Those Frightened Russians are Baaaaaaaack!

Those Frightened Russians are Baaaaaaaack!

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Well, the old Russia, all the folks of my generation have come to know and love … strike LOVE, and replace it with “distrust”… , is back! Actually, it never left the world stage. It simply moved into the wings for a few years, not even two decades, and it has returned.

For Americans my age, this is absolutely nothing new! Back when history was actually taught, in the American public school system, students learned of the Love/Hate relationship between the United States and Russia. It dates back to the US kicking Russia out of what is now the northwest United states… and farther. Sure we BOUGHT Alaska from Russia, but we TOOK a large part of what is now our northwestern states.

Looking realistically at Mother Russia, one has to be impressed with their national paranoia. If the Irish are know for their “depressive attitude”, then Russia is known for her “paranoid attitude” toward the remainder of the world.

What are they paranoid about? Only God himself knows! I mean it is a HUGE country. Most of it vacant. The climate is horrible. Until recently nobody knew they had THAT much oil in the ground! I mean the Nazis had an idea. But they lost their backsides on their Eastern Front with the Russians whose dictator, Joe Stalin, determined he would lose as many Russian lives as necessary to soak up the Nazi advance inside his country. Sorta like what they did to Napoleon and his Grand Army.

So they tossed aside communism, did they? Not so fast! It is beginning to look as if the Russians have decided they prefer a “strongman government”. Enter Putin. A KGB Grad, Putin is the current man of Steel (Joe Stalin).

The Russians have never understood us. I have come to believe they genuinely FEAR Americans. They cannot understand our lust for freedom of thought, and action, and our willingness to take risks in order to better the generation following ours. The Russians shrink from the whole concept of opening up to the remainder of the world and becoming a part of it. Given a chance, as they had in the early 1990’s, they will always choose to shrink back into the shadows and throw up a wall, or fortress, to keep the rest of us out. And, in the case of the commies, to keep those who are “mentally imbalanced” and “tend toward western thought”, in!

So, it came as no surprised to learn this week that the Russkies have a new intercontinental ballistic missile which will, at least they say it will, penetrate our missile shield. Surprised? No! Expecting it? Yes! Event when our government offered the shield to Russia they turned it down so they could continue their lives in fear of freedom and fear that somebody, anybody, will attack and take their beloved Russia.

I have news for them. The US doesn’t want Russia. Oh, sure, we’d like to have the oil fields, but we’re not about to fight them for it. We’d rather buy it from them.

So, the “mean ole Russia” is back. In a way it is comforting. When a man reaches my age, it is somehow exhilarating to observe nations acting as we have been used to them acting. No surprises. Now, maybe, we can get back to the 2-polar world again. You know, East versus West as God intended! I mean, I became used to it. And frankly, I sorta miss it. We knew WHO our enemy was, we knew WHERE he was, and we knew how to kill him in great numbers. Beats the hell outta fighting these Islamofacists! The Russians may be paranoid, but they are NOT crazy!

Longstreet

Filed under:

Russia+dictator+paranoid

A Kind Word for Big Oil ... Alan Caruba

A Kind Word for Big Oil
By Alan Caruba

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Is there a politician breathing this summer who has anything good to say about “Big Oil”? If there is one topic that is safe to demagogue, it is the price of gasoline at the pump.

As a writer who closely follows the energy industry, I recently received ExxonMobil’s “2006 Corporate Citizenship Report”. It arrived the same day I read about Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-MI) “Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act.” The contrast is educational.

ExxonMobil reported that, in 2006, it had achieved a record low number of oil spills to the environment. On the average, this represents a 21% reduction from the previous year and 10% per year since 2000. Bear in mind, ExxonMobil extracts oil internationally, so this does not apply just to the U.S. I doubt that most people know that ExxonMobil is that candid about the problem.

Something else people probably don’t know about is the company’s interest in about a hundred cogeneration facilities in more than thirty locations worldwide, generating some 4,300 megawatts of power. This capacity also reduces global CO2 emissions by more than 10.5 million metric tons annually. That’s equivalent to taking two million cars off the road in America.

Little known to the public is the extraordinary generosity of the company. In 2006, it made $9 million in grants through its Africa Health Initiative and more than $2.5 million through its Educating Women and Girls Initiative. Outside of the pharmaceutical industry, ExxonMobil is the largest private sector donor to malaria research activities. In 2007, the company became a founding sponsor of the National Math and Science Initiative, committing $125 million to encouraging this area of education.

In 2006, ExxonMobil, its divisions and affiliates, along with the ExxonMobil Foundation, provided a combined $138.6 million in charitable contributions and community investment worldwide.

But Rep. Bart Stupak, along with his cosponsors—86 Democrats and 3 Republicans—want to make it a crime to “sell crude oil, gasoline, natural gas, or petroleum distillates at a price that is unconscionably excessive or indicates the seller is take unfair advantage (of) unusual market conditions or the circumstances of an emergency to increase prices unreasonably.” This, my friends, is grandstanding.

The bill would impose imprisonment and corporate penalties of up to $150 million a day. And do you think for a minute that this will actually have any impact on the cost of gasoline?

In case you’re wondering what does impact the cost, it is called market conditions. As Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, points out, “Constraining the ability of gas companies to set prices according to supply and demand is a recipe for rationing. In the end, there will be less gas available and the people who will get it will be those most prepared to wait in line.” Welcome to the 1970s!

Columnist George F. Will recently noted that, “Gasoline consumption has increased 2.14 percent during the past year.” In inflation-adjusted dollars, $3.07 is less than gasoline cost in 1981.

Will provided the reality of who is really making a ton of money off of every gallon of gas you purchase. “While oil companies make about 13 cents on a gallon of gasoline, the federal government makes 18.4 cents (the federal tax)…” When you add in the tax imposed by States, you discover that California, for example, makes 40.2 cents on that same gallon of gas, and San Francisco collects a local sales tax of 8.5 cents. In Wisconsin, the State law requires retailers to sell gasoline for 9.18 percent above the wholesale price.

Federal, state and local communities extract more from your wallet than Big Oil every time you top off your car’s gas tank.

It’s not that Big Oil isn’t making billions, but they are also spending billions to insure that you can have gasoline for your car and oil to heat your home, plus all the other products that are derived from oil. And Big Oil is faced with a world of problems in the process. As Business Week recently noted, “Much of the global oil patch is now off-limits.”

In case you haven’t noticed, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s dictator, intends to take over the assets of the oil companies that have invested billions in that nation. In Nigeria, the oil industry is under attack from various factions. Iraq, now free of Saddam Hussein’s butchery, has yet to have met a reasonable standard of productivity. Iran has announced a rise in the price of gasoline because it too lacks refinery capacity. Other areas of the world, such as deepwater wells, require enormous sums of money to explore, drill, extract and transport oil.

