Did You Know Homeland Security is Monitoring the Internet? ... Alan Caruba

Did You Know Homeland Security is Monitoring the Internet?

By Alan Caruba

One of the lessons one learns in military basic training is “situational awareness”, a term that reflects the importance of watchfulness in combat. It can mean the difference between life and death. Police practice this as well, looking for people who seem out of place in a neighborhood.

The average citizen blithely ignores this when shopping or just going about their life, though many purchase private monitoring services to protect their homes against fire or theft or put up video surveillance systems to protect their businesses. I doubt there is any public place that does not have television cameras watching.

When it comes to protecting the nation, situational awareness is an essential element to spot a potential individual or group that might pose a danger. There is, of course, the potential for misuse or abuse, but that applies to everything government does.

The upside of such monitoring is contained in a short item from the Heritage Foundation’s January 12 Morning Line dispatch. “His plan was to rip apart nightclubs with explosives, unleash a wave of destruction on bridges, and open fire on police officers—all in sunny Florida. This was the murderous intent of Sami Osmakac, 25, an American citizen from the former Yugoslavia who was determined to spill blood, foment destruction, and bring terror to the United States all in the name of Allah. Fortunately, undercover FBI agents thwarted his efforts, making this the 44th foiled terrorist plot against America."

I am a regular contributor to Harold Wylie’s excellent website, BorderfireReport.net. On a daily basis he gathers news about the effects of illegal immigration and related topics. He recently wrote to say that “my website has been placed on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Operations Center Media Monitoring Initiative.” He learned about this during a visit to World Net Daily.com.

Is this a good or bad thing? Candidly, I thought it was a good thing because it suggests that someone at DHS recognized what an excellent “open source” of information Wylie’s site provides.

A government agency that’s “snooping” on Americans is not likely to issue such a notice and the sites listed represent, in government-speak, the opportunity “to collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture.”

When one considers the billions the government spends on covert intelligence gathering, this is a far cry from “Big Brother.” Simply stated, DHS thinks that Wylie’s his site is performing a valuable service for their own Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement operation.

The cliché is that “being paranoid does not mean someone is not watching you.” There are so many sources of information available to individuals and groups regarding everything about your life that it bodes well to conduct oneself in conformance with common sense and the law. Meanwhile, your credit rating and other data are easily accessible.

Like millions of others I am on Facebook and DHS monitors both it and Spacebook. The occasional nutcase uses these social networks to announce to the world that he or she has bad intentions. Ironically, even DHS is monitored by a site called Cryptome that, according to a Reuters’ news story “periodically posts leaked documents and was one of the first websites to post information related to the Homeland Security monitoring program.”

DHS monitors Jihad Watch and Informed Comment “that cover issues related to Islam through sharp political prisms, which have sometimes led critics to accuse the sites of political bias.” You and I visit sites daily that have a sharp political bias. It’s called freedom of speech and the press.

Ostensibly, the DHS monitors dozens of websites, forums, blogs, and message boards, for the purpose of managing “government responses to such events as the 2010 earthquake and aftermath in Haiti and security and border control related to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.”

This is not to say that government responses are effective, but I am not disturbed by the fact that it wants the “situational awareness” necessary. The fact remains that our nation’s borders are astonishingly—frightenly—porous and in need of far greater enforcement efforts to stem illegal immigration and the potential for threats to public safety. Then there are the Islamic jihadists that want to kill all of us.

It is very American to be suspicious of government monitoring. Ours is an open society and we want to keep it that way. It is also encouraging to know that the Department of Homeland Security is doing what it can to protect us.

© Alan Caruba, 2012
*************************
 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.

The Smell Test ... J. D. Longstreet

The Smell Test

SC GOP Voters Must Hold Their Noses Again

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

As a native South Carolinian, who hasn’t lived in the state in over fifty years, it has become necessary to tap into the well of information presented by my friends and family who still reside there to get a feel for what SC will do come their GOP primary on January 21^st. 

