New Orleans Awaits The Coming Storm

(Note from Ed: This article was written back in February of 2006, some 18 months ago. As I write today, Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on New Orleans. The new levees are not nearly complete and, I suspect, not nearly ready to handle what is headed for it.

The coming storm surge will, in all liklihood, wash right over the new and rebuilt dikes (levees). Remember, the storm surge is measured from the tops of the existing waves on the surface and NOT from the ocean floor or seabed. If, for instance, you have a 23 foot storm surge coming at you on top of , oh, say, a sea surface with, say, six foot waves, you are looking at a surge of water 29 feet in height coming right at you. Yes, it is very much like a tsunami. There is not much that CAN handle a wall of water like that! Always remember this: If you are caught in a storm surge while in your home or even worse, while in a vehicle, you will probably not survive.

Another point of interest, for those of us who live in Hurricane Alley, is which quadrant of the storm will strike where we happen to live. The northeast quadrant, better known as the "right front quadrant", is the most dangerous, by far! The "northeast quadrant" is that portion of the storm in which the winds are the strongest, the storm surge is the highest, in fact, nearly everything about the storm is worse on the northeast quadrant, or "Right Front Quadrant". Keep in mind that the right-front quadrant is always determined by the forward movement of the hurricane. Because most hurricanes that strike, here in the Hurricane Alley of the Carolinas, approach us from the south, the right-front quadrant has also been, and is most commonly thought of as... "the northeast quadrant", as well.The diagram below will give you a very good idea of where a "right front quadrant" can be found in one of our infamous Carolina hurricanes.

Diagram from:

http://www.hurricanetrack.com/ncstormsurge/srginf.html#rfq

I mention all this, concerning the Right Front Quadrant and the storm suge, because, as I survey the plots, on my tracking chart, and those of the NHC, it appears, as I write this, that unless Gustav makes a change in direction, which, of course, it is subject to do at any time, New Orleans may be hit by that dreaded Right Front Quadrant. I'm not a meteorologist so, I am a looooong way from an expert on these matters. I AM suggesting that you seriously follow the advance of this storm and plan acccordingly. Of course, our best advice is to get to safety long before you are within the zone of danger.

Our thoughts and our prayers are with you... especially as we folks in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida are watching another storm approach the Southeast Atlantic Coast even now. ... J. D. Longstreet)

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(The article below was written in Feb. of 2006)

New Orleans Awaits Next Storm.By: J. D. Longstreet

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The 2006 Hurricane season will officially begin June First.

New Orleans is still pretty much a shambles. However, efforts are underway to rebuild the city in the same spot, as it was when Katrina stuck last year.

They tell me the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome each time. I refer you to the paragraph above.

Early season storms have a tendency to build in the eastern and southern Caribbean. They tend to travel west and north. New Orleans is sitting on a bull’s-eye. How many billions has this cost the taxpayers of the US already… with a very good chance that New Orleans will get hit again in a few months? It’s not a question of if, it is a question of when.

Yes, New Orleans will be flattened, flooded, and swamped again by a hurricane. And yet they continue to build the doomed city, right back, in the same spot.

It’s time for the American taxpayer to say “no more”! If you insist on rebuilding the city in a known storm "entry point", then YOU, the citizens of New Orleans, take responsibility. YOU pay the price. We will not continue to bail you out. No more rushing the resources of a nation to your aid when you (and we) know, good and well, the city of New Orleans is going to get creamed again!

Remember the definition of insanity? Well, take a look at New Orleans.

When the storms roll through the Gulf this spring, summer, and fall, and they will, I have to wonder if the residents of New Orleans will leave when the next one takes a bead on the mouth of the Mississippi and New Orleans. Frankly, I expect them to do exactly the same thing as they did last year… squat, in place, and wait for somebody to save their collective rear-ends. (If I may insert this bit of updated information... it appears the city has begun measures to remove it's citizens from the coming danger much faster and more efficiently than it did when Katrin approached. THAT is GOOD NEWS!)

This is the mentality of a city, which sees itself as a ward of the US government.

New Orleans should not be rebuilt in the same location. Move it or lose it. The federal government should cut off the funds, for New Orleans, when the bills are paid for the last hurricane. No more.

As a resident of the Hurricane Alley of the southeast coast, I don’t suck from the federal teat and I don’t expect the government to continue to bail my behind out, either. We Tar Heels have way too much self-esteem than that. You see we understand that response to these emergencies works this way: ME, Family, Friends, City, County, State and finally, the Federal Government… in that order. The Federal Government is NOT, I repeat, NOT, the first responder to a hurricane disaster. (Another insertion, if you will allow me: It DOES appear now that that policy has been changed. FEMA is on scene, and geared up, or gearing up, to act in the capacity of a First responder.)

Soon, I’ll begin checking out my hurricane supplies: canned food, water, batteries and such, in preparation for the storm that is sure to come. Why? Because, I don’t expect anyone to save my behind until I have exhausted all efforts to do so myself. It’s called self-reliance. If you live in a hurricane prone area, you’d better have it, or you’d better leave.

J. D. Longstreet

Filed under:

Hurricanes+Devastation+US+Taxpayers+NOLA

Sarah Palin For Vice President of the USA? (UPDATED!!!)

