Bev’s Excursion Into Ad Lib Territory

Bev’s Excursion Into Ad Lib Territory

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

As far back as 2007 this scribe was warning that if times got rough for democrats America might see elections suspended in order to keep the dems in office.  After the 2010 avalanche of votes for republicans many conservatives began to worry about the possibility that democrats in charge of the White House might, in fact, make such a move. 

Look.  A national emergency is all that is needed.  One could certainly argue that the US is currently suffering a national emergency – the near collapse of our financial system. On the other hand, some of us would argue that democratic control of our government IS the national emergency.

In any event, reading some commentator’s postulation concerning the suspension of elections may be worrisome, but to hear those words from a serving democratic governor of one of the largest states in the union is truly stunning.

That said, what’s worse is to be a conservative republican resident of the state that governor purportedly serves!

I write this commentary from the great state of North Carolina.  Allow me, if you will, to express my embarrassment at the governor’s words. I hasten to add that I am not surprised at what Gov. Purdue said. She is, after all, a machine democrat.  Unfortunately, she was not up for reelection in 2010 when Tar Heels cleaned the state legislature of the democratic machine and, for the first time in 150 years, gained control of both houses of the NC General Assembly.  Had Purdue been on the ballot, we would have had a republican governor, as well.  As it is, we have to wait until November of 2012 to “banish Bev” and place a republican in the governor’s office.

I once saw a sign in a broadcast studio, which said:  “Be sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear.”  Maybe Bev ought to have that sign posted in the governor’s office.

In an article by Rob Christensen and John Frank in The (Raleigh) News & Observer entitled: “N.C. Gov. Perdue's remark strikes nerve with GOP pundits” the paper says:  “When Perdue is off script, it is often an adventure. While visiting SAS's solar farm in Cary where sheep graze, she commented to co-founder John Sall: "If we only had that ram, John, we could mate and have fun."


Or while appearing at a state employees health fare, Perdue talked about her decision to give up smoking cigarettes and eating a bag of Doritos at the end of each week when she thought she was having a stroke.


"My head popped open, and I said, 'Dear God, if you let me live, I'll quit.' And I quit. I didn't quit for me. I quit because I thought about my kids not having momma or a daddy."

Or there was the time, when a television cameraman, offered a lascivious "All Right," after Perdue said she would "undress" from the TV microphone that was clipped to her jacket. " I'm an old woman," Perdue said. "You are a pervert."


She has publicly acknowledged in speeches - as she is about to go off script - that her staff has urged her to stay on script. And she runs through communications staff like water - David Kochman, Tim Crowley, Justin Guillory, Pearse Edwards and Chrissy Pearson are all former communications staffers no longer on the governor's staff.”  (You may read the entire article at the Raleigh News and Observer’s website HERE.)


The governor’s staff has been “backing and filling” since the Gov made her remarks and, frankly, they have only made matters worse.


In the event you may have missed those sage remarks made by my governor here they are”
  

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.”
First, the democrats claimed it was a joke.  All one has to do is read the words above and you quickly see it was anything but a joke. 


Then they claimed it was hyperbole. Nah.  That didn’t work either.  Consider the context.
Then came the excuse that it was sarcasm. It was so clearly NOT sarcasm, especially when you hear the words delivered in Purdue’s own voice, that the sarcasm excuse crashed and burned immediately.


This whole incident is simply another reminder that the democrats view the US Constitution as a speed bump rather than a stop sign to government’s power.

That must be corrected in November of 2012.

 
J. D. Longstreet

The Dangerous Dance of the UN and the US.

The Dangerous Dance of the UN and the US.

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Over the past few days as I have watched all the posturing and bleating at the United Nations I thought back to an article I wrote some five years ago.  I pulled it from my files and read over it again.  As I did, I realized that nothing had changed at the UN in those past five years … except … the noticeable increase in the fervor with which the UN General Assembly attempts to neuter the United States.

The current move to grant the so-called Palestinian people a state by a vote at the UN is as much a slap in the face of America as it is  “flipping the bird” in the face of Israel. It is as clear today as it was in 2007 (when I wrote the commentary below) that anti-Semitism is alive and well in Europe even after the blasphemous holocaust was committed on their shores in the last century.  We have come to expect it from much of the remainder of the world.  But to see it rear its ugly head, AGAIN, in Europe is, well, disgusting. 

There is an underlying reason for the theatre playing out in the UN today and the article below explores that movement and shines some light into the dark corners where disgusting things mutate and live on in today’s world.

Please read on.   …   J. D. Longstreet

The Free World –vs- The United Nations!

I had one of those epiphanies the other day, which seem to come at the oddest moments, but when they come… that little cartoonish light bulb, above one’s head, seems to glow ever so brightly.

Have you noticed that the same people who want Palestinians to over run Israel are the same people who want Mexicans to over-run the US?   Take a look for yourself.  Look at those who would have Israel give up her ancestral homeland to a bunch of nomadic rabble. Identify them. Then look at their stance on open borders with Mexico.  See?  There it is.  Right in front of our faces all the time.

Now, lets see if we can define these people.  One word comes to mind:  “Globalists”.

So what is the Philosophy of Globalism?  Globalism is a national geopolitical policy in which the entire world is regarded as the appropriate sphere for a state's influence 

Now, in case there was even the slightest doubt in your mind… I am not a globalist!  Far from it!  I am a nationalist!  I believe in my country, the United States of America.  And, like the generation behind me, I do not believe it is patriotic be “anti-American”.  That goes for a majority of our Congresspersons and Senators today. They’re from that hippie, dope smoking, anti-war, UN loving, ban the bomb, hug the trees, recycle, the earth is burning up, the sky is falling, and we’re all gonna drown, and, well, their fatalistic, and unrealistic, ideas go on and on.  Some of us think those ideas spring from minds damaged from all that Weed, and Cocaine, and Horse, and God only knows what else they inhaled, injected, and snorted, during the years in which most of us chose to grow up.

Anyway, if you had not noticed, there is a movement underway to get rid of all borders worldwide.  No more sovereign countries. Only one country… “The Earth”. Then One Government… The United Nations of the Earth!  Good GRIEF!  That ought to scare the living daylights out of any normal, sane, individual!  Unfortunately, those dope damaged brains we referenced a while ago have bought into this Utopian idea and have been pushing it, albeit, quietly, for decades now.  Every so often one hears the word “globalist” uttered aloud but there are long absences of the word from public discourse.   It is during those periods that I worry.

