Who Won The War ... by Alan Caruba

Who Won the Iraq War?
By Alan Caruba

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With all the reams of news and analysis that has been written about Iraq since the United States and a few reluctant allies invaded in 2003, you would think we would know who we were fighting, whether we have “won” the war, and if not, who did?

As of November 30, 2008 the number of U.S. dead was 4,205. The amount of money the U.S. has poured into Iraq as the result of the invasion exceeds $500 billion. Also at the end of November, the Iraqi parliament voted on an agreement that would have the bulk of the U.S. military depart by 2011. The agreement, though, leaves plenty of wiggle room for Iraqis to request U.S. military to stay on.

So, who won? The answer is Iran.

I have read a dozen or more books that have been spawned by the Iraq War, but if you really want to know the truth, you need to hear from the people who actually fought the war there. I am talking about the kind of book that soldiers write for their comrades in arms, cautionary tales that say, “Look, this is what we did wrong and here’s why we should not keep making the same mistakes.”

One such book is Steven K. O’Hern’s “The Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad.”
($25.98, Prometheus Books) In 2005 O’Hern served as the director of the Strategic Counterintelligence Directorate of the Multi-National Force in Baghdad, Iraq. He served as the senior military intelligence officer in Iraq while overseeing the work of counterintelligence offices and their sources.

O’Hern is presently a retired Air Force colonel, an attorney in Overland Park, Kansas, and what he does not know about the magical arts of intelligence gathering and analysis is probably not worth knowing. The bulk of his book is about the need for “HUMINT”, the kind of intelligence you can only get from humans, not technology.

We begin, though, with the obvious fact that “After the invasion of Iraq, the United States and its allies were facing an insurgency in a country adjoining Iran.”

“We knew that Iran had demonstrated the willingness to attack via proxies in the past at the marine barracks in Lebanon, Khobar Towers (in Saudi Arabia), and in the Lebanese Hezbollah war against Israel in 2006,” says O’Hern. “Yet we didn’t treat Iran as a threat. We failed to take a long view of a long war.”

Most Americans think we have been fighting Iraqi insurgents in Iraq. We have, in fact, been fighting people whose leaders have strong links to Iran, that were equipped for battle by Iran, and short of massed Iranian troops in the field we have been at war with Iran.

“After the US invasion of Iraq, Iranian investors and intelligence officers had spread out across the country with orders to buy as many as five thousand apartments, houses, stores, and restaurants in Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, and Karbala.,” says O’Hern. “These locations would be used as living quarters and command centers for Iranian agents and militias loyal to Iran.”

O’Hern’s experience is pre-surge and that has since changed the dynamics in Iraq to a considerable degree. It is entirely likely that much of the surge involved hunting and killing insurgents whose names and addresses were known to the U.S. military by then, thanks to effective intelligence.

The politics of Iraq is an impenetrable maze to outsiders, but it helps to know that the present prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is from the Islamic (Shia) Dawa Party, known to be closely allied with the Iranians in much the same way his opponent Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Militia, and who heads the United Iraqi Alliance is closely allied with the Iranians. The result is that “People and organizations with very close ties to Iran gained control of much of the government.”

Al-Maliki has been asserting himself, reaching out to Sunni politicians, military men, and others to widen the base of the Dawa Party. However, there are more than 400 political parties registered in Iraq with more than 150 just in Baghdad. In the coming provincial elections, more than 14,600 candidates and some 36 or more coalitions will be vying for power.

It can be argued, however, that it doesn’t matter who runs Iraq because, in the end, Iran will run Iraq and it just needs to patiently wait until 2011 when most U.S. forces are scheduled to leave. There remain many obstacles to overcoming a three-way split between the Kurds in the north, the Shias in the south, and the Sunni area of Anbar. In the meantime, Iran can work on developing its own nuclear weapons.

What men like General David Petraeus know is that we are now into what is called “fourth generation” warfare. As O’Hern points out, “Nations such as the United States will face tribes, clans, religious groups, and criminal societies that may operate in several nations and that are immune to sanctions and attacks against their host nation’s economy or infrastructure.”

We are now fighting ghosts, a phantom army that does not put on a uniform, form up ranks, or has an arsenal of tanks, planes, missiles, surface ships, submarines, and the other accoutrements of war, although you can be sure that Iran has all of that. And, soon, it will be able to put nuclear warheads on top of its missiles. When that day arrives it will alter the balance of power in the Middle East and South Asia.

What the United States has is some of the fanciest technology ever brought to bear on a battlefield. What it needs is more HUMINT, the most essential element of intelligence, the eyes and ears of people who know what is going to happen next.

“Even as early as 2005,” O’Hern notes, “the second-highest-ranking officer in Iraq wrote that HUMINT was needed because technology-based tools were ineffective in Iraq, a theatre where developing actionable intelligence was difficult.” The intelligence community’s devotion to technology-based information gathering will remain an obstacle for a long time to come though the military has learned since 2005 how essential HUMINT is.

Clearly the decision to invade Iraq a second time underestimated or misunderstood the nature of the enemy we would engage. One thing is known, though, the U.S. lacked an adequate number of troops to initially get the job done. The demands put upon our volunteer military were met with bravery above and beyond the call of duty.

The refusal for the longest time to recognize or admit that the enemy was Iran cost a lot of lives to the weapons being manufactured and brought into Iraq from Iran.

To this day, American policy has been reticent to identify the enemy that the whole of the Middle East knows is pulling the strings, whether it is Hezbollah in Lebanon or some of those running Iraq these days.

There is, however, an unknown factor. In general, Arabs and Persians are adversaries. The whole of the Persian Gulf these days bristles with Arab fear of Persian intentions. And, finally, Iraqis despite everything they have been through have a sense of their own nationality and may resist being an Iranian satellite state.

The American public, impatient with long wars, wants to leave. Iran may give them cause to leave even sooner than 2011. These are, after all, Persians, the descendents of the people who invented the game of chess.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

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Conservative+Iraq+War+Victory

Why Does So Much Of The World Hate The Jews?

Why Does So Much Of The World Hate The Jews?
By: J. D. Longstreet
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I took my regional newspaper out of the box this morning, and unfolded it, and there, centered above the fold, was the photograph I already knew would be there. It was a photo of a wounded Palestinian in Gaza, a "victim" of the Israeli bombing.

Even before the smoke had cleared from the first bombs dropped many of us knew who the world wide press would make the bad guys. The Israelis. It never fails. The world's hatred of the Jews is just as vehement, just as rabid, as it was when Hitler was murdering six million of them in his gas chambers and concentration camps in Europe in the 1930's and 1940's. Frankly, I am not sure that given a chance to do it again, much of the world would stand by, again, and allow it to happen. Millions would simply look the other way... then claim they were not aware it was happening. Sound familiar? It does to my generation.

There is a sickness deep down in the rotten core of the human race that allows a hatred this deep. You want to see racism? You want to see bigotry, you want to see black, mindless, wrathful hate and pure stinking jealousy? Then look into the souls of the people who will allow a country, Israel, to be pounded day after day by a people sworn to wipe them from the face of the earth, a people who will not even recognize the right of the Jews to exist, to live, to breath, and walk the same earth as they do. There you will see the blackness of hell. Those who support the people who spend their days and nights searching for ways to kill, maim, and in any way possible deny the basic right of life to a whole people (because they are Jews) are, themselves, assuredly assigned to the deepest, hottest, level of Hell itself.

Someone must stand up and call them what they are... angels of perdition, angels of death.

Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jews, has been a country since the late 1940's. Within twenty-four hours of the United Nations proclaiming them a state, they were attacked, from all quarters, by the Arabs. That tiny, little, infant of a country managed to whip every last one of the Arab countries coming against them. Every day since 1948 Israel has had to fight to exist. From kidnappings to wholesale slaughter of the Israelis the world has watched and pretended not to see. That is sick, people! To really seal the diagnosis of pathological Jew Hatred, the nations of the world, by and large, point accusing fingers at Israel when she attempts to defend herself. It never fails.

Over the weekend, the international representatives to the United Nations stumbled over each other in a rush to condemn Israel for going after the people who have been sending rockets into Israeli territory killing Israelis. The International Media brought us stories of dead Gazan children and old men and women. Where was the same international press to tell us the stories of the dead Israelis from the rocket blasts and the suicide bombers and the kidnappers sent into Israel by those who fund the perpetrators of their godless evil? All you ever need to know about the international media can be learned by picking up a newspaper today, or watching a TV newscast today. They are shouting their bigotry from the rooftops of the world!

This world-wide hatred of the Jews is a sickness. It pollutes the souls of mankind. It pollutes everything we human beings touch. It must be, it HAS to be, a foul stench in the nostrils of God. Those of us who profess the Christian faith pray to Christ and say we believe that Christ is the Son of God. People, I have news for you! Jesus was a JEW! Talk about hypocrisy!

Why DOES the world hate the Jews? Why? Maybe it is because, as some have said, the Land of Israel is a constant reminder of God to a world which has largely rejected the very existence of God. And yet... there is little Israel, standing in the face of six or seven countries all vowing to wipe them from the face of the earth. Yet, they stand... and continue to stand... no matter what is thrown at them. Why? I can give you the answer I learned in Sunday School and at my father's knee as a child. That answer is that God made Israel a promise. He gave them that land as their own forever. By the way, the land given Israel, by God, today includes the countries of: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the land called today The Palestinian Territory, as well as the land we know today as the state of Israel.

Now, I am not a very good Christian. In fact, I expect I'd make a pretty good Pharisee. But, I believe that God does not make promises He does not plan to keep... and once made... it is for darned sure God does not break His promises. Otherwise, my entire faith is a fallacy and as the apostle said I ,amongst all men, are the most to be pitied.

My American family hails from the northern parts of western Europe. A geographical area that used to be, and by all appearances today, remains a hotbed of antisemitism. My ancestral home embarrasses me. Europeans are quick to boast of their belief in Human Rights. It would certainly seem they mean Human Rights for everyone but the Jews of Israel. My fellow Americans who support those who call for the demise of Israel embarrass me as well.

I believe we are quickly approaching the time, in the cosmic scheme of things, when the sheep will be divided from the goats. The nations of the world are going to be called upon, soon, to decide, as nations, with whom they stand, Israel... or those who call for her death. Those nations blind enough, and hate-filled enough, to choose to stand with Israel's oppressors ... are doomed. I cannot put it any more succinctly than that. God himself has said" "I will bless those who bless you (Israel), and I will curse those who curse you" . An accounting IS coming. It cannot be escaped.

The world is awash in antisemitism. If you have any doubt about that, be sure to pick up your newspaper tomorrow morning and scan its pages for the inevitable stories of the way the terrible Israelis are slaughtering the "Palestinians" (the "Gazans"). The hate spewing media cannot help themselves. They have made their commitment to go against God and there will be a price extracted. Watch as some of the most powerful and influential news organizations on the face of the planet are going out of business and, in the process, suffering a very public, humiliating, long drawn out death. They have chosen their path and they are now powerless to do anything about it.

In the meantime, we will continue to pray for Israel's success in the current war against the forces of evil and Israel will be victorious.

For those who find my "preachiness" in this article too much, we direct your attention to that little "X" in the upper right-hand corner of this screen. USE it.

J. D. Longstreet
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The Eternal War Heats Up Once Again

The Eternal War Heats Up Once Again

J. D. Longstreet
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The Israeli Air Force is reported to have knocked out some 40, or more, Hamas targets in five minutes as the current Jewish/Muslim war kicks off in Gaza. The devastating opening to this war has been described as the Israeli version of "Shock and Awe".

Planning, we learned, very recently for this raid, was initiated at least six months ago by the Israeli military. The decision that "Operation Cast Lead" was "a go" for Saturday morning was, in fact, made Friday morning only one day before the bombs began to rain down on Hamas.

Hamas had evacuated many of their command and control centers earlier in the week, in expectation of a Israeli raid. But much of the command personnel had returned to those centers when they received word that Israel had put off making a decision on when the raid would begin until Sunday. Thus, they were right where Israel wanted them when the air assault began, right beneath the bombs.

Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, was informed, in person, by Tzipi Livni, the leader of Israel's Kadima political party, after Livni flew to Cairo, for that explicit purpose, on Wednesday, while Defense Minister Ehud Barak continued to work out last minute details of the raid. So, even Israel's neighbor, Egypt, which shares the other Gaza border knew this was coming. There is an excellent article on this HERE .

Months ago the IDF had been given orders to do extensive recon to gather intelligence in Gaza and secure info on such things as the location of Hamas bases, weapon storage sites, the location of training camps, even coordinates of the homes of senior Hamas officials as well as the coordinates for other unspecified Hamas facilities. This is NOT a knee jerk reaction by Israel to those Hamas rocket attacks which have killed dozens of Israelis and destroyed homes and businesses as much as 30 kilometers inside Israel.

Already, the UN is calling for the violence to end and for Israel to avoid the killing of Palestinian civilians. Little has been said about Hamas killing Israeli civilians with those rockets. This is perfectly normal in a world warped by its thinly disguised hatred for all things Jewish and, especially, the state of Israel.

The UN statement went on to urge Israel to take necessary measures, including the opening of border crossings, to ensure Gaza's people were supplied with food, fuel and medical treatment. Israeli Radio reports tell us that Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defense Minister, did permit the borders to be partially opened to allow in medical supplies and basic humanitarian aid on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the White House is coming down, fore square, on Israel's side. "These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe is reported to have said.