So, you may be a bit more inclined to cut Big Oil a bit of slack. I think about that every time I fill up my car’s tank.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs”, posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com. His book, “Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy”, is published by Merril Press.

© Alan Caruba, May 2007

Filed under:

conservative+Big+Oil

Anger over Illegal Immigration Nears Boiling Point!

(This Article first ran in March of 2006!)

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Anger Toward Illegal Immigrants Nears Boiling Point!

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A “Boiling Point”, or as some say, a “Tipping Point” is near as Legal Americans have lost all patience with those who have broken into, and illegally entered, our country.

When illegals take to the streets of America’s cities, by the half millions, and parade their defiance of US Law in the faces of the people of the nation they have raped, while waving the flag of a foreign country, it is a call to action!

When our political leaders do not have the fortitude to pass legislation to rid this nation of the pestilence of illegal immigration, it is a call to action!

When the law enforcement agencies of the nation shirk their duty and refuse to enforce the laws on the books, it is a call to action!

I have come to believe that our leaders are so out of touch with their constituents they have no idea how angry we are at the illegals… and… at them… for their spineless contortions to create legislation to cover their covetousness for minority voters and cheap labor!

The anger out here in the hinterlands, in “fly-over” country, is palpable. The heat of our anger is akin to touching one’s finger to a hot stove. Somebody is going to get burned!

Look, it’s this simple: either put the US military on the Southern Border to secure it, and seal it, or put the US military on the streets of America… between the mobs of “illegals” and “angry LEGAL Americans”. That tipping point, that boiling point, is fast approaching.

If the Law enforcement authorities and the government authorities won’t enforce the laws, how long will it be before US citizens do it for them?

I found an insightful piece over at “OPINIONNATION” I recommend you read at:

http://fromopinionnation.blogspot.com/2006/03/alright-enough-is-enough-secure-border_29.html

The rumblings have begun. This situation can get very ugly, very fast! Those of you in the “Hallowed Halls of Congress” need to reassess your stance on illegal immigration and do it quickly. Your proposed bills to “solve” the situation have only created more consternation among your constituents. You really need to get out more. Get in touch with the people who sent you there. You will be surprised to learn that we are laughing, bitterly, scornfully, at your lack of understanding as regards the security of our Southern Border with Mexico. Put some” feelers” out in your Districts and in your states and learn just how angry we really are. You apparently have no idea!

This is not going away…not until the border is secured and the illegals are rounded up, and deported… and… new laws are enacted to stop the rape of our country by foreign illegals.

Talk about “Home Invasion”!

If necessary, suspend the Posse Comitatus Law, and get the National Guard, and the Reserves, into the field, at once, to begin rounding these illegals up and herd them to, and, across the border.

I am a conservative Republican. I have been all my adult life. I am in my mid sixties and I am at the verge of leaving the Republican Party because our leaders have proven themselves to be “pretenders”, who are concerned only for their appearance before the cameras, and the microphones, of the mainstream media. They have grown fat on the “good life” of Washington until they are afraid of actually “representing” their constituents for fear of losing their splendid, soft, positions in the nation’s capital.

Our nation is being over run with illegal immigrants from Mexico and, God only knows where else! Good men have bled and died to secure this country in many crises before today's. And yet, the spineless Congress, we currently have, is inclined to allow this wonderful, marvelous, country to be lost through “inaction” and “lack of will”. It is insane!

I’m worried that this situation is headed toward a climax, which will go down in the history books. And it doesn’t have to be this way.

To our legislators: in the name of all that is good, kind, and holy, we don’t need a new law! We simply need you to enforce the laws you have already made!

Don’t tell me the illegals can’t be rounded up. Put a bounty on them and our jails will be over flowing by the weekend!

Don’t pluck at my heartstrings by telling me we can’t “tear families apart”! Yes we can! They should have thought of that before crashing the border!

Don’t tell me we can’t send them back into their country because their government is corrupt. Why not? Send them back and let them clean up their own government… as we intend to do at the next election!

Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+Illegal+immigration+AMNESTY

A Day of Remembrance in the US

Longstreet's
"INSIGHT on Freedom"
Memorial Day, 2007
********************************
A Day of Remembrance in the US


Well, today is Memorial Day in the US. A day we have set aside as a day to remembered and celebrate our war dead and to honor those men and women who fought in all the wars of the United States. Here in the American South we celebrate the Confederate Dead as well as the US Dead. After all, Memorial Day began as a Southern Holiday to honor the Confederate dead by cleaning their gravesites and cemeteries.

A couple of years back, I had the great good fortune to speak to a church congregation, as their featured Memorial Day speaker. The passion for their lost soldiers lies just beneath the surface. As the names poured out, from the members of the congregation, to be remembered, it was astounding to feel the longing, the love, the loss, felt by those folks as they called aloud the names of their dead soldiers, all the way back from the Revolutionary War, which the US fought with Great Britain, to win our freedom.

We don’t celebrate war in the US, but we DO celebrate our war dead. Christ said: “Greater love hath no man than this... that a man lay down his life for a friend". The war dead of this country did that. It would be impossible to honor their sacrifice too much.

I remember, today, my uncle who died in his ancestral homeland of Belgium, during the Second World War, fighting to free them from the grip of Hitler’s troops. He is buried in Europe… somewhere. I think of all the cousins who fought in all the wars since the War Between the States forward. And, I think of my Great Grandfather, who fought in the 17th Regiment of South Carolina Infantry, Company “I”, along with a slew of great uncles, cousins and such. Some of them never made it back home to their loved ones.

That’s what this day is about. Remembering them, and remembering that freedom is not free. We pay for it. We pay for it in blood. But, it is so precious... millions of Americans have willingly lain down their lives to secure it for the generations yet unborn.

So, today, remember. Take a few minutes to remember them. Call out their names aloud; speak their names into the blessed free air around you, for they paid for it.

Remember.

Longstreet


Filed under:
conservative+MEMORIAL+DAY

Illegal Alians are Draining the US Treasury!

(This Article first ran in March of 2006!)

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“Anchor Babies” must go!

******************
Tired of illegals coming into the US pregnant and delivering their babies here and collecting off the US Government, and state governments, and running your taxes through the ceiling? So am I, and so are several million other Americans.



How do they get away with it?



The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, that’s how!



Section one, of the 14th amendment, was written to ensure that former slaves would enjoy full citizenship in the US. But, it has been stretched to encompass the babies of those who have entered this country illegally. Once that baby is born, they have their “anchor” here and at age 21 that now “grown” baby, can petition the government to bring his family into the states as well.



Lets look at the amendment as it is written in the US Constitution:



14th. Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:



Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.



There is the problem. Section one of the 14th amendment. It HAS to be changed.



The “Citizenship Reform Act of 2005” has been introduced by Georgia Congressman Nathan Deal, a Republican. It is designed to deny US citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants in the US.



