Hey Kids, it’s a Depression ... by Alan Caruba

Hey Kids, it’s a Depression
By Alan Caruba
***************************
Here’s the difference between a recession and a depression as defined by Bloomberg Business News:A recession occurs when a nation’s living standards drop and prices increase. This downturn in economic activity is widely defined as a decline in a country’s gross domestic product for at least two quarters.

A depression is defined as an economic condition caused by a massive decrease in business activity, falling prices, reduced purchasing power, excess of supply over demand, and rising unemployment.

If this isn’t the beginning of a depression, it sure feels like one. Just check the daily headlines. On Monday, the Financial Times informed readers that “Gloom deepens as 75,000 global jobs go.” Among the companies laying off people were Caterpillar, General Motors, Sprint Nextel, Home Depot, Pfizer, and Texas Instruments. My guess is the General Motors declares bankruptcy by March.

The Financial Times still called it a recession, but we know what it is, don’t we? And if we just look at the 1930s and see how every move the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt made only deepened and prolonged the Great Depression, we will also see what should be done, but won’t be done. Indeed, with every passing day, the Obama administration looks and sounds just like FDR’s.

As to the stimulus bill, here’s what last Monday’s Wall Street Journal had to say about it:
“The stimulus bill currently steaming through Congress looks like a legislative freight train, but given last week's analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, it is more accurate to think of it as a time machine. That may be the only way to explain how spending on public works in 2011 and beyond will help the economy today."

According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, a mere $26 billion of the House stimulus bill's $355 billion in new spending would actually be spent in the current fiscal year, and just $110 billion would be spent by the end of 2010. This is highly embarrassing given that Congress's justification for passing this bill so urgently is to help the economy right now, if not sooner.”

Much, if not most, of the proposed $825 billion “recovery act” will go to various government agencies. Even a cursory review of the 600-plus page document suggests that not much of its billions will create private sector jobs. Those portions devoted to infrastructure projects are not only worthy, but polls indicate are greatly favored by the public. By contrast, the bill includes nutty energy stuff about solar and wind farms, neither of which can produce enough steady, dependable energy to keep the lights on anywhere.

Contrary to the madness that has gripped most of Congress, government spending should be cut. There is enormous waste in government at almost every level except the local level that must answer to people directly.

There should be major cuts in the tax rates from the wealthy to the lowest paid job holders. Putting money back in the hands of people will shorten the duration of the depression by stimulating purchasing, investment, and the risks involved in beginning or expanding a business of any size.

There should be a marked reduction in government regulation of all manner of business and industry in order to avoid increasing the cost of production and facilitate research and innovation
NONE of these options, proven, known, effective, are being discussed by the Obama administration that, in office less than two weeks, is issuing executive orders that will increase the cost of manufacturing cars in the name of fighting “global warming” or “climate change.”Apparently word has not reached the White House that it just snowed in a Middle Eastern desert nation, the United Arab Emirates, for the first time ever! That the world outside (and including) Washington, D.C. is experiencing some serious cold weather.

It’s so cold in D.C. that Al Gore’s Wednesday testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Earth is warming will likely be rescheduled.

While there is talk of tax cuts, it remains just that, talk.

Meanwhile things are going to hell in a hand-basket, so maybe it would be a good idea to (1) pay attention to the history and lessons of the Great Depression, (2) avoid repeating the same mistakes, and (3) not take your eye off the ball here at home with talk of finding a Mideast peace where none has not existed since the days of Harry Truman and, for that matter, all previous presidents.

The folks in Washington, D.C., being politicians, are all delusional and guess who’s going to pay the price for that?

Phone, fax, email your Senators and Representative, and tell them to put the Recovery Act back on the shelf.
******************************
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.
**********************
href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Depression+Recession" rel="tag">Conservative+Depression+Recession

The Case Against Global Governance

The Case Against Global Governance

Saying NO to a One-World Government

By: J. D. Longstreet

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

Is a one-world government inevitable? It certainly looks that way! At least it does if you buy into the theory of how good a one-world government would be for the world. I do not.

Let me be clear about this: I hate the very thought of a one-world government! Period!

I rather like being an American. I can’t stomach the idea of being forced to give that up to satisfy some centralized one-world government which couldn’t find it’s rear-end with both hands and a hound dog!

There is a train of thought which goes something like this: If the US, Mexico, and Canada are successful in creating the North American Union (and they are having one success after another, right now) then once the NAU is established, soon afterwards there will be a movement to combine the EU with the NAU. And that, Dear Reader, is about as close to a one-world government as we are likely to get, at least, for the foreseeable future. With the Islamofacists continuing to kick against the pricks of the world, a one-world government will be in a constant state of war.

Of course we have options. One is to allow the Islamofacists to be successful and establish their worldwide caliphate and that would be a one-world government. A theocracy, to be sure, but it WOULD be a one-world government. The other option is for Americans to fight like hell to remain an independent nation!

To those of us who oppose a one-world government I suppose it sounds hopeless. Well, plainly put, to some degree, it IS hopeless. Once the juggernaut gets up a head of steam there will be no stopping it. It has already begun with the European Union and the proposed North American Union. The point is… the “powers that be” are certainly going to try to create that one-world government. (What do you think the “Global Warming/Climate Change” movement is all about? Global governance!)

Now, hold on, take a breath and lets see what faces an attempt at a one-world government.

First off we know the Islamic nations will not willingly become a part of a one-world government. And… what about the continents of Africa and South America? Both are hotbeds of communism and socialism. The only way communism will become a part of a one world government is if they rule!

The logical step would be for the Islamofacists, the socialists, and the communists to combine… as they each reflect some of the ideology of the others, anyway.

So, out the window goes the “One World Government Idea”. A more realistic idea, of what the global politics would look like, is, I think, a politically bi-polar world…in other words… a Two-Government World.

Seems to me, the only way to have a true one world government would be for the “would be” one world government to conquer all the nations outside their government and colonize them much as the Western European nations did during the colonization period of world history. Realistically, any attempt at a one-world government will spur wars, of various intensity, around the globe. The planet would be forever at war. The cost of worldwide wars is staggering and would very soon bankrupt any government trying to bankroll such action(s).

Anyway you parse it, creating and controlling a one-world government, on this little planet, would be akin to herding cats. If you have every owned just one cat… you know it cannot be done!

For the moment I see it as incumbent upon the citizens of America to do everything they can to defeat the proposed North American Union. It’s the beginning, at least in this hemisphere, of an attempt at that dreaded one-world government. We need to nip it in the bud… NOW!

J. D. Longstreet

Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest

Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest!
J. D. Longstreet
****************************

The Obama is off and running. His sharp left turn, which was predicted by even the most semiconscious conservative writers, commentators and pundits, is now apparent for all to see. But, by far the DUMBEST thing, in my estimation, he has done to date, is ordering the Department of Transportation to develop higher fuel efficiency standards for cars. “Car efficiency standards are already creaming the US car makers while, those same car makers are getting a government bailout at the same time. Does that seem the least bit off-kilter to you? Well, it does to me! Is this DUMB, or what?

Like a drowning man, the US auto makers are going under for the third time and, frankly, I am not convinced the life-preserver bailout, thrown from the "Ship of State", will be of any help at all. Actually, I am not convinced the life preserver SHOULD be thrown in the first place!

I am against the bail-out. But then you probably already deduced that. Methinks we ought to allow those car companies to go into bankruptcy and reorder themselves and make another try for survival. If they can, and do, survive, mores the better. Those motorized carriage makers, too weak to survive, ought to close up shop. That is the capitalist way. That is the American way. One could even say it is nature's way.

Have you any idea how many car companies have failed? Do you have any idea how many car makers in America have opened shop, produced cars for several years, and then went under? A slew of them!

I suppose everyone knows of the Tucker (due to the movie). A friend of mine was ticking them off in his column the other day and he managed to name a number of cars from my childhood that are no longer around. They are long gone. As a matter of fact, I owned at least two of those now non-existent cars. So, just from my, ahem, younger years, there was the Studebaker, the Packard, the Norge, the Kaiser, the Frasier, the Willys, and the Nash. Before that there was another bevy of jalopies that didn't make it. Some of those cars were simply so far ahead of their time that would-be buyers were afraid of buying them. Believe me, it happened back then. I owned a 1957 Packard.. Depending upon your perspective, it was a gorgeous machine with a 275 - 300 horsepower engine (I never was quite sure of the horsepower of that engine.)... with or without the supercharger. Driving a the Studebaker "Golder Hawk" was as close to low level flying as was possible in those days.

Here's a look at the Golden Hawk:


Here's a look at the Packard:

Now, if the government continues to insist that American built cars get more and more miles to the gallon of gasoline, we will have surpassed the technology to do so. We may have done so, already. So, in order to reach those standards the car makers will have to resort to downsizing the cars. Down sizing means less weight. Less weight translates into more miles per gallon. Then we will see the return of the little "beer-can" cars. Those were the uncomfortably small cars that you dare not lean against for fear that your body weight might cave-in the quarter panel or the door of the car!

I know of one police department that bought a fleet of those small cars, for patrolling the city, and when they mounted the red/blue lights on the roof, the roof caved in and they had to have all the headliners of their brand new police cars stripped out and reinforcing bars placed in the roof just to hold up the red/blue light! I kid you not! One officer told me he was afraid to drive the cars. He said they were so light that in a hot pursuit, you could hardly control the car, that it was all over the road. Needless to say, those cars were gone, very soon, and the trusty ole Crown Vic was back.