On Saturday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the United States holds Hamas responsible for the renewal of violence in the Gaza Strip.

From the "Land Down Under", Australia, the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, also blamed Hamas for the current war. Gillard is reported to have said: "Clearly, we are calling on Hamas and other militants to cease shelling southern Israel. Obviously they have broken the cease-fire and engaged in an act of aggression against Israel. Israel has responded. We are echoing the calls from around the world for parties to move back to a ceasefire."

And so the family feud goes on. Nothing much has changed since Abraham booted Ishmael out of his camp and anointed Isaac, his son by Sarah, the birthright. The death and destruction we see today, in 2008, can be traced directly back to that incident, thousands of years ago.

It is foolish to even consider brokering a peace between those two half-brothers. It is the height of arrogance to believe one can bring peace between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael. As a gentle reminder, we refer you to the scripture from The Bible: Genesis 17:18,19 “And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shall call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him”. From the Koran:

Koran = 19:54 “Also mention in the Book [the story of] Ishmael: He was [strictly] true to what he promised, and he was a messenger [and] a prophet”. And again from The Bible:
Genesis 16:12 “And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him."

As we watch the continuation of this on going struggle play out before our very eyes on the TV screens today, we must remember that this is only the latest flare-up between these two peoples who have fought for thousands of years. No matter how this current war ends, the struggle will not end here. It will go on. No matter what the US does, or what the United Nations does, nothing will change. Only God can end this combat which is fueled by jealous rage.

The Jews and the Muslims have two different philosophies of life and religion. One leads to freedom and life and the other leads to bondage and death.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Israel+Hamas+Jew+Muslim+War

No Bipartisanship in the New Congress... Please

Bipartisanship is the LAST Thing We Need In The New Congress!!!
J. D. Longstreet
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If you are a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, or a member of any of the sundry other political parties in America… “Bipartisanship” in the US Congress is the last thing you should want!

One can hardly open a newspaper these days without seeing an article by a member of the MsM bemoaning the lack of bipartisanship in the Congress. Warning flares should go off in your consciousness as soon as you see the title of such an article.

Why? Isn’t bipartisanship a good thing? Maybe so in other countries… but not in the US.

Americans have deep rooted differences about the way the country should be run. These are, or should be, core beliefs. All political parties have those differences. Otherwise, we’d have only one political party. Then we’d really be in a mess! No checks and balances at all.

Bipartisanship requires, of a necessity, compromise. It also demands consensus. Both those things are unthinkable to “THINKING” Americans.

Look, I take a position on things, anything, because I believe I am right. So do you. So do Republicans and Democrats and all the others. To compromise your core beliefs simply means they were not core beliefs to begin with… or… you are a weak individual and your willingness to compromise is a character flaw. The same holds true for a political party.

Where I come from compromise, by anyone, is seen as a weakness of will. A lack of will power. It is not seen as a good thing. One who refuses to compromise, and sticks to his guns, is looked up to as a strong individual, as someone to be admired. You may not like his position, but damnit; you know where he stands… at all times!

Now… what of consensus? Well, consensus, plain and simple, is lack of leadership. It means there is no single individual in the group strong enough to lead and/or guide all, or a part of, the group, to his way of thinking. Consensus is that paved road to Perdition!

Every organization needs, and must have, a leader. Without a leader there is blind stumbling about and nothing, of any import, is accomplished.

In our Congress we have two sets of political ideas and beliefs. For anything to get done one side or the other must surrender that side’s principles. And it is a disgusting thing to behold! I would rather my side lose every vote and not surrender their beliefs than to win any votes by compromising them.

Currently the Democrats control both houses of Congress. The in-coming President is also a Democrat. Conservative voters in America are without representation in the government of the United States. Yet the populace of America is, far and away, conservative. This means, of course, that anything the government does is met with derision from a large portion of the American electorate. But, that is the way our representative republic works.

A bipartisan Congress would ride, rough shod, over the wants and wishes of the American electorate. Laws would be passed and freedoms lost in the blink of an eye. A bipartisan Congress would rule rather than govern. We would awaken each morning the find a list of new laws in our newspapers, which were passed the preceding day by the Congress. The weight of those laws would soon crush the spirit of the America.

No, Dear Reader, we do not want a Bipartisan Congress

So, never mind when the MsM calls for more bipartisanship in Congress. Consider the source... an MsM that is slightly to the left of Karl Marx.

Remember this when you see all the articles in your local paper calling for bipartisanship in Congress. Remember it when the Dems or the Repubs call for it, as well. Know that bipartisanship is the very last thing we need in the government of the United States!

J. D. Longstreet
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America Has Lost Her Self Respect

Political Correctness has Robbed America of Her Self Respect.

By: J. D. Longstreet

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One of my “Pet Peeves” is men who do not “uncover” when they enter a house, or a public building, such as a restaurant. (For those of you unfamiliar with military terms…”uncover” means to remove your “cover”…or hat)

Yes, I am a Southerner. But, I’m do not believe this extremely discourteous, and rude practice, began with Southerners. I’m about as Southern as one can get and I remove my hat when coming indoors. In my home, as a boy, the quickest way to get yelled at was to enter the house with your hat still on. The instant your feet crossed the threshold, into my mother’s domain, the hat came off. Now, the cardinal sin within a southern family is for one to appear at the dinner/lunch table with your hat on. It just isn’t done. Well, it wasn’t done until fairly recently. It is disgusting to see a person; Southerner or northerner, sitting at table in a restaurant… eating… with his hat still perched on his head. It speaks of low breeding.

The hat on the head while inside another’s home is a sure sign of disrespect. When you remove your hat upon entering another’s home you are saying, “I am in your home as a guest, and I recognize that I am at your mercy, as this is your domain.”

In olden days, when a man’s home was truly his castle, a show of disrespect, such as not removing your hat in his castle, could cost the offender not just his hat, but the head residing just beneath it, as well. This was serious business.

It has been my contention for some time that we have lost something as a society when we lost the “genteelness” which was so much a part of who we were, especially Southerners. I suppose that is one of the reasons I am drawn to the 19^th century American history. It was during that period that the word “gentleman’ meant something. “Lady” was also a sign of deep respect …one the feminist movement tossed out a number of years ago. Now, for a woman to be referred to as lady is taken as a sign of disrespect!

Our society has lost a great deal in the past 30 years, or so. We have become crass, rude, discourteous, impolite, and, I’ll use a word no longer in use today: “common”. Even here, in the American South, the last bastion of good manners, we too, are slipping into the “Me, too” mindset which is founded on one’s own selfish motives and inflated self esteem now taught our children in the public/government schools.

We have lost something as a people. We have lost our own self-respect. Our society is doomed. All because men will not remove their hats while indoors, you may ask? No, that is but a sign, a marker, of the passing of a great society where the value of a human being was not in question. In America’s rush to embrace “Socialism” commonality is a must. The destruction of the “class system” is a must. The political correctness crowd, the vanguard of American Socialism, has done a smashing job of destroying the American class system in their rush to create a single class. They do not understand, or they choose to overlook, the fact that removing the three classes (Lower, Middle, and Upper classes) removes a goal for Americans to strive towards. When an American has nothing to set his sights on, no goal to work toward, he soon becomes discouraged and simply falls back into the darkness of low self-esteem and accepts that his position in life will never change for the better and he is trapped. All hope is gone. Without hope all is lost.

Good manners were always about respect… respect for the other person. Look around you. Where do you see that respect today? It is all but non-existent. We, as Americans, have lost our respect for others, and as a result, we have lost our respect for ourselves.

J. D. Longstreet

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“Bargaining” is Not Negotiating ... By Jim Camp

“Bargaining” is Not Negotiating

By Jim Camp

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I was recently asked, in my capacity as a negotiations coach, what was my opinion of the Detroit automobile manufacturer’s bailout. I am completely opposed to it, but for a reason that politicians and the media have not discussed.

Detroit’s auto manufacturers always employed flawed concepts when dealing with the United Auto Workers. Essentially, they engaged in “bargaining”, not negotiating. At the heart of the problem is what negotiators call “mission and purpose.” The auto manufacturers believed that negotiating was the same as bargaining, but bargaining requires a mindset that requires compromise.

They sat at the table and asked themselves what they would have to give up to the union to get the deal done and make their numbers in the year ahead. The most powerful “bargaining” or negotiating tool is the ability and readiness to say no and they did not exercise it.

The result is that years of “bargaining” left the Detroit auto manufacturers unable to compete even with others engaged in the same business in the United States. Looking for those on whom to place blame is now the order of the day. Typically, labor is blamed for greed or laziness. Government legislation and regulations are also blamed.

Time and again, however, the leaders of the Detroit auto industry failed to base their most critical negotiating decisions on a clear vision, on a firm grasp of what their mission and purpose was.

Mission and purpose is defined as the long-term aim of an organization and it is their continuing task and responsibility. From my observation of the Detroit auto industry, it appears that they simply did not have either an understanding of their mission and purpose or a commitment to anything beyond the “bargaining” agreement at hand.

The result is that they became trapped in knee-jerk decisions that now threaten a cascade of failures beyond themselves, harming suppliers, destroying consumer confidence, and creating a situation that politically is so disastrous the current administration decided to hand it on to the incoming one. They are doing so with public funding that was not intended for this purpose.

Money, particularly public funding, will not save an industry that makes ineffective decisions. Change is required and without bankruptcy there will be no change.

As a veteran of the Vietnam War, I recall of how many times Ho Chi Minh and his negotiators said no to the compromise mindset of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. At great and tragic loss of lives to both sides, the Vietnamese held fast to their mission and purpose. Vietnam is now a sovereign nation with diplomatic relations with the United States.

There are many other examples; as a former airline pilot, I recall how, in the 1970s with the airline industry facing deregulation, the founder and chairman of Continental Airlines killed himself in his office. Only tough decisions restored the airline to solvency and a competitive position.

That is the mission and purpose for the three Detroit auto manufacturers; solvency and the ability to compete in the global marketplace. It should be the mission and purpose of the United Auto Workers as well.

Only sound bankruptcy procedures will produce a successful outcome. Only tough decisions in which all parties share a common mission and purpose hold any hope for them.

Polls show that the vast majority of the American public opposed a bailout. Many in Congress opposed a bailout. The Detroit auto manufacturers and the UAW are going to have to take no for an answer.

Jim Camp is an internationally known negotiation coach and the author of two bestselling books on the subject. He is the CEO of The Jim Camp Group whose Internet site is http://www.startwithno.com/.

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News From The Carolinas

News from the Carolinas
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In public sector, jobs keep growingCharlotteObserver.com - Charlotte,NC,USATransportation: President-elect Barack Obama's $850billion infrastructure plan could lead to several Carolinas projects. NC Gov. Easley's office said the

Carolinas In Bitter Fight Over WaterWSOCtv.com - Charlotte,NC,USASouth Carolina wants the court to kick the city of Charlotte and two other groups out of the case so it can fight North Carolina one on one.

Altria supports Cabarrus charitiesTMCnet - USAGrant applications for the Cabarrus County Critical Need Response Funds may be submitted to the Foundation for the Carolinas in mid-January, said officials

Puppies for Patients Campaign a SuccessThe Lincoln Tribune - USACHARLOTTE - The Community Blood Center of the Carolinas (CBCC) announced this week that its Fourth Annual Puppies for Patients campaign has been the most

Fewer opt to fly this holidayMyrtle Beach Sun News - Myrtle Beach,SC,USAThe skies over the Carolinas are expected to be less busy this Christmas, while the number of people traveling on the roads could increase slightly,

Girl, 6, hit by car in east CharlotteCharlotteObserver.com - Charlotte,NC,USAThe girl was taken to Carolinas Medical Center after being hit in the 3700 block of Marvin Road near North Wendover Road. Authorities haven't released

Universities lauded for service workCharlotteObserver.com - Charlotte,NC,USABy Steve Lyttle Four Charlotte-area universities are among 14 Carolinas schools honored for community involvement and service by a major national foundation

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Merry Christmas From North Carolina!

The Roaring Twenties & the Roaring Nineties ... By Alan Caruba

The Roaring Twenties & the Roaring Nineties
By Alan Caruba

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My Mother was a “flapper”, one of the girls during the Roaring Twenties of the last century. She didn’t need a woman’s movement to assert herself. She drove a car, held down a job, but—I was assured—did not dance on table tops, nor smoke, nor anything else that today would be taken for granted. She married a Certified Public Accountant and that tells you what a level-headed a girl she was. They stayed married for over sixty years. She would live to age 98!

I was thinking of the Roaring Twenties because, in so many ways that reflect the extremes of those times, the same illusions of ceaseless growth and spending, have come to an end. For Mom, Dad and everyone else of their generation, they could tell you the precise date, October 29, 1929 when the stock market crashed.

Now, almost eighty years later, we are repeating that generation’s experience with harsh reality. The generation that survives this economic and financial mess will emerge as real adults in the true sense of the word. They will save money for their old age. They will be parsimonious in the use of credit. They will be the Wal-Mart generation.

