Drowning in Sea Level Nonsense ... Alan Caruba

Drowning in Sea Level Nonsense

By Alan Caruba

New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D) and forty members of Congress believe the sea levels are rising, that a panel should be created to determine what should be done, and, of course, to throw billions of dollars at a problem that does not exist. Politicians were eager to scare the public with the discredited global warming hoax and now they have found a new one.

In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed a $20 billion flood barrier system to protect the city from future hurricanes and rising sea levels. Well, hurricanes like tropical storm Sandy are real, but rare. Rising sea levels, however, represent no threat at all.

William Happer who researched ocean physics for the U.S. Air Force and is currently a physics professor at Princeton University notes that “The sea level has been rising since 1800, at the end of the ‘little ice age’”, a cooling cycle last from around 1300 to 1850. Far from heating up, the Earth entered a new cooling cycle around 1996 or so.

Harrison Schmitt, a former Apollo 17 astronaut, U.S. Senator, and a geologist, says “Predicting a sea level rise of seven feet over the next few thousand years would seem too risky a prediction on which to spend tax dollars” and that is surely an understatement. Wasting billons on “climate change”, however, is the new siren call of the Obama administration, but the National Research Council is warning, as Fox News reported, “that those kinds of subsidies are virtually useless at quelling greenhouse gases.”

In fact, as the amount of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas—alleged to “trap” heat—has risen and has had zero effect on the cooling cycle.

A recent article in the British newspaper, The Register, reported on a study by scientists in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, that was published in “Nature Geoscience” that concluded there was no “scientific consensus” to suggest the rate of the seas’ rise will accelerate dangerously.

The notion of the seas rising, swamping coastal cities, and creating havoc is the stuff of science fiction, not science. This is why spending millions or billions on the assertions of some who have a real stake in keeping the public frightened is a very bad idea.

At the center of the global warming scare campaign is the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Its most recent report said that “no long-term acceleration of sea level has been identified using 20^th-century data alone” but that does not discourage the IPCC from forecasting an increase due to global warming. This organization should be disbanded and, if I were in charge, many of its leaders would be in jail right now for fraud.

Who can you believe? One such person is Dr. Nils-Axel Morner, the former chair of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University in Sweden. He is the past president (1999-2003) of the International Union for Quaternary Research Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution. He has been studying sea level and its effects on coastal areas for more than 35 years. I cited his credentials because others making predictions lack the same level of authority.

Dr. Morner acknowledges that “sea level was indeed rising from, let us say, 1850 to 1930-40. And that rise had a rate in the order of 1 millimeter per year. (Emphasis added). Get out your pocket ruler and look at what one millimeter represents. It is small. It is very small. Not surprisingly Dr. Morner is very critical of the IPCC and its headline-grabbing doomsday predictions. He scorns the IPCC’s claim to “know” that facts about sea level rise, noting that real scientists “are searching for the answer” by continuing to collect data “because we are field geologists; they are computer scientists. So all this talk that sea level is rising, this stems from the computer modeling, not from observations. The observations don’t find it!”

A recent paper reviewed by CO2 Science finds that sea levels have risen from 2002-2011 at a rate of only 1.7 millimeters per year over the past 110 years, the equivalent of 6.7 inches per century. This is close to Dr. Morner’s assertion that, at most, there has been a rate of increase that tops out at 1.1 millimeter per year. The review concluded that there is no evidence of any human influence on sea levels.

Even so, in early July a scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Josh Willis, told Fox News, that “There is no question that the time to prepare for sea level rise is now…We will definitely see seven feet of sea level rise—the only question is when.” And who funds NASA?

Between the scientists trying to gin up more government money for their agencies and departments and the politicians trying to find a new reason to spend more money, the public is left wondering if the oceans are rising and whether that represents something worth worrying about. The answer is (a) yes, sea levels are rising in infinitesimal amounts and (b) no, we need to stop spending money based on such claims.

It’s not the sea level rise you should worry about. It is the rising levels of national debt and the deficit.

