America's Malaise Is BACK! ... J. D. Longstreet

America's Malaise Is BACK!
The Misery Index Is Rising
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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The dictionary defines malaise as: "an indefinite feeling of debility or lack of health often indicative of, or accompanying the onset of, an illness ... ."

Malaise in an individual is bad.  Malaise in a nation can be fatal.

America is currently mired in the worst case of malaise in my lifetime.

I've been around since FDR was President.  I have experienced American national malaise twice in my lifetime.  Both times it was during the administrations of Democratic Party Presidents.

The first case of American malaise (in my lifetime) was under the administration of the 39th President of the United States -- Jimmy Carter.  It was BAD.

I was trying to run a business -- and it was pure hell.  All business could do was hunker down and wait for a flicker of light at the end of that very long and very dark tunnel. 

When it came, it was not a flicker -- it was a sunburst by the name of Ronald Reagan.

America came roaring out of her national depression and raced back to the to the top -- turning on all the lights as they went  -- illuminating "the shining city on a hill."

Now, under the Obama administration (another Democratic Party President), here we are -- in  an even deeper national depression -- or malaise -- than we were even under Jimmy Carter.  This time -- there is no Ronald Reagan waiting in the wings. In my opinion THAT is why THIS malaise is even deeper than Carter's.  We just don't see the promise in Mitt Romney that we saw in Ronald Reagan.

Having said that, allow me to say that it is not Romney's fault.  NOBODY can live up to Reagan.  And no one can come anywhere near matching the legend of Reagan.  Reagan was one of a kind.  We will likely never see another Ronald Reagan -- and THAT, I believe, is adding to the depth of our national malaise.

Understand: national malaise is what happens to people when they are saddled with socialism.  THIS is IT.  And it only gets worse until socialism is thrown off and people can breath free again. 

Let me be clear.  Liberalism is one thing.  Socialism is entirely another -- and what we have in the Oval Office in Washington, DC is a socialist President with a socialist agenda and a socialist Democratic Party in charge of the US Senate, which is hell bent on destroying America. Period!

To top if all off, if we don't catch a break, we're going to have a socialist Supreme Court -- very soon -- and THAT will be the end of America.

Any day now, I expect to awaken and find women with babushkas covering their heads glumly sweeping the streets of the silent cities of America.  (If you didn't get this -- think 1950's Soviet Socialist Russia ... or just Google it.)

There is a sense of impending doom in America.   The expectation that Obama will somehow pull a rabbit out of his hat and win a second term as America's President has blunted the enthusiasm and the energy of America's right.  No.  There is no joy in Mudville.

Look around, dear reader.  THIS is what you get when you elect a socialist to lead a capitalist nation.  THIS is what you get when you elect socialists to Congress. And don't kid yourself, Obama and his cadre of communists have only begun!  Given a second term he WILL finish the job.  He WILL take America to the outhouse of history.

Eighty-six percent of Americans do not believe their children will have a better life in America than they.  That bit of earth shaking info came recently from one of America's leading polling companies.   I believe it. 

Try as they might, Americans cannot see a clear path, an optimistic path, into the future for their children.  They know that, no matter what happens November 6th, their kids are already saddled with crushing debt that will smother their future and short circuit their plans for a happy, prosperous, life for themselves and their families.

Like the mercury in a thermometer held near a flame the "Misery Index"  continues to rush upward as Obama's socialist government binds Americans ever tighter to central oversight of every facet of American life.

There is not a moment of the day that Americans can feel truly alone.  We are monitored twenty-four hours a day by the government -- for our safety and security, of course.   If you believe that lie, I have a bridge -- on sale this week.

For America to survive it is imperative that we take back the government from those who intend the destruction of the republic.  Make no mistake about it -- that is exactly their agenda.

Mitt Romney is not Ronald Reagan, but he has made himself available and offered his business experience to, at least, get America back on track again.
 
America's Malaise Is BACK!  It is a given that no one president can undo the damage the Obama Administration has wrought on America. THAT will take generations.  I have concluded, in the past few weeks, that Romney can do three things.  He can replace Obama in the Oval Office -- he can slow America's slide into oblivion -- and he can prepare the foundation upon which our recovery must be built over the coming decades.

If Providence smiles on America and Romney wins, understand, it will be a long, difficult, journey back.  Some Americans do not believe just how close to disaster and complete collapse the country is today.  Rescuing America will require a massive effort over many decades.  Yes, we are THAT close to disaster.

Watching Romney stand before the people of Israel, last weekend,  and observing the connection between the Israeli people, the leaders of Israel, and Romney, it was clear that in THIS election the choice for America is clear and definitive.  To SAVE America, and to RESTORE America, electing Romney is absolutely crucial. 

On November 6th the choices for America  are clear:  Romney -- or -- Destruction.

J. D. Longstreet
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"Common Sense" Gun Control Laws? ... J. D. Longstreet

"Common Sense" Gun Control Laws?
"Reasonable" Gun Control Laws?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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First allow me to try and clear something up. 

The Second Amendment does not grant US citizens the right to own and bear arms.  It recognizes that right, already granted by God, and makes darn sure the government KNOWS they (the government) cannot tamper with it. 

Problems is -- modern government is not nearly as smart as those first American politicians (though they THINK they are) and modern politicians are hell-bent on subjecting every American to the yoke of government -- just like the government burden of King George from which our forefathers went to war to free us. 

Whenever a left-wing, liberal/progressive politician begins to speak of "common sense" gun regulation, there is a near audible gasp from Americans coast to coast.  The reason?  Common sense is in extremely short supply among the political practitioners of the political left.   It is one of the characteristics that marks them, sets them apart, sanctifies them,  for the world to recognize.  There simply is NO COMMON SENSE amongst them.

