Monday, September 30, 2013

The Madness of Leadership ... J. D. Longstreet

The Madness of Leadership
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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"The day may dawn when fair play, love for one's fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have to dwell. Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair." ~ Winston Churchill

Did you know that Churchill was a depressive?  Oh, yes.  He struggled with depression most of his life. 

The world would be surprised, indeed, to know the depressives who became great leaders in politics, in arts and sciences, and yes, in religion, over the past decades and ages.

Why do you suppose that happened? 

I have a theory.   See, depressives are great "thinkers."  They tend to turn inward under stress.  Instead of relying wholly on advisers and an entourage of sycophants, they rely upon themselves and their own abilities and, for the religious among them -- they also lean heavily upon their God -- for they have learned, more than most men, I think, the inherent weakness of man from wrestling with that weakness every waking hour of their lives.

Despair, as Churchill mentioned above, was a condition he lived with almost daily.  He understood it as few did or do. 

But, here's the thing about recognizing despair and over coming it -- or enduring it -- if you will:  You no longer fear it -- and -- you learn that each bout survived makes you stronger much as a fiery crucible refines it's contents.

Having survived despair, the depressive knows the "worse that can happen" and his mind has broken the shackles that fear had previously imposed and he is free to think, to plan, to call forth his creative abilities, to attack whatever the problem is before him.  In Churchill's time and place it was World War Two.

I am convinced that Churchill learned to use the repressed anger and melancholic depression to his advantage.  That is what great men do, nay, that is what great human beings do!

John Adams, 2nd President of the United States and one of America's founding fathers was a depressive.  Charles Dickens, that great British writer was, too, a depressive.  So were/are Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut, the second man to set foot on the moon;  Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer;  Dick Cavett, American talk show host;  Ray Charles, African-American singer;  Charles Darwin, British naturalist;  Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter, poet and artist;  William Faulkner, American author;  Harrison Ford, American actor;  Ken Griffey Jr., American MLB player;  Ernest Hemingway, American writer;  Abraham Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 16th President of the United States; John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist;  Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer;  Mohandas Gandhi,  leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India;  Mark Twain, American writer;   Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights leader; Mike Wallace, American journalist on 60 Minutes;  and Boris Yeltsin, first President of Russia;  SOURCE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_major_depressive_disorder            

Depressives tend to see the world as it really is.  As a rule, they do not fool themselves into believing they are "in control."  Normal people do.

Depressives are pragmatic and have the ability to adapt to a changing reality even when they don't particularly like it.  They don't care about society's "norm" and structures, nor do they care for doing "what is expected of them."  Example:  "When Neville Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich agreement with Hitler in 1938, only Churchill and a small coterie refused to stand and cheer in parliament, eliciting boos and hisses from other honorable members."  SOURCE:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576474451102761640.html

Churchill saw Chamberlain's blunder with the clarity and realism that many, if not most, "normal" persons lack.

Depressives also value, highly, other people's opinions.  That, alone, makes them next to unique! BUT -- a warning:  those empathetic depressives may not be out to defeat you as an opponent, but they are fixated upon showing you the error(s) of your ways and changing your mind along with your opinion!

Nassir Ghaemi, (runs the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center in Boston)  in an article for the Wall Street Journal entitled:  "Depression in Command," said the following:  "When times are good and the ship of state only needs to sail straight, mentally healthy people function well as political leaders. But in times of crisis and tumult, those who are mentally abnormal, even ill, become the greatest leaders. We might call this the Inverse Law of Sanity."

Mr. Ghaemi continues:  "Great crisis leaders are not like the rest of us; nor are they like mentally healthy leaders. When society is happy, they toil in sadness, seeking help from friends and family and doctors as they cope with an illness that can be debilitating, even deadly. Sometimes they are up, sometimes they are down, but they are never quite well.

When traditional approaches begin to fail, however, great crisis leaders see new opportunities. When the past no longer guides the future, they invent a new future. When old questions are unanswerable and new questions unrecognized, they create new solutions. They are realistic enough to see painful truths, and when calamity occurs, they can lift up the rest of us."
  SOURCE:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576474451102761640.html

So, where DOES their strength come from?   "Their weakness is the secret of their strength," according to Mr. Ghaemi.  I believe him.

