Just how much can the ~Gun Grabbers~ really do? ... by Texas Fred

Posted with permission!… Ed

Just how much can the ~Gun Grabbers~ really do?
By: Texas Fred

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Other than run their heads, look stupid and scare people, just how much do the gun grabbers really think can they do? Just what can they actually accomplish?

How many gun owners are there in the United States of America?

Most estimates range between 39% and 50% of US households having at least one gun (that’s about 43-55 million households). The estimates for the number of privately owned guns range from 190 million to 300 million. Removed those that skew the stats for their own purposes the best estimates are about 45% or 52 million of American households owning 260 million guns). SOURCE

Almost half of the homes in America are gun owners according to that little statistic.
Given the fact that many of those households are at least *2 person homes* and assuming that they are quite likely to have more than one gun per household, I would say that these are conservative figures.

Suppose the current Attorney General, Eric Holder, were to issue an edict ordering ALL Americans to turn in their guns? Suppose *The One* forces our lawmakers into reinstating the AWB? Suppose Obama and Holder decide to enter a period of Totalitarianism and take full control of the citizens of this nation?

Who is going to enforce this edict? The BATF?? The FBI?? Maybe the Army or the National Guard? Maybe State, County/Parish or Local police??

I wouldn’t put it past the FBI or BATF to try, they are nothing more than Federal automatons anyway. They will blindly follow the orders of *The One* and sacrifice themselves in the process.
Our Army and National Guard, as well as our police forces, are made up of regular, every day *Joe’s* and *Jane’s*, folks just like you and me. They work, they live, they have families, they pay taxes and they are just all around plain folks. Most of them are *sport* shooters. Many of them are hunters. Many of them have friends and families that are shooters and hunters, people that are simply *sportsmen*.

I have absolutely NO faith of any kind when it comes to the depravity of our federal government and their minions in suits at the various *Alphabet* Agencies! None!

I do, on the other hand, have great faith in our soldiers and police officers, and their desire to stand by the American people, their homes, their families and friends! I do have the greatest confidence that they will honor their oath to ‘defend against ALL enemies, both foreign AND domestic’. I have total faith that our troops and law enforcement personnel will easily recognize the enemies of this nation for exactly WHO, and WHAT they are.

But suppose they don’t? What are they going to do with roughly 100 MILLION Americans that are gun owners and users? People that have absolutely NO intention of giving those weapons up? As our forefathers said in their day, “Live FREE or DIE”, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately” and more recently, “Death before dishonor”.

The time is rapidly approaching America. Do we sit idly by? Do we engage in some pacifist type of peaceful protest in support of the 2nd Amendment by sacrificing ourselves to the fools on point in D.C. as we show our unarmed support for the 2A? Or do we stand as FREE men and women and fight for our freedom once again? Fight against those that DO intend on disarming this nation and taking us from being citizens to subjects?

My personal view is this: ‘I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death’, and given the fact that our military has taken so long to almost pacify Iraq, and has yet to pacify Afghanistan, nations approximately the size of Texas, if WE, The People don’t lay down and roll over, if WE, The People don’t willingly lay down our guns, HOW IN THE HELL is any of this going to happen to the gun owners of the U.S.A.?

The asshats in D.C. need to remember who they work for, We, The People put them in office, We, The People can damn sure remove them from office too!
http://texasfred.net/archives/3730

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Conservative+Firearms++Law+Constitution

Gun Control…Means Controlling the Citizenry

From January 2005
Gun Control…Controlling the Citizenry
J. D. Longstreet

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A government cannot control its citizens without gun control in the extreme. I mean… taking away the guns of those citizens.

The founders of the US understood this and they thoughtfully granted the citizens of the US the right to bear arms. So long as the citizens exercise that right we will be free. Soon after giving it up, we will be a totalitarian nation. It is just that simple.

I have heard all the arguments for taking away our guns and they all ring hollow when presented side by side with the facts.

Look, if you want to reduce gun deaths in America, you have to change people’s conduct. The gun is just a cold piece of machinery. It does what it is commanded to do.

The silly argument, which says the founders intended only members of the Militia to possess arms, is ridiculous. OK, who is the militia? Huh? No, it is not the National Guard. No, it is not the Reserves, and no, it is not the organized Armed Forces of the United States. Let’s look at the Federal Law on the militia. Paraphrasing the US Code title 10, section 311: “all males born in the US are automatically members of the US Militia from age 17 through age 46”.

I’m not a member of the NRA. But, I wish them well.

Our freedom is far too precious to allow the anti gun lobby to take it away. The gun bought us our freedom and it keeps us free. Take away the gun and those with murder in their hearts will still murder… by other means. Remember, Cain had not a single gun.

In the Nation’s capitol, where gun ownership is illegal, they have more murders than any other place in the country. How can that be? Murder comes from the heart, not from the gun.

A wise man once said: “Freedom stands on five boxes: The Soap Box, The Ballot Box, the Jury Box, the Witness Box, and… the Cartridge Box.

There can be no compromise with those who would disarm our populace. We must fight to keep our second amendment rights, for nothing less than our freedom is at stake.
One of our founding fathers had this to say on our right to bear arms:

[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. ---James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46.

Finally, no less a person than “Founding Father” Patrick Henry said the following:

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

Never give up your gun, for it is your freedom.


J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Guns+Control+Fear

US Government Fails Test Of National Security

US Government Fails Test Of National Security

Texans along US/Mexico border not safe or secure!
J. D. Longstreet

The dope gang wars on the US/Mexican border must really be ticking some people in Washington off, big time. Just when they thought the decks were clear, and they have the numbers to pass the Amnesty Bill, this time for sure, all hell breaks loose on the border.

For years now, we have warned that the folks in the south, especially those Americans along the border with Mexico, would eventually take matters into their own hands and deal with the problem of illegal aliens flooding across the border into the US. The tipping point may now have been reached. Now, we are not only having to contend with a tsunami of illegals crowding into our country, we also have to put up with murder and plunder by their dope gangs (Yes, l know the nice word is “cartel” but, hey, a gang is a gang no matter how you spell it!) and their “dope wars” involving Americans on the American side of the border. This cannot be tolerated. The folks in Texas have had it. For a refection of the way some Texans are feeling about all this we refer you to the site of our friend, and fellow blogger, “Texas Fred” HERE.

The folks in Texas have had enough, more than enough, and they are ready, and we might add, prepared to do something about it. The governor, Rick Perry, has politely asked the President for 1,000 US troops to be sent to the border to enforce the law and some sort of peace there. The governor is reported to have said: "I don't care if they are military, National Guard or customs agents. We're very concerned that the federal government is not funding border security adequately. We must be ready for any contingency." Right on, Governor! Right on! The governor said he wants “… the U.S. to fund strong security measures to fight the Mexican drug cartels that have spread violence and fear in Mexico, including Juárez.” But, honestly, if I were Gov. Perry… I wouldn’t be holding my breath. You can read the story for yourself in the El Paso Times HERE.