“Globalists don't seem to fear the U.N.'s meaninglessness. And with all their talk of peace, they also don't seem to fear the violence inevitably required to control the whole world.
There is an explanation for this lack of concern – and no, it doesn't involve conspiracy theories. We only need to understand the evolutionary faith of the secular worldview, and that faith's predictable yearning. Since there is no God (none they recognize), secular governments become the final moral authority in each society, the giver of all rights. To put it the communist way, "God is the state and the state is God." However, this belief system leaves secularists to deal with hundreds of little god-governments (and some are not so little), all with different "opinions" about right and wrong.”    (From: “Why the U.N. can never bring peace” by Bob Just.  Read the entire article at: THIS WEB SITE.)

My father was a man of few words.  If he was angry, as long as he was talking, he was harmless.  When he became quiet, all hell was about to break loose and someone was going to get hurt… almost always that person who opposed him.   I learned from my father to study those periods of quiet and prepare for defense before the imminent storm strikes.

Now, Israel owns the land the US government and the UN, and sundry other nations, are insisting Israel give away to the nomadic rabble today known as Palestinians. (There never was a Palestine.  But that is another article for another day.) The Jews were on that land thousands of years before those people we, today, call Palestinians ever showed up. It is Israel’s land.  Even if you do not believe that Israel has a right to that land as a gift from God, (as I do) you must see that ownership of a piece of land for thousands of years before even the birth of the ancestors of those who declare it is theirs (not Israel’s) today surely must convince you that ownership belongs to Israel!

Nevertheless, those who rewrite history have been busy for nearly six decades re-writing history to make the actual history of that piece of real estate fuzzy at best.  Now you know why.

Here on this side of the globe, the same people envision a North American continent populated with one people: “mexameridians” a people springing from Mexican, Americans, and Canadians.

Globalists dream of a world without borders. They dream of a “One-World Government.”  They claim, ultimately, it is the only way to have peace on the planet.  Their skewed vision, however, does not take into account all the nations, who do not share that dream and the fight they will put up to hold onto their sovereignty.  By fight, I mean war. They have not considered the blood and treasure, which will necessarily be spent in conquering an entire planet and holding much of that planet in “Occupation”.  They have yet to understand that globalism may be Their Dream, but for many countries on earth it is a nightmare. The US is one of those countries demanding its sovereignty while manifestly flaunting its national sword. 

Sitting at the apex of this grand scheme to conquer and occupy The Earth is… none other than the United Nations!  That “debating society” has turned into one of the gravest threats to humanity ever devised by the mind of man.   Eventually the free world will be at war with the United Nations.  Once again we will have a bi-polar world:  The Free World vs the United Nations.

So, as you listen to the declarations of diplomats, the world over, that concern the “Global Village”, understand that it is not true.  It is a dream, a power dream, of the powerful who covet more power.  Do not allow yourself to fall for their Utopian hallucinations.

J. D. Longstreet

Rosh Hashanah, The Jewish New Year ... Year 5,772

                                              Rosh Hashanah, The Jewish New Year

                                                                             5,772 

INSIGHT on FREEDOM wishes all its readers and the entire Jewish people a sweet and good new year. May we be inscribed in the Book of Life for health and happiness, love of the Land of Israel and true peace.

The World is Having a Nervous Breakdown

The World is Having a Nervous Breakdown

By Alan Caruba

If one has been in the habit of reading history then the events of the past and of the present inform each other. For this reason, it occurred to me that the world is once again having a nervous breakdown.

It’s not just about money, though surely the nations of Europe along with the U.S. have spent themselves into the poorhouse in ways that defy the imagination. If it weren’t so serious, it would be comical to see the desperation that has led our Federal Reserve to print money backed by nothing and to watch the central bankers of Europe move gobs of euros around between the new mother church, Germany, and the banks of Greece, Spain, Ireland, and Italy so that they can pay their bills.

They’re all broke. We have individual States that have a higher GDP than Greece that have balanced their budgets. Those are usually the States whose constitutions require they balance their budget. The rest are run by governors torn between taking the federal largess intended to deprive them of more sovereignty and hoping that the next natural disaster hits the State above or below them instead.

Few arrive at a nervous breakdown overnight. It takes time and a variety of bad decisions or bad luck or both. After blaming George W. Bush and Republicans for his problems, Obama has taken to blaming bad luck. Does he even know that people have concluded the economy is now officially and completely his fault?

When he proposed Obamacare, a million Americans

Obama cannot explain away having increased government spending by 50% between 2008 and 2010 while calling for higher taxes on everyone at the same time there are an estimated 14 million Americans out of work, stopped looking for work, or can’t get a job because Obamacare has so screwed up the near future that businesses are reluctant to hire anyone.

The 2008 financial crisis was 100% a government creation dating back to the establishment of Fannie Mae in 1938 to purchase mortgages from banks in order to encourage more lending, more home building, more home ownership. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it ignored the timeless role of greed in banking.

Rule Number One: Almost everything the government touches, it ruins in some fashion. At the very least, it increases its cost of operation.

Rule Number Two: The government’s primary function is the defense of the nation against attack. As Ronald Reagan said, “Nobody ever started a war with us because we were too strong.”

Rule Number Three: Government exists due to its ability to tax and spend other people’s money. Spending always needs to be restrained.

Rule Number Four. Government will always produce more laws and regulations than are needed. It should be restrained. (See the U.S. Constitution).

Globally, we are just emerging from a bout of total insanity called “global warming.” This was a theory that said that something that represented 0.038% of the Earth’s atmosphere was trapping all the heat and would kill us unless massively reduced. That “something” is carbon dioxide, a gas on which—along with oxygen—all life depends. It is plant food; the less carbon dioxide, the less vegetation. Herbivores eat vegetation and carnivores eat herbivores. Humans, being omnivores, eat both.