SARAH PALIN FOR VICE PRESIDENT

of the

United States ofAmerica?

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=34850

Also: From the Rasmussen Report for August 3oth comes the following:



"Sarah Palin has made a good first impression. Before being named as John McCain's running mate, 67% of voters didn't know enough about the Alaska governor to have an opinion. After her debut in Dayton and a rush of media coverage, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Palin while just 26% offer a less flattering assessment."



So... Who IS Sarah Loiuse Palin:



From Wikipedia at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin



Sarah Loiuse Palin: Born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of the US state of Alaska and the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee for the 2008 United States presidential election.



Palin was elected governor in late 2006 after defeating incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election. She was the youngest person, and the first woman, to be elected governor of Alaska. Before becoming governor, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, City Council from 1992 to 1996, and was elected mayor of Wasilla twice, in 1996 and 1999. She also ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002. Palin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from the University of Idaho.



On August 29, 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced he had chosen Palin as his running mate, making her the second female vice presidential candidate representing a major political party after Geraldine Ferraro, and the first female vice presidential candidate of the Republican Party.



Palin was born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, U.S.A., the daughter of Sarah Heath (née Sheeran), a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and track coach.[2][3] She has English, Irish, and German ancestry.[2] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.[3] She and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family regularly ran 5K and 10K races.[3]



Palin attended Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska, where she was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the school[3] and the point guard and captain of the school's basketball team. She helped the team win the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds of the game, despite having an ankle stress fracture at the time.[3] She earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play[3] and was the leader of team prayer before games.[3]



In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, then finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant,[4] at which she won a college scholarship.[3] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and won "Miss Congeniality."[5][6]



Palin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from the University of Idaho, where she also minored in political science.[7][8] She married Todd Palin, her boyfriend since high school, on August 29, 1988. She then briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working in commercial fishing with her husband.



Palin began her political career in 1992, running for Wasilla City Council as a supporter of the controversial new sales tax and with an advertisement advocating "a safer, more progressive Wasilla".[9] She won and served two terms on the council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged and defeated incumbent mayor John Stein, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes.[3] In January 1997, Palin fired the Wasilla police chief and library director. In response, a group of 60 residents calling themselves Concerned Citizens for Wasilla discussed attempting a recall campaign against Palin, but then decided against it.[10] The fired police chief later sued Palin on the grounds that he was fired because he supported the campaign of Palin's opponent, but his suit was eventually dismissed when the judge ruled that Palin had the right under state law to fire city employees, even for political reasons.[11] Palin followed through on her campaign promises to reduce her own salary, and to reduce property taxes by 40%.[3] She also increased the city sales tax to pay for construction of an indoor ice rink and sports complex.[12] At this time, state Republican leaders began grooming her for higher office.[13] She ran for re-election against Stein in 1999, winning by an even larger margin.[3][14] Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.[15]While Mayor of Wasilla, Palin wore a "Buchanan for President" button during conservative Pat Buchanan's 1996 visit to Wasilla; Palin has stated that she "welcome[s] all the candidates in Wasilla" and disagreed with the perception that she was endorsing Buchanan.[16] Buchanan described Palin as a "supporter" in an interview after she was selected as the Vice Presidential nominee by McCain.[16][17]

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

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



Across The Pond... "The Times on Line" has an excellent article entitled: "Who is Sarah Palin". We recommend you read it. You'll find it at:



www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4635147.ece



.... and... World Net Daily asks the question:



"Does chick mate spell checkmate for McCain?

Fans of family 'electrified' by Palin for VP selection



"Pro-family advocates and Republicans are saying presumptive GOP nominee for president Sen. John McCain may have checkmated Democrat Sen. Barack Obama with his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate." (From World Net Daily) You can read the entire article at:



http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=73830



We will learn more about Sarah Palin in the days and weeks to come. But, at the moment, she appears to be the best thing the McCain Campaign has going for it!

J. D. Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+Palin+US+VP

More Dangerous Than Terrorists!

(From March of 2007)
Democrats More Dangerous than Terrorists to US!
By: J. D. Longstreet
*********************************

A nightmare come true is a two year old with a loaded gun. The toddler will wave that thing around and take great delight in watching everyone flee or jump for cover. Try to take the weapon from him and he will not defend himself. He will burst into tears AND relinquish the weapon.

What I have just described for you is the Democrat Party in charge of the US government. They are waving their power about, bullying anyone who will allow them, and when accosted… they complain loudly that anyone who does not flee or seek immediate cover is attacking them. Rather than defend themselves and the US they will cower and allow this nation's enemies to broach our borders and wreak havoc here in the US.

I watched Nancy Pelosi waving the speaker’s gavel around, when she was sworn in, and I thought then it would be apropos if the gavel was taken away and a baby rattle was placed in her hand instead!

I have often described the Democrat leaders in Congress as "old hippies and flower children" from the 60’s… and they are, but I’m beginning to think I was overly generous. The US House of Representatives resembles nothing so much as it does a kindergarten these days. If there is an adult present, one is hard pressed to find him/her.