It is beginning to sound as if “Pancho Villa Rides Again” in south Texas! But, of course, our eloquent President will simply “talk” Mexico into behaving. It didn’t work for the President, then, and I really can’t see it working for the current Chief Executive today. In March of 1915, President Woodrow Wilson had to send US troops under the command of General Frederick Funston, and led by General John J. (“Black Jack”) Pershing, (The US Army 8th Brigade out of Fort Bliss, Texas) into south Texas and across the border, into Mexico, chasing the aforementioned Villa across some of the most god-forsaken landscape in America and northern Mexico Oh, the Army’s expedition to capture Villa was, alas, unsuccessful. (Were you aware that in 1914 we had US Troops assigned to secure the Mexico/US border? Yep! That’s what the Army’s 8th Brigade, at Fort Bliss, was doing there in the first place.)

The point is… there is precedence for stationing US troops along the US/Mexico border.

Look, it is obvious that Mexico is unable to do anything about the violence, the drug running, and all the rest of it, along their border. They are, apparently, incapable of getting a handle on it. The US politicians really don’t want to get involved, especially the last President who, himself, was from Texas and is, we are told, living there once again. It is a nasty business and one that will take many years and a heck of a lot of dollars and pesos to bring anything approaching “security” in that area. That leaves the citizens of the US, who live there, in Harm’s Way. That is unacceptable.

The first duty of the US government is to secure the safety of its citizens. And they are not doing it.

J. D. Longstreet
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US/MEXICO/Border+Security+Troops+Texas

Light At The End Of The Tunnel Turned Off!

Light At The End Of The Tunnel Turned Off!
By: J. D. Longstreet

It is a painful time for Americans of my age. We have the memories of an America, glorious and honorable in her past… a past, which has been forgotten and erased, in many cases, from the history books of America’s students. Above all things our America was honorable. A young American today would be hard pressed to define “honor.” To define “dishonorable” is much easier. One has only to turn one’s attention to the actions of the American Congress, ruled by the American Left, for a real-time view of dishonor.

As we Americans view ourselves in that inner mirror, we can know that even today, America can be defeated… only by herself. And that is the shameful path we have chosen.

One of our Founding Fathers and President, John Adams, once said: “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

I did not watch the President make his speech before the joint session of Congress. I knew that I would be looking for the strings attached to his arms during his performance, and I would not be able to concentrate on his words. Not that his words mattered much. If we have learned anything about the American people during the just recently closed presidential campaign it is that Americans don’t care what a candidate says. They care about HOW the candidate says it. Same thing applies now that Obama is President.

Americans of my generation, who still recognize a republic, when we see one, also recognize when that republic is gone. The American republic is gone … replaced by a socialist government… complete with Central Planning.

You see, the new socialist government in America has grasped the American economic system, and by doing so, it now has absolute power over the American people. It will now rapidly proceed to destroy our liberty. Indeed, it has already begun.

There are a few basic, fundamental truths people who live in a republic know. Truths, which we Americans, have forgotten because our horrible public education system failed to educate our children over the past two generations. They are truths which all people who want to live free know. Now, I am not referring to living free under a socialist government and in a socialist society as we have now chosen. These are truths FREE MEN and FREE Women (like we used to be) know.

William Boetcker, an outspoken political conservative and Presbyterian minister is perhaps best remembered for his authorship of a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots. In that pamphlet he summed up so much of what modern day Americans have forgotten. Some the most applicable “cannots” which would apply today, especially after Obama’s speech to Congress and, I’m sure, after his budget is sent up to Congress, are summed up in the few lines which follow. Please read them and pay careful attention to what the Rev. Boetcker is saying.

“You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot lift the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot establish security on borrowed money. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”

The good reverend NAILED it! But our elite intelligentsia in the US Congress and in the White House doesn’t get it. Voltaire captured the current US Congress a very long time ago when he said: "In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other."

Even C. S. Lewis, who I have never been particularly fond of, actually said something I agree with. He said: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

One of our Founding Fathers, one the Democrats, in particular say they love with highest esteem would be completely flabbergasted at the co duct of our current democratic government. Thomas Jefferson would notice immediately the deep stain of socialism on the fabric of the American Republic were he to see it today under democratic Party control. Jefferson said: "To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, 'the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.”

“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.” Thomas Sowell said that. Sowell also said: “One of the consequences of such notions as "entitlements" is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.”

And finally, this from Richard John Neuhaus: “Socialism is the religion people get when they lose their religion”

So why do I bring up the anti-socialism expressions of these of these very public thinkers? Because, dear reader, the current socialist government under the Democrats WILL FAIL. It has NEVER succeeded before in history and, I repeat, it WILL fail this time. However, the other great downside to socialism is that in it’s failure it does great damage to the country and to the people of the country who were foolish enough to try it.

It is important for us all to know that when the Democrats begin making excuses, as they surely will, for the failure of their brand of socialism in America, understand that they knew , going in, that it would fail. They knew going in, that they were about to do great, I mean, immense harm to this nation… and they did it anyway! They did it out of greed for power and dominance of the government of a people they cared so little about they were willing enslave them in the bonds of a form of government with it’s birthing cradle in the deepest, hottest, part of hell itself.

They will break this country, they will bankrupt this country, and they will enslave our souls if we allow them.

I’m not a prophet. I’m an old country boy who grew up on a steady of diet of common sense with a family that drilled into me the importance of freedom to the individual no matter his station in life.

If President Obama has said anything approaching truth in his meteoric rise to the Office of President it is the words he uttered declaring that things will get a whole worse before they get better. That is true. Right up until the country collapses, of the weight of its government, things are going to decline. Look at the stock market. The socialists come out, hold news conferences, and the stock market plunges. The true movers and shakers of America understand what is happening and they are getting out. They are seeking cover until after the collapse. Then they hope to, once again, try to build an America from the wreckage left by the socialists masquerading as democrats in charge of our government today.

Yes, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off. For the next few years were are left to stumble about in the darkness of socialism on our own. For, you see, my fellow American, we got ourselves in to this mess and it is up to us to get ourselves out of it.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+America+Collapse+Socialist

Stop the CO2 Madness! ... by Alan Caruba

Stop the CO2 Madness!
By Alan Caruba

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

When The New York Times publishes a story, as it did on February 19, regarding the next step in the Obama administration’s intention to destroy the U.S. economy, it’s a very good idea to pay attention.

