John Dryden
These days a lot of things skip under the general news radar, including the economy and damage from a war that has been more intense than any non-violent combat ever orchestrated from the White House.
The tanks and bombers of this war include agencies like the EPA and Czars with power to circumvent Congress. The enemy of this war is success and the desire to be successful, and the targets are the rich, not-so-rich, businesses large and small, and the mindset of those that may think making it holds a certain amount of virtue beyond financial gain. Recent polls suggest this war isn't working but I beg to differ. I strike up conversations with cab drivers, doormen, supermarket cashiers, etc. and they talk about things like outsourcing and the rich not paying their fair share.
Admittedly these people all agree changes to those situations will not impact their own lives, but it's all they really know other than the economy isn't rocking. It's also amazing how many people say the president was picked and handed the worst economy. I remind them he ran hard for the job, said he could do the job and hasn't done the job. They all shake their heads as there is no disputing that but there is always a tinge of pity because the job is hard. Most don't have the kind of passion, beyond pity, that will get them to the voting booth. If the weather is nice, maybe they'll vote, but clearly there is no passion.
And that is where the nation is in a nutshell - passionless.
In the meantime, the war rages on and only those with immense passion and determination to dodge bullets and future penalties are fighting back. That pool, however, gets smaller with each passing day. How do you fight against agencies, czars and a compliant media that spew anti-success propaganda in the spirit of Tokyo Rose? You fight back like a fish.
Fish Tales
One of the things that keep hitting my radar is more and more stories about the Asian Carp. Native to the Yangtze River of China, this fish is a ferocious carnivore determined to live.
Unfortunately the fish is determined to live in waters not its native habitat, even if it means destroying that habitat. In this case we are talking about the Great Lakes. This is a big deal (Yes there is an irony to the federal government's attempts to save the eco-system of lakes but also endeavoring to destroy the eco-system of America's economy).
It's been almost two years since John Gross was appointed the Asian Carp Czar.
As crazy as this sounds, Mr. Gross was handed a budget of $80 million to go after these fish and save our lakes. Today, the lakes are under greater threat and that money is gone. Moreover, a recent study suggests it will cost $3.3 billion to $9.5 billion to stop these determined scavengers that eat everything at the bottom of rivers and lakes. Part of the solution might mean building barriers, rerouting barges, boatlifts and other major initiatives. Of course these might work better than early suggestions from the Czar himself:
> Poisons (bio-bullets)
> Electric barriers
> Genetic engineering
This is serious stuff. One recent article says the species is now in shallow water, which might be good news in the sense that these mean fish get pissed at passing boats and jump out of the water. The biologist, Jon Amberg, in charge of developing the so-called bio-bullet has an admiration for the fish. He says "they are, by far, the most interesting species I have ever worked with," adding "their resilience is incredible."
The next move on the Asian Carp probably doesn't happen until a report from the Army Corp of Engineers due in late 2015.
War is the trade of this king and while the masses have pity those that know better must fight back.
Maybe those nasty carp may be the answer for Americans looking for the survival of the nation and its roots. A determination to keep forging ahead. A determination not to swallow poisons, to avoid barriers, and to maintain the DNA that's made America the greatest nation to ever grace the planet.
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