Those of us who have been casting ballots in the US for over 40 years have learned who to trust with the security of the nation and it became clear to us, early on, that it isn't the Democrats. When pressed by another country’s military the Democrats will turn tail and run. Need proof? Just look at the various moves in the Congress to micro-manage funding for our troops serving in Harm’s Way in Iraq. Some Americans soldiers, some American Marines, some American Airmen, and quite likely, some American naval personnel, werebe killed as a result of what the Democrats did in the US House.

The actions of the US House has already emboldened our enemies. For now they KNOW they were rkight all along. The Democrat controlled government of the US will open the doors to this land… and let them in. All they have to do is keep their war efforts at a minimum and wait til the troops are taken out of Iraq. Then they can over run the country, as the North Vietnamese did in Viet Nam, and then it is on to concentrate on the Great Satan, in the Great Satan's own front yard.

Now let me tell you the dirty little secret the democrats are not telling their supporters: US troops are not coming out of Iraq anytime soon, in 2008, 209, or even 2010. The US has built a huge military installation in Iraq, at which the US intends to maintain a continual military presence there into the future... as far as the eye can see. US Troops will be continuously " forward deployed" there as well as the war fighting material they need. If Iraq is turned completely over to the terrorists the conflict there will become a regional conflict and no one wants that… not even Iran, and Saudi Arabia, or even Syria.

Everyone with a lick of sense knows that even if we pulled every US soldier from Iraq today, it would only be a short while before those troops would have to ferried right back into Iraq.

So what if the Iraq war turns into a Middle Eastern Conflict? Well, do you own a car, a truck, heat your home in winter, and buy groceries from a grocery store? OIL, dear reader, OIL! The Middle East is the storage tank for the world's OIL! Without it economies will collapse in a matter of months! Sure, the US has it's own oil but the lefties won’t let us go get it. So... China is gonna set up rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and suck that oil right out of the seabed and most likely sell it back to us a inflated prices! How smart is that?

America wanted the wimps of the left in power and we got ‘em. Boy, how we got ‘em! Now, our own stupidity is going to beat us severely about the head and shoulders with something called reality. And… the reality is… The dems can’t govern effectively, they cannot “secure” the nation as they have never, in their entire history, proven themselves strong on National Security, they have no concept of military power and it’s use, they do not understand force, nor the application of force, and they are filled with a raging lust for power. Once they have it, as has been proven already in the US House, they become drunk on it and weave about crashing into things like the Constitution and Freedom. They may not crush them but they certainly will damage both. Their ineptitude at governance glares at one, as does a neon sign at midnight.

Already the Democrat’s have cozzied up to the Environmental Movement’s far “nut wing”, the global warming crowd, which has become the new home for the Commies of the world. Why dos this not surprise this ole country boy?

It has become clear that the objective of the Democrat Party is to create as much confusion and derision in the government, and the country as a whole, as they can and still be able to manage it. Their intent seems to be to keep the fires of that discontent stoked until at least November of 2008. It is an old ploy, right out of the history books, but it IS effective, especially when used on an uneducated society such as the “Public School Educated” American society.

For all intents and purposes, America has just entered a period we may well see recorded for future students of America as “The American Dark Ages”!

And the American Electorate turned the lights out!

J. D. Longstreet

Filed under:
Democrats+Taxes+Socialist+Progressive+Mystery+Failure

Also Filed under:

Obama+Biden+Failure

Teach Your Children to Defend Themselves!

Teach Your Children to Defend Themselves!
By: J. D. Longstreet
****************************

We have raised a couple of generations of “pansies” here in America.

For the first 12 or 13 years of my life I grew up in a “Mill Village” on what was known in my neck of the woods as a “Mill Hill”. There were street toughs all over the place there. Street gangs, too. I got kicked around a bit and I learned to fight, even when the odds were overwhelming and I had no chance of winning. Like the time a street gang of seven older kids decided they were going to beat the tar out of me. I told them there were not enough of them. I have always been terrible at math! Turns out there were more than enough of them to do the job. When the dust settled, and the gang had left, to seek other prey, I was unable to even stand and had to crawl away. But... I learned. I learned how to street fight. But mostly, I learned you are never as open to danger as you are when you flee. Always face your enemy.



Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar: "Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the things I yet have seen and heard, it seems most strange, that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come will it sill come." It is a truism I carry with me every day.



By the time I got into High School we had bought a place out in the countryside and began a very small family farm to provide most of what we ate including our vegetables and our meats. My Dad was raised as a farmer so that was where he wanted to be.

There is nothing that comes close to raising a kid in the country. I loved it! I roamed the fields and woods with my dog and my 12-gauge, model 37, Winchester shotgun with a 30-inch barrel and a full choke. It is a devastating weapon. I killed rabbits and squirrels and anything my family would and could eat. I built and set rabbit boxes (traps), which I “looked” every morning before school, and if there was a rabbit in it, I yanked it out and dispatched it with a “rabbit chop” to the back of the neck, and then skinned it… Mom cooked it… and we ate it.

We raised our own meat. In January in the 1950’s it was cold in the foothills of South Carolina… I mean the kind of cold where the moisture in the red clay freezes and the ice crystals burst the surface of the earth open and spew it inside out so that the fresh earth is turned skyward and you can see sunlight reflecting off its icy contents… and that was hog killing time.

