ObamaCare Brings “Nullification Acts” from Sovereign States in America

ObamaCare Brings “Nullification Acts” from Sovereign States in America
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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If you are as old as I am you probably remember those old “Rest Homes.” For those of you who are not as old as me, basically, some of them gave the impression they were nothing more than warehouses where Americans stored old people waiting their turn to die. Some were really bad - smelling of urine, feces, disinfectant, and death. Well, guess what? Under Obamacare something, which seems very like them, is on the way back onto the American scene… only this time they will be called “Medical Homes.” Oh, and don’t worry about the doctors there. There won’t be any. They will be run by nurses and nurse practioners. You can learn more about the proposed Medical Homes HERE.

Back before the War for Southern Independence, Americans understood the power of the tenth amendment to the US Constitution. They understood the people of the states had the power to nullify actions of a US Congress which did not represent the people of the United States as they had been sworn to do… you know, sorta like the crowd we have in the US Congress today.

It was bound to happen. Americans are beginning to consider attacking the ObamaCare HealthCare Overhaul, sometimes referred to as: Nationalized Healthcare, Universal Healthcare, and Public Option Healthcare. (They’ll call it anything but what it is: Socialized Medicine!) through nullification acts of the states.

Yeah you heard correctly… nullification Now, that’s a word we haven’t heard tossed around much since the days just prior to the “Late Unpleasantness.”

See, this is what happens when the American people feel they have a government that is NOT REPRESENTING THEM! And frankly, not since the early to mid 1800’s have I read of a US government less inclined to listen to the people it purportedly represents than the current crowd we have taking up space in Washington DC.

Back to Nullification!

Nullification is an American tradition. dating as far back as the late 1700’s. Some of the states are looking at it for protection from the US Congress and the current presidential administration. What has them fired up? Plainly put it is ObamaCare, or “socialized medicine.” They don’t want it in their states. And, they do not want the federal government forcing it on them.

In Florida State Senator Carey Baker and State Representative Scott Plakon, this week, filed a proposed State Constitutional Amendment (HJR37) as a means to prevent Floridians from being affected by any Federal Health Care Legislation. If approved by the legislature, Florida residents could be voting on it as early as 2010.

The bill includes the following:

(1) A law or rule shall not compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in any health care system.

(2) A person or employer may pay directly for lawful health care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for paying directly for lawful health care services. A health care provider may accept direct payment for lawful health care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for accepting direct payment from a person or employer for lawful health care services.

Out in Arizona they have ALREADY passed a piece of legislation titled The Healthcare Freedom Act and there are reports that at least ten other states are expecting to have similar legislation introduced in their coming legislatures.

What is happening here is… the American people are questioning the legality of the Federal government to force this socialized medicine on the people of the country. They say the tenth amendment denies the federal government that power. They may well be correct. Here’s the text of the tent amendment:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

So, when a state nullifies a law passed by the federal government that state is saying that that particular law has no effect within the boundaries of that state. They nullify that law.

These nullification acts date al the way back to James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. These two National Forefathers drew-up the first nullification acts both in Virginia and in Kentucky. It was thought then and is still thought by many today that states are sovereign entities and that the sates have the constitutional power to make a decision for themselves as whether the federal; government has exceeded it’s authority under the terms of the US Constitution. If the sates decided that the federal government had, in fact, overstepped, then the states had/have the power two simple refuse to obey those laws passed by the federal government that were/are outside the constitutional boundaries set by our forefathers.

We warned over and over again that socialism would tear this country apart. Now that our federal government has decided that socialism is the way to take the country, even though socialism has a proven record of failure time and time and time again, the US has begun to disassemble itself. State legislatures have already begun to reassert themselves as sovereign states and have now begun to nullify federal laws within their states. It is going to get a lot uglier, dear reader, when the federal government decides it must use force to motivate the states to obey those laws the states say are unconstitutional. But, just as we warned in 2007 and 2008, THIS is what a nation gets when it opts for socialism and elects a socialist as President and hands over the reins of the Congress to socialists as well.

Welcome to the Socialist States of America.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Socialism+Healthcare+Abortion+ObamaCare

History Repeating Itself?

History Repeating Itself?
J. D. Longstreet
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As the Obama Administration begins to withdraw troops from Iraq and step up US operations in Afghanistan, one can see certain parallels with the way America mishandled the war in Vietnam. What is frightening, though, is to see the current administration seemingly set on making the same mistakes, the mistakes that cost the US so dearly in Vietnam, all over again.


Obama's regime seems set to accept something short of victory in Afghanistan and that is worrisome. In Iraq, as each single day goes by, it becomes even more obvious that the US is pulling troops out of Iraq and turning over control to an Iraqi government that seems bent on re-creating the same sort of dictatorship ruled over by Saddam Hussein before the US entered and took him out. In other words, the US is setting the stage for a Gulf War Three right now.


For those of us who lived through the trying days of the Vietnam War, both here at home and in the jungles of Southeast Asia, the bumbling and fumbling in the two theatres of war in the Middle East today are all too obvious. The loss of the Vietnam War was authored in Washington, DC, by the US government. The US Armed Forces had the war won, when politicians in the nation’s capitol gave that victory away!


A new book by Richard Botkin, titled “ Ride the Thunder” details what happened in Vietnam and how a war that was won could be sacrificed on the alter of politics.


What follows is a review of that book by Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton, a former POW in North Vietnam and a former US Senator from Alabama. As you read, you will begin to see that history, does, in fact, repeat itself. We think you will agree with us that the US is, today, setting the stage for Gulf War Three and we think, you will agree that it does not have to be this way.


Here, now, is Rear Admiral/US Senator Jeremiah Denton’s take on Richard Botkin’s book, “Ride the Thunder.”
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“Thirty-six years ago this month, after the North Vietnamese suffered utter destruction of their military complex from Linebacker II air operations and the blockade of all North Vietnam ports, the Democratic Congress passed a bill prohibiting any further U.S. aid to South Vietnam. The bill's passage was the death sentence to the nation we had vowed to protect from communism.

President Nixon knew his veto of the bill would be overridden, making any veto effort futile. Even though the North was ready to sign a treaty to free South Vietnam, Congress' demands to pass the bill nullified Linebacker II and provided the communists with a free ticket to walk into South Vietnam.

This exercise of off-battlefield politics resulted not only in the loss of a near conquest by American armed forces but in a dreadful loss of American credibility. No history pundit has since given account to Vietnam's true victory -- until now. Richard Botkin, author of "Ride the Thunder," provides indispensable, historic details of the Vietnam War, dispelling the notion that all was lost.

The aftershock of Vietnam resulted in the tragic realization among veterans and citizenry alike that the gallant, sacrificial effort of American, South Vietnamese, and allied forces to preserve a free South Vietnam had been futile and flagrantly unappreciated by America. Following Vietnam, no American promise of prolonged commitment to any cause would be of concern to antagonists or trusted by allies.

The precedent is being applied tragically by the current administration in its signals to our antagonists that we will withdraw our troops from Iraq and other Middle East trouble spots before we achieve our objectives. Unless we can dismiss the applicability of the precedent, we are destined to repeat our failures, thus ensuring our ultimate demise as a nation. However, we will not dismiss it until the truth about our Vietnam experience is revealed in its totality.

Now at last, "Ride the Thunder" provides this indispensable revelation. Anyone who reads it will finally have the facts to perceive the answers to long-held questions: Was the cause in Vietnam worth our waging a war? Did the media's reporting and false antiwar influences cause us to surrender? Was military victory indeed forfeited by Congress' unilateral political act? Was the bill prohibiting any further commitment there the coup de grace in efforts to free South Vietnam?
The book delivers the truth comprehensively and authoritatively. Evidence is presented in the true stories of persons engaged over the entire time frame of the war. Incontrovertible facts and details are presented on Vietnam.

"Ride the Thunder" painstakingly sketches the history of Vietnam, revealing its remarkable ethnic characteristics: its peerless work ethic, an unequaled awareness of the importance of family, compassion for the elderly and an awareness of the importance of rearing wholesome children. It relates how Vietnam in early ages became a powerful nation in military, political, and economic terms.

However, Mr. Botkin also relates Vietnam's history of often being overtaken and ruled by more powerful nations whose soldiers and officials mistreated innocent Vietnamese with unbelievable savagery. From China, Japan, and other powerful oppressors to devastating natural disasters, Vietnam's people have been tempered by sufferings for centuries.

"Ride the Thunder" traces its historical origins in relationship with the United States. The book exemplifies how the Korean War predisposed the United States to regard Ho Chi Minh's invasion as directly related to U.S. containment of communist expansion. The Korean War ended with the United States settling on a stalemate for the first time in our history. This created a pattern of quitting and foretold the possibility we would settle for even less in a future war -- as we did in Vietnam and show signs of doing in the Middle East.

Naturally, Vietnam's history takes the sharpest focus as it deals with the American involvement in the Vietnam War. In this light, "Ride the Thunder" chronicles the individual personal experiences of the Vietnamese and U.S. military and political personages, the sum of which presents a comprehensive tapestry depicting all the complex facets, revelations and implications of the war and its aftermath.

The persons chronicled have well-known names, including Maj. Le Ba Binh, U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Gerry Turley, Capt. John Ripley and Sgt. Chuck Goggin, to name a few. The sum of their collective experiences displays the events and true significance of every ground and air campaign, battle and strategic tactical decision. The truth derived is in sharp contrast to the way the war was reported, written into history and remembered by us as a nation.

As I reviewed "Ride the Thunder," though I have come to be regarded as one of the more authentic writers on what is significant about that war, I learned much I had not known.However, more than any author can convey in words, one thing that I and other former prisoners of war witnessed with our own eyes was the absolute total destruction of the enemy's military during Linebacker II and the full realization by the North Vietnamese that they no longer had the means to continue the war.

A few days before my release from prison, I was subjected to an interview and briefing by the top military and political leadership of North Vietnam. The leaders told me they accepted defeat and were eager to sign an agreement to keep South Vietnam free. Their earnest plea to me upon return was to prevent the POWs from exaggerating the brutality of the treatment inflicted on us, which would incite U.S. public opinion to the degree that Mr. Nixon would find it inadvisable to sign the agreement.

The interview is written up briefly in "American Admiralship" by Edgar F. Puryear Jr., published by Naval Institute Press.

I hope Mr. Botkin's "Ride the Thunder" and my review will establish an accurate perspective on the meaning and significance of Vietnam and result in a renewed, honorable depiction of the war.

Jeremiah Denton

Rear Adm. Jeremiah Denton, U.S. Navy (retired), is a former U.S. senator from Alabama.
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Information on now to purchase “Ride the Thunder” by Richard Botkin can be found HERE.

J. D. Longstreet
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Conservative+Vietnam+War+Victory+Defeat+MidEast

The Jerusalem Quandary ... Alan Caruba

The Jerusalem Quandary
By Alan Caruba

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I have often wondered why it is such a tiny nation as Israel commands so much news coverage. Having declared its sovereignty in 1948, it is now just over sixty years old.
David Ben-Gurion went on the radio and said, “Two thousand years of wandering have come to an end.”

The name, Israel, means “he who wrestles with God.” The wandering began after the Jews had lived in Israel for over a thousand years, after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple and drove them out in 70 AD.

Israel has fought and won wars intended to annihilate it. Zionism, a new Jewish state, began as the dream in the late 1800s among European and Russian Jews seeking to escape anti-Semitism. It became a place of refuge for Holocaust survivors in the late 1940s and for Jews who were forced to flee Middle Eastern nations.

For a relatively new nation, it has held the attention of the world from the day it was reborn in the sweat and blood of Jews seeking a place where being Jewish was normal, accepted, unexceptional.

To gain an extraordinary insight, I recommend you read Rich Cohen’s “Israel is Real: An Obsessive Quest to Understand the Jewish Nation and its History” ($26.00, Farrar, Straus and Giroux), possibly one of the best books I have read in decades about the astonishing history of Israel from its earliest to the present times. It is filled with stories of the people who built the First Temple and, after the destruction of the Second Tempe, as Cohen says, “turned the Temple into a book”, praying for the next two millennia, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

The real Jews and real Israel are obscured by the hatred attached to them by their Muslim enemies and other antagonists, but there are many who now refer to themselves as Christian Zionists because to be a Zionist is to advocate a land for the Jews. As Cohen puts it, to be Christian is to be Jewish without actually being Jewish.

The quandary of Jerusalem is that three major religions lay claim to it. To be Jewish, to be Christian, even to be Muslim, Jerusalem is considered holy, but its long history has been a litany of bloodletting as claimants sought to legitimatize their faiths with its possession.

What the original Zionists discovered was that Israel, called Palestine at the time because of the British mandate over it, was not “a land without people for a people without a land” or that its history ended after the Jews were driven out by the Romans to become the Diaspora living among other nations.

As Cohen notes, “The Zionist ideology was beautiful, but for the pioneers to fulfill it, the Arabs could not exist.” They did, however, exist. The quandary, the conundrum of Jerusalem and of Israel is that the dynamics of demography, of birth statistics, puts the existence of the Jewish state at risk. The Arabs were there. The Arabs are there.

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the Arabs did not wish to yield an inch of the land in 1948 and do not wish to do so now. They do not want a “two-state solution.” They want what the Nazis called “The final solution.”

For the early pioneers of Israel, its reestablishment was a form of redemption. As one of its founding rabbis, Abraham Kook expressed it the purpose of the Jew is to bring the divine idea into the world. To bring this idea to fruition, to bring the Lord back into the lives of man, he said, the Jews must return to Zion. His son, Ziv Yeshiva Kook, called the Holocaust a “cruel divine operation needed to lift (the Jews) up to the land of Israel against their wills.”

The Holocaust, however, was more like the fulfillment of the hope of anti-Semites, the extermination of Jews from the Earth. It has something to do with the role Jews have played in relationship to the one God three major faiths lay claim. The Jews are happy to share their God with others, but insist that some rules be obeyed in the process.

Jews living in America had already found their Zion, a place where Jews could live normal lives. At the turn of the century, Jewish immigrants overwhelmingly chose America, not Israel.

Before and since Israel’s founding, many made “aliyah” (return) and some fifteen percent of them are American born. Since 1967, following a decisive war, more than two hundred Jewish settlements have been built in what are referred to as the territories. In 2005, seeking to exchange land for peace, Israelis were forced to leave Gaza. Israel did not get peace. It got rockets.

Until now, American Presidents have been friendly to Israel, but that has changed with President Barack Hussein Obama. His recent demands to stop the construction of twenty housing units in East Jerusalem are a rebuke to Israel’s very existence. Cohen notes that, “There are two hundred thousand Jews living on the West Bank—half of them in East Jerusalem, in neighborhoods (that) Israel insists it will keep in any peace deal.”

There will be no peace deal and the Jews of Jerusalem and Israel will continue to lay claim to their nation. They have built a nation, but in doing so, they have transformed themselves, often in ways even they don’t like.

The fly in the ointment is Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon and its constant threats to “wipe Israel off the map.”

The new generation of Iranians protesting in the streets has to hurry up and remove the evil mullahs and ayatollahs holding their ancient nation back from its full potential, from freedom. Israel cannot wait forever to end an atomic, existential threat. If it must, it will once again re-write the history of the Middle East.

Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. A business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center.

© Alan Caruba, July 2009

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Conservative+Israel+Muslims+Obama+US+Iran

"Never Again Will I Doom The Earth Because of Man."

“Never again will I doom the earth because of man…” By: God
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A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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The title above was taken from the first book of the Bible, Genesis, the 8th Chapter the 21st verse.

So here we are, man, taking credit for destroying the earth, which God, Himself has told us he will not allow.

I, along with a host of other “deniers”, have been screaming from the rooftops, Man-Made Global Warming doesn’t exist! It is the absolute height of arrogance for human beings to believe they have to power to destroy something God has made and placed his personal guarantee on. But, we’re doing it.

I want to refer you to an article titled: “What God Thinks About Anthropogenic Global Warming”. Kevin Roeten wrote it. You’ll find it HERE.