The small cars, US car makers will be forced to build as a result of government regulations, will not only be ugly, they will also be dangerous. This ought to concern you as a prospective buyer. And I am sure it will. Sales of American cars will drop even more. At some point, the likelihood that the already bailed out car makers will go under any way, becomes extremely high.

And what about the desires of the consumer? I mean, if you have a large family, you NEED a large car. Senior citizens might need a larger car simply because it is easier to get into and out of for them. The government is going to deny them the car they need and/or want. But, hey... that's what central planning by a socialist government does. Everybody suffers equally! And let's face it, dear reader, the US now has a socialist government.

Some of us, including yours truly, will opt to keep my General Motors 4-door sedan and my Dodge truck. They are both nice and big. Other than maintenance, they hardly ever need repairs. My truck is easy to get into and out of... and... when I need a truck, I have one.They ride smoothly, and, if I am in an accident, I actually have some sheet metal between me and the opposing vehicle. In other words... they are safer.

Then there is the question of whether the bailout is for the car maker or the unions who have been so loyal to the Democrat Party. Many Americans think the bail-outs are really intended to help secure the union workers jobs. That view is prevalent here in the Southland of America where the unions are not so warmly embraced as they are elsewhere. We have automakers here operating car making businesses at a profit.

To sum up... no bail-out for the US car makers. They should be allowed to sink or survive on their own. If that means they will be forced to move more and more of their production facilities overseas, where labor is cheaper, then they should do so. If it means moving their entire production facility to a foreign country, then they should do so. But not one red cent of American taxpayer money should go to them directly and to the unions indirectly. And... the Department of Transportation ought not insist on higher fuel efficiency standards for the cars and trucks they build here in The States. They know, as do we, that higher fuel efficiency standards will cost thousand of workers in the auto industry, and related businesses, their jobs. The government is acting like a cartoon character with one hand out to the US Auto Industry while the other hand, behind its back, is holding a hammer with which to crush US auto makers!

All in all, America has the government it said, by its vote, it wanted. It's far too late to whine and moan about their socialist agenda now that they have the power over your life. Looking as far as I an see down the road, I'd say the socialists are in a position, thanks to the American voter, to solidify their hold on America for, well, eternity. Well, at least until the Union comes apart again as it did in the 1860's. I won't live to see it, but as each day goes by and the government grows bigger, its intrusion into our lives will grow more intense, and that option will begin to look better and better.

I had a male friend stand in my office today and declare that, in his opinion, America has seen her last free election. I agreed with him. Those feelings are stirring again and have been for some time... and not just in the states that were forced back into The union at bayonet point. This time those feelings are shared by many in various geographical parts of this country. The Obama and his cohorts either do not understand, or simply do not care that what they do in the next four years may determine the survival of the US as a 50 state country or bring on the change that will break her apart into the democratic states which will live or die by the original constitution, as a Representative Republic(s), and those states that will suffer as socialist hell holes in the backwaters of a political swamp that was once that "Shining City" on a hill.

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

Coal, Glorious Coal! ... by Alan Caruba

Coal, Glorious Coal!
By Alan Caruba
************************

I began 2009 praising carbon dioxide as the gas, along with oxygen, upon which all life on Earth depends.

Now I praise coal and for reasons the mainstream press and other media will studiously avoid telling you. Coal, as you may recall, is on the Obama hit list because its use, according to the environmental loonies, will doom the Earth to a global warming that is not happening.

The United States is home to huge deposits of coal. It is second only to China in terms of total coal consumption. In 2007, the U.S. used about 1.1 billion tons of coal. According to an authority on energy, Robert Bryce, “That’s the energy equivalent of about 4.2 billion barrels of oil per year or about 11.5 million barrels of oil per day.” By way of comparison, “America’s daily coal ration contains more energy than Saudi Arabia’s daily oil production.” That’s a lot of energy.

Why, then, is the Obama administration and virtually all of the major environmental organizations opposed to coal? We know they oppose any use of oil, but coal, so abundant, so rich in energy would seem to be a great alternative. They oppose it because it emits carbon dioxide when burned (so do forest fires, etc.) and that contributes, they assert, to global warming.

Only there isn’t any global warming any more because the Earth is in a cooling cycle, so there must be another reason. The closest one I can come to is that they either want to return us all to the Stone Age or they are heavily invested in wind and solar industries.

In 2008, climate change alarmists proclaimed April 1^st “Fossil Fools Day” using it to protest energy projects like Duke Energy’s massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant just fifty miles west of Charlotte, North Carolina. How they expect consumer’s to get electricity, fifty percent of which is produced by coal nationwide, is anyone’s guess unless they want to carpet all of North Carolina with solar and wind farms.

Led by a group calling themselves Rising Tide, a spokesperson said, “To survive climate change, we need to end the extraction of fossil fuels, reduce rich people’s energy consumption, localize economies and revolutionize public transportation.” By “rich” they mean YOU.

Obama’s would not be the first administration to try to restrict access to America’s supply of coal, oil, or natural gas from use. Congress has done this for oil by banning drilling in ANWR or off the continental shelf. The Clinton administration closed off the vast coal deposits in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante area and, unfortunately the Bush administration would not revoke this travesty.

President Obama’s choice for Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, is a nightmare for anyone who doesn’t want to pay $8.00 a gallon for gas as the Europeans do. He favors that, but he is on record as saying, “Coal is my worst nightmare” attributing its use to greenhouse gas emissions. During his confirmation hearing, though, Chu was rapidly backpedaling saying mushy stuff like, “I think it is imperative to use coal as cleanly as possible.” He even added that offshore oil and gas production might not be a bad idea. Can we trust this fellow? I think not.

Right now, however, in Europe, Germany is building 27 coal-fired plants by 2020 and Italy plans to increase its reliance on coal from 14% today to 33% in just five years. Throughout Europe, 40 new coal-fired plants are set to be built in the next five years. China can’t build them fast enough and India plans to boost coal production by 50% by 2012 and quadruple it by 2030.

Making sure Americans can’t use their own national resources seems to be a major mission for the federal government. The U.S. Geographical Survey (USGS) has found a “high potential” for oil and gas in Colorado’s Canyon of the Ancients, Washington’s Hanford Reach, and Montana’s Upper Missouri River Breaks.

There are, however, some twenty-seven States in which coal is mined with some 90% of the coal reserves concentrated in ten States. Montana is a big coal state, as is Wyoming. The USGS estimated the U.S. is home to 1.7 trillion tons of identified coal resources. They estimate the total amount when new discovers are included could exceed 4 trillion tons. In other terms, the U.S. has more than a 250-year supply under current use.

But coal is bad, right? Just ask President Obama, any of his so-called environmental and science advisers, and any major environmental organization. This kind of thinking leaves America vulnerable, particularly in light of the fact that a growing population requires the production of more energy, particularly electricity.

What you’re not being told is that, ever since the enactment of the Clear Air Act in 1970, as amended in 1990, the most stringent air pollution law in the world has been in effect. American industry has spent an estimated $350 billion since 1970 to clean the air and each year the cost for pollution control runs about $33 billion.

According to the Electric Power Research Institute, pollution control equipment accounts for up to 40% of the cost of a new power plant and 35% of operational costs. These costs represent about $10 billion of the nation’s electric bills each year and consumers will pay more if the Clean Air Act is amended to be even more stringent. A single “scrubber” in a coal-fired plant can cost more than $100 million to construct and many millions to operate. There are at least 200 of these in operation or soon will be. Someone has to pay for all this clean air and that someone is YOU.

All around the world coal continues to be the energy source of choice. Americans who have plenty of it should, by any rational standard, be thrilled to use it. When our domestic coal is exported, it generates $4.1 billion and presently represents 2.5% of all U.S. exports.

For these reasons, the electricity it produces, the jobs it represents, the value as an export, and the way it does all this without polluting the air, there is ample cause to celebrate coal, glorious, coal.

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.

© Alan Caruba, January 2009

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

Coal+Global+Warming+Climate+Change+Socialism+carbon+hoax

Global Warming Debunked Yet Again!

Snow for the only the second time in history in the United Arab Emirates

J. D. Longstreet

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

It snowed over the weekend... in the desert! To be more exact... in the UAE! As the headlines indicate it doesn't do that often. As a matter of fact it has only done that one other time since man has been recording history. We think this is just one more indication that we have been correct in declaring that the earth is on the cusp of a re-freeze, another ice age... not a planet wide warm-up or "Climate Change" as the adherents to the gospel of "Global Warming" have taken to calling it (since so much of what they have declared has been debunked and more debunking is happening every day).We thought you'd like to read the article for yourselves. You'll find it HERE.

If we could warn you of anything, it would be not to be caught up in the planet wide hysteria about a non-existent warming of the planet. We are convinced it is a hoax, quite likely the greatest hoax ever visited upon mankind.

The Pew Research Center released the results of a poll last week that indicates that Americans are just plain tired of all the global warming hype. It seems Pew called 1500 adult Americans and asked them to to prioritize the issues they thought the government should tackle in 2009. They were given 20 issues to rank. Global Warming came in dead last! CNS News has an excellent article on it HERE.

There's good reason for this trend among Americans. What we are being told about the earth's warming does not correlate to what we are seeing out our windows! It snowed here in the southeastern coastal plain of North Carolina last week. It may do so again this week. That is rare. But NC is not a good example... unless you live here where the average high temp, in January, is 56º and the average low temp in January is 33º.

The problem for the Global Warming adherents is the fact that global temps are going down... not up! Last year the snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China was greater than at any time since 1966.