During World War II, my parents made their greatest purchase, a home in the New Jersey suburbs, a short train ride from New York City. The house cost $11,000. Twice they would take out second mortgages to put my older brother and then myself through college, paying off both as rapidly as possible. After they passed on, I would sell the home at more than a dollar sign with six digits just a few years before the bottom fell out of the economy. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

I did not marry. Instead, after college, the Army, and a job in Florida that I quit the day JFK was assassinated, I returned home thinking I would get a place of my own. I stayed on and on. Before I knew it, the three of us had spent just slightly more than sixty happy years together. Mother was famed as an international authority on haute cuisine and wines. She wrote several cookbooks and taught for some three decades. Dad had a small, but successful accounting practice that my brother joined.

I think, in all that time, they took maybe two actual vacations. Their home was their castle and they loved entertaining friends at the dinner table. The wine flowed, the conversation flowed, and the food was superb. I just soaked it all in.

What I remember most was that these two people were adults in every sense of the word. St. Paul writes in Corinthians, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, but when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

The Great Depression turned my parents into adults. When it was over, they took great joy in their lives and we had all the material things that gave Americans a great lifestyle in the decades that followed World War II (Dad was too young for WWI and too old to serve in WWII), but always lingering in the back of their minds was the struggle of the long decade of the 1930s and the sacrifices of the 1940s in response to the war. There was gas rationing. You needed government issued stamps to buy meat, sugar and other items. People grew vegetables in “victory gardens” in their backyards.

This present younger generation, the Millennials born between 1980 and 2000, are going to be a lot like my parents and their grandparents who had to persevere through those difficult times. Their children will be the real beneficiaries even if they won’t realize it until they too are adults with children of their own.

Americans have been through hard times before and they will come through the present difficulties. Some industries that did not or would not change will pass from the scene or be reduced in size. Others will grow in response to the times. We may well see far less business travel as communications allow people to hold virtual meetings. Vacations may take place closer to home.

In time, Americans may realize just how important their energy industries are to the nation’s economy and put aside childish notions of “clean” or “Green” energies like wind or solar. Talk of “global warming” will fade as a Little Ice Age sets in again, much as the last one did from 1300 to 1850. People will discover that electric cars are just too expensive to justify their purchase. Much disparaged family values may assert themselves.

The same exaggerated expectations of the 1920s, albeit with a new set of enemies, will be replaced with a more realistic sense of how the world really works as this new century wears on. There is much talk of “globalization”, but my parent’s world was no less connected to and impacted by nations far from our shores. Nothing happens in Beijing, in Baghdad, in Berlin, in Moscow or Mali that does not affect us all in some way.

We will still need to have a strong military. Ronald Reagan said that no nation in history was ever attacked because it was too strong. We will still need to tap our own natural resources, to repeal the massive regulatory chokehold on the economy, to return education to the states and local communities, and away from the straight jacket of federal mandates.

These are lessons that each generation must learn again and again and again. Hard times seem to be the only way they reassert themselves.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com.

********************

Conservative+America+Recession+Depression+ Millennials

America Needs To Regain Control Of Her Congress. Here's How.

America Needs To Regain Control Of Her Congress. Here's How.
By J. D. Longstreet
*********************
If you are a US Congressperson or a US Senator, I expect you are deep into a fit of apoplexy right about now and you are unable to read the remainder of this article. However, if you are a “normal” American you are still vertical and wondering how such a thing is done.
Well, the simplicity of it is underwhelming, to say the least.

I’ve been thinking about this since my high school days when a Congressman was introduced to the students of my school as a “Public Servant”. In the naivete of my youth I thought servant meant “one who serves.” Further, I thought a public servant was “one who served the public.” Do you see how misled I was in those oh, so innocent days?

Even then I thought it approaching corruption to actually pay someone to serve the public in such a manner as a Congressperson, a Senator, a President, and such like.

There is a way around this and it is an honorable solution to the problem. Not to mention that after the original outlay of funds, the cost to the taxpayers of financing a national legislature would be practically nothing when compared to the costs today.

First, we need to construct a Congressional Compound. A building, or complex of buildings, with four room apartments in them. Each apartment would consist of a bedroom, sitting room, kitchen, and an office. Each Congressperson and Senator would be assigned an apartment in which he, or she, would reside while in Washington on national business. When in Washington on private business. he, or she, would have to finance their own living accommodations. (Motel or hotel) The "dormitory" would only be available when the law maker was in town on business for the nation.

There would be no cost to the legislator for residing in the dorm. The CC would have a cafeteria for meals and would even provide room service to the congressperson's apartment (or "suite", if you prefer)

The legislator would be provided with vouchers for meals which he, or she could receive in either of the capital cafeterias. These voucher's would be used only when the legislator was in town on national business. There would be a parking complex at the CC for those who prefer to have their personal transportation with them while in town serving the nation. A fleet of shuttle buses would be available, 24 hours a day, to transport the legislators back and forth from their dorm to the capital for business sessions of the House or the Senate or for committee meetings, hearings, and such.

Now, I understand that we cannot expect them to serve with absolutely no pay. well, we CAN expect them to, but that is not realistic. So, since the people of the several states have chosen these people to represent THEM and THEIR interests while in DC, I submit the states should be responsible for any remuneration for the duties performed for the states. In other words, leave it to the states to decide how much to pay THEIR Congresspersons and Senators... NOT the people of the United States.

The states could use any number of formulas for arriving at a figure. One is to take the highest salary in the state and the lowest salary in the state... toss them out , them average the remainder... and the average figure would be the salary of the legislator. Of course, the formula , and the salary figure would have to be approved by the voters. There would be no cost of living increases until the state legislature proposed them and the voters approved them.

Transportation to DC from the states would be provided my the state's National Guard on that state's National Guard aircraft. Of course, the legislator would be free to choose his, or her, own mode of transportation, to and from DC, at his, or her, own expense. Any traveling on official business connected directly to his, or her, duties as a Congressperson, or Senator, would be on military aircraft. (Currently we the people of the US are paying the Congress somewhere in the area of 93 million dollars a year in salaries... not including all the perks.)

Now, I've just scratched the surface here, and believe me, I know this is simplistic as all get-out! But, it seems to me that we have to do something to get back to the idea that Public Service is just that: SERVICE.

Career politicians are killing this country. As things stand, currently, our national legislators are riding the gravy train and they know it.

One other thing: I think the states should be allowed to decide how many terms their national legislators should be allowed to serve. That would require a constitutional amendment, I know, as would a goodly portion of what I have proposed above.

The point in all this , for me is, we the people, need to regain control of our government. The best starting point, as I see it, is to hit them in their wallets, just as they have been doing to us for lo, these many years.

It's time to remind Congress who the boss is.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Control+Americans+Service

Congress To Get Raise ! You’re Kidding, Right?

Congress To Get Raise ! You’re Kidding, Right?
By J. D. Longstreet
****************************

If not the worst Congress this nation has ever had, certainly the current Congress ranks among the top two worst congresses in the history of the US. No matter. They are scheduled for an automatic pay raise next month. For an excellent article on this topic we recommend you read: “Congress Should Reject $4,700 Pay Raise, Taxpayers' and Seniors’ Groups Say” . You’ll find it by CLICKING HERE .

With this raise the Members of Congress will be jumping from $169, 300.00 per year to $174,000.00 dollars per year. That’s just their salary. It doesn’t include all the other little goodies they get over and above the loot in their pay envelopes.

You know, if I were a member of this Congress, I’d be ashamed to take my regular pay let alone stick my hand out for an additional $4,700.00! With an approval rating of 19 or 20% they must surely be nearing a record for disapproval ratings of any modern Congress.

Back in July of this year according to Gallop polls Congress did, in fact, set a records, of sorts, with a 14% approval rating. That was the lowest congressional job approval rating in the 34-year Gallup Poll history of asking the question. For details Click Here.

Now they want a raise? Yes, they do. And… they’ll get it thanks to a 1989 amendment allowing for automatic raises… unless they vote, specifically, reject the raise.

So, who, exactly decides how much Congress is paid? CONGRESS! Oh, yes! They tell themselves how much they are to be paid. It’s the law! Article One Section Six of the US Constitution states the following: Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. Dang! How sweet is THAT!

Up until 1969 Congress had to pass a law every time they wanted a pay raise. Well, it wasn’t a LAW, exactly. It was a piece of legislation…. or law… whichever. Whatever they set their salaries at with that piece of legislation… it stayed at that level until ANOTHER piece of legislation was passed to raise the amount again. Each time Congress desired a raise they had to go out, in front of God and everybody, and vote themselves a pay raise. Sort of humbling, don’t you know. The record shows that Congress voted itself 22 pay raises from 1789 through 1968 by passing a single piece of legislation for each pay raise. And… they can STILL do it that way, if they so choose. In fact they did so choose in 1982, 1983, 1989, and again in 1991.

There is another way Congress can raise its pay and that is through a recommendation form something called a Quadrennial Salary Commission. Never heard of them? neither had I. See, what they do is… recommend pay raises for high level federal officials. Guess what? Congress established the commission back in 1967. (How’d you guess?) Then Congress raised its pay three times, in 1969, 1977, and 1987 using this procedure. (Slick, what?)

There is yet ANOTHER way Congress can raise its pay. In 1975 Congress set up something called a comparability increase. It relies on annual adjustments in their pay when those, uh, “adjustments” are compared to pay raises that federal government employees receive. This whole thing is based on a recommendation the President makes to the Congress. The Congress can then either approve it, turn it down, or they can modify it. And… wouldn’t you just know it! Congress used this method to give themselves hefty raises in 1975, 1979, 1984, 1985 and again in 1987.

Then in 1989 comes the Ethics Reform Act of 1989. Sam Hanna, Jr. of the Ouachita Citizen writes the following: “Almost 20 years ago, Congress approved the Ethics Reform Act of 1989. The act called for adopting a formula using changes in private sector wages and salaries per the Employment Cost Index to determine the annual compensation for members of Congress and other high-level federal officials. In laymen's terms, the act provides for an annual pay raise for members of Congress based on a rise (real or not) in salaries earned by people working in the private sector. Or in other words, as Joe Six Pack works harder and harder to hopefully earn more money, Congress gets a pay raise as well.” You can read Mr. Hanna’s entire article by CLICKING HERE .

Remembering that they, the Congress, had the power to accept, modify, or reject any pay raise coming their way, the Congress accepted pay raises under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008. If my math is correct, that is twelve pay raises accepted under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989… with a tip of the hat to the Employment Cost Index, of course.

Let us remember that Congress, as Mr. Hanna points out in his exceptional article, enjoys “some of the best health care coverage and retirement compensation known to man, and those perks are not included in the annual pay check members receive.”

So. As we survey the financial mess our economy finds itself in today, and considering that the Congress must shoulder much, if not most, of the blame for the mess, should Congress even consider raising its own pay? I think not. In fact, I would support requiring them to give at least half of the last two years salaries back to the US Treasury.

If the Congress has any sensitivity, at all, to the financial plight in which the country finds itself today, they will certainly, with no hesitation, refuse to accept ANY raise in pay this coming January. But don’t hold your breath waiting for them to turn down money!

J. D. Longstreet
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href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Congress+Raise+Disapproval" rel="tag">Conservative+Congress+Raise+Disapproval

The Democracy Countdown

Democracy Countdown

by J.D. Longstreet

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We have been ranting for some time now on the socialist takeover of the US government. If you are a regular reader of our frequent rants you know that we are convinced that the US is already committed to a socialist form of government replacing what is left of the democratic representative republic our founding fathers gave us with their blood.

A while back, I wrote the following: “There has been a movement underway, in this country, which the Democratic Party adopted, way back in the fifties and sixties, to turn America into a socialist state like unto Europe. They have almost accomplished their goal.

For all intents and purposes, America is no longer a democratic republic. America has already become a socialist state. Those of us old codgers who remember when we were prepared to go to war to fight the spread of socialism cringe when we see how our country, America, has deteriorated into the black hole of socialism. We cringe when we hear today’s politicians, national leaders, as it were, spouting Marxist slogans from the floor of the national legislature. The national nightmare has become the American dream. Now we wait to see socialism suffocate the human spirit in Americans as it has already begun to do.

This was once, not very long ago, a land of unlimited possibilities…a land of new horizons everyday. No longer. We have chosen security over freedom. That’s all it took. Freedom is s fragile thing. One blow from the hammer of socialism and freedom shatters… and is no more.

Those of us who remember the REAL America weep for our country.”

Someone once said: “A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.

From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.” I haven’t a clue as to who actually said it. Experience has taught us, however, that it IS true.

Socialism has failed, utterly, everywhere in the world it has been tried. The European nations have begun to awaken to this fact and are voting socialists out of public office. Here in America, we have just voted into office our first socialist President, if you don’t count FDR who actually iniated socialism into the American government.

Those of us in the American middle class are going to feel the brunt of Obama’s socialist policies. With a willing and compliant Congress of the same political party, and same political mind, he will get practically everything he seeks from them. Guess who will pay the bill? The middle class, that’s who.

We old veterans catch a lot of flack for our denouncement of socialism. Understand, this: My generation was trained to go to war against the socialist movement, if it became necessary. Today we are told we must stand down and accept it as the norm in America. If you think that is easy to do, then you totally misunderstand our commitment to democracy in America. You do not have inkling as to our commitment to the representative republic that was America.

Those of us who wore the military uniforms of America swore to uphold, to protect, and to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and/or domestic. Ask any of America’s military veterans and we will quickly tell you there was no expiration date on the oath we took.