Estimates are that over 300,000 babies are born to illegal immigrants, every year, here in the states. The US is now the only country, which allows this practice. Ireland did, for a while, but quickly changed the law when it became obvious that pregnant immigrants from Africa were flooding their country every year.



The term Anchor Babies” is used to identify babies born in the US from illegal alien mothers. Under the Immigration Act of 1965, those babies can, at the age of 21, bring in their family as permanent residents of the US.



Let’s go back and look a little closer at the 14th amendment. It was ratified in 1868. It’s intent was to protect the rights of native born Black Americans recently freed from slavery.The intent of the 14th amendment was laid out for us in 1866 by Senator Jacob Howard who said: “Every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons."



These days, however, illegal aliens are defying US law and flooding across our borders and having babies at the rate of over 300,000 (babies) a year.



So how the heck did this happen? How as this been allowed to happen? It happened simply because we (The US) are adhering to article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Not the US Constitution! Here is what that article says:



Article 25.(United Nations Declaration of Human Rights)



(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.



(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.



Do you see the problem?



Again we have the United Nations in our business.



US Taxpayers are footing the bills for their birth, medical care, their education, (even college), and their food, darn near everything. It’s not Uncle Sam any more. It’s Uncle Sucker!



Now here’s the problem with Representative Deal’s bill. If enacted, it will be a law. It will be a law, which will not stand the scrutiny of the US Supreme Court. (At least not the liberal court we have now.) So, the only way to get this Citizenship Reform Act into law is to amend the US Constitution. If passed by both houses of the Congress, and signed by the President, ratification by the states would come almost overnight. I don’t see this happening. Not with this President.



Lean on your Congressmen, Congresswomen, and Senators, to get this “Citizenship Reform” into the Constitution. It is past time to right this wrong. It is WAY past time.There is an alternative, however. That is to enforce the 14th amendment’s original intent. But to do that, will necessitate having a different Supreme Court than we have now. A conservative court made up of “originalists”. Currently we have two “Originalists” on the court. That’s two out of nine. We need at least three more. We have a chance to get two of those three coming very soon. (Since this writing, we have added two more originalists to the Court. We are still short one.)



Look, we Americans have to take back our country. This flood of illegal immigrants and “Anchor Babies” must be stopped. We know how. Do we have the will?



Maybe the better question is: Do we have a choice? Do we wish to continue as a viable country and not slide into the template for a third world banana republic? For that is where we are headed… as straight as a Martin to its gourd.



Contact your Congressperson and your Senators and let them know how you feel about this. It will only find its way through the Congress with grassroots support. Push them at every opportunity.



May God save America, for we Americans seem unable to do so.



Longstreet



Filed under:



conservative+Illegal+immigration+AMNESTY

New Immigration Plan will Destroy America!

Section of the Israeli West Bank border “wall” - Constructed of poured concrete sections three meters (approx. 10 feet) thick, and 8 meters (approx. 26 feet) high.

(Seems to me, this is the sort of "wall" we need along our US/Mexico Border!... Longstreet)

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A Plan to Destroy America!

A couple of years ago, Former Democrat Governor of Colorado Richard Lamm made these remarks at an Immigration/Overpopulation conference in Washington, DC. It is reported that when Gov. Lamm ended his remarks … there was no applause. Everyone in the room was chilled to the bone by the truth as if cold water had suddenly been thrown in their faces.

What did Gov. Lamm say? Read it for yourselves below:

I HAVE A PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA

RICHARD D. LAMM

___________________
I HAVE A SECRET PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA. IF YOU BELIEVE, AS MANY DO, THAT AMERICA IS TOO SMUG, TOO WHITE BREAD, TOO SELF-SATISFIED, TOO RICH, LETS DESTROY AMERICA. IT IS NOT THAT HARD TO DO. HISTORY SHOWS THAT NATIONS ARE MORE FRAGILE THAN THEIR CITIZENS THINK. NO NATION IN HISTORY HAS SURVIVED THE RAVAGES OF TIME. ARNOLD TOYNBEE OBSERVED THAT ALL GREAT CIVILIZATIONS RISE AND THEY ALL FALL, AND THAT "AN AUTOPSY OF HISTORY WOULD SHOW THAT ALL GREAT NATIONS COMMIT SUICIDE." HERE IS MY PLAN:

I. WE MUST FIRST MAKE AMERICA A BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL COUNTRY. HISTORY SHOWS, IN MY OPINION, THAT NO NATION CAN SURVIVE THE TENSION, CONFLICT, AND ANTAGONISM OF TWO COMPETING LANGUAGES AND CULTURES. IT IS A BLESSING FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE BILINGUAL; IT IS A CURSE FOR A SOCIETY TO BE BILINGUAL. ONE SCHOLAR, SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET, PUT IT THIS WAY:

THE HISTORIES OF BILINGUAL AND BICULTURAL SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT ASSIMILATE ARE HISTORIES OF TURMOIL, TENSION, AND TRAGEDY. CANADA, BELGIUM, MALAYSIA, LEBANON-ALL FACE CRISES OF NATIONAL EXISTENCE IN WHICH MINORITIES PRESS FOR AUTONOMY, IF NOT INDEPENDENCE. PAKISTAN AND CYPRUS HAVE DIVIDED. NIGERIA SUPPRESSED AN ETHNIC REBELLION. FRANCE FACES DIFFICULTIES WITH ITS BASQUES, BRETONS, AND CORSICANS.

II. I WOULD THEN INVENT "MULTICULTURALISM" AND ENCOURAGE IMMIGRANTS TO MAINTAIN THEIR OWN CULTURE. I WOULD MAKE IT AN ARTICLE OF BELIEF THAT ALL CULTURES ARE EQUAL: THAT THERE ARE NO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES THAT ARE IMPORTANT. I WOULD DECLARE IT AN ARTICLE OF FAITH THAT THE BLACK AND HISPANIC DROPOUT RATE IS ONLY DUE TO PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION BY THE MAJORITY. EVERY OTHER EXPLANATION IS OUT-OF-BOUNDS.

III. WE CAN MAKE THE UNITED STATES A "HISPANIC QUEBEC" WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT. THE KEY IS TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY RATHER THAN UNITY. AS BENJAMIN SCHWARZ SAID IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY RECENTLY:
...THE APPARENT SUCCESS OF OUR OWN MULTIETHNIC AND MULTICULTURAL EXPERIMENT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED NOT BY TOLERANCE BUT BY HEGEMONY. WITHOUT THE DOMINANCE THAT ONCE DICTATED ETHNOCENTRICALLY, AND WHAT IT MEANT TO BE AN AMERICAN, WE ARE LEFT WITH ONLY TOLERANCE AND PLURALISM TO HOLD US TOGETHER.
I WOULD ENCOURAGE ALL IMMIGRANTS TO KEEP THEIR OWN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE. I WOULD REPLACE THE MELTING POT METAPHOR WITH A SALAD BOWL METAPHOR. IT IS IMPORTANT TO INSURE THAT WE HAVE VARIOUS CULTURAL SUB-GROUPS LIVING IN AMERICA REINFORCING THEIR DIFFERENCES RATHER THAN AMERICANS, EMPHASIZING THEIR SIMILARITIES.