In his article, Mr. Roeten makes a statement and asks the following question: “Believing one has the power to affect an entire planet’s ecosystem is presumptuous at best and rashly arrogant at worst. God is either laughing at the sheer audacity of such an endeavor, or crying at the outcome of such egotistical actions. Are some of us telling God that man is in charge now?”

As a fellow who counts himself among the religious, I must tell you that much of the claims of the Man-Made Global Warming crowd, and the Climate Change crowd, stun me. I feel as if I should be dodging lighten bolts, hurled from on high, at the arrogant souls making such ludicrous claims. And yet they continue to do it… and worse, they have sold it to many of our mainline Christian churches. That is another reason I have washed my hands of Organized Religion.

Man-Made Climate Change not so… er… Man-Made?

Fred Singer an atmospheric and space physicist says it is the sun. Check it out HERE.

The “experts” tell us the science is “settled” on global warming. They tell us mankind pumping so much CO-2 into the atmosphere has, and is, causing it. Then they use the guilt trip they have imposed on fellow human beings to shame us into completely altering the way we live. It is the oldest con game in the book. And the peoples of the planet are falling for it.

I have heard the question asked, and even I have asked it, myself: How did Hitler manage to entice an entire nation to follow him into insanity? Actually, it is quite easy. Propaganda. As an old advertising man, I can tell you, it IS possible to sell anything if you package it correctly and if you create a desire in the consumer for it. If you lead the consumer, your target audience, to believe that all his neighbors are using and endorsing whatever it is you are selling, you have a successful sales campaign. Works every time. It worked for Hitler and it is working for the man-made global warming crowd. Except… the global warming hoaxers are much better than Hitler. He only had to con a single nation. They have taken on the world and they have had brilliant success.

So how have they done it? With emotion! Plain and simple. Human emotion. Hoaxsters play on human emotions, especially guilt. They do it because it works! Human emotion will run roughshod over human rationality every time. Think about it. The world is being destroyed and you are the cause of it! Guilt.

Let’s face it. Most of us do not understand the so-called science behind the claims of Man-made Global Warming. Most of us are not scientists. The fact that we don’t understand it brings a degree of shame. (Remember emotion) We drive our nice cars and trucks and live in our nice homes and wear our nice clothes and along comes someone who has a scientific formula, which we do not understand, to tell us that all these things we are enjoying are causing death and destruction to our fellowman… to our home… the earth. We are ashamed and we feel guilty about what, we are told, are our excesses. The guilt we feel drives us to bow to the demands of those pointing their fingers at us and crying “shame, shame”. Next thing you know, in order to feel good about ourselves, we are following the demands of the hoaxsters and have even joined the finger pointing group calling “shame, shame” at the holdouts who HAVE bothered to take a second look, a RATIONAL look, at the claims made by the hoaxsters and found them far short on facts.
This entire Man-made Global Warming Hoax can be unveiled and destroyed if the public would only stop and think rationally for a few minutes.

It is up to each of us to look closely at the claims the hoaxsters are making and with a little fundamental research we can debunk it.

If you remember any of your grammar school and high school science you already know that the earth goes through heating and cooling periods. It is the way of nature. It is as natural as sunrise and sunset. And, most important, it happens to be true.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you do not understand something about the Man Made Global Warming message. Then check the answers for accuracy. You have the greatest library in history at your fingertips… the Internet.

As a religious man, I believe that God created this planet as a home for us. Man’s most heinous sin has always been his aspiration to be God, or to be LIKE God. This Man-Made Global Warming scheme is simply more evidence that man has not yet learned that he is not BIG enough TO BE God. Not yet. Not ever.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Global+Warming+Hoax
Conservative+Global+Warming+Hoax

Guns and America

Guns and America.
A Commnentary by J. D. Longstreet

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It is impossible to separate the two. I mean, of course, guns and America. Guns obtained and secured the country we now know as “America” for the people we now know as “Americans.”

As the settlers/pilgrims stepped ashore in the New World they carried their trusty weapons, guns. When the frontiersmen dipped their toes into the waters of the western sea, the Pacific, no doubt they clutched in their hands a later variant of the same weapon the Pilgrims had in their grips when their toes touched the sand of the Carolina, Virginia, and New England beaches. It had been a long journey but guns had fed, clothed, and protected these new people, called Americans, as they laid claim to a new land destined to become the leader of the free world, if not the entire world.

When these restless people, the Americans, decided their “King” was demanding more from them than they were willing to give, the gun won them their Independence. Some eighty years later, these same restless peoples decided to fight a war amongst themselves over, depending upon how you decipher history, “States Rights” or “Slavery”. (In my case, I have done the research and know that States Rights was the cause of the American Civil War simply because the facts, when laid bare, support that interpretation. Yes, slavery BECAME an issue in the war but only after the war had raged for nearly two years and when Lincoln needed political support, badly, from the abolitionists, for the war he was losing! All this is for another day, in a different venue, so I will cut it short by urging you to actually read the “Emancipation Proclamation” if you are REALLY interested in learning just how many slaves were freed by that piece of political propaganda. The answer was, of course, NONE.). In any event, the gun, carried by both sides in the conflict devastated the countries and some say forged a single entity known as the UNITED States of America. Only recently, frankly, have I begun to question that.

In all the wars since, the gun has taken the war to America’s enemies and protected the Americans wielding it and managed to secure the freedom and liberties our forefathers put their lives and their fortunes on the line for back in the 1700’s. Together, we have come a very long way the gun and America.

But, just as there were two camps in the days preceding the American Civil War, there are two camps today as regards the gun and the American citizen. One camp made up of folks who think Americans have no need of the gun, and those in the second camp who feel Americans and the gun are inseparable… and should be.

“Society benefits from ordinary people who accept the responsibilities of firearm ownership. Society does not benefit from gun control.” I have no idea who said that first, but it would make an excellent motto for the Americans who believe Americans and guns are inseparable.

The argument over guns flares up, it seems, with each new Presidential Administration’s entrance into the White House. Much the same thing happens after each congressional election and when a new Justice is vetted for the US Supreme Court. As we are just a few weeks into all three happening, both camps have applied their war paint and are looking for opportunities to make thie positions known and likewise feel out the new people in the White House, on The Hill and on The Court.

When our forefathers wrote the constitution their collective wisdom was based upon all the collective wisdom from creation up to their day. To our knowledge, there were no “seers” or clairvoyants among them. In other words, no one could see the future or what it held for this brand new country and, indeed, the world. Had there been, I expect the final version of the constitution would read much differently from the end version we have today.

Recently, the US Supreme Court ruled that the constitution actually meant what it said about US citizens having the right to keep and bear arms. The 2nd Amendment says: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

It is important to notice that the decision in favor of the Forefathers won by a single vote of the Court. The vote was 5 – 4 in favor of interpreting the 2nd amendment so Americans did not have to turn in their guns or have the US Government confiscate them.

The obvious problem with this vote is that it will instigate more litigation until finally, at some point, those who wish to take away that right will succeed. In fact, many feel the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court may, in fact, be the final straw and the next time the second amendment is tried before this court Americans will lose their right to keep and bear arms.

Thinking about it for a while now, I have concluded that we may have at least two more chances before we lose our guns. Until the liberals in America manage one more seat on the court, we may, and I say “MAY” with trepidation, get one more case decided in favor of my side, (the side in favor of allowing Americans their right to keep and bear arms) before we lose the next case and, along with it, our right to keep and bear arms. (By the way, define “ARMS.” Does it cover knives? If so, how long? How many edges? Hilt or hiltless? , etc, etc.)

As one who favors the right to keep and bear arms I am concerned over the Sotomayor appointment to The Court. Why? Well, first of all, I accept that she will be seated on the court. It is a done deal. But there are indicators from her past that concern me. These indicators cause me to believe that when the chips are down she will vote to ignore the obvious meaning of the second amendment and support taking away the right ofAmericans to keep and bear arms. Lets look at some of those indicators:

She has spoken out against the Heller decision in which the Supreme Court recognized the individual right to Keep and Bear Arms.

She has expressed disdain for private gun ownership dating back to her senior thesis at Princeton University, where she wrote that America has a "deadly obsession" with guns and that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to firearms ownership.

In United States v. Sanchez-Villar, she stated: "the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right."

And In addition to her record opposing the Second Amendment, she has also strongly advocated judicial activism. (In some ways, this worries me more about Ms. Sotomayor than her obvious problem with the 2nd Amendment!)

If this Sotomayor record does not give you pause, then, frankly, I don’t know what will.

So America edges ever closer to losing the citizen’s right to keep and bear arms, quite possibly even the right to carry a knife. There can be no doubt that a knife, in the time of our forefathers, was, indeed, a weapon. It would, no doubt, fall into the category of “arms.” There can also be no doubt as to why the forefathers felt it important to place this amendment in the constitution as a part of the original 10 amendments that made up the Bill of Rights. They had just fought a war against a tyrant to gain their freedom - and they did it with a citizen’s army composed of men who owned their own weapons!

George Washington, the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States said the following: "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."

Thomas Jefferson said the following: "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

And finally, words from the most well known of the tyrants of the last century, Adolf Hitler: “The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed the subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty.”

It is good, I think to note that the Forefathers felt so highly of the right to keep and bear arms that it is the SECOND Amendment. The first being, of course, freedom of speech, religion, etc.

We must tread softly, yet boldly, as we attempt to protect our rights these days. America has two generations of citizens trained in socialism as products of the Public (Government) School System. Like “Pavlov’s Dog” they await only the ringing of the bell to respond in defense of the “greater good.” But, like the other dog, chasing it’s tail, they haven’t the reasoning ability to ask of themselves what they intend to do with the tail if, and when, they DO catch it?

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Guns+America+Constitution

Forests of Concrete and Steel

Forests of Concrete and Steel

By Paul Driessen

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“Many words could describe wind energy and green jobs. “Sustainable” is not one of them.” Paul Driessen

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Boone Pickens, Nacel Energy, Vestas Iberia and others have been issuing statements and running ads, extolling the virtues of wind as an affordable, sustainable energy resource. Renewable energy reality is slowly taking hold, however.

Spain did increase its installed wind power capacity to 10% of its total electricity, although actual energy output is 10-30% of this, or 1-3% of total electricity, because the wind is intermittent and unreliable. However, Spain spent $3.7 billion on the program in 2007 alone, King Juan Carlos University economics professor Gabriel Calzada determined.

It created 50,000 jobs, mostly installing wind turbines, at $73,000 in annual subsidies per job – and 10,000 of these jobs have already been terminated. The subsidies have been slashed, due to Spain’s growing economic problems, putting the remaining 40,000 jobs at risk.

Meanwhile, the cost of subsidized wind energy and carbon dioxide emission permits sent electricity prices soaring for other businesses – causing 2.2 jobs to be lost for every “green” job created, says Calzada. Spain’s unemployment rate is now 17% and rising. That’s hardly the “success” story so often cited by Congress and the Obama Administration.

Across the Channel, Britain’s biggest wind-energy projects are in trouble. Just as the UK government announced its goal of creating 400,000 eco-jobs by 2015, major green energy employer Vestas UK is ending production. All 7,000 turbines that Downing Street just committed to installing over the next decade will be manufactured – not in Britain, but in Germany, Denmark and China.

For businesses, existing global warming policies have added 21% to industrial electricity bills since 2001, and this will rise to 55% by 2020, the UK government admits. Its latest renewable energy strategy will add another 15% – meaning the total impact on British industry will likely be a prohibitive 70% cost increase over two decades. This is the result of the government’s plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions 34% below 1990 levels by 2020, and increase the share of renewables, especially wind, from 6% to 31% of Britain’s electricity.

These cost hikes could make British manufacturers uncompetitive, and send thousands more jobs overseas, the Energy Intensive Users Group reports. English steel mills could become “unable to compete globally, even at current domestic energy prices,” says British journalist Dominic Lawson; “but deliberately to make them uncompetitive is industrial vandalism – and even madness … a futile gesture ... and immoral.”

On this side of the pond, President Obama and anti-hydrocarbon members of Congress are promoting “green” energy and jobs, via new mandates, standards, tax breaks and subsidies. However, the United States would need 180,000 1.5-megawatt wind turbines by 2020, just to generate the 600 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity that compliance with the narrowly passed Waxman-Markey global warming bill would necessitate, retired energy and nuclear engineering professor James Rust calculates.This would require millions of acres of scenic, habitat and agricultural lands, and 126 million tons of concrete, steel, fiberglass and “rare earth” minerals for the turbines, at 700 tons per turbine; prodigious quantities of concrete, steel, copper and land for new transmission lines; and still more land, fuel and raw materials for backup gas-fired generators. America’s new national forests will apparently be made of concrete and steel.
Those miners and drillers would likely be reclassified as “green” workers, based on the intended purpose of their output. However, the raw materials will probably not be produced in the States, because so many lands, prospects and deposits are off limits – and NIMBY litigation will further hamper resource extraction.

Air quality laws and skyrocketing energy costs (due to carbon taxes and expensive renewable energy mandates) will make wind turbine (and solar panel) manufacturing in the USA equally improbable. Thus, manufacturing could well be in China or India, and most “green” jobs could be for installers, as Spain and Britain discovered.Posturing has already collided with reality in Texas, the nation’s wind energy capital. Austin’s GreenChoice program cannot find buyers for electricity generated entirely from wind and solar power. Its latest sales scheme has been a massive flop: after seven months, 99% of its recent electricity offering remains unsold.

Austin officials admit that “times have changed,” and the recession and falling energy prices may make it impossible for the city to meet its lofty goals. The company’s renewable electricity now costs almost three times more than standard electricity, and even eco-conscious consumers care more about the color of their money than the hue of their purported ideology.

Even worse for global warming alarmists and renewable energy advocates and rent seekers, global warming patterns have reversed during the past decade. Satellite data reveal that the planet is cooling, despite steadily rising carbon dioxide levels, and summertime low temperature records are being broken all over the United States.“You'd better hope global warming is caused by manmade CO2 if you're investing in [renewable] sectors,” says Daniel Rice, the past decade’s best-performing US equity fund manager (BlackRock Energy and Resources Fund). But evidence for manmade catastrophic global warming is dissipating faster than carbon dioxide from an open soda bottle on a hot summer day.

The crucial fact remains: wind and solar are simply not economical without major government subsidies or monstrous carbon taxes. Moreover, cap-and-tax legislation currently being promoted in the House and Senate is “not enough to do anything” about supposed global warming disasters notes Rice.

“All it does is provide Obama a pass to Copenhagen,” where the UN will host a climate change conference in December, Rice says. And those subsidies and taxes would drive energy prices still higher, killing jobs and skyrocketing the cost of everything we eat, drive, heat, cool, grow, make and do.

Congress and the Administration are dragging their feet on nuclear power, closing off access to more resource-rich lands, and imposing layers of new regulations on oil, gas and coal energy – denying Americans these vast stores of energy and hundreds of billions in revenue that developing them would generate. Meanwhile, slick wind turbine ad campaigns promote expensive, heavily subsidized, unreliable technologies that only climate activists and company lobbyists would describe as sustainable, affordable, eco-friendly or socially responsible.The ads and lobbyists seek more mandates, tax breaks and subsidies. Wind promoters want to quiet opponents long enough to get energy and climate legislation enacted – before Americans realize how it would drive the price of energy still higher, kill jobs, curtail living standards and liberties, and raise the cost of everything we eat, drive, heat, cool, grow, make and do.

___________

Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and Congress of Racial Equality, and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power • Black Death.

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Americans getting the “Bum’s Rush” On ObamaCare

Americans getting the “Bum’s Rush” On ObamaCare
A Commentary from J. D. Longstreet

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So Many Questions. So FEW Answers!

The Urban Dictionary defines “Bum’s Rush” as: “To be jostled or hustled to move you, or get rid of you, or get you to do something that someone wants you to do - that you don't necessarily want to do.”

Now that we have everyone up to date on that portion of the lexicon most nearly associated with what the Congress is doing to Americans these days, let us now speak of ObamaCare the socialized medicine legislation the democrat/socialists are ramming through Congress and down the throats of the American people.