One of our Founding Fathers, a fellow by the name of Thomas Jefferson, said the following: “To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, 'the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.”

T. Coleman Andrews, a former US Commissioner of Internal Revenue, said the following back on May 25, 1956 in U.S. News & World Report: “I don't like the income tax. Every time we talk about these taxes we get around to the idea of 'from each according to his capacity and to each according to his needs'. That's socialism. It's written into the Communist Manifesto. Maybe we ought to see that every person who gets a tax return receives a copy of the Communist Manifesto with it so he can see what's happening to him.”

And finally, a man I have admired all my life, Sir Winston Churchill, said this: “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy.” I would ask you to consider his phrase ”the creed of ignorance.” It is my belief that ignorance is to blame for the United States government being in the hands of a socialist elite today and the underlying reason for the election of B.H. Obama to the Presidency of the US.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Freedom+Socilaists+Speech+Constitution+Liberals

Democrats Will Attempt To Re-impose The Fairness Doctrine

Democrats Will Attempt To Re-impose The Fairness Doctrine
By J. D. Longstreet

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Earlier this week, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said she would work on bringing back the federal regulation that requires equal time for the expression of different political views on the public airwaves. Click Here

Surprise! Surprise! America’s march leftward into a dictatorial socialist state continues apace. How fitting that this particular part of “The Rush To Silence Rush” will be led by a leftist from the left coast. And check this: they want to expand it to cover Cable and Satellite programming. Already, our socialist Congress is over-reaching!

Yes, I do mean a socialist Congress. For that is what we have. Do not try to feed me the garbage about a “centrists” Congress or a ”centrist” President-Elect Obama. If you really want to see what the left considers “Centrist” look at this graph:

(L) I____ (I) _____(I)_________I (R)

The baseline is the political spectrum and the red marker is the location on that spectrum the left identifies as the “center” or “centrist.” Do you see how lop-sided their definition of “centrist” is? Seen on paper, as above, it quickly becomes a joke! Except… it ain’t funny. It is scary as the dickens! But this is what they are selling as centrist politics these days.

They are leftists, socialists… plan and simple. The free dictionary Click Here defines socialist as: 1. An advocate of socialism. 2. Often Socialist A member of a political party or group that advocates socialism. The same dictionary defines socialism as: 1. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy. 2. The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved. CLICK HERE

Someone has said that socialism is like cancer. It eventually kills its host. Truer words were never spoken. Yet Americans are rushing to embrace the despicable disease of socialism for which only national suicide is a cure.

When you objectively survey the Congress we have today, grasping control of our industry and business with bailouts and loans… no other description fits. We HAVE a socialist government.

But, J. D., you ask, what has socialism to do with the Fairness Doctrine? It is a fair question. The answer: Freedom of speech is a threat to socialism. Why? When citizens are allowed the freedom to express their concerns about socialism, especially on the airwaves, the thought process of the human being will be spurred into action. When people begin to think rationally they immediately come to the realization that socialism does nothing to raise them up. All it does is bring everyone down to the same level. There is no chance to succeed at anything. It eventually suffocates the will to prosper, to succeed, or to excel at anything. Freedom of speech cannot be allowed in a socialistic society.

So, now they are going after our freedom of speech. Hey, why not? It is only a continuation of their shredding of the constitution. As I have said a number of times before I am mightily afraid of the very real possibility that they will extend it to cover the Internet as well. Those of us in the blogosphere may find our free speech stifled just like that of the broadcasters. Don’t think it can’t happen. As a Blogger who has had his blog locked, already, and access denied to him, I can tell you it is a horrifying feeling. One feels as if one has been muzzled.

One of the chief concerns of the left is freedom of speech. It is troublesome for them. When you look at the countries around the globe in which the Left has taken over established governments you quickly see that the very first thing they do… is muzzle the broadcast stations and the printed media which is not supportive of the Left. It is what they do.

And that is exactly what the Left is trying to do with the Fairness Doctrine. They intend to neutralize the Broadcast Media.

Representative John Boehner (R) of Ohio said in a News Release: “The so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ would restrict free speech on the public airwaves, stifling dissent at a time when an open national dialogue about our country’s future is essential.” Boehner went on to say: “The American people do not believe the federal government should be in the business of dictating or restricting the content of political speech. I’m troubled by Rep. Eshoo’s comments, and my hope is that President-elect Obama will speak out against efforts by members of his party to use their majority power to limit free speech and dissent.”

The Broadcast Media is a powerful force for freedom. It is truly the voice of the people. And therein lies the rub! Vox populae. The people’s voice(s). Broadcast media with a conservative message is a threat to the political left. Give them credit for understanding that, at least.

The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees Americans freedom of speech. The Constitution does not, however, grant Americans the right to have someone actually listen to, or read, what they may speak or write. Nowhere does it guarantee an American the right to be heard or read! I can make my opinions known on my blog, and here in this space, and you can decide whether you want to read what I have to say, or not. There are no guarantees. The Fairness Doctrine would deny Americans the freedom to at least HEAR what others have to say, especially those who espouse conservative ideology and opinions.

Look, America has given up entirely too much of it’s freedom, beginning with the Lincoln Administration, to present. It is past time to call a halt to the encroaching anarchy of the socialist left on our freedom. We should do it now while there are still a few of us around who remember what a great nation the US used to be.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Freedom+Socilaists+Speech+Constitution+Liberals

A Very Different Generation ... By Alan Caruba

A Very Different Generation
By Alan Caruba

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They are called “Millennials” and, with the election of Barack Obama, have been dubbed “Generation O.” Born from 1980 to 2000, they are as different from their parents as previous generations were different from theirs.

It is common that older generations frequently look at the new one as creatures from another planet. Every new generation develops its own slang, has its own cultural heroes, and most importantly has been imprinted by the events of their early years as well as the kind of care they received from their parents.

What distinguishes the Millennials is the way, not just events, but technology has transformed how they interact with each other and the world. Not only are they computer literate, but the Internet has allowed them to have friends from around the world who are available at the touch of a keystroke.

Events, of course, are important. My generation grew up during and after World War II. It was a time of enormous economic growth, of the U.S. ascendancy to being a superpower among nations. We lived through the Korean conflict that followed WWII in the 1950s, the birth of rock’n roll and, by the time the 1960s arrived, and I was beginning my 20s the Civil Rights movement erupted.

Assassinations marked that decade and the beginning of a long war in Vietnam that ended the lives of more than 50,000 young men born barely a generation after my own. Together we witnessed the first and only resignation of a President as the result of a criminal enterprise in the White House.

The Millennials had not yet been born. For them, the Soviet Union with its missiles pointed at American cities would be ancient history by the time they turned ten years of age. Red China would be a nation with which we did an enormous amount of trade. Europe would become the European Union. The Middle East would be a place that exported oil and terrorism

For the Millennials, the great trial their generation would face would be terrorism. For them and older generations, September 11, 2001 would change the entire dynamic of world affairs. The wars they know are the two invasions of Iraq; the latter of which has become their Vietnam. Two other events imprinted themselves, the bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City and the murders at Columbine High School.

While growing up, the Millennials led a busy, structured life in the 90s and this first decade of a new century. Their parents were devoted to them and the feeling was returned. They were told they were smart and to be inclusive and tolerant of all races, religions and sexual orientations. They were accustomed to being team players and they took being connected 24/7 for granted via cell phones and the Internet. This was a generation that was thoroughly nurtured.

It was and is a generation that was deep-fried in every environmental notion, no matter that its science was lacking or deliberately false. Surrounded by the benefits of technology, they have been told that much of it threatens the future of the planet.

In a nation where two percent of the population feeds the rest of us with plenty left over for export, they have no real connection with the Earth they worship, knowing nothing about how crops are grown or livestock is maintained and brought to the marketplace. Instead, they worry about “endangered” species and are fearful of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, all of which help generate an abundant food supply. Foolishly they worry that the poles are melting and the seas are rapidly rising, neither of which is happening.

As their parents came of age in the Reagan era of the 1980s, they grew up during the feckless years of the Clinton administration, questioning their parents about the sexual dalliance of the President while deluged with cultural messages that casual sex called “hooking up” was acceptable.

When George W. Bush became President, they would witness, not only 9/11, but the governmental debacle in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the torment of a strange “war against terror” being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan. At home, there was no terror, but few would or could make any connection between those active conflicts and the steady degrading of the threat al Qaeda represents.

It is, therefore, no surprise that the Millennials were entranced by the message of “change” offered by President-elect Obama, excited by the prospect of electing the first Afro-American President, and expecting, as my New Orleans friends like to say, to let the good times roll on.

There is, therefore, considerable irony that the Millennials are a generation looking at the same disintegrating economy their great-grandparents lived through in the 1930s and 40s, until a world war provided full employment and the post-war years were an explosion of innovation and growth.

It is presumed that the lessons of the past have been learned and monetary institutions will address the current problems, but underwriting the entire economy is public trust and confidence. If that disappears, so does the economy.

Slowly, the Millennials are discovering that the politicians their parents sent to Congress were so profligate, so stupid, and so intent on their own acquisition of wealth and power that they created the current financial crisis.

And now they are learning that those same people are returning to power! The President-elect is surrounding himself by the Clintonians who failed to comprehend the changing global dynamics, focusing instead on Green fairytales of “energy independence”, “global warming”, and the ill-founded belief that global institutions like the United Nations would or could solve international conflicts.

The Millennials, now in their twenties and thirties, are saddled with debt, watching jobs disappear, and so utterly devoid of any knowledge of their nation’s history that they know the names of the judges of American Idol, but cannot name the three branches of the American government, nor grasp that real enemies do exist and must be defeated if America is to endure. (The exception, of course, are those serving in our military.)

Their grandparents, the “Boomers”, are beginning to retire and will add to those who benefit from the many “entitlement” programs that have been enacted since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman and succeeding presidents. Their parent’s primary asset, their homes, are losing value. A university education now leaves them emerging into the workplace with debt.

The “change” that will be thrust upon them is a cornucopia of “sacrifices” they will be required to accept in the name of environmentalism and globalism. Sufficient energy will become scarce within a decade and a government that is rapidly socializing banks, investment and insurance firms, may be forced to let a major industry, the Detroit auto manufacturers, go bankrupt before it can be reformed.

Norman Thomas, a former U.S. Socialist Party candidate for President in the 1940s, predicted that, “The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But, under the name of ‘liberalism’, they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”

That day has arrived. Barack Obama is its standard-bearer.

____________________________

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

© Alan Caruba, December 2008

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Conservative+ Millennials+GenO

Taxes By The Mile In North Carolina?

Taxes By The Mile?
By J. D. Longstreet
**************************************

Here in North Carolina, something called the 21st Century Transportation Committee is recommending the state adopt a “taxes by the mile” plan. As I understand the proposal, the state would carefully record the miles each Tar Heel Driver drives, over the preceding twelve months, and the vehicle owner would be charged the appropriate amount in taxes for each mile the driven. As North Carolinians take their cars in each year for the mandated annual state inspection (which by itself is a gigantic tax scheme!) the mileage on the odometer is recorded. This will be the source of the mileage figures used to tax NC drivers. Transportation experts say that later the state could switch to GPS tracking of NC Drivers.

You can read the piece by Steve Harrison at the Charlotte Observer’s site by
clicking here.

So. Why the taxes by the mile? Well, you see, it’s like this: Tar Heel drivers, being the frugal people that we are, understood, when gasoline prices went sky high, that if we reduced our driving, we would spend less on gasoline. Makes sense, what? Of course, it does. But, you see, NC has one of the highest state taxes on gasoline in the United States and the state has been losing it’s proverbial behind ever since Tar Heel drivers parked their cars and trucks.

So what to do? Hot dang! Raise taxes! But the state needed a new scheme to do it, because NC drivers learned, while those cars and trucks were parked, that they really didn’t NEED to drive as much. Now that gas prices are substantially lower, we still have the family jalopy parked. My truck is driven a couple of times a week. The family sedan now gets the yeoman’s job the truck used to perform because it gets better gas mileage. And the sedan is not on the road nearly as much as before the rise in gas prices. Hey, just because we speak slowly in NC, doesn’t mean we think slowly.

Enter the proposed “Road Use Tax.”

Now, as if the Road Use Tax isn’t insult enough, the 21st Century Transportation Committee proposes charging NC drivers a quarter cent a mile for every mile driven each year… with the first 2000 miles a year free. How generous, don’t you think?

As I noted above NC has one of the highest motor fuel taxes in the nation at 29.9 cents per gallon. But, the state expects to lose 580 million dollars in tax revenue over three years because Tar Heel drivers are buying less gasoline. As a result the state of North Carolina is desperate for tax money.

Now, we are not blessed with a legislature noted for it’s deep thinking. We are not even noted for a state legislature noted for frugality. Every time we get a surplus, they manage to spend the money. Then they poormouth to the NC taxpayers about how the state is going broke and then they roll out the old threat to cut back on essential services because of the monetary short fall. It happens time and time again. So being short on money in the state treasury of North Carolina is nothing new.

Has it not occurred to the boys and girls in the NC General Assembly that maybe we ought to consider tightening our state belt, cut back on state spending, you know, get choosy about where and when and how they spend the state’s money? If so, I haven’t heard about it.