Russian climatologists believe recent weather changes around the globe are results of solar activity and not man-made emissions. Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, calls the argument for man-made climate change "a drop in the bucket." His research shows that now the recent very active solar activity has entered an inactive phase. He advised people to "stock up on fur coats." Read the article HERE.

Oh, and the CO-2 scare... well, that is coming unglued as well. It is bunk! An analytical chemist who works in spectroscopy and atmospheric sensing, Michael J. Myers of Hilton Head, S. C., declared, "Man-made global warming is junk science," explaining that worldwide man made CO2 emission each year "equals about 0.0168% of the atmosphere's CO2 concentration ... This results in a 0.00064% increase in the absorption of the sun's radiation. This is an insignificantly small number." Read the article HERE.

Back in December of 2008, a US Senate Minority report on this very thing was released and it had some interesting comments from some of the 650 dissenting scientists concerning Global Warming. Here are just a few samples:

"It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don't buy into anthropogenic global warming." — U.S Government Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA.

Warming fears are the "worst scientific scandal in the history. … When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists." — UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.

"For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming? For how many years must cooling go on?" — Geologist Dr. David Gee the chairman of the science committee of the 2008 International Geological Congress who has authored 130 plus peer reviewed papers, and is currently at Uppsala University in Sweden.

"Many [scientists] are now searching for a way to back out quietly [from promoting warming fears], without having their professional careers ruined." — Atmospheric physicist James A. Peden, formerly of the Space Research and Coordination Center in Pittsburgh.

"Creating an ideology pegged to carbon dioxide is a dangerous nonsense. … The present alarm on climate change is an instrument of social control, a pretext for major businesses and political battle. It became an ideology, which is concerning." — Environmental Scientist Professor Delgado Domingos of Portugal, the founder of the Numerical Weather Forecast group, has more than 150 published articles.

In the meantime those who pull the world's strings from the shadows continue to push this mythical global disaster as a means toward introduction of a one world government. After all, that's what the Global Warming hoax is all about.

J. D. Longstreet

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

Conservative+Global+Warming+Hoax

Obama Picks a fight. The Wrong Fight!

Obama Picks a fight. The Wrong Fight!
J. D. Longstreet
***************
According to The Telegraph:

"Barack Obama is on a collision course with his critics after picking a fight with Rush Limbaugh, America's most influential conservative commentator."

The article is by Tim Shipman and we recommend you read it HERE.

Open warfare between Obama and Mr. Limbaugh, and the millions of conservative followers of Limbaugh, is the last thing Mr. Obama needs, especially this early in his regime.

Some are saying Obama is risking a new culture war between the "Obamaniacs" and American conservatives. We are here to declare there is no risk involved. The so-called "culture war" has hardly taken a breath. Conservatives graciously allowed the left to have their love-in and group hug after the election and during the inauguration, and were content to allow Mr. Obama a honeymoon. That "truce" is now over.

For our friends and enemies in Europe and around the globe please be advised: the United States of America is every bit as divided today as it was on January 19th. Maybe even more so. In fact, I believe it is more divided.

Look, conservatives are going to have an extremely difficult time accepting Obama as their president. I know the law says he is. But, the law can do nothing about the distance between the core beliefs of the conservative and the core beliefs of the liberal/socialist now in charge in this country. Say what you will, do what you want, but the old expression "never the twain shall meet" applies , absolutely, to the great divide between the conservatives and the liberal/socialists in America.

So, what if the conservatives formed a "government in exile". Nothing formal, you understand, just a government which is "understood" to exist. My guess is that Mr. Limbaugh would be the first President of that government in exile.

So, then, the liberal/socialists have their leader and the conservatives have their leader. Where does that leave the GOP? Right where they placed themselves...up that proverbial creek without a paddle!

It now appears that we are going to see a four year contest between Obama and Limbaugh.

What about the bipartisanship Obama pledged before the election? Well, that went right out the door the minute the last vote was counted. It was never anything more than a campaign promise... which is understood, the experts tell us, to be nothing more than "puffing"... meaning it has no substance.

In fact, it is a good thing that the liberal/socialist facade of "universal love" has been shredded and now lies in fractured heaps at the feet of The Obama. It was untrue from its inception. And now you know. Now the world knows.

This is going to be an extremely contentious four years in America. With all our financial problems we are going to have a continuous fight in the halls of government. Don't be surprised if some punches are thrown. We are facing the exact opposite of the future which was described by the old hippies in the Mainstream Media and in the government. Peace, love, prosperity, etc. it's all a crock. It isn't going to happen. What, in fact we will see and experience, is financial collapse, multiple terrorist attacks within America, soaring unemployment, civil unrest, and a government on the very precipice of total collapse. THAT is the future we should be preparing for... and some of us are doing just that.

Race relations in America, realistically, can be expected to worsen. If, in fact, The Obama represents his (African/American) race then every failure of his Administration will be shared by all African/Americans in America. At least that will be the prevailing attitude in the country. Unfair, you say? Of course it is! But that will not/does not matter. We are dealing with "true-life", the way things are in the REAL world.

If I said that I supported this President, I would be not be truthful. I did not support Mr. Obama during the campaign, and I cannot support him now. I believe his policies will only bring disaster to this country. I will not be hypocritical and announce that I support him when I do not. I am convinced that Mr. Obama's $825 billion economic stimulus plan will do absolutely nothing to ease America out of the recession and will, in fact, only deepen the recession and worsen the impact on Americans of all economic levels. Just like the machinations of FDR, it will not end the recession it will only make it worse. For those of you who attended public schools, (Government schools) FDR did not end The Great Depression. The Second World War ended The Depression.

So, here we are at the beginning of a new administration in America and the battle lines are, for the most part, already drawn. It is going to be a nasty few years in America. There is no effective opposition. The GOP committed suicide by insisting on running "democrat-lite" candidates they knew American conservatives could not support and now they are paying the price for that bit of mind boggling political ignorance.

So, yes, conservatives will be looking for leadership on the national stage and many believe they have found it in the man The Obama chose to denigrate over the weekend. Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh is now thrust into a position I, personally, don't believe he wanted. Nevertheless, he will be the "go-to" guy for conservatives over the next four years. If you don't think this will revive the "Fairness Doctrine debate" you are sadly mistaken. Our socialist government will feel that it must silence Mr. Limbaugh by taking whatever action they can. No doubt they are feeling pressure to move on silencing Rush as quickly as they possibly can.

To our friends and enemies around the world, do not expect much input into your problems from America in the near future. We will be turning inwards to seek solutions to our own problems, problems which threaten our Republic, first. America must first help herself before she can be expected to help anyone else.

May God bless America... and quickly!

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

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+America+Obama+Limbaugh+Threat+Socialism+Democracy+" rel="tag">Conservative+America+Obama+Limbaugh+Threat+Socialism+Democracy+"

Gun Control is NOT about Guns!!! It’s about Control!!!

Gun Control is NOT about Guns!!! It’s about Control!!!

J. D Longstreet

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

With Democrats in control of the US Government, American citizens need to guard such liberties as gun ownership even more closely.

Let’s take a look at what gun control has wrought around the world:

“Since 1996, when a madman went on a rampage killing 16 children and their teacher in Dunblane, Scotland, Great Britain has tightened to strangulation its already draconian gun control laws so that only certified members of approved target-shooting clubs are allowed to own guns. These must be .22 caliber or smaller and must be kept locked up at the club at all times.

Guns have been virtually banned, and the God-given right to self-defense has been virtually abrogated in England.

And yet, crime has steadily risen in Britain in the last several years. The U.S. Department of Justice says a person is nearly twice as likely to be robbed, assaulted or have a vehicle stolen in Britain as in the United States. Although the U.S. remains ahead of Britain in rates of murder and rape, the gap is rapidly narrowing.

And while robberies rose 81 percent in England and Wales, they fell 28 percent in the United States. Likewise, assaults increased 53 percent in England and Wales but declined 27 percent in the United States. Burglaries doubled in England but fell by half in the United States. And while motor vehicle theft rose 51 percent in England, it remained the same in America.

To make matters worse for England – and this is also true for Canada – in those countries where citizens are disarmed in their own homes, day burglary is commonplace, and dangerous, because criminals know they will not be shot at if caught flagrante delicto. Not so in the U.S., where burglars not only prefer night burglaries but try to make sure homeowners are not in to avoid being shot at by the intended victim.

The rising tide of thievery and burglaries in England has dubbed Britain "a nation of thieves," wrote the London Sunday Times, which noted: "More than one in three British men has a criminal record by the age of 40. While America has cut its crime rate dramatically Britain remains the crime capital of the West. Where have we gone wrong?"(2) Perhaps England should look introspectively.” Taken from: “Great Britain and Gun Control: With Neither Liberty nor Safety” by: Miguel A. Faria Jr., M.D. You’ll find the entire article at:

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/7/10/203335

Then… there is this taken from: “Gun Control in England: The Tarnished Gold Standard,” written by historian Joyce Lee Malcolm and published in the fall 2004 issue of Journal on Firearms & Public Policy:

“[Between 1997 and 2003] crimes with [banned firearms] have more than doubled.... In 2002, for the fourth consecutive year, gun crime in England and Wales rose — by 35 percent for all firearms, and by a whopping 46 percent for the banned handguns. Nearly 10,000 firearms offenses were committed....

Clearly since the ban criminals have not found it difficult to get guns and the balance has not shifted in the interest of public safety....

In the four years from 1997 to 2001 the rate of violent crime more than doubled. The UK murder rate for 2002 was the highest for a century....

