Unarmed National Guard Troops on the Border Will Not Work!

The National Guard on the Border is an Attempt to Temporarily Appease the American Citizens!

Placing the National Guard on the Southern Border with “unloaded weapons” is a sham. If no one has checked to see if the Guard will have ammo, I suggest someone do so immediately. I’d bet they will walk their posts with empty magazines and without the power to arrest nor detain illegal immigrants.

A Virtual Fence is the same as No Fence! It's not worth the time, expense, and effort it will take to install it.

This is, I believe, a measure the White House hopes will pacify Americans until the government can think of some other way to grant that Amnesty they are hell bent on granting to the illegal aliens already in this country!

It is becoming clearer by the day that if the American citizens really want the border secured; we will have to do it ourselves. Our government doesn’t have the balls to protect us, as they swore to do when they took the oath of office!

What a pathetic mess!

And another thing… who’s the President of the US anyway? Vincente Fox or George Bush? It’s about time the Oval Office stop taking calls from that small time operator and begin taking calls from it’s own citizens!

Of course, Fox is delighted to unload his poor, and his troublemakers, on the US. He has taken a cue from Castro during Jimmy Carter’s failed presidency. Those petty dictators can smell blood in the water. When they sense a President is weak, they take advantage. Castro did Carter and now Fox is “doing” Bush!

Congress should suspend the Posse Comitatus Act and place the US military on the Southern border with orders to shoot when their commands are not obeyed! Anything short of that is... appeasement and will not work! Appeasement is simply another way to feed the alligator in hopes that he will eat you last!

It is a shame that matters have been allowed to get this bad. But the fact is that the federal Government has shirked its duty so badly, in the past, that we are brought to this dilemma today. They made this bed, now they are going to have to lie in it!

I do not believe the federal government understands just how deeply Americans are angered by this problem they (the government) have created by refusing to enforce the immigration laws already on the books. I don’t think they have any inkling of the seething anger just beneath the surface.

When states, and even counties within states, begin enforcing FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS (because the federal government is unwilling, or unable, to do it) then we are one-step away from anarchy. When states feel it is necessary to enforce laws only the Federal Government has the authority to enforce, then that is open defiance of the Federal Government and it states, publicly, that the Federal Government is no longer needed and the next step is unthinkable. We are THAT close to a serious constitutional crisis!

I expect we will soon see conflicts along the southern border between National Guard troops and US Civilians. The Guard will not be able to enforce the law, as it is unconstitutional. Officially, they are being placed there to “assist” the border patrol. They will have no powers to arrest, or detain, anyone, including those illegally entering the US. Frankly, civilians were doing a better job of it than the Guard will be able to do.

The only way to make this work is to suspend the Posse Comitatus Act, give the Guard full powers of arrest, and arm them with live ammo.

Do you seriously expect this to happen? I don’t!

Longstreet

2006 Hurricane Season Days Away. Storms Not Getting Stronger!

Hurricanes Getting Stronger? NO!

Sitting here, in the "Hurricane Alley" of the Carolinas, with the 2006 Hurricane Season just days away, I realize I have become something of a "student of hurricanes"… as all residents of the Carolina coast must. It is a self-defense measure.

All the “Chicken Littles” running around yelling that Hurricanes are becoming more powerful are just wrong. Last year’s storms were well within the bounds of the Saffir-Simpson scale. The Saffir-Simpson scale categorizes hurricane intensity on a scale of one to five. (CAT-5 storms have winds above 155 mph.) Although Katrina’s winds reached, at one point, 175 mph, they didn’t remain there for long. She was a Cat-4 (some experts say she had even dropped to a CAT-3) when she made landfall. That is quite normal for hurricanes. We see it time and time again here.

The increase in damage costs are escalating, for one reason, and one reason only… the rise in building along the southern coasts. The more property there is for a storm to destroy, the higher the cost of that storm. It’s just common sense.

Lives lost, as the result of a storm, is, altogether, another thing. That can be laid at the feet of local governments and in many cases, the individuals who died.

One out of every 4, or 5, hurricanes to develop in the Atlantic strikes the shore near where I live. Residents in this part of the US have deep respect for these monsters of nature and we do not take them likely. We treat every one as a potential killer. Each storm is different. They may look alike, and they may have characteristics similar, but, always, they are different. They are near totally unpredictable. We like to think we can predict what they are going to do, and when, but we can only hazard educated guesses.