First I want to urge you to write, e-mail, fax, phone, or even send a telegram to your congressperson and senators demanding that they fight ObamaCare and vote no on any portion of the legislation that may come before them. Believe me, the dems are going to throw this legislation at the congresspersons and senators as fast as they can, in the dead of night if they can. In other words - they intend to do whatever it takes to get this ObamaCare legislation passed through the Congress, if it is humanly possible, by the end of July.

We warned you this was coming. Well, it is here. ObamaCare and Cap and Trade - both are coming up at Americans fast and furious - along with the full Senate’s consideration of the President’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. ALL of this is coming at the American electorate like the Bum’s Rush we spoke of above. Rest assured… more is on the way.

For now, though, lets focus on this “Healthcare Overhaul,” as the President likes to call what you and I refer to as… ObamaCare.

Have you considered just how complicated a bill like the ObamaCare proposal would, of necessity, have to be? I mean, just think about it. Think of all the things a bill similar to ObamaCare would have to be. The intricacies of such an all-encompassing bill are staggering. It boggles the mind. Yet, the democrats want the Congress to vote on it, without ever having read it. Now, you and I both know that reading something, anything, and considering that same thing are two entirely different things. Why, reading one of your old healthcare insurance policies is so complicated you need an attorney by your side to interpret much, if not most, of it and the layman, unskilled in the law, is lost within a few paragraphs. And THAT, dear reader, is only a single Insurance policy for a single person, or, at most, a single family. There is just SO much to be considered!

I happen to be one of the millions of Americans cursed with a chronic disease, which rendered me “uninsurable.” Believe me, when I tell you, I know the value of having insurance. I also happen to be a former insurance salesman back in my misspent youth. So, my concern over the intricacies of ObamaCare is very real. For instance: I wonder if Obama Care cover diseases like Crohn’s Disease? Oh sure heart disease, diabetes, and such will be covered, but how about the little known, less “sexy” diseases such as the one I mentioned a sentence or two before this one. Will they be covered? And, who will make the decision(s) about what is covered and what is not?

If your Chronic Disease is not covered by ObamaCare… What Then? That is just ONE of the questions nobody has answered, at least to my knowledge, YET, about the President’s new Healthcare Overhaul proposal… and there are so many more! What size bureaucracy are we talking about here - huge, maybe? How about humongous!?

What about medical research and medical innovations? Up to now, the government has participated in medical research and development with taxpayer money as grants, etc, to development labs all over the country. But, one must ask, what happens when the government is insuring everyone and their primary concern has turned to holding the costs of that treatment down? All that R&D money will have dried up as it is sucked from the treasury by the costs of treatment.

Of course, the really BIG fight is just now beginning to elbow its way to the forefront. That’s the fight over whether, or not, ObamaCare will cover the costs of abortion. This fight is bound to get down and dirty, and do so quickly, once the bell rings and the bout begins. Of course, they could always decide NOT TO DECIDE, at least for now, and revisit the issue at a more favorable time in the future, for one side or the other.

By now, you should be getting a glimpse of just how incredibly intricate devising a socialized medicine scheme is for America - a country which has not, until now, actually considered socialism as a form of government for ourselves. It is here that we must bring ourselves to understand that we will be replacing our “republican”(The US is a Representative Republic.) form of government with a “socialist” form of government.

In the meantime, Americans are being herded toward acceptance of this HUGE piece of a Socialistic boondoggle at near record-breaking speed. But, thank goodness for small favors. The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday (07-23-09) that there will be no vote on “ObamaCare”, in the US Senate, until AFTER the August recess.

The more Americans learn of ObamaCare the more they become convinced thy do not want it! That explains the “Bum’s Rush” we mentioned at the beginning of this commentary. The democrat/socialists (in charge of the US government these days) KNOW if they have a chance of winning this fight, they MUST get ObamaCare passed through the Congress and signed by the President BEFORE American citizens wake-up to what they (The Congress and the President) are about and what is in the bill and what is NOT in the bill – and - just what it means for our form of government.

I cannot stress this enough: It is extremely important that Americans become involved in this fight! If you who wish to maintain the democratic Representative Republic the US has enjoyed since it’s founding, and you want to guard against a socialist take-over of our government – then you MUST become involved.

The country asked very little of its citizens. Mostly, it asks that you obey the laws and defend it. We have arrived at one of those occasions when you, as an American citizen, are accorded the privilege, yes, I DID say privilege, of standing up to be counted among the hosts of those Americans who value their country which was placed in their care by a group of men and women, the likes of which the world has never seen the match.

We have reached a point in this struggle, which suggests the need for supernatural interference. I am suggesting, here, that prayer be employed as a weapon in this conflict. As I said above, it is impossible to stress enough how much power this bill will place in the hands of our government. This is power that could be used against all Americans, even those Americans yet unborn, on the whim of a Congress or a President at sometime in the future. Already you are beginning to realize the financial strain it will place on the country and on its citizens.

ObamaCare must go down to defeat. In my humble opinion, that defeat can be made a reality ONLY by Americans working together to, once again, defend this great land from a threat that is decidedly domestic.

In the words of that American hero, Todd Beamer: “Let’s roll!”

J. D. Longstreet
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Conservative+Socialism+Healthcare+Abortion+ObamaCare

Obama Shows His Muslim Hand ... Alan Caruba

Obama Shows His Muslim Hand
By Alan Caruba
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When candidate Obama was courting the “Jewish vote” he donned a yarmulke, went to the Wailing Wall in Israel, and said all the right things. He needn’t have bothered because the American Jewish community, estimated to be approximately 5.5 million, was largely in his pocket. They have voted overwhelmingly Democrat since the days of FDR.

This is, if you think about it, fairly astonishing because his middle name is Hussein, his birth father was a Muslim, and so was his Indonesian step-father who reportedly would take him on occasion to the mosque. It is even more astonishing because he was a member for twenty years in a church whose pastor was close friends with the notorious anti-Semite, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.


Any American Jew paying any attention should surely have harbored some doubts and, six months into his presidency, a lot of American Jews are asking themselves what they were thinking when they voted for Obama.


In an article in The Jerusalem Post, Anne Bayefsky wrote, “President Barack Obama last Monday met for the first time with leaders of selected Jewish organizations and leaks from the meeting now make one thing very clear. The only free country in the Middle East no longer has a friend in the leader of the free world. Obama is the most hostile sitting American President in the history of the state of Israel.”


Surprise, surprise. Among the leaders of major Jewish organizations not invited to the July 13 meeting was one from the Zionist Organization of America. As Bayefsky noted, “The oldest pro-Israel group in the United States, with a Washington office second in size only to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was not a voice Obama wanted to hear. This leaves the President willing to engage Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but not ZOA President Mort Klein.”


In a July 21 editorial, The Washington Times criticized the U.S. State Department noting that, in the previous week, it had “delivered a demarche (a protest) to Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, to hold construction on twenty residential units on the site of the Shepherd Hotel, which stands on the edge of an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem.”


Does it strike anyone as odd that the State Department whose policies are set by the Oval Office is upset over a bit of housing in Jerusalem? It was, of course, the kind of Kabuki theatre in which diplomats engage to make a larger point. If the point was that the U.S. has the right to tell the sovereign nation of Israel where it can and cannot build housing it is an entirely absurd notion.


There is some further irony in that Ambassador Oren is the author of a remarkable book, “Power, Faith, and Fantasy: American in the Middle East 1776 to the Present.” Had anyone in the State Department read it, they would have learned that “A full fifteen years after declaring its independence, the United States still faced a devastating threat from the Barbary pirates”, Arabs who preyed on our merchant sea trade and who ultimately were responsible for the creation of the U.S. Navy and Marines to defeat them.


In the early years of America, there was an active movement to send missionaries to the Middle East to convert them to Christianity. Now we just send troops to rid the region of psychopathic depots like Saddam Hussein and fanatical Islamo-fascists like Osama bin Laden. So complaining about twenty new apartment units in East Jerusalem is just another way Obama is showing his Muslim bona fides.


He has been on a “get tough” agenda since taking office in late January. The message has not been lost on the so-called Palestinians. The PLO chief, Mahmoud Abbas, has gone back to demanding idiotic concessions from Israel despite the fact that he and his ragged little bunch of Arafat wannabes are literally propped up by Israel as an alternative to Hamas.


Middle East expert, Daniel Pipes, recently noted that Zionists had founded the Shimon Hatzadick neighborhood in 1891 by purchasing land from Arabs. It changed hands as the Arab/Jewish conflicts occurred over the years. The pro-Nazi Amin al Husseini, Jerusalem’s mufti, put up a building in the 1930s that later served as the Shepherd Hotel. In 1985 an American businessman, Irving Moskowitz, bought the land and rented the building to the Israeli border police until 2002.
What does any of this have to do with the United States? Nothing. It is sheer hubris to say that Israel hasn’t the right to build housing for its growing population in Jerusalem or anywhere else. As for the West Bank, it was captured in 1967 after Arab nations, including Jordan, again attacked Israel.


When we give back Texas, California, and much of the U.S. Southwest to Mexico, the State Department can issue such idiotic demands. This isn’t just about U.S.-Israeli relations. It’s about the very Muslim Barack Hussein Obama.

Alan Caruba
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Conservative+Obama+Israel+Muslim

Global Governance – A One-World Government!!

Global Governance – A One-World Government!
J. D. Longstreet

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We have long wondered what Al Gore’s ulterior motive is. Now we know. The man is pushing for a “One World Government.”

Earlier this month at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford, in the UK, Gore said this: “I bring you good news from the U.S....Just two weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey climate bill...very much a step in the right direction.” It was then that Gore removed the mask and revealed his true self and his true aim in pushing the Global Warming Hoax. He said: “But it is the awareness, itself, that will drive the change and one of the ways it will drive the change is through global governance and global agreements.” You will want to read this excellent report HERE.

It is important to understand that all this drama about the earth melting, etc, is nothing more that frightening theatre to hopefully scare you to death so you will not mind paying the world wide carbon taxes they are hell bent on levying on the entire planet. What we have here is - more socialism at work. When you clear all the smoke away, you readily see this is nothing more than the redistribution of the world’s wealth just as the Democrat/socialist are attempting to do at this very moment in the USA.

All of this in the US, in the UN, and all over the planet, is one big push to institute socialism on a planet-wide scale and in one fell swoop.

I have spoken with a number of people, (men AND women) over the past few months, and there is one thing we all have in common - and that is a feeling of “general unease.” It’s a feeling of impending disaster. It is a certain anxiety with an unspecified causation. In other words, we all share a feeling that something “bad” is about to happen. It seems folks around the globe share this “feeling.” Nobody knows why this anxiety exists or what it is about. Nevertheless, it is real and very widespread.

In the past few months I have come to believe that maybe, just maybe, it is the old “fight or flee” syndrome at work in our minds.

The folks who seem to experience this anxiety also share another common trait and that is the fact that they are “plugged-in.” By that, I mean that these people are in tune with, and to, the world around them. They are aware of the “OpFor” (opposing forces) at work in our world as they (the OpFor) seek to gain the most control and power for themselves and/or their common benefactor. Now, before you consign these few remarks to the trash bin and the author to the looney bin, take a couple of minutes and hear me out… first.


I am an observer - and/or a “perceiver.” I observe and I perceive. . That’s what I do… observe and perceive. No magic is involved and no special skills are required. We all have the ability but most of us choose not to use it very much so it sort of withers and dies, much like untended fruit on the vine. After observing and perceiving my fellow travelers on this globe of ours, for nigh onto seven decades, I have concluded the following:

There is an unseen eternal war that rages just outside the consciousness of most human beings. Every now and then some of us accidentally brush up against that invisible sphere and we are shocked at the malevolence we feel emanating from it. I have also concluded that since the invention of the Internet and the worldwide instantaneous communication provided us by it, we have (all of us) become more aware of our surroundings, the unseen ties that bind us, every man woman and child on this planet, one to the other. As a result, more of us are coming to realize an extremely important truism. That is: whoever controls the governments of the earth, controls those of us who live here. By “here” I mean anywhere on the planet.

Nationalities and borders have little meaning to us now that we can speak with anyone, anywhere, practically anytime, regardless of borders and languages and the many factors that kept us apart before the World Wide Web. This ability to talk, one to another, and share ideas, and opinions (and so much more) was quickly recognized as a threat to ALL governments everywhere. It is difficult enough to control the human animal at any time, under any circumstances, with the implementation of government rule. More people means more governments because, try as they might, “our keepers” have not been able to stamp out the “tribalism” which is alive and well and, indeed, thriving, in the hearts and minds of the homo sapiens who inhabit this tiny, little, world to which we lay claim. Still, however, multiple governments means multiple problems for those who would control the lot of us. So - the concept of a one-world government seems to be the answer. And they are going for it.

People like Al Gore and Barack Obama, who claim to be “citizens of the world,” are in the vanguard of the Big Push for a single government to rule the entire planet. If this sounds like a concept from a science fiction novel, it is not. However, it has been the foundation for, or an integral part of, many a science fiction story.

I apologize for appearing to ramble here, in this piece, but it is necessary for me to make the point that the Global Warming Hoax, currently, is the great motivator used by the “powers that be” to drive the human race, like lemmings, to the cliff of Global Governance. Please notice how they have changed the names of, and phraseology in reference to, these motivators and goals to make them more palatable and to fog their meaning(s) a bit more. For Instance “Global Warming” is now: “Climate Change.” “One-World Government” is now: “Global Governance.” This did not happen by accident.

Ok, OK. I can hear you readers muttering beneath your collective breaths: “Ole Longstreet’s paranoia is REALLY having a field day today!” But, as a friend of mine once said, Paranoia doesn’t mean there is no one out to get you!

Now, I’m no seer, no clairvoyant, no prophet, no fortuneteller, none of that. I’m just an old country boy, whose parents raised him to aways be aware of his surroundings and to take note of minute changes in those surroundings and to determine what those tiny little changes mean. That’s all. And I have done that, and what I have determined, honestly, makes me more than a little nervous.

We had better become used to the idea that Global Governance is not a dream (or nightmare - depending upon your point of view) but, in reality, it is a work in progress and has been since the years immediately following the Second World War.

If we are to combat this threat to our freedom, we must first understand the Global Warming Hoax is just a scare tactic to get your attention, or avert it from the “man behind the curtain” while he goes about the business of solidifying their strangle hold on the world’s money and vital resources. And from MOST reports it is working.

We need to look far more critically at the current worldwide financial “dust-up.” Did it feel a bit “pat” for you? It did for me. The timing was impeccable. It went from being a US problem to being a worldwide problem at roughly the speed of light! While we mull that over, let us see what others are saying. (Remember, we must always follow the money!)

During the 2007 United Nations Climate Conference, Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth said the following: “A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources,”

Back in November of 2000, Former EU Environment Minister Margot Wallstrom said, “Kyoto is about the economy, about leveling the playing field for big businesses worldwide.”

During a speech at The Hague on November 20, 2000, then French President Jacques Chirac said: “For the first time, humanity is instituting a genuine instrument of global governance,” Chirac went on to say. “From the very earliest age, we should make environmental awareness a major theme of education and a major theme of political debate, until respect for the environment comes to be as fundamental as safeguarding our rights and freedoms. By acting together, by building this unprecedented instrument, the first component of an authentic global governance, we are working for dialogue and peace,”

If you are asking yourself what the point of this piece is, I’d have to honestly answer that I am making a feeble attempt at drawing the collective attention of the consumers of conservative thought on the Internet to the very real effort, in progress now, to bring all the nations of the world under the authority of a single government – a One World Government, referred to these days as “Global Governance.” We also hope to stir your attention, a bit, and re-focus it on the bigger picture. As plainly and simply as I know how, we are trying to alert you to an ongoing scheme to strip the world of your country, and ALL countries, and have only one country, one nation, “Earth,” remaining. For Americans that means the lost of our Representative Republic, our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, which includes the Bill of Rights, and all the freedom and liberty we ever had causing the US to be absorbed into some “glob” of restless humanity ruled over by the world’s elite.