A recent study of all the countries of Western Europe has found that in 2001 Britain had the worst record for killings, violence and burglary, and its citizens had one of the highest risks in the industrialized world of becoming victims of crime.... “

Plus: “A United Nations study of eighteen industrialized countries, including the United States, published in 2002 ... found England and Wales at the top of the Western world’s crime league, with the worst record for ‘very serious’ offenses.”

If we scan the world we get similar results. If we look back in history it is astounding what happens when a people are disarmed and left defenseless to anyone wishing to do him or her harm, including their own government. I received the following by e-mail recently. It is very telling. We invite you to read it and think, seriously about what it says.

Gun Control...

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated
------------------------------
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million 'educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
-----------------------------
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
------------------------------
It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:

List of 7 items:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent
Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!

In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.

You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.

Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind him or her of this history lesson.

An Armed man is a citizen!

An UNARMED man is a subject!

With guns, we are 'citizens'.
Without them, we are 'subjects'.

During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!

J. D. Longstreet

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

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Gun+Control" rel="tag">Conservative+Gun+Control

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

The Presidency

The Presidency
J. D. Longstreet
*******************

Well, we have ourselves a new President. For good, or ill, Mr. Obama is "The Man" for at least four years.

I sure as heck did not receive an invitation to attend, and I didn't partake of all the offerings on TV of the Inauguration. I figured I'd see all I wanted to see, and then some, of Mr. Obama over the next four years so why overindulge this early on in the game. Besides, the remarks made by Douglas Adams, a British comedy writer crossed my mind. Mr, Douglas is credited with having said: " Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should, on no account, be allowed to do the job!"

Still there are those who, upon observing the way our US political system works nail it, dead on! Take for instance, this quote from Deng Xiaoping, a former Chinese politician and communist leader, who was the most powerful figure in the People's Republic of China from the late 1970s until his death in 1997. He said this: "The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm, and something else when he leaves." See? Even the Commies understand how it works!

Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States said this: “All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.”

John Adams, the second President of the US said, in reference to his term in office: "The four most miserable years of my life!" Later, Adams said: "Had I been chosen president again, I am certain I could not have lived another year."

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the US, said this: "No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it. To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends."

Patrick Henry, one of the of the Founding Fathers of the US was not particularly happy with the Constitution and the way it treated the office of President. It is important to note, I think, that Henry wanted a "confederation of states" rather than a "consolidated government" which, he felt, was what the early Constitution did, even before the Bill of Rights was tacked on. In any event, this is what Henry had to say, especially about the office of President: "The Constitution is said to have beautiful features; but when I come to examine these features, Sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities, it has an awful squinting - it squints towards monarchy. And does not this raise indignation in the breast of every true American? Your president may easily become king. . . . Where are your checks in this government? . . . I would rather infinitely - and I am sure most of this convention are of the same opinion - have a king, lords, and commons than a government so replete with such insupportable evils."

President Jimmy Carter once said: "You really have to experience the feeling of being with the president in the oval office. . . . It's a disease I came to call Ovalitis."

President Dwight David (IKE) Eisenhower said this of the decision making by the President: "No easy problems ever come to the President of the United States. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them."

Newt Gingrich, always good for a quote, is given credit for having said: "If the Soviet empire still existed, I'd be terrified! The fact is, we can afford a fairly ignorant presidency now."

I'll return to Harry Truman for another quote on the Presidency. Truman i,s felt by many to be if not the most "grounded" President the US has ever had, then certainly he would rank within the top three. Truman once said: "When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember, it isn't for you, it's fore the Presidency.

Now, I'm not trying to make any particular point here, in this piece, I just thought it would be good to get a perspective on the views of others, especially those who have served in the office of President, or served the office of President, helped to define the office of President, and even, in some cases, reported on the office of the President. It IS an exalted position in our government and our society. But, it is well to remember that those who have served as President and Mr. Obama, who serves today, is "... but a man."

Having established the fact that the President is "just a man" I, along with a multitude of Journalists/Bloggers/Commentators and every living American, reserves the right to excoriate him when he does something with which we do not agree.

Mr. Obama is in for some serious pounding in a few days, or a few weeks, whenever the so-called "Honeymoon" is over. Those of us on the political right have the long knives out, sharpened, and at the ready. We will be slicing and dicing Mr. Obama just as efficiently as the writers on the political left eviscerated Mr. Bush. I would hope we do it with more style, less crudity, and far less profanity and vulgarity than the political left.

In doing so, we should not flinch from the job at hand. I will turn to a quote fro,m one of my favorite former Presidents of the US, Teddy Roosevelt. Mr. Roosevelt was a "man's man" and did not mince words when speaking on a topic he held sincere views about. Roosevelt held strong opinions about the job of and the office of, the President. He said this: “The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about anyone else.”

Taking our lead from former President Theodore Roosevelt, we here at "The Carolina Post" intend to do just that.

J. D. Longstreet

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

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+US+Presidents" rel="tag">Conservative+US+Presidents

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

Mr. Obama. Taking America into Harm’s Way

Mr. Obama. Taking America into Harm’s Way

Not Everyone Is Happy
J. D. Longstreet
***********************
Is the partying done yet? Is the trash picked up off the mall? Has everyone sobered up? Far more important is the question: Has the defecation hit the rotary oscillator yet?

So many questions. So much uncertainty. So much fear. Yes… I did say F E A R !

See, not all of us were celebrating as Mr. Obama took the Oath of Office. Some of us are genuinely frightened at the prospects ahead… prospects, which do not bode well for the United States and the people who populate these states.

See, there are 58 million of us who voted against Mr. Obama. Did you get that? I said 58 million Americans voted against Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama got 53% of the vote across America. See how close that is to ½ the electorate? So, when you fan away the media’s smoke… we are right where we were before the election… so far as the common man and woman of America is concerned. We STILL live in a country equally divided, roughly 50/50, about the direction the country should be taking.

Now, you would never know that from all the hoopla in the Mainstream Media about “healing”, and “hope”, and “change”, and all the “feel good” “warm and fuzzy”, “group hug” rhetoric, right out of the 60’s “hippie culture” spouted by the talking heads on TV and the gushing of the leftie writers in the printed press. I must tell you folks… to an old southern conservative, like “yours truly”, it is sickening. I could not watch it on the television for fear of vomiting.

Hey, and while we are at it… can we agree that America is no longer a “racist country”, like every other country on the face of the earth? No, you say? And, why not, pray tell? We have been told, all along, by the bleeding hearts in the Mainstream Media that if Obama were elected it would end racism in America!

Well, of course, I knew it was BS then… and it is BS today (BS=Bovine Scatology). But you know, there are actually people walking around on this earth who actually believed that stuff? Yeah! No kidding! That ought to scare you to death! I know it rattled my cage with gusto!

It is absolutely amazing how simple-minded the American voter really is. But, we can take comfort that only half, at best, of the American electorate bought that Utopian nonsense. Remember, only 53% of us voted for Mr. Obama. The other 47% still have their wits about them… and they will be, eventually, the people who save America from the Socialists, the Old Hippies, the Eurocrats, the Neocomms, (Neocomms=New Communists) and the plain ole “Air Heads” who populate the two chambers of our legislative wing of government. (Speaking of Air Heads… have you looked into the eyes of some of those people with their vacuous smiles plastered, permanently, to their faces? You really ought to. If gives new depths of meaning to the phrase: “The lights are on… but nobody is home.”

I am an old “states righter” who believes that the best government is the government that governs the least. I also believe that the smaller the government the better. I believe we should starve government into reducing its size by cutting taxes to reduce the amount of available funds the government can use to enlarge itself. I believe, as did the men who founded this country and drew up the Constitution, that the Federal Government was/is to be the agent of the states and is to take its orders from the states… not the other way around… as it is today. Like President Reagan, I believe government is the problem and not the answer. I believe Mr. Obama is dead wrong, absolutely wrong, in his stated desire to grow the government to right all wrongs in America. It will only create more wrongs.

I believe Mr. Obama is about to take the US into Harm’s Way… and he has no clue. He is a Commander-in-Chief who will have to be taught how to salute. And HE is to COMMAND the mightiest military force on the planet? YES! Does that not scare you?

And the bailouts: When do you and I have to pay it back? Huh? Oh, yeah! They forgot to mention that, didn’t they? Yep, you and I, the American taxpayer, AND our children and grandchildren, some yet unborn, will be required to put all that money back into the Treasury’s coffers.

Oh, well. We finally have that “Nanny State” 53% of the electorate wanted. Yep! You finally have a government that can give you everything you want. But, by the same token, you also have the government that can take everything you have!

I was in the Artillery when I served the country in the US Army. One of the first lessons I learned, as new artilleryman, was to always remember that as soon as the enemy is within range of your guns… YOU are in range of THEIRS! There are no “gimmes.” There is “No Free Lunch.” Somebody MUST pay. Want to know who is going pay for all the “FREE” stuff you are expecting to get from the US Government under Obama’s reign? Just look in the mirror!

No, some of us are not celebrating. Some us are sincerely worried.

J. D. Longstreet

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

© J. D. Longstreet

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

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Obama+Oratory+Action" rel="tag">Conservative+Obama+Oratory+Action

Oratory Versus Reality: The Obama Years Begin ... by Alan Caruba

Oratory Versus Reality: The Obama Years Begin

By Alan Caruba

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

Not since Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy has this nation had a President so blessed with the gift of oratory.

There is no doubt that, if words alone could lift this nation out of its current financial crisis, its wars, and other problems, President Barack Obama could make that happen.

