hate Muslims?
WHO DOESN'T?
Buddhists hate them.
Hindus hate them.
Sikhs hate them. Atheists hate them.
Homosexuals hate them.
Their own Wives and Daughters, are Scared to Death of them.
Only when they are EXTERMINATED, will there be Peace.
Period.
mike 3/505| 9.17.12 @ 5:46PM
+1
ExAFCrewDog| 9.17.12 @ 7:04PM
"Ask the Jews, who they think their Greatest Friends are. It's Evangelical Christians."
I think their greatest friends include any and all Zionist Christians. The Evangelicals just happen to be more outspoken.
Pelleas| 9.17.12 @ 8:20PM
"Ask the Jews, who they think their Greatest Friends are. It's Evangelical Christians."
ONLY the EXTREME Right-Wing Jews think that--In Israel, the GENERAL population tends to think of The Evangelical Christians , who come to our Land, with a TREMENDOUS amount of dis-trust and scorn...
Then again-- coming from the pen of a cretin who believes that Hitler was doing god's work... nothing he says surprises me--or is in the least bit FACTUAL..
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 8:51PM
"...who come to our Land, ... ."
Thanks for identifying yourself as a self-hating Israeli. Gives total perspective to all your stupidassed comments.
Pelleas| 9.17.12 @ 9:45PM
"Thanks for identifying yourself as a self-hating Israeli. Gives total perspective to all your stupidassed comments."
I actually LOVE BOTH the Nation of my birth, and the one I live in, now..
LOVING them does not mean I buy everything they do, with an uncritical eye
And...Ask just about most Jewish citizens in Israel, ( those who aren't zealot extremists) what they feel about the Christian "Armaggedon" Evangelicals who pretend to be such GREAT FRIENDS of ours..but come to Israel thinking they will convert us "heathens' to " the true faith"...
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:54AM
I can say, as his fellow Israeli, that X does not map to Y. Sorry, but you're wrong.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 1:48PM
" Priest River has an amazing number of good-looking men and women. That whole family were great looking, male and female."
Ben Stein is bi!
Bi Stein is his name-- this MUST be the End Times.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 8:54PM
Pisses you off that Stein thinks Caucasians are easy to look at, doesn't it. And vice versa.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 11:28PM
"Pisses you off that Stein thinks Caucasians are easy to look at, doesn't it. And vice versa."
No, because it means more blacks for me, less for Bi Stein. Once you go black, you never go black.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 11:30PM
you never go back. At least that is my experience
-- as for Stein, he may be too old.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 1:57PM
"Now, he's planning to grow and sell organic vegetables and stay in Idaho."
Then he must be a pinko, everbody knows them or-ganic vegi-tables are for communists to eat. Lansakes whatever happened to Real Men who ate stale hardtack, K rations, 'n' beef jerky mornin', noon 'n' night?
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 5:33PM
You would think, Alan, that after you got your Free Vibrator, you'd be too busy to bother Regular People.
You would think.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 11:29PM
Whatever you say, Frank Burns!
John Navratil| 9.17.12 @ 8:39AM
Well said Mr. Stein. What has happened to the indomitable American spirit? It has been sapped by a hoard of Lilliputians now commanded by a tyrant.
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 10:08AM
What are you talking about?
It's only been a year or so since we left Iraq - you know the war we started without possessing a scintilla of high ground?
Saint Ron cut and ran from Lebanon, did business with the Iranians and Saddam illegally and readily, Daddy cut and ran from Saddam when the limited mission of securing the Kuwaiti regime was completed, and Junior went full on neocon-third templar with his Iraqi adventure - breathtakingly citing Gog and Magog.
That's 30 years of failed repub strategy in the region - 57 if you include the assassination of the democratically elected Iranian pres we then replaced with the Shah that pretty much sealed our fates in Islamists minds.
Give it a pause for a year or two, then reassess whether our actions are supporting or degrading our "interests" there.
C. Vernon Crisler | 9.17.12 @ 10:30AM
What are you, a Paulista?
Von Mises Jr| 9.17.12 @ 10:43AM
He is a Sophist Vern. And a disgusting propagandist. I wouldn't waste my time responding to caucksackie.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:38AM
Truth would burn your ear von c- eater. Best not read all sides, lest you turn to ash.
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 11:43AM
The Muslim's would burn your entire body after it was nailed to a cross.
Go back to watching the anti-Islam propaganda Bill Maher put out. That's safe to watch and put on HBO because he donated money to your prophet Obama.
Ah-sa-lam-a -lick-nuts bitch.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 5:53PM
That's the way it is with these Dumb MFers.
These Animals they cry their Crocodile Tears for, would Slit their Children's Throats, right in front of them, and then Gut them like a Deer, before Cutting their Balls off, and shoving them in the Mouths of their Severed Heads, if they got the chance,
This is what we're dealing with.
Unfckingbelievable.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 5:54PM
I say KILL'EM ALL, and let God sort it out.
CJW| 9.17.12 @ 3:55PM
Canuck/Purpie/jack is an idiot living in Purpland.
We helped depose a commie nutcase, Mossadequ, and the Shah ruled Iran to modernize it. Iran was one of our strongest allies.
Jimmy Hussein Carter abandoned the Shah, we got Khomeni and terrrorism. And now we will probably have a war because Iran wants to destoy Israel. Look at Iran, that is the future for Egypt thanks to Barack Hussein Carter.
If Obama wins then Israel has no choice but to attack Iran. The only hope for peace is for Romney wins and warns Iran that we will help Israel with deeds, and not just words, to dismantle their nuclear program.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:02PM
If the Jews are smart?
They would attack, NOW, and force the Ccksckr's hand.
If he does nothing? The Jews abandon him enmasse.
He is too full of Narcissism, to take the chance that this would Jeopardize his chances at Re-election, to not respond.
If he is Re-elected?
They're DEFINATELY Dead.
It's just that simple.
Like Purp.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 8:59PM
"...and the Shah ruled Iran to modernize it. Iran was one of our strongest allies."
Absolutely right, and he was a modern humanist who engaged Ross Perot's Electronic Data System's company to inaugurate Social Security for Iranians.
The raghead religious fanatics couldn't have that... it would override their appeal to the masses.
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:57AM
And was good to the Jewish population, and had decent relations with Israel. Not Jimmy's favorite country.
And, by the way, the Ayatollah overthrew the existing Moslem relifgious establishment in Iran.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:36AM
If Romney gets elected, America is sure to be attacked. Romney exudes weakness, & terrorists know it. The best way to destroy America right now is to elect the biggest despot yet, Mitt Romney. He will cause America to fail because he plans on quadrupling down on debt by spending insane amounts of money on new & unwinnable wars. Think about it, 9-11-2001, George Bush. Politically, they want to attack under a spineless, incompetent liberal republican. Romney is all of that & more. America can bend over, grab her ankles & kiss her life good-bye under Romney.
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 11:54AM
Obama ends his apology speech to the muslims that killed the Ambassador he sent to them by saying ah-sa-lam-a lick-phlem.
Obama and Hillary apologized to the muslim world for the "disgusting" movie no one ever heard of before and even had the man arrested to appease the muslims.