IV. HAVING DONE ALL THIS, I WOULD MAKE OUR FASTEST GROWING DEMOGRAPHIC GROUP THE LEAST EDUCATED - I WOULD ADD A SECOND UNDERCLASS, UNASSIMILATED, UNDEREDUCATED, AND ANTAGONISTIC TO OUR POPULATION. I WOULD HAVE THIS SECOND UNDERCLASS HAVE A 50% DROP OUT RATE FROM SCHOOL.

V. I WOULD THEN GET THE BIG FOUNDATIONS AND BIG BUSINESS TO GIVE THESE EFFORTS LOTS OF MONEY. I WOULD INVEST IN ETHNIC IDENTITY, AND I WOULD ESTABLISH THE CULT OF VICTIMOLOGY. I WOULD GET ALL MINORITIES TO THINK THEIR LACK OF SUCCESS WAS ALL THE FAULT OF THE MAJORITY - I WOULD START A GRIEVANCE INDUSTRY BLAMING ALL MINORITY FAILURE ON THE MAJORITY POPULATION.

VI. I WOULD ESTABLISH DUAL CITIZENSHIP AND PROMOTE DIVIDED LOYALTIES. I WOULD "CELEBRATE DIVERSITY." "DIVERSITY" IS A WONDERFULLY SEDUCTIVE WORD. IT STRESSES DIFFERENCES RATHER THAN COMMONALITIES. DIVERSE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE ARE MOSTLY ENGAGED IN HATING EACH OTHER-THAT IS, WHEN THEY ARE NOT KILLING EACH OTHER. A DIVERSE," PEACEFUL, OR STABLE SOCIETY IS AGAINST MOST HISTORICAL PRECEDENT. PEOPLE UNDERVALUE THE UNITY IT TAKES TO KEEP A NATION TOGETHER, AND WE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS MYOPIA. LOOK AT THE ANCIENT GREEKS. DORF'S WORLD HISTORY TELLS US:
THE GREEKS BELIEVED THAT THEY BELONGED TO THE SAME RACE; THEY POSSESSED A COMMON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE; AND THEY WORSHIPED THE SAME GODS. ALL GREECE TOOK PART IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN HONOR OF ZEUS AND ALL GREEKS VENERATED THE SHRINE OF APOLLO AT DELPHI. A COMMON ENEMY PERSIA THREATENED THEIR LIBERTY. YET, ALL OF THESE BONDS TOGETHER WERE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO OVERCOME TWO FACTORS . . . (LOCAL PATRIOTISM AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS THAT NURTURED POLITICAL DIVISIONS . . .)
IF WE CAN PUT THE EMPHASIS ON THE "PLURIBUS," INSTEAD OF THE "UNUM," WE CAN BALKANIZE AMERICA AS SURELY AS KOSOVO.

VII. THEN I WOULD PLACE ALL THESE SUBJECTS OFF LIMITS - MAKE IT TABOO TO TALK ABOUT. I WOULD FIND A WORD SIMILAR TO "HERETIC" IN THE 16TH CENTURY - THAT STOPPED DISCUSSION AND PARALYZED THINKING. WORDS LIKE "RACIST", "XENOPHOBE" THAT HALTS ARGUMENT AND CONVERSATION. HAVING MADE AMERICA A BILINGUAL-BICULTURAL COUNTRY, HAVING ESTABLISHED MULTICULTURALISM, HAVING THE LARGE FOUNDATIONS FUND THE DOCTRINE OF "VICTIMOLOGY", I WOULD NEXT MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ENFORCE OUR IMMIGRATION LAWS. I WOULD DEVELOP A MANTRA - "THAT BECAUSE IMMIGRATION HAS BEEN GOOD FOR AMERICA, IT MUST ALWAYS BE GOOD." I WOULD MAKE EVERY INDIVIDUAL IMMIGRANT SYMPATRIC AND IGNORE THE CUMULATIVE IMPACT.

VIII. LASTLY, I WOULD CENSOR VICTOR HANSON DAVIS'S BOOK MEXIFORNIA — THIS BOOK IS DANGEROUS — IT EXPOSES MY PLAN TO DESTROY AMERICA. SO PLEASE, PLEASE — IF YOU FEEL THAT AMERICA DESERVES TO BE DESTROYED — PLEASE, PLEASE — DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! THIS GUY IS ON TO MY PLAN.
"THE SMART WAY TO KEEP PEOPLE PASSIVE AND OBEDIENT IS TO STRICTLY LIMIT THE SPECTRUM OF ACCEPTABLE OPINION, BUT ALLOW VERY LIVELY DEBATE WITHIN THAT SPECTRUM." — NOAM CHOMSKY, AMERICAN LINGUIST AND US MEDIA AND FOREIGN POLICY CRITIC.

Both Governor Lamm and the writer of the e-mail misidentify the author of the book Mexifornia, whose correct name is Victor Davis Hanson

If you’d like more on the Governor Lamm’s remarks, visit this site:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/lamm.asp

In the Meantime… consider two things: One, what the Governor said. Two, the Governor is a Democrat.


Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+Illegal+immigration+AMNESTY

The Big Lie Washington is Selling Americans!

The Big Lie Washington is Selling Americans!

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Throughout history governments had lied to their constituents. It is an irrevocable 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 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 Bill before 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 minimum of 20 years.

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 Memorial Day 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 storeowners are publicly wearing side arms to protect themselves and their businesses, as a result of high concentrations of Illegals 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 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 Iraq, 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 crap 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 Whitehouse, 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.

This 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.

Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+Illegal+immigration+AMNESTY

Congress Has Already Approved Bush’s Attack on Iran!

Congress Has Already Approved Bush’s Attack on Iran!

****************
Nine US Warships sailed into the Persian Gulf on the morning of May 23rd, 2007. They did so in broad daylight with no attempt at stealth. It was obvious they wanted to be seen. It’s difficult to miss a steel city floating on your horizon. This is a small portion, a tiny fraction, of the US “blue water” Navy.

There are, in the area, elements of the US “brown water” Navy. The brown water navy, among other things, is capable of navigating (above or below the surface) the rivers and waterways and penetrating deep into a hostile country with no one even suspecting their presence. A little “slight of hand” is sometimes needed to direct the eyes of the hostiles away from the brown water and fix them on the blue water. Sailing a fleet into what are considered hostile waters… in broad daylight… could qualify as a “diversion”.

In any event, the day of a strike on Iran is growing closer with each tick of the clock.