When they use "common sense' and "reasonable" in referring to gun control laws then you know it is time to hide your guns (as many Americans are busily doing today).

"Reasonable," to the political left, is defined as: agreeing -- totally -- with them.  Period.

One shudders when the left raises the suggestion of common sense gun control laws. 

Immediately one is wary because clear thinking Americans, that is to say -- those American who actually think with their minds and judgment unclouded by the emotions of the political left -- already know that no gun control laws are needed in the first place.

Try as I might, I simply cannot get a grasp on the left's definition of common sense.  So little of it is displayed by them, that it is difficult to form an opinion based on the left's context.

However, judging from their overall performance one would have to say, I believe, that common sense to the left, simply means allowing the government, which they believe is far superior to the individual, to control one's life from cradle to grave -- and -- that would include making sure we don't hurt ourselves with our guns.

Yeah, I know.  In sensibility it ranks right up there with a mother demanding that her child go nowhere near the water until he learns to swim.  But then, who among us, other than those on the political left, think sensibility had any part in the major screw-ups the left has given this country down through the decades? 

"Oh, but their intentions were good!"  Right! And the road to Hell is paved with them.  Plus -- the patchwork on that road is made from "unintended consequences."

Look.  Any sensible human being inherently knows that taking guns away from people will not stop people from killing other people.  There are lots of other weapons available for dispatching one's fellowman.  If one is not readily available for you -- you simply produce your own. 

You may recall that in the event that took three thousand American lives on 9-11 not a single firearm was employed -- not one.

In some cases not even gun powder is required -- as in the Oklahoma City domestic terrorist attack. 

Do you  realize that a good crossbow can put a bolt into the engine block of an automobile?  And they are deadly accurate.   Is that not a powerful enough weapon? 

The point is -- Americans are going to be armed -- period. 

Of course when one bothers to clear some of the smoke from the hot air surrounding the debate one quickly learns that common sense gun control is not about protecting the American citizens from other American citizens, it is about protecting the American GOVERNMENT from American citizens who, finally, having had enough, MIGHT (one day) decide to dump them and replace them with a truly constitutional government.  THAT is what they are afraid of. THAT and THAT alone.

I fear that with an Obama 2.0 America is going to get gun control.  So far as I am concerned -- that is a given.  Obama's henchmen have, I feel certain, ascertained how to use Presidential Executive Orders to saddle the American people with gun control.  I believe it as surely as I believe the sun will rise in the morning.  (Actually, I believe in Obama's power-grab more than I believe in tomorrow's sunrise!)

At this point, one has to wonder how Obama's Civilian National Security Force is coming along. I ask because -- it is they who will be charged with the confiscation of America's guns.  Too many members of the US military, you see, take their oath to protect the constitution seriously, and the same applies to police officers across America.   For that reason Obama cannot rely upon them to snatch their neighbor's weapons.

As I observe the power plays going on in our nations' seat of government -- and -- as their agenda becomes more and more apparent, I find that I am beginning to FINALLY understand the French Revolution for the first time.  (Look it up.  You'll understand.)

And, finally, I believe I am beginning to understand what motivated Samuel Adams, (John Adams' second cousin) one of this republic's founders. 

America is quickly approaching a decision point at which American citizens are going to have to decide between slavery to the state and maintaining their freedom and the republic.   What will you do?  What will you decide? 

I suggest you begin thinking, seriously, about that before you are blind-sided when your door is kicked-in at 3 o'clock one morning in the not too distant future.

J. D. Longstreet
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The "Worst President Ever" ... Alan Caruba

Dear reader:

Below is another of Mr. Alan Caruba's commentaries that cuts right to the nub -- like a surgical scalpel -- and exposes the innards of the problem with America's economy, which is, of course, our President -- Obama.

Today marks the 100th day before we Americans get a chance to voice our dislike of this President and his socialist agenda for America at the polls.  

 As his term in office, hopefully, grows nearer the end, Obama continues to blame George W. Bush for all his short-comings over the past 3-1/2 years.  That prompted me to wonder if, in fact, Obama is running for George Bush's FOURTH TERM IN Office???  It is a fair question since Mr. Obama gives Bush credit for actually accomplishing more (when you think about it) in the past three and a half years than himself.

Nevertheless, Mr. Caruba's commentary below lays bare the multiple reasons Mr. Obama will be forever remembered as "America's Worst President Ever."  Too, he will be remembered -- in some quarters -- as America's first Socialist/Marxist President.

Please continue below for Mr. Caruba's splendid analysis of America's Worst President Ever.   ...   J. D. Longstreet 

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The "Worst President Ever"

By Alan Caruba

You have to know how poorly Barack Hussein Obama has performed in office when the phrase the "worst President ever” has already become a cliché.

Obama’s first term is frequently compared to the devastation of Jimmy Carter’s first and only term. It left Carter a rejected, embittered man, frequently critical of those who succeeded him.

What did President Reagan do to create an economic boom in the wake of Carter’s sorry record?

Peter Ferrara, the Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy for The Heartland Institute, who served in the Reagan White House Office of Policy Development, writing in 2008 cited Reagan’s (1) tax cuts to restore incentives for economic growth, (2) spending reductions, including a $31 billion cut in spending in 1981, close to 5% of the federal budget, (3) an anti-inflation monetary policy restraining money supply growth, (4) deregulation that by 2008 had saved consumers an estimated $100 billion in lower prices, and (5) free trade in the form of worldwide agreements to reduce tariff taxes.