What about the movie made by Bill Maher? I guess it's OK to blaspheme the pedophile prophet if your a democrat.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 1:50PM
"The best way to destroy America right now is to elect the biggest despot yet, Mitt Romney."
Romney makes Dole seem as Geo. Washington.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 9:10PM
"... bend over, grab her ankles ... ."
Appeals to you, does it ?
Ralph Novy| 9.17.12 @ 11:10PM
Well put, canuckistani.
Again ... ignore the favor-currying Arse-lickers here.
They're not looking for truth or fairness or justice -- just affirmation of the "awesomeness" of their 90-score IQs, poor school performance, and bad reputations in their current neighborhoods.
Louis Jenkins| 9.17.12 @ 8:47AM
Dear Mr. Stein:
The lazy way you started the commentary about lost me, but thank goodness you picked up on the truth. You spoke the truth as I see it. We are apologizing, can you believe it? Four American people dead and the administration says "we're sorry."(?) I've already spoken my part on Obama, and most of the posters here know I have no like for the man or Islam. If he is re-elected this nation will fall, fast or slow, it matters not. The light on the hill will be snuffed out, and darkness will reign across the world.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:07PM
Really.
Is there anyone out there that can mail this idiot some Speed?
Hey, Ben.
NOBODY GIVES A SH*T about your view from your Car Window.
You should put these Stupid Columns on Audio, for the Sleep Deprived.
JP| 9.17.12 @ 8:53AM
Someone with some brains pulled off one of the better disinformation coups of the last several decades. I don't think even a dozen people even viewed the film in its entirety - and they certainly didn't see the entire film via You Tube or any other online medium.
This has the hallmarks of the old KGB. But, I wouldn't put it past SAVAK or maybe even the Muslim Brotherhood. What we do know is that a week later, our President is still apologizing for a strawman created to give cover for a violent assault on American property and interests. A new demarcation line has been erected, and it now hugs the European mainland (via Gilbraltar). Outside of Isreal, the Muslim Brotherhood (and with it, Iran) now control a swath of land from Morroco to Afghanistan.
This balance of power in North Africa last week shifted. The President and his administration were played for fools by third rate jihadists. Perhaps European and Americans will realize how dangerous the Med has become when cruise liners are attacked by Barbary Pirates.
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 10:15AM
What would you have BHO do? Actively undermine the new governments in these countries?
BHO is being extremely successful targeting Al Qaeda and Islamists in the countries with intel and drone strikes. The new regimes need our support and BHO's response has been measured, consistent and timely.
OBL knew we had a faction of cowboys littering our scene that would flail around looking for bogeyman targets. The right course is to be underwhelming in our response. If there is one thing Arabs love than Allah, it's money.
Be patient.
rightasrain| 9.17.12 @ 10:43AM
I would expect BHO to trumpet and not apologize for one of the most sacred tenets of American exceptionalism (not to mention the Constitution)--freedom of speech. I would expect BHO to tell Morsi that if he wants any more of our filthy American dollars, Morsi better find out who attacked our embassy and he better find out quickly. I would expect BHO to tell Morsi to go shove it when Morsi says that we have to prosecute the maker of the film which served as a pretext for all the hair-trigger Muslim outrage. If there's one thing Arabs love more than Allah, it's strength.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:53AM
You obviously have not seen the satement put out by the American Embassy in Cairo. It did in fact trumpet free speech, while at the same time condemning it's use for intolerance & abuse. Below is the statement by the American Embassy in Cairo. Read for yourself.
"The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”
rightasrain| 9.17.12 @ 2:52PM
You obviously don't find that pathetic defense of free speech, which, btw, I have read many times, as disgracefully craven as I do.
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 12:00PM
You are retarded.
"What would you have BHO do? Actively undermine the new governments in these countries?"
What a whiney girl you turned out to be.
In case you missed it, the reason we have the problems we do is precisely because O-Dumbo overthrew the governments over there. The void, like the one in your head, had to be filled with something. In the case of the middle east and the sub-humans the muslim brotherhood took over.
Piss on the prophet. Piss on Obama and piss on you.
Skippy| 9.17.12 @ 2:10PM
I got a dashboard-Mohammed a few years back.
If I piss on it, and put that on youtube, will I get my own Presidential scolding?
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 2:18PM
Egypt subsidies: transaction to preserve the Israeli peace accord.
Libyan subsidies: transaction for Ghaddafi's abandonment of his faux weapons program
See a common thread here?
Pay them and they will do whatever you want. That's the Arab's understanding of power. No nuance required. Stop the cash, cooperation stops. Period.
The Shah blew it by not bringing more onto the US gravy train, and we've had 30 years of paying that one forward.
JP| 9.17.12 @ 2:11PM
That's what doesn't make much sense. For 3.5 years our President has played whack-a-mole with AQ in Afghanistan, he pounded his breast, yodeled, and announced to the voters what a bang-up job he has done protecting us. As a matter of fact, his administration leaked the details of his Kill Tuesday meetings, in which high level officials selected individual Pakistani and Afghan individuals for drone assasinations. Even Dave Axelrod attended.
Now, everyone inside the Beltway (including The Anointed One) tells us that the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi were the works of the organization he has so successfully pounded into dust. Yet, they go even further by saying there wasn't any coordination or linkage between the attacks -they were just executed by one of the few goat herders there who had access to You Tube.
As I posted above. I don't think AQ did this. I think there had to be some level of sophistication by those who planned the assaults. The timing, execution, and misinformation have the fingerprints of an intelligence organization that knew what it was doing.
Joan Of Snark | 9.17.12 @ 2:58PM
It has been whispered that the root source of the film as excuse du joeur to incite against America lie somewhere in Iran.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Nice way to catch our composite president and Hilary with their pants down and fuel up anti-American sentiment as Israel ponders when to strike.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:19PM
It's got Nothing to do with any of this sh*t.
These guys know a WEAK HORSE, when they see one.
I have called this MFer - President Green - Light, forever, now.
The Iranians saw the Weak Horse, in Jimmy Carter.
And we got Khomeini, and the Embassy Hostages.
Bin Laden saw the Weak Horse, in The Rapist, and we got The Khobar Towers, the African Embassies, the USS COLE, and 911.
Now, they see this Self Centered, Narccisstic Demigod - Obama - and we get, what we're getting, now.
There's a REASON the Iranians turned over the Hostages, on the day Reagan took over.
And, there's a REASON that they Spit on Us, with this Ccksckr in Office, now.
CJW| 9.17.12 @ 3:56PM
Canuck/purpie
Wasn't bombing Libya undermining the government?
mike 3/505| 9.17.12 @ 5:51PM
"What would you have BHO do? Actively undermine the new governments in these countries?"
No. I would have expected him to actively support the ALLIES we had TREATIES with...not throw them under the bus. And President Obama wonders why the leaders of other countries...friend and foe, don't trust what he says?
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:22PM
None of our Allies Trusts Us, and none of our Enemies Fears Us.
This is nothing new.
Carter, Clinton, and now, Buchwheat.
Is anyone surprised?
mike 3/505| 9.17.12 @ 10:10PM
Everyone trusted what Ronaldus Magnus said. Ifn' he said he was a friend...he was. Ifn' he said you wuz an enemy, you wuz...and look out...Either way...everybody trusted his word...and respected it.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 9:14PM
"The right course is to be underwhelming in our response."