I am now, and have been for most of my life, acquainted with a number of depressives.  One thing I have found to be -- oh, so true -- is their honestly in answering a probing question.   Many depressives are reluctant to offer an answer to an unasked question, but, when the question is PUT to them, they tend to reply with clarity, realism, pragmatism, truthfulness, and on occasion, biting humor. 
When asked for a suggested solution to a problem, they will often surprise by offering a creative solution that defies the normal thinking patterns and can be -- and often is --  described as being "out of the box."

Consider this:  In 2006 an article was published by psychiatrists at the Duke University Medical Center which reviewed the biographies of American presidents from 1776 to 1974. This study, which was published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease analyzed the historical data of 37 presidents looking for symptoms of mental illness as defined by the criteria of the DSM-IV, the Diagnostic Statistical Manual. What they found was startling. According to the Duke researchers, 49% of former presidents had experienced some form of mental illness. Depression was the most common type of presidential mental illness (24%) which some experts say is a high percentage compared with the national average.

 Here is a list of the presidents who have been diagnosed with depression through analysis of historical data:

John Adams


Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

John Quincy Adams

Franklin Pierce

Abraham Lincoln

Calvin Coolidge

SOURCE:  (We highly recommend that you read this article.  You'll find it at:    http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/c/84292/150467/7-depression

There is an old saw that says:  "Have you ever noticed that when all hell breaks loose, and destruction is assured, there always seems to be one person who steps forward with all the right answers, who knows EXACTLY what to do to save the day?  Have you ever noticed that, more often than not, that person is insane?"

I hope that through these humble scribblings you can now see the truth in that old "saying."  

It is also true that while it my not pay to be nuts, quite often it REALLY does help!

© J. D. Longstreet
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Sunday, September 29, 2013

A New Political Party Aborning? ... J. D. Longstreet

A New Political Party Aborning?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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I may be a bit premature with this, well, I don't like calling it a prediction, because it isn't.  So, let's just refer to it as a, uh,  "future-probing observation."  



So, here's what I THINKI see as I probe the future:



First, though, we need to consider what is happening within the GOP as I write. 



There is an early stage revolution in full bloom amongst the leadership of the Republican Party.  The so-called "establishment" republicans are having their collective lunches eaten by the young lions from the conservative corner of the party. Not used to being challenged, the blue bloods and the country club republicans (sometimes referred to as the "establishment" republicans) are having a great deal of trouble holding their own.  In fact, they are losing ground as the passionate young conservatives, tired of the pats on the head, the condescension,  ... all the treatment they have received as the red-headed step child of the GOP, are "kicking against the pricks"of the party with a vengeance.  


Currently, the GOP has no national leader, at all!  None!  But that may be changing.  In fact, I believe it is changing -- and if early movement is any indicator, the new leader of the GOP will be younger and far more conservative than any before him.



There is obviously a transformation taking place within the roots of Republican Party out here in the heartland.  Young Americans are becoming more and more involved in politics and many are finding they are conservative.  Their energy, their vigor, their passion, their zeal has been frightening to the old gray beards of the party. 



These "young Turks" are not the least bit threatened by the gravitas, the weight, of the establishment republicans.  They simply don't care.  Going along to get along is NOT AN OPTION for these youthful political gladiators.  They won't "go along" with their own party -- let alone the opposition.  



The infusion of young, HOT, blood into the GOP could not have come at a more auspicious time.  Without leadership, the party was/is adrift and has become something of an after thought in Washington. While controlling only one house of the Congress, the GOP has been relegated to fighting a holding action, in a defensive posture.



The young conservatives, however, aren't interested in defending anything. They have scaled the walls of the trenches, gone over the top, and are taking the fight directly to the opposition in "no quarter" battle.



Consider this:  In 2010, the Kentucky and Utah elected two U.S. Senators that would one day become top GOP grassroot leaders. U.S. Senator Rand Paul (KY-R) and U.S. Senator Mike Lee (UH-R). In the House of Representatives, Justin Amash (MI-3) also won his Congressional race as a liberty candidate. This was a victory for all liberty activists all around the nation. With Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Justin Amash winning their Federal elections, it sent a clear message to the Republican Party. A message that rings loud today is the message that liberty is taking over the GOP.



    The liberty movement did not stop there, and after two years the message still held strong. In 2012, Texas held a tough primary election, but resulted in another win for the liberty movement. Now U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (TX-R), has been fighting to put liberty on the platform of the Republican Party.  With a string of election victories over the years, one can start to see the Republican Party take a turn in platform."  SOURCE:  http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/danherrera1/the-republican-revolution-a-future-for-liberty-and



There can be no doubt that the Libertarian branch of the GOP has grown in influence and power in recent years within the national party and more so, it would seem, at the grass roots level.