Citing tax cuts, Ferrara noted that “Reagan was not the first or last to adopt sweeping tax cuts to boost the economy. It has happened four, perhaps five, times in the last century, with virtually the same results every time.”

Obama has never stopped talking about raising taxes and his signature legislation, Obamacare, had more than twenty increases in taxes embedded—hidden—in the more than 2,000 pages that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi famously said had to be passed in order “to find out what is in it.”

In contrast to Reagan, Obama has spent his years in office blaming George W. Bush and even the Clinton years for the economy he “inherited”, but which more accurately stated, was an economy he campaigned to fix, promising hope and change.

In 2005, Dr. Hans F. Sennholz, the chairman of the department of economics at Grove City College, wrote an analysis of “The Economics of Jimmy Carter” noting that Carter was “unaware of the inexorable economic principles that direct and determine economic life.”

Carter, Sennholz wrote, was unaware that, “Consumers determine not only the prices of consumer goods but also those of the factors of production, that is, land, labor, and capital. They determine and pay the wages of every worker” noting also that “Carter never tires of expounding his displeasure and irritability about the income and wealth of many capitalists and about government policies that seem to favor the rich.” Who does that sound like today?

In January of this year, looking back over the first three years of Obama economic policies, an Indiana University study noted that 46 million Americans are living below the poverty line—up 27% since the start of the recession dated back to 2006.

The report stated that “The Great Recession has left behind the largest number of long-term unemployed people since records were first kept in 1948. More than four million Americans report that they have been unemployed for more than twelve months.”

For those who still think Obama can be reelected, it is worth noting that the most severely affected states are Florida, Nevada, and Arizona which have been badly hit by the housing foreclosure crisis, and Michigan and Ohio that have seen the collapse of traditional manufacturing. These are all key states Obama would need to win.

On July 27, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. economic growth had slowed to 1.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter as consumer spending weakened. “The growth estimate Friday from the government suggested that the U.S. economy could be at risk of stalling three years after the recession ended.” While the official unemployment rate is 8.2 percent, it is widely believed to be above 10 percent.

“No president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the depths of the Great Depression, has been reelected when the unemployment rate exceeded 8 percent,” said the Associated Press report. “Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were ousted when unemployment was well below 8 percent.”

At this point, the Obama campaign, unable to run on his economic record, has devoted itself to depicting Mitt Romney as a rapacious capitalist who grew wealthy investing in companies, a felon who continued to run Bain Capital after leaving to save the Salt lake City Olympics (a job for which he took no pay), and for failing to release his tax returns going back many years. Not mentioned is the fact that Obama is a multi-millionaire or his total lack of experience in the private sector.

Repeating all the errors of the Carter years and exacerbating the 2008 financial crisis by spending billions in taxpayer funds on failed “stimulus” programs, Obama compounded the crisis by waging war on the nation’s energy sector, wasting more billions on "clean energy", and using executive orders to circumvent immigration and welfare laws on the books.

The result has been the highest levels of federal deficit and debt in the history of the nation. He has, indeed, exceeded the damage Jimmy Carter inflicted during his only term in office. He is, indeed, the worst President ever.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

America’s Crossing of the Rubicon ... J. D. Longstreet

(This Article was first published in March of 2009)

America’s Crossing of the Rubicon
By J. D. Longstreet
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A few months ago, weeks before the election in November of 2008, I scribbled the following words:

"And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand". (From the Bible, Matthew 12:25.)

”The schism that slices through America today has been widening since the 19th century. Little by little, decade-by-decade, year-by-year it has continued to get ever wider and ever deeper. It has nothing to do with geography. It has nothing to do with slavery… and, yet, it has everything to do with slavery.

What, you say? Didn't we put the slavery issue to rest with a war in the 1860's? The truthful answer is NO. We did not. We put to rest the issue of whether or not a man could hold another man in bondage in this country. What we did not put to rest, however, is the question of whether this country's government could hold its citizens in bondage.

The founders of this country intended to set up a government with very little power. They intended the government to have only the power the citizens allowed it to have. Almost instantly the power struggle began between those who wanted a strong central government and those who wanted strong states and a weak central government. After all, it was The States that created the Federal Government… as a utility of the states. Not the other way around. Look it up.

In 1860 there were 33 states in the so-called United States of America. I do mean "so-called"because they were anything but UNITED. By the spring of 1861 thirteen of those states had had enough of being "dictated-to" by a oligarchic federal government wielding powers the constitution did not grant it, and ... as the US Constitution did not forbid it (as had the Articles of Confederation)... they took their leave of the United States. They created a country of their own with a constitution (mostly copied from the original constitution of the US) and they became a separate country.

A few Americans today actually know what caused that split. A “mere handful” of Americans understand what the ensuing war was fought about.”

Even today, in 2009, a few Americans are uncomfortable with the sting of being forced, at the point of a government bayonet, to be a part of a country their ancestors had forsaken in order to set up a representative republicin the image of the government the Founding Fathers of America had given the United States.  Those Americans are not comfortable with the revisionist history taught our young as they pass through the government/public education system, or, at least, what passesfor an educational system in America these days.

A few million Americans who either live in, have lived in, or hail from, the only portion of this country to ever be invaded, conquered, and occupied by a foreign power, understand what is happening in America today, not because we learned it in school, no… because we learned it from the stories our families have handed down from generation to generation and from our own research into what happened to a country which had, less than a hundred years before, won it's independence from the Mother Country… Great Britain. We are scattered all over America today... north, south, east, west, all over.  We seewhere America is headed… and we fear for our fellow Americans because they/we are not ready for the cost to America. None of us are. What America is facing, in the next few years, will make the American Civil War seem like a Sunday School picnic.