South Carolina politics (North Carolina’s, too) is a blood sport.  It is rough and tumble all the way.

“The State” newspaper, SC’s leading Newspaper, suggest those seeking to knock Romney off his catbird seat should take a lesson from SC history and – “play dirty.” (SOURCE)

The article by Gina Smith goes on to say: “In South Carolina – with its tradition of whisper campaigns, automated phone calls that no one takes credit for and possibly illegal efforts to sway voters – politics is a blood sport, supported by a cottage-industry of political strategists.”

Ms. Smith is spot-on.

When South Carolina forsook the Democratic Party it embraced the GOP’s conservative wing  -- and never looked back.

I’d like to recommend that you take the time to read Ms. Smith’s article.  It presents a well-rounded explanation of how politics works in my home state.  You may read Ms. Smith’s article here at (The State)

If you have been laboring under the impression that northern political machines have all the tactical wars in modern day politics down to a fine edge, then you really ought to learn how things are down south – especially in my home state of South Carolina.  Even the famed Chicago political machine could learn a few tricks from the Sandlappers.

As the GOP candidates converge on South Carolina the anger is thick enough to cut with a knife.  The gloves are off and the bare-knuckle beatings are about to begin. It’s going to get down and dirty in the next week before the primary.

No longer does Iowa or New Hampshire decide the GOP nomination – South Carolina does.  For the past thirty-two years the candidate winning the SC Primary has gone on to become the Republican Party nominee for President.  For that reason, money has been flowing into the state to support candidates -- and to destroy others.  The state is awash in political cash.

It will not be fun and games for Romney over the next week.  It will be a slog.  Romney is not well liked in South Carolina.  In “up-state” SC Romney is held responsible for closing a plant there and rendering a slew of people jobless.  That wound is still very sensitive and Romney’s opponents continue to pick at the scab to remind folks that it was Romney who sent them packing without employment.  We’ve already heard Romney compared to the fictional character from the movie “Wall Street” Gordon Gekko.

Gingrich comes to the Palmetto State loaded for bear.  Well, maybe that should be “loaded for Romney.”  Gingrich is seething with anger for the negative ads Romney’s supporters ran against Gingrich in Iowa knocking him out of first place and consigning him to the basement of the GOOP candidate field.

Ron Paul is plodding into the Iodine State safe in the knowledge that he will never be President of the United States.  Paul is intent now on racking up enough support that he can demand concessions from whomever the GOP nominee turns out to be.  For Paul, it’s not about winning the nomination – it’s about winning concessions… that’s all.

Perry has been ruining around the state for nearly a week not creating much more than a dust cloud.  Mr. Perry’s stand on illegal immigration shut him out in South Carolina.

Huntsman?  Well, anyone having worked for Obama is lucky to be allowed a drink of water in South Carolina.  Any time huntsman spends in South Carolina is wasted time.  The same goes for any money he might spend on his campaign there.

Santorum?  Nah.  A nice family man but hasn’t a prayer of a chance against the Obama machine.

Any way it goes in South Carolina next week will be fun for those of us who enjoy the sport of politics.  The candidates themselves will not share in that fun, however.  For them, it will be all work.

Expect no surprises from South Carolina, though.  Unless something terribly unforeseen happens, Romany will win the primary and be out of the sandhills like a flash on his way to Florida, which is seen by many southerners as a “Yankee colony.”  He should receive a warmer (no pun intended) welcome there.

J. D. Longstreet 

War Clouds Continue to Gather

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

First, allow me to explain that, yes, I know it is not popular, today, to point out the obvious.  Ok.  Maybe I should have phrased that this way:  “…to point out what SHOULD be obvious.”

Before I proceed, I’d like to encourage my readers to browse the websites of foreign news services.  If I have learned anything at all (since Al Gore invented the Internet) it is this:  The US mainstream media cannot be trusted.  They have an agenda and that agenda does not necessarily include dissemination of the truth.  As a card-carrying member of the press for many years, I have always been aware of the left-leaning bias of the US media.  That is not to say the same leftist bias does not exist in overseas media because it most certainly does.