© Alan Caruba, 2013

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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" and shared on dozens of news and opinion websites. His blog recently passed more than 2.7 million page views. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. For information on his professional skills, Caruba Editorial Services is the place to go! You can find Alan Caruba on both Facebook and Twitter as well.

Uncle Ho and the Founding Fathers ... J. D. Longstreet

Uncle Ho and the Founding Fathers
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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“…we discussed the fact that Ho Chi Minh was actually inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the words of Thomas Jefferson.”  – President Obama talking to reporters alongside Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang.
___________________________

I can't speak for you, of course, but there was no need for me to hear the words above pass the lips of the US President for me to be convinced he is a communist.

See, I'm so old I actually got an education when I went to school.  Hell, by the time I had graduated high school I had an education every bit the equivalent of, at least, a two year college degree -- by today's standards -- maybe even four years depending upon the individual institutions of higher learning.

Plus, I am a veteran of the US military during the Vietnam War. 

Look.  I won't dispute that Uncle Ho may have studied our Founding Fathers and founding documents.  Lots of dictators have done so.   Heck, if I was a fledgling dictator, I'd be darned sure to study those men and those documents because -- they are dangerous to tyrants and dictators. 

No, I wasn't surprised to hear Obama mention Uncle Ho in a respectful manner.  Not in the least.  Ho Chi Minh was an enemy of the United states.  'Nough said.

Our President, Obama is a died in the wool socialist.  (Socialism is what one might call "Communism Lite.")  His spread the wealth policies and statist philosophy of governing and disrespect for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and his shallow knowledge of US history mark him for what he truly is.

Ho Chi Minh was a bone fide tyrant.  A communist tyrant! 

The following is a clip from a piece published in Reader's Digest back in November of 1968:

"The terror had its real beginning when Red dictator Ho Chi Minh consolidated his power in the North. More than a year before his 1954 victory over the French, he launched a savage campaign against his own people. In virtually every North Vietnamese village, strong-arm squads assembled the populace to witness the “confessions” of landowners. As time went on, businessmen, intellectuals, school teachers, civic leaders — all who represented a potential source of future opposition — were also rounded up and forced to “confess” to “errors of thought.” There followed public “trials,” conviction and, in many cases, execution. People were shot, beheaded, beaten to death; some were tied up, thrown into open graves and covered with stones until they were crushed to death, Ho has renewed his terror in North Vietnam periodically. Between 50,000 and 100,000 are believed to have died in these blood-baths — in a coldly calculated effort to discipline the party and the masses. To be sure, few who escape Ho’s terror now seem likely to tempt his wrath. During the 1950s, however, he had to quell some sizeable uprisings in North Vietnam — most notably one that occurred in early November 1956, in the An province, which included Ho’s birthplace village of Nam Dan. So heavily had he taxed the region that the inhabitants finally banded together and refused to meet his price. Ho sent troops to collect, and then sent in an army division, shooting. About 6,000 unarmed villagers were killed. The survivors scattered, some escaping to the South. The slaughter went largely unnoticed by a world then preoccupied with the Soviet Union’s rape of Hungary."   SOURCE:  http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/vietnam/hochiminh.html   

Consider this:  "On November 15, 2008, Sam Webb, National Chair of the Communist Party USA delivered an address to the Communist Party USA National Committee. During his address, he noted the following concerning the party's relationship with Obama,

    "The left can and should advance its own views and disagree with the Obama administration without being disagreeable. Its tone should be respectful. We are speaking to a friend."  SOURCE: http://keywiki.org/index.php/Barack_Obama_and_the_Communist_Party

And this:

"The late Marxist academic Manning Marable claimed that Barack Obama has read some of his books and "understands what socialism is."

Marable, writing in the December 2008 issue of British Trotskyist journal Socialist Review, also claimed that Obama worked in Chicago with socialists with backgrounds in the Communist Party.