We need, therefore, to cast our eyes backwards to those earlier presidents to remind us that, for all his eloquence, his power to encourage and inspire Americans, Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not resolve the Great Depression and, indeed, prolonged it with a misguided New Deal. Inaugurated in 1933, he was still struggling when World War II began for the United States in 1941.

As John F. Kennedy urged us to ask not what the country could do for us, but what we could do for our country, it was mere months before the die was cast for growing U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Other than the space program, his administration was a series of stumbles. His assassination eliminated any further opportunity to judge his brief term in office.

So oratory is a fine thing and our new President delivered a fine speech. But! If Americans discover that we are in for a “first 100 days” that involves a great flurry of ill-conceived, ill-considered, and utterly political legislation, we will rue the day we gave power to him and those on Capitol Hill.

“There are some who question the scale of our ambitions,” said President Obama. He’s right because the greatest failures always follow an excess of ambition. It happens to individuals and it happens to nations.

The proposed stimulus bill reeks of all the errors and ills of FDR’s New Deal programs that wasted millions paying farmers not to plant crops, fixing prices within industries to kill competition while driving up the cost of goods, and initially handing out money without requiring that people work to earn it.

The proposed $825 billion “stimulus package” is pure pork. It has no more relationship to economic recovery than previous efforts. The real change America needs is for government to stop interfering with the marketplace of goods and services.

When Congress gets out of the way of business and industry, you will have recovery.

When it stops paying farmers not to plant crops, as it continues to do, you will have recovery.

When it puts a stop to the lawsuits and laws that stop or slows every form of development in favor of some unknown species of insect or reptile, you will see recovery.

When it permits our vast natural resources of coal, natural gas, and oil to be extracted and sold as energy for America, you will see recovery.

Called the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill”, the proposed bill includes $650 million to help Americans upgrade to digital cable after the transition on February 17th. In what possible way does this help the economy? It is pork.

While surely there are structures in cities and towns in America that could use an upgrade, $44 million will be spent to repair and improve the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. All manner of taxpayer money will be lavished on a panoply of government agencies, all standing in line with their tin cups.

As Ronald Reagan said, “Government isn’t the answer to our problems. Government is the problem.”

There will be $1.2 billion to provide day care services to 300,000 additional low-income children since clearly both parents will have to work in order to put food on the table. It is pork.

$1.2 billion to create an estimated one million summer jobs for young people. It is pork.

And $6.2 billion to weatherize the homes of low-income people to make them “more energy efficient.” It is pork.

It probably passed unnoticed, but the President’s promise to “roll back the specter of a warming planet” is quite possibly the worst indicator of what his new administration plans to do to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars and countless new regulations.

The Earth is dramatically cooling. There is no global warming. Why the new President talking about “a warming planet”?

As just one more example of the endless list of items taxpayer money to be wasted, the most egregious is $2.4 billion for “projects demonstrating carbon-capture technology.” There is no need to “capture” carbon dioxide, a gas that plays virtually no role whatever in climate change. The oceans of the world have been doing that for more than five billion years.

After the oratory comes the reality. If, as a nation our elected representatives act, based on the failed politics and policies of the past, economic reality will swiftly become painfully apparent and all the speeches in the world will not put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

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/.

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

Conservative+Obama+Oratory+Action

Obama/Democrats To Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Law.

Obama/Democrats To Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Law.
J. D. Longstreet
*******************

Here we go again! The Democrats are set to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law banning homosexuals from serving in the military of the United States. This is no joke. As utterly absurd as this sounds, they are set to do it... and I have no doubt they will manage to get it done this time.

Obama's new Press Secretary has declared that Obama will do it. Of course, Obama can't do it alone, even though he will be the Commander-in-Chief. The Constitution leaves that up to the Congress... and... since the Congress is now populated with old hippies and socialists it is a given, a fait accompli!

Now, let's understand something. Don't ask, Don't Tell is NOT a policy. It is a Federal Law, a Public Law. Methinks this has not been clearly understood.

OK, so what DOES the law actually say? You can read it, in it's entirety HERE.

Here are a few highlights of the law as it stands (temporarily) today:

“Pursuant to the powers conferred by section 8 article 1 of the Constitution of the United States, it lies within the discretion of the Congress to establish qualifications for and conditions of service in the armed forces,” the law states.

Moving right along... the law says: “The prohibition against homosexual conduct is a long-standing element of military law that continues to be necessary in the unique circumstances of military service."

It further says: “The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability,”.

Then comes the clincher: “A member of the armed forces shall be separated from the armed forces under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense,” the law continues, “if one or more of the following findings is made and approved in accordance with procedures set forth in such regulations: (1) That the member has engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act or acts … (2) That the member has stated that he or she is a homosexual or bisexual, or words to that effect … (3) That the member has married or attempted to marry a person known to be of the same biological sex.“

Under the terms of the law homosexuals could serve in the US military as long as they kept quiet about their sexual orientation and didn’t go public with it, by admitting it, or openly taking part in homosexual activity. If either occurred, homosexuals were shown the door and bade farewell from the US Military.

As a veteran, when I served, a homosexual was not allowed in the service, period. If they did manage to get in, as soon as they were found out, they were gone. And it was quick.

In my time in the US Army there was no such thing as privacy. You did everything as a unit. You slept in the same room, you showered together, you ate together, and you even relived yourself in full view of all the other soldiers who happened to be in the latrine at the same time. There were no “stalls” with toilets in them. There was a line of toilets, in a row, and it was quit possible for two soldiers to have a conversation, while relieving themselves, sitting on those toilets. Did I mention there was no privacy? I did, didn’t I?

It was important that a soldier knew his fellow soldier was the same gender as he was.

Look, having a known homosexual in a military unit disrupts that unit’s cohesiveness. If it happens to be a combat unit, lives are at stake.

In a piece I wrote and published back in July of 2008 I said the following: "So why is this coming up now? The answer is simple. Take a look at what is probably going to happen n November. The most liberal senator in the US Senate is probably going to win the next election and become the President of the US. Add to that the increase in numbers in the Congress of ultra-liberal democrats cinching their control over the two branches of the government and with a Supreme Court that is almost as liberal as it is conservative… and you have to ask??? The “iron will be hot” and they intend to strike. There is no reason to believe they will fail in striking down any and all laws that might keep homosexuals out of the US military. Don’t ask, don’t tell is doomed. Bet on it!

Get used to it. A liberal/progressive/socialist/Marxist take over of the US government is in the offing. We old fogies who believe in freedom had a pretty good run, but we are no longer wanted and the Eurocrats and Neocomms (New Commies) are set to take over and roll back the freedom(s) we worked so hard to preserve for nearly three centuries. The destruction of the hated US Military is just one of their goals. And that is why the issue has resurfaced at this particular time.

Get ready, America. We are about to witness the destruction of a way of life envied the world over as the Socialist and Neocomms tear down the last best hope of mankind on this planet."

Don't worry. My crystal ball is stowed safely away for a while. Of course, that wasn't the greatest prognostication I have made. In fact it was one of the easiest. Only the dimmest of dim bulbs could have actually believed that Mr. McCain had a prayer at beating Obama and the media.

So, back to the topic at hand. A democrat from (where else?) California is set to introduce the legislation to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Law. Rep. Ellen Tauscher to be exact. Tauscher's bill is titled: "The Military Readiness Enhancement Act."

Now, you would think a bill to do away with the Don't ask, Don't tell law would be enough, wouldn't you? But... NO. It's not. The Bill Tauscher will introduce will , if passed, allow those homosexuals who have been discharged from the military as a result of violating the Don't ask, Don't tell law will be allowed to return to active duty. The bill is set to be introduced in a few weeks and it is reported to already have nearly 150 co-sponsors already signed up.

National Review has an article citing a survey by the Military Times which indicates that passage of the "The Military Readiness Enhancement Act." repealing the Don't ask, Don't tell law would result in the loss of between 141,000 and 323,000 active duty troops. That is a loss of around 23% of our standing military force. We recommend you read this article. You'll find it HERE. One has to wonder what percentage of the various Reserve Services would also refuse to serve with homosexuals. Anyway you parse it, it will lead to the degradation of our military almost overnight.

Thankfully, it is a rare thing for an incoming president to inherit a war. But this one is inheriting TWO wars. Our military is stretched and a number of veterans, having done two or more tours in the combat zones do not need this additional worry and aggravation.

We have said time and time again that the left does not understand the military nor do they understand the application of military force. If there was ever an inkling of doubt in your mind about that, then simply consider what the left is about to do to our military by repealing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law.

Now, let's talk about The Draft! OK. We'll save that for after the dems destroy the Volunteer Military and we HAVE to fall back on The Draft.

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

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Homosexuals+Military+Draft" rel="tag">Conservative+Homosexuals+Military+Draft

Robert E. Lee's Birthday Today, January 19th, 1807

Gen. Robert Edward Lee, Confederate States of America

Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia

Born January 19th, 1807

"A Saint of the South"

The Passing of the Mainstream Media

The Passing of the Mainstream Media

J. D. Longstreet

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

People who write commentary do a good deal of research. Well, unfortunately, that is not always true. Would that it were. To write with authority, however, they/we must. It is important, even vital, that their/our facts are , indeed, facts and that they are as accurate as is possible and that attribution is given to those deserving of it.

A number of years ago, when I switched over from the broadcast media to the Internet, as a base for my commentaries, the first thing I noticed was that in order to find out what was REALLY happening in America I had to go to off shore news outlets. Our homegrown news media is SO biased in favor of the left that anything that has any attachment to the right, and may bode well for America, is, somehow, ignored. They just don't tell you about it. It's called omission... among other things.