Look, when we are sitting, huddled in our homes, and the very house is vibrating from the power of the winds and horizontal rains, we recognize just how infinitesimal we are in the face of the power of Nature and Nature’s God. It is then we understand that no matter how strong we may become, no matter how self sufficient we become, just one act of God can bring us to our knees. This is brought home to those of us in the Southeastern states every year.

Science is a wonderful thing and I have all the respect in the world for it. But, science cannot create a hurricane. Science cannot disrupt a hurricane. It is all science can do to give us an approximate point of landfall. More often than not, they even get that wrong.

As the engineers rush to rebuild the city of New Orleans, I would warn that we should not be surprised if, before this (2006) season is over, another storm pays a call on the “sunken city”.

One would have to be a fool to bet otherwise.

“Longstreet”

An Official Secrets Act for America?

This Post originally ran in December of 2005!

The Mainstream Media is so abusing their right of “freedom of the press” that the right itself is in danger of being withdrawn. Truth be told, not many of us would be terribly upset with a number of limitations on the press.

For instance, I would support an “Official Secrets Act” similar to that of Great Britain. I think the American Media has shown itself to be unworthy of our trust and their recent rush to publish materials harmful to the US efforts to secure the country certainly raise questions concerning the MSM’s loyalty to the US.

When the press goes into competition with each other to see which of them can release the most secrets of our government, when that government is in a contest to prevent the deaths of thousands of Americans, then that is abuse of the Constitutional Right to Freedom of the Press.

Editing any publication is a continuous judgment call. As a former member of the press, I have had to make those judgment calls while trying to balance the public’s right to know, and the effect upon that same public, if I did broadcast a particular story. I don’t mind telling you there were stories I did not broadcast because in my judgment, the effects of the knowledge, contained in that story, upon the public, would have been detrimental to them. It’s called “being responsible”. There were stories I would not run when my competition would, and did, run them. I was never sorry for refusing to run a story that I felt would do no good and might have, in fact, caused harm. I did not second-guess myself. That’s what an editor does.

Now, I was in a tiny, little, broadcast market here in the Southeast. The effects of any story I might broadcast were limited. But, when you consider the mainstream media’s reach, the damage a published report could do is well nigh incomprehensible.

How important was it for you and I to know that the wiretapping, of suspected terrorist, was being practiced by the government to gather valuable information on those suspected of planning to do harm to America. Can you remember being told when the Clinton Administration, the Carter Administration, and the Reagan Administration did the same thing? Why is it important now, and not then?

How important was it for you and I to know that the US government had set up radioactivity scanners, on public grounds, near Islamic Mosques in the US to help protect us against a “Dirty Bomb”?

Now that the terrorists know this, now that they have this information, which OUR MSM supplied them, they will certainly change their mode of communication and, you can bet your sweet bippy, they will not store any radioactive material in a Mosque!

An Official Secrets Act, if drawn up properly, would put the screws to the MSM when they attempted or, were successful, in printing, or broadcasting, information such as that contained in the stories I mentioned above.

The abuse of the First Amendment by the MSM, I believe, has caused the war in Iraq to last longer than it should have, cost more US lives than was necessary, and is having an adverse effect upon the US government’s attempt to secure the United States against the terrorists who are determined to kill as many Americans as often as they can.

The MSM must be reined-in one way… or the other!

Longstreet

I'm A Nationalist!

This Post First Ran in December of 2005!






If you have ever run a business, especially a business that “sells” anything, then you know, to be successful, you must create a “Team Spirit” among your employees. That team spirit must include pride in the team, and a feeling that your team is the best, at what it does, and be ready, and able, to prove it to all comers.

If you have no team and everybody does “their thing”, at “their pace”, when they “feel like it”, then you have a mess on your hands. Any progress will be purely accidental. Plus your “people” will lag behind everyone else. In general, you will have a disorganized mess on your hands with lethargy as the ruler of the day.

Where am I going with all this rambling? Some of you figured it our before you finished the first paragraph.

I’m a Nationalist. Unapologetically. I cannot conceive of being an adherent to any other philosophy. Nothing else makes practical sense to me.

I am of Northern European stock. That may have something to do with it. I frankly, don’t know. And I care even less.