Meanwhile back in DC… the Dems are scared “witless” that the Bush Administration is going to launch a military strike on Iran… and there is nothing they can do about it! In fact, they fear they have already given him permission, as if he needed it.

How? (You may ask.)

Well, three possible authorizations leap to mind:

The authorization I refer to so often… “The War Powers ACT of 1973” comes to mind first. Hey, a law is a law… and it is just as binding as it was in 1973. It scares the living daylights out of the Dems. They instituted this resolution to force Nixon out of Vietnam. The purpose of the War Powers Resolution (P.L. 93-148, passed over President Nixon's veto on November 7, 1973) is to ensure that both Congress and the President share in making decisions that may get the U.S. involved in hostilities.

The War Powers Resolution states that the President's powers as Commander-in-Chief to introduce U.S. forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war; (2) specific statutory authorization; or (3) a national emergency created by an attack on the United States or its forces. It requires the President in every possible instance to consult with Congress before introducing American armed forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities unless there has been a declaration of war or other specific congressional authorization. It also requires the President to report to Congress any introduction of forces into hostilities or imminent hostilities, Section 4(a)(1); into foreign territory while equipped for combat, Section 4(a)(2); or in numbers which substantially enlarge U.S. forces equipped for combat already in a foreign nation, Section 4(a)(3). Once a report is submitted "or required to be submitted" under Section 4(a)(1), Congress must authorize the use of forces within 60 to 90 days or the forces must be withdrawn. For more on this see:

http://www.fas.org/man/crs/81-050.htm

Now here’s the thing: The Resolution states that Congress recognizes the President's constitutional authority to use force during "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States... armed forces." (See Paragraph above.) That provision alone, it seems to me, would give the President all the authority he needs to launch an attack upon Iran.

Why?

Well, we KNOW Iran is supplying weapons, intelligence, training, and even worse, men (so-called Foreign Fighters”) to the insurgents in Iraq. We know those Iranians are directly attacking the US troops in Iraq. See how neatly the provisions of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 cover this situation. It’s as though it was written expressly for it. This Statue could be easily invoked as implicit Congressional Authorization to attack Iran!

Now… let your mind drift back to the days right after the horrible attack on the World Trade Center 9/11/01. Recall that just after 9/11, Congress authorized the President to use force "against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons."

Now, we know that that Iran both "aided" al Qaeda before 9/11 and "harbored" al Qaeda after 9/11. Going a bit further… we know that Iran helped transit al Qaeda trainees - including some of the 9/11 hijackers - across the Iranian-Afghan border. The Bush administration has long accused Iran of harboring al Qaeda operatives since 9/11 and even the US State Department, no friend of the Bush Adnministration, reported back in 2003, four years ago, that al Qaeda members fleeing Afghanistan "have found virtual safe haven" in Iran.

Still not convinced? OK. Lets look at the “Iraq Force Authorization” which Congress passed back in 2002. This piece of work from the bright bulbs on The Hill, (many of whom are trying, wih all their might, to make you forget they voted for it!) authorizes the President to "enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq."

As if that didn’t give the President enough authorization … after the Invasion of Iraq… the UN Security Council issued resolutions authorizing coalition forces to "take all necessary measures" to secure Iraq, including "preventing and deterring terrorism," "ensuring force protection" and "countering ongoing security threats posed by forces seeking to influence Iraq's political future through violence."

Wow! That sorta puts the cork in the old bottle, what?

See, here’s the thing… Iran has been playing with fire for a long while inside Iraq. As a result, a US attack against Iran is covered by this authorization in several ways. Besides supporting Shiite Iraqi insurgents in attacking U.S. forces and Sunni civilians, we know that Iran's military is entering Iraqi territory. Remember Iran’s recent seizure of British sailors? That incident took place in Iraqi waters. And there is a report that Iranian troops apparently crossed into Iraq and attacked U.S., and Iraqi forces, inside Iraq, in 2006.

Do you begin to see how the President could believe he has all the authority he needs to strike Iran with no notice to Congress before the attack. And that is most likely what he will do.

When the attack comes it will be swift and it will be deadly. Do not be surprised to learn the US assets have been on the ground in Iran for months and even years now.

President Bush has a year and a half, give or take, left in office. He is not going to “punt” the Iran problem, to the next administration, as Clinton did the Iraq problem. It’s not his nature. So, sometime before the President leaves the White House SOMEBODY will launch an air war on Iran. As I have said before… the aircraft may not bear US markings, but you can bet they will be supported by US tanker aircraft, intelligence, and most likely, US, and British, Special Forces “Operators” on the ground, inside Iran, painting targets… and whatever the country taking point on the attack needs.

Look, again, at that fleet of US warships sitting out there in the Persian Gulf, off shore of Iran. Why are they there? Tell me again.

Longstreet

Filed under:

US+IRAN+WAR

Too Many Illegal Aliens ... by Alan Caruba

Too Many Illegal Aliens
By Alan Caruba

**************
Here’s one of those statistics that sums up everything you need to know about America’s immigration crisis. The May 14 edition of US News & World Report had a small item noting that, “Mexico has lost more people to migration to the United States than to death since 2000.”

“An average of 577,000 people moved to the United States annually during the 2000-2005 period, while 495,000 people died in Mexico.” The U.S. agency providing this data estimates that about 11 million Mexicans are living, legally or not, in the United States.

This is not about disliking Mexicans. Many have come here legally, become citizens, and have risen in our society to contribute in business, academics, and government. This is about saving America from a wholesale and entirely illegal invasion, and its consequences.

Mexico has an entirely different view of people who would move there. The Center for Security Policy points out that Mexico prohibits foreigners from owning land within 100 kilometers of the Mexico border and within 50 kilometers of the Mexican coastland, prime real estate. Mexican law permits the government to revoke the naturalized citizenship of anyone who chooses to live in his country of origin more than five years.

Foreigners are admitted only after proving they have “the necessary funds for their sustenance” and they can be fined or jailed if they show false papers. Any Mexican who helps an illegal alien is breaking the law there. On the average, annually Mexico grants citizenship to just 3,000 people, compared to the U.S. rate of almost 500,000.

Compare this with the insidious and stupid immigration law, S. 1348, that Majority Leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and other members of the U.S. Senate are trying to fast-track to passage with the support of President Bush. Co-sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Ken Salazar (D-CO), this bill would provide amnesty to those who are here illegally and invite a whole new rush to the border by more Mexicans and others.

By way of illustrating why the virtually uncontrolled flow of Mexican and other aliens represents a problem that cannot and must not be ignored, let me share some facts about its impact on just one State, New Jersey, where I live.

In a recent study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform on the “Cost of Illegal Immigration to New Jerseyites”, the executive summary notes that, “The illegal alien population residing in New Jersey is costing the state’s taxpayers nearly $2.1 billion per year for education, medical care, and incarceration.”