It is time to begin paying attention. I came across an extremely interesting article titled: “Our Global Neighborhood” while doing some research for this piece. We suggest that you look it up and read it in it’s entirety. You will find it HERE.

“Fifty years ago, another generation, recoiling from the horror of war and the unleashed potential for human self- destruction, sought to secure a future free from fear and free from want. The result of that effort was the United Nations system, established in the name of the peoples of the world. Today, with the need as great and urgent, and with a heightened sense among people of an endangered future, humanity must renew that effort.

It is a call for action on many fronts, but essentially for better global governance--better management of survival, better ways of sharing diversity, better ways of living together in the global neighbourhood that is our human homeland. There is no question of capacity to take the action for which the Commission calls. There is only a question of the will to take that action.
Removed from the sway of empires and a world of victors and vanquished, released from the constraints of the cold war that so cramped the potential of an evolving global system throughout the post- war era, seized of the risk of unsustainable human impacts on nature, mindful of the global implications of human deprivation--the world has no real option but to rise to the challenge of change, in an enlightened and constructive fashion. We call on our global neighbours, in all their diversity, to act together to ensure this--and to act now.” (From “Our Global Neighbourhood.” which you will find HERE.)

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE, dear reader. Eternal vigilance is a must if we wish to remain a free people. Equally as important is the will to do that, which will secure our freedom, our liberty, our AMERICA!

J. D. Longstreet
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Conservative+Freedom+Liberty+Global+Governance

Man's Future Is In The STARS! ... J. D. Longstreet

Man’s Future is in the Stars!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Today, July 20th, marks the fortieth anniversary of Americans planting the American flag on the surface of the moon and beginning what, for many of us, has become a huge disappointment.

July 20th, 1969. I stayed up all night, that night, and celebrated. I leapt up and down. I wept. I shouted with joy. I was one of the proudest Americans on the planet that day, 40 years ago. I KNEW we were headed for the planets (and the stars) where, I felt (and still do) God intended us to go.

I had followed the American space program from its days of infancy up to that seminal moment of singular importance. Yes, I was one of those “star-struck” people who pulled his truck off the road and turned the volume of the radio up, got out of the vehicle and stood on the shoulder of the highway, not far from Monroe, North Carolina, looking up, unconscious that I was searching the skies for a fireball when John Glenn’s heat shield failed upon re-entry and, for a few anxious moments, planet earth did not know if we had killed that brave Marine Astronaut. When, at last, we heard his voice we understood, perhaps for the first time, the true meaning of Mission Control’s farewell to Glenn: “God Speed, John Glenn!” as his rocket ship blasted a hole in the roof of the earth as he began his mission as a “pathfinder” for those who would follow in search of man’s destiny in the stars.

Over the years since, my heart has slowly sunk as it became obvious, while remaining unofficial for as long as the government dared, until finally one dark day, it DID become official that we were curbing our space program and our exploration of the neighboring planets and concentrating on a space station in orbit around the earth. Like America’s space program the space station continues to go round and round, sort of running in place.

I quickly became bored with that flying breadbox and by NASA’s repeated trips to the flying piece of hi-tech junk we laughingly call a “space station.” Are you as bored as I am that the space truck, “The Shuttle” is way past its prime and, apparently, seems to be falling apart!

So… what happened? I mean, what happened to our great plans to explore space?

The cost? Nah! That’s not it. We placed men on the moon while bearing the expense of losing a war in Southeast Asia, which our government would not allow our military to win. The real cost is in not getting off this planet and finding a new home! Man’s destiny lies out there, among the stars, among the planets. I am solidly convinced of that.

I had hoped before my days on THIS planet were over I would live to witness the first Mars colony. I had assumed we would already have a colony on the moon. But, no… we are still fiddling around with that metal can circling the earth… the Space Station.

The space station, as I recall, was originally planned to be a construction site. (We have, what, maybe two generations of Americans who do not know the original space station was to be the point of embarkation for space ships, and/or star ships as they searched space for the next home to be colonized for the human race.) Parts for a huge star ship (space exploration vehicle) were to be flown up to the station by the shuttles and the humongous star ship was to be built, in space, with the workmen living in the space station until the ship was completed. None of that has happened. That program was cut back and cut back until, for all I know may have been “cut OUT” altogether. It’s as though the entire program has been put on hold and NASA is just running “in place.”

We must get off this rock! Our lack of curiosity about what lies “out there” is troublesome to me. I worry that we have lost our desire to explore. Our horizons have become much too close. We, as a race, have turned inward and that is never good. It seems as though we have decided to “settle” for what we have here. We have lost our “vision”. We are withering on the vine.
I worry, too much, I know, that we have become so preoccupied with our little hovel, earth, that we are missing the really big picture and so much is passing us by. I cannot accept that this is all there is. My God would not have created us and plopped us down on this “dirtball” with no hope of getting off it! We are stifling ourselves. Man needs new worlds to discover. We need to stretch out, and extend our wings, and fly as high, and as far, as we can! Even if we, too, melt our wings… it would be worth the trip!

The exploration of space has been a dream of mine as far back as I care to recall. It bothers me, mightily, that my generation threw away our chance to make it happen. From my perspective that is massive shortsightedness on the part of my generation. Of course, I’m jealous of the generation that WILL make it happen, because I won’t see it and I won’t have a chance to take part in it. What a screwed-up world we live in!

America was a great country when she did not place limits on herself. She could do ANYTHING!

Today, sadly, we have self-imposed limits. It has become politically incorrect to spend the money necessary for the space program and not give it to the poor. I have to tell you… that is wrong! Even Christ himself said: “The poor you have with you always!” Poverty is a fact of life. As Christ said, we are always going to have poor people living among us. No matter what we do! We cannot allow the poverty of a few in this nation to drag down the entire nation. That way lies national suicide!

Look, if man does not get off this tiny blue ball, we are going to exterminate ourselves. The fighting will eventually kill us all. Our differences are never going to be settled, so some of us need to leave. Much as our forefathers left the old country and settled this one, we have to strike out and find that new home. It’s out there. We just have to go find it. And we have to go soon!


J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Space+Planets+Stars+Exploration"

Congress Exempts Itself From Government-Run Socialized Medicine!

Congress Exempts Itself From Government-Run Socialized Medicine!
J. D. Longstreet

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It would seem the hypocrisy of our government knows no bounds! Now they have gone to great lengths to exempt themselves from this wonderful government-run healthcare system they are trying to foist upon the unsuspecting American people.

This socialized medicine, apparently, is not good enough for them but it is damn sure all you and I rate. While we wait in lines and for weeks and months to see a doctor or have a medical procedure of some kind performed they will be enjoying first class, number one, healthcare with the doctor of their choice, where, and when they choose.

But those of us in “The Great Unwashed” of America will have to settle for whatever scraps they throw our way.

For more on this story go HERE.

Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) has introduced a bill that urges members of Congress who vote to create a government-run health insurance agency to give up their own comprehensive health insurance plans and join the new the public option they advocate for all the rest of us. It is House Resolution 615.
Here’s the text of the bill:

“That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Members who vote in favor of the establishment of a public, federal government run health insurance option are urged to forgo their right to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and agree to enroll under that public option,”

On his Website Congressman Fleming states the following:
“Over the past few weeks, members of Congress and the American people have come to know the details of the Administration's proposed health care plan. Call it whatever you like, I believe this proposal is nothing more than government-run health care. As a physician, I am amazed at the number of bureaucrats in this House who are quick to claim a government-run health care plan is the reform this country needs. In response to this, I have offered a resolution that will offer members of Congress an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is, and urge their colleagues who vote for legislation creating a government-run health care plan to lead by example and enroll themselves in the same public plan.

Under the current draft of the Democrat healthcare legislation, members of Congress are curiously exempt from the government-run health care option, keeping their existing health plans and services on Capitol Hill. If Members of Congress believe so strongly that government-run health care is the best solution for hard working American families, I think it only fitting that Americans see them lead the way. Public servants should always be accountable and responsible for what they are advocating, and I challenge the American people to demand this from their representatives.” You may read the Congressman’s entire statement HERE.

Wake up, America, they’re about to do it to you again!

If this seems the least bit familiar to those of you around before the old Soviet Union went belly-up, you may recall this is exactly the kind of behavior the communist politburo was famous, or infamous, for. They had the best while the average soviet citizen had to make-do standing in long lines - not only for health care but just to buy a roll of toilet tissue. Now, America is headed in the same direction deeper and deeper into socialism. This government-run healthcare Obama and the democrat/socialists are peddling is pure socialism.

If this ObamaCare passes the Congress and is signed into law by the president the government will be even more intrusive in our everyday affairs, and our business, and deeper into what up, to now, at least, have been our personal and private health matters. Is this what you want? Are you sure… because, if we don’t stop them, this bill is going to pass.

Did you know this bill would fund state vaccine teams to conduct ‘Interventions’ in private homes? Then you need to read the article at CNSNews.com. You'll find it

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51115

Seems to me it is time to contact our Congressperson and senators and ask them why they are not the first to sign up to ObamaCare if this government-run healthcare program is so good, and is, in fact, the answer to America’s healthcare problems. But, then, you already know the answer. It is not about your health, or your healthcare. It is ALL about POWER. It always has been. This government-run healthcare will give the politicians power and, eventually, control over everything you do, your entire life, from the time you arise in the mornings until you retire at night.

ObamaCare, a national government-run healthcare system, is NOT the AMERICAN WAY! It is the SOCIALIST WAY! Washington is going to tell you that I am WRONG and they will try to sell you the idea that a government run healthcare system is not socialism. If you take a few minutes, and do a tiny bit of research on the Internet, you will quickly learn who is telling you the truth.

Now that you know this socialized medicine the Congress is proposing for America is so bad they will not even sign onto it themselves, are you going to allow them to get away with this subterfuge? Surely, you will not lie down and roll over and let them have their way AGAIN! Surely not, America!

Are we Americans so bereft of pride that we will allow that bunch of elitist socialists to continue to do this to us over and over again without demanding enough! Well, ARE WE?
What you are seeing in this display of elitist behavior is the best examples of what living in a socialist state is like - one system for the elite and another for everybody else. And you thought you were going to be equal, right? Equal to WHAT, pray tell?

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Socialism+Healthcare+ObamaCare

Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Back Soon? You Bet!

Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Back Soon? You Bet!
J. D. Longstreet
*****************************
Time to get the e-mail humming to your Senators again. Phone calls work well, too. Faxes are also important. Even a telegram to your senator’s office would be helpful

We were fairly sure it was premature to declare the death of the Immigration Bill, the last time it was defeated in the Senate. And sure enough, here it comes again. We have no choice but to man the barricades once again.

Isn’t there something very sad (and very telling) when the people of a country have to “force” their own government to respond to the wishes of their people? Isn’t it telling as to how far we have traveled down the road toward “totalitarian government”? Have we learned anything??? I doubt it!

Oh, and there is this: When we say “totalitarian” government these days we mean one of two distinct types of governance: Islamofacist or communist.

“Once more, into the breach,” conservatives!!!

So, here’s what’s going on:

A few days ago, President Obama played host for a White House meeting to re-launch the legislative process for “comprehensive” immigration reform. Then, a few days afterwards, several big city police chiefs went public and urged Congress to bring illegal immigrants “out from the shadows.” If you are asking yourself why you haven’t heard about this, you probably HAVE heard about it but since it just isn’t very important to YOU, you probably shuffled it off to some dark corner of your mind until you have the time - and the inclination to deal with it. Anyway, the pollsters seem to think that, or something very like that, is what has happened to Amnesty for illegal aliens in the US. Well, my dear fellow Americans, we’d better GET INTERESTED again… and quickly. If I am correct, Obama is about to ram the old Amnesty Bill right through Congress and sign it into law before we even know what hit us! And the Mainstream Media, in league with The Obama Legions, are playing along with Obama in an attempt to keep us distracted with all the many and varied crises sucking up all the ink from their publications and all the air time from their broadcasts.

And… to make matters even worse for those of us who oppose Amnesty, there is a huge disconnect between the citizens of America and their representatives in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. Read the full story HERE.

According to Rasmussen Reports Sixty-six percent (66%) of likely voters nationwide say it is Very Important for the government to improve its enforcement of the borders and reduce illegal immigration. Now, consider THIS: Just 32% of America’s Political Class agrees. Surprised? Neither am I! We have said all along the problem with illegal immigration across our southern border could be fixed, almost immediately, if the government wanted it fixed. Now we know for certain that they do not want the southern border sealed. See, those are democratic voters coming across that invisible line headed north into the land of milk and honey and along side them on their northward trek is cheap labor!

Basically, Americans STILL want the border closed and sealed FIRST! It is common sense to stop the leak before bailing. Once the border is closed and sealed then taking care of those aliens here illegally can begin and mass deportations can begin.

Like you, I have heard all the arguments from the government that they cannot find all those 12 million, or so, illegal aliens who have integrated into our society in order to deport them. I don’t buy it, not for one second. If the government was serious about finding them all they’d have to do is enlist the help of American citizens and you would have convoys of school buses, filled to capacity with illegal aliens, headed south to the border to be deported. Maybe the government doesn’t know where they are, but you can bet your bottom dollar American citizens know where they are - or can find them - post haste.

Yes, Americans ARE angry with the illegal alien mess and the numerous attempts by our government to offer them amnesty, which would, in time, offer them citizenship. But, as Rasmussen learned when doing their survey, Americans are not mad at the illegal aliens. No! They/we are mad at our government for allowing this to happen in the first place!

Those of you who support open borders do not, I repeat, do not try to beat us about the head and shoulders with the old saw that says America is a nation of immigrants. See, we already know that because our ancestors were immigrants, too. Mine came into the country, legally, in 1789 through what was then Charles Town Harbor and were assigned a place in the 96th precinct of the state of South Carolina. Notice - they came into this country LEGALLY! That is all we expect of any who want to immigrate to America. Do it legally and we will welcome you with open arms. Do it illegally and we want you caught and deported forthwith!

It is becoming ever more clear, everyday, that America’s biggest problem with illegal immigration is not with those who illegally break into our country and help to bleed it dry, but with our government which refuses to uphold the laws already on the books. Had those laws been enforced we would not be in the situation we find ourselves today. Plus, the problem of what to do with these 12-plus million illegal aliens would not be a problem, at all, if the government would simply follow the laws on the books today.

The bottom line for Americans to ponder is… what do we do with a government that refuses to uphold/enforce the nation’s laws? Well, let me ask you - suppose you had a business and an employee consistently refused to follow the rules of the workplace. What would you do to that employee? See? The answer is simple. The ONLY way we are ever going to get relief from this problem is to clean the house in Washington.

My friend and fellow blogger, Alan Caruba, recently said in his piece entitled “A Crisis of Governors”: “What, in fact, Americans are witnessing is a failure of government at both the state and federal level. The nation has managed to elect too many people to public office that are so clearly inept, incompetent, and untrustworthy, it poses a threat to the republic.” Alan, as usual, is spot on. America’s most dangerous enemy, at the moment, is its own government! I would add that, in my opinion, America’s second worst enemy, at the moment, is its own ignorance. It was through the ignorance of the American electorate that these pitifully inept politicians were elected to office to begin with.

Maybe a third party working hard over decades could turn it around, but frankly, I doubt it. Americans are so woefully ignorant of how a representative republic is supposed to work that I have serious doubts we are capable of doing that which is necessary to save our country. Then there is the opposition from the politicians themselves. If we know anything, we know the two parties in power today watch each other’s backs when it comes to Americans forming a powerful third party. They make sure it is almost impossible for that to happen.

Until we can come up with a solution to the problem of an unresponsive government we are stuck standing on the sidelines observing the largest land invasion and take-over of a country in the history of the world.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Amnesty+Illegal+Aliens+Obama+Socialist

A “Crisis” of Governors ... Alan Caruba

A “Crisis” of Governors

By Alan Caruba
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If you can have a pride of lions and a gaggle of geese, then I suggest that the forthcoming July 17-20 meeting of the National Governors Association can be described as a “crisis” of Governors.