I was a Nationalist before 9-11. I will be a Nationalist when the dirt is shoveled into my face.

I have no love of “globalism”. None. I cannot conceive of a “one world government”. Even the phrase sends chills up my spine.

I view the US as THE nation. It is MY nation; therefore it is the BEST nation of all the nations on the earth. Even when we screw-up, as we do often, we still lead the pack.

Regardless of what you may have been taught in school, we DO have a National Culture. There IS a single American Culture. I do not believe there is room within any single nation state for more than one culture. You can readily see that I do not adhere to the philosophy of multiculturalism. If you come to live among the people of my nation, then you will adhere to the culture of my nation. Else wise, you will never be a member of this nation. Legally, you may become a citizen, but you will never become a member of my society until you conform to the culture of my nation.

As a Nationalist, my allegiance is to the US. No other national, or international, entity will have my allegiance.

The United Nations, in my view, is an abomination. I would like to see it disbanded and done away with… completely. It was an unworkable idea even before Woodrow Wilson conceived his “League of Nations”. The UN is, simply, another adversary to the United States.

Down deep, I believe most Americans feel this way, although it is not fashionable to say so out loud… or in public.

On a drive through the American Southeast you will see multiple flagpoles, in the front yards of many homes, flying Old Glory from high atop the pole. Granted, you may see a state flag, or even one, or more, of the Confederate national flags, or even the Confederate Battle flag flying BELOW Old Glory… on the same pole. To a Southerner that is not the least bit confusing. We are proud Americans, Southern Americans, to be sure, proud of our heritage. But our allegiance, first and foremost, is to the United States. And, as a Nationalist, that is where my/our allegiance stops.

So, do not attempt to sell me on “multiculturalism”. I ain’t buying. No need to bother yourself trying to sway me toward “globalism”. I want none of it. I’m not interested in embracing the remainder of the world. I’ll happily trade with other nations and lend a hand when they need it, but my nation, America, comes first. Period.

Yep, I guess that makes me a Nationalist.

Longstreet

Are We Running Out of Oil... or Not?

If one listens to the MSM one will believe that the world is going to run out of oil next week! Everything will come to a grinding halt. The economy will crash… everything will end! Typical “Chicken Little” stuff.

Well, I don’t believe it.

I haven’t gotten around to researching whether oil is a renewable resource or not. Some say yes… while others say it is not and, that the supply of oil is finite. I simply don’t know… yet. I haven’t researched it.

In the meantime I did find some interesting info over at the "National Center for Policy Analysis". You can visit them and take a look at the info they have posted there, which seems to bolster the fact that we are no where near depleting our oil supply. Visit them at:

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/bg/bg159/index.html#c

I gleaned some interesting tidbits such as:

"Oil shales may hold another 14,000 billion barrels of crude oil -- a 500 year supply."

Did that shock you?

Well check this out from the web site of the "National Center for Policy Analysis":

“Scaremongers are fond of reminding us that the total amount of oil in the Earth is finite and cannot be replaced during the span of human life. This is true; yet estimates of the world’s total oil endowment have grown faster than humanity can pump petroleum out of the ground.16The Growing Endowment of Oil.Estimates of the total amount of oil resources in the world grew throughout the 20th century [see Figure III].
In May 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey announced that the world’s total endowment of oil amounted to 60 billion barrels.17
In 1950, geologists estimated the world’s total oil endowment at around 600 billion barrels.
From 1970 through 1990, their estimates increased to between 1,500 and 2,000 billion barrels.
In 1994, the U.S. Geological Survey raised the estimate to 2,400 billion barrels, and their most recent estimate (2000) was of a 3,000-billion-barrel endowment.
By the year 2000, a total of 900 billion barrels of oil had been produced.18 Total world oil production in 2000 was 25 billion barrels.19 If world oil consumption continues to increase at an average rate of 1.4 percent a year, and no further resources are discovered, the world’s oil supply will not be exhausted until the year 2056.”