There can also be no doubt that the Tea Party Movement has contributed greatly to the revolution within the republican party. 



Look.  Conservatives have begged and pleaded with  the GOP to take the fight to the democrats and the party has simply refused.  Interpreting the hunkered-down position as a position of submission, conservatives have decided that if they must go down they will go down swinging -- in defiance of their own party, if necessary.  



Look for even more changes n the 2014 election.  More and more moderate and liberal republicans will be challenged in primaries by young conservatives across the country. 



While we may not be seeing the birth of a NEW political party we may be observing the death of an old party -- and a rebirth of the SAME party under new management.



As I noted at the beginning of this piece, this is NOT a prediction.  I am only attempting to follow the line of natural progression into the future of the GOP, only -- as I see it



The pale curtain that drapes between the present and future prevents us from great accuracy in reading events, which have not yet happened.   But projecting end results of current struggles and events would surely lead a reasonable person to conclude that, once again, the Republican Party is about to undergo a tremendous change.  One might say it is going "the way of the Whigs."


© J. D. Longstreet

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A Very Angry America ... Alan Caruba

A Very Angry America


By Alan Caruba

I have been trying to remember when there was so much anger between the Democrats and Republicans. Or maybe I should say between liberals and conservatives? Or maybe I should say between the Tea Party and the Republican Party? Or maybe I should say those who find the President of the United States a contemptible liar who has diminished a once great superpower to an object of disrespect?

There is plenty of anger to go around. The mood of the nation is one of anger from one end of the political spectrum to the other.

What is one to make of a White House senior advisor, Dan Pfeiffer, who compared Republicans to arsonists, hostage-takers, and suicide bombers? The Majority Leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, told Republicans that “There’s no need for conversations” telling them to send over a continuing resolution without defunding Obamacare. He has called Tea Party members of the House “anarchists.”

Meanwhile, Republicans who do not want to see the government shut down are labeled “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). Instead of keeping the spotlight on the Democrats who foisted Obamacare on us, we have been watching the Republican Party tear itself apart.

As the Wall Street Journal columnist, Kimberly Strassel put it, “The tragic reality is that this vote isn't shaping up to be all that perilous for the owners of the law. Nobody is even talking about Democrats. Nobody has put an iota of pressure on them for months. Every camera, every microphone has been trained on the GOP.”

Her colleague, Daniel Henniger, described the fratricide arising from the dispute over defunding Obamacare, saying, “This effort has not, for some time now, been about victory. It has become as RedState’s Erick Erickson put it with his usual eloquences, about shining a light on the ‘cockroaches’ in the GOP. Ted Cruz has spent months berating his own side as ‘appeasers’ who care only about ‘being invited to all the right cocktail parties in town.”

The result has been a GOP in meltdown while the President happily joined in on Friday calling the Tea Party members in Congress—though not by name-- “extremists.”

All this has brought to mind Barry Goldwater’s declaration to the Republican Party when he accepted their nomination to run for President in 1964. “Let me remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” He lost by a landslide to the incumbent, President Lyndon B. Johnson.

I understood what Goldwater meant, but extremism has never played well in American politics. Indeed, the Constitution is constructed so that any form of extremism can be thwarted by the checks and balances that slow any rush toward ill-considered legislation. That, however, did not work when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and imposed Obamacare on everyone.

Those who believe that, even with a Republican majority after the 2014 midterm elections, President Obama would not veto a bill to repeal Obamacare are deluding themselves.
 
Hating Obama is not enough. Understanding how our republic works is essential.

Tea Party came about initially as a protest against Obamacare and then grew has a grassroots political movement that elected a number of those it supported to the House. It is this bloc of votes that Speaker John Boehner has struggled to work with. In the Senate, Tea Party members include Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Tom Coburn, Marco Rubio, and Pat Toomey.

Obama has many faults, but he has proven himself a master manipulator. The current struggle over Obamacare has played into his hands. That is unfortunate because what the GOP must do between now and the 2014 midterm elections is to focus on defeating those Democrats up for election who have supported Obama.

The general anger against Obamacare will gain in momentum, but if the GOP is seen as a bunch of crazies, it will affect the outcome. That’s the way it played out in 1964.

At this writing the possibility of a government shutdown is fifty-fifty. It will be over quickly, but by then the GOP will have dealt itself a disservice.