Bear in mind that New Jersey is essentially broke thanks to the huge debt it has been incurred under several governors. When you add in the costs of an estimated 372,000 illegal aliens, you just exacerbate a bad situation. In sum, the “annual tax burden amounts to about $800 per New Jersey household headed by a native-born resident.” Even if you subtract the sales, income, and property taxes that might be collected from illegal aliens, you still have net costs of $1.6 billion per year.

New Jersey is small, but when one extrapolates such costs to a State like California, you begin to see why illegal aliens pose an enormous cost to educational, medical, and other institutions and agencies trying to cope with people who have absolutely no right to be here. It is estimated that 40% of all workers in Los Angeles County are working for cash and not paying taxes. In Los Angeles, 95% of warrants for murder are for illegal aliens and more than two-thirds of all births in LA County are illegal aliens. And that’s just for one county.

Then there’s the issue of national security. In November, a report from the inspector general’s office of the Department of Homeland Security revealed that half of the 91,516 illegal aliens from terror-sponsoring countries and those of ‘special interest’ apprehended at the border between 2001 and 2005 were released into the U.S. population. I grant you that Mexico is not a sponsor of terror, but it provides an avenue for access to America from nations where the drug industry rivals all others.

In addition to the high-risk aliens who were released, the report notes that authorities also released 27,947 known criminals over a period of five years between 2001 and 2004. When you consider that only one in four aliens attempting to enter the U.S. during this period were caught, the actual numbers of those who were not are some 350,000 from high-risk nations and an estimated 400,000 criminal aliens.

A 2006 study by Edwin S. Rubenstein, a former contributing editor for Forbes, commissioned by the National Policy Institute last year stated that, “Illegal aliens cost the American taxpayer $25 billion more than they pay in taxes.” Titled “The Economics of Immigration Enforcement”, the study concluded that they cost U.S. citizens an estimated $81 billion per year. “Amnesty would make things worse,” stated the study, “by adding another $44 billion to government spending for services.”

Something is very wrong when, given just these few facts, there are members in Congress seriously considering the granting of amnesty—no matter how they mask the true intent of the legislation—and that the President of the United States is one of its leading advocates.

The tyranny of numbers is that they cannot be ignored. The U.S. faces a new torrent of illegal aliens; seeking to absorb them despite ample evidence we are endangering and burdening current native-born and naturalized citizens. The proposed legislation is a demographic time bomb.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs”, posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/. His book, “Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy”, is published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba, May 2007

Filed under:

conservative+Illegal+immigration

Gun Control isn't about Guns! It's About CONTROL!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“[Between 1997 and 2003] crimes with [banned firearms] have more than doubled.... In 2002, for the fourth consecutive year, gun crime in England and Wales rose — by 35 percent for all firearms, and by a whopping 46 percent for the banned handguns. Nearly 10,000 firearms offenses were committed....
Clearly since the ban criminals have not found it difficult to get guns and the balance has not shifted in the interest of public safety....
In the four years from 1997 to 2001 the rate of violent crime more than doubled. The UK murder rate for 2002 was the highest for a century....
A recent study of all the countries of Western Europe has found that in 2001 Britain had the worst record for killings, violence and burglary, and its citizens had one of the highest risks in the industrialized world of becoming victims of crime.... “

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

If we scan the world we get similar results. If we look back in history it is astounding what happens when a people are disarmed and left defenseless to anyone wishing to do him or her harm, including their own government.

I received the following by e-mail recently. It is very telling. We invite you to read it and think, seriously about what it says.

Gun Control... In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated

China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million 'educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.

It has now been some months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars.

The first year results are now in:

List of 7 items:

Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent

Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent

Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!

In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns! While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past few months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed. There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY.

Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns.

The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it. You won't see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens. Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

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

An Armed man is a citizen!An UNARMED man is a subject! With guns, we are 'citizens'.Without them, we are 'subjects'.

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

If you value your freedom, Please spread this anti-gun control message to all of your friends.

Oh, and by the way… Rudy Giuliani is Pro-Gun Control! You might want to keep that in mind! We suggest you inquire of the political candidate you favor in 2008 what his or her stance is on Gun Control in the United States of America.

Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+gun+contol

Our National Leaders Are a Disgrace to this Great Nation!

Back in December of 2006 I wrote the following article. Now, as I view the situation five months, nearly six months, down the road, I find it even more appalling what out national leaders are about to do to the American military. It is a sorry bunch we have in DC, folks! The flag over the capitol should be replaced with a white flag of surrender!

You know we used to be proud of the slogan: "These colors don't run!" After the actions of America's leaders, in forcing our troops to retreat, we can no longer use that slogan. It will have no positive meaning anymore. The "Old Hippies" and "Old Flower Children" we have running this country today are destroying everything America has ever stood for and bringing shame and disgrace upon a once proud nation.

A national vote of no confidence is called for. The Mainstream Media relishes the chance to report the Presidents low approval numbers. But how often do they pass the news on to you that the Congress' approval numbers are far lower than the Presidents... and sinking!

Now, here is what I wrote in December of 2006:

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

Whatever Happened to National Shame???

The US has set out on one its most shameful exploits in the history of the country and nobody seems even to be embarrassed!

I refer, of course, to the surrender in Iraq!

Now… you can call it anything you like, redeployment, withdrawal, anything! But, the plain and simple truth is… what we are about to do in Iraq… is surrender! It is shameful, it is disgusting, it is deplorable, and it is finally, and foremost, COWARDLY!

The President of the United States ought to resign before giving such an order. And he will give the order. Of course, they’ll call it something else… some diplomatic term, but every mother’s son in the uniform of the US Military will know, in his heart, their Commander in Chief, and worse, their COUNTRY, has sold them out!

Those of us who saw service during the Vietnam era carry a blot on our souls matched only in size by the distrust we have for our government. Let’s face it, the US government sold the US Military out in Vietnam and they are doing the same cussed thing to the world’s finest military AGAIN! How many times can a country shame its warriors and expect them to go, willingly, into harm’s way again, and again, and again?

The dishonor this will bring to our men and women, in uniform, will follow them the rest of their lives. Don’t believe me… talk to a Vietnam Vet!

I saw some figures the other day which did nor surprise me at all. If I remember correctly, the piece I read stated that 42% of the combat soldiers in Iraq today come from just 11 Southern States of the US. (It is not coincidental that there were 11 Confederate states.)

How can the men and women of a geographical area, which was defeated by the US, fight in such large numbers for the very country which defeated their ancestors who fought under a different flag? Because, dear reader, the defeat, at the hands of the US forces, was an honorable one! The Southern soldier took on a fledgling world superpower and gave the US the fight of its life for four years. Those Southern Cavaliers were finally defeated when they had nothing left with which to fight.

There is honor in that! Defeat at the hands of a superior enemy is honorable. Surrender is NEVER honorable!