It is a bloody business, hog killing. But I was roused, with the rest of the family, well before dawn, and the daylong chore of killing the hogs began. Shooting them, hanging them up, hind feet first, (to allow the blood to drain from their bodies), then pouring scaling water over the carcasses so the course, bristly, hair could be scraped off was all a part of the slaughtering process. Then, the gutting of the animal began. Nothing was wasted. We ate very nearly everything.

My mother was not a healthy woman, so I helped with the household chores when I was directed to do so. That meant, from time to time, I had to go out to the chicken pen, grab a hen or a rooster, (Usually a hen past her prime for laying.) and kill it by either wringing it’s neck, or chopping it’s head off with an axe. Then I cleaned it. That meant plucking the feathers, lighting something on fire, usually a sheet of newspaper, or a brown paper bag, (known as a “poke” back where I come from) and the pinfeathers were singed off with the flames. Finally, I gutted it, and cut it up, ready to go into the frying pan.

Here’s the point: I was raised to be used to death and dying. I was raised to be ready to get my hands dirty, and bloody, if necessary. You could not be squeamish and survive for very long in the country life. The country life would, in those days, at least, toughen a young man up to the practicalities of life.

As a pre-teen, my dad often told me: “Don’t you start a fight, but I expect you to damn well finish it!”

The US Army taught me numerous ways to take a life and numerous ways to preserve my own and that of my buddies.

As a police officer I saw a lot of death and useless waste of life and limb. As a member of a Rescue Unit, on an ambulance, I picked up bodies, in pieces, more than once. One night, in particular, I had to search until I found a victim’s head, in a “broom straw” field, and pick it up by the hair and place it on the gurney alongside the rest of the crumbled body of what had been, a few minutes prior, a vibrant young man.

Through out all this I never had to see a shrink or a grief counselor. Nobody even considered such a thing. I did what I did because it needed doing and, as it happened, I was the one Fate called upon. I didn’t question it. It is the way of things. Most importantly, it taught me to rely on myself… first, period.

Now here’s what I am trying to say: We have sheltered our kids for the past two generations, at least, until they do not know how to respond to danger… short of falling to the ground and assuming the fetal position! It should not be necessary for schools, any schools, to “train” young men and young women how to protect themselves, and those around him or her. It should come as, well, instinct honed by parental training. . And the instinct for self-preservation IS there… but we have buried it under load upon load of limp-wristed “Conflict Resolution” mumbo jumbo. You can’t have it both ways. Either a human being is ready to do whatever is necessary to protect himself, and his associates and loved ones, or… he will be putting his life on the line every time he ventures into public…period.

Rely upon police, upon the civil authorities, you say? Look, police are allowed only to react in our society. They cannot act until a law has been broken, or to put it another way, until you have been assaulted you are on your own!

Man is by nature a predator. Nature built us, and wired us, to hunt other animals. She didn’t place our eyes on the sides of our heads as she did with those we hunt; she placed our eyes in the front of our heads for the pursuit and to focus in on the kill.

We are defying nature when we teach our children to cower when trouble is near. Man has not survived from the days of living in caves by cowering in the face of danger. But, somehow, we are expected to do that these days when the world is every bit as dangerous as it was when our ancestors wore the skins of animals and pursued other animals, for miles, until they ran them down and killed them.

If we are to “fix” the inability of our young people to provide for their own safety, parents are going to have to, once again, train their children how to defend themselves. I mean… parents are going to have to teach their children it is OK to fight to protect yourself, your family, and/or your associates. The philosophy of “Nothing is Worth Fighting For” has got to be tossed overboard because it is getting young Americans and, yes, older Americans as well, killed! Children should be trained in how to use firearms and in firearm safety. When taught properly it is one and the same thing. (I was shooting at the age of six. I am still a lousy shot, but I can put a lot of lead down range!)

We have tried the philosophy of “Nothing is Worth Fighting For” and… as some of us screamed from the rooftops all along, it doesn’t work! Talking to your enemy or assailant may be OK, but you have to be ready to defend yourself. Sometimes force must be used first just to get your opponent’s attention.

It is a sad commentary on life in the US when we have to even consider whether or not to allow schools, colleges, and universities to teach our kids how to defend themselves. Once again, we have to ask: Where are the parents in all this?

NOTE: We recommend you scroll down to the next article from Alan Caruba. Alan has some extremely interesting thoughts on Obama's speech last night! Don't miss them!... JDL

J. D. Longstreet



Filed under:

conservative+Defense+courage+Diplomacy+War+Bravery

Some Speeches are Better Than Others ... by Alan Caruba

Some Speeches are Better Than Others
By Alan Caruba
*********************************
Some speeches are better than others. Sen. Barack Obama knows how to deliver a speech, but his acceptance speech was familiar stuff to anyone who has been listening to politicians as long as I have. Permit me a bit of cynicism because sometimes it allows you to separate the wheat from the chaff.

It is a bit of luck that Barack Obama’s acceptance speech was given on the forty-fifth anniversary of Dr. King’s famed “I’ve got a dream” speech. That speech brought people together to build a better America, to fulfill its promise of equality.

I not only lived through the Civil Rights era, but I actually met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was brief, but memorable for me. Dr. King could deliver an inspirational sermon or speech. I often wonder if the civil rights movement would have been as successful if there had not been a Dr. King to lead it. Things might have turned out differently for Barack Obama.