    What makes Obama different is that he has also been a community organizer. He has read left literature, including my works, and he understands what socialism is. A lot of the people working with him are, indeed, socialists with backgrounds in the Communist Party or as independent Marxists. There are a lot of people like that in Chicago who have worked with him for years... "   SOURCE:  http://keywiki.org/index.php/Barack_Obama_and_the_Communist_Party

Frank Marshall Davis became Obama's mentor at the tender age of ten years.  " ... FBI file reveals that Davis (born 1905) became interested in the Communist Party USA as far back as 1931.

Certainly from the mid/late '30s to the early '40s Davis was involved in several Communist Party fronts including the the National Negro Congress, the League of American Writers, the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties and the Civil Rights Congress.

The FBI first began tracking Davis in 1944 when they identified him as member of the Communist Party's Dorie Miller Club in Chicago-card number 47544.

Davis taught courses at the party controlled Abraham Lincoln School in Chicago and attended meetings of the party's Cultural Club until he left for Hawaii in 1948."  SOURCE:  http://keywiki.org/index.php/Barack_Obama_and_the_Communist_Party
(We recommend you read the entire article cited above.  It is entitled:  "Barack Obama and the Communist Party."  You will find it at:  http://keywiki.org/index.php/Barack_Obama_and_the_Communist_Party )

And finally -- "The famed Russian news site “Pravda,” which ironically was formed as the official Communist publication of the former Soviet Union, recently released a scathing opinion column entitled, “Obama’s Soviet Mistake,” in which the author unabashedly labels the U.S. president a “Communist without question promoting the Communist Manifesto without calling it so.” - SOURCE: http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2012/11/blazecast-russian-news-outlet-labels.html#sthash.eECgrcwI.dpuf 

No, I was NOT surprised by Mr. Obama's drift from the teleprompter line.   (NOW you know why his "handlers" have him virtually chained to a teleprompter!)

But, dear reader, what is even MORE troubling is this:  With all this knowledge of Obama sympathies toward communism, roughly half the American electorate put him in office -- and kept him there for a second term.  Now THAT is TRULY frightening!

© J. D. Longstreet
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Malaise is here -- Misery Index On The Way ... J. D. Longstreet

Malaise is here -- Misery Index On The Way
"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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You DO realize this is President Jimmy Carter's third term -- don't you? 

Yeah.  I KNOW that's not funny.  There hasn't been much fun for a long time now.

During the Carter era years I was trying to run a profitable business, keep all my employees on the payroll, and figure out how to comply with all the ridiculous regulations handed down from DC -- up to and where, exactly, to set the heating and cooling thermostat in my office!  YES!  It WAS just that ridiculous.

The picture of Jimmy Carter in a cardigan sweater sitting in front of a fireplace with logs burning cheerfully in the background still haunt my nightmares to this day.

You know, Obama was not the first President to be referred to as the Messiah.  Carter owns that irreverent title. At some point during that trying time some one tacked a photo of  Jesus Christ with Jimmy Carter's face superimposed on the head of Christ on one of our studio's bulletin boards.  It came down when Reagan was elected.  

It was, indeed, a miserable time.

The country was wallowing in syrupy malaise.  And then there was the misery Index.  (You find the misery index by adding the unemployment figure to the inflation figure.)   It was pure-"T" awful under the Carter Administration.

Jimmy Carter delivered the famous or infamous televised "Malaise" speech on July 15, 1979. That was 34 years ago.  

Recently Laura Ingram said the following:  "Friday marked the 32-year-anniversary of Jimmy Carter’s “crisis of confidence” later pegged “malaise speech,” a nationally televised and ill-received address trying to combat what Carter saw as apathy and doubt among Americans concerning politics and the energy crisis. In the days following the speech Carter fired cabinet members feeling that his administration failed to capitalize on a window of opportunity, which some believe was the beginning of the end for Carter and his ability to appear as a strong and significant leader.