The other craziness afflicting the planet is “radical” Islam. The truth is that it has been just plain old Islam for about 1400 years. There are a billion Muslims, most located in the Middle East, Africa, India, and Indonesia. Wherever they are, their non-Muslim neighbors cordially hate them because Islam teaches that all other religions are false and that those who believe them—infidels—can be killed for not being Muslims. The strange part of this is, depending on whether you’re a Shiite or Sunni, it is perfectly okay to kill other Muslims, too. Christianity went through this during the Reformation, 1517 to 1648.

When I was a child, the world went crazy and held a great big war. It involved Germany, Japan, and Italy as the “Axis” powers and just about everyone else did their best to destroy their military in every way possible. The Axis was defeated first and then, still holding out, the Empire of Japan had not one, but two, atomic bombs dropped on them before they quit. showed up in Washington, D.C. to tell them not to do it. He should have listened to them. Now we call them the Tea Party.

World War Two was the direct result of Europe’s World War One. The surrender terms were so awful the Germans embraced a lunatic called Hitler and the Italians fell in love with Mussolini.

The Soviet Union came out of World War One when the Germans permitted Vladimir Lenin, a Communist, into Russia. He started a revolution and the Russians swapped a czar for a new dictator. Stalin took over from Lenin, but because communism has never worked anywhere it was tried, the Soviet Union eventually fell apart in 1991. Now a republic, the new dictator is named Vladimir Putin.

As the French say, “Plus les choses changent, ils plus elles restent les memes.” The more things change, they more they stay the same.

The world is having a nervous breakdown because institutions, religions, and political ideologies are having difficulty adjusting to the migration and growth of populations. Modern communications technologies are playing a role as well.

The chimera haunting everyone is the military capacity to inflict massive devastation and death has increased beyond the confidence of governments and people that it can be controlled without having to kill a lot of people, i.e., Iranians, in the process..

Capitalism, despite an abundance of communism still around, has triumphed, but like any system, has been subjected to a great deal of abuse, rocking the economies of the U.S., Europe, and making most other nations nervous, too.

And, finally, there are six-going-on-seven billion people on a planet that is probably not intended to have that many. It puts intense strain on everything from water to food to the sources of energy that fuel modern and developing nations.

So everyone’s on edge. Nations and continents are on edge. The world is having a nervous breakdown.

© Alan Caruba, 2011
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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit. 

Rick Perry's Campaign Is In Deep Trouble

Rick Perry's Campaign Is In Deep Trouble 

Perry’s In-State College Tuition for Illegal Aliens May Have Cost him the Election

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Allow me to be blunt.  I have had my fill of “compassionate conservatives” from Texas. In the last republican debate Rick Perry defended his stance on allowing in-state college tuition for illegal aliens in Texas. His defense fell flat with my wing of the Republican Party. 

Perry wounded himself politically.  He may have dealt a deathblow to his chance to occupy the Oval Office in January of 2013.

As I watched and listened intently to the debate I became instantly angry when Perry told those of us who disagree with his stance that we had no heart.  That is pure Bovine Scatology!

Look.  I am past tired of being the sugar daddy for uncounted millions of illegal aliens who have come into the United States illegally over the years and who have gorged at the trough of American largesse.  ENOUGH is ENOUGH!

I side with those who advocate the building of a wall/fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico -- and passing any needed legislation or constitutional amendment that would allow the US military the responsibility for securing that border. 

I think it has become clear, over the past decade, that the leaders of neither political party want that border secured.  If they did – it would have been secured a long time past.  Each party has its reasons for wanting illegal immigrants in this country.  And they don’t give a rat’s rear-end what you or I want in regards to our safety (and the safety and security of the nation) from the very real threat posed by that porous line in the sand between Mexico and the US.

As long as the government continues to offer rewards for those breaking into our country they will continue to steal across that border by the millions.

Michelle Bachman was spot on when she said during the debate:  “The American way is not to give taxpayer-subsidized benefits to people who have broken our laws and are here in the United States illegally.”

Sometime ago I wrote:  “I recall a TV game show where the booth announcer would enthusiastically shout: “Come on DOWN” to those chosen as contestants on the show. The chosen contestants would rush to the stage expecting instant riches to await them there.

It seems to me there is something similar going on at the southern border of the US. I visualize democrats standing along the border gesturing to the would-be illegal immigrants on the Mexican side to: “Come on OVER!” And, boy, they are coming – in DROVES. The illegals climb the fence, go under the fence in tunnels, around the fence, and, quite often, through the fence, all the while, expecting great riches awaiting them on the American side including free healthcare, free education, welfare payment checks each month and a guarantee of citizenship -- if their numbers become great enough to swing the elections in the democrats favor -- all of this as a result of breaking the US laws and becoming criminals.”  (You may read the entire article at INSIGHT on Freedom HERE.)

We are losing our country.  “Very soon America will resemble nothing more than a banana republic with a socialist dictator in the mold of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela – or -- the Castro brothers of Cuba.” HERE.)

“Perry’s stance toward immigrants is similar to that of George W. Bush, another Texas governor and presidential aspirant who likewise was attacked for his moderate solutions to immigration reform, such as guest worker programs. Mr. Bush endured the attacks and won the presidency, but Perry, who polls show is the current front-runner, may face a more difficult time.” (SOURCE)

At least a dozen states already offer in-state tuition to illegal aliens.  It is a huge drain on the pocketbooks of the state’s taxpayers – and -- in my opinion, it gives the back of the hand to the face of American students who are legal residents of the country and may be struggling financially, as well.

Mr. Perry’s stance may play well within the Hispanic community but it sure as heck does not within the conservative republican community.  Perry’s slippage in the polls would indicate that it has already cost him support and I suspect, as the campaign rolls on it may become the deciding factor between Perry and Romney as the eventual Republican Candidate to face Obama in November of 2012.

And by the way, I still contend that Mr. Romney cannot win against Obama.  I am very afraid it will be McCain-vs-Obama all over again.  I do not believe the country can survive another four years of Obama.

  

J. D. Longstreet

Public Funding Of Elections Is Unconstitutional

 

Public Funding Of Elections Is Unconstitutional

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

The first thing one must ponder when “considering public funding of elections” is the fact that if democrats REALLY want it as badly as they appear to – then, there must be something in it for them! 

Of course there is.  They are searching for some way, ANY WAY, to negate corporate donations to the GOP. That’s not all, of course, but the Dems are still P.O.ed over the Supreme Court’s decision concerning those corporate donations.