“E.P.A. Expected to Regulate Carbon Dioxide” was the headline of John M. Broder’s article. “The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to act for the first time to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for the warming of the planet, according to top Obama administration officials.”

Those “top Obama administration officials” are unnamed and so too are the “scientists” claiming that the planet is “warming.” For the record, although you will never read this in The New York Times, the planet is NOT warming. It is COOLING. It has been cooling for a decade now and it is no secret to meteorologists who track the day to day temperatures or climatologists who study long term trends.

On March 8-10, more than 500 of those scientists who dispute the vast global warming hoax will meet in New York for a second international conference on climate change sponsored by The Heartland Institute, a non-profit, free market think tank.

Joining those scientists and others will be Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic and current president of the European Union. Also participating will be Jose Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain, along with American astronaut, Dr. Jack Schmitt, Richard Lindzen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other leading scientists who have led the effort to shed the light of truth on the global warming hoax.

You can be sure of one thing. They will all continue to be attacked as crazies denying the “consensus” that Al Gore is always braying about. Science is not about “consensus”, it is about reproducible facts. All the “facts” about melting glaciers, dramatically rising sea levels, and other claims by the GW crowd have been refuted.

The claims of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the basis for the Kyoto Protocols to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have been demolished repeatedly but the mainstream press refuses to report this, nor the fact that the IPCC is a political, not scientific, entity designed to advance the global warming hoax. Many of the scientists initially enticed to participate have since resigned. The vast bulk, easily 80% or more of those cited as IPCC members are not scientists who deal with issues of climate.

The IPCC’s claims have been based entirely on computer models. This in itself should have raised flags long ago. These models, as Hans Schreuder, an analytical chemist, has pointed out, “regard the earth as a flat disk bathed in a constant 24 hour haze of sunlight, without north and south poles, without clouds, and without any relationship to the real planet we live on.”

The claim that rising levels of carbon dioxide are responsible for a global warming that is not happening is entirely without scientific merit and, if for no other reason, should not be the basis for implementing EPA regulation of so-called “greenhouse gas” emissions under the Clean Air Act.

While it is true that there has been an increase in CO2 since the end of the last mini-ice age that lasted from 1500 to 1850, there is no research that demonstrates CO2 and an increase in the Earth’s temperature has any relationship. What warming occurred was entirely natural. Indeed, CO2, at less than 400 parts per million by volume, cannot influence atmospheric temperature or climate in any measurable way.

CO2 represents just 0.038% of the Earth’s atmosphere. The dominant factors in the Earth overall temperature are the Sun, the oceans, and even clouds.

If the U.S. weather service climate models are unable to predict changes in the weather by more than a week’s time, why would anyone believe that the IPCC’s models could predict it twenty, fifty or a hundred years from now?

Despite this, the EPA is tasked to impose regulations on CO2 emissions that would wreck the economy by requiring a “cap-and-trade” of “carbon credits” that would impact every single business and industrial activity. The European Union tried this and it has proved a massive failure and a huge drag on its economy.

Carbon dioxide is not a “pollutant” as the Supreme Court has ruled. How can the Earth’s second most vital gas, other than oxygen, be a pollutant? Not one single piece of vegetation on Earth could exist without CO2. Without vegetation, no animal life including our own could exist on Earth.

The notion that the EPA would regulate it is preposterous. It is absurd. It is criminal. It is immoral. It has no basis whatever in the actual science of the world’s climate. It is based on a massive, global hoax masterminded by the United Nations and carried out by charlatans such as Al Gore and NASA’s James Hansen.

It is, however, the vehicle for the political control of the world’s economy that would fulfill the United Nation’s global government schemes and, if enacted here in America, would mark the destruction of an economy that is the engine of the world’s economy, despite its current difficulties.

The Earth has existed for 4.5 billion years. The assertion that human beings and/or industrial activity have any effect on its atmosphere is an instrument of fascism.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

© Alan Caruba, February 2009

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Global+Warming+Climate+Change+Religion+Pagan+Socialism+Ethanol+carbon+Tax+hoax

Stimulus Bill Explanation

Stimulus Bill Explanation

Author Unknown



Shortly after class, an economics student approaches his economics

professor and says, "I don't understand this stimulus bill.

Can you explain it to me?"

The professor replied, "I don't have any time to explain it at my

office, but if you come over to my house on Saturday and help

me with my weekend project, I'll be glad to explain it to you."

The student agreed.



At the agreed-upon time, the student showed up at the

professor's house. The professor stated that the weekend

project involved his backyard pool.



They both went out back to the pool, and the professor

handed the student a bucket. Demonstrating with his own

bucket, the professor said, "First, go over to the deep end,

and fill your bucket with as much water as you can."

The student did as he was instructed.



The professor then continued, "Follow me over to the shallow

end, and then dump all the water from your bucket into it."

The student was naturally confused, but did as he was told.



The professor then explained they were going to do this many

more times, and began walking back to the deep end of the pool.



The confused student asked, "Excuse me, but why are we doing this?

The professor matter-of-factly stated that he was trying to make

the shallow end much deeper.



The student didn’t think the economics professor was serious,

but figured that he would find out the real story soon enough.

However, after the 6th trip between the shallow end and the

deep end, the student began to become worried that his

economics professor had gone mad.

The student finally replied, "All we're doing is wasting valuable

time and effort on unproductive pursuits. Even worse, when

this process is all over, everything will be at the same level it

was before, so all you'll really have accomplished is the destruction

of what could have been truly productive action!"



The professor put down his bucket and replied with a smile,

"Congratulations. You now understand the stimulus bill."

==============================================================

All About Wealth---this is as good as I have ever seen it said:

You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

The government cannot give anything that it does not first take from someone.

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.

For what one person receives without working, another person must work without receiving.



When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for ........................ that my dear friend, is about the end of a nation.

Author Unknown

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Conservative+America+Collapse+Socialist

Why Aren’t You Hearing About House Resolution 45 (HR 45)?

Why Aren’t You Hearing About House Resolution 45 (HR 45)?
“The Take America’s Guns” Bill!
By: J. D. Longstreet

Here it comes! And most of you haven’t heard a word about it, now, have you? Why do you suppose that is, huh? Could it be that the Mainstream Media is so deeply in the tank for Obama? Or could it be their very own leftist agenda motivating them to keep the lid on this story? Do you suppose they think that if you learn about it (HR 45) you might get off you tired, lazy, butts and begin lobbying your Congressman/woman and Senators to stop this hellish piece of legislation? Methinks the correct answer is… all of the above! ? Put simply, the MsM DOESN’T WANT YOU TO HEAR ABOUT IT!

ATTENTION all you Conservative BLOGGERS: if this story is to get out, to be disseminated to the American people, then you are going to have to do it. So, let’s be about it!