Until the GOP secures control of the Senate, the House, and the White House Obamacare will remain the law of the land. That is very bad news for all Americans and the future of America. Meanwhile, it is a good idea to remember that many bad laws have been reversed and repealed.

© Alan Caruba, 2013
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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" and shared on dozens of news and opinion websites. His blog recently passed more than 2.9 million page views. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. For information on his professional skills, Caruba Editorial Services is the place to go! You can find Alan Caruba on both Facebook and Twitter as well.
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Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Bastardization of America ... J. D. Longstreet


(PUBLISHED ORIGINALLY IN FEBRUARY OF 2012 under the title: "A NATION of Bastards.")
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The Bastardization of America
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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The dictionary defines bastard as:
“bas·tard
/ˈbæstərd/ noun
1.
a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.   (SOURCE)

In America today “73 percent of black children are born outside marriage, compared with 53 percent of Latinos and 29 percent of whites.” SOURCE:  http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/18/tp-most-births-among-those-under-30-are-to-unwed/all/?print


What ever happened to shame?  An even better question to ask, perhaps, is what has happened to self-respect?

Today in America  “…. More than half of births for women under 30 occur outside marriage.” SOURCE:  http://www.newser.com/story/139982/most-babies-to-young-moms-born-out-of-wedlock.html

It would appear, from the current figures, that our friends of the liberal and progressive persuasion have done a heck of a job in their efforts to destroy the American family.  It has worked beyond their wildest expectations.

In the not too distant past having the misfortune to be born a bastard marked you for life.  Your expectations were not good, to say the least.

  Mothers of bastard children were marked for life as well.  They were social outcasts.  The fathers were, well, just SOB’s lacking in self-control and having no respect for women, children, or the family.  He was not to be trusted, period.

America has truly become a “nation of bastards.”


You may ask why I am so concerned over this jaw-dropping illegitimacy rate.  The answer is simple.  People’s lives are being destroyed and the future of America is being destroyed right along with them.

THIS is what happens when the American family is destroyed.  Understand, two mommies, or two daddies -- with children -- is NOT a family.  A single parent with children is only half a family, at best. A family MUST be a father, mother, and the children.

Msgr. Charles Pope, of the Archdiocese of Washington, has said: “The breakdown of the traditional family is at the heart of what Daniel Patrick Moynihan once called a “tangle of pathologies.” The image I have often used is that the breakdown of the nuclear family is in fact a kind of nuclear fission. For the family (not the individual) is the basic unit of society. Splitting the family is like splitting the atom, it leads to a destructive chain reaction that, if not somehow controlled and contained, destroys just about everything in sight.

So many of our national ills are show(ing) a strong connection to the breakdown of the family: poverty (the highest correlation to poverty is single motherhood), juvenile crime, teenage suicide, promiscuity, teenage pregnancy, lower SAT and other academic scores, higher dropout rates, authority and trust issues, abortion (85% of abortions are performed on single women), a demonstrated lower capacity to make and keep commitments, delayed maturity, and a whole array of other things in a “tangle of pathologies.”

Clearly God, and nature provide that a child should have the influence of both a father and a mother, both a male and a female influence. It makes sense that proper human formation would require both male and female influence, which is both complimentary and diverse. There are important things that a child can learn from his father than he cannot learn from his mother and vice versa.” SOURCE :  http://catinfor.com/en/2012/02/22/out-of-wedlock-birth-rate-continues-to-soar-nothing-less-than-the-future-of-our-country-is-at-stake/

If you were taken aback when you read the title of this piece, then your shock is a clear indication of just how efficient the political correctness movement has been in America concerning issues such as illegitimacy.  

Black American leaders have failed, in my opinion.  It seems to be evident they had rather rail against racism, slavery, and poverty than attack, head-on, the breath taking issue of black bastard childbirths.  Even, it would seem, when 73% of the children of America’s black community are born out of wedlock, it is still much easier to take the path of least resistance and preach “victimhood” to America’s black community than it is to preach “responsibility” for one’s self and one’s circumstances.

As MSGR. Charles Pope says:  “Hard though it is, accepting personal responsibility is essential to human dignity.” SOURCE:  http://blog.adw.org/2012/02/out-of-wedlock-birthrate-continues-to-soar-nothing-less-than-the-future-of-our-country-is-at-stake/

To learn why America is crumbling, it is necessary to inspect the foundation – the family. 