Reminiscing about your sex life, draft-dodger ?
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 9.17.12 @ 9:01AM
I could be wrong, I often am, but I don't think apologizing or reacting to what is clearly free speech, is constitutional.
Occam's Tool| 9.17.12 @ 2:07PM
We have the right to free speech, paid for in sweat and blood---my grandfather did his time in the WWI trenches as an infantryman. Screw apologizing---time to get our own back.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:27PM
So, according to Hamas' Deliveror.
It's still okay for NAZIS to March through Skokie, Homos to put a Crucifix in Urine, and an African POS to put Elephant Shit on a painting of Mary.
Just don't insult His Goat Licking Muslim Buddies.
One Bullet could have stopped WWII before it even started.
I'm just sayin.
Ken (Old Texican)| 9.17.12 @ 9:24AM
Ben,
forgive me, but I am sick and tired of "down in the dumps woe are us" columns. Buck up, man and lock and load with the rest of us.
Alice Moore| 9.17.12 @ 9:55AM
Also be there at the polling places on Election Day and vote Obama out.
I am astonished at Mr Stein's pessimism. I guess he has swallowed hook, line, and sinker every cooked up poll in Obama's favor.
Vic| 9.17.12 @ 1:07PM
I agree. The only poll I trust is Rasmussen, which is highly accurate. Time to give up on this pessimism and stand up to Obozo on election day! This war against Islam is a war of civilizations and we should never never allow a Caliphate to take root again! Protect the Copts!!
Anthony| 9.17.12 @ 9:30AM
Wrong Stein. It's not a DAMN movie that caused the "Arab Street" to erupt. What the hell is so hard to figure out? Stop falling for the Obozo and MSM narrative on this.
This is all about Obozo and the Ds spiking the damn football once too many times about Osama.
These damn fanatics were not screaming the name of this obscure movie maker, they were screaming "WE'RE ALL OSAMAS, OBAMA".
Wake the hell up Stein, we don't need more fools like you adding to this false narrative.
This is an Obozo disaster, pure and simple.
Alice Moore| 9.17.12 @ 10:00AM
One more arrow for the Romney Ryan quiver: Are you safer now than you were four years ago?
Conservative Americans view an attack such as 9/11 as an attack on all Americans. The Left? Let's just say if North Korea or Iran dropped a nuke on Alabama or Texas; more than one person in the Oval Office would be doing a Happy Dance.
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 10:16AM
Texas or Alabama would only be hit if the guidance system failed.
Stkman| 9.17.12 @ 10:33AM
The port of Houston has always been considered the thrid target of a nuclear attack. D.C. first to destroy communication and leadership with the military, New York City second to demoralize the remaining populous and Houston third to stop the refining of oil to fuel. Seventy % or more of the refined oil products in the U.S. come from the Houston area. Houston has the busiest to second busiest port in the nation.
Occam's Tool| 9.17.12 @ 2:09PM
Alabama has the Redstone Arsenal with our rocket center there. Texas has many, many targets.
I'm voting for Romney. Let's see what happens.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 9:22PM
The NorthEast or West Coasts are safe... they favor socialism, sharia law, and dependency. Ripe for Islam.
Eagle Creek| 9.18.12 @ 2:04AM
Livermore, Kalifornia is where we build the nuke's... Or it used to be where we built em, anyway... According to Obama, America doesn't need nuclear weapons anymore
SUBVET| 9.17.12 @ 10:09AM
My feeling is THEY know as we get closer to November that "the end justifies the means". We all have to stand our ground don't let the Soros run media fool you in thinking that WE have already lost.
Most people I talk to seem to know what's going on and are willing to stand and fight.
Ben I am not sure that you are onbord or part of the problem.
Just the other day I herd Mark "the great one" comment on what he thought of you..........maybe you need to call him.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:35PM
Exactly.
The Polls are Bullshit.
They are meant to break our will.
Think about it.
Gallup came up with a Poll that showed the Magic Negro getting his Mulatto Ass Kicked, by Romney.
The White House demanded that they take down their Poll.
They refused.
The Street N-Word, then threatened to sick his Blacks Only, Gun Running, Queer A.G. on them.
They quickly, took down their numbers.
Coincidence?
I don't think so.
OregonBuzz| 9.17.12 @ 10:09AM
You forgot one little item Ben. Why did the Ambassador in Cairo, who was conveniently in the U.S. at the time, refuse to allow the Marines at the Cairo Embassy to have live ammunition?
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 10:19AM
Why was Stevens, inconveniently in Benghazi at the time, actively trying to stop the violence?
Diplomacy is thankfully the domain of restrained, thoughtful people. It's the only way anything gets done in this world.
Occam's Tool| 9.17.12 @ 2:10PM
Diplomacy gets very little done, actually.
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 2:24PM
Name one business deal that has endured down the barrel of a gun?
These countries need an injection of foreign investment and infrastructure upgrades. I want American firms and know-how gobbling up these contracts. Don't you?
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:37PM
These Countries need a Few Megatons.
Only then, will we have Peace.
Skippy| 9.17.12 @ 2:52PM
"This is a world governed by the aggressive use of force."
Diplomats make peace after the ashes quit smoking, not before.
Drunken Sailor| 9.17.12 @ 3:46PM
Diplomats negotiate terms of surrender.
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 4:05PM
Their can be no peace without victory first.
mike 3/505| 9.17.12 @ 5:56PM
All, Y'all....voted up!
Pelleas| 9.17.12 @ 10:34AM
"Israel is pleading with the USA to help it bomb Iran and slow down Iran's weapons program"
That is ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE, Ben..
Prime Minister Netanyahu , AS USUAL, is saber-rattling, and pushing his snout into American Presidential Politics...AS USUAL...
The Prime Minister IS NOT Israel, AS A WHOLE...AND--there is a RAPIDLY growing opposition to what is, (at least in my life time) THE WORST Prime Minister Israel has ever seen..
HAARETZ -- the National newspaper of Israel, just had an editorial, two days ago. BLASTING Bibi-- and his reckless posturing and positions-- it was one of the most damning things I have read in the Israeli Press, in some time....
canuckistani| 9.17.12 @ 2:26PM
Shhhh!
This is a Israel rational thought free zone.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 9:26PM
The New York Times says Obama is great for America.
Thanks for your profound comparison.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:02AM
Mr. Stein, sorry about the smoke. On Saturday Sept. 8th, there was a lightening storm which sprawled across Washington & Oregon States. There were four thousand lightening strikes that started three hundred fires. In the U.S. today there are 33 large wild fires, 17 of those are in Washington & Oregon States. So, if you have an air purifier, now would be a good time to turn it on.
Contrary to left & right opinion, I do not believe that Americas' recovery is in either political party. Death & doom will be foretold if their oppositions are elected, from both sides of the political swamp. It makes me sad that you feel that recovery can come from Mitt Romney.
America has been destroyed by the actions of the American People because of their medias primarily. Recovery must come from the American People. The American People would literally have to do massive amounts of work to eliminate so much of what we have let happen over the last two hundred years, in order for a real recovery to take place. We could easily do this, if we had a conservative leader who merely asked us to. We, unfortunately do not.
Joan Of Snark | 9.17.12 @ 3:01PM
Intelligence sources are pointing to jihadist arson as the source of many of this year's wildlfire.