I thought it interesting that Barack Obama did not hew that closely to Dr. King’s oratorical style in his acceptance speech, but then it occurred to me that he is striving to get people to believe he is just like you and I. He is not.

He is the child of an imperfect mother who twice married Muslim men and whose child was literally rescued by two extraordinary grandparents. He is not like you or I.

He is half black and half white. He is not like you or I.

His intellect opened doors to elite universities, earned scholarships. He is not like you or I.

He has never served in the military, nor has he ever held a job that did not require a suit and tie. He is not like a lot of Americans.

He was imbued from an early age with the sophistry of Marxism that seeks to impose a government that promises all things to all people from cradle to grave and delivers only a soul-killing slavery to the state.

His speech had a central theme and it was jobs. In Obama’s world most Americans are out of work. They are not.

In Obama’s world, corporations are the enemy, not the engine of the economy.

In Obama’s world, the nation can free itself in ten years from its dependence on oil. No nation on Earth can do that. And $150 billion of your money and mine to the charlatans offering wind and solar power will not produce much more than the one percent of electricity these limited sources of energy currently represent.

What America needs is more drilling for oil for our transportation needs, more coal-fired and nuclear plants for the electricity we require, and more natural gas for its many benefits.

The other theme of his speech was that the last eight years of the Bush administration were a failure. Is it a failure that we have not been attacked since 9/11? Is it a failure that unemployment remains at a bare five percent, among the lowest in generations? Is a $14 trillion economy a failure?

Never mind. Obama is not addressing facts. He is in the business of generating promises like the one to reduce taxes for 95% of working families. That is not going to happen.

He promises “a world class education” for every child, but Teddy Kennedy’s failed “No Child Left Behind Act” is guaranteeing a failed education for the nation’s children. He promises higher wages for already well-paid and pensioned teachers despite the fact they are turning out students who cannot spell, cannot do arithmetic, and have no idea of America’s real history.

Promises are what politicians make. Speeches are what politicians give, but Barack Obama is no Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For one thing, Dr. King was a registered Republican.

Some speeches are better than others. I give this one a C.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/. He blogs daily at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/.


Filed under:

Obama+Hillary+Democrats+Taxes+Socialist+Progressive+Mystery+Failure

Joe Biden, The Expert On Iran?

Joe Biden, the Expert on Iran?
By: J. D. Longstreet
**************************

We are coming to understand why the Iranians would be more than pleased with Joe Biden as the Vice President of the United States.

Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School, has written an article titled: "Biden's Blink on Iran" which was published by the Washington Post. In the article Rubin says: "As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden is well versed in policy debates and carefully choreographed trips. But his record on the Islamic Republic of Iran -- perhaps the chief national security threat facing the next president -- suggests a persistent and dangerous judgment deficit".
Oh, my! This sounds serious! I assure you... it is. You must read Rubin's article. You'll find it here:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/25/AR2008082502337_pf.html


Obama signals that he believes Foreign Affairs is extremely important in his run for the Oval office. Then he makes the mistake of choosing Biden as his running mate.


We mentioned Iran... didn't we? Well, on Iran... Biden wants to talk... and talk... and talk... a la Jimmy Carter. Remember him? (I try very hard not to!) Biden seems to be saying that the "nuclearization" of Iran is unacceptable, and yet when "going to war" is mentioned as a possibility, to thwart the Iranian's obvious drive for "The Bomb", he immediately cries foul (or, "time out") and calls for sanctions. But... what if sanctions fail? Then what does he do? He seems ready to accept that which he has already referred to as... unacceptable! See, this is what the elite democrats refer to as "nuance". We have another word(s) for it down South! Bovine Scatology!


The good Senator, from Delaware, is about as inconsistent as they come. Israel is already upset with him because they see him as unpredictable. I must tell you... I think Israel has it about right!


In a piece titled: "What Would Biden's Middle East Policy Look Like?" over at "Slate", author Shmuel Rosner, apparently thinks Joe Biden is an erratic pragmatist. You will find his commentary here:


http://www.slate.com/id/2198517/


So, why did we choose Biden's views on foreign policy as it relates to Iran? It’s simple, really. No matter who the next President is, Iran is a menace LOOMING HUGE on the horizon. The US is going to have to deal with Iran, at some point, in the very near future. It matters greatly (and even now, I am understating the danger) who the American voters place in the position to decide how the US will act, or react, toward Iran.


And there are people concerned about Biden's ability to make the right decisions about Iran, and especially Iran's intentions toward Israel. The Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition (The RJC), Matt Brooks, released the following statement a few days ago:


“With the selection of Senator Joe Biden as Senator Obama’s vice president, the Democrat’s ticket has now become an even greater gamble for the Jewish community. Throughout his career, Senator Biden has consistently been wrong on Iran and his voting record on Israel has been inconsistent. Like Obama, Biden fundamentally misunderstands the threat posed by an Iran determined to obtain nuclear weapons. Biden has continuously demonstrated poor judgment on Iran. He has voted against significant legislation that would pressure Iran to stop pursuing nuclear weapons. Biden has failed to recognize the serious threat that Iran poses to Israel and the US and its allies in the Middle East,” said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks.