Bear with me. I AM leading up to a point.

I have access to two regional newspapers. But the Internet, along with the escalating cost of newsprint, (the paper the newspaper is printed upon) and the faltering economy has about shut down the hard copy editions of newspapers in my neck of the Carolina woods west of the Cape Fear. I now have one regional newspaper to rely upon for a daily hard copy dose of what they refer to as "news". Of course, most of what arrives at my door, as news, has already been seen and read by me on the internet hours and even days before it arrives at my breakfast table.

The first, and so far the only one, of the two regional papers to stop delivery to my area was a New York Times owned paper. That was no great loss to readers on this side of the river, as it was so liberal as to be a joke and was often the source of much humor at the restaurant table where meets the daily gathering of the retired morning coffee drinkers/"Liers Club". Many of my neighbors were fond of announcing, when that paper issued it's list of recommended candidates to vote for, that they would vote for the opposition. That paper carried a box score, every edition, of the US service personnel killed in Iraq. I never saw a listing of the enemy killed in Iraq, although rumor has it that number is in the hundreds of thousands. As long as the war was going badly for the US, the paper kept up it's drumbeat of defeat, defeat, and run and retreat.

But now that the war in Iraq has turned the corner and the US has the upper hand, it is as though the war in Iraq suddenly, somehow creased to exist. There is little, if any, reporting on it, at all. And you can bet that as soon as it becomes Obama's war, the reporting on the war will be glorious. There will be stories of great strides made on the battlefield and at the negotiating table, and there will be reports of victory after victory. That newspaper, and it's parent company in New York, will not allow Obama's war to become a millstone around the neck of the Obama Administration. Funny how that works, what?

The other regional paper is based in a military town here in North Carolina and therefore cannot avoid reporting on the war, on non-strategic and non-tactical troop movements, and all things military because, frankly, it is a part of everyday life to many of the residents here in my neck of the Carolina woods. Still, in depth reporting of the war has slipped and fallen from the pages of that broadsheet as well.

So, what must one do to find out what the dickens is going on in Iraq and how it affects Americans? One must go to off shore newspapers and news organizations. That is what I do practically every day.

How else will I know if America wins the war... if the press doesn't tell me? That is a darned good question and one Investors Business Daily puts this way: "What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public?" Then IBD goes on to say: "Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq." See what I mean?

OK. So maybe I'm being too hard on the MsM, huh? Well the London Sunday Times says it is an important story. They say America's victory over al-Qaida in Iraq is: "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror." And they are absolutely right. It is a fantastic victory. The article says: "A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul." You can read this excellent article HERE.

But, where are the headlines and the stories in the American press about these fantastic victories? Where are the stories on the major TV networks news shows about this, as some call it, "most unlikely of American victories"? Where are they? Well, if you haven't figured it out by now, there is no hope.

For the leftist press in America to print anything that would show America, America's military, or a republican presidential administration, in a good light is just not going to happen. And THAT, dear reader, is why so many of us, including "yours truly", goes off shore for news about America. And... and this is important... it is an important reason why the news media in America is in deep trouble today.

With the Internet opening up the windows to the world, for the average person in America, we now have access to sources of information we never had before. It was startling, to say the least, for the uninitiated "news hound" to learn that what he was seeing in his local/regional newspaper and on the TV news was so badly slanted as to be, for all intents and purposes, useless! It was an awakening.

Suddenly, they remembered the voices of commentators, not unlike this scribe, who, for decades, had been warning them that what they were getting and accepting as news was nothing short of out and out propaganda for the political left. When that settled in they stopped buying those newspapers. They stopped spending their advertising dollars with that newspaper, and with that TV/radio station, or network, leading to the near financial collapse of some of the giant media companies in America. It is, as they say: "Payback Time!"

We in America are on the cusp of one of the media's biggest digging and filling operations ever seen by man. They have built Mr. Obama up into a mythological figure with superhuman powers and that image is about to crumble and fall all around them. They will be struggling to cover up as much of the foibles of Mr. Obama as they possibly can and it will not be easy. It will be an around the clock, 24/7, operation and one that will take a toll on the remaining resources of the once powerful propaganda machine that was the Mainstream Media in America.

Things change. Profound. And so true. Nothing remains the same.

The much heralded Information Age exploded upon us so quickly the old repositories of information were totally unprepared... and... in their arrogance they could not envisage anything ever replacing them as the source for all information and the filter through which all that information was processed before it reached you and I, the Great Unwashed. Nevertheless, it happened and the world has been changed forever.

The day of the Mainstream Media is over. So, what's next? I have no idea. I intentionally did not choose the Internet because the Internet itself is in a state of flux and ten years from today it will barely resemble what we call the World Wide Web today. The information carried along it's cortex will change, too. But this I DO know. Those who wish to remain in the organized profession we have come to know as the Press, the Media, and Journalism must be ready to change. There will be no room for covert bias in reporting the day's events. The very nature of the Internet, where everyone with a keyboard and a modem is a reporter of those events, will force accuracy in the reports... or a hasty withdrawal of the biased reporter... simply because there are so many others reporting the same event with truth and accuracy. "Opinion writing" will remain as popular as ever, possible even more popular.

This is a good thing and is much to be praised and lauded. Finally, the consumer of "news" will be able to access reports on an event he/she is interested in with a high degree of certainty that the information he/she is accessing is as accurate and as free of the writer's biases as possible. This has never been possible before. Sometimes change IS good!

J. D. Longstreet

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

©J. D. Longstreet, 2009

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

Conservative+Newspapers+Press+Media+Mainstream+Bias

King of America!

King of America!
by J. D. Longstreet

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

His/Her Excellency, King/Queen of America! King Obama? Like the sound of that? Well, if the Dems in Congress have their way, that may well be the accepted salutation for the chief executive of the land in the not too distant future.

The 22nd Amendment has to go. You know, that little ole section of the Constitution which insists that a President can only serve two terms... or eight years. Uh huh! That is the one. So, the dems have already processed the paperwork and will begin shortly to push it through the Congress. The bill, H. J. Res. 5, has already been introduced by Rep. Jose Serrano Democrat of New York. The bill says, and we quote: "an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President." There is an excellent article on this at World Net Daily HERE.

A couple of reminders: I said in an earlier post, just a few days ago, that the Liberals always, always, overplay their hand. And just a day or two ago, I authored a piece entitled "Americans Are Arming Themselves. Why?" Now you see what I meant by liberals overplaying their hands and you also know, at least, a part of the answer to the question I posed in the title to the piece concerning Americans arming themselves.

If you'd like to take a look at the actual bill itself you can do so HERE.

It is often said that Liberals out of power are funny. In power they are dangerous. There is no greater truism.

It IS true that this has been tried many times before since the early 1950's. All attempts have failed, so far, and I sincerely hope this one fails. One of the sure fire, quickest, ways to compel Americans to "man the barricades" is to pass this bill out of Congress and send it to the states for ratification.

And you wondered why this country is in the shape it is in today! The sheer idiocy of such a move is breath taking. But as long as we Americans continue to elect these clowns to lead us in the Congress, and in the office of President, this is the kind of country we will continue to have, until it implodes as it has nearly done in the past few weeks.

We exist today in a country that is in shambles... a mere ethereal image of its former self. Modern day America is but a husk of the great country she used to be. All that is necessary to locate those responsible for the demise of the USA is... look in the nearest mirror.

J. D. Longstreet

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

© J. D. Longstreet, 2009

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+America+King+Dictator" rel="tag">Conservative+America+King+Dictator

Americans Are Arming Themselves. Why? ... by: J. D. Longstreet

Americans Are Arming Themselves. Why?
By J. D. Longstreet

In case you have not noticed… Americans are arming themselves. Sales of those rifles the liberals like to refer to as “assault rifles” are so brisk, nationwide, that they are back-ordered for weeks and, in some cases, even months. (In the event you are unfamiliar with the term “Assault Rifle”… the common definition, by liberals and “gun-grabbers” of an assault rifle, is… a rifle that One: Looks scary” and Two: Holds more than five rounds!)

The gun purchase forms required by the ATF (The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) when a gun dealer sells a weapon (ATF FORM 4473) have completely run out, nationwide, and the ATF has allowed gun dealers to actually photocopy the things, (the “Yellow Sheets”, as they are commonly known) in order to accommodate Americans who are rushing to arm themselves. The government requires this completed form for any legal transaction in which a firearm is sold/bought. Gun dealers are required to have the buyer fill out the form before a sale can be completed. With guns sales up, nationwide, by 24% last month alone, you can see how a shortage of form 4473 can be an excellent indicator of “The Arming of America.”

Sales of ammunition have been so brisk that many dealers are cleaned out of popular brand ammo. Ammunition sales have cleaned out a lot of sporting goods stores, gun shops, and anyplace else selling ammo in America.

The popular explanation is that Americans are afraid of what this socialist Congress and president will do to deprive Americans of their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Well, that is CERTAINLY a PART of it, but I think there is more, much more, and a far more serious explanation… and, I am convinced the government believes as I do.

See, I think the American people are preparing themselves to go toe to toe with their government. I believe the American people are making a statement. That statement is: “This Far and No Farther!” In other words, “We are going to give you socialists a chance. But, if you step over the line, if you attempt to deprive us of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, we will not tolerate that.”

Some of us older Americans, fortunate enough to be educated in an American Public School System that actually taught non-politically correct history, remember what happened when the socialist took over in Russia in 1917. It is NOT going to be allowed to happen here.