Thirty-two years later another first term Democratic president faces a crisis of continued economic decline and failure to bridge heated political differences from Capital Hill to Main Street. Ingraham’s audio suggests that like Carter, Obama is failing to step up as a strong and believable leader in the eyes of Americans looking to him in a time of crisis."  SOURCE:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/07/16/laura-ingraham-airs-scary-obama-remix-of-jimmy-carters-malaise-speech/

My friend Alan Caruba said recently:  "The current economic malaise has affected everyone in some fashion—losing a job, having a job converted to a part-time status, having work hours limited, possibly facing foreclosure on their home, experiencing extremely low interest rates on their savings, the higher cost of gas and groceries, all without seriously affecting Obama’s job approval ratings or popularity."  Source:  http://www.factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-economy-it-must-be-gops-fault-right.html

If you recall, Carter's Malaise speech, otherwise known as the "Crisis of Confidence" speech you will instantly note that it sounds exactly like speeches given by President Obama today. 

For instance Carter said:  "I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. To further conserve energy, I'm proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems. And I'm asking you for your good and for your nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense -- I tell you it is an act of patriotism."  SOURCE:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/carter-crisis/

Of course we knew it was more an act of desperation on Carter's part than it was patriotism on the part of the American civilian population.  We weren't as dumb then as we are today. For evidence, note that WE DID NOT REELECT CARTER TO A SECOND TERM!

A year ago I wrote the following:  "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."  SOURCE:  "America’s Malaise Is BACK!" at: http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/48449

I wrote those few words BEFORE the 2012 election.  As I said in that piece, there was a sense of impending doom which spanned the entire right side of the political spectrum in America.

A year ago, when I wrote those words,  America's future doom, under an Obama second term, was as clear as the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's Feast. (You'll find the story in the fifth chapter of Daniel in the Old Testament of the Bible.  We recommend you read it.  It certainly won't hurt -- and you just might learn something about what lies in America's immediate future.)

The moving fingers wrote: מנא, מנא, תקל, ופרס
or: "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." 

So what DID those words, written by the hand of God, announce to THAT corrupt King of Babylon: "And this is the writing that was inscribed: mina, mina, shekel, half-mina. This is the interpretation of the matter: mina, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; shekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; half-mina, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." — Daniel 5:25–28

Suppose, just for a moment, that that feast was a state dinner at the White House and the reigning king was Obama.  To whom would the hapless kingdom of America be about to fall?  Who ARE the modern Medes and Persians?

Well,  Easton's Illustrated Dictionary lists the Medes as part of the Assyrian Empire, which covers the area of today's IRAQ, SYRIA, and LEBANON.

The Persians are still Persians, of course, but Persia is known today as -- IRAN. 

Of course, we are thousands of years removed from that feast, but, isn't it strange how ancient scripture and modern history seem to interlace, seem to be spun and twisted together?  Interesting, what?

Is America modern Babylon?  Judge for yourself at:  http://www.beaconoftruth.com/babylon.htm

I'm no prophet, or "seer."  I just pay attention with, possibly, a higher than usual degree of situational awareness. That's all.

America's state of national malaise bespeaks a people who are uneasy about something very bad they sense is in the offing for their beloved country.  They can't get past the feeling that our shared malaise is a signal and/or a symptom of a very unpleasant future.

Whatever the reality is, we can all be sure it isn't the the future scenario, the President and his cronies are painting, of a prospering America returned to her days of glory as a result of his socialist "share the wealth" agenda.   Reality by definition is real -- and it does not match his words.
© J. D. Longstreet

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A National Shouting Match On Racism ... J. D. Longstreet

A National Shouting Match On Racism
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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As a Southerner, I am used to -- well, allow me to rephrase that:  as far as it is possible, I am used to being called a racist, a bigot, a redneck, and several other epithets that I refuse to print here.  That is not to say that I am comfortable with them, I am not.  Nevertheless, again, as a southerner, hardly a day goes by that such disparaging words are not used, in reference to yours truly, singularly, as an individual, or collectively, as a member of the politically conservative right, or regionally, as a Southerner. 