Having said that – were you aware that right at the moment the Obama Administration is announcing plans to cut the US defense budget the US is preparing for another war in the Middle East?  Did you know that we have been quietly building an armada of naval assets in the Gulf of Oman just off the shores of Iran?  Did you know this naval armada consists of warships from the US, the UK, France, Israel, and others?  

Looking west a bit we see US, French, and British warships, standing off the Syrian coast, facing off with Russian warships including a Russian aircraft carrier task force.

My regional newspaper is printed in a military town, home to one of the largest military bases in the US, and yet, I see very little information in it’s pages concerning this build-up of military might in the waters of the Middle East.  Why?

I’ll make the answer as straight forward and simple as I possibly can.  There re two parts to the complete answer: 1) Obama is seeking reelection.  2) Obama is seeking to reduce the military budget to gain more money to spend on his leftist agenda for America.

At the risk of being called an “alarmist” allow be to make it plain:  I AM alarmed.

So when will this war begin.  Well, let me put it this way:  The Iranians should carefully watch Obama’s poll numbers.  If those numbers continue their slide downwards, the Iranians are going get the heck bombed out of them. 

Americans are extremely reluctant to change Presidents in the middle of a war.  Obama knows this and is expected to act accordingly. 

Some conservative writers and commentators expect that war in the Middle East is currently scheduled for October 2012. That would be the famed “October Surprise.”

On the other hand, those in my camp believe the Iranians, in all their hyped-up passion, will do something stupid like firing on a tanker or a US warship or aircraft, or even worse, make an attempt to close the Straits of Hormuz by sewing it with mines and other hazards to maritime traffic.  That would be the spark that would bring down the considerable wrath of that naval armada lying off their shores.

Then there are the Israelis.  They have had enough of Iran’s threats and Iran’s war on Israel by proxy.  Israel’s secret war of sabotage in Iran can only deliver limited success at delaying and derailing Iran’s race to build or acquire a nuclear bomb.  Israel could decide, at any moment, that enough is enough and launch their fighter-bombers and cruise missiles at Iran’s nuclear facilities.   Even if it only buys a few months or a couple of years of breathing space for Israel, it is becoming clear there is no other way to effectively deter Iran from building their coveted Islam Bomb.

The situation in the Middle East today is far, far, more dangerous than the US media is reporting.  A single spark will ignite a devastating war that will affect practically every nation on earth to some degree or other.

Those of us who continue to sound the warning bell of a huge war in the Middle East are being compared to the boy Peter in the story of “Peter and the Wolf.” An article at Haaretz.com noted that those who make such public comparisons seem always to leave out the end of Aesop’s famous tale of the boy who called wolf too much.  In the end, the wolf actually DID come -- and the sheep were slaughtered.  (SOURCE)

So, with that ending in mind, I have no concern about continually pointing to those dark, foreboding, clouds gathering in the east.  Since the mainstream media seems to be ignoring a certain war to protect Obama’s prospects in the coming election, someone must stand as a watchman on the ramparts and sound the alarm when clouds of dust from the approaching armies of the enemy is sighted and when the sound of distant war drums is heard.

Today those dust clouds are clearly seen over the horizon and the pounding of the drums can be heard in the distance -- and we are sounding the alarm.

J. D. Longstreet 

Ice Age "News" is Wrong--It's Coming Sooner Than Later ... Alan Caruba

Ice Age "News" is Wrong--It's Coming Sooner Than Later

By Alan Caruba

When you consider the millions of words published as “news” about global warming, a massive hoax based on the theory that an increase in the Earth’s levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), a minor atmospheric gas (0.0380%), it boggles the mind that reporters for a respected newswire, Reuters, would still be writing utter rubbish about it.