When the foundation of any edifice begins to crumble it is only a matter of time before the entire structure collapses.

© J. D. Longstreet 
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Friday, September 27, 2013

American Exceptionalism Diluted by Illegal Immigration ... J. D. Longstreet

American Exceptionalism Diluted by Illegal Immigration
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Throughout history governments had lied to their constituents.  It is an indisputable fact of life. We Americans have been lied to, by our government, mercilessly, since our founding.  No matter where in the world you are reading this, rest assured your government has lied to you and may, even now, be lying to you… even as you peruse this article.

Today, in America, the Big Lie the government is peddling to Americans (I mean OTHER THAN OBAMACARE!) is two fold.  The first part of the lie is:  we can’t get rid of the 12 million, or so, illegal immigrants in this country.  The second part of the Big Lie is the current immigration reform bill proposed by the Congress is NOT an AMNESTY BILL.

I mean, come on folks, don’t tell me we can’t get rid of 12 million illegal aliens in this country!    Because we can! 

Prosecute the employers who have them on their payrolls.  Put an employer in jail for hiring them!  I mean mandatory jail time, not just a fine or a slap on the wrist. 

Repeal the “Anchor Baby” law.  (Any baby born in the US is automatically an American Citizen.)  It’s being used as a loophole to bring the families of those babies across the border and onto all the welfare programs offered to American citizens.  It’s draining the American taxpayer. As a matter of fact, if there were absolutely NO government benefits for illegals in this country the flow of illegals north, across the US/Mexico border, would be cut, overnight, by at least 2/3rds!

Plus, stop sending them back to Mexico only to have them return at the earliest opportunity.  Put them in jail.  I mean, put them to work on the roads, as we do chain gangs in the Southern United States.  I don’t mean for a few months, I mean for a decade or more.  

Put a bounty on all illegal immigrants within the borders of the US.  Allow private citizens to detain them and turn them in at police stations, anywhere, and collect the bounty on the spot.  Why, my own county would have the area football stadia filled by the end of the weekend!  I expect I could take a couple of dozen into custody within a mile, or two, of my own home!  Here in NC, Tar Heels would relish an opportunity to do something constructive for their state and their country… such as rounding up these criminals.  Already, some Tar Heel store owners are publicly wearing side arms to protect themselves and their businesses, as a result of high concentrations of Illegal aliens in their neighborhoods.

We have vast areas of uninhabited desert in the southwest of this country.  Why not locate “internment camps” in those deserts, away from civilization, and intern those breaking into our country… indefinitely!

But, you say, there are 12 MILLION of them!  Well, if that figure overwhelms you, consider that when the bill before Congress is signed into law, that 12 million will be able to bring over about 4 more, per head, and you are looking at a figure closer to 50 MILLION than 12 Million!  How does that grab you, huh? 

Dear reader we are looking down the barrel of the largest transfer of wealth in the history of America! 

… And build a damn WALL (not a flimsy fence) along the US/Mexico Border replete with machine gun emplacements, land mines, and electrified barbed wire, and anything else that will stop that illegal flow into our country!  I am way past tired of being preyed upon by our neighbors to the South!  If we can patrol the borders of Middle Eastern nations, then we can damn well patrol the borders of our own country!

While I am at it, I am sick and tired of being told by the liberals to be compassionate!  Look, I’m on compassion overload! It tends to anger me when I offer a helping hand to someone only to have him, or her, lift my wallet!  So, don’t try to put a guilt trip on me about being compassionate to my fellowman!  I’m way past that!

If you are as fed up with this Bovine Scatology the politicians in Washington are trying to sell us then let them know.  And keep telling them until they understand that if they pass this legislation they will be out of a job!

Look, we all know what is behind this.  The two major political parties in this country see amnesty for the 12 million illegals, and their relatives, as 50 million new voters for the Democrats and 50 million cheap labor hands for the GOP! It’s as simply as that!  Frankly, they’re not considering what is good, or bad, for the country… they are seeing the advantage for them, and their political party, and nothing more! 

Never in my lifetime have I seen a national legislature of the US as totally disconnected from the citizens of this country as the current crop in DC.  From the White House, to the Congress, to the Supreme Court, they have managed to isolate themselves into some sort of cocoon in which they insulate themselves from contact with the Great Unwashed… you and I!  What we have… is a government out of control!  And that is totally unacceptable in America.