OK, as an American you need to know exactly what this bill says and what it is proposing. We urge you to go to the official site if the US House of Representatives (for legislation), “THOMAS”, and read it, in its entirety, for yourself. You’ll find it HERE.


Keep in mind: “Like the old saying goes...once they know where all the guns are, it will be easier to come take them....”

Now, lets break it down. The bill would:

1. Require licensing for anybody that owns a gun.
2. Would require photographs and a thumbprint
3. Would require passage of a test that covers:
(A) The safe storage of firearms, particularly in the vicinity of persons who have not attained 18 years of age;
(B) The safe handling of firearms;
(C) The use of firearms in the home and the risks associated with such use;
(D) The legal responsibilities of firearms owners, including Federal, State, and local laws relating to requirements for the possession and storage of firearms, and relating to reporting requirements with respect to firearms; and
(E) Any other subjects, as the Attorney General determines to be appropriate.

Check out the article at “Stop the ACLU” HERE.

Now, you can sugar coat this anyway you want but it is a façade. To cover the government’s intention to locate the guns, determine who has them, and assist the government in preparation for taking them from you.

Let’s face it folks. The right to keep and bear arms was given us by The Founders of the country for our protection against our own government. As long as you and I have our weapons we will remain, at least, somewhat free. That right was intended, by The Founders) to be a threat to the government. That’s right. It is a threat that says to the governemtn: if you try to become dictatorial we citizens have the means to toss you out on your ear and put in place another government that will rule within the boundaries set forth by the constitution.

Governments, any government, including ours, as we now know, are extremely uncomfortable when their citizens are armed. They just don’t sleep well at night. Just knowing that all of us among “the great unwashed” are running around, with guns, scares the bejesus out of the folks in Washington…. especially the leftists whose very religion says the government is the be all, end all of everything, and there should never be a threat, of any kind, to the government. When the leftists become the power brokers in the government, this sort of thing happens. They set out, at the earliest opportunity, to remove all threats to the government. First and foremost… they go after the citizen’s guns. That’s what is happening with HR 45.

Here is one of the problems we face in staying abreast of developments in the case of HR 45. The government and the press are the same people, philosophically. Both are leftists. Each watches the other’s back. Of course, that’s not the way it is supposed to be, but nevertheless, that is the way it is and we have to deal with it.

The bottom line is… if we want the public to understand what is happening, in the government’s latest bid to take our guns and shred the Constitution, the blogosphere will have to keep the public advised. We can no longer depend upon the press to be our watchdogs keeping an eye on the government and reporting when it strays from the straight and narrow. Those days are long gone.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Firearms++Law+Constitution

The States Are Not Branches Of The Federal Government!

The States Are Not Branches Of The Federal Govern

By: J. D. Longstreet

"We are telling the federal government that we are a sovereign state and want to be treated as such. We are not a branch of the federal government,” that from Arizona state Rep. Judy Burges. And more and more state legislators and state legislatures are expressing the very same feelings. And they are doing something about it.

A state senator in Oklahoma, Randy Brogdan, has introduced a resolution that would enable his state to "reclaim its 10th Amendment right to reject any and all acts of Congress that go beyond its enumerated powers in violation of the 10th Amendment."

The Tenth Amendment, a part of the "Bill of Rights", says flatly: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Some legal experts say that the Supremacy Clause in the US Constitution makes all the efforts of the states moot. The Supremacy Clause is a clause in the United States Constitution, article VI, paragraph 2. The clause establishes the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and U.S. treaties as "the supreme law of the land." The text establishes these as the highest form of law in the American legal system, mandating that state judges uphold them, even if state laws or constitutions conflict. Here's the text of the Supremacy Clause lifted from the Constitution:

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."

Whoa! Talk about throwing your weight around!

OK, so what do the state legislators have to say about that, huh? Well, remember Oklahoma state senator Randy Brogdan? His answer, we believe, sets the stage for the coming fight in the Supreme Court. Brogdan is quoted as saying: "Federal law does not trump the Constitution."

We have heard from Arizona and Oklahoma... You have to ask if this is a repeat of the uprising of the states in the 1800's. The answer is no. This is different, and yet, at the same time, it is about the same thing: My Confederate ancestors called it "State's Rights.” That is exactly the underlying cause of the unrest in the states today... States Rights.

States involved in the States Sovereignty Movement, as of this writing include: Hawaii, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire and Washington and, of course, Arizona and Oklahoma. Reports tell us that the same sort of "resolutions", "bills', and so forth, are soon to be introduced in more than a dozen other states. There's an excellent article at the Washington Times we recommend you read. You'll find it HERE.

As I surveyed a map of the country with the states involved to one degree or another in the States Sovereignty Movement highlighted on it, I must tell you, it made this old man’s heart beat a little faster. For, you see, the states involved were from the north, the south, the east, and the west, and even way out in the Pacific Ocean. No matter how it turns out, no single section of this country will ever bear the stigma of “traitors” as my beloved South has done since the 1860’s. No state, no group of states, should ever have to bear that indignity, especially when what they did was perfectly legal as is what the states in the State’s Sovereignty Movement are doing today.

For even more information on the State’s Sovereignty Movement and a map of those states involved go HERE.

I fervently hope this gets to the Supreme Court before the Federal Government does something stupid, as it did in the 1860’s. We all know the Federal Government has stretched its legal bounds beyond those intended by The Founders of this country. We KNOW that. Its time they were called on it.

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

Conservative+States+Sovereignty+Constitution+rights

“Obamanomics” …Socialism… or not?

“Obamanomics” …Socialism… or not?

Obamacare (Socialized Medicine) is on the way!

By: J. D. Longstreet

The question of whether or not Obama is a socialist continues to come to the fore. The rush by Obama’s people to put out that particular fire has done nothing to quench it. In fact, their efforts may have had just the opposite effect. Surely you are aware of the “Law of Unintended Consequences”.

We have been pounding that drum for a while now. Problem is… nobody wants to hear it.

So what is Socialism, anyway? Well the dictionary says this:

1.
a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

2.
procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.

3.
(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Sir Edmund Burke defined socialism this way:

“A perfect equality will indeed be produced--that is to say, equal wretchedness, equal beggary, and on the part of the petitioners, a woeful, helpless, and desperate disappointment. Such is the event of all compulsory equalizations. They pull down what is above; they never raise what is below; and they depress high and low together beneath the level of what was originally the lowest.
………….. Edmund Burke

Sir Winston Churchill had this to say about socialism:

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery”.

Could it be that Americans who are socialist sympathizers or, are, in fact, socialists themselves, are ashamed of their collectivist proclivities? Well, it is an honest question.