Just as the “news” about global warming was demolished in 2009 and again in 2011 with the leaked emails of the conspirators behind the fictions of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the main agency behind the hoax, on January 9, Nina Chesney of Reuters London Bureau, reported about a paper in the journal, Nature Geoscience, that the “Next Ice Age not likely before 1,500 years: study.”

The paper claimed that “Concentrations of the main gases blamed for global warming reached record levels in 2010 and will linger in the atmosphere for decades even if the world stopped pumping out emissions today, according to the U.N.’s weather agency.”

The U.N. does not have a “weather agency.” It has a propaganda agency devoted in its own words to “climate.” The two are not the same. Weather is what is occurring right now and climate is the measurement of trends over centuries.

The authors of the paper based their ice age predictions on “variations in the earth’s orbit and rock samples” and was “conducted by academics at Cambridge University, University College London, the University of Florida, and Norway’s University of Bergen.

These people have to justify their salaries and, just like all the other academics who jumped on board the global warming wagon, they are likely among the last holdouts making claims about CO2. Their conclusions are absurd. This isn’t science. It’s the dying gasp of those trying desperately to keep the global warming hoax alive.

The science—the known facts—aren’t that difficult to understand. Climatologists have established that, over the 4.5 billion years of the Earth’s existence, ice ages have occurred on the average ever 11,500 years. Then the Earth lapses into a period of extreme cold. The Earth is 11,500 years since the end of the last major ice age.

We are due the onset of the next ice age any day now and when it begins, it will come on so fast that all the manmade CO2 will have no effect whatever. Moreover, CO2 shows up in the atmosphere in a greater quantity AFTER a major climatic event, not before.

There have been periods when there was much more CO2 in the atmosphere; the age of the dinosaurs comes to mind. Indeed, when the last big ice age struck, mammoths were literally frozen in place, waiting to be discovered and dug up centuries later, so intact scientists were able to determine what their last meal was!

I count myself fortunate to have Robert W. Felix, perhaps the world’s leading authority on ice ages, as my friend. I recommend you visit www.iceagenow.info and benefit from the facts. You can also read “Not by Fire, but by Ice”, his book on the topic of ice ages.

In a post on his website regarding the latest nonsense about a distant ice age, Felix cites the fact that Argentina’s Perito Moreno is growing and it is in the southern hemisphere. In addition, glaciers are growing in India, in the Rockies, in California and Washington State. Do you believe that CO2 will stop this growth or have the slightest affect on it?

The assertion that “an increase in ice-sheet volume would not be possible” is a lie. Just like all the other lies published about global warming by the IPCC and all the others that sought to profit from the hoax.

Do not believe these claims. The Earth has been in a perfectly natural cooling trend since 1998. We are at the end of the most recent interglacial period and could tip into a new ice age tomorrow.

© Alan Caruba, 2012
*********************
 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.

A Hollow US Military

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

If the President and the Congress are able to realize their plans for the US military, it will leave American with, as the title to this piece suggests, a hollow force.  It will also place America in a great deal of danger because our military will be a great deal smaller in numbers of troops.

Think about that for a moment.  Not only will our military lose so much of its war fighting materiel, it will lose many thousands of troops.  That’s bad enough but there is something else -- and no one seems concerned about it. 

You see, when the military cutbacks come, we will lose the experience of troops who have actually been on the battlefield, who have actually looked the enemy in the eye, who have dealt with the pain of taking another human being’s life, and the deep abiding pain of losing a friend or companion in battle, who have fought the fight and lived to tell about it. BUT – they will not be available to train the raw recruits that will always be necessary to keep the much smaller fighting force flush with young, robust, well-trained fighting men.

Everything, these days, seems to have a price in dollars and cents.  Not experience.  The value of experienced combat soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines is inestimable. It also holds true, not just for enlistees, but for officers as well -- mustangs and academy graduates, alike.  Experienced officers are a must for a military to even consider executing a victorious military campaign.  Book knowledge is absolutely necessary but it can’t hold a candle to experience on the battlefield.