They'll do what they can, when they can....
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:02AM
Sir, Mr. Stein, I live currently in one of the most beautiful places on earth. On a very beautiful river in Washington State. I have a wildfire burning about five miles from the home, & crews have closed my roads so that they can take there helicopters in & get water from our river. I am sorry about the smoke sir. But one thing I can assure you, a firefighter has just elevated him or herself into right beside our armed forces is my opinion. These people are the best of the best. & they will not let us down. Because of them, even you sir will remain safe. So have faith in knowing that America still lives in spirit. & we will eventually realize that this land will be nothing if we do as we've done for so long which is nothing, to let our governments spin hopelessly out of control. The American People are not as lame as we think we are. We can build freedom again, under someone other than Mitt Romney.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:15AM
Oops, it should have been "if we do nothing and let our governments spin hopelessly out of control". Sir, the American People literally have no idea what any of their governments are doing 99. 97% of the time. We live at the mercy of despotic medias, left & right. & will continue to decline until we realize that freedom only is, after the work has been done that is necessary to maintain freedom. I'm not going to lie, America is pretty far gone. The laws are despotic, the taxpayer services are almost purely despotic. They are killing us & we do nothing to stop them. The American People actually believe that they can not stop their governments. We FEEL POWERLESS. We are powerless. We are dangling at the end of a short rope, over a cliff & still pray to despotic leaders to give us length. Some day soon, Americas' second revolution comes. Until then we all decline.
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 12:01PM
I hope the wild fire reaches your home and you are in it.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:39PM
I hope the Muslims reach his house, and he, and His Family, are in it.
Petronius| 9.17.12 @ 11:03AM
The United States Government only acknowledges 1 enemy; Real, Normal, Moral, Solvent, Productive, Competent, Mature Americans.
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 11:19AM
Absolutely true for both sides. Which is why we have zero of these in America at freedoms' defense. They destroyed freedom in America by destroying the American Peoples' ability to maintain it. Medias, & liberalism are what brought the American People to destroy America by letting the whole place rot in despotic insanity.
No More Rinos!| 9.17.12 @ 11:38AM
Mr. Stein:
Pay attention to your prescient wife, "And then I beheld a red horse ridden by a man with a great sword...," and then read "the rest of the 'story!"
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 12:02PM
I love your name. It's funny, I've been on the republican conservatives side all of my life. I have heard the term "neoncon" mention & always wondered what was it the made liberals freak out about neocons. Watching Mitt Romney, it all comes in crystal clear. Mitt Romney goes full bore on everything that is wrong & destructive unto our freedoms, in the right. They won't listen. The right has to hit bottom before it starts playing to win. We have to follow up a rino neocon, with yet another & wholly more pathetic, inept, & downright weak rine neocon, Mitt Romney, before we can grasp that the American People will no longer be placated as is we are all fools.
They won't listen now. My guess is that some time in 2015, the right may begin to pull it's head out of it's democrat.
No More Rinos!| 9.17.12 @ 4:37PM
While Mr. Romney would not be my first choice as a Conservative, he is far, far better than Barack Hussein Obama. Mr. Romney has clearly demonstrated that he is malleable; it remains for us to shape him into the Conservative that Paul Ryan would have him be.
TLP| 9.17.12 @ 6:41PM
When he says - Neocon?
What he's really saying, is JEW.
Gary B| 9.17.12 @ 12:01PM
" while the war maker and womanizer, JFK, was elevated to sainthood."
Unless I'm mistaken, JFK was not a war maker. He faced down the generals and ended the Cuban Missile Crisis without killing millions and he dragged his feet in Vietnam. It's my humble opinion that's why he was shot. He wouldn't play ball with the real war makers. Johnson picked up the ball and, miraculously, we get the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Fifty-thousand lives sacrificed for the military/industrial complex in a phony war.
Grzmlyk| 9.17.12 @ 1:02PM
There's a new one.
My, that grassy knoll was crowded: Castro, Kruschev, the CIA, the Mafia, LBJ, the FBI, Hoffa, Sinatra and now McNamara? Say it ain't so!
Not to mention the fellow at the sixth floor book depository window.
It was Kennedy's weakness that created the Cuban Missile crisis, and, as I recall, he's the guy who started the ball rolling in Viet Nam.
CJW| 9.17.12 @ 4:06PM
Mr. G
As usual, you are on target.
Kennedy sent about 15,000 Americans to Vietnam, and was also supported the removal of President Diem in early November 1963. Diem and his brother were assasisnated.
Krushev saw JFK as weak after JFK abandoned the Bay of Pigs invasion, the JFK did nothing about the building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. With such a history of weakness, they put the missiles in Cuba resulting in a near war. Yet JFK gets credit for his handling of the Cuban missile crisis when he caused it. This weakness is similar to Bubba's during the 1990's when he did nothing about the terrorrist attacks on WTC in 1993, the Kenya and Tanzania emassy attacks, the USS Cole, the Khobar towers, refusal to capture Osama, etc.
Now we see the same pattern with O. He surrendered in Afghan by announcing a withdrawal date, and now our soldiers are getting killed daily by our "allies."
If you announce you are leaving, then leave now.
Gary B| 9.17.12 @ 5:14PM
Weakness is one thing. Going all in on a trumped-up war that was already lost by the French is world-class war making by a first-class war maker.
And, it's too bad that crack shot in the depository window was killed because I was looking forward to his seminar on shooting people in the front from behind.
I will say Kennedy was a great womanizer. Can you imagine someone like Marilyn Monroe giving that self-important hillbilly, Clinton, the time of day?
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 9:31PM
... and who called off air support for the Bay of Pigs invasion force, which was shot all to hell or captured thereby. Fail.
Grzmlyk| 9.17.12 @ 12:04PM
Buck up, Ben.
As you yourself have implied, there's nothing wrong with America that higher taxes on people like you won't solve.
Viva la Socialism!
Once the State is in charge of ALL the money, things will be MUCH better.
Bankrupt_R_Us| 9.17.12 @ 6:15PM
Tax Ben more to fix the problem? You are joking, right? That won't pay Michelle's hairdresser for a year. Friend, a trillion has 15 zeros. It's $100 billion a month.
Go to Forbes World Billionaires list for 2012. Click on USA. Download. Add up. Friend, USA billionaires are worth just over $1.4 trillion. That's 1/4th of the debt Obama added in the past 4 years.! But it's your idea. Confiscate all their money, houses, trust funds, charitable trusts, etc., and leave each of them with a ten year old dented Honda and food stamps.
Whose next? Millionairaes? OK, Confiscate their stuff. I imagine that includes Ben. Maybe maybe maybe that's enough cash & stuff the rest of Mr. O's first term debt.
Mr. O's 2013 White House Budget calls for MORE trillions to borrow or print in his second term. (It's on-line, so go look yourself at Table 7.l)
Who's next? You?
Shauna| 9.17.12 @ 12:15PM
I find it curious that you have been among the Republican critics of Romney and then you pretend to be appalled that Obama may win.
I think if you can't get behind Romney 100% you have no business discussing the fall of our society. You have a mega phone but as often as not you use it against the only person in the world who can stop it!
Perhaps when placing blame you should use the flip down mirror on the visor of your car.