The cost?  Freedom is the price we will be compelled to pay for the “security” the current socialist regime in America is demanding.

 Even today we see the government swallowing up great gobs of America’s business community. Our naïve, youthful, geographic either was not taught, or did not learn, that “business is the business of America.” 

The business community is an invaluable part of the foundation of this country. Business provides the goods and services needed to trade with our fellowman on this planet. Business provides the jobs Americans need to provide for their families and to keep the capital (the money) roiling through our national economy.  Business makes America strong. Profits keep business healthy. When business is healthy… America is healthy.Freedom is necessary, is, in fact, required for business to operate in a healthy and profitable atmosphere.

Today, in America we are flirting with slavery, all over again. Yes, SLAVERY, voluntary slavery, to begin with… then involuntary slave when it is then too late, after the Rubicon has been crossed.  The socially accepted word for it these days is… SOCIALISM.

Back in November of 2008, Americans went to the polls to exercise a right granted them by their states… not the federal government. The issue they were voting for, or against, was slavery. Whether America should stay free, or whether America should give up the freedom so many have fought, bled, and died for, and assume the yoke and chains of slavery under socialism.

Make no mistake. SOCIALISM IS SLAVERY. As Americans have begun to understand, under socialism you will give up all your rights… all your freedom... in exchange for security, which is purportedly guaranteed by the Central Government. Believe me, if you think democracy is expensive; wait 'til you have to pay for all those FREE programs.

All my instincts told me, before last November’s election, that today's crop of Americans were willing to give up everything for that promise of security. Of all things "un-American"… that is the MOST un-American. But, that is what happened on Election Day, as we feared it would.

Do not expect the half of the country who stands solidly against socialism to go along, quietly; into the self-inflicted slavery of this hell-spawned form of government we call socialism.

Had the country voted totally in favor of socialism, last November 4th, all bets would be off. But the country didn’t.  The facts are, the MsM would LIKE us to believe that Obama has a “mandate.”  He doesn’t.  They would like us to believe Obama won in a landslide.  He didn’t.  He won by a mere 5 percentage points. 5 percentage points is hardly a landslide. 5 percentage points hardly gives Obama a mandate for anything. Even so, as a result of that election, the word "United" can be dropped from the country's name, for all intents and purposes, these days. The country is effectively torn in two.

There can be no compromise. America CAN be healed, BUT… the damage Obama and his socialist cohorts are doing to this country, to this government, to our business community, and to the American people, will leave lasting scars… scars that will never completely heal. 

Yes, we are in dangerous times… extremely dangerous.  As each day passes the façade of Obama and his socialist allies in the Congress, and the cabinet, slips a little.  More and more Americans are coming to understand the immensity of the mistake America made last November. It is becoming clear that our current government is taking America down a path the founders of this country never intended us to take.

The Rubicon HAS been crossed. The bridges are not yet burned, however, and Americans can re-cross to the open arms of freedom.  But, if, and (God willing) WHEN we do, we will have to live with the damage done to our constitution. Repairs will be required to that old “God inspired document” to insure that what is happening to our beloved America can never happen again.  It must be made a part of the law of this land that a democratic representative republic is the only form of government allowable… ever… in America.  

J. D. Longstreet

Obama’s Green “Investments” Drown In Red Ink ... Deroy Murdock

Obama’s Green “Investments” Drown In Red Ink

Sacrificing taxpayer dollars on the altar of green ideology is destroying our economy

Deroy Murdock

“We’ll invest $15 billion a year over the next decade in renewable energy, creating five million new green jobs that pay well, can’t be outsourced, and help end our dependence on foreign oil,” candidate Barack Obama pledged in a November 1, 2008 radio address.

Three years and eight months later, as unemployment has exceeded 8 percent for 41 straight months, Obama seems incapable of keeping this promise. With the worst employment figures since at least 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ started measuring them, Obama has made a dog’s breakfast of jobs – green and otherwise.

Consider three key Department of Energy programs. DOE’s website boasts that its “clean energy” initiatives – dubbed 1703, 1705, and Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) – loaned $34.7 billion and launched “nearly 60,000” jobs. This totals a staggering $578,333 per position.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, private employers pay average workers $62,757 in wages and benefits. So, Obama is “creating jobs” at 922 percent of the private sector’s cost. Thus, for every green job that Obama supposedly spawns with taxpayer dollars and borrowed Chinese money, private enterprises could hire nine people.

Obama touts green-energy “investments,” even though this is not Obama’s money to invest. Rather than choose winners and losers, which would be bad enough, Team Obama picks losers. It subsidized at least ten “clean” companies that went kaput.

• Abound Solar consumed $70 million of its $400 million Energy Department loan guarantee. The Loveland, Colorado-based company blamed Chinese subsidy payments and European subsidy cuts for falling prices in its thin-film-panel sector. On July 2, Abound Solar filed for Chapter 7 liquidation and prepared to lock shop and fire its 125 employees.

• Solar Trust envisioned Earth’s largest solar-power plant. DOE enthusiastically offered it a $2.1 billion loan guarantee in April 2011, provided that it raised private capital. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar attended the company’s Blythe, California groundbreaking and hailed “a historic moment in America’s new energy frontier.” Solar Trust missed DOE’s benchmarks, however, and announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy last April 2.

• Energy Conversion Devices, a solar-laminate supplier, received a $13.3 million Stimulus tax credit in January 2010 to update its Auburn Hills, Michigan factory and hire some 600 people. ECD pleaded Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Valentine’s Day.