I suppose, for me, one of the irritants about so-called “voter-owned elections” is the simple fact that I, as a taxpayer, would be paying for the political campaigns of those with whom I am in almost total disagreement on the way this country and my state are run.  That alone, is reason enough for me to stand solidly AGAINST public funding of elections.

It is another way for those in power to force Americans to support those candidates they oppose.  Those who support public funding of elections will swear the blame for the corruption in our government today can be laid at the feet of lobbyists and special interests. 

Frankly, I am not so sure of that.  You see – I AM A SPECIAL INTEREST!  YOU ARE A SPECIAL INTEREST!  As such, we sometimes fund lobbyists to go where we cannot, as individuals, to press our politicians for, or against, certain legislation we happen to agree with -- or disagree with.  Such is the case with business, education, and even religious organizations. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Understand this: Forcing an American citizen to support something he/she opposes, some say, will corrupt the American political system far more than any lobbyists or special interest group.  I tend to agree. 

Look, the bottom line is this:  Public funding of elections is a violation of the free speech rights of all Americans.  It is a restriction on that right and cannot be tolerated.

Not all Americans can take the time away from their jobs to go door to door, hand out pamphlets, put up roadside signs, make telephone calls, etc.  But, many CAN spare a few dollars to send to the candidate who most nearly represents their view and philosophy on governing this nation and their state.  Why should those hardworking Americans, indeed, ANY American, be forced to also give money to the very candidate they oppose?  It is my contention they should not!

Corruption in our government will never be stopped by “voter-owned elections.”  Corrupt government will be stopped only when we Americans stop electing corrupted and corruptible men and women to public office. 

Ultimately the old saw “We get the government we deserve” is right.   The plain fact is – ending corruption in American government will be achievable only when we end corruption in America – period!  That begins at the knee of the mommies and daddies all across this land. 

The scriptures tell us:  “Bring up a child in the way he should go, and when he is grown, he will not depart from it.”  Therein lies the answer to ending corruption in our government.

J. D. Longstreet

President Cliche ... Alan Caruba

President Cliche

By Alan Caruba

“Peace is more than just the absence of war.”

“So let there be no doubt…”

“We stand at a crossroads of history.”

“There is no excuse for inaction.”

Fewer people at home and around the world are paying any attention when Barack Obama speaks. He has become President Cliché. We were all told what a great speech-maker he was and now nobody wants to listen anymore.

Ironically, in his speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, September 21, he actually said some interesting things. Too bad none of the other leaders of nations care what he has to say. At home, his popularity and approval ratings in the polls continue to plummet to new depths and to set new records for the lack thereof.

In truth, this is not good for the world or the nation. The job of President is all about leadership coupled to effective policies that address problems. In fairness, Obama arrived in the Oval Office with some of the worst problems any president has faced in the modern era. Like his predecessor, on whom he blamed everything, he continued to throw money at the financial crisis, managing to run up the nation’s debt to a historic level. Obama's economic advisors dusted off the failed policies of the New Deal and tried again. They have not worked.

The problems not only did not go away, they got worse.

The Middle East has seen the “Arab spring” in which a number of dictators were overthrown and that seems hopeful except for the fact that radical Islam is the solution that many of those same nations are likely to embrace. It doesn’t help that the U.S. President has famously demonstrated a “tilt” toward Islam as it continues to foment conflict.

The United Nations speech was a long wish list, pasted together with a lot of platitudes about how the UN has played a role in warding off World War Three. That was largely avoided because the U.S. has a couple of warehouses full of nuclear weapons and had maintained the greatest military the world had ever seen. We’re still here. The Soviet Union isn’t. Most U.S. presidents since the end of World War Two wanted to see the world abandon nuclear weapons. It didn’t. The club just kept getting bigger with China, North Korea, Pakistan, and India. Now Iran wants them as well.

The Soviet leaders weren't crazy. The Iranian ayatollahs and mullahs are.

Obama cited the UN founding Charter that called on nations to “unite our strength to maintain international peace and security.” In reality, it has always been the United States who did the heavy lifting. We fought the North Koreans and Chinese to protect South Korea. We sent arms to Israel when it was repeatedly attacked. We detoured into Vietnam and took a shellacking. After 9/11 we drove the Taliban and al Qaeda out of Afghanistan and we organized allies to remove Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein. Most recently, we got NATO to put an end to Gaddaffi’s reign of terror.

The problem Obama has discovered is that the United Nations is composed of many of the worst dictatorships and oppressive regimes on Earth. It is an utterly corrupt institution. It will not prevent World War Three if the U.S. leaves and a large number of Americans want us to leave.

“Peace is hard. Peace is hard. Progress can be reversed. Prosperity comes slowly. Societies can split apart.” Aside from the yawning banality of this pronouncement, the President’s learning curve about the reality of life on planet Earth has been a tough one. Still, he did condemn Syria’s dictator who has been killing that nation’s people, but could not resist showing off his Islamic credentials by saying many of the victims occurred "during the holy time of Ramadan.”

Obama has discovered what presidents since the days of Harry Truman have discovered. That Palestine is not a nation and the Palestinians are a horrid group of people who refuse to live in peace with Israel. “The Palestinian people deserve a state of their own,” said the President. Guess what? The Israelis agree, but cannot get their Mamoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to actually agree that Israel has a right to exist. Or Hamas to stop lobbing rockets into southern Israel.

In case anyone was actually listening, Obama repeated what every prior President has said, “America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. Our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring”. After spending the last two and a half years demonstrating his contempt for Israel, this comes as a real surprise and further proof that Obama will say anything to get reelected.

And then he ruined it all by saying, “To preserve our planet, we must not put off action that climate change demands. We have to tap the power of science to save those resources that are scarce. And together we must continue our work to build on the progress made in Copenhagen and Cancun.”

The major fuels of the modern world are not scarce. We live above an ocean of oil. There is enough coal in America alone to keep the lights on here for centuries. Tapping the sun and wind has proved to be a huge waste of money for two of the least productive ways to provide energy. Copenhagen and Cancun, the site of two UN climate change conferences were total failures.

President Cliché closed out saying—again—“Peace is hard, but we know it is possible. So, together, let us be resolved to see that it is defined by our hopes and not our fears.”