Mr. Brooks continues: "In 1998, Sen. Biden was one of only four senators to vote against the Iran Missile Proliferation Sanctions Act, a bill that punished foreign companies or other entities that sent Iran sensitive missile technology or expertise. Biden was one of the few senators to oppose the bipartisan 2007 Kyl-Lieberman Amendment labeling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. In a December 2007 debate, Biden said “Iran is not a nuclear threat to the United States of America.” On MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Biden said he “never believed” Iran had a weapon system under production."


Mr. Brooks went on to say: “The Jewish community was already gravely concerned with Senator Obama’s naive understanding of the Iranian threat. An Obama-Biden ticket has proven that it is ill-equipped to deal with this threat. By selecting Senator Biden to join his ticket, voting for Senator Obama has now become an even greater risk.” You'll find the entire article here:



http://blogs.jta.org/politics/2008/08/23/782/jewish-republicans-bidens-soft-on-iran/


Mr. Biden, it would seem, is going to have some difficulty convincing voters of his expertise in Middle Eastern affairs and is certainly leaving open, for questioning, whether he has the qualifications to service as the Vice President of the US, an office that holds a tremendous amount of "sway" over the Foreign Policy of the US.


Mr. Biden has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for over twenty-five years, including during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. He has been either the ranking member, or the chairman of the committee, for over a decade, now. Could it be that he has been using his position to gain even higher office? I mean, career politicians do it all the time. Certainly, if that were true, it still would not disqualify him for consideration as Vice President of the US, now would it? Of course not! But, having said that, we hasten to add that claiming some sort of expert status on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, especially in the Middle East, is a difficult thing, indeed, these days, given the state of, shall we say... "flux"... in which that region finds itself practically every hour. Mr. Biden would do well to carefully measure his words and his "pronouncements" (even more so) now that he is being considered, by the American people, for a "government position” that he absolutely must convince us he is prepared for.

J. D. Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+Biden+Iran+War+Policy

America is Losing Her Freedom a Little at a Time

America Is Losing Her Freedom a Little at a Time.

(Received by e-mail. The author is unknown.)

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

There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.
In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?'

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd.

Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America . The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms - just a little at a time.

One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America, you might want to tell this to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to our way of life then you will probably just ignore this warning, but God help you when the gate slams shut!

In this 'very important' election year, listen closely to what the candidates are promising you - just maybe you will be able to tell who is about to slam the gate on America.

Think about this very carefully because: 'A government that is big enough to give you everything you want, is also big enough to take away everything you have.' - Thomas Jefferson.

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

Filed under:

Obama+Hillary+Democrats+Taxes+Socialist+Progressive+Mystery+Failure

Obama's "Disarmament" YOUTUBE clip causing stir!

Does Obama Plan to Disarm the United States? You decide!

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

World Net Daily is reporting on an e-mail currently burning up the ether on the World Wide Web. The e-mail includes a link to a YouTube clip, which was posted on YouTube, according to World Net Daily, by none other than the Obama Campaign, itself, back on October 22nd, 2007. They tell us the clip has already been seen some 3 million times!

Read what the article, in it’s entirety, says and view the video now. The article is entitled:

"E-mail frenzy: 'Obama plans to disarm U.S.!"

'Candidate pledges on YouTube clip to gut military spending, research

You’ll find it at:

http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=73464

Filed under:

Obama+YouTube+Email

The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy ... by Alan Caruba

The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy
By Alan Caruba

******************************The Vast left Wing Conspiracy

As a dues-paying member of Hillary Clinton’s Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, it came as a revelation of sorts to learn about the parallel universe in which a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy exists. Within it, liberals do endless battle with one another for control of the Democrat Party.

Ron Arnold’s book, “Freezing in the Dark: Money, Power, Politics and The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy”, is not light reading. This heavily researched and documented narrative reveals all the major players of the liberal universe and how these renamed “progressives” interact through networks of wealthy foundations, advocacy groups, think tanks, and leftist media.

“Freezing” will particularly please policy wonks, but it is also a brilliant romp through the jungle of leftist politics. If you have the stamina to get into and through it, you will understand what drives the Left. To get you started, I will quote Winston Churchill who defined Socialism as “a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”

As I reached the end of “Freezing”, I had a random thought about the 2008 election and its outcome. Simply put, Democrats who have been driven insane by the very existence of George W. Bush cannot run against him. In the funhouse of modern politics, the Republican they must defeat is more like them than not. John McCain is Democrat Light. One of his best pals is Joe Lieberman who ran as the vice president nominee with Al Gore!

Emerging swiftly from the text is the way the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Act transformed how politics was to be funded. Little wonder that Sen. Obama abandoned his pledge to work within the constraints of federal campaign funding in favor of raising gobs of money from the Internet and the traditional supporters of anything and anyone labeled liberal, progressive. Never mind that the Communist Party USA also supports Obama. It must surely just be a coincidence.

McCain-Feingold banned “soft money” donations, the large and unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations to political parties. This “reform” required Democrats to create a networking restructure with the many satellite groups competing to use the party to get the only reform they ever wanted, the trashing of the U.S. Constitution.

It’s useful to remember that the Constitution exists to limit the power of the federal government and, via the Bill of Rights, those of the States to the extent that individual liberties are protected. This is why the liberalism discredited by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s has returned as a Halloween mask labeled “progressive.”