• Ener1 received a $118.5 million DOE Stimulus grant in August 2009. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Greenfield, Indiana to tour Ener1 on January 26, 2011. “Here at Ener1,” Biden said, “we’re going to harness electricity and bring it to the world, like Edison did more than a century ago.” The electric-car battery company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last January 26, exactly one year after Biden’s visit.

• Aptera Motors aspired to build three-wheel electric cars. DOE offered it a $150 million ATVM loan, conditioned upon Aptera’s raising $150 million in non-government capital. Aptera never convinced private investors to finance glorified tricycles. So, last December 2, CEO Paul Wilber stated: “After years of focused effort to bring our products to the market, Aptera Motors is closing its doors, effective today.”

• Massachusetts-based Beacon Power Corp. received a $43 million loan guarantee in October 2010 – DOE’s second such subsidy. The energy-storage concern declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 30, 2011.

• Solyndra, the most notorious of Obama’s green-energy baubles, filed for bankruptcy on August 31, 2011. Taxpayers are liable for this solar-panel maker’s $535 million in loan guarantees – the first that DOE made under Obama.

In death, Solyndra has proved to be anything but green. As San Francisco’s KCBS-TV reported last April, Solyndra’s Milpitas, California facility features metal drums marked “Hazardous Waste.” Cadmium, lead, unidentified black chemicals, and other toxins haunt the premises. A company called iStar said it would remove these poisons — as soon as Solyndra pays its bills.

Solyndra also discarded still-valuable solar-panel components, even though selling them could have generated capital to reimburse it creditors, including America’s taxpayers.

• In June 2009, SpectraWatt scored a $500,000 grant from the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory PV Technology Pre-Incubator program and $150,000 from the National Science Foundation in June 2010. Facing stiff Chinese competition, this solar-cell manufacturer closed its Hopewell Junction, New York factory and dismissed all of its 117 workers in April 2011. SpectraWatt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 19, 2011.  

• Raser Technologies received a $33 million Treasury Department Stimulus grant in February 2010. As its dreams of a geothermal plant in Beaver County, Utah turned to steam, its payroll subsequently evaporated from 42 workers to 27 to 10. Raser declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2011.

• Despite Mountain Plaza, Inc.’s 2003 bankruptcy, the EPA decided to inject $424,000 in Stimulus funds for that Tennessee company’s “truck-stop electrification” technology. Nonetheless, Mountain Plaza again went bankrupt on June 3, 2010. EPA officially awarded those funds 12 days later, despite Mountain Plaza’s insolvency and a related lawsuit.

These doomed projects alone devoured $3.4 billion in taxpayer funds and commitments.

Rather than slam Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital – which deployed private capital behind Staples, Sports Authority, and other still-thriving corporations – President Obama should beg taxpayers’ forgiveness for pouring their hard-earned cash down at least ten “green” rat holes.

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New York commentator Deroy Murdock is a Fox News Contributor, a nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service, and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. This column was originally published by National Review Online in July 2012.

The Middle East Horror Show

The Middle East Horror Show

By Alan Caruba

As of Wednesday the news out of the Middle East is that naval fleets in the Mediterranean and armed forces from Russian, Western and Arab nations were, according to Debka File, “piling up on Syrian borders.”

The Russians are aligned with Syria which also has Iranian support as a satellite state intent on keeping Bashar al-Assad in charge. In the UN, the Chinese, too, have vetoed measures to contain the Syrian leadership. The Obama administration has rather belatedly discovered how useless the UN is.

It is yet another Middle East horror show as the greater and lesser powers struggle to contain it.

There’s always a price to pay for making bad choices. The cliché is that we learn from our mistakes, but as often as not we forget them and repeat them. I got to thinking about this as I watched the murderous mess occurring in Syria, the natural extension of the popular movements that overthrew despots in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt; movements fostered by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Lest anyone assume we are watching democracy in action, a yearning of the Muslim masses to achieve the freedoms Americans and others in the West enjoy, it would be well to take into consideration the general culture of the Arab world and to understand that “Muslim democracy” is as great an oxymoron and “Capitalist communism.”

Nothing about Islam suggests democracy and only Turkey managed to install democratic governance by virtue of maintaining a secular state—backed by the military—that kept Islam separate from government. Ironically, the Baathist—Socialist—Parties in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and in Syria under the Assad family, father and son, did the same thing.

In Egypt under the control of a succession of military dictators from Nasser to Mubarack, all dealt with the militant Muslim Brotherhood by jailing its leaders and making it unsafe to be too Islamist.

Lebanon was considered the jewel of the Mediterranean and enjoyed years of peaceful government by creating a coalition between its Christian and Muslim populations. Then the Palestinians came along to initiate civil wars. Syria, that always coveted Lebanon, sent troops to “maintain the peace” until the Lebanese rose up in a peaceful revolt and forced them out.

What was left, however, was the Palestinian Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy that remains in control in Lebanon. Now the big question is whether the chemical arsenal that Saddam parked in Syria will be used against Israel or against the Syrians trying to drive out the ruling Assad-Alawite clan.

The two times that Americans chose an extremely liberal President, Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s and Barack Obama in 2008, they made a hash of Middle Eastern policy. Carter abandoned the Shah of Iran. Obama famously bowed to the Saudi king, and has belatedly expressed support for the Iranians who fill the streets of Tehran to protest the dictatorship of the ayatollahs. In a similar fashion he was late to the party regarding events in Libya, Egypt, and now Syria.

Contrast this with George H.W. Bush who put together a coalition to force Saddam out of Kuwait in 1990 and his son, George W. Bush, who did the same to overthrow him in 2003 following a swift response to 9/11 when he rendered as much punishment as possible to al Qaeda in Afghanistan. In both cases, their instincts were good, but Bush43 made the mistake of staying on.