We can win this, we can save ourselves and Israel. But you are not helping.
The Democrats have the message discipline to go the distance... but Romney has to fight both sides and the media.
AmericanPatriot52| 9.17.12 @ 2:12PM
I stand with you, Shauna!
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 12:26PM
Bill Mahr makes a movie called "Religulous" that is made specifically to ridicule all religions including Islam and it gets rave reviews by main stream critics.
Obama and Hillary are silent.
The muslim world was silent.
Someone, no one ever heard of before, releases a movie unflattering about Islam three months before 9-11 and we hear nothing. Without any prior mention of the film (like say over a cartoon) our embassy was attacked three months later and the Ambassador Obama sent to them was sodomized and killed and suddenly the movie no one has ever heard of before is decried as the most vile and disgusting film ever made
Ah-sa-lam-a lick-spittle Obama you coward, traitor.
Spit on the prophet, may he burn in hell with satan.
Where are the muslims calling for Bill Maher's head?
Where are the liberals decrying how disgusted they are over Bill Maher's insensitivity?
Lying hypocrites.
Brian Richard Allen | 9.17.12 @ 12:35PM
.... Missus Cli'ton, arch apologist for American values ....
Flatterer!
Jere| 9.17.12 @ 12:38PM
Ben, I don't share your pessimistic point of view. In fact:
I say "Not so fast." There is an entirely different element that we need to study to understand what Governor Romney said, why he said it, and why it won't hurt him in the election. That element is "connectivity." For months, critics of Romney on the left and the right have complained that his lifestyle is too elevated, his experiences too remote, his income too vast for him to be able to connect with the average American. They've said he was out of touch, that he simply couldn't possibly understand what the average Joe or Jan goes through on a daily basis.But this event offered a different view of Romney.
Even though the pundits and the brains in the media considered his response to be unsophisticated, abrupt, and premature, Governor Romney only said what millions of Americans were also saying as they watched or listened to the reports from Libya and Egypt
For the first time since the campaign began, Mitt Romney actually connected with the average American. By saying publicly what so many of us were saying privately, or amongst our friends and neighbors, he showed that he does understand where we are, how we feel, and what we expect of our President. And that may just win him the election.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 9:35PM
Excellent observation.
nathan| 9.17.12 @ 1:18PM
I'm going to direct this question to the Christians in the class and only at you. You non Christians don't get to play because you don't really understand this.
For the Christians in Egypt, what is the very worst thing that the brotherhood can do to them? The absolute worst that they can do to those Christians there? What is the very worst thing that they can do?
"Threaten them with heaven" to paraphrase a Vince Gill song. Nothing more. The brotherhood can cause them pain, they make like their temporal life momentarily difficult, but they cannot interfere with their relationship with God. They cannot take away their salvation, no man can do that. For Christians Egypt this is not their home, they are passing through. Heaven is their home.
The same for Christians here. The worst BHO or anyone else can do is threaten them with heaven. Nothing more. Make life painful, yes. But this passes and then eternity awaits where all is perfect and this is just a memory.
For Christians in America today the time should be spent less on politics, more on the great commision so others can only be threatened with heaven too. For non Christians there's a lot to worry about, but the Christians in the class, you're going home at the end of the this. What are YOU worried about?
AmericanPatriot52| 9.17.12 @ 2:21PM
You are right on your central point. If the absolute worst happens, we Christians get to see God.
However, God didn't put us on this earth to sit on our butts and wait to see him. He put us here to help our fellow humans in any way we can, to work hard, strive to be better humans and to love Him.
Yes, I hope and want to go to Heaven. But I believe I stand a much better chance of that if I do my best for others while I'm on earth. So, yes, you're right, but there's much work that needs to be done before I leave. God Bless!
nathan| 9.17.12 @ 3:23PM
Define sir if you will "best for others". The great commission, directly from Jesus Himself is "go into the world and preach the gospel". There is no point in doing charity without evangelizing with it. What value is there in putting all our time in helping to defeat a candidate if we don't address where our fellow citizens are going to spend eternity? Reasonable questions? When you say "help our fellow citizens" I'm going to respectfully suggest that the great commision trumps all other considerations. That first and foremost we have to work on bringing the lost to Him. All other considerations really have to be secondary.
Equally to you sir God Bless.
JONVIL| 9.17.12 @ 6:03PM
I enjoy the mental stimulation of the various discussions groups I get involved with-political, economic, science, Christian theology...
But you are 100% correct- ULTIMATELY it's a waste of time.
Regardless of who is president, it is God who is sovereign!!
The world needs to hear the Gospel.
Sinners
Saved by grace alone
Through faith alone
In Christ alone
Sadly, generally not well recieved
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 9:37PM
Quelle naif.
Derek Leaberry| 9.17.12 @ 1:34PM
Moral degeneration, certain fiscal implosion and the demographic revolution of America will lead to national collapse.
Grzmlyk| 9.17.12 @ 2:15PM
Derek, I have to say you are right, right and right, unfortunately.
Romney is a classic Statist. Count on it. He won't even attempt the majory surgery on Leviathan that's required - he'll do some superficial cosmetic work and pronounce himself a reformer.
And even if he did have the conservative bona fides - which he does not - to take a giant whack at the hydra-headed beltway beast, the beast is more powerful than any GOP president could possibly be. Even with the best of intentions, Romney would be a bug on the windshield of the status quo.
This is not to say I won't vote for him, or that I don't think he's a competent, decent person. I will, and I do.
But I have no illusions that Romney is anything other than a caretaker for the nanny state.
We can't keep running past the edge of the cliff like Yosemite Sam forever; once we look down, reality is going to come crashing down.
And that'll just make it easier for Islam's ultimate victory over the west.
On the bright side, the Fed's orchestra will continue to play the Profligacy Polka until we all slide under the waves. Woo hoo!
Joan Of Snark | 9.17.12 @ 3:05PM
So pay closer attention to those you are sending as your Senate and House representatives. Romney is smart enough to surround himself with those who are real SMEs; give him the right ones and things will begin to improve.
Worst case, they won't get any worse.
Grzmlyk| 9.17.12 @ 3:30PM
I'm nost familiar with the acronym "SME."
However, I believe things are going to get worse. Much worse. The dollar is a dying entity, being choked by inflation. The Fed has already admitted that its policy is to debauch the currency (another way of saying "open-ended stimulus").
People never look beyond the next election. I think it's worth considering. BEST case scenario, Romney is elected and brings with him GOP houses of congress. He comes clean with the American people and tells us we have to jettison the entitlement programs and everything else that's not nailed down in order to avoid collapse.
This will produce howls of despair from left and right, with people saying, "but you CAN'T eliminate of MY government check!
People will continue to be in denial about the fundamental fact that we are an utterly bankrupt country, and they will retreat even further into fantasy - which means that, the more serious Romney is about fixing the economy, the more quickly he will be summarily rejected in 2014, which means the Dems will go back to controlling congress. Thus shorn of any power whatsoever, Romney would twist in the wind for two years. Then, in 2016, America will elect another craven politican - a Dem - to tell us what we want to hear: That we really can have our cake and eat it too.
Grzmlyk| 9.17.12 @ 3:46PM
That's the best case scenario. The next-to-worst case scenario is that Romney decides his best bet is to keep kicking the can down the road, continue the Fed policy of inflation, and, KABOOM. Things blow up his first year in office.