North Carolina is a great state. I’ve called it home for nigh on to 45 years now. I have seen this sort of thing come and go many times over that near half century I have lived in this state and I’m sure it will continue as long as there is a Tar Heel state. But our state legislature has got to learn that just as their taxpayers parked their vehicles when the price of gasoline became just too darned high, the state is going to have to learn to park some of it’s money soaking programs until state coffers become much more robust.

As democrats control NC, I fully expect the state legislature to not only consider this proposal; I expect them to pass some form of it into law within the next two to three years. I am convinced they’d do it now, if they thought they could get away with it. But with the recession, and all, the gang with the pitchforks and torches would be running toward the state capital building by dawn! Oh, yes, yours truly would be amongst them replete with a pitchfork and a torch!

J. D. Longstreet

********************

Conservative+NC+Gas+Taxes+Mileage+Legislature+Democrat

THIS is why Conservatives fear BIG GOVERNMENT

THIS Is WHY Conservatives Fear BIG GOVERNMENT
By J. D. Longstreet
***************************

Recently it was reported that the Pentagon plans by 2011 to station 20,000 active-duty troops within the United States to respond to large-scale catastrophes or terrorist attacks. These troops would be specially trained to handle chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive attacks. Reports say this force has been in planning stages for several years. Read more on this at: CLICK HERE, PLEASE

In a speech he made in July in Colorado Springs, Colorado, presumed President-Elect Obama said: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Now comes this: “New rules published in the Federal Register would allow certain civilians to call American soldiers into action inside the U.S. to prevent environmental damage or respond to "special events” and "other domestic activities."

The alarming warning is contained in proposed rules published last week for the Department of Defense’s "Defense Support of Civil Authorities" plan.

But the new rules go far beyond that, essentially establishing a plan to activate the U.S. military inside the country to deal with social issues under provisions that appear to be devoid of any connection to the Constitution…”
Read the entire story at:CLICK HERE, PLEASE

Worried yet?

What about the Posse Comitatus Act, you ask? Well, if these foks get their way Posse Comitatus is dead, and, frankly, so is our constitution!

Some of you may be wondering what the dickens the Posse Comitatus Act is. Ok, let’s take a look, shall we: "The Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act substantially limit the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 16, 1878 after the end of Reconstruction. The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain”Law and Order” on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) in the former Confederate States.

The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act." (From Wikipedia at:CLICK HERE, PLEASE)

In an article in the Washington Post dated December 1st and titled: “Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security” it is pointed out: “There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.” You can read the entire article at:CLICK HERE, PLEASE

Ok, so we have 20,000 US combat troops to be to do, uh, what… exactly, in the US… plus, Obama’s civilian national security force of, how many? Who knows! Now, I don’t know about you, but this is beginning to be worrisome. Are we about to become an armed camp? It certainly seems so.

I know it is not popular these days to speak of it, but the fact is… I am a product of the only part of the US to be invaded, conquered, and occupied by armed forces of the US. My section of the US underwent ten years of the worst form of occupation by armed troops. Even today stories handed down within families, from generation to generation, and a number of books have been written about the atrocities committed by those troops while here in the former Confederate States of America. If you care to read an excellent account of some of those war crimes, I recommend a book by Walter Brian Cisco titled: “ War Crimes Against Southern Civilians.” Some of the crimes he writes about in the book took place in my hometown.

It seems to me that what we have is a Federal Government out of control. That means the constitution is being trampled, shredded, and maybe, as some claim, it is already dead!

For decades we have warned that a federal government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have… including your freedom. And now it is happening.

I repeat my question asked above: Are you worried yet?

J. D. Longstreet

******************

Conservative+Military+Constitution+Freedom+dictatorship

Cheerful Remarks at the Funeral *** by Alan Caruba

Cheerful Remarks at the Funeral
By Alan Caruba

***********************

I have been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists for more than twenty-five years. Not long ago they sent me a lapel pin to commemorate my devotion to the organization which has, I must admit, mostly consisted of paying my annual dues. I have long since lost my youthful enthusiasm for the profession, but not for writing.

Like Mark Twain, I drifted into journalism because I was seriously opposed to having to actually work for a living. One of Twain’s classic quotes was “Get your facts first and then you can distort them as much as you please.” A pretty fair definition of journalism in his times and ours.

I began to have early doubts about the rigors of being a journalist when, three months after I joined the staff of a weekly newspaper, the first I had ever worked for, the editor moved on to a daily and I was anointed the editor. That’s right. I went from rookie to head honcho in about 90 days. I virtually wrote that entire newspaper for well over a year or so and probably learned as much as any four-year curriculum at the Newhouse or Columbia School of Journalism. Then I moved on to a daily newspaper.

In the December issue of “Quill”, the SPJ magazine for its members, the new president, Dave Aeikens, used his page for a commentary titled, “Our profession is not dying, it’s just changing.” My thought was that he was making some cheerful remarks at a funeral. The name of the magazine tells you how outdated newspapers have become in a time when the digital version of your favorite source of news can be accessed in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia

Indeed, Aeikens mentioned highly trafficked news websites such as CNN and The New York Times, but managed to neglect mentioning that Fox News was in the top ten. And therein lies the problem. The new media is so wedded to its liberal agenda that it can’t even manage to mention that the newly indicted Governor of Illinois is a Democrat, but on the same day they did not fail to include that Larry Craig, the Senator who got into trouble for unseemly behavior in a men’s room, is a Republican.

The game is up for the mainstream press. The Internet constantly reveals how they distort the news and how they print news that is too often unsubstantiated boldfaced lies such as telling us that global warming is real or that the U.S. can be “energy independent”, or that “biofuels” made from food sources can replace gasoline, or that Barack Obama is a “centrist.”

The problem is that too many people for whom CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and similar liberal news outlets represent an accurate presentation of the world remain blissfully ignorant despite ample evidence that Congress has absolutely no idea what it can or should do as the latest burst economic “bubble” creates fear and panic. Thus, we are now hearing all the failed programs of the previous recessions and depressions being trotted out. Only the Republicans are opposing the most blatant raid on the public treasury in the history of the nation.

While news of failing daily newspapers is now a daily occurrence, permit me to suggest that the problem goes beyond the loss of classified advertising or slashed display advertising budgets. Certainly they play a major role, but the print newspapers have run slap-dash into a generation that has been rendered so ignorant of history, civics, science and other essential knowledge, and is so self-absorbed as to have entire web pages and blogs devoted to themselves and networks of other nitwits, that reading the daily newspaper is just so ”yesterday.”

That is why newspaper circulation and network news viewers are sliding into a black hole where real reporters and real editors are becoming obsolescent.

The question is who do you trust? And why should anyone but a nitwit trust a news media that almost universally bought into and anointed Barack Hussein Obama as the “Messiah”? How can anyone trust news magazines that picture him on their covers as the new Lincoln or the new FDR before he has even served a day in the Oval Office?

“The role journalists play in democracy is far too important to give up on it,” wrote Aeikens. He’s right, of course. Real journalists retain their skepticism. Real journalists do not write news releases. They write the news—what they see and record—and that includes those aspects of the news with which they may personally disagree, but which must be reported anyway.

This is why commentators like myself are finding an audience searching, searching, searching for some facts on which we hang our particular take of what is occurring. We’re the ones who, if we take ourselves seriously, actually document what we write.
Unlike myself who has a pedigree in journalism, most come to what they write based on expertise in many other areas of a very complex world.

I will predict that weekly newspapers will weather the storm breaking over the daily newspapers. The best news is always local news. Some smart fellow will set up a syndicate for news out of the state capital and feed the state’s weeklies.

The dailies will struggle for a while. Not all will die, but those that survive will not look like the present dailies with their endless cautionary tales of everything toxic that will kill you and every member of your family. Events in far-off places will be reduced to a few paragraphs in a single section. There will be some gossip, the movie and television listings. And, always, the obituaries.

The Internet will provide just about everything you need to know. It will do it faster. It will do it better. It will offer what today’s daily newspapers do not, a choice of whom to believe, not a predictable flow of recycled news releases and opinions.

In an era when the Nobel Prize is given to charlatans like Al Gore, people will still thirst for the truth and they are not finding much of it in today’s daily newspapers and news magazines.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com.
**************************

Conservative+Newspapers+Press+Media+Ignorance+Bias+Liberal

One World Government...Global Governance

Global Governance=Global Government=One World Government
By J. D. Longstreet

************************

Of all the things that concern me, the thing which actually frightens me most is the possibility of a One World Government on this planet. And surveying the world situation today one would have to admit it sure looks as if the stage is being set for just that… the move to Global Governance (The PC term for Global Governance, or what you and I know as a One World Government). I have thought about this one world government thing for a good forty years now and for the life of me I cannot see how it can be done and maintain a democraric form of one world government. In fact, I am convinced it cannot. I have concluded that the best we can hope for is a benevilent worldwide dictatorship… under the auspices of, you guessed it, the United Nations, that spawn of Hell itself!

The folks we often refer to as “the powers that be” need a world wide crisis, and then another and another, until the citizens of this globe are so beaten down they will be willing to accept such a single government spanning the globe just to obtain some relief. The current world wide financial crisis seems ready made as the stepping stone for a series of world wide crises which, if I am correct, may follow fairly quickly on the heels of the current crises.

Money. It’s money that is the triggering this crisis. I have to tell you I have an awful feeling that soon after the first of the year the Congress is going to declare a banking holliday. When they do, and if they do, it will bring home the depth of the danger Americans are in... finally. Wiped out will be the phrase of the day and it will be accurately discriptive. Doubt not that there is a plan on someone’s desk, or locked securely in someone’s vault, to take the drive toward a one world government into the second phase. Believe me when I tell you, that I am convinced that we are one step closer to that one world government than we have ever been and one could even go on record as saying we are right on schedule, or very nearly on schedule, for it’s establishment.

Gideon Rachman, of the Financial Times, has a piece entitled: “ And Now For A World Government”. We recommend you read it. You’ll find it at:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7a03e5b6-c541-11dd-b516-000077b07658.html

If I understood what Mr. Rachman has written, he, too, sees the table set for “global governance”. I shuddered, more than once, as I read it. You’ll find many more such articles on the Internet. Some will scare the bejesus out of you, especially Americans. Some have said coming events toward the initial establishment of the OWG will have Americans reaching for their guns. I sincerely hope that is an accurate statement. For I, as an American, am convinced that it will be the end of America.

As I said above, I am convinced a One world Government cannot exist, realistically, as a democratic form of government. It will, of necessity, have to be a dictatorship to survive. Only a dictatorship could bring the fear and intimidation that will be necessary to mold, and maintain 193 separate countries in line as a single planet-wide country. Not to mention the perpetual state of war that will exist on the planet, somewhere, all the time.

May I suggest you take the time to read up on the myriads of material available on the Internet about the coming One World Government? It is a must if you value your freedom, especially Americans. As I said above, some are suggesting a banking holiday soon after the first of 2009. That will be a sign that “The Program” is underway.

Some have been suggesting that we buy up as much ammo as we can and conceal it. Much the same is being suggested for our personal weapons. I have to tell you that considering where the world seems to be heading that is beginning to resemble sage advice.

J. D. Longstreet

********************

Conservative+Global+Government+UN+Democracy+Dictatorship

Power Tends To Corrupt, And Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

Power Tends To Corrupt, And Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

By J. D. Longstreet

*******************

“I cannot accept, your canon that we are to judge pope and king unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”… Lord Acton

The opening act of what the conservative community in America feared, with the election of Mr. Obama to the Presidency, began playing out in Illinois this week as the governor of that state was taken into custody by federal officers as their investigation into what has been called a political crime spree continues. We’re convinced it is the kick-off of another scandal ridden democratic administration that we hoped and even prayed we, as a country, were rid. Unfortunately, no matter how much we warned of the possibility of just this sort of thing occurring with the return of democrats to power we were shouted down and called all manner of tasteless and even vulgar names for daring to point to the truth of history and the probability of a repeat performance in our nation’s tainted capital city.

Well, it has begun. We are convinced the arrests, in Illinois this week, are just the beginning. Look for 4, or even 8, years of back-to-back scandals and under-handed dealings which will occasionally break through the carefully crafted façade of our less than sincere politicians as they take advantage of a voter base so ignorant of morality and decency that even the continued existence of our country is in peril.

What will it take to convince Americans that the people we place in office ought to be of high moral character? I no longer think it is even possible. I no longer think Americans even care… as evidenced by the results of the presidential election, and numerous congressional elections, and even state and local elections around the country just last month.

We have become so accustomed to self serving, double-dealing, dishonest, greedy, callous, crafty, deceitful, duplicitous politicians that we now accept it as “normal”. What that says about Americans, as a people, is absolutely shameful. What it says about the future of this nation is terrifying!

I dare say ancient Rome was not as corrupt as America is today. We have managed to dumb down our populace, the voter base, the electorate, concerning what is expected of public servants, until we think nothing of electing to public office people of such low morals they ought not be allowed IN public, let alone serve in a public office. Nowadays, the use of the phrase “choosing the lesser of two evils,” when describing our choice of candidates, is in regular use… and we don’t even raise an eyebrow. Why? Because it is true!

James L. Buckley once said: ” What people fail to appreciate is that the currency of corruption in elective office is, not money, but votes.” He was dead on.