I suppose the thing about all this infantile name calling that troubles me most is the utter hypocrisy of those using such hurtful language. I have learned as an adult that many, if not most, of those tossing about such colorful, yet hollow charges, are soaked in ignorance of the origins of such words and the history of the my region of America, and indeed, the history of America itself.

For instance -- before the American Civil War, (you know -- the war we Southerners refer to, and think of, as “The War for Southern Independence,”) it was the Democratic Party, that had a death grip on the Southern States, which our young scholars have been  erroneously, taught were the only slave holding states in the country. 

That is far from the truth, very far. The Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic States, including Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, had legally sanctioned slavery in the 17th, 18th and even part of the 19th centuries.

This may come as a shock to you but… not only were black people enslaved in the North for over two hundred years, but the vast majority of all slave trading in America was done by northerners. Yes, we did just say: “The VAST Majority….”  Remarkably, half of all North American voyages involved in the slave trade originated in Rhode Island, and all the northern states benefited. This is a fact much hidden from the youthful eyes of America’s young scholars for many, many, decades.  In fact, many of those folks who so piously refer to Southerners as racists (because of our ancestors participation in the detestable trade) themselves hail from regions (and, yes, even families) that made fortunes on the trade of African blacks into slavery. 

Shocked?  You needn’t be.  It has been SOP in America’s public (Government) school system for many years.  It is the foundation of the ignorance from which springs the scurrilous charges made against so many of my ancestors and yes, even this scribe today.

I tell you this so you will be less shocked when we say that much of the name calling of southerners and politically right conservatives is coming from Representatives and Senators, of those Northern States who desperately want to paint all members of the political right as racists, and bigots.

There is also a statement made, time and again, which goes something like this:  Blacks, or, if you prefer, African-Americans, cannot be racists because they lack power or clout.  That is absolutely pure, unadulterated nonsense, clap-trap, BS, horse hockey, and a few other things we dare not print for general consumption.   If one human hates another because of the color of his skin, regardless of the color of his own, that is bigotry.  We see it everyday, as well, or hear it referenced every day in the music popularly known as “Rap” Music and "Hip-Hop" music. 

The left claims to want a national “conversation” about racism in America.  They don’t, of course.  If they did they’d stop using the first sentences out of the mouths of members of the right to label them racists , which simply shuts off all conversation instantly.

No.  The left does not want a national confab on racism in America.  It is a ploy, that’s all. 

White America has grown tired of pretending not to see the overt racism of the left.  We’ve grown exceedingly resentful of being used as a punching bag and we’re beginning to punch back. 

The national conversation on racism in America, the left claims to want, may yet materialize – in the streets of the nation’s cities as black and white mobs clash.  It will be a conversation of the fist and club and, eventually, the gun. 

Nobody in their right mind wants this to happen. But that is exactly where America is headed once the last straw is applied to the camel’s back.

I DO realize the weight of the words above.  I DO realize, as well, that until we are ready, as a people, as a nation, to face up, honestly, to the racism of the left -- and the black community in particular – then it is a non-starter.  Until that time a civil conversation will not be had for it cannot be had.
The best we can hope for is the continued stand-off and the barely concealed hatred boiling just beneath the surface. The plain truth is, I believe, the very best we can hope for is that the black community will continue to pretend they're not racists and the white community will continue to pretend that it doesn't notice black racism.

No, there will be no national conversation on racism.  There WILL be more shouting matches, bruised egos, and hurt feelings, which will do nothing to salve the wounds of the vicious national argument on racism.

WE Americans have tried for 237 years to hold the people of the country together in some sort of union -- even with the numerous cracks and fault lines running between us.  Today those cracks and fault lines have become chasms. And some are un-crossable. This is one of them.

© J. D. Longstreet
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The Economy? It Must be the GOP's Fault, Right? ... Alan Caruba

The Economy? It Must be the GOP's Fault, Right?

By Alan Caruba

Oh goody, the President is about to launch another series of speeches to address the economic stagnation for which he is to blame. Just what we all need—another speech. He is going to blame Republicans for the failure of his economic policies and he going to do it because it works. We know it works because his approval rating continues to hover around 47%, but dipped to 41% in a recent poll.