Many of those rag tag southern warriors wanted to continue the fight as guerilla fighters and raiders… but their sainted leader Gen. Robert E. Lee asked them not to… and they chose to abide by his wishes. More Americans were killed in that four-year period than in all the other wars America has been involved in… up to the present day. In one battle alone, dear reader, 7,000 American men fell, killed in action … in 20 MINUTES!!!

It is the descendents of the men Lee lead at the forefront of the fight in Iraq today. These are the men raised in the South to know, and to understand, and to revere HONOR. And… you can believe they will leave Iraq shamed… shamed by their Commander in Chief and shamed by their country! The dishonor will follow them all the days of their lives.

We should all write the incoming crop of Democrats and insist that the Stars and Stripes be brought down from atop the Capitol Building’s dome. We should all write the President, the Commander in Chief, and insist that the flag atop the White House be taken down. Their actions have shamed those colors and those colors don’t deserve that kind of disgraceful treatment! Those colors do not deserve the shame of flying over buildings which house people with such low regard for their nation’s warriors and the families of the warriors lost in battle with their country’s enemies! Our government’s actions dishonor and shame the very men and women, dear reader, who guarantee their security.

The value of the service of any single member of the US Military, when weighted against the value to the country of the service of a Congressman, or Congresswoman, or Senator, is worth incalculably more!

I am barely restrained from obscenities as I write.

A few years back, I shook the hand of a member of my extended family when he announced that he had joined the US Army. I also told him, he now belonged to an elite brotherhood, a brotherhood his Dad and I, both, belonged to. I told him that no matter how long he lived; he would never forget the men he was about to serve with because they would always remain in his memory as his brothers in arms and… in honor. He is now on his second tour in Iraq.

Three times now, in my lifetime, I will have endured the indignity, as an American, of watching my “Brothers in Arms” and my relative’s, and loved ones, shamed and dishonored: in Vietnam, and when ordered to “cut and run” in Somalia, and now… in Iraq.

Where does it end? HOW does it end? It ends, dear reader, in low self-esteem by the generations of Americans who will follow us. It makes it so much easier to bow the head, and bare the neck, for the chains of slavery, which will be draped around our limbs by the enemies of freedom. THAT is the ultimate end… and that is the ultimate price America will pay for disgracing her warriors as she has done, and is about to do… again.

I have to wonder how our National Leaders can look upon their reflections, in their respective mirrors, each morning, without blushing and bowing their heads. For it is a truth that they gaze upon the face of a coward!

Longstreet

Filed under:

Conservative+War+Iraq+American+Surrender

America’s Fragile Freedom Smashed by the Hammer of Socialism!

(This Article first ran in February of 2006!)
***********************
America’s Fragile Freedom Smashed by the Hammer of Socialism!
**********************
Americans are going to be pounded with politicians decrying the state of our healthcare system over the next two years. Certainly the Democrats are going to try to breath life into “Hillarycare” and revive it. Obama is calling for his own sort of national healthcare and, on the Republican side, Romney is doing the same thing.

Now, let me be clear on something. I will support no candidate who advocates a national healthcare plan or universal healthcare coverage. Period! You would be wise to take the same stand.

We have very few freedoms left in this formerly great country. The fastest way to lose those we have left is to have a National Healthcare Program administered by the Federal Government.

I have quoted “someone” a number of times on this site that said: “If you think Healthcare is expensive now… wait ‘til it’s free!” (I still don’t know who said it!)

I have a food bank near me. I watch as folks drive up in fancy, expensive, automobiles and load their trunks up with free food. I watch as lines form to get the “free” food. It occurred to me that what I am seeing is exactly what will happen to our healthcare system if the government pronounces it free! People who haven’t been to a doctor in many years will suddenly have an urge to visit a physician . I mean, it’s FREE! No matter that it is estimated that roughly 40% of all illnesses will eventually run their courses and the patient will be returned to good health, whether or not they see a physician. I mean… damn, it’s FREE!

Soon the hospitals and doctors will be swamped with the tsunami of new patients. The system, not able to handle it, will collapse. It will fall to the government to decide who sees the doctor and when. And that, dear reader, is when things REALLY get screwed-up! A bureaucrat will be making decisions on whether YOU see a doctor, or not, and which doctor you will see… and when. And it goes down hill from there.

I know, I sound like somebody in perfect health who is not sensitive to the problems of people with illnesses. Well, if you think that, you are incorrect. I have been hospitalized between 70 and 75 times in my life. I have an incurable disease, which will eventually, directly, or indirectly, cause my death. I am a walking, talking, pharmacy tech who has never had a day of formal training. Thank God, my offspring is a Doctor of Pharmacy.

The long and the short of it is… I know about the healthcare system in America, I have seen it, experienced it, if you will, close up, for my entire life. I have seen it implode in the past 20 years, or so, and I know why. Among my close friends are doctors nurses, pharmacists, and radiologists that I am on a first name basis with.

One of the reasons we are in such a situation is the illegal immigration in this country, which has put such a tremendous load on our healthcare system.

We have been told that if you don’t have insurance you cannot be treated in America. That, to put it bluntly, is a lie of the first order. If you show up at a hospital emergency room in America it is against the law for the hospital to turn you away and not treat you… whether or not you can pay. If you doubt me, I invite you to choose a hospital close to you and drop in on the Emergency Department on any weekend. You will quickly see the truth in what I am telling you here. Many Emergency departments have had to close down simply because they can no longer afford to care for those without insurance in America.

So far, the hospitals have been passing along the coast of treating those without insurance to those with insurance. That’s why a cotton ball, which you can purchase in any department store, will cost you about a penny, or less, but the same cotton ball will cost you several dollars in an American hospital. SOMEBODY has to pay. Problem is… the hospitals have reached a saturation point with their insured patients insurance companies. Insurance companies are, even now, sending their subscribers overseas for surgery. Contrary to what you may have heard, they are not sending them overseas for a better quality of care… but for a lower cost to the insurance company!

If you think our healthcare system is in a mess now, as Al Jolson would say: “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

We have all dealt with government bureaucrats at some point in our lives. You know the tedium, you know the frustration. Wait ‘til your doctor is a bureaucrat!

And finally, NOTHING is FREE! Those who are determined to create a nanny state here in the USA will tell you the National Healthcare system will be free. That, dear reader is a crock, a load of bovine scatology! You are going to pay for it. I’m going to pay for it. Taxes will go sky high… and then some.

The politics of Universal Healthcare is pure socialism. You can call it what you want, but the bare fact is… it is socialism!

There has been a movement underway, in this country, which the Democrat Party adopted, way back in the fifties and sixties, to turn America into a socialist state like unto Europe. They have almost accomplished their goal. Universal Healthcare will be their crowning achievement!

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

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

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

Longstreet

Filed under:
conservative+universal+healthcare

Should the District of Columbia be given Statehood?