I think it is meant to counter the act of the Bush, and soon, Obama Administrations of bringing combat troops back to The States and stationing them here, on US soil, reportedly for population control in the event of “social unrest” or massive acts of “civil disorder or disobedience” keyed by any number of things including the economy going through the floor, or, well, I’ll let your imagination fill in the blank, because, frankly, the subject is so delicate, I don’t even want to touch it!

I have concluded, rightly or wrongly, (You must be the judge) that Americans are sending a signal to their government. That signal is: “We won’t be bullied. There will be a price to pay if you dare step over the line.” Congress and the President had better pay attention. It is low profile stuff at the moment, but it can get very big, very fast. And… it is VERY dangerous!

There was a piece in our local paper just days ago about this very thing. Locally the gun stores, pawnshops, and ammo shops (Sporting Goods stores, etc.) are cleaned out. The point here is two-fold: For your local hometown newspapers to be running pieces by their staff writers on this, it has to be big enough to have an effect locally… It is not a “spotty” occurrence across the country, nor concentrated in certain areas of the country. It is a nationwide phenomenon with local consequences.

When I saw the piece in my local newspaper, it struck home. I have seen varied pieces on the blogosphere about it, and the occasional piece on news sites, and that was to be expected from a left-leaning, easily excited MsM, which would support the abolishment of the 2^nd Amendment in a heartbeat. The only rise those stories got from “yours truly” was my usual muttered expletive deleted, and I quickly moved on. BUT, It is much different when you read a piece by a local writer you know happens to be a hunter, a fisherman, a trapper, and a strong supporter of the 2^nd Amendment. That, dear reader, gets your attention!

There is a site on the Internet to which we’d like to draw your attention. It is “The Tactical Wire.” You’ll find it at: www.thetacticalwire.com/. In the Editor’s Notebook, by Rich Grassi, Mr. Grassi says: “If you are a fan of firearms generally, it's shaping up to be a rough time coming. We're facing an unfriendly executive and a legislative that's generally cool to us - though it could well be divided in this arena.” You can read the entire article HERE.

When people are frightened about something they tend to do one of two things. Withdraw (run), or stand and fight. It is the old “Fight or Flee Syndrome” you have heard about. It is not just “an expression” it is very real. We come wired that way.

According to the piece in my local paper my neighbors are buying anything that will shoot… and… they are buying all the ammunition they can carry, and then some. There are credible reports of local private gun owners now buying ammunition not by the box, or boxes, but by the crate!

Yes, Americans, in my part of the US of A, are reacting to their fears about Obama and the socialist government soon to be in charge of America. Judging from what we now know about the arming of my neighbors and my fellow Americans across the country, it certainly appears they are not preparing to “Flee.”

J. D. Longstreet

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

© J. D. Longstreet

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+GunGrabbers+ Gun+Control+Obama+Democrats" rel="tag">Conservative+GunGrabbers+ Gun+Control+Obama+Democrats

SICK! ... By: J. D. Longstreet

Sick!

By: J. D. Longstreet

***********************
Just so you know:

On doctor’s orders I am taking a few days off to rest and re-cooperate.

Got the official diagnosis back this morning... pnuemonia.

Anyway, I ask you not to give up on me. I’ll be back, with God’s help, as soon as I am able. Oh, and I would certainly appreciate your prayers!

Thanks!

J. D. Longstreet

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

Conservative+Bug+Ill+Sick

Obama Administration to Lead US into Second Vietnam?

Obama Administration to Lead US into Second Vietnam?

J. D. Longstreet

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

When two countries war against each other it is necessary, even vital, that both countries have leadership, which can negotiate truces, ceasefires, victories, surrender, and peace terms, plus a few other minor details. Without that leadership, the war continues with no end ever in sight. The first army to leave the field is declared the loser. Respectable, honorable, armies will not leave the field. As a result the body count continues to rise, as does the discontent of the families back home, not to mention the citizens back home footing the bill for what will have become a totally useless war.

It seems to me that is exactly where the Obama Administration will be taking the US if he sends more troops into Afghanistan.

There is so single leader of the Taliban who can call a truce and sign a surrender document to end the war in Afghanistan. Twenty years from now the US will still have troops slogging around the godforsaken hills and valleys of that country searching for someone to kill or pacify, yet unable to leave for lack of an enemy leader to wave the white flag.

Any commitment the US military makes in Afghanistan is an open-ended commitment. There is no end date. There cannot be. No need to call for a date certain when US forces will withdraw from Afghanistan, no one can tell you. To just pack up and leave is looked upon as “turning tail and running” and will only embolden our enemies in the Middle East. Not to mention the fact that it is a dishonorable thing to do to our military. But then, we live in a period of history when honor is not understood. To most, living today, it is an antiquated idea that has no place in the 21st century. And THERE lies the problem.

Honorable men do not commit other men to hopeless causes in their stead. And yet… it certainly appears that is exactly where we are headed. That tells you all you need to know about the new leadership of the United States.

Sending US troops into Afghanistan in search of Bin Laden is one thing. I can support that, for he needs to be found and summarily executed if he is actually alive. If he is not alive we need to find his body, positively identify it, and bring our troops home.

On the other hand, sending troops into Afghanistan to conquer the Taliban is sheer folly on the part of the US government, and will result in the useless loss of life of the young men and women of our military who volunteered to serve their country and deserve better treatment and more respect from their government.

To stay in Afghanistan to “nation build” is worse than folly. Decades will be required just to bring a people, who have never known democracy, to an understanding of what is required of them in a democracy. Not to mention the years it will take to neutralize the warlords who control far more of that country than does the legitimate government, such as it is, today. I am truly afraid it is a hopeless case and it is a “tar baby” just waiting for our embrace.

In our opinion, Iraq will soon be, once again, a strongman’s playground as the Iraqis throw off all vestiges of democracy and return to what they know and understand… and that is… a one man dictatorship which tells them what to do every moment of their lives. In other words a leader who will treat them like the children they so resemble. Democracy in Iraq has no chance of longevity. Iraq is a Muslim country and democracy and Islam cannot co-exist for very long. Afghanistan is a Muslim country. The same thing holds true for that country, as well.

Rather than pouring more troops and treasure into that part of the world we need to concentrate on finding Bin Laden and stop sacrificing the lives of young Americans and wasting what little of our national treasure we have left in a hopeless campaign that, in our opinion, is doomed to failure.

This advice is offered free and with no expectation of reward, and, honestly, with no expectation of it’s acceptance, either.

In a few days the conflict in Afghanistan will be Obama’s war. He will not want a lost war as a part of his legacy and neither will the Democratic Party. After January 20th attempting to reason with Obama, or the democrats, concerning the wisdom of continuing the destruction of the Taliban and building a real nation where the closest thing to a nation that ever existed was a tribal confederation, will be an exercise in utter futility. I am concerned that a lot more blood will be shed in Afghanistan before the American people will understand the complete waste of American lives there and demand that we leave. By that time, of course, there will be no way to leave with dignity.

I suspect, along about now, Mr. Obama is wondering how he ever allowed himself to be talked into running for an office he was sure he would never win, anyway! Sometimes The Fates can play really cruel jokes on the sons of men. This one is from the box marked “Most Cruel”!

J. D. Longstreet

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

Conservative+Liberal+Obama+Afghanistan+Futility

Conservative Unity? What is That?

Conservative Unity? What is That?
By: J. D. Longstreet
*******************************

I have a burr under my saddle today. Actually it’s been there for some time. So, I’m going to sound off on it.

Question: Why are there so few conservatives leaving comments on conservative blogsites???

I surf a lot of blogsites a day and I see scores of comments from lefties all over those sites, mine included, but seldom do I see a conservative comment.

There used to be an expression, which I cannot remember verbatim, but the gist of it was that: “Conservatives eat their young.” It was, of course, just another way of saying that conservatives do not, as a rule, bond together to defend their positions, or advance their positions. I have learned, as a Conservative Blogger, there is much truth in that statement. If you are a conservative, and you take a position… you may, very well, find that you are on your own!

I participate in a number of conservative web rings and blog rolls and, frankly, I can’t see that they do a bit of good.

Look, conservatives are “against the wall” in today’s world. There is an all out drive to rid the world of us. The only group standing for sanity and reason, on the globe today, are the conservatives. The only group standing for traditional values in today’s world are conservatives and yet, we will not stand shoulder to shoulder, with other conservatives, to defend our positions, or to advance our cause! There is something seriously wrong with that.

It is not difficult, it is not hard, and it is not even “trying” to bond with fellow conservatives. So… why aren’t we doing it???

I understand there are degrees of conservatism. There used to be degrees of liberalism. Unfortunately for the US, and the world, those degrees of liberalism have all dissipated… save for the extreme leftists, the socialists. And they have control of their political party and the US government.

As a conservative, I know it is extremely difficult to visit left wing Blogsites and expose oneself to the acrid hate emanating from those sites. It’s akin to being held over the pits of hell and letting the flames scorch one’s toes. It is somewhat like being in a room with a rotting corpse. The odor is nauseating. But we may find it necessary in order to fight back, or to take the fight to them. Isn’t it time we fought back? Isn’t it time we demonstrated we have the courage of our convictions???

OK, so I’ve said it. I am under no illusions that it will do any good, but heck, I feel better!

J. D. Longstreet
*************************
Conservativ+United+Cohesive+Strength+Victory e

America's Ignorance Not Only Threatens America... But The World!

Hamas Wins! Hamas Defeats Israel! Say What?