The WORST case scenario is Obama is reelected and the nice velvet glove is taken off, revealing the iron fist of a tyrannical, angry, vengeful dictator.
Not only do they already admit that they think of us as their subjects, they celebrate our serfdom - as they said at the convention, we all "belong to government."
The irony is that liberals will STILL worship Obama and hail the police state, the gulags, the reeducation camps and the bondage into which the American people will descend as the apotheosis of "progressivism."
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 4:11PM
That's why I want four more years of Obama.
"If" Romney is elected he will only be responsible for taking the blame for what Obama and his minions have accomplished.
Grzmlyk| 9.17.12 @ 5:04PM
Honestly, Boar Hunter, I'm tempted to agree with you. But, unfortunately, even if Obama is elected and it all goes to hell, the mainstream media, the popular culture that it shapes and the millions of complacent, self-satisfied, faux-compassionate American fools who believe NPR reflects the real world will STILL blame conservatism.
As a country, we have taken utter leave of our senses. We've gone mad collectively. The only thing that will restore sanity is the return to cause-and-effect subsistence living that will follow a total collapse - and even then, the minute the free market re-emerges to begin to create wealth, the cycle of foolishness will begin again.
Such is the hamster wheel that is human nature. We have taken the greatest edifice of freedom and wealth the world has ever known and turned it into nihilistic rubble. And the proximate cause will have been nothing greater than the preening moral vanity of our popular culture.
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 6:08PM
Wow, that was some pretty smart commentary. Depressing, as I know you are right in your assertions, I wish I knew the answer.
When half of our country is so ignorant that they rebuke history and vote for Obama, I wonder what the outcome will be, I wonder what the solution will become.
Derek Leaberry| 9.17.12 @ 4:37PM
Americans refuse to understand that medical advances and their cost have outstripped our ability to pay for them. When 75,000,000 or so Americans are taking much more from the common purse than what they put in, bankruptcy must happen.
Grzmlyk| 9.17.12 @ 4:57PM
I agree, and, as I'm sure you will agree, it's already happened - the only reason we don't feel it yet is because of the printing press - and the fact that the dollar is the world's reserve currency; the minute countries like China and Japan and Saudi Arabia accept the fact that our dollars are debauched, it will start an interest rate chain reaction that will be the splat at the bottom of the cliff that awaits us.
If the Euro weren't so far in the toilet, the dollar would look even worse than it does now.
Boar Hunter| 9.17.12 @ 6:10PM
It is the failure of the Euro that is the only saving grace of the American dollar.
Zeppo| 9.17.12 @ 6:14PM
Grz, "SME" is "subject matter expert," the idea being the Mitt just needs to bring in people who know how to work the levers. As though the problem besetting the GOP was a lack of "competence" as opposed to a lack of ideas, courage, and moral clarity.
Grzmlyk| 9.18.12 @ 1:22AM
Thanks, Zeppo - I have not heard that acronym before, and it seems rather clumsy and unnecessary. But we live in a world of argot and recondite gibberish.
Regardless, I agree completely.
While the Mideast might be a Gordian knot awaiting the ultimate Alexander, the solutions to our domestic problems are easy as pie: end the welfare state, return to a market economy, abolish the Fed, get back on the gold standard and reduce taxes (elminating them altogether on corporations and capital gains).
The problem isn't competence, it's politics. When there's a mob majority who believes that it is virtue to extort money from the productive minority, stick a fork in your country. You're done.
obadiah| 9.17.12 @ 2:04PM
Yes, Ben, and you are speeding things up. You are one of the dittoheads who are determined to make Obama fail. You denounce and obstruct everything he does. You see how close you can get to outright lies and smears in attacking him without exposing yourself as a complete phony. You never forget any mis-step or misfortune but rather harp on them. You build them into catalogues that are incessantly recited. You never stop undermining him and the Republic he's leading. You are in the vanguard of those striving for the goal.
Skippy| 9.17.12 @ 3:02PM
Me too!
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:48AM
I'm sure that when W was President, you supported him to the hilt. Right?
AmericanPatriot52| 9.17.12 @ 2:07PM
Mr. Stein, great column! However, with all due respect (you're a whole lot smarter than I am), you simply must be wrong. Otherwise, America as we've known and loved her, is gone!
People like you need to support Romney, NOT count him out before the election. We may be able to squeak this out, but we need to have ALL conservatives get behind him.
That also means that ALL conservatives should cast their vote for him and not for people who cannot win (Ron Paul, Gary Johnson), simply to make a point (which actually gives a vote to Obama).
We need to come together, despite our many differences, and take a step toward saving this country, NOT kicking the can down the road or simply saying, "We have no chance, let 'er go".
Nothing would break the hearts and souls of our Founders more than if we simply gave up.
Slacker| 9.17.12 @ 4:32PM
The funny things is you see this exact same claim made by Obama partisans; voting third party, or not voting at all, amounts to a vote for Romney.
You are making the assumption that America is not already too far gone. Many of us do not buy into that assumption.
Hardcard| 9.17.12 @ 2:48PM
Dear Ben,
you're wrong about the 2nd term for our muslim and chief, one term that's it.
Cobalt| 9.17.12 @ 2:51PM
"L'Shana Tova"
Happy New Year Mr. Stein.
Have an easy fast.
I hope Iran isn't stupid enough to start something with Israel during the holidays. However, if that isn't the case, then Iran might want to check with Egypt and Syria, before starting anythng with Israel.
gene| 9.17.12 @ 3:18PM
Yes it is late. It may be too late even if Romney is elected. We may have passed the point of no return. And our own military will be in the streets with martial law in effect.
tickedoff2012| 9.17.12 @ 3:38PM
Mr. Stein, I have always enjoyed reading your column...until today. I am really getting tired of those who wring their hands and cry "woe is me" and I and those like me will be damned before we allow this to happen to our country. Yes, we are in a precarious state as it is. However, it is not the first time we have been in difficult situations and it will not be the last. I, unlike you (much to my disappointment), have not lost faith in my countrymen. I do not for one minute believe these so called polls that report the race is all but over. Have you ever looked into their methods or the weighting practices that are used for these things? There is a very good website that takes the raw data from the various polls and re-evaluates the numbers based on current trends and information. The website is: http://polls2012.blogspot.com/ At this point, Romney is winning by an average of 4+%. This misinformation from the MSM is an attempt to depress the conservative vote.....don't fall for it!
Beppo| 9.17.12 @ 4:20PM
Re-evaluates the numbers based on current trends and information......you mean the author's prejudices? I guess this is why intrade has Obama at 67% they can't be reading the "real" info at this site that has been re-evaluated......honestly you guys kill me sometime.
tickedoff2012| 9.17.12 @ 5:01PM
When you poll a disproportional group, you get skewed results. The average proportion of the main polls show 37%D to 31%R. The percentage difference between the two had repeatedly been shown to be within 2 to 3 percentage points and with anywhere from 35-40% of the remainder being independent.