This once-esteemed office, a platform from which some launched campaigns to become President, has become a sinkhole of sexual misconduct and corruption; witness New York’s unlamented Eliot Spitzer, New Jersey’s James McGreevey, and now South Carolina’s pathetic, moon-struck Mark Sanford and Illinois’ Rod Blogovitch whose alleged sins involved money.

Because states are sovereign republics and because being governor is primarily a “local” responsibility, the job requires significant administrative and political skills to ensure the state meets those obligations closest to voters. Infrastructure must be maintained. Issues of public safety, health, and education are paramount concerns.

With a few exceptions, today’s Governors are struggling with bloated budgets and huge deficits despite the fact that most states require a balanced budget or at least the semblance of one.

Watching Arnold Schwarzenegger announce that California will be paying its bills with IOUs would be comic if it were not so serious.

Watching Governor David Paterson of New York desperately trying to get that state’s legislators to even convene a session reflects the absurdity of watching the House of Representatives vote on trillion-dollar legislation it hasn’t even read.

What, in fact, Americans are witnessing is a failure of government at both the state and federal level. The nation has managed to elect too many people to public office that are so clearly inept, incompetent, and untrustworthy, it poses a threat to the republic.

When the National Governors Association meets this week, we shall have an opportunity to see this group address the challenges facing the nation. Chaired by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, it is to his credit that he has focused on infrastructure—bridges, roads, tunnels, water treatment plants, the electrical grid, schools and hospitals.

In earlier times, infrastructure was seen and understood to be essential to America’s growth and prosperity. Not so today. It is, generally speaking, vastly under-funded.

The NGA will open with meetings of two committees, The Economic Development and Commerce Committee and the Education, Early Childhood and Workforce Committee. If California is any example—and it is—than economic development has long since been thrown overboard as state-after-state has denied or delayed permits for the building of new plants, coal-fired or nuclear—for the generation of electricity. No energy. No development. As for education, it is a national disgrace.

On Sunday, the Health and Human Services Committee will discuss health care reform. The present White House proposal, unbelievably vague, and whatever will emerge from Congress will add more trillions to the national debt, require everyone to purchase a national, not private health insurance, and end up rationing health services because that is the only way a national system can function. It is a very bad idea that has already failed in Massachusetts.

The Natural Resources Committee will concurrently “examine barriers to American energy independence and security.” I can virtually guarantee you that the Governors of America’s coastal states will resist exploration and extraction of vast natural resources of oil and natural gas from their offshore areas. Others will call for huge expenditures for wind and solar energy that cannot even begin to meet the energy needs of America.

On Sunday afternoon, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will join others to discuss “emergency preparedness” and, if Hurricane Katrina was any indication, the nation’s and the state’s ability to respond to emergencies is not encouraging. The former Arizona state governor is usually glassy-eyed and phlegmatic when questioned about issues.

Monday’s session will examine energy and the economy. Given how poorly these related areas of concern have been addressed at this point, one is tempted to suggest that the Governors pack their bags and skip that little gab-fest.

The Governors are a microcosm of the entire nation’s ills. Many, if not all, are dependent on federal largess in order to fund the needs of their states and many states send more to the federal government in tax revenues than they receive in return. You could call it a redistribution of wealth.

A growing number of state governments are passing resolutions stating they will not be bound by federal mandates regarding health, education, immigration and other key issues. They are declaring their sovereignty to reassert control over those areas of governance which, until the major shift to federal control at the mid-point of the last century, were their province and their responsibility.

This nation fought a Civil War over the issue of state’s rights, over the right of secession. Now the issue facing California is whether other states have an obligation to bail it out of its financial problems and the answer is no. A host of other incursions of state’s rights, enshrined in the Tenth Amendment, is sparking resistance.

Too much centralized government in Washington, bad management, too much control by public service unions, ignoring infrastructure needs, failure to provide for the provision of energy to a growing population, and the distractions of idiotic issues such as same-sex marriage are combining to destroy a once-great nation.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/ and a weekly commentary at http://www.anxietycenter.com/, the website of The National Anxiety Center.

© Alan Caruba, July 2009
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energy+federal government+governors+infrastructure" rel="tag">Conservative+energy+ federal government+governors+infrastructure+

Dems Push For Massive INCOME TAX INCREASE!

US Economy in the Tank – Dems Push For Massive INCOME TAX INCREASE!
Massive Tax hike to pay for Obama’s Socialized Medicine
J. D. Longstreet

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Again, we TOLD YOU SO!

We told you this would happen! Here it is. The democrats will seek a massive increase in federal income taxes to help pay for the national health-care reform proposal that President Obama is urging Congress to enact this summer.

With unemployment on the rise and the economy sinking like a stone, the Democrat/Socialists are going to demand more of your hard earned money to finance a pie in the sky healthcare scheme, or should we say “scam” that will take over what little remains of your private life. Read about it HERE.

How in the world did Americans become so utterly naïve as to fall for the “Utopian” dreams the Democrat/socialists peddled during the campaign, when there were so many of us screaming our heads off and proclaiming, for all the world to hear, that it would do nothing but destroy the American healthcare system and introduce rationing of healthcare and raise your taxes through the roof… and enough of you FELL for it, anyway, yes, I said FELL for it (because you DID - and you allowed yourselves to be duped) to elect Obama and hand that crowd of Democrat/socialists the power to absolutely ruin this nation. They have set out to do just that. In six months time, they have managed to drag America down to, roughly, where she was in the 1930’s.

You will notice the Dems used the old tactic of releasing unpleasant news late on Fridays because Americans pay very little attention to news over the weekends. They are playing the American public like the fools they believe us to be. And I have to tell you - it sure looks to me as if they have us pegged. I mean how bright did the American electorate have to be to elect this bunch in the first place? Just look around you. Six months… and America is practically on her knees! They have raped and pillaged our treasury and now they are going to dig into your pockets and take what little you have left to support your families. Oh, and they have the gall to ask you to believe the old lie about taxing the rich. And you are going to swallow that lie too, aren’t you? That is, until one of your more lucid moments when you suddenly remember - it is the rich folks who provide the jobs you go to each morning, if, that is, you are fortunate enough to STILL HAVE A JOB!

And you still don’t see what’s coming down the road aways, do you? I mean the tsunami of inflation that is already building just over the horizon, inexorably making its way toward us. In a few months it is going to wash over us. With the added burden of this huge tax increase, surviving it will be like trying to swim against the current with a 200-pound anvil tied around our collective necks. Businesses are going to shut their doors denying Americans much needed jobs. Those businesses, that are able, are going to move off shore taking those jobs with them. Thousands of small businesses will founder, and go under, tossing more American workers onto the streets. Oh, it hasn’t gotten bad yet. But it’s coming. You can bet on it. It’s coming!

I suppose the most frustrating thing about watching the demise of America is to behold how willingly the American electorate is accepting this disgraceful end. What you have done, America is accept slavery. You have sold your birthright, and my birthright, of freedom, to the low bidder, socialism. Now you are marching placidly into servitude to the state.

The only people in America today to show any spark of fight left in them are the conservatives. And we have been bottled up and shut out. We have no voice in the national legislature, certainly no voice in the executive branch, and, after this week we will have so little voice on the national judiciary as to be totally ineffective. The Supreme Court will be able to do whatever they want to do with your constitutional rights. And they will. They are going to take your guns. Believe it! It is the next logical step.

Face it America! The revolution is over… and YOU LOST! Socialism won - because you didn’t even show up to fight!

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Socialism+America

Small Market Broadcasters Soon To Be Under Siege By Obama’s FCC

Small Market Broadcasters Soon To Be Under Siege By Obama’s FCC

Broadcasters Beware! The Obama FCC Is Coming For You!
By J. D. Longstreet
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For those of you who may have stumbled across this site and have NEVER heard of J. D. Longstreet… then you are to be commended and you should, thank your lucky stars that you have been able to avoid my rants up to now.

On the other hand, those of you familiar with my work probably already know that I spent nearly thirty years of my life behind a microphone doing pretty much the same thing as I do at the keyboard here today – and that is expressing my opinions about just about everything that happens to draw my attention. The point of this preamble is to make sure that you understand that I have a special affinity towards broadcasters because - I was one of them for a very long time.

Hey, I’m so old I was actually working in the broadcast industry when the original Fairness Doctrine was still on the books and was still enforced. Yep! Lucky me. Right?

So, when the probability of the re-instatement the Fairness Doctrine, under another and different name, of course, comes up - so does my back. I tend to get my hackles up when the federal government begins to talk about that infringement of free speech, for that is in my opinion, what it is.

There are a couple of things I want to make clear. Our friends on the left, and some on the right, actually seem to think that people listen to the radio to get all that educational, intellectual, informative programming they are bound and determined to ram down the listeners throats on the commercial broadcast septum in America. I’m here to tell you, it ain’t so. Sure, they DO listen for that, but NOT ONLY THAT!

When this ole broadcaster was still in the business we had a heck of a time trying to get a sponsor for any kind of program other than entertainment or sports. Rolling a snowball completely across Hades, in the middle of August, had a better chance at success than finding sponsors for a “public affairs” program. The prospective sponsors would run away if they saw you approaching and knew that you were going to pitch them on how great it would be for them to sponsor something as innocuous as the Monday Night Concert, for instance. (Yeah, I did MC a Monday Night Concert program, consisting of high-brow classical music - for a while. A mercifully short while, I might add. Not that I don’t appreciate classical music, I do. But it was a royal pain trying to sell sponsorships.)

The other reason was - they knew we had, oh, maybe two or three listeners, besides myself!

It got worse if you strayed away from music and began to actually air informative programs, For instance, I once did a thirteen-week series on drug abuse in our city and county. Couldn’t sell it. NOBODY wanted to sponsor it, NOBODY. We aired it, anyway, because of its importance. I had a death threat or two as a result of the content of that series and the local cops put a tail me because I was digging up dope dealers and interviewing them out in the swamps after dark. The next day I had detectives pumping me for information. So, I had the police coming at me from one side and the crooks coming at me from the other side and NOBODY wanted to sponsor that program!

So, we wound up doing shows on the local mental health clinics, community policing, crime watch, and offerings from the local community college, local garden club activities, etc. It was the kind of material that would get the station in - just under the wire - come license renewal time. I must tell you that public affairs programming, on the radio, runs a close second to “Dead AIR” for listenership! It is pitiful!

For a broadcast station to do serious public affairs broadcasting that station must have personnel capable of doing the investigative work – and - it is necessary for those people to understand the subject about which they are going to produce a program.

Back in the ‘80’s, for a small market station to have a stable of on the air personnel qualified to do that sort of work would have been, itself, some sort of miracle! Ask them anything you can think of about Rock and Roll, Beach Music, R & B, C & W, Pop, Standards, … any kind of music - and they had/have the answer: dates, times, places, who played lead guitar, etc. Ask them ONE question about the possible effects of a nearby nuclear power plant on the aquatic life in the nearby lake - and they went mute! Nary a sound would emanate past their golden tonsils. They hadn’t a clue. Understand… that was NOT the exception to the rule - that WAS the rule!

Let us say that a station manager WAS able to put together a team capable of actually producing a passable Public Affairs program. Now, let us say that said person DID produce a program on some topic that was of passing interest to a handful of people in the station’s coverage area. Under the Fairness Doctrine, the station then had to produce a second program (oh, yes, it ain’t over yet!), which would explore the topic of the original program from the opposite viewpoint! Time in the broadcast day had to be made available for that program to be broadcast, as well. If there happened to be a third view of the topic, one which differed from the first two, and time was requested to broadcast that viewpoint, then valuable broadcast time had to be made available for that viewpoint to be broadcast as well, and on ad infinitum. It was a royal pain in the “you know what” for ANY station, but for small stations, in small markets, it was the nightmare from hell!

Understand: There is only so much air time available for sale. I recall when 18 minutes out of a broadcast hour was the maximum for commercial time. When you used it up, you stopped airing commercials if you were lucky enough to have them to run! Every program you run with no sponsors, or only a few sponsors, eats into that broadcast hour. If you lose money as a result of airing the “required” public affairs program… tough! The FCC doesn’t care if a station never makes a dime.

The so-called Equal Time Rule was never really understood by broadcasters nor by listeners, either, it seems to me. The equal time rule meant, simply, that time had to be made available for opposing viewpoints. It DID NOT MEAN that an amount of airtime equal to the amount of airtime of the original program had to be made available. For instance: if the original program was 15 minutes, the opposing viewpoint was not entitled to fifteen minutes - if that program only took, say, ten minutes to complete. I have had that argument a number of times.

Look, a small market radio station MIGHT have a staff of eight or ten persons, including the on air personnel, sales staff, engineering staff, and office staff. It might SOUND as if they have 50 people working there, but believe me, they don’t.

Most small market radio stations are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Only their bankers know just how bad their finances are. Borrowing money to meet the payroll is one thing all small market radio station managers know a thing or two about. It is a daily life or death struggle - and that was BEFORE the economy went south! For the FCC to even consider bringing back the Fairness Doctrine in any form, under any NEW name, will spell doom for a huge number of small market broadcasters. (The AM band will be decimated -gutted.) They have all the staff they can pay for and that staff is stretched to the limit, and beyond, with the workload they are already carrying. To ask them to do more guarantees two things: The quality of their work is going to suffer, and very soon, that station will be one more staff member short. And did I mention the quality of their work would go south, as well. I believe I did.

Let us be clear on something. You may not like it, but it is fact, nevertheless. I once heard a preacher say: “You may not believe in hell, and that’s alright. But is still there, and you are still going!” The same holds true for what I am about to say. Right wing, conservative, talk shows saved the AM Broadcast Band in America. That is a fact whether you believe it, or not. I was there. I saw it. The AM band was done for. It had nowhere to go. It had tried everything, including “AM Stereo”, and nothing worked. The broadcast quality of the FM band was so far superior to AM that AM was a relic. AM stations were shutting down. They were being sold for a song. In some cases they were actually being given away! I’m serious. If, say, a company had an AM/FM Combo for sale, they’d sometimes sweeten the deal by GIVING the AM station to the buyer of the FM station! In some cases, some owners simply switched off the transmitter, locked he doors, and mailed their licenses back to Washington - and walked away. It was THAT bad. As I said, I was there. I saw it.

Then along comes Conservative Talk Radio. Listeners began switching back to AM stations just to listen to those shows. They were switching back in trickles and finally a tsunami of listeners were switching, daily, to the AM band to hear the right wing talkers - then switching right back to FM as soon as that particular show was ended. More conservative talk shows were needed, and they were fast in coming. AM radio climbed out of it’s grave and became a vital part of the broadcast industry once more.

The problem the politicians have with talk radio is the not so simple fact that radio listeners will listen to conservative talk radio and switch off, or tune away from, left wing talk radio. The problem, we think, is because left wingers are either at your feet or at your throat. They are either whining, or gloating in your face; neither of which, generally speaking, the American radio listener can stand! Right-wingers, on the other hand, are almost always upbeat, optimistic and motivating Americans to do their best, try their best, and never give up.

In any event, the plain truth is, and the numbers support it, given a choice American radio listeners will choose right wing conservative radio over left wing liberal radio every time. And the left wing politicians cannot stand that – and - as they are in control of the US government today, they intend to force the broadcast media to change their way of doing things (profits be damned). Coming soon in some not so subtle ways will be the message: “Left wing propaganda will be broadcast on your stations or you will lose your licenses.”

The left wing politicians have found some interesting and creative ways of making that happen, too. To learn more about this go HERE.

In the days and weeks ahead look for such things as: regulations to redistribute station ownership to minorities; rules for “Local Content” requirements, to force radio coverage of left wing views; new legislation taxing the radio spectrum to pay for Obama’s socialized medicine program, and watch for the end of “Talk Radio” on the broadcast spectrum in America.
All of this recently prompted Congressman John Boehner) House Minority Leader, to say the following: Under the rubric of “broadcast localism” it is clear the Commission [FCC] is proposing no less than a sweeping takeover by Washington bureaucrats of broadcast media ... adding more restrictions and Washington mandates is retrograde considering the constant technology evolution of the media market. I urge the Commission to rescind these proposed rules.