Here we are in a capitalist society set in a representative republic, which is arguably, a Christian nation, and as such, we have been at war with socialism and communism for nearly 60 years. Now we have socialists openly living and working amongst us and ensconced within our national legislature.

I have been convinced, for some time now, that having Mr. Obama, as President, will mean one thing for Americans: redistribution of the nation’s wealth. That, as any thinking person can instantly tell you, will destroy the capitalist economic system this country is built upon and will lead, very quickly, to “business flight” as giant corporations begin to flee the country to escape the inevitably cascade of inflated taxes they are sure to be burdened with under an Obama regime. With them will go jobs. When the jobs are gone there is no creation of NEW wealth. The economy will simply starve to death. If you think the economy is in bad shape now (I don’t… but that is for a another article) just wait until we have “Obamanomics”

Socialism and communism were based on forcible redistribution of a nation’s wealth. There are a number of ways to take the wealth from those who have it and give it to those who do not. The one favored most, by the liberals/socialists in America, it seems, is taxation. Friends on the Left can hardly wait to begin raising taxes.

We must remember that Obama has been rated as the most liberal senator in the US Senate. Liberals have a demonstrated tendency to take from those who are the most productive in America and give what they take to those who are not productive. Expect, as we said above, huge tax increases on big and small businesses alike. And the nightmare of the “welfare state”, conservatives have warned Americans against, for a very long time, will become reality. And, lest we forget, a national healthcare system… socialized medicine in America.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… well, you know the rest.

J. D. Longstreet

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socialism+medicine+Obamacare

Preparing For America With A Socialist Government!

Preparing for America with Socialist Leadership!

By: J. D. Longstreet
***********************

If you are a resident of America, and you happen to live in a home constructed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, we suggest you begin searching your back yards for what might appear as a ventilation shaft, protruding from the ground, for no apparent reason. If you find one of those, you’ll want to get out the ole shovel and start digging. You may be fortunate enough to have one of the thousands of underground bomb shelters built in America during that era.We suggest you dig down to it, open it, air it out, clean it out, and begin re-stocking it as soon as possible.

If you are one of the unfortunate ones, like me, and you don’t have one of those soon to be needed life saving shelters, you are going to need to go to the search engine of your choice and begin a search for plans for a family, or personal, bomb shelter, or fallout shelter.

You think I’m kidding, right? Not by a long shot! Have you been watching the news lately?

I mean, the Mainstream Media is already telling us the Democrat Party is going to win back the Presidency, and... if they do… you and I are going to need those bomb shelters! Putting the Democrats in charge of the US government is the equivalent of running up the white flag for the Islamofacists! They are just waiting for the Democrats to take over. They know that the Democrats have no earthly idea of what national security means and no hint as to what is required to protect the citizens of the United States, or, the Socialist States of America, soon to be followed by the Islamic States of America!

Nearly 80% of foreign policy experts say they are convinced the US is going to be hit again within the next few years. Do you want to take the chance that the hit will be non-nuclear, or nuclear? Ok, then, start digging!

(We decided to toss in directions to this website for those of you seriously considering a “shelter”. You will find it interesting, to say the least. Go HERE. )

I’m sitting just 50 miles from a busy east coast seaport, just 30 miles from the largest US Military Ammo Dump on the east coast, just 35 miles from a Nuclear Power Plant, and you think I’m not worried??? Each morning as the eastern horizon brightens at sunrise, I do a double take just to be sure it IS the sun!

It’s time to get on the ‘net and find those bomb shelter plans, and check the yellow pages for the dealer nearest you with backhoe rentals, and get to work. There’s not a minute to lose.

In a few months, after the Democrats win, a free America will be only a beautiful memory. That shining city on a hill will be darkened and will vanish. Man’s last, best, hope will be gone. The candle of freedom will be outed and the American Dark Ages will descend upon us under the much-anticipated Islamic Global Dominion (Or as we tried to warn America prior to the elections of 2006 and 2008… the Socialist Domination of America!). The only nation standing between freedom and utter chaos, will be gone… undone from within by a political party bent on power for itself and unwilling to admit it is completely incapable of leading, and protecting, the nation it claims to love.

Prepare, fellow Americans! The edge of night approaches.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+America+Collapse+Socialist

UN: Iran Can Make One Bomb Now.

UN: Iran Can Make One Bomb Now.

By: J. D. Longstreet

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

“Iran has now built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.” (From the Financial Times.) For details go HERE. The report goes on to say: “The new figures come in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, released on Thursday. This revealed that Iran’s production of low enriched uranium had previously been underestimated.”

No Kidding? Why, they must be joking, right? Hardly. Iran has been telling the world what they are doing and what they intend to do with that bomb as soon as they have it built. Well, for all we know, they may have the thing built, already!

If the diplomats of this world have anything to learn at all, it is this… when a man, or a country, tells you they intend to do something, then you’d damn well better listen and prepare your countermove.

I grew up as a scrawny little kid. I was picked on a lot because of my size. Until I learned that I had to strike first, with everything I had, before the bully, or would- be bully knew what had hit him. It saved my behind a number of times. Some of those guys would have wiped the floor up with my scrawny little behind had I not taken matters into my own hands and removed the threat. I suppose that is one of the reasons I can relate to the nation of Israel, as I certainly do today.

I bring Israel into this, for two reasons, which quickly boil down into one reason. Israel will be target number one for Iran’s Atom Bomb. Israel will have to remove the threat before Iran can strike and Israel must be prepared to act alone. The US can no longer be counted on to stand beside Israel. I am confident that Israel knows this and that may be the underlying reason why, Benjamin Netanyahu may very well be the next Prime Minister of Israel. The stage is being set.

Now… for those of you with terminally short attention spans… a word about Iran:

Last July, I wrote in this very space the following: “Iran is the instigator of much of the terror around the globe today with training, and with money, munitions, material, and in a number of cases, personnel. It is one thing for Iran, alone, to have the bomb, it is quite another for Iran to begin handing those nuclear bombs off to bands of terrorists, all over the planet, who have absolutely no qualms about setting one of them off in Berlin, Paris, Lisbon, London, or New York! And therein lies the greatest threat posed by Iran’s ownership of The Bomb. Too often we have adjusted our national blinders so that we are seeing only an atomic attack upon Israel instigated by Iran. I must tell you, the likelihood of Iran arming terrorists with A-bombs is far more likely and, far and away, more dangerous to the US and the world.

Some of us in America understand that it will take a nuclear disaster in one of our large cities to get the attention of that portion of Americans who normally do not take part in the daily grind of everyday politics in the country and the world. They are those folks who will ask: “Now why would anyone want to bomb one of our great cities”? They are the folks who will STILL be puzzled as the mushroom cloud rears it’s dark, ugly, countenance above the ruins of what was formally a thriving metropolis with hundreds of thousand of Americans minding their own business, just like them, before the blinding flash that took their lives.