Our fears are what sustain peace. It is why every nation is armed to the teeth.

Obama is a national embarrassment. And he wants four more years in office.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

Is History Repeating … Again?

Is History Repeating … Again?

Deja Vu all over again.

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Just before sitting down to write this piece, I checked the news, as I always do.  As usual, it was distressing and depressing.

I learned that the US stock market had plunged again.  This time by as much as 500 points before it closed at 391 points down.  I learned that the global markets closed down by 4%.  And I heard the recently oft repeated refrain that the US is on the slippery slope toward another recession -- making this a so-called double dip recession. Sadly, I am convinced that much of today’s global population hasn’t a clue as to just how serious and just how dangerous a period in world history we are currently experiencing.

I was born into a world still reeling from the Great Depression.  I joined the human race just before the Second World War. 

The so-called experts say the first five years of a child’s life are the formative years.  What he sees, hears, and experiences will determine, for better or for worse, how he lives his life. 

My generation’s internal wiring was influenced by a world under tremendous stress.  Some say it was a time of unequal distress for the inhabitants of the planet.

Those early experiences lead us to compare every world crisis or pseudo-crisis with the REAL world wide crisis we were born into and, for all intents and purposes, grew-up in.

So.  Having said all the above, allow me to assess where we are today -- as seen through my eyes. 

I’m a plain ole country boy with average intelligence and a hell of a lot of experience earned in the school of hard knocks.  Many of those “hard knocks” were self-imposed as a result of my own stupidity.  But – I learned and, for the most part, I retained the knowledge gained from those errors in judgment.

With those bona fides behind me … here we go.

I am very afraid we are on the cusp of a world war more destructive than any this earth has ever experienced.

Look around you.  The people of the planet are near panic mode.   Their countries and governments are crashing around them, their money is quickly becoming worthless, the fortunes many have worked and accumulated, or inherited from the sweat of their ancestors, is quickly draining away. 

There are wars and rumors of wars all over the planet.  The worldwide anxiety level is palpable.

My own country, the United States, is involved in three wars as I write.  America’s military is stretched to very near her military limits.  Our combat forces are fatigued and war weary.  But there is no end in sight. 

Serving as the global police department has been a huge drain on America’s treasury and our military. 

As America becomes tired, those predator nations from whom America has protected so much of the world since WW-II, are, even now, evaluating their chances for hegemony in various regions of the globe.  The Middle East, as usual, is especially vulnerable to a concentrated military attack by a well armed, disciplined rogue nation with no qualms about slaughtering millions in an attempt to enlarges their land area, their influence on world politics, and their domination of the region – not to mention control of the world’s supply of oil and it’s transit of the sea lanes in the Middle East, the Red Sea area, and the Indian Ocean. 

Someone one once observed, “ … When everything is going to hell in a hand basket, there seems always to be someone who steps forward with all the answers.”  The observer continued:  “Quite often that person turns out to be insane.”  

The observer paraphrased above was spot-on.  We saw it happen in Germany, in the 1930’s, and the result was the greatest war the world had ever seen costing millions upon millions their lives before the German homeland was absolutely destroyed by Allied Forces.

The point?  The world is rapidly digressing to the same stage of anxiety and out and out fear in which the world of the 1930’s spawned the insane leader mentioned above.

I’m a realist … neither an optimist nor a pessimist.  I try very hard to see things as they really are and not as I wish them to be. And, in my opinion, the war clouds are already gathering over the eastern horizon. 

When this war comes it will necessarily involve, to one extent or the other, all the nations of the earth.  And it will be following the cycle of war, peace, prosperity, financial collapse, and war again.  Granted – it is a manmade cycle, but it is an extant cycle, nevertheless.

If one observes current world events through the lens of history, it is clear the world is in that stage, which historically leads to war.

Realists are rarely surprised.  Consider this commentary a “heads-up” from a realist. 

J. D. Longstreet  

Snooping On YOU In Your Car?

Snooping On YOU In Your Car?

A Commentary BY J. D. LONGSTREET

Back several years ago, when I learned of the black boxes some American automakers were installing on their cars, I was so disturbed by it that I immediately contacted my dealership and asked, flat-out, if there was a black box on my truck.  They claimed not to know, which seemed sorta strange to me, so – I contacted the manufacturer directly, gave them the VIN number of my vehicle and asked them if there was a black box on my truck.  Soon afterwards the manufacturer assured me that there was NOT a black box on my vehicle.  It happened that mine was one of the models without it.

I had already asked my dealership if they would disconnect it, or would it be left to me to disconnect it myself.  I pointed out that if there were, indeed, a black box on my vehicle, it WOULD be disconnected one way or the other. Fortunately, it did not come to that.

Now comes news of another information gathering device on American cars manufactured reportedly by General Motors, known derisively these days as “Government Motors.” 

The claim is that GM’s Onstar system, a subscription service, is collecting data about your car including GPS info, speed, location, seat belt usage, and other information. OnStar says that it has the right to collect and sell personal, yet supposedly anonymous information on your vehicle.

  

There is an excellent article on this very thing entitled: “GM's OnStar now spying on your car for profit even after you unsubscribe? [UPDATE]”

The article, written by Zach Bowman, can be found at AutoBlog.com.  In the article Mr. Bowman says:  “If you're the owner of a fairly new General Motors product, you may want to take a close look at the most recent OnStar terms and conditions. As it turns out, the company has altered the parameters under which it can legally collect GPS data on your vehicle.

Mr. Bowman goes on to say:  “Originally, the terms and conditions stated that OnStar could only collect information on your vehicle's location during a theft recovery or in the midst of sending emergency services your way. That has apparently changed. Now, OnStar says that it has the right to collect and sell personal, yet supposedly anonymous information on your vehicle, including speed, location, seat belt usage, and other information.

Then Mr. Bowman suggests the most troubling aspect of the new OnStar capability.  He says:  “Perhaps the most startling news to come out of the latest OnStar terms and conditions is the fact that the company can continue to collect the information even after you disconnect the service. (Emphasis ours.) If you want the info to be cut off all together, you'll have to specifically shut down the vehicle's data connection.

You can take a look at the wording of the new policy here.  (You may read the entire article by Zack Bowmen HERE.