So, we have on average a 3% advantage on polling towards Democrats, not even taking the 35% independent vote into consideration. When you consider the strongly against Obama compared to the strongly for Obama numbers, there has been over a 10% advantage for those who disapprove of his policies. Elections are won by those who have the largest numbers that are strongly for them or strongly against the other. Keep whistling, Bucco....I don't think it will be pretty for Obama...
wildblue | 9.17.12 @ 4:14PM
I agree, what about the movie made by Bill Maher? I guess it's OK to blaspheme the pedophile prophet if your a democrat.
Beppo| 9.17.12 @ 4:15PM
Buffoons like Stein are going to be the ruin of the Republican party. To start with there were no apologies and unless he'd noticed there are both national and state polls out there which clearly show Romney got his butt handed to him by Obama over this issue. Stein say's Romney isn't the enemy well perhaps someone should tell Romney the president isn't the enemy because it's quite clear most Americans think he stepped over the line here. Sorry Ben but you need a dose of reality.
threeleafclover| 9.17.12 @ 4:53PM
Keep it up, Ben. Perception is reality - - the self-fulfilling prophesy. Your "Obama will be re-elected" falls like acid rain, on the lonely GOP Parade.
tonya clark| 9.17.12 @ 5:08PM
we had the plessure of meeting ben last saturday night up at the falls inn. he was full of compliments but the one that stands out the most is when he told my daughter emilee she was a movie star and a goddess. when we got home she saw him on a commercial and came out and said "mom theres that nice man from dinner". what an amazing dinner expericence it was! maybe the next time we run into each other we could all sit down for some dinner and drinks. "Ben Stein" what an honor it was to have shared such a nice comversation with you.
tonya clark
Schtoondom| 9.17.12 @ 5:20PM
More tripe from the right-wing fantasy machine. The media focused on Romney in the aftermath of the bloodshed and rioting in Libya and Cairo because Romney said a bunch of stupid and false things, such as:
*The POTUS "sympathizes" with those who spilled American blood. Less than 12 hours later he refused to back down, re-stating that recklessly inflammatory, patently ridiculous characterization. So yes, when a candidate for POTUS says something so obviously idiotic, the (liberal) press is going to jump on him or her. That Romney couldn't foresee this is yet another measure of his ineptitude.
*The current administration "apologized" for the attacks on our installations. But the statements in question were clearly not apologies at all. They were simply frank disavowals of the opinions expressed in a stupid, hate-filled anti-Muslim film. Check Webster's: disavowal is not the same thing as apology. Apparently, however, many conservatives flunked vocabulary in 6th grade.
But never mind these stupefying statements from Romney and their assault on our intelligence, which the (liberal) media rightly called him on. What conservatives need to account for is why they remained silent when, in 2006, the Bush administration issued statements "akin to an apology" in the wake of those Danish anti-Muslim cartoons. Were those statements apologies? Were those statements of sympathy for our enemies? Are you trying to be transparently hypocritical, or just plain stupid?
Bill8472| 9.17.12 @ 5:23PM
Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think!
Enjoy yourself while you're still in the pink!
The years go by as quickly as a wink!
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think!
joeblow| 9.17.12 @ 5:29PM
"Let's start with a few facts", you begin. But as always, there seem to be a few glaring omissions from your selective recounting of the "facts". The obvious one that springs to mind is that daily, more than a decade after 9/11, people are losing their homes and families to bombs dropped by American planes and drones. Some of the victims might well be "terrorists", but many are not (although many may well make the decision to join their number after losing everything).
Dropping bombs on people's homes can make them angry, you know - and yes, they are real people every bit as much as the American ambassador in Tripoli that you are currently obsessing over. To put it into context in a way that you might be able to relate to, it's even more upsetting than getting heartburn from a potato chip. Above all, it is surely worthy of consideration in any serious attempt to understand the world that the US plays such a large part in shaping. It really is about more than just this stupid film.
Bankrupt_R_Us| 9.17.12 @ 7:59PM
Only one of the presidential candidates has a lifetime of business experience.
If the non-business candidate is elected, the US Treasury will likely continue borrowing an average of $120 BILLION a month, just as it has for the past 48 months. (That's $6 trillion in new debt in 4 years, and the gluttony of spending goes on and on and on.
The US Treasury spends ALL the money from tax revenues to pay interest on the debt, federal retiree pensions, social security, medicaire, medicaid, food stamps, etc. There is no money left to run the government. The $1 plus trillion borrowed each of the past four years pays for all the agencies and the military.
This president with his 1000 megawatt smile is the pied piper luring Americans down a debt rabbit hole so deep there is no escape. The Federal Reserve could not get enough buyers of this year's new debt - so it bought 60% of the new debt this year by creating money out of thin air.
That is what emperors of dying empires do - deflate the currency. It will eventually lead to fiat money with little value. If history is an example, there will be massive increases in the cost of the staples necessary for life, but as long as that doesn't happen until after the November election, who cares?
Remember Weimar Germany? A loaf of bread cost a wheelbarrow of german marks.
Pray for the United States of America.
Allen Johnson| 9.17.12 @ 8:08PM
Ben Stein's purported free speech in the U.S.A. is still conditional. If I were to try to convince active duty soldiers that the war they are fighting in Afghanistan is immoral and unwinnable, and that they might consider resisting orders, my "free speech" could land me in jail (or worse) on sedition charges.
As for Iran planning to use nuclear weapons on Israel if and when it develops them, this would be sheer suicidal madness. I doubt it.
Alej| 9.17.12 @ 10:24PM
Lilly-livered POS. Never were on active duty were you. Didn't have the patriotism or guts.
Your "free speech" allows you to run your pathetic mouth. It doesn't make you immune to criticism, or in my case, if I were near you, worse.
Abu Nudnik| 9.18.12 @ 12:12AM
Suicidal madness? Haven't you heard: "We love death like you love life." -Osama Bin Laden
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:48AM
You are comparing sedition with a politcal/religious statement. The founders understood the difference, and so should any rational person.
Bankrupt_R_Us| 9.17.12 @ 8:35PM
Ben,
I am a retired accountant. I was a fresh college graduate in 1971 and worked for 6 years for a Federal Reserve Bank.
Anyway, in 1974, I was a lowly supervisor of the Treasury Issues Department. That department acted as a fiscal agent for the Treasury, and assisted in the public auctions of bills, bonds, and notes.
One week a shocking event occurred. At the normal Monday Treasury Bill auction, the interest rates exceeded 9%.!!! The newspaper headlines ran: "Highest rates since the Civil War".
All hell broke lose. Old folks from three states descended on our lobby carrying cigar boxes, shopping bags, huge purses - all full of cash - and wanting to know how to "get me some of them 9% bonds".
Until Reagan and Volcker conquered inflation in the early 1980s, the Treasury paid up to 14% to finance its bills, bonds and notes.
If this interest rate scenario repeats itself, in the near term, the country is finished. Bankrupt. Interest on the debt would wipe out the military, all departments and agencies, most social spending like Social Security and Mediciare, and severely reduce poverty spending. High interest rates on $16 trillion debt would ruin us. .
If you have five minutes, there is a video by retired accountant which helps to explain the predicament we are in.
Google Hal Mason Youtube debt.
It's worth five minutes. All the numbers in his video come from an impeccable source: the president! Mr. Mason has White House URLs. It's dynamite.