We have always had those folks with us. Historians tell us that when the 13 Colonies girded for war against Great Britain, 1/3 were for the War for Independence, 1/3 were against the war, and 1/3 didn’t care, one way or the other.

In the days of yesteryear it was gallant, chivalrous even, to allow the opponent to get off the first shot before America took them out. Today… there will be no chance to strike back. The weapons of war are so powerful that he who gets of the first shot, most likely, will be the winner (if there is such a thing as a “winner” in a nuclear war.)

The point of my rambling is this: Iran must be stopped. And the deed must be done sooner, rather than later. Americans, befuddled by all the politics in the air, both day and night for the past two years, (and the recession on top of that worry) are NOT paying attention to the gathering threat from Iran. Americans are distracted. Distracted is not a good thing when a country is at war for it’s very existence. (It is also “not a good thing” when we have a Commander-in-Chief as naïve as the one we have now. But, we elected the President, and we are stuck with him for at least four years. And, I am convinced he has no idea the trouble the world is in and no idea of how to deal with it.)

We DO have a choice. We can take out the nuclear threat from Iran and continue to enjoy a life of freedom, or we can allow Iran to build the bomb, disseminate it to terrorist bands around the globe, and live in fear and trembling as slaves to the Islamofacists. Those are the choices. There is NO MIDDLE GROUND… contrary to what some leading politicians would have us believe.

Now, understand. I am not “warmongering” here. What I AM trying to do is redirect the spotlight onto the very REAL, and possibly worse, threat emanating from Iran’s possession of an Atomic Bomb. And that is… again… arming terrorists with it.

For the past 292 years we have had it rather easy, as a nation. We’ve had our wars, even amongst ourselves, but, we have had periods of peace. But, I fear that is over.

I hate to break it to some of you, but the war on terror is a never-ending war. It is not likely we will ever again have a world without US troops in the Middle East. But, even if it comes to pass, that we DO manage to dampen the hostilities there, it will be only temporary. In the meantime, wars all over the globe will flare-up and US troops will be required and called into combat in diverse places. It will be a constant struggle; waged from day to day, as young Americans spill their blood in an attempt to keep the death and destruction from our shores. But, eventually, it will arrive here, in America, and we, too, will live then as Israel does today. We’ll not be able to board a municipal bus without worrying if it has a bomb affixed to it, or enter the doors of a shopping mall without the same fear, or attend a sporting event, without that same dark worry tugging at our conscious minds. It will become a way of life and we will yearn for these days of relative peace. Hardly an American family will survive without a death, or multiple deaths, of their young as a result of these wars.

Gloomy? Yes, it is, very. But as I approach my seventieth decade on this earth, I can look ahead and base this prediction on my experience of the 5 wars, in my lifetime, (so far) in which we have engaged the enemy and found that we have won, lost, or “tied” at the conclusion.

It is said in the Holy Scriptures that in the latter days, or “end times” as some refer to those days, “men will cry peace, peace, but there will be no peace”. Those Scriptures have proven time and time again to be right on target. I see no reason to doubt them, or their wisdom, as we stand at the threshold of a war without end.”

That was written in July of last year.

I watch with anxious anticipation the elections in Israel and I hope against hope that Netanyahu becomes the Prime Minister. For I believe Bibi will stand up to Obama and I am convinced, at least at this point in history that Netanyahu will do whatever it takes to stop Iran cold. If so, Netanyahu will have saved the world… at least for another day.

J. D. Longstreet

Note from Editor: Here is an article you will find interesting: "Iran inches closer to the bomb." You'll find it at:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065936.html

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href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Nuclear+Bomb+Iran+Israel+War" rel="tag">Conservative+Nuclear+Bomb+Iran+Israel+War

“America Circling The Drain”

“America Circling The Drain”
By: J. D. Longstreet
*****************************

I am hearing more and more folks speak of the Two Americas these days than ever before. But these people, unlike some of our former democratic candidates for President, no longer believe the two Americas can continue in their unhappy marriage.

We have mentioned in our scribbling, a number of times, how America has grown into two absolutely distinct countries cohabitating within the same borders. We have also pointed out that, at some point, these two countries are going to want to be separate from each other. The patience of one or the other will run out and rumblings about separating the two countries, geographically, will begin.

It already has.

Those on my side of this issue want our republic back. We want the original constitution of the United States back. We yearn to live free (again) as our forefathers did, only a few short decades ago. In other words we want our freedom and the protections from government granted us by the original US Constitution restored.

I don’t recognize this place called “America” today. There is only a vague resemblance to the real America. Half of the population are freedom loving people, while the other half have become socialist slaves. As of this writing, the socialist are in control of our government, which is on the verge of being considered a rogue government. (To at least to half the country) The last two elections have completed the “balkanization” of the country formerly known as America. The split is deep and wide.

Let me ask you… have you noticed more people speaking in lowered tones, whispering to each other as they discuss the politics of the day in America recently? I have. I have been noticing it for some time now. It made me uneasy. Then I heard a radio commentator mention it a few weeks ago. He, too, has noticed it. As a matter of fact, I had a whispered conversation with a trusted friend, in my office, just a few weeks ago. The topic of the conversation was the shape the country finds itself in today. It was during this whispered conversation that I suddenly realized what we were doing. I was stunned at the import of what was taking place… in my own office.

In the America in which I grew up, no one felt the need to whisper about politics, about the President, about Congressional leaders. Does this tell you anything? It should. It tells you we are now an oppressed people!

Listen up, now: When a citizen, in a supposedly free country, feels the need to whisper his opinion on the workings of his government to a trusted friend, that dear reader, is oppression by an overbearing government!

Just days ago, I was having my hair cut and my barber and I were talking politics, as is our wont, when I realized he was leaning forward whispering in my ear his opinion about something the government was doing. This is NOT the America I remember.

When the government decides to station combat troops on American soil… this is not the America I remember.

Look, America is in BIG trouble. I MEAN BIG TROUBLE. A few of us see it for what it is. A few of us have been warning it was coming and now it is here. It is my opinion; America had her last free election last November. I hope, and pray to God, that I am wrong about that, but I fear I am right.

A nation as divided as America is today cannot continue. As we struggle with our internal problems our enemies are circling ever closer, with fangs bared, ready to tear us apart if we don’t do it to ourselves first.

The inevitable approaches. Like a runaway locomotive even if the brakes were applied today, it will take a very long time to get the train stopped. There will be damage done. The recent passage of the so-called Stimulus Bill will do little, if anything to caused our economic system to recover. When it goes, America will quickly become a “garrison” state. You and I would call it a “police” state. Why do you think the government is already moving combat troops onto American soil? The government, such as it is, KNOWS this. Our government has been studying this since the 1970’s.