Progressives, however, come in many colors of red. There are, as Arnold notes, social, labor, anti-globalization, anti-corporate, anti-capitalist, environmental, post-national who like Sen. Obama see themselves as citizens of the world, and campaign finance reform progressives who think that the current electoral system is a threat to democracy, mostly one suspects because it keeps defeating progressives.

As Arnold reveals, one can hardly call liberals or progressives a movement. “It was more like a mental hospital without doctors or nurses.” They don’t have a cohesive culture, have no coherent ideology, but are “just quarrelsome factions with loads of issues.”

What they all seemed to have, however, was gobs and gobs of money from leftist foundations and millionaires who wanted to change the world by supporting one or more of the myriad of issues they embrace as their penance for being successful, thanks to capitalism.

The ultimate symbol of this is the billionaire George Soros. As Arnold points out, “The Soros mishmash of leftist causes at home ranged from financing the anti-gun lobby to abolishing capital punishment; from anti-Israel activism to promoting abortion rights; from feminism, population control, and gay liberation to anti-corporate campaigns, radical theories of education, and replacing national sovereignty with global institutions.”

Compare this with conservative values that include “hard work, duty and obligation, self-reliance, high levels of national pride, pro-life values, rejection of homosexuality, belief in the importance of religion and God in one’s life, and that children should learn respect and obedience.”

Essential to the compact that the American government makes with citizens is the understanding that if you work hard and stay out of trouble with the law, it will leave you alone!

The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy believes that your life must be guided from birth to death by the government, its prohibitions, and its demands, a society in which everything not mandated by law is prohibited.

To achieve this, progressives come at voters from all directions, conjuring up hoaxes like global warming, promises of often imaginary “clean” energy, the demand to end “urban sprawl”, the “right” of same-sex couples to marry, support for the United Nations, and endless charges of racism, among other charades to gain control of the federal government and its judiciary system in order to implement a top-down control of your life.

“Freezing in the Dark” is a roadmap to understand why we are assailed daily with the insanity of liberalism, an utterly failed system that depends on coercion while seeking to devalue the central principles of our constitutional system, from private property to individual merit and, yes, the promotion of wealth as a good thing.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/. He blogs daily at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/.

© Alan Caruba, August 2008

Filed under:

Obama+Hillary+Democrats+Taxes+Socialist+Progressive+Mystery+Failure

Eligibility to Be President of the US

Eligibility to Be President of the US
By: J. D. Longstreet

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

I have been following this and watching this story develop since picking up on it, a while back (June ’08), on an Israeli site Israeli Insider. The article is titled: “As Obama stonewalls on uncertified birth certificate, official doubts mount”. You’ll find the story here:

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12944.htm

Back on June 27th, 2008, the American Thinker had this piece titled: “Obama birth certificate mystery still unsolved”. You’ll find the article at:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/06/obama_birth_certificate_myster.html

It is just now coming to the fore and I suspect if will soon hit the mainstream media which, as we all know by now, trails behind the “New” media by anywhere from several days to several months!

So why bring all this up now? Well, let's see what has happened and what is happening:

Currently, a prominent Democrat is suing Obama in a Philadelphia Federal Court. The title of the piece at Americas Right is: “Obama sued in Philadelphia federal Court on grounds he is constitutionally Ineligible for the Presidency”. Philip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. (From Americas Right.com) As you can plainly see, Mr. Berg isn’t a lightweight! You’ll find the story here:

http://www.americasright.com/2008/08/obama-sued-in-philadelphia-federal.html

Sounds bad, right? Well, not so fast! Over at World Net Daily, they have another take on this whole mess. The article is entitled: “Democrat sues Sen. Obama over fraudulent candidacy”. You’ll find it at:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=73214

We also found an article from June ’08 at The Swamp, which says flatly that Yes, Obama is a citizen of the US. You’ll find it here:

www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/06/is_barack_obama_a_us_citizen_y.html

So what difference does all this make? Not much, really. I just find it interesting that we get so caught up in this sort of thing. I think it all derives from our never-ending Presidential campaigns, instituted, if memory serves, by the Clintons. It seems we have had one long, never-ending, (I said that already, didn’t I?) campaign for the office of President since Bill Clinton set foot on the carpet of the Oval office… and I, for one, am tired of it.

The Constitution of the Confederate States of America limited a President to one six year term, period. I could support amending the US Constitution to one term for the President… not to exceed six years… and that would be for a lifetime… no coming back, after a few years out of office, and be eligible to run again.

So let’s cut through all the smoke and mirrors stuff and see what the Constitution actually says about the qualifications to be President of the US:

Article II says: “Article II. - The Executive Branch…”No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”…

That’s it! That’s all there is to it. So… can we dispense with all the diversions and get this election over with? I am sooooo ready for it to end!

J. D. Longstreet





Filed under:


conservative+President+US+Eligible+Constitution+Amendment

It's Obama and (O)Biden!

It is Obama and Obiden!
Is Biden Obama’s Dan Quayle?

by: J. D. Longstreet
***********************************

Of all the bad Choices Obama could have made for a vice-presidential running mate, as we expected, he made the worst choice. Joe Biden is a Northeastern Liberal. So now the Democrat ticket has a Chicago liberal and a Northeastern liberal. I suppose that is what passes for “balance” on a democrat ticket… do you suppose? The support Obama had in the Southland, and much of the West, is certainly now in question. As a Southerner, I can tell you it did not help Obama’s chances down here and may very well hurt him, badly.