OK.  So the OnStar folks got out a press release ASAP to explain their side of the story. Below is that press release:

New Terms & Conditions

The following statement can be attributed to Joanne Finnorn, Vice President, Subscriber Services

"OnStar has and always will give our customers the choice in how we use their data. We've also been very open with our customers about changes in services and privacy terms.

"Under our new Terms and Conditions, when a customer cancels service, we have informed customers that OnStar will maintain a two-way connection to their vehicle unless they ask us not to do so. In the future, this connection may provide us with the capability to alert vehicle occupants about severe weather conditions such as tornado warnings or mandatory evacuations. Another benefit for keeping this connection "open" could be to provide vehicle owners with any updated warranty data or recall issues.

"Of course, if the customer requests us to turn off the two-way connection, we will do as we have always done, and that is honor customers' requests.

"Our guiding practices regarding sharing our subscribers' personal information have not changed. We are always very specific about with whom we share customers' personal information, and how they will use it. We have never sold any personally identifiable information to any third party.

"Keeping the two-way connection open will also allow OnStar to capture general vehicle information that could be used in future product development.

"We apologize for creating any confusion about our Terms and Conditions. We want to make sure we are as clear with our customers as possible, but it's apparent that we have failed to do this. As always, we are listening to our subscribers' feedback and we will continue to be open to their suggestions and concerns."

Call me paranoid, if you wish, but I tell you now that if the next car I consider purchasing has any sort of intelligence collection device onboard it, no matter who the manufacturer and no matter if the device is disconnected or otherwise, I will not purchase that vehicle.

In my opinion, collecting the information as described in Mr. Bowman’s article is an invasion of my privacy and I will not knowing allow it to happen on my property whether it is my home my office, my auto, or my electronic devices.

In an age when everyone knows everything about everybody I realize I am an anachronism. But – if you want that information from me, go to a judge, and convince him to issue a warrant and THEN come ask me.  Don’t expect me not to be riled when that an electronic device on my property can harvest that information even I express my desire to NOT allow access to it.  What I do, when and where I do it, and at what speed I choose to do it, is nobody’s business but mine. And I reserve that right!

J. D. Longstreet

What Debt? Obama's Insane Spending Binge! ... Alan Caruba

What Debt? Obama's Insane Spending Binge!

By Alan Caruba

There’s a reason that President Obama wants to increase taxes. His administration cannot spend your money fast enough.

A visit on Tuesday morning to the websites of various federal departments reveals that this administration can find an excuse to spend millions on anything. Here’s a quick tour.

In the wake of the Solyndra scandal in which taxpayers were, in the words of Investor Business Daily, “put on the hook for at least the first $75 million if the company should default and with “a minimum of five green firms going bankrupt” the U.S. Department of Energy, on September 13, announced a $1.2 billion loan guarantee to Mojave Solar LLC for the development of the Mojave Solar Project.

On the same day, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a $32.5 million grant “to finalize expansion plan of Boston’s South Station” for the purpose of expanding and enhancing the historic station on the grounds that it estimates a “50 percent increase in high-speed intercity passenger rail travel in the coming years.” And we all know how accurate estimates are, eh?

Three days later, the DOT provided $22 million to the Maryland Department of Transportation for a study of replacement options for the Susquehanna River Bridge on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor from Boston to Washington, D.C. Why not spend the money on actually replacing the bridge? On September 19, DOT awarded $25 million to the city of Charlotte, N.C. for a streetcar line “to improve access to jobs, housing, and schools.” Why money from other States should gift Charlotte with a streetcar line when the nation has a $14 trillion debt might have something to do with the fact that the Democratic Party National Convention will be held there in 2012.

In the midst of a recession that officially does not exist, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD), on September 15, announced $93 million in grants to 39 local projects “to conduct a wide range of activities intended to protect children and families from potentially dangerous lead-based paint and other home health and safety hazards.” HUD estimates there are “nearly 7,000 high-risk homes” because “providing healthy and safe homes for families and children is a priority.” Keep in mind that lead-based paint was banned for residential use in 1978, more than three decades ago.

On September 15, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced awards totaling $10 million “to aid 129 organizations across the country that would like to become community health centers. The funds came from the Affordable Care Act, but at the same time Obamacare cuts billions from Medicare, reducing payments to hospitals and to individual physicians providing care to America’s growing population of the elderly. Go figure.

At the Department of Commerce, on August 30, they were celebrating a $2.9 million

On September 14, the Department of Agriculture announced that taxpayers are now on the hook for loans to 27 rural electric cooperative utilities. DOA made $603 million in loans to help electric utilities "upgrade, expand, maintain and replace rural America’s electric infrastructure."

This is the same administration whose Environmental Protection Agency is waging war on coal-fired utilities and mining (coal provides 50% of all electricity in America). On September 16, USDA announced funding for more than 500 projects to boost renewable energy production (wind and solar) despite the fact that this represents just over 2% of all the electricity produced and companies producing solar panels are declaring bankruptcy on a weekly basis these days.

Secretary Tom Vilsack also noted that USDA Rural Development “is providing $35 million

Not to be outdone, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced in late August that it was making more than $53 million in grants to 17 states “to support conservation planning and acquisition of vital habitat for threatened and endangered fish, wildlife, and plants.” The Endangered Species Act has been one of the greatest failures in U.S. history and responsible for thwarting billions in development. This money is intended to remove yet more landmass from development, all in the name of obscure species and plants.

On September 14 the Department of Justice announced grants totaling $118.4 million to “enhance public safety in Indian Country.” The money went to tribal governments. Apparently the Apaches are on the warpath again. Over the last two years, DOJ spent $121 million on conferences.

This doesn’t even take into consideration the money flowing from the Departments of Defense, Education, Veteran Affairs, and Homeland Security. It is in fact just a quick overview of the funding the Obama administration is spending while 14 million Americans are trying to find a job and others struggle to pay their mortgage or put their children through college.

It is a look at a government grown so large and so profligate that its credit rating was recently reduced and our President is on the campaign trail telling Americans they must pay more taxes despite the fact that 40% pay no taxes and “millionaires and billionaires” pay 70% of taxes collected. It’s the same government that wants to impose a 1% tax on all

Tea Party, anyone?