The latest iteration of the "AMNESTY Bill" must be stopped!  Otherwise, America, as we know it and have known it, will be no more!  This is one invasion America cannot survive. 

© J. D. Longstreet

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Thursday, September 26, 2013

Senate MUST NOT Ratify UN Small Arms Treaty! ... J. D. Longstreet

Senate MUST NOT Ratify UN Small Arms Treaty!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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We have warned our readers numerous times that the Obama Administration WILL make an effort, at some point in his term in office, to institute some form of gun control on Americans. He has made a number of attempts so far and he is not done yet -- not by a long shot.

There can be no question the "Obamatons" have little regard for the US Constitution.  It is but a speed bump in their drive toward establishment of a Socialist/Marxist America.  And they will use whatever method or means necessary to accomplish their goal. 

After their withering pressure on the Supreme Court produced a ruling in their favor on Obamacare they are convinced they now have the highest court in the land in their pocket and, therefore, only one thing stands in the way of their goal of that Socialist/Marxist America -- millions of guns in the hands of some pretty PO'ed Americans!

But, WAIT,  as they say on the TV commercials.  Obama has help coming from, where else -- the UN! 

Remember the UN Small Arms Treaty we have warned about for at least four years now?  Well, it's here.  John Kerry, the current US Secretary of State, just signed the accursed thing.  

The Washington Times said:  "The language of the draft agreement is so expansive it wouldn’t take an Obama-appointed judge very long to extend the treaty to cover the domestic firearms market as well. If American jurists continue to be enamored by the popular trend to consider international precedence when making U.S. rulings, you can kiss the Second Amendment goodbye."  SOURCE: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/5/the-un-is-coming-for-your-guns/

Back in October of 2009, the then US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, publicly announced that the US WOULD support UN negotiations of an Arms Trade Treaty to regulate international gun trafficking.  The Bush administration, you may remember, and, notably, former Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations, John Bolton, OPPOSED negotiations of this treaty for years.

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has said: "Conventional arms transfers are a crucial national security concern for the United States, and we have always supported effective action to control the international transfer of arms. The United States is prepared to work hard for a strong international standard in this area."

The US then joined a vote, which was almost unanimous; to adopt a resolution, which would set a schedule, a timetable, on the proposed Arms Trade Treaty.  Within that resolution was a proposal to finalize the accord in the year 2012.

It is now 2013 and the process has officially begun -- and our President supports it.

Do you begin to understand, just a bit maybe, why those little militia units continue to pop up in the woods across America?  Still think they are ALL completely crazy, huh?  Look.  There are times when paranoia can be your friend -- especially when someone is out to get you! 

It would be a mistake to think we have a "delusional" Commander-in-Chief.    You may think he SEEMS to believe he has dictatorial powers already. 

Take a deep breath.  You might want to sit down for this ...

The plain truth is -- HE DOES HAVE SUCH POWER -- and he is giving himself even more by issuing executive orders the American public knows nothing about -- but -- when enacted will have the force of LAW and will place every single American under the direct command of the President of the United States. 

Congress? Forget Congress. They will have zero power.  The ONLY person with power will be the President and he will be, IN FACT, the Dictator of America.

I've been taken to task a few times for my defense of "honor."  Maybe some of my critics will begin to see why I feel honor is so extremely important in our national leaders. 

I believe the Founders of this country, when they wrote the founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution,  just ASSUMED that the generations of Americans to come would instinctively elect "men of honor" to fill the important post of President.  As we now know -- they were mistaken.      

Of course, I have no way of knowing, for certain, what is in the minds of the people who would take America's freedom and make Americans slaves. but I must tell you, I took an oath, way back in the 1950's, as a soldier, and again in the 1960's as a law enforcement officer,  and for the life of me, I do not recall an expiration date on that oath.  All of us who raised our hands swore to uphold the constitution and to protect it. We swore to protect this country from all enemies foreign and domestic.

I am not unique.  Millions of Americans have taken the same oath.  It seems to me that I am bound by that oath to alert my fellow Americans to a threat I perceive aimed at this country and its citizens. 

America has reached a tipping point.  Events over the next few weeks and months will determine if America holds on to her remaining freedom and liberty or slides into the septic tank of socialism and enslavement to the state.  We are already a far distance down that slippery slope.

I suggest that we all contact our Senators (while we still have that freedom) and insist that they resist ratification of the UN Small Arms Treaty when it comes before them.   