We are looking at the creation of a hollow force IF congress does not apply the brakes, one way, or the other, to stop what will amount to decimation of the US military. 

You may recall that “decimation” is a word derived from the Latin word “decimatio.”  It means, literally:  “removal of a tenth.”  You see, the Romans would punish troops for cowardice by placing them in formation and then executing every tenth man. Of course, the practice of decimation did not last long before some Roman commanders began to notice their troop strength was suffering badly from their own actions as well as that of the enemy.

In my opinion, the word “decimation” is applicable to what our government is about to do to our military.

Those who have been paying attention to the encroaching chaos in the world, especially in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, are extremely concerned that only a spark is needed to bring on a global conflict far worse than we experienced in the 1930’s and 1940’s.  We are, of course, referencing multiple tactical and strategic use(s) of nuclear weapons.  Everyone on the face of our planet will be involved, one-way, or the other.

If the US were blessed with forward-thinking leaders, we would be building up our armed forces in preparation for the coming conflagration, which, experts seem to agree, is expected in the very near future. Unfortunately, we are NOT blessed with leaders who understand that history did not begin on the day they were born.

Rather than cutting the US military, the US “standing Army” should be doubled.  Our Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corp also need to be doubled in strength… and as quickly as possible.  When the next war comes, it won’t be fought from 15,000 feet with smart bombs, as we did in the Balkans.  It will be a slugfest in the air, on the sea, and on the land. It will not be contained in a particular geographical region.  There is a strong likelihood that the continental US will be hit.  It is fairly easy for missiles launched from ships, lying off shore in international waters, to burst through our radar defenses and strike targets before we can react to stop them.  That is an uneasy reality.

Unfortunately for what we used to call “the free world,” Mr. Obama’s penchant for leading from behind, simply opened the door for any and all mischief makers, anywhere on the globe, to come out and play.  Many have and many more will

It seems to this scribe, the US needs a crash program, right now; to build our military might to that state of readiness that we reached in the midst of the Second World War.  It is unrealistic today (with nuclear armed rogue nations) to allow one of them to get in the first punch.  No nation can absorb many nuclear first strikes.

It is more than a little worrisome that the Congress and the President do not seem to share the concern of our military that we will not be prepared when the next attack on the US comes. 

If history has taught us anything it is that when the world becomes so stressed-out, especially over the imminent collapse of the global financial system, war is next to inevitable.  Yet, the current leadership in Washington is seriously preparing to reduce our military, substantially.

This is no time for a hollow military.  Reliance on super electronic weapons is no longer a guarantee of victory.  A single electro-magnetic pulse weapons can make them all totally useless in the blink of an eye and pull the teeth of the tiger instantaneously.  But those powerful EMP weapons cannot stop the ultimate weapon – a determined American military man. And THAT is the very weapon of which, we will be in dire need when the first shots are fired in a future war.

We have seen the US military gutted many times in the past only to find we have to pay for that mistake in the blood of our under-trained and under-equipped soldiers in the first stages of the very next war.  Understand: there will always be a “next war.”

The US government has done some dumb things.  But decimating our military, with the world in the mess it is today, ranks among the dumbest.

J. D. Longstreet

Is It Already Too Late For America?

Is It Already Too Late For America?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Back in August of 2008 I wrote the following:

“When is America going to wake up? WILL she wake up? Will she wake up in time? Or, will time run out? We have been sliding down that slippery slope at an every increasing velocity since the 1960’s. We’re not losing our freedom. We’re not losing our country. No. We’re giving it all away.

We have compromised and compromised until we have little left TO compromise. Yet, we have two presidential candidates, right now, who are BOTH believers in compromise. They make a big deal of their willingness to compromise. What is needed is the testosterone to stand up on our two feet, like men, and shake our fist in the face of our enemies and say, NO MORE! This is it! We are done giving you what you want just to be left alone in our comfortable little cocoons.