The result in Afghanistan and Iraq was a predictable Arab-Muslim response that continues to play out to present times as Sunnis and Shiites do their best to kill one another in order control oil wealth and other income streams. These are largely tribal wars using Islam as their justification though they also demonstrate al Qaeda’s intention to exploit the conflicts in its own interest. In Iraq today, the bombs are still going off, most recently killing more than a hundred victims.

President Obama has proved to be pro-Muslim and extremely risk-averse. He campaigned against both wars in Afghanistan and Iraq because, it must be said, most Americans wanted their troops out of these places and with good cause. Killing bin Laden was a no-brainer, albeit risky. He quickly claimed all the credit for nearly a decade’s effort of his predecessor to find him though he made no mention of it.

The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, “Obama’s Syrian Education”, noted that “It only took 17 months, and multiple Russian and Chinese vetoes, but the Obama administration has finally concluded that the United Nations has failed on Syria.”

The UN is a legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and World War Two. It was fashioned largely by the communists in his and Truman’s administration. There has been little peace in the world since it was established and it has been a huge failure in too many ways to enumerate. It is a cesspool of corruption and the epicenter of the effort to impose a global government.

Obama’s economic policies, largely based on dispensing taxpayer’s money to unions, campaign fund bundlers, and ignoring any steps to address unemployment and other ills, are sufficient reason to throw him out of office in November. His foreign policies have been a disastrous succession of missteps regarding Russia, China, the Middle East, and everywhere else.

The larger war being fought these days is the Islamic assault on the West and it is not likely to end until the military strength of the U.S. is used with precision to punish Iran, the main exporter of terrorism. Or Israel will be forced to take action.

Nations, like individuals, do what they can to avoid conflict. It is costly in treasure and lives, but if history is any guide, it is also necessary, whether it is preemptive or in response to aggression. We have a President who has been Muslim-friendly all of his life—if not in fact a Muslim—and that bodes ill, especially for Israel, our only democratic ally in the Middle East, and for the outcome of the present Syrian civil war.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

Racial Tension Ramping Up In America

Racial Tension Ramping Up In America
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*************

It's not pleasant to bring up a subject seemingly NO ONE wants to talk about.  It's even more unpleasant when you know you are opening yourself up to accusations of the filthiest kind.  

So -- here goes.

America has a race problem.  It is a problem that may be about to erupt into nationwide violence.  In fact, some believe it has already begun.

The "War on Poverty," it appears, may be about to morph into a real shooting war.

I am seeing report after report, on the Internet, concerning the sky rocketing rise of black on white crime and yes, black on black crime, as well.  But, most horrible is the black mob violence which is becoming so prevalent that even the Mainstream Media is ALMOST forced to report it.  Notice:  I said "ALMOST." 

In an article entitled: “The Rise of Black-on-White Violence,” published in May of 2012, noted conservative writer Alan Caruba said the following:  “The media and the usual race-mongers made sure that all of America knew about George Zimmerman’s killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26. The local police initially did not arrest Zimmerman because it was an obvious case of self-defense.

There was no such outcry, however, when a month later on March 26 a 50-year-old white man was attacked and beaten with a hammer by two black teens, in Midway, Florida, just six miles from Sanford. The Orlando Sentinel published a description of the attackers, but neglected to mention their race. One of them had just finished a seventeen month prison sentence.

On May 9, the Star-Ledgerof Newark, NJpublished an article, “Group of 10 or 15 ‘thugs’ rob and beat 5 people following Prudential Center concert, cops say.” There was no reference to their race in the article and when I emailed the reporter for clarification, I received no response."  SOURCE:   http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2012/05/rise-of-black-on-white-violence.html

There are the so-called black "flash mobs," the "rob mobs" and, of course, the old stand-by -- the out and out "riot."

Thing is -- it's happening all across the US.  This time, thankfully, my "South" will not bear the brunt of the criticism from the "Limousine liberals," the "Guilt-Trip Lefties," and the "Poverty Pimps."  But then, they have heaped defamation on us Southrons for so long they may just feel compelled to continue. 

News reports bear out the fact that this black mob violence is nearing -- if it has not already reached -- epidemic proportions.  But, there are two things I'd like to point out. 

First, the geography of the mob violence  and the MsM's self-censoring their reports so as not to make mention that the individuals constituting the mobs are almost exclusively black.

As an example, earlier this month as Americans tried to celebrate Independence Day, black violence broke out in Georgia, Florida, Ohio, California, Texas and Illinois. 

It is reported by WND that on Independence day Chris Rock tweeted the following: “Happy white peoples Independence Day.”  He continued his tweet by saying: “The slaves weren’t free but I’m sure they enjoyed fireworks.”  SOURCE:  http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/racial-violence-explodes-in-3-states/ 

Rock, born in Andrews, South Carolina, is a native "Sandlapper" -- the same as "yours truly." Mr. Rock is a great disappointment to me, personally.  I will not weary you with my "responsibility lecture," -- at least not at this point.   But I must mention that Rock was raised, according to his biography, in Brooklyn, NY.

In an editor's note on a piece written by Colin Flaherty entitled: "Black mobs now have soundtrack for violence" from WND (formerly known as World Net Daily) the editor says the following:  "Colin Flaherty has done more reporting than any other journalist on what appears to be a nationwide trend of sky rocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse. WND features these reports to counterbalance the virtual blackout by the rest of the media due to their concerns that reporting such incidents would be inflammatory or even racist. WND considers it racist not to report racial abuse solely because of the skin color of the perpetrators or victims."  SOURCE:  http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/the-soundtracks-of-racial-violence/http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/the-soundtracks-of-racial-violence/

WND has published a number of reports on this growing problem in America.  Here is a list of some of them you might want to check out for yourself:

Blogger: Why don’t blacks behave?