You must understand: The FCC is God to the broadcaster. At least, LIKE God. The FCC hands down the commandments from on high and the broadcaster obeys them or his station dies – at least his license to operate his station dies. You will NEVER hear much complaining coming from broadcasters because they live in constant fear that their licenses are in jeopardy. And they are!

Broadcasters always seem to fair better under conservative governments than liberal governments. Many, many, if not a majority, of small market station owners and managers are conservatives themselves. It has something to do with capitalism and entrepreneurship, methinks – something right-wingers and conservatives seem to excel at. That, too, irks the left side of the political spectrum.

I’d urge you to write your Congressperson and your Senators and demand that they stop the FCC from destroying the Broadcast Industry in America, for that is what is about to happen.

The small market broadcaster is at a great disadvantage anytime they deal with the FCC. They know their license is at stake. You won’t be hearing much from them in their own defense, because, frankly they are hesitant to open their mouths and say anything the FCC can use as a reason to slap them with a heavy fine, revoke their license, or refuse to renew their license at renewal time. They NEED your help. If you enjoy having the community service of a LOCAL radio station in your community now is the time to step up and defend them. Speaking only as a long time veteran of the broadcast industry, now retired, I can tell you they will appreciate your efforts on their behalf.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Liberal+Broadcasting+FCC+Socialism+Censorship

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His Finger on Armageddon

His Finger on Armageddon
J. D. Longstreet
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On the off chance that you have not noticed… there is a religious fanatic in charge of Iran. The even more troubling problem is… he has his finger on the button, which could trigger Armageddon.

I speak, of course, of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. I should say the “Islamic Republic” of Iran.

I find myself in the group believing Iran will have a deliverable A-Bomb much sooner than our Intelligence community has told us. I think it wise to assume that in a matter of months, Iran will have nuclear weapons. Iran already has the delivery vehicles for those Nukes. Ahmadinejad has told us the target… Israel. In a few, blinding seconds, the state of Israel will cease to exist.

Ahmadinejad apparently believes it is his duty in life to prepare the way for the 12th Imam. To understand how Ahmadinejad’s belief can be fatal for Israel, it is necessary to understand, at least a little, about what he believes. Then it will become clear.

In Christianity we have the return of Christ, often referred to as the “Second Coming of Christ”. In Shi’ite Islam they have the return of the 12th Imam. Ahmadinejad has said, openly, the 12th Imam will return within two years.

As with the Second Coming of Christ the event (Return of the 12th Imam) will be associated with a number of tribulations and lots of turmoil including great death… and great destruction.

In an article over at The Telegraph.Co.Uk titled: “Will the 12th Imam cause war with Iran”? Con Coughlin says the following:

"For those unacquainted with the more obscure tenets of Islamic theology, the 12th Imam is held by devout Shi'ite Muslims to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed who went into "occlusion" in the ninth century at the age of five and hasn't been seen since.

The Hidden Imam, as he is also known by his followers, will only return after a period of cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed – what Christians call the Apocalypse – and then lead the world into an era of universal peace.

Rumours abound of Mr Ahmadinejad's devotion to the 12th Imam, and last year it was reported that he had persuaded his cabinet to sign a "contract" pledging themselves to work for his return.”

We urge you to read the entire article HERE.

Another example of his messianic tendencies surfaced after 108 people were killed in an aircraft crash in Teheran. Mr Ahmadinejad praised the victims, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."

Why is this suddenly so troubling? Well, frankly, with the Islamic belief in Martyrdom so prevalent, and the associated eternal bliss expected, as a result, the religious nut, in Iran, with his finger on the button, becomes a very real threat.

Besides the above, a time of political chaos will set the stage for the 12th Imam’s, or Madhi’s, return. At least, the Shi’ite Moslems believe that it will.

Remember, Ahmadinejad is the man who stated, publicly, “Israel should be wiped from the map”. This is the man who has made huge donations (in the millions of dollars) to a shrine, which is said to contain the well from which the 12th Imam is to re-emerge into the world.

It is also believed the “Mahdi” will have a deputy, something of a forerunner (remember John the Baptist), who will prepare the world for the “Mahdi’s” return. Suppose someone thought himself to be that deputy and desired to bring about the chaos needed for the Mahdi’s return and… suppose, further, the self-described deputy had nuclear weapons to assist him in his quest for chaos. Granted, there is a whole lot of supposing going on here, but… what if???Would it not behoove those expecting to be on the receiving end of those missiles to intercede on the side of sanity and remove Mr. Ahmadinejad’s means of inflicting his end goal of chaos and the return of the Mahdi?

One of the few things we have learned, from watching these Middle Eastern hotheads, is that when they threaten something dire, they, almost, always deliver.You can bet that if this old, gentile, Southern American boy is considering all this… then the Israelis are WAY ahead of me.

Here is a question to think about: Does anyone believe if the Iranians were to pull off a successful nuclear attack on Israel they would stop there… or would they continue their march of conquest to Europe? Huh?

J. D. Longstreet

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

Conservative+Iran+Israel+Bomb+ Armageddon

Government To Control American’s Lives by September First!

Government To Control American’s Lives by September First!

By: J. D. Longstreet

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

“Folks, reform is coming. It is on track. It is coming, “We have tried for decades--for decades--to fix a broken system, and we have never, in my entire tenure in public life, been this close. We have never been as close as we are today, and things remain on track. We must enact this reform this year. We must--and we will--enact reform by the end of August, and we can't wait.” Those are the words of Vice President Biden assuring Americans that Healthcare Overhaul (We all know it as “ObamaCare”) is on track to be passed by the end of next month, August (2009). Read the entire article HERE.

The charge by the democrats to set up a "National Health Insurance" program in America officially began with Obama signing the new CHIP bill, which extended health care coverage to 4 million uninsured children. The President was not the least bit bashful in announcing that his action in signing the bill was the first step in fulfilling his promise made during the campaign to provide universal health insurance for all Americans. To quote Obama he said: "As I think everybody here will agree, this is only the first step. Because the way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children through CHIP is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American."

Now, YOU may think this is just swell. WE don't! In fact we are pledged to work as hard as we can to see that universal health insurance (Socialized medicine) does not come to America.

Why? There are many reasons for Americans to demand the government take it’s hands off the American healthcare system and two, which are critically important. First, we are against “ObamaCare” because it is out and out Socialism. That is why, dear reader, it is referred to as socialized medicine! The second reason, and just as important as the first, is the fact that socialized medicine will utterly destroy what is arguably, the best healthcare system on the planet!

Some of you will disagree with me, I'm sure. That is your right. But bear with me for a moment or two, and we will try to change your mind.

A few months ago I wrote the following, which is every bit as pertinent today as it was then, so I'm going to repeat it. Back then I wrote this:

"We are continuing to lose our privacy, here in America, at an ever-increasing speed. There is hardly a place in America one can go, these days, without being seen by someone’s security cameras. I recently stood in a parking lot of one of the Big Box stores and counted 22 cameras zeroed in on the parking area, and entrances, and exits, to the store. And that was just on the OUTSIDE, at the front, of the store!

If you think Big Brother’s snooping is bad now… just wait… it will get worse, a LOT worse, if we allow it.

Weigh too much? Lose weight… or the government won’t pay for your medical bills.

Drive too fast? Slow down or the government won’t pay for your medical bills if you’re in an accident.

Smoke? The government won’t pay for your medical bills, period.

Have more than (two) kids? Your medical bills will not be paid if you exceed the allowable limit on babies.


Pregnant with a third child and the government insists that you have an abortion, but you really want this third child? Well, either have an abortion, or that third child will have no medical coverage and the cost of the pregnancy, and delivery, will not be covered, either.

Didn’t finish High School? Your medical bills will not be covered if you do not get a High School Diploma.

Take the wrong courses in college? Well, if you didn’t check before you signed up for a course, and you signed-up for a course the government thinks is uncalled for, or that you do not need for your chosen occupation… then your medical bills will not be picked up by the National Healthcare.

Own a gun? Why, everyone knows there is an epidemic of deaths due to handguns in America. So it is a health issue. National Healthcare will not pay for your medical bills until you turn in your guns to the government!

Choose the wrong career, and you are on your own! No medical help from the government.

Get the picture? Almost total control. And you, and I, will have given that power to the government! (Or your employer) After a while, there won’t be much difference, anyway.

So, next time you hear someone calling for National Healthcare/Universal Healthcare/ObamaCare (Socialized Medicine), remind them of all the freedom they will give up for that "cradle to the grave" care. The Founders of the United States of America wanted us to live free... healthy, if we could manage it, but free in any event. Today, it seems we are prepared to give up our freedom for a modern day form of Marxism... Socialized Medicine!


We have taken a look at a fraction of what ObamaCare will cost America in the loss of freedom and liberty, but what will it cost us in dollars and cents? If the truth were to be told… nobody knows. Those who are in a position to actually make a decent “guesstimate” are scared witless to make any pronouncement on the cost of ObamaCare because they know the cost will be astronomical, out of sight, and will bring on tax increases the likes of which Americans have never known. Some say that right now, if the economy doesn't get any worse, and I think we can agree that the economy is certainly going to get worse under the policies Obama is trying so desperately to set in place... the Universal Healthcare program will cost us around 150 BILLION per year! The possible ten-year cost-out might be expected to exceed 3 TRILLION dollars. Now, if you know anything, at all, about government programs you know they always cost more than they are projected to cost by those who are promoting them. I fear it is the same with this ObamaCare program. There is an excellent article over at the Washington Times we recommend. You'll find it HERE.

To make it even worse, it is expected the bill, when passed through the Congress, most likely will create a government owned Health Insurance Company. Common sense will tell you that private for-profit Insurance companies will not be able to compete in the market place with the government owned company which will not have to worry about profit and loss and, eventually, there will be NO PRIVATE HEALTH INSURTANCE COMPANIES still open for business in America. The democrats understand that to make the Universal Healthcare System work, at all, nobody can be allowed to have any form of insurance that is superior to the National Healthcare Program.

What about clandestine healthcare? You know... sneaking around to find a doctor who will treat you for a fee, off the books, and out of sight of the government. Well, if you seek out a doctor, and have an examination, and pay the doc in cash, you and the doctor could both go to jail!

And how long before the doctor shortage REALLY begins to bite? Do you really think youngsters are going to spend eight or ten years in school and pile up a stack of loans just to get a medical degree and go to work for the government as a “civil servant”? Well, DO you? Surely, you are not THAT deluded? On the other hand, how do you like the idea of being treated by a government doctor? Hey, that’s something to think about while standing in line at the Post Office to buy a few stamps or mail a package, right? The very idea gives me nightmares!

If you think it’s bad now, wait until we actually have ObamaCare. Our every move will be monitored, and the government will direct us in every facet of our lives. If you think the government is intrusive now... just wait... you ain't seen nothing yet!

There is just so much to understand about how a national healthcare system would work that most Americans will never understand it... until it is too late and we are saddled with this horror from hell!


It is time, actually it is past time, for all Americans who love freedom, to write, call, fax, telegram, or e-mail their Congressperson and Senators and urge them to fight against a National Healthcare Program bill that will suffocate the remaining freedom we have as Americans. There is not a minute to lose. The democrats are planning to make an attempt at ramming this thing through Congress at a record-breaking speed so as to defy any chance you may have of acquainting yourself with what is in the actual bill itself.

There is an Online Petition you may wish to consider signing. It is the Free Our Healthcare Now Petition. You’ll find it HERE.

Don't be suckered again, America! Universal healthcare is not democracy. It is socialism. Universal healthcare is not about healthcare. It is about power for the ruling class. The very fact that the idea, itself, springs from Socialism/Marxism is more than enough for me to be against it - completely and absolutely. It is impossible for democracy to ever compromise with Socialism, Marxism, and Communism. Like cancer left untreated any one of the three will kill democracy.

It is time to get your back up and act as an American. Playing the part of a wimp is Un-American! And lying down and rolling over for a Congress and a President whose intention is to acquire all the power possible for themselves at the expense of the common, everyday, American is skullduggery at the lowest level. And THAT, dear reader is exactly what is going on in Washington today!

It is time to reclaim that which is rightfully ours... our freedom!

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Socialism+Healthcare+ObamaCare

Return the Confederate Battle Flag to the Dome of SC's Capitol Building

Return the Confederate Battle Flag to the Capitol's Dome in South Carolina!
J. D. Longstreet
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To catch up on the latest antics of the politically correct crowd and their permanently offended allies you need to read this article titled: Flag fallout: ACC reverses S.C. baseball bid". You will find it HERE.

It would appear the deal to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from the dome of the Capitol Building in Columbia, South Carolina has finally, and irrefutably, fallen through. For anyone who had even the remotest hope the deal was holding, the latest antics of “The Offended” should remove any, and all, doubt. So, what I am advocating is simply tossing the “agreement” (Obviously, it never REALLY existed!) and returning to the way things were before the – ahem -“agreement.” That means - returning the Confederate Battle flag to its place atop the SC Capitol Dome in Columbia, South Carolina!

No, I am NOT kidding. It would be a rare thing, indeed, to find a time in my life when I have been more serious about this subject. Now that the “deal” turns out to be no deal, at all, the Confederate Battle Flag should immediately be run back up the flag pole, on top of the capital dome, and flown daily as a reminder to anyone and everyone that South Carolina will not the cowed and will not bend their knee to those who would dictate how "The Sandlappers" live their lives and how they honor their ancestors.I'm a native South Carolinian- and damned proud of it! My home state was the first state to secede from the union. It was the only Confederate state whose legislature voted unanimously to secede and it was the only Confederate state that did not send recruits to fight in Union forces against their brothers - the Confederates. In other words, South Carolina stood its ground in the face of all adversity. Every few years, it seems, we have to fight the battle all over again. It is not enough that the history of the United States has been re-written multiple times in an attempt to erase all vestiges of the truth behind The War for Southern Independence, or The War of Northern Aggression, whichever you choose... both are correct.

Before we go any further, all Americans need to understand this: The so-called Civil War was not a civil war! It was not a rebellion! The South broke away and formed a new country complete with a constitution, a President and vice-President, a Congress, an Army, a Navy, and a Marine corp, AND it was much larger, in land area, than the original 13 colonies when they broke away from Great Britain. A civil war and/or a rebellion require(s) that one side, or the other, attempt to overthrow the government of the original country. The South never did that. That was not what they were about. They wanted their independence just the same as their grandfathers wanted theirs from Great Britain. All they ever wanted from the United States of America was, in the words of President, Jefferson Davis, was to be "left alone!" That hardly defines a rebellion!)In any event, recent developments, here in the Carolinas, have some Sandlappers and Tarheels blistering mad and others doubled over in laughter at the antics of powerful organizations apparently afraid of a piece of cloth with the Christian symbol, the Saint Andrew's Cross, on it. Of course, I refer to the Confederate Battle flag. OK, so it is not the flag itself they despise. It is us, the Southerner with roots and DNA that runs deep into the past where dwell the most honored soldier ever to walk the face of the earth, the Confederate soldier. That flag, the Confederate Battle Flag, was their emblem, their battlefield ensign. It never flew over the nation of the Confederacy as a national flag, ever, which means: it never flew over slavery. The Confederate Battle Flag as a National flag of the Confederacy is pure Hollywood, pure fiction.

The Confederate Battle Flag was a battlefield standard. On the battlefield, it flew over white and black Confederate troops. The flag that flew over the Union Forces, however, DID fly over slavery, and yet it gets a pass while the Confederate Battle Flag is dishonored by the revisionists of history and the priest, priestesses, and acolytes of Political Correctness who continue to heap lies upon it in an all-out attempt to strike at the people who are the proud descendants of the men who fought, bled, and died beneath the ruffles, snaps, and flourishes of that grand old standard.If it sounds as if I take the slanderous attacks against the Confederate Battle Flag personally, you're damned right I do! I had ancestors who fought, bled, and yes - died beneath it. I carry their genes and their DNA in my wretched old body. They were heroes and people who are not worthy to even stand in their shadow are disgracing them!