I am not surprised at the corruption of our politicians. How could I be? It is we who elected them. It is we, the people of America, who bear the shame and the guilt for placing these people of low repute in offices that good men fought, bled, and died for on foreign and domestic battlefields to secure for us. Do we not understand that we have disgraced our heritage? Do we not understand that we have brought shame upon our ancestors, upon our forefathers, upon the Founders of this nation, and… upon ourselves for not being good citizens and good stewards of this priceless jewel of a country?

Too long have we abrogated our singular duty to study the foundations of this country, the constitution of this country, the legal/judiciary system of this country, and, just as important, the government of this country, and… the way that government was intended to operate. We haven’t done any of this.

Our public education system has failed, utterly, in educating our young about their heritage as Americans. It has failed at instilling pride in our young as Americans. The angry cries of “nationalism” have drowned our “patriotism” until one is frowned upon for any public display of pride in America. There is something intrinsically wrong about that! In modern day America education has been devalued while ignorance is celebrated… even unto the voting booth! It is revolting!

Yes, I am angry. It is an anger born of frustration. I am frustrated with my fellow Americans who absolutely refused to see that substance does trump style every time. The percentage of the electorate who voted to place a man in office, primarily because of the color of his skin and, secondly, his eloquent way with words, have done America a huge disservice. The cost is going to be monumental, biblical, even.

One of the great men of the American Revolution, Samuel Adams, said this: “The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."

I would draw your attention to the last portion of the last sentence above: “… or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.” THAT is precisely where we find ourselves in America today. And we have no one, no one, to blame… but ourselves.

Are you ready for the years, immediately ahead, with tailgating scandals and stories of corruption and graft and the peccadilloes of powerful men unable to restrain themselves when let lose on an ignorant populace? You’d better be, for I am mightily afraid that is exactly where we are heading. The political shenanigans unveiled, just this week, are, I’m afraid, the tip of a vastly underestimated iceberg of such conduct. Our ship of state is sailing directly into that iceberg.

J. D. Longstreet

*****************

Conservative+Corruption+Government+America+Obama+Ignorance+Voters

How Obama and the Democrats will Destroy the U.S. Economy ... by Alan Caruba

How Obama and the Democrats will Destroy the U.S. Economy
By Alan Caruba

************************

When I heard President-elect Obama speak casually of “bankrupting” the coal industry because of its role as a source of greenhouse gas emissions, I knew that he would become a serious threat to the economy of the nation.

Given that the economy has been seriously threatened by the financial crisis, Obama has acted quickly to surround himself with people tasked to restore trust and confidence to our banking system. The ad hoc approach of the current Secretary of the Treasury will hopefully yield to a more reasoned effort, but it is clearly one in which the government will inject huge amounts of money into the system to give it, in Obama’s words, “a jolt.”

Obama enters the Oval Office as perhaps the President who is most committed to the murderous objectives of the environmental movement that took root and have expanded since the 1960s. It is instructive that its impetus was “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, a screed against DDT and all chemicals that protect and enhance the lives of human beings, crops and property. The “facts” put forth in her book have long since been exposed as lies and the result of those lies has been the needless death of millions from diseases such as malaria. Here in the United States, cases of West Nile Fever would be greatly reduced were DDT permitted to control the mosquito population.

In a comparable fashion, every “fact” put forth by Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Fact” has been demonstrated to be false.

Here are Obama’s words: “Few challenges facing America and the world are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane seasons. Climate change and our dependence on foreign oil, if left unaddressed, will continue to weaken our economy and threaten our national security.”

Every single word of this statement is false in whole or in part.

To begin with, there is no problem with regard to climate change, a term adopted by environmentalists as the public becomes more and more aware that there was and is not dramatic global warming. Indeed, the world is now into a cycle of global cooling that has been in effect since around 1998. A number of solar scientists are predicting we are in for at least fifty years of global cooling and its effects will be far more destructive to modern societies than any fictitious warming.

Nothing, absolutely nothing should be done to deal with a non-existent global warming. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old and climate changes have occurred throughout all that time. Humans have been around for about 200,000 years and the Industrial Revolution began just over two hundred years ago. In the process, the ordinary lives of humans have been extended and enhanced in ways that were unimaginable even in my youth.

Briefly, the sea levels during the twentieth century rose worldwide by less than eight inches, nor are the coastlines “shrinking.” Obama is engaging in scare mongering by saying that there has been record drought. There were far worse U.S. droughts in the early part of the last century. Even the intentionally flawed UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns against attributing droughts or floods to “global warming.” The natural cycles of hurricanes are well known and attributing more of them to “global warming” is utterly false.

The worst and most dangerous aspect of Obama’s objectives is the imposition of limits on greenhouse gas emissions in the name of ending a “global warming” that is not happening. Cutting 80-90% of U.S. carbon emissions would result in the closing of a comparable amount of U.S. industries. It would so weaken the U.S. economy that it would render it a Third World nation. The European Union nations that agreed to such reductions via the Kyoto Protocol are seeking to alter or end these commitments.

Imposing “cap-and-trade” of emissions or a “carbon tax” will eviscerate the U.S. economy. The notion that the EPA should regulate carbon dioxide is absurd and the justification, if this goes into effect, will be the lies promulgated by the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change. As Sarah Liddy Bourne, vice president for policy and strategic development of The Heartland Institute, points out, the IPCC “include staffers of such activist groups as Greenpeace, Environmental Defense, and Environment Canada.” Not exactly the most neutral people on this critical topic.

Obama’s promise of 2.5 million new jobs based on “sustainable” energy such as solar and wind turbine use, the increase of ethanol production, and other mandates is utterly baseless as these steps ignore the fact that the nation and its economy is totally dependent on the use of oil, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and nuclear for its energy requirements. Neither the solar or wind industries would exist without significant government subsidies and support.

Requiring Detroit to produce hybrid automobiles that no one wants to buy and which are far more expensive that gasoline-powered models will kill its auto industry. The batteries required add an average of $8,000 to the cost of these vehicles that get barely 45 miles per charge and must be recharged overnight, running up the owner’s electricity bill.

As the Viscount Monckton of Brenchly, a noted British scientist, has pointed out, the rise in the real cost of “biofuels” such as ethanol has already led to food riots in poor countries and the consequence of such a policy would be mass starvation. He has deemed global warming and environmentally-based energy mandates as “purposeless and cruel.”

“To let politicians insert data into official scientific documents; to alter those documents so as to contradict scientific findings; to manipulate decimal points so as to engender false headlines by exaggerating tenfold—those are moral issues,” says Lord Monckton.

He went on to rebuke statements like Obama’s, saying “To claim scientific unanimity where none exists; to assert that catastrophe is likely when nearly all scientists do not; to exalt computer models over real-world observations; to misstate the conclusions of scientific papers or that meaning of observed data; to overstate the likely future course of climatic phenomena by several orders of magnitude—these are moral issues.”

They are also critical economic issues.

We are on the brink of a term of office by President-elect Obama and by the U.S. Congress that puts everyone at extreme risk and which, if these false assertions are enacted as the law of the land, will utterly destroy the economy, leaving everyone vulnerable to energy and food losses on a scale few can imagine.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

© Alan Caruba, December 2008

********************************

conservative+Global+Warming+Climate+Change+Religion+Pagan+Socialism+Ethanol+carbon+Tax+hoax

Change That Is Not Change… And Iran

Change That Is Not Change… And Iran
J. D. Longstreet
*********************

Well, now. Isn’t this interesting! Obama’s change is not exactly the change many on the political left had expected of him. Some on the left are even claiming that Obama’s foreign policy, what little we know of it yet, is akin to that of George Bush’s father, George H. W. Bush.

E. J. Dionne, Jr, in a piece (in the Washington Post) titled: “Obama’s Bush Doctrine” had this to say recently: “What's most striking about Obama's approach to foreign policy is that he is less an idealist than a realist who would advance American interests by diplomacy, by working to improve the country's image abroad, and by using military force prudently and cautiously.

This sounds a lot like the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush, and it makes perfect sense that Obama has had conversations with the senior Bush's closest foreign policy adviser, Brent Scowcroft. Obama has drawn counsel from many in Scowcroft's circle, and Gates himself was deputy national security adviser under Scowcroft.” You may read the entire article at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

Others are quietly querying each other about the seeming LACK of change, or the moderation in the expected change Obama was to bring. There is certainly some resemblance to Jimmy Carter on Obama’s part, plus, he is stacking his administration with Clintonites and even one real Clinton. There’s talk, on the left, of losing respect for Obama while he is still well over a month from assuming the office of President.

So, is Obama moderating his stances? Looks like it. But, when a “leftist” is in the White House one should never let one’s guard down nor take anything at face value.

I wonder if Obama’s reneging on pulling the troops out of Iraq immediately has anything to do with the serious doubt which seems to have arisen in the Messiah of the Left? I expect it has. But then one has to wonder how anyone could be so, shall we say, out of touch with reality, as to actually believe that he could, or would, do that. See, this is now OBAMA’S war. The last thing any President wants on his record is that he lost a war. Americans, by and large, want their troops home… but they want them home when it is prudent to bring them home. Looking at the situation, as it exists on the ground in Iraq today, even a blind man can tell you now is not the time to pull US troops out.

So far, I have not been surprised by Obama’s actions or lack thereof. It is pretty much, what I had expected. I am concerned, however, about his insistence on “talking” with Iran. I don’t think he understands the degree of lunacy in the leadership of that country.

On the other hand, maybe he SHOULD talk to Iran. Sometimes, one has to first be burned before one will believe the stove is hot. Let’s face it. Obama is a babe in the woods when it comes to the tin pot dictators around the world. He is young and he is almost unbelievably naive. I am awfully afraid it is going to take a real diplomatic snafu on Obama’s part to convince him that he is but a man.

Recently Obama has said his administration would try a carrot and stick policy to shut down Iran’s nuclear program. I had to laugh when I heard that. Seems I wasn’t the only one laughing. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hasan Qashqavi, almost immediately said that was unacceptable to Iran. Qashqavi went on to say that the US must recognize Iran's "nuclear right.” The kabuki dance has begun.

J. D. Longstreet
********************
Conservative+Obama+Change+Iraq+Iran+Delusion

Socialized Medicine In The US Could Cost Me My life.

Socialized Medicine In The US Could Cost Me My life.
By J. D. Longstreet
***************************

Socialized medicine may seem like a good thing to you; unless you are sick, even less so if you are chronically ill.

We have been warning of the dangers, and the short comings, of socialized medicine for a very long time and it is looking more and more as if we are going to have it rammed down our throats by the democrats… whether we want it or not.

Given a choice between healthcare run by the government and keeping my private insurance and paying the premiums and going to see the doctor, I want to see, and not some civil servant working for the government healthcare system, I’ll take the latter any day. In fact, the choice, for me, is a “no-brainer.”

Since 1965 I have been hospitalized over 70 times. I have had numerous surgeries and I must see a doctor every four to six weeks of my life. See, I know the value of a good healthcare system and I know, first hand, the value of having a doctor, in whom I have confidence, treating me. I know what it means to have a rapport with your physician. That, alone, is tremendously important when you are chronically ill.

Unlike a lot of folks, when I think of nationalized healthcare, I perceive a threat to my life. I have no doubt that the introduction of socialized healthcare in the US will shorten my life and bring it to a termination much sooner than currently expected. In fact, I have no doubt about it. There are millions of Americans, just like me, who will have their lives shortened by the coming socialized medicine in America.

Nevertheless, it IS coming and the election of Obama, and the control of the Congress by the democrats, assured that.

Behind the scenes the campaign has already begun to prepare American citizens for what is about to happen to them.

Obama assures us he will not make the same mistakes Hillary made with her attempt at “Clintoncare” during her husband’s administration some 15 years ago. Clintoncare was a ponderous mess. Whatever the US winds up with will be a ponderous mess, too, you can bet on it.

The coming Obama administration has already begun their political campaign for it as well as their public relations campaign for it. Don’t be fooled. It really makes no difference what YOU want, you are going to get socialized healthcare under the Obama administration. By asking Americans to share their healthcare experiences with them, Obama and his people hope to appear to brush aside the curtain of secrecy Hillary drew around her planning and negotiations for Clinton care, which was one of the major objections to her plan back then. Don’t believe it for a single moment. It is a ploy and nothing more. I repeat what I said above, they do not care what your objections are… Americans are going to get socialized medicine. It is a done deal.

This time around they will try to conceal the details of their plans for this massive take-over of the American healthcare system. You can be certain they will not allow us, American citizens, to see how our healthcare will change under their plan(s). In other words we, the consumers, will not be allowed to see the fine print, let alone read it, until it is a fait accompli. How slick is that?

Where oh, where, will the money come from to finance this national money pit? TAXES! Obama has already said he plans on soaking the rich and big business to pay for it. But what about the recession they say we are in? Seems to me a lot of the resources from which Obama had planned to draw the money to finance this mess are drying up, if they haven’t already. Guess where they will turn next for the cash. You’ve got it! You and me!

Why are the dems pushing so hard for socialized medicine in the US? It is another step in their plan to bring the welfare state to America and establish socialism as the “master” form of government in the US!

Look, it matters not what you have been taught in our government schools, there is NO SUCH THING AS FREE HEALTHCARE! SOMEBODY IS GOING TO PAY! Who pays? You and I will pay… in taxes. If you think healthcare is expensive now… just wait ‘til it’s free!

Get a GRIP, America! There is NO FREE LUNCH! There never has been! If you want it… you must be prepared to pay for it.