There is much more info on this site. For instance:

Additional Petroleum Resources.The estimates above do not include unconventional oil resources. Conventional oil refers to oil that is pumped out of the ground with minimal processing; unconventional oil resources consist largely of tar sands and oil shales that require processing to extract liquid petroleum. Unconventional oil resources are very large. In the future, new technologies that allow extraction of these unconventional resources likely will increase the world’s reserves.
Oil production from tar sands in Canada and South America would add about 600 billion barrels to the world’s supply.20
Rocks found in the three western states of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming alone contain 1,500 billion barrels of oil.21
Worldwide, the oil-shale resource base could easily be as large as 14,000 billion barrels — more than 500 years of oil supply at year 2000 production rates.22
Unconventional oil resources are more expensive to extract and produce, but we can expect production costs to drop with time as improved technologies increase efficiency."

(From the National Center for policy Analysis)

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/bg/bg159/index.html#c

There is lots more info the inquiring mind can chew over on that site.

I suppose, if anything, this should give us all pause to re-think our Gas Shortage. It is being sold by the MSM as a crude oil shortage when in fact we have plenty of crude. What we don’t have in the US are refineries! We need two, or three, times as many as we have... and soon. But, unless Congress steps in and forces the EPA to back off some of it’s hamstringing rules so the petroleum industry can build new refineries then we have only begun to feel the pinch at the pumps!

Longstreet

HR 5252 will Bring Ruin to the Internet!

Ever hear of COPE? The letters stand for: Communications, Opportunity, Promotions, and Enhancement Act.

It’s about to be passed, in the Congress, (HR 5252 is the House version. The Senate has a similar version) and signed by the President, and it will bring an end to the Internet as we know it today.

Users of the Internet will suddenly be faced with webs sites located either on a “fast lane" or a "slow lane”. Currently this blog site is just as easy to get to on the ‘net as is, say, that of the NYT. If the Congress has it’s way, the "Big Boys" will rule the day and they will determine how long it takes for you to get from one site on the web to another. If the owner of a website has the money, and prestige, that website will be put in the “fast Lane”. Access to it will be mush faster than access to a less well-funded site.

Now, I’m not as clear on this as I need to be. For some reason the MSM has not seen fit to splash the details of this arguably “Internet devastating” legislation across their printed page, their broadcast page, or their Internet page. The Baltimore Sun has, so far, the most detailed coverage on HR 5252 that I have seen. So, I recommend that you got to the Baltimore Sun site for a full explanation on this fast moving “proposed legislation”. You’ll find the story here:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.internet09may09,0,4559120.story

I hope you agree this is SERIOUS stuff. We need more information and the public needs to move on this ASAP. Let your Congressperson, and Senators, know that you do not want this "COPE" passed into law. Tell them to LEAVE THE INTERNET ALONE!

In the meantime, learn all you can about C.O.P.E. The future of the Internet may well depend on it! .......................... Longstreet

Today is "Confederate Memorial Day" in the Carolinas

Here, in the two Carolinas, today is a Special Day. This is Confederate Memorial Day.
On this day, we honor the Soldiers of the South who marched forth to defend their homeland from the invading Army from the North.

Some thoughts now on Confederate Memorial Day, how it came to be and why it is important to all citizens of the US, North and South:

From the May, 1893 issue of "Confederate Veteran," the Origin of Memorial Day

It is a matter of history that Mrs. Chas. J. Williams, of Columbus, Ga., instituted the beautiful custom of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers, a custom which has been adopted throughout the United States. Mrs. Williams was the daughter of Maj. John Howard, of Milledgeville, Ga., and was a superior woman. She married Maj. C. J. Williams on his return from the Mexican War. As colonel of the First Georgia Regulars, of the Army in Virginia, he contracted disease, from which he died in 1862, and was buried in Columbus, Ga.

Mrs. Williams and her little girl visited his grave every day, and often comforted themselves by wreathing it with flowers. While the mother sat abstractly thinking of the loved and lost one, the little one would pluck the weeds from the unmarked soldiers' graves near her father's and cover them with flowers, calling them her soldiers' graves.

After a short time while the dear little girl was summoned by the angels to join her father. The sorely bereaved mother then took charge of these unknown graves for the child's sake, and as she cared for them thought of the thousands of patriot graves throughout the South, far away from home and kindred, and in this way the plan was suggested to her of setting apart one day in each year, that love might pay tribute to valor throughout the Southern States.