I wish I had possession of a workable crystal ball to tell me how we will get through this mess we have created through ignorance and apathy. I refer, of course, to the ignorance and apathy of the American citizen.

I do not see how America can survive another half century with 50 states. I just don’t see that. The State Sovereignty Movement is already underway and reports I have seen have the figure at close to two-dozen states already involved to one degree or another. That ought to get your attention. That is close to… HALF the states! For more on the State Sovereignty Movement go HERE.

And ponder this: if the government of our southern neighbor, Mexico, should collapse, as a result of this world-wide recession, what happens when the hordes from that country swarm our border, as they surely will? And how will the southern states, on that border, react to what will amount to an invasion?

The stage is set. The players are in the wings, the footlights are on, and the curtain is about to rise. Is this the last act?

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+America+Collapse+Socialist

Education or Edjukashun? ... Alan Caruba

Education or Edjukashun?

By Alan Caruba

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

My father used to say that there was no defense against stupidity. He was a very smart man. When he entered kindergarten in the early 1900’s, he spoke his parent’s native language of Italian. The teacher seated him beside a boy who spoke both English and Italian, and he learned English. Nobody gave it any more thought than that.

Dad passed through the K-12 grades in Newark, N.J., and then worked his way through New York University to gain a degree in accounting. Then he studied some more and was among the youngest men to become a Certified Public Accountant. All that study and hard work helped him survive the Great Depression. It is a classic American story.

In his time, American education was as basic as it comes. You learned the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic..

You were taught, not just history, but something called civics, lessons about the way the nation was governed and why our republic was a leading example of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

In a report by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, released in November of last year, more than twice as many people (56%) who took the test knew that Paula Abdul was one of the “American Idol” judges than where those famous words came from. Only 26% identified Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as the source.

Of the 2,500 Americans who took the test that included college students, elected officials and other randomly selected citizens, nearly 1,800 flunked the 33-question test on basic civics. The elected officials scored slightly lower than the public with an average score of 44% compared with 49%; less than half.

There are two great threats facing America today. One is the vast ignorance of our history and of the way we govern ourselves, and the other is the growing numbers of functionally illiterate Americans.

For that we must put the blame squarely at the foot of our debased educational system and for that we must understand the threat is the result of the deliberately dumbing down of the system by the teacher’s unions. I do not blame teachers, some of the most under-appreciated people in our society. They are the victims of an educational system whose demise began in earnest in the 1960s.

Recently, in October, the New Jersey Education Association had an advertisement that celebrated a “character education program”, taking note of a school that received “the prestigious School of Character designation from the Character Education Partnership.”

“The advertisement went on to note that “those values include the affirmation of human dignity, the welfare of the individuals, and the desire to serve the common good. Character education strives to promote basic human values that transcend religious or cultural differences.” In other words, a totally secular approach that, for schools in America today excludes beginning the day with a prayer, bans the singing of Christmas carols, and deemphasizes individual achievement.

“It is not intended to usurp the role of families in teaching values,” the advertisement said, but that’s exactly its purpose, going on to note that “Standardized tests cannot measure character, so it does not always get the attention it should.” What is not getting attention is the ability to read and write English well, American history, civics, and other subjects the schools are failing to teach.

As commentator, Greg Lewis, recently noted, Arne Duncan, President Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education, led the Chicago schools as Superintendent, but only 17% of Chicago’s eighth grade students are reading at or above their grade level. “It is almost impossible not to teach a child how to read,” said Lewis who pointed out that, at the beginning of the twentieth century, illiteracy was barely 1%. Today it is 20% or higher.

The single worst piece of legislation to come out of the last administration was “No Child Left Behind” that requires a teach-to-the-test, one-size-fits-all approach to education, coast to coast. The rise in the tutoring industry outside of our schools is testament to the failure of NCLB. Far too many high school graduates arrive in colleges today requiring “remedial” courses in the most fundamental lessons that our schools are failing to teach.

In a recent edition of School Reform News, published by The Heartland Institute, it was noted that one third of all students entering college today must take remedial courses in those subjects that, in former times, they would have mastered by graduation from high school. We are literally cheating generations of young Americans of their birthright with the present education system.

It’s not as if today’s parents of school-age children don’t know there’s a very real problem. The results of an Associated Press survey, released in June 2008, revealed that “The views of the general population echo concerns from business and college leaders, who say they have to spend a lot of time and money on remedial education for people who completed high school but don’t have the skills to succeed at work or in higher education.”

“Overall, the majority of those surveyed said the quality of U.S. schools has declined over the past 20 years.”

“The vast majority think classroom work and homework—not standardized tests—are the best ways to measure how well students are doing.”

Americans who have passed through our schools for nearly fifty years know what the problem is. Meanwhile, in Congress, every manner of legislation is under consideration to deepen and worsen the problem. Many attempt to reach into the pre-school years of childhood development to seize control of the very youngest children.

One called “No Child Left Inside Act” (HR 3036) would inject all manner of environmental propaganda into the curriculum, further eroding the time today’s children have for the fundamentals, and scaring the hell out of them with more apocalyptic nonsense about global warming, It is the work of Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD).The Greens have invented “a nature-deficit disorder” to hide the fact that intend to continue indoctrinating children with the dubious science they use to advance their agendas.

This debasement of education produces a population unable to understand the forces at work in order to make them compliant and complacent voters who will accept more and more laws that undermine the Constitution and enslave them with the belief that the State knows best.

This is why so many people continue to believe that the Earth is warming despite ample evidence that it is cooling. Similarly indoctrinated, these people oppose all forms of energy production except those—wind and solar—least capable of providing the billions of megawatts the nation needs.

“We have met the enemy and he is us,” said the cartoon character, Pogo. The enemy is the National Education Association, a union that has complete control of the Department of Education and at the state level too. There’s still time to turn this around, but we are running out of it.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

© Alan Caruba, February 2009

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Little Things Mean A Lot!

Little Things Mean A Lot.
About Those American Flag Lapel Pins….
By: J. D. Longstreet
**********************

In the spirit of full disclosure allow me to say, right up front that I have several American flag lapel pins. Some are singles, and some are crossed with the NC state flag, etc. When I am not wearing the Sons of Confederate Veterans Lapel pin, I will have either my American Legion pin, or my American flag pin on my lapel. Sometimes I will wear the American Flag pen on my left lapel, nearest my heart and at the same time, the Third National Flag of the Confederacy on my right lapel.

Yes, I AM making a statement with the wearing of those lapel pins. I am saying, loud and clear, the things those pins represent are things that are very important to me. It is an overt expression of my love and my caring for those things, those principles, which are the foundation of the countries, and the organizations, those tiny little lapel pins represent.