© Alan Caruba, 2011

North Carolina To Define Marriage In its Constitution

North Carolina To Define Marriage In its Constitution

Constitutional Amendment goes to NC voters in May 2012

 A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

In May of 2012, if all goes as expected, the voters of North Carolina will approve an amendment to the NC constitution that will define marriage in the state as the union of one man and one woman … period.  

The amendment states that all marriage rights, privileges, and responsibilities shall be confined to one man and one woman.  It also says that North Carolina shall not recognize ANY other domestic partnership among consenting adults. 

Understand that gay marriage is already banned in North Carolina by law.  But that law could be overturned by new legislation, or even by a judge. Only the US Constitution can trump NC’s state constitution.  (Thirty states already define marriage in their constitutions.)   

Both sides of the issue are gearing up for the battle that is sure to rage between now and next May.  Battle lines have already been drawn.

For NC conservatives it has been an eight-year fight to get this amendment passed through the NC legislature.  Democrats blocked their efforts every time.  Now, republicans control both houses of the legislature and the democrat governor of the state has no say in a constitutional amendment.

The North Carolina Values Coalition says the following on their website:

Every state where voters have been allowed to vote on marriage (30 in all) has voted to adopt a Marriage Amendment.

Unfortunately, North Carolina is the only state in the southern United States that has not allowed voters to vote on protecting marriage in its State Constitution — thus making us a target for same-sex “marriage.”

A recent press release from the NC Values Coalition says:

N.C. Values Coalition press release on the legislature’s passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment

RALEIGH, N.C. –The N.C. State Senate voted Tuesday to concur with a bipartisan vote in the N.C. State House to pass a Marriage Protection Amendment recognizing marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.  The Senate passed the Amendment 30-16, while the House vote was 75 to 42.  Passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment by both houses of the General Assembly allows the issue to go to a vote of the people on the next primary election ballot, scheduled to be held in May 2012.

If a majority of North Carolina voters support the Marriage Amendment in this referendum, the language of the amendment will be permanently included in the North Carolina Constitution, and North Carolina will join thirty other state that have protected marriage in their constitutions.

“This is a great day for the people of North Carolina to be able to vote on this important issue,” said Tami Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the N.C. Values Coalition.  “The voters have waited for eight years to vote on protecting marriage, and the General Assembly has finally provided that opportunity to them.”

The floor debate in the Senate included discussion of the economic advantages the Marriage Amendment would bring to North Carolina.  States that have protected marriage have better business rankings than states that have not or states that have redefined marriage.  “Whether it’s Forbes magazine, the American Legislative Exchange Council, CNBC, Chief Executive Magazine or the National Chamber of Commerce, the overwhelming majority of the states in the top ten in economic performance in the country are states that protect marriage in their constitutions,” Fitzgerald said.

The Marriage Protection Amendment will also protect private businesses by allowing them to continue to offer benefits according to their own strategic business decisions instead of government mandates.

The North Carolina Values Coalition has worked since February toward passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment and expects to play a key role in the campaign to get it passed on the next primary ballot.

(You may visit the website of the North Carolina Values Coalition HERE.)

There can be little doubt the amendment will become a part of the North Carolina constitution.  Voters on both the left and right support the amendment.

The family is the foundation of every nation.  There has been a constant attack on the American family for a number of decades now and all one has to do is look around to see the awful effect that attack has already had.  We are destroying the family and building more prisons and we cannot seem to grasp the connection.

I support this amendment to the NC constitution.  I only hope it is not too little too late.

North Carolina will now join her sister states in the southeast in doing all she can to preserve the bedrock of our society – the family.

If only we could have the same amendment passed through the US Congress and placed before the states for ratification.  Hopefully, conservatives will have the numbers in the Congress after the election in November of 2012.

J. D. Longstreet

Recognizing A State Of Palestine Means War

Recognizing A State Of Palestine Means War

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

With the US and the world economy in such a sad state it may seem somewhat ridiculous to be worrying aloud about whether or not the United Nations recognizes Palestine as a state. But believe me, it is one of the moments in history that can be spoken of and will be written of as a “tipping point.”   It is so important that the vote itself may well produce a new world order. 

I continue to believe the Palestinians are not nearly so interested in a state of their own as they are in totally destroying the state of Israel.

There is a heck of a lot of history behind this Palestinian and Israeli conflict.  Let’s review a bit of that history.

Did you know that the area and the people, erroneously called Palestinians, were offered a state of their own back in the 1930’s?  Bet you didn’t know that.

It seems we have to go over the history of the rejected Palestinian state over and over and I can only surmise the public school system and the university and college systems in the US simply don’t teach it!

Look, the plain truth is… the people, calling themselves Palestinians, have been offered a state of their own at least three times since the 1936 Arab revolt.  They have flatly turned it down every time! Yes!  The first offer made by the Peel Commission in the 1930s offered them a vast piece of real estate much larger than that offered to the Jews…  and … they turned it down!

UN Resolution 181 passed soon after the Second World War gave Israel 55% of the so-called Palestine and the Palestinians 45%.  The Jews accepted and in doing so recognized that Palestine would become a state next door to them.  They accepted that.  But the Arabs rejected it, flat out, and started another war against the Jews, which they promptly lost.

It has been 60 years now and the whining and moaning is still coming from the “woe is me” crowd who called themselves Palestinians.

The problems between Israel and the Palestinians are not because Israel has settled some disputed land.  No!  The cause of all the trouble in that “center of the earth” strip of land is due entirely to the Arabs refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish state called Israel, or called anything else, for that matter.  That is the crux of the problem.

“Right of Return” is far more dangerous to the state of Israel than an all out attack by their Arab neighbors.  You’re going to hear more and more about the Palestinians demand for a Right of Return. 