When you look past the carefully erected façade, the democrats have placed between us and the details of what they have planned for us, you will find that socialized medicine is not about healthcare. It’s about power and control of this nation’s citizens. Obama and his minions have placed this nation on the fast track to socialism and socialized medicine is a major, major, step in accomplishing that goal.

I don’t know about you, but I plan to fight their plans for socialized medicine in America every step of the way. I am expecting to lose, but, hey, I’m fighting for my life.

J.D. Longstreet

*****************

conservative+Socialized+Healthcare+Obamacare+Taxes+Control+Socialism

"Remembering Pearl Harbor And The Rise And Fall of America Since."

"Remembering Pearl Harbor And The Rise And Fall of America Since."
By J. D. Longstreet
**************************

Today marks another anniversary of the Japanese SNEAK Attack on Pearl Harbor. Yes, I said: “sneak attack”! Political Correctness has no place here! When the smoke cleared, on that Sunday morning, 2,335 military and 68 civilians lay dead.



There were: 4 battleships sunk, 4 battleships damaged, 3 cruisers damaged, 3 destroyers sunk, 2 other ships sunk, 188 planes destroyed, and 155 planes damaged.



And the United States was at WAR. There was no waffling, no doubt, and no demonstrations in the streets in favor of the Japanese. No, Americans still understood what was at stake; freedom… and they went at saving it with all their collective might.



Unlike today, Americans didn’t give a damn whether the Japanese understood us or not! It was enough to know that the nation of Japan wanted to inflict harm on our people, to take away our freedom, and enslave our families. Exactly the same thing the Islamofacists want today.Young men couldn’t wait to be drafted! There were long lines, sometimes reaching for blocks in our cities, of young American men trying to sign up for the US military in order to fight for their country. Back in my day that was called Patriotism! It was also the considered the “manly” thing to do!



During the darkest days of the war, when America was losing battle after battle, Americans didn’t flinch. They strove even harder to produce the military material needed, so desperately, by our military to fight, and win, that war. They understood that those brave fighting men were the only thing between them and death, or slavery. America soon became one huge machine. Production records were set and others broken by factories turning out war goods. It was a joint effort of the civilian population and the military. Everybody had a part to play in winning victory and everybody accepted his or her part with gusto.



The American soldier did not have to wonder if America was backing him! He knew it! He might wonder if his sweetheart was remaining true to him, but he had no worries about the American people.



Men marched into battles in which thousands of Americans were killed. Single battles claiming thousands of lives. They knew the cost and yet… they marched straight ahead into the face of the enemy… because… that enemy had to be stopped to secure freedom and safety for their families.



And… America won the war (with our allies, of course!) and SAVED THE WORLD!



Compare the America of today. Need I say more? America, today, is pathetic… compared to the America of 1941! We are but a shell of our former selves.



You want to know why I’m depressed? Because I saw it all happen! I watched as my wonderful country went from a giant, astride the globe, to a quivering mass of fat, lazy, slothful, unpatriotic, uncaring perpetrators of sedition and treason who have absolutely nothing they feel is worth sacrificing and even dying for…nothing, not even their own freedom, which was bought and paid for by the blood of better men than they’ll ever be… even in their dreams!



As I watch America imploding in upon itself, I think, now, that I understand how some of the ancient Romans must have felt as they watched, perhaps, the greatest civilization in the history of the world, up to that time, imploding and caving in upon itself. The pain I feel in my heart, for my dying country, must be akin to that of the ancient Romans.



Today as we remember the Japanese SNEAK Attack on Pearl Harbor, remember this: if you live between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast of America, today, and you speak English instead of Japanese… thank a Veteran! If you live between the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi River, today, and you speak English instead of German, thank a Veteran.



In closing this piece… may I suggest Americans begin to brush up on Arabic, Persian, and Farsi languages... because the brave men who stood between the Japanese and the Germans, and America… are nearly gone now, and there are not nearly enough around today, like them, to save us again!

Note from Editor: For more thoughts on remembering Pearl Harbor we urge you to read a piece by Alan Caruba entitled: "A Date That Will Live In Infamy". You will find it at:


http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2008/12/day-that-will-live-in-infamy.html

J. D. Longstreet

**********************

Conservative+Communism+Democracy+Fascism+Pearl Harbor+UN+WWII

A Rip in the Fabric of the GOP Tent!

A Rip in the Fabric of the GOP Tent!
By J. D. Longstreet
**********************

We Republicans have a growing divide in our party…the divide between Liberal Republicans and Conservative Republicans. I don’t include Moderate Republicans because, frankly, I don’t believe there is such a thing. Moderates, I believe, are simply Liberals afraid to take a stand.

Here’s the problem: Liberals want to compromise. They LOVE to compromise. Conservatives do not want to compromise at all. In fact we view compromise as losing. We conservatives had rather lose than compromise, period.

This trait has caused the Liberal Republicans to hate our guts and, believe me when I tell you, there is no love lost for Liberal Republicans in the Conservative Camp.

So, basically, what we have is… a big tent with two political parties underneath it.

This is not good for anyone... except the Democrats.

So, I propose the split of the Republican Party. The Liberals may keep the name “Republican” if they choose and the new name for the Conservative Republican party would be: “The Conservative Party”.

I have said often, before, that I believe a Conservative Political party would draw conservatives from the Democrat party who feel they have no place to go now. I still believe that.

It is a fact that the electorate in America leans conservative… all the time. So… why not have a Conservative Party, as such? Makes all sorts of sense to me.

I do not believe we would be a three party system long. I am fairly certain the liberal Republicans would fold straight away, or join with the Liberal democrats, as they should, anyway.

Taking uncompromising stands is the hallmark of a conservative. That’s what we do. It’s how we got to be conservatives in the first place.

The Libs in the GOP really want us to be gone… they think. The problem, for them, you see, is… we win elections for the party. The liberal GOP, left to it’s own devices, cannot swing a single election. Soon there would be no liberal Republicans in the House or the Senate. I can’t help but feel that would be a good thing for the Party and the country.

Conservatives know what they believe and they can articulate it well. They aren’t good at nuance, or shading their beliefs, in any way. You ask Conservatives a question and you will get a direct answer. No flip-flopping. Unlike Liberals who are with you at the beginning of a war but flee at the sound of the first gunshots, Conservatives stay for the entire war… period!

We can be defeated… but not easily. As things are today, the GOP is continually on the edge of defeat. A Conservative Party would stay away from the edge.

I fully expect to see another party develop in the next few months. It will be a conservative party.

The bottom line is this: Conservatives are fed up with being used to win elections and immediately afterwards being dumped. We don’t like it. We feel if we had our own party, we could do even more than the GOP allows us to do today. We feel we could eventually capture the seats held by Liberal Republicans in the Congress and in the White House.

So, give us the party. Give us a party named “The Conservative Party” and we will flock to the banner. I’m ready! How about you?

J. D. Longstreet
*********************

Conservative+Political+Party

Is Hillary Constitutionally Qualified?

Is Hillary Constitutionally Qualified?

By J. D. Longstreet

*******************************************

We often refer to the US Constitution as an inconvenient document. And it is… if you want to make an end run around the US system of laws. It can be VERY inconvenient for those who are used to sailing close to the wind, so to speak, or those who live their lives in the gray zone of legality. The thing is… the constitution has very few gray areas.



Even as I write, the presumed President-Elect of the US, Mr. B.H. Obama, is in a self-made protracted struggle to answer legal questions about his constitutional qualifications to even BE President of the US, the position to which he has just been elected. (Obama is, at best, PRESUMED to have been elected. Whether he has been elected, or not, cannot be certain until after the electoral votes are counted. Until then --- he is actually, and in fact, the Presumed President-Elect.) Now, Obama’s appointee to be the US Secretary of State is having the eyes of legal scholars cast upon her qualifications as well. Needless to say, this is NOT an auspicious beginning for Mr. Obama’s presidential administration. I am very afraid this is the sort of thing we are going to be subjected to for a good portion of Mr. Obama’s stay in the Oval Office.



Let’s take a look at the Constitution and see what the problem is… in so far as it may affect Mrs. Bill Clinton. Article One; Section Six of the Constitution says the following:



(The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.) (The preceding words in parentheses were modified by the 27th Amendment, which says the following: No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.)They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.



No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.



The paragraph above (in bold/Italic type) is the portion of the constitution, which has raised eyebrows concerning Hillary Clinton’s possible disqualification to hold the office of SecState.


The Constitution plainly says that no member of Congress, either the House of Representatives or the Senate, can hold an appointed office if that office received an increase in salary during the time the appointee served in the House or the Senate. The idea was to avoid having someone benefit from a salary increase for which he, or she, voted approval. Now, I dare say, most of us do not keep track of the salaries of cabinet members. So, after a little light research on the Internet, we learned that President Bush signed an executive order, which approved a salary increase for the Secretary of State, on January 4th, 2008. That order raised the SecState’s salary from US$186, 600 dollars a year to US$191, 300 dollars per year.



Another pesky Republican raising another annoying red flag in an atrempt to sabotage the process of a duly elected democrat president, you say? Nope. This is the work of another pesky democrat. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia who just happens to be the senior member of the US Senate and, some say, a very fine scholar, indeed, on the US Constitution.



So, what to do? Well, this has happened before. Back in 1973, President Richard Nixon nominated Sen. William Saxbe, of Ohio, as Attorney General. Nixon did this right after he had fired the top officials at the Justice Department in the midst of the Watergate mess. See, he had fired the Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, in that “Saturday Night Massacre”, as it was referred to in those days. Problem was… Saxbe was, in fact, a member of the Senate in 1969 when Congress voted to increase pay for cabinet secretaries.



How was that resolved? Well, Congress simply voted to reduce the salary of the Attorney General to what it is was before the offending raise in 1969 and the Senate went on to confirm Saxbe. Senator Byrd objected to Saxbe’s confirmation on constitutional grounds at the time saying in a story, which appeared in the Washington Post, that the constitution was: “so clear that it can’t be waived. In my judgment, the bill itself shouldn’t be passed. We should not delude the American people into thinking a way can be found around the constitutional obstacle.” You can read that story at:



http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/pdf/saxbeandbyrd_112073.pdf



So, what will happen? Well, based strictly on what we have seen the “Honorables” do in the past… my best guess is that Hillary will be the next Secretary of State… even if the Senators have to make that “end run” around the oh, so inconvenient, Constitution as they did for the Nixon appointee.



Adhering to the Constitution would mean that Hillary would not be eligible to hold the office of Secretary of State until the year 2013… at the earliest. I mean… LEGALLY speaking, you understand. But, as we have pointed out and warned about on so many previous occasions, never, ever, bet on the Congress doing the right thing when it is easier for them to do the expedient thing.



There is an excellent article on this titled: "Byrd’s Office Explores Constitutionality of Sen. Clinton Serving as Secretary of State" at CNSNEWS.COM at:



http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=40241



Hillary Clinton WILL BE the next Secretary of State… if she really and truly wants the office. Expecting the Senate to follow the law of the land would be a lame expectation, indeed.



J. D. Longstreet

********************

Conservative+Clinton+Eligibility+SecState+Constitution+Senate

Creating A Constitutional Crisis The Obama Way

Creating A Constitutional Crisis The Obama Way

By J. D. Longstreet

************************


When it first began it seemed nothing more than a trifling matter which was destined to be quashed in a few days never to be heard of again. Now, however, it has taken on a life of it’s own and is growing, it seems, exponentially each day. The question of whether, or not, Mr. Obama is eligible to be President of the US is snowballing into what could become another constitutional crisis for the US


We Americans are used to all sorts of questions being thrown around about our political candidates. As a result, many of us are just yawning and looking away as a few hardheaded citizens demand that Mr. Obama, the “presumed” President-Elect, is asked about proof of his US citizenship.


The US Constitution, another inconvenient piece of US law, demands (Under Article Two, Section One) that one be a natural born citizen of the US to serve as it’s President. Here are the exact words: “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”


OK, so why not put the rumors and, even worse, the bevy of lawsuits, to rest by simply producing proof of citizenship by showing the world a valid birth certificate? See, that’s the part I cannot, for the life of me, understand! This entire dustup could be resolved and the hounds nipping at the heels of the soon to be President brought to heel. I just DON’T GET IT!

OK, so what happens if it turns out that Mr. Obama is NOT a natural born citizen? Well… we’d have a constitutional crisis … is what. That is the last thing we need at this moment in our history.

This issue needs to be settled before the oath of office. It must be settled. Can you even imagine the damage done should Mr. Obama assume the presidency only to be found out some time later to be, shall we say, less than qualified? What about all the appointments he might make? Every one of them would have to be recalled. In the mean time, what do you do about all the decisions THEY might have made while holding their respective offices illegally? They’d all have to be overturned. And… who would be Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces? What about all the executive orders he makes… and the Bills the Congress hands up to him for his signature making them the law of the land? Would those laws not be null and void? Can you see the complications this could, and would, have on our nation?

There is an excellent article on this at The Bulletin. It’s titled: “Obama Fomenting A Constitutional Crisis: Constitutional Lawyer Discusses Ramifications Of Controversy”. You’ll find it at:

http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20210273&brd=2737&pag=461&dept_id=576361

In case you haven’t heard it from the Mainstream Media, the Supreme Court Justices will meet Friday, December 5th and review a case, which challenges the eligibility of Mr. Obama to serve as this nation’s President.