Did you know that around three-quarters of a million Confederate troops held off 2 and a half million Union troops for four of the bloodiest years in the history of this continent? Did you know that? A rag tag bunch of southerners almost, almost, gained a resounding victory over the forces of a fledgling world superpower! Yeah, they were, absolutely, heroes. Their battle tactics are still taught in military academies the world over. The First World War reflects the tactics of trench warfare the Confederates introduced in defense of the Confederate capital.

To say that I am angry about the decision to halt plans to hold a conference baseball tournament in Myrtle Beach, SC, and moving that tournament to North Carolina while citing failure to reach an agreement on the Confederate Battle Flag issue – is putting it mildly! In my opinion, it is an insult to every southerner in this country… not just the Carolinas. (And you wonder why this country can’t “come together” and be as one???) These are the kinds of actions that bring back memories of the “Reconstruction Period” in the South that wreaked more pain, devastation, and destruction on the South than the war itself.

Do not tell southerners to put it behind us and move on! We can’t. We live it every day. To us, in our collective memories, the war was just yesterday. All around us are reminders of the destruction and the cost in lives each southern family suffers to this day. This state, North Carolina, lost 40,000 men to that war. In four years, 40,000 men, from North Carolina, alone, gave their lives in a war for Southern Independence! Think about that. In roughly ten years the entire United States of America lost 58,000 men in the Vietnam War. That’s 58,000 dead Americans spread over 50 states. You know the impact that had on the country as a whole. Just think what the loss of 40,000 men, in four years, had on a single state, North Carolina. How do you forget something like that – even if you wanted to?

There are many very angry southerners over this insult. It will not be forgotten.

Today, while America is ripped and torn by a government as inept as any we have ever had in our nation’s history, along comes something as arguably unimportant as a sporting event, which quickly becomes a tool for adding fuel to the fires of dissension and discord in a country which is already dangerously balkanized and at the extreme limits of it’s comity for fellow Americans holding different political opinions.

These are, indeed, times that try men’s souls. Tread lightly, ever so lightly.

J. D. Longstreet
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Conservative+Confederate+Battle+Flag+Baseball+SportsB

As California Goes… ... Alan Caruba

As California Goes…
By Alan Caruba

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

As a lifelong resident of New Jersey, one of the most fiscally imprudent states, it may be deemed unfair for me to say bad things about California, but having lived in a state that has “been there, done that” it also endows me with an understanding of what happens when a state is taken over by its public service unions and indulges in stupid environmental policies that have nothing to do with a sound economy.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an economic crisis last week in order to demand some fiscal sanity that has not been forthcoming from its legislature. By the end of the month, California will be forced to pay bills with IOUs and we all know that won’t work. The U.S. Constitution reserves to the federal government the right “to coin money, regulate the value thereof…” As a form of currency, IOUs are forbidden to California.

A recent issue of The Heartland Institute’s “Budget & Tax News” monthly newspaper had a disturbing article by Jason Sorens and William Ruger, two members of the University of Buffalo faculty who studied the issue of personal and financial freedom in the nation’s 50 States. Their study ranked states on government spending, taxes, and regulations on market transactions and private behavior.

Since Americans pride themselves as a free people, the actions of state government have a direct impact on how much actual freedom they have because “states and local governments regulate workplaces, land use, and health insurance. They tell individual citizens how to educate their children, where they are permitted to smoke, which kinds of firearms they may own, and when they are allowed to buy liquor.” And, of course, they levy taxes.

The five least-free States, from the bottom up, are New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland. New York State’s legislature has been in a complete meltdown, unable and unwilling to tend to business. New Jersey is locked in the run-up to an election pitting an ultra-liberal Governor, Jon Corzine, against a Republican candidate who promises to do a better job of governance, but in New Jersey that is no guarantee of any improvement.

California, ranked fourth from the bottom in terms of freedom, reflects the study’s finding that “Liberal states tend to be nanny states when it comes to issues of personal choice.” Linked to economic freedom, states that impose excessive taxation and regulation tend to chase people and business away.

New Jersey has had more people leaving than coming to live there and, in the 1990s California saw 2.08 million more people leave than moved there from other parts of the nation. According to the U.S. Census, this loss was offset by a net immigration of 2.02 million from Latin America. To put it another way, California imported poverty along with an increase in the social services these new immigrants (many illegal) require.

One of the factors contributing to the population loss was the high cost of housing in California, about 53.1% above the February 1999 median of $129,300 in the rest of the nation, making housing in California less affordable than anywhere else. When the housing bubble burst in late 2008, California’s homeownership rate was only 55.7% as compared to 66% for the entire nation. In more blunt terms, California’s white (non-Hispanic) population has been leaving in droves.

The result of this has been a dramatic increase in costs relative to the rise of its population of illegal aliens. By 2004, a study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) that examined the costs of education, health care, and the incarceration of illegal aliens committing crimes in California, concluded it costs Californians $10.5 billion per year. The K-12 education system spent approximately $7.7 billion to school the children of illegal aliens and another $1.4 billion in taxpayer’s money went toward providing healthcare to them and their families, about the same spent on incarcerating illegal alien criminals.

Doing nothing about immigration comes with a big price tag and this is increasingly true of the entire nation that is estimated to have some 12 million illegal aliens. Neither the Bush administration of the passed eight years, nor the new Obama administration will stem this wholesale invasion of the nation, not just burdening taxpayers, but reducing the number of jobs available to natural born and naturalized citizens. Amnesty would double or triple the number of new citizens as family members join them.

Of equal concern are the nation’s energy policies and, in this regard, California is the template for doing everything possible to restrict the development of its own energy sources and reserves.

The state’s oldest oil refinery, the massive 104-year-old Richmond facility was in the process of modernization, but environmentalists sued and a judge ordered Chevron Corporation to stop work for yet another “environmental impact report.” A hundred workers have been laid off and as many as a thousand more may lose their jobs as the project shuts down. That is insanity.

California is highly dependent on imported electricity. As of 2008, its failure to provide for the energy needs of its citizens meant it was short by 23% of the total demand for power. California has been loath to permit the building of coal-fired plants and slow to build those based on nuclear power. California has been a big proponent of wind and solar energy; the least practical means of providing electricity.

Today, California consumes 65% more electricity than it did in 1980. Coal-based electricity imports from other states grew by 60% from 1998 to 2005. Intent on emphasizing “efficient” power use policies, California has discovered that efficiency improvements do not reduce its overall energy consumption and, as often as not, leads to more energy use because people perceive such “efficiency” savings as freeing up more dollars for other energy-consuming devices and activities.

Meanwhile, demands for greater energy “efficiency” have driven up the cost of housing and driven out manufacturing firms because of high energy prices. If the states from which it imports electricity were to reduce or cut off supplies, California would swiftly decline to the status of a third world nation.

Estimates of the amounts of untapped oil off its coast on the continental shelf are in the millions of barrels, possibly billions. A reversal of this policy would generate lots of high-paying jobs and reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil.

As this is being written, California faces a $21.3 billion deficit. Its citizens have defeated all of the proposed measures to close it, probably in retaliation for the spendthrift insanity of its legislature.

These are the same policies—immigration, education¸ housing, energy—being pursued by the Obama administration and, if California is a template for what will occur nationwide, it portends a very grim future.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/ and a weekly commentary at http://www.anxietycenter.com/, the website of The National Anxiety Center.

© Alan Caruba, July 2009

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Conservative+California+Broke+Busted+Loan+Liberal+Socialist

It is Raw Anger - Not Hate!

Is Hate Growing in America?
By: J. D. Longstreet

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From Rasmussen Reports: “Fifty percent (50%) of Americans believe hate is growing in America in the wake of the murders of a doctor who performed late-term abortions and a military recruiter and a shooting incident at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in which a guard was killed. … Since much of the criticism after the shooting incidents was directed at conservative talk radio and television, it’s not surprising that 52% of Democrats blame radio, TV and Internet rhetoric for increased hatred, while a plurality of Republicans (44%) feel the opposite way. Adults not affiliated with either party are almost evenly divided on the question.”
You may read the entire article HERE.

So far no surprises. It was, OF COURSE, those mean ole CONSERVATIVES stirring people up over such paltry things as the hijacking of our democracy and replacing it with a socialist form of government. The wanton disregard of the constitution by the left, and conservatives having the temerity to actually speak aloud about such things as our religion which tells us, flat-out, that certain behaviors are unacceptable in the eyes of God and are heinous sins and blasphemous crimes against God. So, yes, I suppose conservatives did upset some people.

It is always upsetting when someone holds a mirror up to a society and allows the members of that society to see the evil rampant in one’s own society and yes, even in one’s own life. Yeah, it can be expected that will cause some uncomfortable moments for our friends on the left side of the political spectrum.

Raised as an evangelical I was taught to ”Love the sinner and hate the sin.” But, I have to tell you, it is getting far more difficult these days to not carry that hate for the sin over to the sinner, as well- especially when the sinner is constantly in your face, flaunting his crime against God in the face of a society he knows does not approve of his acts. It has also become uncommonly trying on those conservatives when they know they are being deliberately singled out in an attempt to cause them to break and react in a manner which may reflect hate rather than love.

Now, let’s understand one other very important thing, too. Not ALL conservatives are church going, bible reading, Christians. It is not required that a conservative to be a Christian.

One other thing we need to be clear on. There is a double standard in America for Conservatives and Leftists. Things the left routinely gets away with, a conservative would be crucified for. Just as an example - adultery is one of the biggies.

According to the same Rasmussen Report: “Fifty-three percent (53%) of Americans said the United States should refrain from banning so-called “hate speech” in a survey a year ago. Twenty-eight percent (28%) favored banning hate speech, which is loosely defined as comments intended to put down or incite violence against people on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and other legally protected categories.” Am I the only commentator out here who sees this as what it is – a clear violation of the First Amendment?

I am convinced the sole purpose of the Hate Speech Ban is to silence Conservatives. There is absolutely no other acceptable explanation for it. Conservatives who spout the truth are a real and present danger to the political left. I mean, the left cannot allow conservatives to refer to as them socialists! That’s what they are, but they don’t want to hear you actually SAY IT! And – they fear you hearing it. They fear that if you do come to suspect that the current government in the United States is controlled by socialists you just might take the time to do a little light research and learn what a socialist REALLY is - and that would scare you to death! Conservatives, of course, WANT you to do that research and learn for yourself who is actually pulling the strings in your nation’s capital.

According to Rasmussen: “seventy-four percent (74%) of voters believe that with the Internet, cable networks, satellite radio, newspapers, radio and TV, it is possible for just about any political view to be heard in today’s media.” So, what’s wrong wit that? Nothing I can think of. Where the problem arises is when one side or the other tries to shut everybody else up! And THAT is exactly what leftist the world over, and especially in America, tries to do every time they come to power. As an example, I offer the Fairness Doctrine. The left in Congress has not given up their goal of the reinstitution of that hellish piece of legislation. Oh, they will title it something else, but it will BE “the Fairness Doctrine.”

To answer the question in the title to this commentary, I’d reply that no, I do not believe hate in America is getting any worse. However, when you stifle a once free people, it has the same effect as screwing the valve down tight on a pressure cooker. Sooner or later, something is going to explode.

Today America is that pressure cooker. Our leftist/socialist leadership is screwing the valve closed at an ever-increasing speed and the pressure within is building to dangerous levels. They are doing exactly what we predicted they WOULD DO once in power. They are over-reaching. They do it every time! It seems they simply cannot help themselves. They become inebriated on power, and their drunkenness affects their judgment – or so it seems.

No, in my opinion, hate is not growing - but flat out, old fashioned, country style ANGER IS GROWING!

I don’t know about you – but I am mad as hell! I’m mad at what has been done to my country! I’m mad as hell at the folks who have done it and continue doing it! I’m mad as hell at the folks who sit on the sidelines and bitch and moan and won’t get in the arena and fight for what they KNOW is right! I’m mad as hell at the political party that KNOWS what it takes to win and throw the Socialist and Marxists out of Washington, and still refuse to do it! That is utter insanity and the GOP is as mad as a hatter!

America is becoming an armed camp. If our public education system was worth anything at all, Americans would know what is happening. To get a grasp of it, all that is required is a look at what happened in this same country from about 1820 until April of 1861. We are repeating the same mistakes we made then. May God have mercy on us if we do not wake up and get hold of ourselves and stop the insanity in our government before half of this country decides it no longer wishes to be associated with the other half.

One thing is certain. We cannot continue on the course we have set. If we do, the United States of America will cease to exist in a very short time.

J. D. Longstreet
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Conservative+Socialism+Marxism+Anger+American+War

Americans Stocking Up On Firearms And Ammo

Americans Continue to Arm Themselves

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Here’s some information I picked up from Rasmussen the other day:

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Americans say gun sales are up in the United States because of a fear of increased government restriction on gun ownership.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 23% say gun sales have risen because of a fear of increased crime. Twenty-one percent (21%) are not sure .

Sixty-three percent (63%) of men say the threat of more gun control is behind increased sales, compared to 51% of women. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of whites agree, while African-Americans are more closely divided on the question.

You may read the entire article from Rasmussen Here.

It is good to know that 75% of Americans believe the constitution guarantees the right to own a gun. A whopping 92% of Republicans say the Constitution guarantees their right to own a gun, compared to 64% of Democrats and 71% of adults not affiliated with either of the major political parties.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The amendment is part of the Bill of Rights.

Gun control advocates have argued that the Second Amendment refers to the arming of a militia for the common defense and is not a guarantee of an individual’s right to own a gun. The National Rifle Association and numerous political leaders, both Democrat and Republican, among others, disagree.

Now we have Judge Sonia Sotomayor, nominated for the US Supreme Court by President Obama, with a record on the 2nd Amendment which is troublesome to gun owners – and that is putting it mildly. US Senators are being urged by their constituents to carefully question Judge Sotomayor about her position and her rulings on cases having to do with the second amendment.

Take a look a portion of Sotomayor’s record on gun rights:

Sotomayor ruled in United States v. Sanchez-Villar (2004) that "the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right."She was part of a three-judge panel earlier this year which ruled in Maloney v. Cuomo that the Second Amendment does not apply to the states.

Fox News reported back in May that in her senior thesis at Princeton University, Sotomayor wrote that America has a "deadly obsession" with guns and that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to firearms ownership.

I ran across an interesting article on a site called “The Patriot’s Mind” a few days ago. The title of the piece is: “What the Media won’t tell you about Judge Sotomayor.” You will find it HERE.

And we must not forget the new Obama Attorney General, Eric Holder, who is reportedly not, shall we say, a keen supporter of gun rights.

Americans continue to practically run to gun shops to purchase weapons. They are buying ammunition, semiautomatic sport-utility rifles, and handguns, and shotguns. (Shotguns are a bit easier to employ for the beginner. You just point it in the general direction of your target and pull the trigger. There’s a pretty good chance you’ll get a piece of your intended target.)

The plain truth - is Americans are afraid this new government is going to disregard the constitution and take away their guns and/or make it nearly impossible for them to purchase ammunition for their weapons. That is one reason Americans are buying guns. The other is, or should be, self-explanatory.

From the mouth of, quite likely, the 20th century’s worst dictator, Adolph Hitler, is the most important reason Americans should never give up their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Here is what Hitler said: "The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing."-- Adolph Hitler, Hitler's Secret Conversations 403 (Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens trans., 1961)

Now compare that to what Thomas Jefferson said to John Cartwright in 1824. Jefferson said: "The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."

When Americans survey the political landscape in Washington DC today one cannot escape the feeling that powers are gathering to strip Americans of a cherished right - the right to keep and bear arms.

Americans have almost instinctively understood that it was the gun that secured our freedom from Great Britain and it was the gun that has kept us free ever since.

James Madison had this to say in The Federalist Papers, No. 46 about American’s gun rights:
“The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

And finally, Patrick Henry, that fiery Founding Father had some strong words about the people resisting the abuse of power by their government. Henry said this:

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.”

Through lips curled into a sneer Patrick Henry said this:

“O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone...Did you ever read of any revolution in a nation...inflicted by those who had no power at all?”

Americans must, must, remember, that without the right guaranteed us by our Founding Fathers in the 2nd Amendment, we would have NO WAY to secure all the other rights. Somewhere along the way, over the past 233 years we seem to have forgotten that.