Judge to black perps: What are you doing with your lives?

Black mobs terrorize 1 of ‘whitest big cities’

Black mob … in the Hamptons?

Racial violence explodes in more states

Black mobs now beating Jews in New York

Black mob violence hits Nordstrom

Chicago’s unreported race war

Black expo ‘inescapably tied’ to race violence

Black-on-white link found in Minneapolis violence

Call for crackdown on black-on-white terror

‘Boredom’ proves to be triger for ‘flash mobs’

If you navigate over to:  http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/the-soundtracks-of-racial-violence/http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/the-soundtracks-of-racial-violence/ and scroll down the page you will find hot links to each of these articles.  Be prepared for bone-chilling fare as you read them. 

The report(s) from Mr. Flaherty is/are, indeed, chilling, but, I hasten to add,  important because it now appears the undercurrent of rage in the black community of America is forcing its way to the surface and we may be receiving a tiny foretaste of a nationwide tsunami of black on white crime many believe will be unleashed on America if Obama loses to Romney in November.

Now it has been said.  The paragraph above expresses the whispered rumor circulating within America's white community for months now.

These are truly perilous times in America.  Nerves are on edge.  Patience has worn extremely thin -- in both the black and white communities -- and if cooler heads don't, somehow,  prevail,  a bloodbath will ensue in the streets of America.

Can anyone doubt there are elements in both the black and white communities that would like nothing less than a race war in America.

God help us should such a devastating orgy of blood lust occur.  No matter what you may have heard, read, or been told, there can be no winner in such a conflict.  Let there be no doubt America's black community would be decimated.  If there is any lingering doubt about the outcome of such a racial insurrection in America one only has to refer to the history of the Native Americans.

We cannot know, at this point, if the dye has been cast.  If the Mainstream Media was  doing its job, we all would be better informed and it is possible a national racial confrontation could be avoided.

If they remain silent and America is blind-sided by a national tide of black on white crime, once the white community shakes off its shock and surprise,  unfortunately, reprisals will be the order of the day.  And it will be a national nightmare. 

To deny racism exists in both the black and the white communities of America is to deny breathing.  Denial does absolutely nothing to solve or, at least, contain the problem.

It is past time for those in the mainstream media -- and those of us who subscribe to their products -- to demand the editors and news directors report the news of the racial unrest fully and completely.  Believe it or not, it actually IS one of those things we have a right to know.

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

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Now It Is Change And Hope ... J. D. Longstreet

Now It Is Change And Hope
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
***************

If there is anything quite as pathetic looking as a democrat after having been taken to the woodshed by either the President, or their party, I honestly don't know what it is.

See, being a democrat means you absolutely must walk in lockstep with your President and/or the party.  Get out of step and they'll be all over you like white on rice.

In order Io understand the democrats it is absolutely necessary to understand that "liberalism is an authoritarian  ideology." 

To be considered a good liberal, and remain in the good graces of the bosses of the party, you must follow orders without question -- even when you are humiliated by them.  And you must be willing to fall on your sword to save the political career of the party bosses -- even if it means the end of your own career. 

Now, if this sounds a bit more like the communist party that an American grown political party, well, it DOES.  You are forgiven for thinking that.

Sen. Diane Feinstein

The latest example, at least at this writing, is Senator Dianne Feinstein , democrat of California, who said plainly, earlier this week, that leaks were coming from Mr. Obama's White House.  The next day she had to say she had gone too far and she should not have said that.

No matter that Senator Feinstein was  correct, truth has very little to do with the Democratic Party.  See, the Democratic Party has an agenda.  The truth has no agenda.  Like matter and anti-matter truth and the Democratic Party and truth cannot coexist, or share the same space. 

The GOP, on the other hand, is often accused of "eating its own."  Why?  Because the GOP simply refuses to get in lockstep with a leader, any leader, and march blindly into the fray allowing themselves to be used as cannon fodder for the party bosses.   They lose a lot.  But they sleep nights.

Even in the midst of a Presidential Election cycle the party is divided two, maybe three, ways. I count myself in one of those groups in disagreement with the party bosses.  I, along with a few million other Americans, reserve the right to form our own opinions, hold them, and defend them from all comers, even if that happens to be the President of our own party. 

I went after George W. Bush when I thought he was wrong, and frankly, that was a lot.  If Romney is elected, I'll do the same. Not only is it what I do -- it is Who I AM. I'll not give that up for membership in any political party -- period.

For reasons I have never been able to fathom democrats will stay with the herd of lemmings and run helter-skelter right off the cliff and drown in the sea.  They've done it time and again and they appear set to do it again.

I am not a supporter of Mr. Romney.  That is no secret.  Yet, I hope he wins because I just don't see how America will survive another term under Obama.

The Obama Administration has been, I HOPE, a learning exercise for Americans about how delicate democracy is.  Countries that practice different forms of democracy always, always, run the risk of the electorate electing someone who will destroy their democratic form of government and replace it with a more dictatorial form of governance.

All one has to do is look at Iraq, look at Egypt, and soon, Afghanistan.  Or one can simply look at what happened in 2008 -- and since -- right here in America.

In the last Presidential Election Americans flocked to the polls and elected a man, of whom, practically nothing was known.  He was a blank slate and each voter wrote upon that slate that which he/she wanted to see.  Of course, in the end, we all got what Obama really was -- a socialist. 

It is a slick trick.  Its an old advertising gimmick to advertise a product with as little detail as possible and use a lot of puffery to create a desire in the consumer's mind for that product -- about which -- they actually know very little.  Works like a charm.