I will readily admit to being a nationalist. I think my country, the USA, is the best nation on the face of the earth. You may disagree. That is certainly your prerogative. But, do not expect me to change my mind. My country makes mistakes. It blunders sometimes. But… and you know what is coming… it is still my country!

As an American citizen, I am free to change that. I can denounce my citizenship and become a citizen of another country, if I wish. I DON’T wish. Some do.

Let’s be clear about something: I am not ashamed of my country. From time to time I am ashamed of some of my country’s leaders… but never my country. Just because I am ashamed of the actions and the behavior of some of my country’s leaders is no reason for me to remove, or not wear, an American Flag lapel pin. You see… that makes a statement, too. It says, again, loud and clear, that I am ashamed of my country. I won’t do that.

Back in the 1950’s I took an oath, as I was sworn in to the Army, to defend this nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. It is essentially the same oath the President of the United States swears when he is sworn into office. I don’t recall there being an expiration date on that oath. I’m proud of that. I wasn’t much of a soldier, but I had committed what there was of me to the service of my country. I have never regretted that.

We have a government of leaders these days who have never worn the uniform of their country. They have never crawled in the mud with the enemy popping off 7.62 rounds over their heads, or heard the rattle of a machine gun, or fully automatic assault rifle, in the dark, and watched the tracers skimming the service of the earth searching for a target in the blackness of night. They have never felt the stark terror of combat that dries your throat and mouth until your tongue is sticking to the roof of your mouth and you could not spit if your life depended upon it. And they know absolutely nothing of the courage and fortitude it takes to overcome all that and force your mind and your body to work and do the job you were trained for until the enemy is vanquished or you are dead. They have no clue! Yet, today we make these people our leaders and even the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces.

You see, those of us who have made the commitment have paid for the right to question the patriotism of a person who refuses to wear a simple American Flag lapel pin near his heart to announce to the world, “I Love My Country”. A person who cannot speak or understand one single word of English will understand exactly what that simple little lapel pin is saying! That is one HELL of a statement. It is a powerful declaration!

Now, it seems to me, when a person is the President of the United States of America, which carries the title and the duties of the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, he/she should wear that American flag lapel pin, if for no other reason than to demonstrate respect for the men and women who WILL go in his/her place, in his/her name, to fight, bleed, and die, on the battlefields where HE/SHE sends them. Is that asking too much?

Apparently it is. This country is so screwed-up, these days, and so close to functional illiteracy that it would not surprise me if many Americans could not identify the flag of their country. They sure as heck couldn’t tell you anything about it, like the number of stripes, what the colors stand for, how many stars are on the flag, what the stars stand for, etc.

Now, I understand some of you don’t wear lapel pins… of any kind… anytime. That’s fine. I respect that. Not a problem. I’m just saying that IF you DO, and you choose NOT TO WEAR a simple American Flag lapel pin … well… that tells me all I need to know about you.

J. D. Longstreet

Why Conservatives "Suck" At Government!

Why Conservatives “Suck” At Government!

By: J. D. Longstreet

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Shocking title, eh?

Well, it needn’t be. Heck, if you are a conservative, don’t be ashamed of it! Be PROUD of it! It means you are normal! We conservatives are awful when it comes to governing.

The longer I live, and the longer I have dealings with liberals, I have come to suspect they are mentally disabled in some way. It is the truth. Conservatives, on the other hand are fairly easy to figure out. We come into this world hard-wired toward conservatism.

OK, let me see if I can stir this piece back to conservatives and why we are so terrible at governing. The underlying, single most important fact about conservatives is that they loathe government. We DO understand there must be boundaries and government provides that, but when government reaches beyond providing a service, which offers security for the country, most conservatives, including this scribe, recoil.

Ronald Reagan summed it up for conservatives: "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." (Ronald Reagan -- First inaugural address, January 1981) He was right on the money.

We conservatives can abide government when it is small and kept that way, but the very nature of government, itself, is to grow and become bloated and end up smothering to death the very society it was set up to oversee. The most efficient form of government on the planet, at smothering its adherents, is… socialism. You know, the type of government we now have in the United States! You may have thought all those parties on January 20th were for Obama’s inaugural. They were not. Those parties were, in fact, a wake for democracy in America.

It is abhorrent to conservatives that a government should be run by a cadre of people who have trained all their lives to administer power over their fellowman. That is how we view the corp of trained bureaucrats running all those government agencies and even those in the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches of the government. Liberals may choose to view them as public-minded civil servants. Conservatives do not. We see them as tyrants and would-be dictators. The very idea that they are in government to serve their fellow man is foreign to conservatism. If one wishes to serve his fellowman, there are many other ways to do it than through administration of some government agency that wields control over those it supposedly serves. No, do not expect conservatives to toss laurel branches at government toadies!

I suppose one must say that government is a necessary evil. In that case…. Conservatives demand that it be kept small. Currently, the US government is growing like a marshmallow in a microwave oven! I know you are going to say it grew under George Bush, a Republican! Yes, but we are not writing of Republicans here. I am writing of conservatives here. George Bush was a lot of things but he was/is not a conservative.

Liberal government types do not speak to you, they lecture you, they “talk down to you.” They come across as stiff necked, and rigid, and convinced of their superiority of intellect, over yours, and they, and they alone, are your salvation. As an example, I give you the President of the United States, the messiah, Mr. Obama.

There is something in the conservative animal that resents the living daylights out of that approach to anything, including politics. It is one of the underlying reasons Northeastern candidates do so poorly in the bastion of conservatism, the South. In the South you are free to suggest most anything you want. But, the instant you begin “telling” or ‘commanding” or “demanding”... we bristle, and we get our backs up. We do not like being ”talked down to.” We find it offensive… extremely offensive.

Conservatives have such disdain for government that if and when we stand for election, it is most likely out of sheer consternation with the then current liberal office holder. If, and when, we win that office, we have a very steep learning curve because we are not prepared to accept superiority over our fellow citizens and we have not trained for a job in government as so many, many, of our liberal friends have while studying in their liberal colleges and universities. Plus, a true conservative is never REALLY happy in a government job. He feels, well, somehow dirty.

I’m not offering any of this as an excuse for conservative failure at politics. I’m offering it as one (conservative) man’s opinion as to why conservatives really do so badly at governing. If it makes you uncomfortable, I ask only that you think about it for a bit. You may come to agree with me… you may not. I would ask that you consider how conservatives, when in opposition in the Congress, seem much more effective with more “fire in the belly” as they oppose the would-be legislation introduced by liberals in both the Senate and the House. While that does not make my case, in my mind, it sure does lend validity to my argument.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Liberal+Government+US