So what is the Right of Return?  “The idea of the right of return is to demand that Israel allow the descendants of the 750,000 Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 and their families (which now stands at almost 4 million) back into Israel and give them full compensation for their troubles. Even if only half of these Palestinians returned, it would alter Israel's identity as a Jewish state and effectively create a second Palestinian state. One assumption made under the right of return is that all the Arabs that lived in Israel proper were forcibly expelled from their homes in 1947 and 48. This is a myth. While historians know for a fact that a small number of the 750,000 displaced Arabs were forcibly expelled by Zionist militias (a famous example being Deir Yassin), honest and impartial historians also know that a large number of this 750,000 strong population left on their own, either to avoid an upcoming war between the Zionists and the Arabs, or to join the Arabs in the fighting against the newly established state.”  (From: http://www.themiddleeastnow.com/nopalestinianstate.html)

The Palestinians will obfuscate, and delay, and continue to carry on their war to wipe Israel from the face of the map.  They will use any means to do it.  This requested vote in the UN is just another tool they will use in their never ending attempt to destroy Israel.

So why do I continue to insist that a Palestinian state will lead, almost immediately, to war between Israel and the State of Palestine?  The answer is so simple it is appalling to me that the world does not see it.

Look, the moment Palestine occupies a piece of ground that is considered strategic to the survival of Israel the shooting war will begin. When the war begins there will be a re-alignment of nations supporting both the Palestinians and the Israelis.  The nations of the world will be, once again, at each other’s throats. 

So, YES, this coming vote in the UN is important in the extreme.  I do not think it possible to over estimate just how important it is to the entire world.

The Palestinians are running a “con game” on the entire world and on the UN in particular.  Otherwise, they would have taken their request to the General Assembly where that would have won, at least, “Observer State” status most likely in an overwhelming vote.  But instead -- they are said now to have decided to take their request to the UN Security Council where it is sure to be vetoed by, at least, the United States.  Why?  Because if the US vetoes it, THAT will be considered a political victory for the Palestinians and will add another tool to their arsenal for use against Israel AND the United States.

That maneuver alone should underscore that their intent is not so much statehood as it is the total destruction of the state of Israel.

If the nations of the world want the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian to end, then they should get out of the way and allow them to go at each other until one or the other is wiped out.  As a student of history, I have no doubt who will be standing when the dust clears.

J. D. Longstreet        

Jimmy Carter Redux ... Alan Caruba

Jimmy Carter Redux

By Alan Caruba

I actually remember watching and listening to Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech given 32 years ago on July 15, 1979. It marked a distinct turning point for the president because it addressed the already large loss of confidence in his leadership and judgment. It confirmed most voters judgment.

The address to the nation has since been called his “crisis of confidence” speech. It was, like most of Carter’s policies, a massive failure, and I had the same feeling when I listened to President Obama’s recent speech to the joint session of Congress, an occasion usually reserved for the State of the Union or a declaration of war.

And yet, and yet, we are living with many of former President Carter’s policies that were so wrong then and are so wrong now. If you were around then, I recommend you read the speech and, if you were born since then, it will amaze you how many really bad ideas Carter put forth that you are still hearing today from President Obama.

Jimmy Carter, a largely unknown Democrat former Governor of Georgia was swept into office on a wave of revulsion against the Nixon administration’s Watergate scandal. Had that not occurred it is likely he would not have had much of a chance despite his toothy smile and grab-bag of loony liberal ideas. Four years later, voters voted for a conservative former Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. They kept him around for a second term throughout the 1980s.

On that long ago evening Jimmy Carter thought the best way to address the nation’s mounting economic and energy problems was to blame the voters. It wasn’t his fault. It was ours.

But it was his fault.

As Seldon B. Graham, Jr., the author of “Why Your Gasoline Prices Are High”, an oil industry engineer and lawyer, put it, “Globalist Jimmy Carter harmed the USA with a domestic oil windfall profits tax (in 1980), causing a severe recession, (and) loss of half a million jobs…” The windfall profits tax caused US-based oil companies to look elsewhere for oil and to lay off petroleum industry workers here.

Carter, just as Obama, did not understand that profits are what all businesses require in order to expand and invest in their future. It is the same misguided thinking that has Obama saying that “loopholes” in the tax code that encourage oil exploration and extraction should be closed. They are not “loopholes.” They are the same kind of tax policies that are extended to countless businesses.

If we fast-forward to today, we would understand that oil companies annually pay more than $30 billion per year to federal, state, and local governments in order to produce energy in the U.S. Contrast this with the more than a half-billion dollars taxpayers lost when the Obama administration backed a loan to the now bankrupt “green” energy, solar panel firm, Solyndra.

The fact is that America is home to more than 160 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The US is the third largest producer of oil in the world. We are the Saudi Arabia of coal with several centuries’ worth to be mined. The amount of natural gas that can be accessed by fracking technology is incalculable. And the Obama administration can’t even make up its mind about a new oil pipeline from Canada, an economic partner from whom we import a considerable amount of oil already!

We should be energy independent, but Jimmy Carter in 1979 and Barack Obama in 2011 are still blathering away about solar energy. What did Carter want back then?

“I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of the nation’s first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.” Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House. Reagan removed them. Obama has promised to do the same, but hasn’t.

Carter said, “when this nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it.” We’re still waiting.

In a nation that was the world’s leader in the manufacture of automobiles, Carter proposed “an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems.” Obama talks about high speed trains that no one wants or needs in the era of airline travel. Created in 1970, Amtrak has never made a profit.

In 1979 Carter said, “For the first time in the history of our country a majority of people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years.”

A September 14th Rasmussen poll asking if the nation was going in the right or wrong direction yielded the following analysis: “Seventy-five percent (75%) of voters say the country is heading down the wrong track, showing little change from last week. Since January 2009, voter pessimism had ranged from a low of 57% to a high of 80%. This time last year, 65% said the U.S. was heading down the wrong path.”

If Obama wasn’t a far-Left liberal, wasn’t getting some extraordinarily bad advice from those he brought into the White House, and wasn’t a raving egomaniac, he might pause and stop playing political games to blame Congress and Republicans for the present economic crisis. If in the name of “social justice” the federal government--Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--wasn’t in the mortgage business, there would not have been a crisis.

The problem for the rest of us is that Obama’s crisis is our crisis too as jobs melt away and businesses large and small wait to see how much more damage his proposals will do to the nation's economy. His solution was to throw a trillion-dollar “stimulus” at the problem in 2009. He has just proposed a half-trillion dollar solution.

Except for the usual percentage of liberals who think Obama will “stop the rise of the seas”, the rest of the nation is left to wait for next year’s elections. That’s our “solution.”

© Alan Caruba, 2011