I find it funny that the Obama campaign is screaming after Romney for all the detail of his tax returns, his private life, etc., when the blanket of secrecy has never been removed from the previous life of Obama.  Eventually, we will know, and I predict, America is going to be astounded and stunned by Obama's background.

I watched Mr. Romney's speech before the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) recently and even with a voice threatening to give up on him at any second, I thought he made a terrific address.  He called Mr. Obama out on those security leaks, the same ones Senator Feinstein had said Obama was going to have to recognize a day or so before.  He told us, plainly, what he would do and what he would not do.  Frankly, I believe Romney.

This week, Romney will fly to Israel, a country one suspects Obama couldn't find on a map.  President Obama has never been to Israel.  Romney, only a prospective president is going to Israel.

Romney and Netanyahu know each other,.  Many years ago they worked together in a firm in Boston.  If Romney is elected, and Netanyahu remains Prime Minister of Israel, look for things to change in the US relationship with Israel.  That would be a good thing. 

When a nation turns its back on Israel bad things happen to that nation.  It is a promise, or a curse,  as old as the founding of the Hebrew people.  When one considers Obama's shunning of Israel and the problems visited on the US since, can anyone really doubt the veracity of that promise?

I wish Mr. Romney all the luck in the world with reestablishing a link between the people of America and the people of Israel.  It is a link that should never been broken.

At the risk of waxing religious here, often, when thinking of the damage Obama has done

King Saul

this nation, I think of the Hebrews who demanded of God an earthly king.  When the prophet Samuel told them they had no need of a king because they had God, they demanded, even more vociferously, that they wanted a king -- like every other country around them.  God acquiesced and warned them they would rue the day they chose a king over God. The king they got was Saul.

Saul, you may recall, almost immediately overstepped his authority and in the end went nuts.  Now, having a king, in and of itself, is bad enough, but having a CRAZY king is about the worst thing imaginable.

How does this apply to America?  America desired a leader like all the European countries.  We got him.  He, too, has overstepped his authority and, as it turns out, is dangerously narcissistic. 

King Obama?

With age I have learned a few things.  One of the most important lessons I have learned is that no matter what one thinks, no matter what one believes -- there exist boundaries. When a person, a people, a nation crosses those boundaries-- there is a price to be paid. One does not have to look to the holy books for those boundaries and the consequences of violating them.  All one has to do is look at recorded history.

I have HOPE that American can CHANGE her President in November.  For without that CHANGE -- there is no HOPE.

J. D. Longstreet
*****************
 
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Gun Sign Seen More frequently These Days

A Potential Olympic Bloodbath ... Alan Caruba

 

A Potential Olympic Bloodbath 
By Alan Caruba


A foretaste of what is likely to occur in London when the Olympic games open on Friday, July 27, occurred on July 20 when a Muslim youth shouting in Arabic, “God is great”, attempted to seize the Olympic torch as it was being carried through Maidstone toward Redhill.

I was reminded of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich when members of the Israeli team were targeted and killed by Islamists. Then I thought of other terrorist attacks in London and in Manchester in the recent past.

Wikipedia offers some sobering information about Islam and England. There were more than 1,500 mosques in England as of 2007. Muslims have been part of the English population as early as 1707 and today it is the second largest religion in the country. As of 2011 the Muslim population was estimated to be 2.869 million. It is the fastest growing religion in the UK.

“A 2009 survey of the attitudes of British Muslims found 77% said they identified ‘very strongly’ with the UK, compared to 50% of the general public. However, only 7% of Muslims think of themselves as British first, with 81% thinking of themselves as Muslim first.”

“40% of British Muslims want Sharia in the UK and 28% of British Muslims want Britain to be an Islamic state. A survey of young British Muslims revealed that there has been a significant rise in Islamic fundamentalism amongst the younger generation. 36% of 16-24 year olds believe if a Muslim converts to another religion they should be punished by death, compared to 19% of 55+ old Muslims; 13% of 16-24 year olds admire organizations like al Qaeda compared to 3% of 55+ year olds.”

“58% of British Muslims support the arrest and prosecution of anyone who insults Islam.”

The majority of Muslims live in England and Wales according to a 2001 census. In 2001, it was reported that the UK has around 100,000 converts to Islam with 66% of them being women.”

The opening day ceremonies will be further disrupted by planned strikes by transportation unions and the main access to the venue will be via subway, a prime target for bombs. The British have mobilized elements of their armed forces to provide security, but it is my view that, like most acts of terrorism, it will be virtually impossible to deter bombings and other mayhem.

The 2012 Olympic Games hold the prospect of becoming a bloodbath for participants and attendees.

The ability of Islam to transform otherwise “sane” Muslims into killers is well established. Islam was spread by terrorism and it remains its primary choice 1,400 years after it was invented by Muhammad. Its Koran and the Hadith commentaries amply document his use of assassination and raids on Arabian tribes, including mass murder.

The large Muslim UK population, the radicalization of its youth, as well as the potential for an influx of terrorists coming into London for the purpose of attacking participants, attendees, and the general public portends an ugly outcome. British authorities have been busy picking up suspected homegrown Islamists in order to sequester them during the games.

Simply stated, Islamists have no regard for the ordinary rules of civilization and regard all “infidels” as targets for the advancement of Islam. As the census results demonstrate, many English Muslims want the nation to adopt Sharia and given Islam’s track record, the games present an unparallel opportunity to display their penchant for terrorism.

It says a lot of Islam that the sites of the Olympic Games since 1972 have become an armed camp.

© Alan Caruba, 2012