Obama spent the four years of his first term blaming George W. Bush until it became a joke along with his dependence on Tele-prompters. The only question facing the White House and all of the rest of us is how long will it take for this stagnant, nearly moribund economy to turn around? Don’t hold your breath.

The public is remarkably docile and history tells us that our grandparent’s generation endured the Great Depression from 1929 until the beginning of World War II in 1941. Because of his great popularity, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times, starting in 1932, despite the obvious failure of his economic policies. Like Obama, the media of that era loved FDR.

The current economic malaise has affected everyone in some fashion—losing a job, having a job converted to a part-time status, having work hours limited, possibly facing foreclosure on their home, experiencing extremely low interest rates on their savings, the higher cost of gas and groceries, all without seriously affecting Obama’s job approval ratings or popularity.

Obama is going out on the road to maintain and bolster what popularity he retains because there is a huge portion of the population that continues to ignore the failure of his stimulus program, the Benghazi scandal, the growing scandal within the Internal Revenue Service, the revelation that the NSA is tracking and retaining records of all our electronic communications, and most obviously the lavish lifestyle of Obama that permits him take his family on an “official” trip to Africa that cost of $100 million, soon to be followed by another vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

Some economists are beginning to write about an economic recovery, but as experienced by most people, it is a phantom recovery. On July 15, Mort Zuckerman, the editor-in-chief of US News & World Report, had a commentary published in The Wall Street Journal titled “A Jobless Recovery is a Phony Recovery.” He noted that the failure to recover from the financial crisis of 2008 has been “the longest and worst recession since the end of World War II”; one that has “been marked by the weakest recovery from any U.S. recession in that same period.”

Zuckerman said “the jobless nature of the recovery is particularly unsettling” and cited surveys that demonstrated the lack of fulltime versus part-time jobs. While the official government unemployment figure is 7.6%, Zuckerman cited data that, as of June, put it at 14.5%, up from 13.8% in May. “The 7.6% unemployment figure so common in headlines these days is utterly misleading.”

That, however, has been Obama’s special genius. He knows how to mislead people and he does so effortlessly, telling lies that a school child would not get away with or, in the case of the Benghazi scandal, drowning it in lies and then putting distance between the event long enough to see it sink below the public radar or even concern. The mainstream media has long since abandoned any coverage of it.

Not even the nation’s soaring debt merits coverage by the mainstream media. It now stands at $17 trillion dollars, exceeding the Gross Domestic Product by easily three trillion, meaning that the nation is taking in far less than it is spending. Indeed, the nation has avoided even more debt only because of the draconian “sequester” that capped government spending. After Congress returns from its August recess, the battle over raising the debt limit will ensue.

As the Heritage Foundation recently calculated, your personal share of the national debt is $53,769. This debt will cause families to lose up to $11,000 of their income every year at the same time high government spending will eliminate opportunities for career advancement, will paralyze job creation, and lower wages and salaries. Many will not be able to borrow money as interest rates increase.

It’s not like there haven’t been voices in the political wilderness warning of these outcomes. One notable voice has been David A. Stockman, Ronald Reagan’s budget director from 1981 to 1985, and currently the author of “The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America.”

“Over the last 13 years,” Stockman wrote in a New York Times opinion editorial, “the stock market has twice crashed and touched off a recession: American households lost $5 trillion in the 2000-dot-com bust and more than $7 trillion in the 2007 housing crash. Sooner or later—within a few years, I predict—this latest Wall Street bubble, inflated by the egregious flood of phony money from the Federal Reserve rather than real economic gains, will explode, too.”

The largest bankruptcy of an American city, Detroit, just made the headlines and it wasn’t caused by Republicans. Democrats have run Detroit since January 1952. In combination with its public service unions, its mayors and city government, all Democrats, destroyed the city.

President Obama is going to hit his perpetual campaign trail to tell Americans that the economy is turning around, is gaining momentum, and that his policies of the first four years have worked. They have not.  At some point enough American will have to stop listening to Obama’s siren call—“Who you gonna believe? Me or your lying eyes?”