In March, 1868, she addressed a communication to the Columbus Times, an extract of which I give:

"We beg the assistance of the press and the ladies throughout the South to aid us in the effort to set apart a certain day to be observed from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, and to be handed down through time as a religious custom of the South, to wreathe the graves of our martyred dead with flowers, and we propose the 26th day of April as the day."

She then wrote to the Soldiers' Aid Societies in every Southern State, and they readily responded and reorganized under the name of Memorial Associations. She lived long enough to see her plan adopted all over the South, and in 1868 throughout the United States.

Mrs. Williams died April 15, 1874, and was buried with military honors. On each returning Memorial Day the Columbus military march around her grave, and each deposits a floral offering.

The Legislature of Georgia, in 1874, set apart the 26th day of April as a legal holiday in obedience to her request. Would be that every Southern State observed the same day.

(In North and South Carolina Confederate Memorial Day is celebrated on May 10th.)

Honor Answering Honor: Thoughts on Confederate Memorial Day

"As we recall what took place during the War Between the States, we should do so in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the conflicting ideals and passions that pitted brother against brother and tore a nation apart.

The common soldiers and sailors of both sides should be respected for their courage and sacrifices, because they were all Americans.

After four years of conflict, Union Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was charged with receiving Gen. Robert E. Lee's army when it came to lay down arms at Appomattox Court House in Virginia in April 1865.

As the Confederate soldiers approached, Gen. Chamberlain ordered the Federal army to "Present Arms" in honor of their foe, for whom they had gained much respect on many fields of battle.

Upon hearing the clamor of arms, Gen. John B. Gordon, riding at the head of Gen. Lee's army, whirled his horse around as he dropped the point of his sword to his boot toe, and ordered the Army of Northern Virginia to return the salute - honor answering honor!

Gen. Chamberlain stated of that moment, "On our part, not a sound of trumpet more, not a cheer, nor word, nor whisper of vain-glorying, nor motion of man standing again at the order; but an awed stillness rather, and breath-holding, as if it were the passing of the dead!"

Chamberlain went on to give special and respectful tribute to each unit of the Southern army, commenting on their dedication and bravery against overwhelming odds. These comments were not spoken by a Southerner, but by a Union general and college professor from Maine.

For the most part, soldiers on both sides of that terrible conflict, including thousands of African-Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics in the Southern armies, served for the same reason Americans have served in all our country's wars - their country was at war, and it was their duty to serve.

We can all learn an important lesson from Gen. Chamberlain. Confederate Memorial Day can help remind us of where we were 140 years ago, and where we are today.

We should continue to move forward in our efforts to respect everyone's heritage, values, and beliefs regardless of their race, ethnic background or whatever area of our nation they come from. We can use the experience of our past to build a better future for our country."

Robert G. McLendon, Jr., CommanderMadison Starke Perry Camp 1424, Sons of Confederate Veterans Gainesville, FL

CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY
Author Unknown

The marching armies of the past
Along our Southern plains,
Are sleeping now in quiet rest
Beneath the Southern rains.

The bugle call is now in vain
To rouse them from their bed;
To arms they'll never march again--
They are sleeping with the dead.

No more will Shiloh's plains be stained
With blood our heroes shed,
Nor Chancellorsville resound again
To our noble warriors' tread.

For them no more shall reveille
Sound at the break of dawn,
But may their sleep peaceful be
Till God's great judgment morn.

We bow our heads in solemn prayer
For those who wore the gray,
And clasp again their unseen hands
On our Memorial Day.

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

The Soldiers of the Confederacy set an example for all military men of all nations. Their courage, their determination in the face of overwhelming odds, stands as the stuff of legend today. I am only one of many Confederate Americans, who carry the blood, the DNA, if you will, of those valiant soldiers of the South, in my veins. It is a blood bond with our Southern past. It is a bond I am more than just proud to honor today. You see, these soldiers of legend, these Southern Cavaliers were my family. My Southern Family. The men who lie, today, enfolded in the loving arms of the sacred Southern soil in huge military cemeteries and small country grave yards and small, nearly forgotten, family cemeteries, tucked away among the whispering pines and spanish moss draped stately live oaks, are Heroes of near Homeric stature. They stand for all time as examples of the "Southern Knight" who will ride to the "sound of the guns" anytime the security of his family or his homeland is threathened.

These men we honor today are "asleep in our soil, but alive in our veins!"

Deo Vindici !!!

Longstreet