And finally, the powers of the President, I mentioned above, can only be brought under control by amending the constitution.  Since "honor" can no longer be assumed in our Presidents, or our presidential candidates, then I suggest we need to amend the constitution in order to protect the constitution, itself, and the freedom of the American people from a "rogue" President.

Yes.  Sadly, we HAVE come to this.

© J. D. Longstreet
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Where's Ivan? ... J. D. Longstreet

Where's Ivan?
"Is This America?"
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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I watched with anger and dismay as the parent tried his best to put a question to a school board of some kind in a public meeting.  He vehemently protested to the other parents in the room -- "You are sitting here like cattle.”  Then he said, “Is this America?” as he was roughly escorted from the room.

Read more on this story at:  http://michellemalkin.com/2013/09/20/parents-you-need-to-question-these-people-shock-video-of-dad-arrested-at-school-meeting-after-challenging-common-core/

Many decades ago there was a joke circulated the world over that, I think, shows this incident in the light it deserves.  I will relate that story as best I remember it for you now:

 
RED SQUARE
There was a gathering in Red Square in Moscow.  Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was addressing the gathered crowd.  He was regaling them in glowing terms about the success of socialism/communism in the USSR when he decided to emphasize the current prosperity of the soviet people.  He shouted proudly: "Everyone in Russia has washing machine!  If you don't have washing machine ... raise your hand." 

Way back in the crowd a hand shot up.  Khrushchev saw it and asked:  "What's your name?"  "Ivan," the man answered.  Khrushchev asked:  "What's your problem?"  Ivan answered, "I don't have a washing machine."  Khrushchev replied with "... not to worry, problem WILL be fixed." 

The very next week another gathering of the faithful was held in Red Square and Khrushchev was again singing the praises of socialism/communism.  Again, he noted proudly how everyone in Russia had a washing machine.  A hand shot up way back in the crowd.  Khrushchev, somewhat irritated, asked what was his question, whereupon the man asked:  "Where's Ivan?"

That story popped into my mind as I watched the Maryland parent being denied his constitutional rights -- right there in public for everyone to see and hear.

THAT, gentle reader, is the "New Normal" in America.   The abused citizen's question haunted me all night that evening and still stalks my every waking moment.  "Is this America?"  he asked in desperate frustration as he was involuntarily "escorted" toward the door of the meeting room.

I submit to you that those words should be the battle cry of the new freedom movement in America.  "Is THIS America?"  Most assuredly it is NOT America.  I don't know what our beloved country has become, but it is not the America our Founders and fore bearers handed off to us.  

That father, concerned for his child's education, issued the admonition "You're sitting here like cattle"  to the other parents sitting quietly allowing the violation of his, heck -- THEIR, constitutional rights to go unchallenged -- right in front of them. 

It hasn't been that long ago in America when a brawl would have ensured.  Red-blooded Americans would not have allowed that man to be treated as if he were a citizen in a communist totalitarian country, a banana republic, or some third world socialist dung heap ruled over by a narcissistic tin pot dictator.

But that was THEN -- you know, back when America truly WAS the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Today America is neither. 

The fearless American government is assaulting America's freedom and liberty in ways that the old leaders of the USSR, of Communist China, and, yes, even the old Third Reich of Adolf Hitler did not have the temerity to try on their own citizens and slaves.

Uncle Sam has gone from "uncle" to "big brother."  America is now a "police state."  No.  We are not BECOMING a police state.  We ARE a police state.
The US Constitution is nothing more than a ceremonial artifact locked away in a display case.  It is ignored.  The Bill of Rights has been so eroded that many of them no longer have any power, at all! 

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave ... don't make me laugh! (or cry, actually.)

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force.  Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.  Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."  George Washington, the very first President of the United States (under the constitution) said that, and that was at the very beginning of our existence as a country. But like so much else about the "whys" and "wherefores" of the founding of this nation, it, too, has been either forgotten or -- even worse -- forsaken.

As of the day of this writing over 2/3rds of the country believes the US is on the wrong course.  A Bloomberg National Poll reports that "Americans also are pessimistic about the course of the country, with 68 percent saying it’s headed in the wrong direction, the most in two years, according to the poll of 1,000 adults conducted Sept. 20-23."  SOURCE:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-25/americans-turn-on-washington-68-say-wrong-track-in-poll.html

So.  What are we going to do about it? 