© Alan Caruba, 2013

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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" and shared on dozens of news and opinion websites. His blog recently passed more than 2.7 million page views. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. For information on his professional skills, Caruba Editorial Services is the place to go! You can find Alan Caruba on both Facebook and Twitter as well.

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The Detroit Detox ... J. D. Longstreet

The Detroit Detox
NO Government Bail Out For Detroit
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
***************

Of course, Obama will do everything humanly possible to bail out Detroit -- in one fashion, or another. There can be no question about it.

After all, Detroit IS spelled:  U-N-I-O-N .

There are a host of municipalities standing by, holding their collective breath as they wait to see what the federal government will do about Detroit.   IF the US government writes a check to Detroit, get ready.  The flood gates will open and, in the twinkling of an eye, the US Treasury will be bone dry -- or at least as dry as Death Valley in the middle of August. 

In a letter authorizing Detroit's bankruptcy filing, Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, noted a few problems that have contributed to Detroit's dilemma:

• The city's unemployment rate has nearly tripled since 2000 and is more than double the national average.

• The homicide rate is at historically high levels, and the city has been named among America's most dangerous for more than 20 years.

• Detroiters wait an average of 58 minutes for police to respond, compared with the national average of 11 minutes.

• An estimated 40% of the city's street lights didn't work in the first quarter of 2013.

• Roughly 78,000 city structures have been abandoned.

Consider this:  "The combination of lost auto industry jobs and rising crime rates prompted many middle-class whites and African Americans to flee Detroit over the past few decades. That exodus left behind an overwhelmingly poor and nearly 83% African-American population, making Detroit the nation's largest black-majority city."  SOURCE:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/18/detroit-files-for-bankruptcy/2567159/ 

Kevyn Orr, the city's appointed emergency manager, has said Detroit's  financial responsibilities -- in total -- could be as much as $20 billion.

In October of 2012, President Barack Obama said:  "We refused to throw in the towel and do nothing. We refused to let Detroit go bankrupt. We bet on American workers and American ingenuity, and three years later, that bet is paying off in a big way.”  That was then.  This is NOW.

"The municipal workers’ pension plans (that face 90% losses) will be bailed-out via the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)"  SOURCE:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/18/obama-flashback-we-refused-to-let-detroit-go-bankrupt/

The PBGC is a US Government Agency.  That means, of course, taxpayer money. 

How could this happen?  Detroit is the largest city to file bankruptcy in US history.   Spending money you don't have is a very effective way to bankrupt anything or anyone. 

Detroit tried taxing the rich, you know, the foundation of Obamanomics, and what did they get for their effort?  Well, a ride through the city observing the hulking multi-story -- empty -- factory buildings and the explosive unemployment rate should answer that.  THE RICH LEFT -- and took their businesses -- and JOBS -- with them.

Detroit has been circling the drain for decades.   The decline in the auto business and the population moving away was a symptom, not the cause, of the city's collapse.

When you cut through all the Bovine Scatology the answer is clear.

Consider this from an article by John Hayward at Humanevents.com:  "And let’s not dump too much of Detroit’s crisis at the feet of those automakers, because that corrupt Democrat Party elite spent the city into penury, racking up enormous long-term debt.  They spent money like tomorrow would never come, but yesterday tomorrow came.  Bloated pensions are just another form of deficit spending: commitments given to today’s workers, without worrying about who’s going to pay the bills when they come due.  At some point, the spendthrift government can’t borrow enough money to keep the shell game floating any more.  Who wants to buy bonds from a city that’s talking about 90 percent haircuts for creditors?"