Pennsylvania attorney Philip J. Berg has now filed an emergency motion for immediate injunction asking the courts to halt state certification of electors in order to stop the Electoral College from meeting on December 15th and casting their votes for Mr. Obama. At the same time, Berg is seeking to stop the official vote count, which is scheduled for January 6th until the court decides on his appeal. By the way, in case you are wondering… Mr. Berg is a democrat.

This issue is not going away until it is faced head on, by Obama, and put to rest by producing proof of his birth as an American citizen. Why drag this out? Why not produce the document in question and let’s move on.

J. D. Longstreet

*********************

Conservative+Obama+POTUS+Eligibility+Citizenship+Constitution

Rethinking the Middle East ... By Alan Caruba

Rethinking the Middle East
By Alan Caruba
******************************
After 9/11 much of my thinking reflected the general view that Al Qaeda had to be found and destroyed. I thought, too, that Saddam Hussein had to be removed as an obstacle to stability in the Middle East given his invasion of Kuwait and general belligerence.

Since those days I have had plenty of time to reassess my views of U.S. policies and to educate myself regarding the Middle East. A lot of my thinking had been based on the inescapable fact that the U.S. and the West needs access to Middle Eastern oil.

U.S. policy since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been support for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, providing protection of the sea lanes that transport oil and, in the case of Iraq, protecting the Saudi kingdom against attack. This was the reason for the original U.S. effort to remove Saddam’s Iraq from Kuwait and the subsequent invasion that was based on less than accurate intelligence reports of an Iraqi buildup of weapons of mass destruction.

For a long time, there has been a general consensus that a “clash of civilizations” between the West and Islam was inevitable, but it is more of a clash between civilization and nihilism. The global war on terror influenced U.S. actions as the rationale for the second invasion of Iraq was, in part, to introduce democracy to the Middle East.

There have been two factors that have complicated U.S. policy toward the Middle East. One was the establishment in 1948 of the state of Israel, a response to the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust that combined with the Zionist movement that began in the late 1800s as a response to the anti-Semitism of Europe and Russia. It received support from the newly-established United Nations, but nations in the Middle East reacted unanimously against the return of Jews to their former, ancient homeland. No surprise here; the Koran demonizes both Jews and Christians.

The other factor was the Islamic Revolution that erupted in Iran in 1979, a defeat of the American influence in that nation’s affairs linked in no small measure to its oil. The later defeat of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led many in the Middle East to believe that Islam could defeat Western efforts to control the region. Western hegemony in the region had begun in earnest following World War I and the end of the Ottoman Empire.

The weapon of choice of the new Islamic Revolution was terror and, if invaded, a slow, grinding insurgency. This is why Iraq and future theatres of war will take a long time to play out.

What most policy makers in the U.S. and the West tend to ignore is the fact that the nations of the Middle East differed considerably in they way they are governed and, most importantly, in the near total lack of cohesion or cooperation among them.

In a recent commentary from the Middle East Forum, Michael Rubin noted that, “For more than a millennium, Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo have competed for leadership of the Arab world.” The establishment of Israel “became a useful template around which they could posture and against whom they could act as each sought to outdo its rivals in a claim to Arab leadership.”

Following World War II, a number of Middle East nations adopted the worst of Western concepts of governance, namely fascism and socialism. Baathism rose in Syria and Iraq, but only served to increase their rivalry. As Rubin points out, “Unity is not an Arab virtue,” adding that Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus “will never coexist as partners.”

This is not unique to the region because anyone paying any attention knows that all nations act in what they perceive as their own best interests. Some that share common historical and cultural views are more prone toward cooperation while others such as Russia measure their success against U.S. and European strength or weakness. In the Middle East, however, its culture prevents any useful, long term cooperation.

In an excellent analysis published in the November edition of Energy Tribune, Leon Hadar, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, demolishes many of the “intellectual constructs that reflect the imaginations of their promoters, not necessarily reality,” adding that “reality tends to bite.” The neocons of the outgoing Bush administration and the Republican Party learned this to their regret.

“The time has come,” wrote Hadar, “to challenge the grand idea that the Muslim world (or the Middle East, or the Arab world—terms that seem interchangeable in the American media) has a unique and monolithic political and economic culture that makes it resistant to the West’s modernizing effects.” The analysis can be read in full at
http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1009

If Middle Eastern Arabs decide to become “more like us”, it will be at a time of their own choosing. Iranians, being Persian, share Islam, but have their own agenda in the region, giving rise to Arab fears concerning their apparent intent to achieve hegemony there. If and when Iran gets nuclear weapons and starts throwing its weight around, a lot of Arabs are going to begin to think of America as their best friend in the whole world.

It should be obvious, too, that the deep schisms within Islam, Shiite and Sunni, will continue to divide the region between the majority Sunnis and what is widely perceived within Islam as a breakaway sect of Shiites who are a majority only in Iraq and Iran. Hadar correctly points out that the Middle East “is a mosaic of nation-states, ethnic groups, religious sects, and tribal groups, and a mishmash of political ideologies, economic systems, and cultural orientations.”

All of which suggests to me that the same policy of “containment” that worked for nearly forty-five years regarding the former Soviet communist regime would be a wiser approach to the Middle East than an endless number of military engagements that even our European allies are reluctant to pursue.

After World War II, the U.S. occupied the defeated nations of Germany and Japan for about seven years to ensure they would create their own democratic governments and economic systems. After that, the U.S. extended its military protection to them and everywhere else Soviet ambitions threatened.

The result was a stalemate in Korea that yielded a successful South Korean state, and a defeat in Vietnam that continues to influence American policy. We still do not recognize communist Cuba, but we have entered into an economic co-dependence with Red China. Go figure?

Just as the declining price of oil and gas brought down a Soviet government dependent on these exports, the Russian Federation will face the same contingency. Meanwhile, a decline in the price of a barrel of oil and the price of natural gas may, if long term, require Middle Eastern nations to review their policies as well.

The best thing America can do right now is to open up its own vast reserves of oil and natural gas that remain unexplored and untapped off of 85% of our continental shelf and to do the same in ANWR. We need to stop demonizing coal and we need to build more nuclear plants.

These actions would put the U.S. back in a position to improve our economy and protect us against pressures from the Middle East, Russia, and elsewhere. I have serious doubts the Obama administration will do this.

Things change. U.S. policies will change. Not every policy, but gradually events, some of which we have set in motion in Iraq as part of the global war on terror, will bring about change if we are smart enough, strong enough, and patient enough to watch and wait.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

© Alan Caruba, December 2008

*******************************

Conservative+MiddleEast+Oil+Israel+Terrorism+Iran

Putin -vs- Obama. My Money Is On Putin.

Putin -vs- Obama. My Money Is On Putin.
By J. D. Longstreet
***************************

Obama announces his starting line-up and the Russians announce they are going to upgrade their missiles.

Why, don’t they know everything has changed? Don’t they understand that when Obama speaks the winds still and the seas calm and there is peace everywhere? Don’t they get it?

Of course, the Russians get it. “The lock is off the door, boys!” THAT’S what Russia gets… and so will the rest of the world’s bullyboys very soon now.

Look…. Russia is a very old country. Much older than the US, and they have seen all kinds of leaders come and go and they have tweaked the noses of weak spined, weak kneed, and even weak-eyed leaders of countries, all over the globe, down through the ages. They have learned a thing or two about people who aspire to leadership. They have become more than a little adept at reading them.

Now, take Putin. He’s former KGB. (STILL KGB!) Hate ‘em, or despise ‘em, the KGB is more than just good at what they do. You can bet your bottom dollar they have a dossier on Obama about a foot thick. Unlike Americans, the KGB KNOWS where he was born. Bet on it!

The point is this: The Russians have Obama’s number. Their announcement concerning upgrading their missiles was a signal, not only to the US and Obama, but to the rest of the world. It reads, “Hey, look! This guy is a pushover! And so is the crowd he runs with. The lock is off the door and we are free to loot the pantry!” This is their first shove. It’s a mild one. It’s their elbows they’ll be throwing next--- and they expect Obama to do nothing but plead for them to stop misbehaving. If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on the Russians winning this round.

Here’s the thing: Whether the US likes it or not, we have been appointed the policeman of the world. We’ve had the job since the Second World War --- some say even before. As such, the US is expected to keep rogue states in check, or stop them when they jump the traces. Russia, whether doing business as the Soviet Union, or as Russia, is the chief troublemaker on the planet. Yes, ever since Ole Pete (Peter the Great) built the first Russian “blue water” navy Russia has been exporting their brand of mischief all over the globe. And they like nothing better than to cause discomfort for the US. I think it is envy more than anything else. Why, they are still embarrassed that they had to have US assistance in defeating Germany in the Second World War. They’ll never live down the fact that Germany was within fifteen miles of Moscow before Russia could stop them! They don’t even refer to that war the way the remainder of the world does. To the Russians it is The Great Patriotic War. See what I mean?

Russia excels in two things: Paranoia and boasting. They live their lives in fear that someone is going to attack them and take whatever it is we are supposed to want… and for the life of me I have never been able to figure out what Russia has that we could possibly want… other than their oil. Secondly, they are world-class braggarts. Those missiles, they are bragging about, are about as reliable as a Model T in subzero cold. Sometimes, they actually work!

But this is not about missiles. This is about Obama. It is a signal, as obvious as a mirror flashing sunlight in Obama’s face. If Obama is smart, he will continue to place the defensive missile shield in Eastern Europe and he will continue the weapons in space program. It’s the age-old response to a bully. You push back… hard.

But, I don’t expect Obama to do that --- and neither does Putin --- and you can bet Putin knows Obama better than any American alive.

J. D. Longstreet

*********************

Conservative+US+Russia+Putin+Obama+Warning+Weak

Obama's Administration Looks An Awful Lot Like The Clinton Adminstration

Time For Obama To Pay Up! Clinton To Become Sec. State
By J. D. Longstreet
*******************

The Clintons are like a bad rash that no medicine you swallow, or ointment you rub on it, can make go away. The Clintons have that sort of staying power. Completely oblivious to the depth of low estate in which so much of the public holds them, they hang on to power. Like an addict lusting after the next fix they seem to be willing to go to any lengths to maintain a place for themselves near the center of power. Like old, tired, comic book characters they plod through the pages of our history long after their embarrassing antics have lost their power to amuse.

I remember the euphoria that sped through the bloodstream of much of America when the Clintons were ushered out of the White House the first time around. The battle cry of conservatives, the country over, was: “Take out the trash!” And we THOUGHT we had. Turns out we were mistaken. We underestimated the willingness of the Clintons to do whatever it takes to stay connected to the center of power in Washington, DC.

So… we learned over the weekend that Obama would make public, actually CONFIRM, something we have all known for many weeks now, his choice for Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. If Obama had wanted to find some way to tell us all (in no uncertain words) that a deal was struck with Hillary and Bill during the primaries he couldn’t have found a better way to do it. I wonder if he understands how weak this makes him appear in the eyes of… not only the American voters but of the armies of diplomats the world over? I cannot believe the man understands what he will be doing by nominating Hillary. Does he understand he will get Bill, too? Does he understand the danger for embarrassment the Clintons bring to his administration? Apparently not. Or, is he so puffed up by his own ego, and the Obama Battalions in the Mainstream Media, that he actually believes he can muzzle the Clintons or keep them on a leash?

Does Obama understand the administration he, or his minions, is/are constructing is actually the Third Clinton Administration? Does he understand the Clinton’s fingerprints are all over the people he has chosen, or been forced to choose, to fill the slots in the next administration so far? I don’t think he does. It is beginning to look more and more like an Obama figurehead government. So far, there is no Obama imprint on the next presidential administration… at all. Well, look at it for yourself… and you cannot help but be convinced that Obama is being run by someone, certainly not himself.

We are more convinced, than ever, that Obama was chosen for the presidential candidate’s slot precisely because of his inexperience and his naiveté and his inability to stand up to the master politicians… the Clintons. Obama was their ticket, all along, to a return to the center of power.

The Obama boosters in the Mainstream Media, and that includes darned near all members of the media, are busy propping up that façade so carefully placed around the group of Clintonites Obama has been directed to choose. (What, you don’t think he chose those people himself, do you?) They’re being referred to, already as the “best and the brightest.” Well us old mossbacks, who have been around for more than two decades, and have the scars to prove it, have heard and seen all this before. The JFK administration was referred to that way. Right off the bat, Kennedy’s “Best and the Brightest” gave us the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and began the escalation of the US Military in Vietnam from advisors to combat troops. The stories of the days of the “Kennedy Camelot,” with which the Media loves to regale us, never happened. The term, itself, was not even used, in reference to the Kennedy Administration, until after the death of JFK. Yes, facts are sometimes inconvenient … as in, oh, say, history.

So far Obama has done absolutely nothing but underscore our belief that he is an empty suit, a puppet being manipulated by someone else pulling his strings.

All this time I was hoping Obama wasn’t as weak as I thought he was. Yet he persists in doing exactly what we had expected, exactly what we had warned Obama supporters of, with the full support of an adoring press who will not miss a single opportunity to prop him up dare he fail.

One question continues to go ‘round in my head. Who is pulling Obama’s strings? Who IS the REAL President?

J. D. Longstreet
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