J. D. Longstreet

****************************
America's Ignorance Is Now A Threat To The World!

No matter how the fighting between Israel and Hamas turns out in the end, Hamas WILL claim victory. The process for announcing their “win” is already set up just waiting for the withdrawal of Israeli units from Gaza. Shortly after the Israeli forces turn toward home, watch for a press conference to be called by Hamas and the International media will flock to their propaganda fest with willing hearts and willing pens to write up the story of how Hamas bested the mighty Middle Eastern “Bully”… Israel.

I know, I know if sounds absolutely idiotic, but this is a very good example of how the MsM views the consumers of their product… as idiots who will believe anything they tell us to believe. And the really scary thing about this… they’re not far wrong…especially when addressing their American readers, viewers and readers. As an American it saddens me beyond description.

It has been said that America’s most expensive product this day and age is out and out ignorance. I must say I believe that. We have a general population that cannot tell you who bombed Pearl Harbor and when. They cannot tell the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. And these are the people who voted Obama into the office of President of the United States. Now… go to bed tonight and try to sleep while mulling that bit of knowledge over and over in your mind during the wee hours.

One of the founding fathers of America, Thomas Jefferson, is reported to have said: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be. No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity." As we have learned time and time again, the founding fathers had a grasp of enduring truths we, their descendents, seem to have lost. You’ll find an excellent article on America’s ignorance HERE.

It is embarrassing to live in a nation where our countrymen are just plain ignorant. But what’s worse? How about living in a nation where our ignorant countrymen don’t seem to care that they are ignorant! Point out a fellow countryman’s ignorance by asking him/her a few simple questions, and finding they don’t know the answers, you may well be startled by a shrug of the shoulders the exclamation: ”Well, who the hell cares, man?” If you have taken the time to read this article, chances are you have probably experienced this very scenario... right? Thought so.

We are a deluded people. We live with the false impression that we are the most learned generation of Americans … ever. Ask a recent college graduate and chances are he/she will tell you they are the most knowledgeable generation of Americans… ever. THAT’S what I mean by deluded. Somehow we have made ourselves believe this gross untruth.

I have concluded that one of the reasons we have college graduates who border on the imbecilic is what I have come to believe is a result of the cheapening of a college education. Look, not everybody is entitled to a college education, not everybody is even suited for a college education. Now, I can see the red flags going up and I can hear the howls of protest. As we used to say in the broadcasting industry, “Keep them cards and letters coming in, friends!” And yes, our government is looking for ways to make it possible for everyone to go to college. It is just another way of using up space in the college classrooms that should be reserved for those who actually deserve to be there because they have a genuine interest in learning and a thirst for knowledge and a desire to put that knowledge to use in the service of their fellow citizens once they earn their diploma. Those who are there for a perpetual party ought not be allowed on the campus.

The American public education system is in a shambles. It has collapsed of it’s own weight. Once we strayed from the “basics” of education our child scholars began to slip behind the remainder of the world in raw, basic, education.

Now, why is that raw, basic, education so important? Because it is the foundation upon which a good student builds a solid higher education … even a college education. Our elementary education is so “dumbed-down” these days that children who really have an aptitude for learning are bored to death and turned-off by the classroom offerings and they, too, are denied the opportunity to learn. It is a shame what we are doing to our would-be child scholars in the American public education system.

Back in the day, we had institutions known as trade schools. They were schools set-up especially to train young men and women in a trade of their choice which would provide them with the training they would need to carve out a place for themselves in America’s workforce and insure they would become contributing members of our society and further provide them with the dignity of, not just a job, but a trade. Having a trade, back in my day, was important. Even if one DID go on to an advanced education the security of having a “fall-back” trade was considered extremely important. There are still a few trade schools around but they ARE few and far between.

There was a period in America when we understood that some young people simply were not cutout as college material. Yes, there were, and are, folks who had/have no reasonable excuse for taking up space in a college classroom. That has always been the case. But in the past few decades we decided it was politically incorrect to say such a thing or even to admit it to ourselves. As a result we have a high percentage of college graduates leaving those hallowed halls with no more education than they had when they entered 2, 4, or more years earlier. Yes, it IS sad, but it is true, nonetheless.

Back to Hamas winning the current conflagration in Gaza… the “Hamas Wins” propaganda has already begun. And you, my fellow Americans, are expected to believe that. Still doubt me? Look and see who the President-Elect of America is today. A few months and years down the road from now, ask yourselves why the dickens you voted for that man? Then remember what you were told by the MsM, and even more important, ask yourselves what you were NOT told by the MsM about the candidate. And finally, ask yourselves why you did not take the time to do a little light research on your own to gather the facts and make your decision on that instead of just accepting the tailor made, dumbed down propaganda fed you hourly by the MsM. If you do not feel humbled by what you discover… then there simply is no hope for America.

J. D. Longstreet

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

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+American+Ignorance+Education" rel="tag">Conservative+American+Ignorance+Education

What’s In A Name? Just About Everything.

What’s In A Name? Just About Everything.

By: J. D. Longstreet

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

I know, it’s a little thing, an inconsequential thing, and yet, it bothers me. Actually, as I used to say: “It bugs me.”

I mean, of course, the MsM’s insistence on dropping Mrs. Schlossberg’s husband’s name in favor of the use of her maiden name Kennedy. Yes, I am speaking of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.

So what am I complaining about now? You have already guessed it … the MsM’s bias toward Carolina Kennedy Schlossberg to replace Hillary Clinton as the Junior Senator from New York.

Now, it takes no great Olympiad feat of intellectual strength to deduce their bias. All one has to do is watch how they are trying, almost desperately, it seems to me, to cover it up.

I have seen a number of stories on how tough the press is on poor Caroline. Yeah, right! I am convinced it is all a sham. The MsM WANTS poor Caroline to have that seat. No doubt about it. And, I’d bet, right now, she will get it. No others need apply.

Notice how often the name Kennedy is repeated over and over again. One must remember when the press dropped a woman’s last name in favor of her maiden name as that woman sought the very same seat in the US Senate. That was with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Remember how they dropped her last name, Clinton, for her maiden name Rodham. For different reasons, granted. That was to put as much distance between her and her playboy husband, Bill Clinton, as was humanly possible.

The MsM is falling all over itself to promote Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg for Hillary’s seat in the US Senate.

There IS a notable difference, this time, however. What is it? Well, a little research will show that Ms. Kennedy/Schlossberg did not change her name when she married Mr. Schlossberg. She kept her maiden name… Kennedy! It’s as though she may have suspected that somewhere in her future she might have need to fall back on her father’s name.

Ok, so… just for the heck of it… who IS Caroline’s husband?

His name is Edwin Arthur Schlossberg. He was born July 19, 1945. He is the founder and principal of ESI Design. He is an internationally recognized designer, author and artist. Schlossberg specializes in designing interactive, participatory experiences, beginning in 1977 with the first hands-on learning environment in the U.S. for the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Schlossberg continues to work in the field and publishes frequently on the subject. Schlossberg is the author of Interactive Excellence: Defining and Developing New Standards for the Twenty-first Century.

Schlossberg's multidisciplinary design firm, ESI Design, is based in New York City and has produced award-winning interactive experiences for both institutional and corporate clients. His signature projects include:

• Best Buy - Concept Stores
• Ellis Island - American Family Immigration History Center
• Playa Vista
• Pope John Paul II Cultural Center
• Reuters Spectacular at 3 Times Square
• Sony Plaza and Sony Wonder Technology Lab
• World Financial Center Breezeway Media Walls
• World Trade Center and World Financial Center Informational Kiosks

All four of Schlossberg's grandparents were Ukrainian Jews born near Poltava, Ukraine, who arrived in the United States at Ellis Island.

Schlossberg is a graduate of Birch Wathen Lenox School and Columbia College of Columbia University. He married Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, on July 19, 1986. They have three children:

• Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, born on June 25, 1988 in New York City, New York (named after Caroline's grandmother Rose Kennedy)
• Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg, born on May 5, 1990 in New York City, New York (named after Edwin's former colleague, the lithographer Tatiana Grossman, and after Edwin's grandmother)
• John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg, born on January 19, 1993 in New York City, New York (named after his mother's maternal grandfather, John Vernou Bouvier III) (nickname Jack)

They live on Park Avenue in Manhattan. (All the above, on Mr. Schlossberg, courtesy of Wikipedia)

It’s that darned Camelot hallucination all over again. The press created that myth and they have come to believe in it completely. Never mind that the term “Camelot” (referring to the Kennedy Administration) was not used during the actual administration of JFK, only after his death! And, like the original Camelot, it never existed. JFK and Jackie’s marriage was a joke. His administration was pathetic, and though it is not politically correct to say so these days, he was practically hated in the southern states of America. There were no major accomplishments to point to from his days in office. About the only notable thing was his kick-off speech that ultimately caused the planting of the US flag on the moon in 1969. But, never mind. The MsM created the myth of Camelot and it covers a LOT of missteps, mistakes, and errors in judgment made by Kennedy and his henchmen, the so-called “best and brightest”, with whom, the press of the sixties never tired of telling us.

In any event, the MsM seems to see a chance of reviving that myth and they’re going all out to get sweet Caroline in that seat, even though she is severely under qualified for a Senator’s seat in the US Congress. But, hey, we’ve got the least qualified President ever, so why not have another unqualified Senator?

You know, I have come to believe the only other group in this country so out of touch with the American people, as the US Congress, is the Mainstream Media. And they wonder why they’re going broke!

J. D. Longstreet

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

href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Liberal+Kennedy+Myth+Senate+Camelot+Halucination" rel="tag">Conservative+Liberal+Kennedy+Myth+Senate+Camelot+Halucination