The wolves have been gathering in an ever-tightening circle. They are closing in one step at a time. And we Americans don’t see it. Instead we continue to feed them while telling ourselves if we give them what they want they will be our friends. We have chosen to forget one of the laws of Nature. Wolves are what wolves are. They do what wolves do. Even a wolf, thought to be domesticated, is liable to turn and leap for the throat of the person who supposes he is the wolf’s master. Yes, wolves do as wolves have always done… because they ARE wolves.

America’s enemies are gathered against us. They are tightening the circle. Even now they are among us. Sadly, a look in the mirror will reveal the identity of America’s worst enemies.” (SOURCE)

At the time I wrote that dire prospective, America was nearing a Presidential Election …  an election that would fundamentally change our country for the worst.  It was an election, as it turned out, that has nearly destroyed, especially,  America’s Middle Class.

As we had warned, many times, neither of the men on the ballot would be good for America.  One would continue the (then) agenda of the current administration and the other would, most certainly, take the country into socialism and set America up to become a communist dictatorship. 

Many thought I could not be more wrong – and said so. Today, however, many of those people who derided my dark prognostications then, will not communicate with me today for their embarrassment.  They need not be embarrassed.  Being wrong is a part of the human condition.  But one of the traits that sets us above the other animals inhabiting the earth is our ability to learn from our mistakes -- and not repeat them.

Now we have the chance to put what we have learned in the past years of Obama’s Administration into practice.  We have a chance to right the wrong and to begin an American recovery.  I say “begin” because I am still not convinced Mr. Romney has the heft to do what is going to be necessary to reverse Americans deep plunge into Obama’s sewer of socialism and communism.  But he WOULD be a start.  And let’s not kid ourselves:  The scars of the Obama regime are deep and ugly and they will last forever.

Look.  Let’s be clear about this:  The mess we are in, as a nation, is going to take generations to neutralize.  I use the word “neutralize,” because first -- we must stop the slide into that sewer I mentioned above.  Then, and only then, can we begin to reverse ourselves and begin to claw our way upwards into the sunshine again.

I asked the question in the title:  Is it already too late for America?  I titled this piece that way because I think each of us, as Americans, must look in the mirror and ask the same question of ourselves.  For it is WE who will decide the answer.

I cannot tell you have often I have had friends, in recent years, remark to me:  “I don’t recognize this country, anymore.  This is not the America I knew.”  That is true.  But the thing I find most interesting about their depressed musing -- is the lack of bitterness and anger.  There was remorse in their words and tone, but none of that famed American determination aimed at correcting whatever had thrown America off course.  It is as if they have simply thrown in the towel, given up, and admitted defeat to themselves -- if not quite to others yet.  I am terribly afraid that the fire, for many, has gone out.

Understand:  The primary tool of the political left, all over the world, against those who do not hew to the leftist line, is to denigrate, degrade, rebuff, mock,  and hold up to public ridicule all those who do not think the way they do.  And when rhetoric fails, as we learned from the 1930’s, they quickly resort to physical abuse by leftist thugs.  We saw some of that in the 2010 political cycle right here in America.  Look for physical abuse to be more wide spread this year as we draw nearer to the Presidential Election. 

To answer my own question -- whether or not it is already too late for America – we will all know the answer to that in November.  If Obama wins – yes, it IS all over for America.  If his opponent wins, well, we have a chance, a small one at best -- but a chance, nevertheless, to save our country.

J. D. Longstreet

Barack Machiavelli ... Alan Caruba

Barack Machiavelli

By Alan Caruba

The Founding Fathers, authors of the Constitution, were obsessed with any form of government that could become too powerful, too willing to use force to oppress citizens. They had cause. They had fought a long war against the greatest power of their age, ruled by a king with nearly absolute power. They fashioned an instrument designed to ensure that the President could not rule by edict and defused power among three branches of government.

We have a President currently running for reelection against Congress, Wall Street, Republicans, and the right of citizens to be free of an overly intrusive government.

Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution says: All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in the Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

All appointments of the President must be approved by the Senate while it is in session and the Senate, even over the Christmas and New Year’s vacation has remained in session, if only in a pro forma, technical manner. Every three days it has been convened to assert its powers.

Even so, President Obama has announced several “recess” appointments, all clearly a challenge to the Senate and all clearly a tyrannical power grab. He appointed Richard Cordray as the first director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a new function that puts government between the lender and the citizen. In theory, all loans in the future will be subject to government approval. This is Communism, not Capitalism.

In addition, he appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board, intended to arbitrate disputes between unions and corporations. None of them have appeared before a Senate committee for vetting. It was this board that demanded Boeing shut down its new factory in South Carolina, one of many “right to work” states that empower workers with the right to determine whether they want to join a union or not.

Neither Obama, nor any president who preceded him can make appointments without the “advice and consent” of the Senate. (Article II, Section 2). As recently as the first week of the year, referring to the Senate, Obama asserted that “I have an obligation as President to do what I can without them.” He has no such obligation. Those are the words of an incipient tyrant.

These actions put me in mind of Niccolo Machiavelli, famed as the author of “The Prince”, a book of advice to Lorenzo de Medici who was the ruler of the former republic of Florence, one of many city states in Italy. Born in 1469 and died in 1527, Machiavelli living during the early years of the Renaissance, a period that saw the flowering of literature, science, art, religion and politics. Historians consider it a bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

The renaissance was a period of social and political upheaval, one in which the various princes ruled so long as they could protect their principalities against wars by others seeking to expand their powers. “The Prince” is largely seen as advice on how a prince may have to resort to the methodical use of brute force and deceit to hold onto power, but it was more than that. It was a guide to ruling people with a minimum of oppression.

“It should be borne in mind,” Machiavelli wrote, “that there is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, and more dangerous to carry through than initiating changes in a state’s constitution.” Obama is engaged in an attack on the U.S. Constitution.

Of princely power, Machiavelli wrote, “The people are everywhere anxious not be dominated or oppressed by the nobles, and the nobles are out to dominate and oppress the people. These opposed ambitions bring about one of three results; a principality, a free city, or anarchy.”  The Constitution ensures a free nation with limited federal powers and is a guard against anarchy.

Evidence of Obama’s narcissism and drive for complete power is ample. He is on record as saying the Constitution is composed of “negative” limits on power. Others regard the Constitution as the ultimate protection against the unlawful use of power. This is particularly evident in the Bill of Rights which was appended to the Constitution because several of the first States would not ratify without it.

In his advice to Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli raised the question of “whether it is better to be loved than feared, or the reverse. Within the context of the time, he said, “it is far better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.” In the run up to Christmas, Americans bought guns in record numbers which suggests there is considerable fear of Obama and the results of his policies over the past three years.

We have witnessed and been victimized by a Democrat-controlled Congress that forced Obamacare on an unwilling public. We have seen the rise of Islamic fanaticism as the result of his failed policies toward Iran and the Middle East. We have had record breaking debt imposed on us by his failed “stimulus” policies. We have seen continued efforts to reduce our military power and to thwart access to our ample energy resources of oil, natural gas, and coal.

It is a long list of usurpations of power that endanger the nation domestically and internationally. Whether it was done out of stupidity or a deliberate effort to harm the nation can be debated, but the most outstanding attribute of Obama has been his continual lying and Machiavelli notes that “the deceiver will always find someone ready to be deceived.”

In this effort, Obama has been greatly aided by the mainstream media with a few notable exceptions. The trust that once reposed in the nation’s print and broadcast media has been eroded and will be hard to regain. The trust given Obama is long gone by all but a few ignorant and lazy citizens content to have their lives ruled by an over-reaching executive branch of government.

The election process will rid us of Obama and likely many of those Democrat legislators who have supported his policies. The House is controlled by the Republicans and the Senate is likely to follow.

Meanwhile, we must guard against the present occupant of the White House. Americans waged a war against oppression in the past and will, if necessary, do so again.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

****************************** 

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.