TSIndiana| 9.18.12 @ 1:15PM
Yes Bankrupt, I first read about it in a book called "truth in money" which gave a simple math compounding problem, timed with the FED and IRS institution in 1913. As nearly all money is debt, with usury, the money supply is very closely represented as all public debt and all private debt. One can multiply one dollar borrowed in 1913 at 6% (average interest), compounding it for 100 years to have a close approximation of what is occuring. It has a suprising rate of increase in the later years.
While it looks like bankrupcy, since we owe money, it is a freight train moving at 90 mph, building up speed since 1913. It is unreasonable to think that anything short of magnamious changes in the entire money system, we can do anything but kick the can down the road.
Romney has no more of a solution than Obama.
Kingofthenet| 9.17.12 @ 8:40PM
Sorry Willard is HISTORY after this video where he hates on half of America:
http://www.motherjones.com/pol.....fundraiser
Ralph Novy| 9.17.12 @ 10:32PM
Ben:
Sorry, but you're a nasty, spoiled, senescent old Zionist Jew.
Damned near as bad as a nasty, spoiled, senescent old Evangelical Christian.
Or a nasty, spoiled, senescent old Sunni or Shiite Muslim.
You nasty old coots need to shut the hell up and live out the rest of your lives with at least SOME grace and dignity.
If you haven't got a lot of good things to say about others, either go sit by Louella Parsons or shut the hell up.
Your thinly veiled racism regarding Obama and thinly veiled Zionism regarding Muslims isn't doing your legacy any good.
Knock it off!
TSIndiana| 9.18.12 @ 1:16PM
I agree completely Ralph.
Ralph Novy| 9.17.12 @ 11:12PM
Yeah, you'd better cinch up your gartered socks and get ready for The Rapture, Ben.
You know, it's one thing to "not go gently," but it's another to "go badly."
Abu Nudnik| 9.18.12 @ 12:09AM
Sad beyond belief. Who'd have thought America would stoop to such cringing cowardice when their ambassador was raped and murdered?
At least Romney got it right.
Kingofthenet| 9.18.12 @ 2:23AM
Years Ago, when you held a stock in a company your brokerage would call you when someone wanted to short, to give you an opportunity to make a few bucks,selling your shares for a while....TODAY they OWN the shares, you are nothing more than a 'Pool' investor, they buy and sell, and God forbid they are caught selling shares NO one owns,suddenly YOU want to sell, than it is a quick rare 'book' lose for the brokerage house, of course they will pay you out of 'made up' shares, no need to deal with REAL shares right? as long as it all ends up the same....this is Mitt's LIFE!
Kingofthenet| 9.18.12 @ 2:46AM
Mitt's life is like being a "Pool" investor, does it REALLY matter if your Brokerage House buys the stock you request them to buy? As long as you get PAID like you did? Can it all be just make believe as long as they pay you the REAL price on the day in question? Does order and Cause and Effect matter or can life in Mitt's Matrix be OK, as long as it SEEMS Real?
Mike Rogers | 9.18.12 @ 2:50AM
Ben, you write interesting stuff, a bit maudlin at times, but I sure hope you are wrong on several points:
99% of the MSM, sure, but 95% of the black vote, I don't believe. All the fuss about smart black conservatives wandering off the plantation is because Dems are afraid of losing their grip!
We have to work to convince the hard-working majority at all income levels that Romney's plan is better for them.
We have to work to convince all patriotic Americans that no apology is better than apology tour.
We have to work to convince careful budgeters at home that CEO Romney picked Ryan as his "CFO" in order to draw up a careful budget for the nation.
I agree with you, Ben, that more Obama, followed by Hillary, would indeed herald end times; I agree that disdain for the constitution heralds the end of the Republic, unless we stop it NOW.
Further, I assert that markets are fickle and unforgiving things, and if they perceive that the combination of Helicopter Ben Bernanke and Obama the Marxist will cling on to power, that door slamming that you hear will be the markets forcing our economic collapse as they signal lack of confidence in the dollar.
On the other hand, the election of Romney-Ryan will cause the dollar to rise, the price of oil to fall, and the bad guys to quake in their boots.
Indeed, if you wanted any further proof that the MSM are not merely Marxist, but aligned with our enemies, just look at their reactions to unapologetic Romney, and "cowboys" Reagan and Bush jr.
TSIndiana| 9.18.12 @ 1:29PM
Romney, commenting about being president says; "November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see—without actually doing anything—we'll actually get a boost in the economy."
Lets see, it will be his presence in the office "without actually doing anything" that is supposed to make me believe in him as a president?
Mitt Romney says refering to the Obama campain;
" What he's going to do, by the way, is try and vilify me as someone who's been successful, or who's, you know, closed businesses or laid people off, and is an evil bad guy. And that may work."
His last sentence is brutally honest.
Mickle | 9.18.12 @ 4:10AM
BTW....May I suggest a prize for this week's contest Tim?
Carroll | 9.18.12 @ 4:15AM
Clearly, Cheesehead Jack understands nothing about what makes a decent people. Israel's enemies are monsters in human form.
gfmucci | 9.18.12 @ 9:00AM
And it is also possible that much of the narrative of that "cheesy movie" about Muhammad is correct - insulting but true. Indeed, truth is the new hate speech. No more truth. Is that why the Muslim world is so backwards? [Not so] funny, the left wants us to be backwards, too. It all fits. Strange, but it fits.
TSIndiana| 9.18.12 @ 12:53PM
True or not, there was a purpose to cause unrest and it was an intentional provocation. That it was not immediately discovered or even viewed, takes nothing away from it's purpose, to cause religious conflict intentionally.
mzk| 9.19.12 @ 4:46AM
And in this country we call people who exercise free press in for questioning?
TSIndiana| 9.18.12 @ 12:49PM
Your dishonesty amazes me Mr. Stein. The Chairo ambassadors office issued a statement to help quell the unrest, saying it was not the US government that made the trailer, nor did it represent an official position, which was clearly proper in the circumstances. Obama did not even have briefing on it at that time, nor had the attack actually happened.
Apparenty you condone the intentional provocation (film)...that's what sets you apart from me...but it's your hate for Islam showing through, not representitive of my position. I support what President Obama did in the circumstances...but then again I'm not a war monger Jew, NOR a Muslim wanting to retaliate in the endless religious war.
Smarter than you| 9.25.12 @ 11:18AM
"We stopped at the little store in Laclede and a kindly man from Canada gave me a lovely Exacto knife to allow me to open CD cases. Just out of the blue. I love that."
I hope you stole some good ones.
Smarter than you| 9.25.12 @ 11:20AM
"About ten minutes later, as we were entering Priest River, the speed limit rapidly dropped from 60 to 35. Many are the tickets I have gotten there. Sure enough, a police car pulled me over just as I approached Mama Mac's gas station and café and general store. When the policeman saw it was me, he laughed, agreed I was not driving too fast, and said he just wanted to see if I had been drinking too much."
You'd think you'd have learned by now.... oh, nevermind, celebrity gets special treatment.
In the small towns frequent, I'm known for being a good person, not a celebrity.
DidITweetThat| 9.25.12 @ 9:36PM
I love you Ben Stein
DidITweetThat| 9.25.12 @ 9:36PM
... like a crazy uncle.
DidITweetThat| 9.25.12 @ 9:36PM
... like a crazy uncle.