(This Article first ran
in April of 2006!)
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Should the District of Columbia be given Statehood?
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The short answer is NO! The long answer is: NOOOOOOOOOO!

Washington is a city, a government compound, if you please; it is anything but a state! And it should never become a state… unless… the Nation’s Capitol is moved to a more centralized location in the US. Then, I would propose breaking the District up and returning those parts of the district which had formerly belonged to the neighboring states… if they will take it back, which, frankly, I doubt. That portion belonging to Virginia has already been returned. The remaining portion used to belong to Maryland.

George Washington, the nations first president, chose the spot, a swamp named “Foggy Bottom”, upon which to build the city. It was close to his home, don’t you see. Sadly, Washington never served as President in the city, which bears his name. Somehow, I suspect that given a look at what the city has become today, Washington would ask that his name be removed.

Not to worry, those pushing for statehood for the District already have a new name chosen: “New Columbia”. I’ve not heard whether the folks in the Old Columbia, which is the capitol city of South Carolina, would mind, or not. I dare say they haven’t been asked.

The city was created as a “municipal corporation” on February 21st, 1871. And it’s been nothing but trouble and a drain on the US Treasury ever since.

The rambling here is, hopefully, to establish a truth which seems to be very inconvenient for those who want statehood for DC. The truth is: Washington was conceived as a city within which to locate the seat of the US Government. It was not to be in a state, or any portion of a state. It was to be in a district… separate, and apart, from ANY state!

Another inconvenient fact is that statehood for DC would be unconstitutional. That’s right! Unconstitutional!

You see, The Constitution specifies “a federal district not exceeding ten miles square.” It is not to be a part of any state. Today the District is six times as large as the constitution stipulated at over 61 square miles

It is my personal belief that only a constitutional amendment can legally make a state of the District of Columbia.

Many disagree. A number believe that the government compound could be shrunk down to contain only those federal buildings, which are a part of the government and the remainder of that 61 square miles turned into a state.

The Democrats, especially, love the idea of statehood for DC. They know they would get three liberal democrat members of the Senate, and Congress, right off the bat. According to the 2000 census there are 343,312 Blacks in DC. Whites account for only 176,101. That’s 60% Black and 30% White. The median age is 34.6 years old.

Right now, when numbers mean so much for the Democrats, you can bet they are looking, and lusting after, the District of Columbia.

Why do I bring this up now? I refer you to the second paragraph above this one. You can bet that should the Democrats manage to win the Congress, (This happened in November of 2006!) or just the US House, a new push for statehood for DC will be introduced, almost immediately. And, another thing you can bet on… if they can figure out a way to get the job done, short of a constitutional amendment, they will see that DC becomes the 51st state of New Columbia ASAP. I mean, 93% of the voters casting ballots in DC in the last election, voted democrat. That fact alone should tell you all you really need to know about the “Statehood for DC” push.

So, if the Congress wishes to diminish the size of the District say, down to the constitutionally mandated ten square miles, that’s fine by me. But, I would insist that the remainder of the current District be returned to Maryland and/or any other state from which the land was originally appropriated.

The final answer, so far as I am concerned, is no statehood for the District of Columbia, no matter its size and population… ever.

Longstreet

Filed under:

statehood+DC

Is the 2008 Presidential Election…OVER???

Is the 2008 Presidential Election…OVER???
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I continue to hear, and read, in the mainstream media how the slate of candidates running in the GOP Primaries are re-defining what conservatism is. I read just a day, or so, ago that the Republican Party, itself, is being re-defined. The writers are attempting to convince themselves that the conservative base of the GOP has begun to accept that to be a part of the GOP one must accept abortion, homosexuality, and a slew of other things that conservatives find abhorrent.
Got news for you “newsies”! It ain’t gonna happen!

A couple of things the MSM is overlooking. One: the conservative wing of the party has not even begun to rattle the GOP’s cage yet. They will… but is a very long time ‘til the election. Second: There is no conservative candidate, as least not a conservative candidate “announced” as of this date.

Let’s be clear about something. The GOP has about as much chance of winning the election in 2008 without the conservative wing of the party, as I do of rolling a snowball clear across hell in the middle of August.

Obviously, I cannot speak for all conservatives… but I figure I’m about average on the “conservative scale” so let me tell you how I think the GOP conservatives are going to react in the next few months and… on Election Day in 2008.

First we are going to keep our powder dry… and wait. The instant a REAL conservative announces, we will throw our total support behind him. That should shoot our candidate up to, at least, second place, and maybe even first place amongst the GOP contenders. Add to that the fact that if Mrs. Bill Clinton wins the Democrat Primary, the conservative war machine will be cranked up and moderate Republicans will join the conservatives and a huge portion of the Independent voters in American will flock to our side. That army of voters will then be committed to the battle

Now… let me make something else crystal clear: If the GOP does not field a conservative candidate and continues to rely on the current field of moderate to liberal candidates they are touting now… then the 2008 election is OVER… RIGHT NOW! The GOP hasn’t a prayer of a chance of stopping the Clinton machine with anything other than a hard-nosed conservative. Not even with Rudy. I like Rudy, but I will not vote for Rudy for President.

Having said that, let me also say that, as a conservative, I cannot conceive of any set of circumstances that would cause me to vote for a single one of the Republican candidates already announced, and running, for the nomination today. Not one. Oh, I’ll vote come Election Day, but it will be a write-in vote and it sure as heck will not be a vote for any of them!

I said earlier, that I figure I’m about average, as conservative voters go in America. So you can see that if I am what I say I am, then the current crop of GOP candidates is in BIG TROUBLE!

There is some thought out here in the hinterlands, where the conservatives live, that the “powers that be” within the GOP really do WANT to LOSE the 2008 election. We’ll know in a few weeks when a conservative candidate steps out of the shadows and announces. If the party backs him, we will know they are intent on winning. If they do not support him, we will know they intend to lose the election in 2008.

Politics is a cruel sport. It will jerk you around mercilessly. To the “archbishops”, of the political parties, losing is not always a bad thing. They, with their resources, see over the horizon and view unpleasant things approaching, but not yet in sight, and headed directly for our country. If they decide they had rather not risk GOP political capital on one, or more, of those “unpleasant problems”, then they rule it better to sit out an election cycle. To do that and save face, it is imperative to field a slate of candidates who look good, and are well spoken, but candidates; nevertheless, whom the archbishops know cannot be elected. Frankly, I have been considering, for a while now, that THAT is exactly what is happening in the GOP today. They party is going to pass on the 2008 election.

If, on the other hand, I am wrong, and the GOP really DOES WANT TO WIN THE PRESIDENCY IN 2008, then they had better give their conservative base a conservative candidate to vote for, or they will not see us at the polls! That’s not a threat… that’s a promise! If we do show up at the polls it will be to vote for a “write-in” conservative candidate.

Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+politics+Presidential+Election