Oh, it’s not just the South, it’s all over. Joe Biden, is a caricature of the “Blow-Hard”, Wind-Bag” Senator, who has a tremendous amount of trouble making sure his brain is engaged before he puts his mouth in gear. Down South that is known, in some circles, as a “Smart-Mouthed Yankee”.

Biden strikes Southerners as the fast talking, used car salesman type, with the flashy grin, slicked back hair, always pushing to close the deal for his car, while telling you, all the while, what a useless piece of junk you are trying to palm off on him in the trade. You know the type.

But what was the team, searching for Obama’s running mate, supposed to do? They had the job of trying to find someone less experienced than Obama, which, alone, was a near impossible task, or, unable to do that, someone who would not expose Obama’s façade as the Messiah, the “Anointed One”. Seems to me, they were looking for a court jester instead of a running mate. And they found it in Biden. As time passes, Biden may very well turn out to be Obama’s Dan Quayle!

Obama, and his team, chose the one candidate the GOP has enough material on, already on file, to write volumes about his liberal record, his less than sterling self-control in debates, and his short-fused temper. Biden’s terminal case of “foot-in-mouth disease” has already supplied the McCain camp with tons of material, some of which was used in a campaign commercial shortly after Obama made the public announcement of his choice of Biden. McCain’s forces did not have to waste time vetting Mr. Biden. He has already been vetted several times over. His record is there for the entire world to see, such as this piece from the Telegraph.co.uk:

“Joe Biden plagiarised Neil Kinnock speech”
Here’s the link:

http://www.journalisted.com/article?id=774001

Well, that WAS a little over 20 years ago. But who is counting? Huh? OK… SOME things you just don’t forget and that is one of them.

Here’s another:

“The ONE” chooses his Two: Biden Kinnock Copycat Windbag is VP Candidate . Here’s the link:

http://www.order-order.com/2008/08/one-chooses-his-two-biden-kinnock.html

Joe Biden has been in the US Senate since the Nixon Administration… so there is a very long record to dig through.

If you are REALLY intrigued, you can take the Joe Biden quiz. You’ll find here:

http://www.thebidenquiz.com/

Take a look a the political positions of Joe Biden at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Joe_Biden

One of Biden’s less than popular positions, among southerners especially, is his stand on Gun Control:

Biden was given an "F" by the National Rifle Association (NRA) showing a pro-gun control voting record. He supports reinstating the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and voted against prohibition of lawsuits against gun manufacturers. He has voted to ban assault rifles and to end the "gun show loophole", stating that no one should be able to walk into a gun show and buy a gun more easily than they could at a normal store. (From: Wikipedia)

On immigration… Biden’s position is just as bad:

Biden supported the 2007 Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill. He supports guest-worker visas, and the building of a wall along the border. He voted to provide Social Security to illegal immigrants and supports a path to citizenship.(From Wikipedia)

On LGBT Issues: Biden voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act and against the Federal Marriage Amendment. He supports states rights to establish civil unions and favors adding sexual orientation to the criteria for a hate crime.

And, of course, there is Biden’s position on abortion:

He’s for it! Biden votes consistently with the pro-choice forces on most matters, and is a strong supporter of Roe v. Wade.

OK, so these are just highlights. It gets better.

There is already talk among the “great unwashed” (Actually some insiders are worried about this, too.) that Obama has so little experience that should he, somehow, pull out a win, he will not be the “President-in-Fact”, only the “Front Man.” Those promoting this theory are sayimg that Joe Biden will be the REAL President. As I’m sure you know, this is a position the Left is so used to claiming for Dick Cheney, Vice-President in the Bush Administration. Some things have a way of coming back to bite you!

I usually tune out political commercials, having made so many myself, and listened to and watched so many over my nearly three decades in the broadcasting industry. But, I have to tell you, I’m going watch the McCain commercials from here on out. Obama and Obiden have handed the Republicans tons of material for really hard-hitting and effective commercials. Of COURSE, they will be pointed to as “Negative” ads! But, the fact is, that by far, so-called negative ads are true and no matter what anyone tries to tell you… they do work in favor of the candidate using them.

Now, if the McCain camp has any savvy at all they will be very careful to choose a pro-life candidate, a solid conservative, for the GOP vice-presidential candidate. That will ease some of the pain of conservatives already holding their noses to vote for McCain.

Much will be made over “the bounce” Obama will get from the Democratic Convention this week. And Obama WILL get a bounce. But, conservatives, fear not, it is usually short lived.

There is no doubt about it. The next nearly two and a half months will be a slug-fest.
It has not sipped the notice of Conservatives that no matter how this election turns out, the GOP has been changed forever. Conservatives have been effectively shut-out. In this scribe’s opinion, it is now up to political conservatives in America to pull out of the GOP and form their own party, the CONSERVATIVE PARTY, and stand ready to challenge BOTH the GOP and the Democrats in 2012.

J. D. Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+Obama+Socialist+Leadership+Crisis+Experience+Biden