We would remind all Americans that with our guns we are citizens. Without them, we will fairly quickly become slaves.

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

Conservative<+Gun+Rights+Constitution+Sotomayor+Obama

"... But There Shall Be No Peace."

"…Men shall cry: Peace! Peace! But there will be no peace.”

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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

It bothers me when I hear politicians, and former politicians, call for a Lasting Peace in the Middle East… especially a Southern politician, a Baptist, at that, and… a former President of the US.

I am referring, among others, to former “horrible” President Jimmy Carter of Plains, Georgia.

Now, let me see if I can explain this a bit:

It is always difficult to “unmix” politics and religion; at least it is for me. I really like to keep them separate, as much as I can… with the knowledge that each will, most certainly, intrude on the other… and there is no way to stop that. Not in a free society, anyway.

I was raised Southern Baptist. I left the Baptist church when I was in my mid-twenties and became a Lutheran. I felt the Lutheran church offered me something I could not find in my former denomination. Today that offering has been revoked and I find myself a “non-practicing” Lutheran.

Experience in the Baptist church taught me many things. One is that the policy Mr. Carter is suggesting, a “Lasting Peace in the Middle East”, is certainly not what the Baptist church teaches... at least they didn’t when I was a Baptist. In fact, it taught just the opposite… that there would be no peace, whatsoever, in the Middle East, until the return of Christ and the great battle of Armageddon.

So, you can imagine how my jaw dropped when I read Carter’s article in the Washington Post. You can find it HERE.

What’s going on here? Has “Jimma” finally gone round that bend he has been approaching, rather rapidly, of late? Or, has the Baptist church changed its stance on Peace in the Middle East? I simply don’t know. But, knowing the Baptists, as I do, (there are a number of my family, including my brother, who are Baptist ministers) I cannot believe the church has changed its teachings to reflect modern, secular, politics. (I expect I’ll hear from a Baptist, or two, about this! Fine people, those Baptists!! How’s that for “sucking-up”?)

The last I heard, (and I have some friends who travel to Georgia, fairly often, and attend church at Carter’s church… and even attend the Sunday School class he teaches, or did teach.) the Baptist Church had not changed it’s teaching on “End Times”, Armageddon, or the Rapture. So, I have to wonder how other Baptists, members of one of the most conservative denominations on the earth, feel about this prominent Baptist misrepresenting their belief.

Carter’s association with the Baptists and his obvious break with them concerning Israel, and the Middle East, is a puzzlement. But then, politicians, who wear their religion on their sleeves, have always raised my eyebrows.

There is a distinct difference between wearing one’s religion on one’s sleeve, and practicing one’s religion, as that worthy adversary, Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman, does. I do not question his faith. He lives it.

Seems to me America would be a much better place if our politicians would LIVE their religion rather than publicly touting it as so many do.

Am I guilty of judging others by going against the biblical precept, “Judge not, that ye be not judged”? Of course I am! Christ himself said: “Ye shall know a tree by the fruit it bears.” I’m just examining the fruit! I’m kind of a “fruit inspector”, if you will.

I suggest we ALL begin examining the fruit we’re being offered much more closely than we have in the past. All the evidence we need to convince those among us who STILL need convincing has been splattered all over the media lately.

J. D. Longstreet

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

Conservative+Religion+Politics+America

Declaration of Independence

Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.The original spelling and capitalization have been retained. (Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)

The Unanimous Declarationof the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776

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

Conservative

A Republic… IF We Can Keep It!

A Republic… IF We Can Keep It!
A commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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

The story is told that when Ben Franklin emerged from the Constitutional Convention an anxious lady asked him what kind of government they had given us. His famous reply was: “A republic, Madam… if you can keep it.” And, for the most part, we Americans have been trying to keep it. But “change” is in the air.

Have you noticed how the Democratic Party has stopped denying its socialist tendencies?

Months ago, as I began to write about the dangers of socialism to America, (and how the Democratic Party has become a sort of Democratic/Socialist party) I was stunned when they, the democrats, did not refute it! See, I had expected democrats to deny any connection to socialism. But they didn’t. It was then that it struck me… they don’t deny it because they can’t. Apparently, they have embraced socialism.

You must forgive me if I get a bit wound-up when socialism is the topic. I have watched that “destroyer of nations” reap its harvest for many, many, decades. It is, in my opinion, the greatest threat to democracy on the planet. I see socialism as presenting an even greater threat than the Islamofacist terrorists! I will never be comfortable with a socialist government in America. We can argue “degrees” of socialism all day and it won’t matter. As the expression goes: “a little leaven leavens the whole loaf.”

As Independence Day rushes toward us, I think it is pure irony that now, as a “near” socialist nation, America can celebrate an event named “Independence Day” with a straight face!

As I write, in the year of our Lord 2009, Americans are anything but independent! We are fat, and lazy, and dependent on our new “near” socialist government for far too much and we are begging them to take on more of our care through a National Healthcare System that at least some of us recognize as socialized medicine and which has been dubbed “ObamaCare.” There is very little “independent” about Americans today. In less than six short months of the Obama regime we have gone from “King of the Hill” to just another member of the “mediocrity pack” of nations.

I know this is difficult to swallow. You can’t know how much pain it cause me to write these words. I have stood on the ground where the Wright brothers took their first flight launching America into the space age. They had no idea that their short flight would end up taking man to the stars, but of course, it did. I have trod the ground from which our astronauts blasted off to land and walk upon the surface of the moon. I have witnessed America claw her way to the top through sheer willpower and determination to be the best. And now, as I approach the autumn of my life, I am watching the decline and fall of that same America. Do you really think I don’t feel a copious amount of pain? I think I must now know what the ancient Romans felt as they watched the greatest civilization in history, to that day, decline, crumble, and fall in ruins around them.

“Oh,” but you say, “… socialism is the only way to go. Everyone will be equal! No class, no class warfare…” and such.

Well, let us see if we can break it down so that even those of you in love with the “cancer of nations,” socialism, can understand it.

The story is told of an economics professor at a small college who made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan.” All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride, too, so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Socialism will brung the end to private enterprise. Just think: under socialism there would be no small businesses, none of those Mom and Pop stores we are so fami,liar with in America. There would be no entrepreneurs. Socialism calls for the redistribution of wealth. Broken down, that simply means taking the money you earned and giving it to those you feel did not earn it. Socialism demands that all wealth in a nation, and that includes yours, will be controlled by the government. In other words, you will own nothing --- not even your own money. The government owns everything and everyone is given only what it takes for that person to survive. Socialism celebrates the lack of an upper class and a lower class. Under socialism there is only one class. And in THAT class all people suffer equally.

Americans have made an awful decision. They have decided to give up. Freedom is just too hard. It requires entirely too much work and effort on the part of the individual. It is much easier to sit back, relax, and allow the government to take care of us. Look, folks, birds locked in a golden cage are just as much a prisoner as those locked in a rusty old quarter-inch mesh wire cage. A prison is a prison and man is quite capable of creating his own.

Americans remind me today of the little granddaughter of a friend. He tells me she just recently went through the stage all parents are familiar with called…”potty training.” When she finished her business she would sit patiently on the porcelain throne, and yell her head off, until someone appeared to take care of that most important chore – the hygienic cleansing of the recently employed lower sphincter. (The vernacular is much more colorful and maybe a bit more descriptive, but, at the risk of creating a pun here, I wanted to keep it clean!) The child’s actions sound so much like what Americans are doing today, sitting on the porcelain throne yelling our heads off while waiting for someone to come take care of the last, but important, chore. The government will take care of it, but there is a price to be extracted from each of us. The price is the loss of our freedom.

They say that Satan’s greatest trick is convincing mankind that he doesn’t exist. It may be his best trick but it doesn’t hold a candle to the trick socialism has played on America.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Socialism+Republic+Government+America

I Miss America! ... J. D. Longstreet

I Miss America, Already!
By: J. D. Longstreet
**************************
With the 4th of July, celebrated as Independence Day in the United States, fast approaching, scribes all over the nation are dutifully dipping their quills into their inkpots to scribble the obligatory few lines on the topic: “What America Means to me”, again this year, as in every year since, well, since there has been an America, I suppose.

But, I must confess, I am having difficulty this year. Each time I pull up to the keyboard, and type those few words, my eyes want to tear up and I get that lump in the throat that I used to associate with singing the national anthem and watching the flag march by, proudly held aloft by a veteran of the US Armed Forces. It is a common trait among those of us who have worn our nation’s uniform.

Ah, but this year, this year, the would-be tears are not only for those who have paid the price of our freedom with their body and blood - and sometimes even their sanity, it is for what we, as Americans, have lost in just the first five short months of the new presidential administration’s reign.

Near the top of my list of things we Americans have lost is PRIDE. Pride at being an American. Pride that was earned - that was paid for by the men and women who went before me into the jaws of hell and back to free a people in a country the name of which some of them could not even pronounce. It was pride earned because Americans were a people who would lend a hand to their fellow man, far away, who yearned to be free from a brutal dictator.

America used to be thought of as a “can-do” nation. It didn’t make a lot of difference what needed doing, America could, and would, do it. It never occurred to us we could fail. I mean, after all, we were AMERICANS! We DON’T FAIL!

It was confidence. Self-confidence, if you will. We were a nation of rugged individualists who did not rely on government for a damned thing. As a matter of fact, the less government we had - the better.

The nation, itself, was founded largely by the outcasts of other nations. Occasionally, other nations would send their criminals here as punishment. I know that is difficult to believe but it happened! They were people who had nothing to lose, with their backs against the wall they had one way to go and that was straight ahead - and the devil take the hind most! Those were the people who formed the bedrock foundation of the people the world would come to know simply as “AMERICANS.” Unique in the history of the planet - there had never been a nation made of people like those Americans. They were different. They knew it and they loved it.

They were a people who wanted their freedom - and so they took it – and they took it from a world superpower, no less. They created an experimental system of government called a representative republic and made it work! Some 80 years later they fell out, over state’s rights, and split into two separate countries and went to war against each other. The War for Southern Independence was unlike anything the world had seen before and since. They went at killing each other with workman like precision. On more than one occasion soldiers would cheer and applaud the other side’s bravery in the midst of the battle! More Americans died in that war than in all the wars America has been involved in added together. Some say the way that war ended has much to do with where America finds herself today. I cannot disagree with that. As a result of that war’s ending we stand today as one nation containing two countries made up of 50 separate and sovereign states. At some point it is bound to unravel.

America’s downfall came quickly once it began in the early 1990’s.

I have concluded ignorance is the cause of America’s downfall. We Americans are, as a whole, stupid. We are the least educated, dumbest, society on earth. How else can you account for the people we elected to lead the nation? I mean… just LOOK at that bunch! Now… look at what they have done to the country in less than six months! There is no easy way to say this – the election of Obama was a huge triumph for ignorance in America. If you STILL do not believe me, stick around for oh, a year, maybe eighteen months, or so, and watch what is going to happen and THEN tell me I am wrong.

Come on folks! Look at the fare on your TV. Most of it is insulting to anyone with a slightly above average IQ. You must understand the comprehension level of the average adult American today is around that of a third grader, or below. The people who produce the garbage on TV have to dumb it down so the average American can understand it! How else are they going to be able to sell it to the networks as vehicles for their commercials?

Our public school system (the government schools, as many now refer to them) is absolutely pathetic. It is a colossal failure. The curriculum has been dumbed down so that we are graduating kids who can barely function in a world that will surely pass them by. We know what is wrong with our schools and we know how to fix them - but we won’t. You must understand that for the government (we now have in America) to continue to control the reins of power they need MORE dumb Americans - not less. Our cookie-cutter schools are turning them out by the millions every year.

So, if you say America has passed her zenith, I certainly would not argue with you. Today’s America is but a caricature of the real America. And I really, really, miss America!

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+America+Education+government+Dumb

America, the Silly Nation ... Alan Caruba

America, the Silly Nation
By Alan Caruba

As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, we will hear about our Founding Fathers, about those who fought our wars to preserve and safeguard our nation, and other men and women who contributed to the nation’s greatness.

It is good to look back, but future generations will look back as well and wonder how such a great nation became such a silly nation, the object of scorn and ridicule around the world, challenged by every gangster nation that shares the planet; attacked by Al Qaeda, threatened by North Korea, mocked by Venezuela, insulted by Iran, and sustained by the wealth of China and other lenders.

What other republic is governed by fools who voted without reading “climate” legislation whose 1,200 pages of rules and regulations will enrich a few and leave the rest scrambling to pay the light bill? That is, if the light turns on. If passed by the Senate, it will be the largest tax increase in the history of the nation. It exists to “save the planet” from a “global warming” that is not happening.

What other nation would systematically ensure that its vast resources of coal, enough to power plants to produce electricity for the next hundred or two hundred years, not be used because no new plants will be built? Fully fifty percent of our electricity comes from coal, but this nation is about to waste billions of dollars on wind and solar energy—so called “clean” energy—which accounts for about one percent.

If wind or solar was a sensible way to produce electricity, surely utilities would have invested in it long ago. It isn’t. It never will be. Only a very silly nation would shift billions of dollars to such “clean” and “renewable” energy when it was sitting on top of tons of coal.

Only a silly nation would ensure that its other vast, natural and national resource, oil, would be put off limits to all exploration and extraction in Alaska and along our vast coastlines, as well as huge reserves in the nation’s interior. Only a silly nation would do this while listening to its politicians talk about “energy independence.”

Only a silly nation would ignore the vast potential of nuclear power and use all manner of bureaucratic obstacles to drive up the cost of building plants to generate electricity.

Only a silly nation would ignore the security of its southern border as a virtual invasion of illegal aliens pours across, and take advantage of all manner of welfare programs, special education programs for their children, and free medical services. Our prisons, too, are filling up with illegal aliens.

Only a silly nation with twelve million or more of these illegal aliens in its midst would actually be looking for a way to magically make them citizens overnight while ignoring the fact that they having been taking jobs from natural born and naturalized citizens by working “off the books” and sending billions back to Mexico and points south. Amnesty would double or triple the existing population of formerly illegal aliens in America as family members joined them.

Only a silly nation would allow the teachers unions to totally control the quality of education and transfer power to Washington, D.C., away from the States and local communities where it rightfully belongs.

Only a silly nation would spend thousands of dollars per student and, at the same time, ignore the message they are sending with obscene drop-out rates. Only a silly nation would impose a one-size-fits-all system of testing on millions of students.

Only a silly nation would to allow the graduation, year after year, of students lacking the most basic math, science, reading, and other skills necessary to provide the workforce we require.

Only a silly nation would ensure that the costs of a college education were so high that graduates enter the workplace burdened by years of debt.

Only a silly nation would continue to seek negotiations with Iran whose leaders cry “Death to America” every day. Only a silly nation would elect a President who, when the desire for freedom and democracy broke out on the streets of Tehran, expressed respect for the “Supreme Leader” and outrage only after protesters had been shot to death and clubbed into submission.

Only a silly nation would permit itself to literally go broke, along with most of its States, and then vote billions more in a “stimulus” bill while, at the same time, giving billions to failed auto companies and taking government ownership. We own an insurance company as well. This is contrary to the Constitution. It is nationalization.

It was, however, a silly nation that caused the housing mortgage meltdown with government mandates that required banks and mortgage firms to lend money to people who would not normally qualify for them.

It is a silly nation that proposes to provide healthcare insurance to everyone at the same time Medicare is on the brink of bankruptcy. Nationalizing the healthcare system will kill a lot of Americans by rationing health services, but that’s what a silly nation does.

Only a silly nation would raise taxes in the midst of a major Recession verging on a Depression. The last Great Depression lasted ten years because of such foolish actions and ended only because the nation had to gear up for World War Two.

There was a time when mature people led the nation prudently and, when necessary, boldly. What we have now are petulant and indifferent children intent on personal enrichment.

What we have is a President that does not like America..

What we have is a silly nation.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/ and a weekly commentary at http://www.anxietycenter.com/, the website of The National Anxiety Center.

© Alan Caruba, June 2009

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