Unfortunately, I can't say that we are going to gather ourselves, clean the house in Washington, and set this country back on course.  Because, you see, I am convinced we are too deeply divided now to ever be whole again.

Maybe it is time to consider this:  When something is so broken it cannot be repaired, often one is compelled to discard it and replace it with a new one.  If America has not yet reached that point, then she is certainly approaching it at a furious pace.
Where is Ivan, indeed?  When one reflects that Ivan can disappear in America these days, just as he could in the old USSR, the story becomes far less funnier.
Many decades ago Elmer Davis, former CBS journalist, reminded us:  “This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

The fact that America is no longer free indicates our parallel lack of bravery, as well.

© J. D. Longstreet

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The Cruz Crusade ... Alan Caruba

The Cruz Crusade


By Alan Caruba

Back in May, in a commentary titled “Ted Cruz for President”, I took note of the reasons why he would be eligible to run for President in 2016, citing the opinions of legal scholars and others. The odds have just gone up that he will not only make a run for the office, but can win. He will have to do it, at this point, by overcoming the opposition of the elites in the Republican Party who have managed to lose the last two elections for that office.

I wrote, “As Solicitor General (for Texas), Cruz authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and argued before it 43 times, securing a number of landmark national victories defending U.S. sovereignty against the U.N. and the World Court, the Second Amendment, the constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument, the words ‘under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and other key decisions.”

In the early years of the American government, what was high on the list of priorities for the job of President was leadership. From Washington to Grant to Eisenhower, Americans voted for men who had demonstrated that quality in combat. They saw it in Ronald Reagan and they saw it in George W. Bush’s response to 9/11 and stuck with him when he took us to war in Iraq.

Ted Cruz, a freshman Senator, demonstrated that with extraordinary endurance as he gave voice to the many reasons the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—is an attack on the lives and the livelihood of all Americans.

He has been attacked by the Republican establishment and even by some in the media you might consider friendly to his crusade in order to get Americans to understand how deleterious Obamacare is to our nation’s economy, to the free market—free enterprise system, to the relationship we take for granted with our personal physicians, and to the right to privacy that lies very much at the heart of our healthcare and political system.

I am not a legal scholar, but is obvious to me from my reading in American history that the Founders never envisioned that the Constitution would be misconstrued to say that the government has the right to tell us what we MUST PURCHASE and that, of course is what Obamacare does. When you take away the fundamental right to purchase or NOT purchase under penalty of a fine, you take away a fundamental freedom, you take away liberty.

Ted Cruz understands that and it is a wonder to me that everyone else does not understand it as well. It is true that the House of Representatives, controlled by the Republican Party, has passed a multitude of laws to repeal Obamacare. The most recent law would defund Obamacare while funding the government.

Because the Senate is controlled by Democrats, however, those laws die there. Indeed, the former greatest deliberative body in the world does not deliberate much anymore. It takes its marching offers from an offensive clique of men led by Harry Reid (D-NV). The widespread public rejection of Obamacare has a number of Democratic Party Senators, up for election soon, breaking with the Party to vote with Republicans on some bills.

Ted Cruz has given them a lesson in true leadership and in true courage.

A new generation of Americans is being required to learn the lessons of those first Americans who distrusted the tendency of power to become tyranny. In a book by Timothy Sandefur that will be published in January by the Cato Institute, “The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty”, he writes that “A government that enables a single tyrant or a powerful group of influential insiders to exploit power to benefit themselves would expose citizens to the same dangers of violence and oppression that would exist in a country ruled only by warlords and strongmen.”

We have been witnessing the tyrannical misuse of power by President Barack Obama through the instrument of Executive Orders, through the revision of the provisions of Obamacare that bypass the role of Congress, and, it can be argued, by the party-line vote that passed—unread—a 2,700 page act that has since ballooned to 27,000 pages of regulation, strangling and destroying one sixth of the nation’s economy, healthcare, as it destroys jobs and business growth in other sectors.

The reason the Tea Party movement came into being was a protest against Obamacare before it was enacted and resistance to it since. It is the Tea Party movement, as seen in those elected to office in the Senate and the House in 2010 that has been leading the fight to defund and repeal Obamacare.

Ted Cruz is leading a crusade that is composed of patriots.

© Alan Caruba, 2013
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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" and shared on dozens of news and opinion websites. His blog recently passed more than 2.9 million page views. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. For information on his professional skills, Caruba Editorial Services is the place to go! You can find Alan Caruba on both Facebook and Twitter as well.
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