Mr. Hayward continues:  "All of a sudden, the politicians who spent decades assuring their constituents that debt and deficits are no big deal throw up their hands, declare nothing can be done to escape the fiscal black hole they’ve created, and retire to their lavish estates.  Detroit is end-stage Obamanomics."
SOURCE: http://www.humanevents.com/2013/07/19/detroit-goes-bankrupt/ 

So.  We watch the dance in DC take shape, over the weeks and months ahead, as the democrat controlled government figures a way to bail out Detroit without appearing to bail out Detroit.  Then, we watch as one municipality after the other lines up at the trough until the entire country goes the way of Detroit.
But, HEY!  This is redistribution of the wealth.  This is Obama's socialism.  I seem to recall having mentioned in the weeks, months, and years past that the end result of socialism is always the collapse and death of the host country .  It never fails.

 "The Detroit death spiral is Democrat corruption, which drives people out of the city, which leaves fewer taxpayers to finance the next round of Democrat corruption." -- John Hayward/Human Events  http://www.humanevents.com/2013/07/19/detroit-goes-bankrupt/

This is a sad story but it is not unexpected -- well, it is not unexpected by conservatives, who've been predicting it for decades.  And -- just as we've been proven correct about Detroit, unfortunately, we will be correct about the financial collapse of the United States. I take no joy in saying that -- at all.

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

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Gun Owners: Stand Your Ground! ... J. D. Longstreet

Gun Owners:  Stand Your Ground!
Tried By 12 Or Carried By Six?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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"Never let a crisis go to waste."  That is not only the motto of the Obama Regime, it is also their "watchword." 

The dictionary defines watchword as:  "A word or phrase expressing a person's or group's core aim or belief."

The Obama Regime's singular dexterity in creating crises and then employing the confusion and distraction from those crises to advance their Marxist agenda is unmatched in the history of US politics. 

They don't seem to much mind what, exactly, the crisis is ... even the wholesale slaughter of little children.

Obama, still worried that Americans have guns and present a formidable obstacle to a leftist dictatorship in America, remains wed to the idea that those Americans who "cling to guns and God" must be neutralized in one way or another.

Since Congress refused to violate the US Constitution for him, he continues his search for ways, any way, he can -- at least -- reduce the perceived threat from American gun owners.

He thinks he has found one.  The "Stand Your Ground" laws in some 30 states.  If he can get the judiciary to find those laws unconstitutional, he advances his Marxist agenda.

There will be hell to pay overturning those laws in the south. 

We have an expression here in Dixie.  I'll clean it up and paraphrase it for you:  "A burglar may walk into my house, but he, sure as hell, WILL be carried out!"

We call it broadly: The Castle Law or the Castle Doctrine (Defense of Habitation Law). In some states the Castle Law extends to any legally occupied space including one's vehicle and/or one's workplace.   Simply put, it means that every man's home is his castle and he has a God-given right to protect it -- and those within it -- with whatever force may be necessary without fear of repercussions from the law. 

"Stand Your Ground" means you no longer have to turn tail, as a coward, and run from an intruder.  You no longer have the legal obligation to "retreat." You can confront him, like a man, and protect your life, the lives of others, and your possessions.  If lethal force is necessary to subdue the miscreant, then so be it.

Some years ago, a southern state with a democratic party controlled legislature took that right away from it's citizens and installed the "obligation to retreat" as state law.  It lasted only until cases began going before juries in the state and those juries flat-out refused to convict anyone brought before them for defending their homes and possessions.  One jury even refused to deliberate telling the judge, respectfully of course, that they believed the law, itself, was illegal and they would not convict anyone for breaking an illegal law.

It didn't take many months for that same state legislature to overturn their new law and reinstate the Castle Doctrine as law in the state.

Now, Obama wants to overturn the Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground laws in the entire country.  See, he can't take our guns, but if he can create a situation in which we gun owners cannot use them without breaking the law, he has, at least partially, attained his goal. 

It's called incrementalism -- a "little bit at a time." That's how America became a socialist nation -- a little bit at a time.

The folks at the Justice Department surely know they have a snowball's chance of bringing a successful case of violation of civil rights against Zimmerman.  In my estimation, that is only the distraction they will use while they burn the midnight oil to find a way to abolish the Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground Laws in the US.

Come on, folks!  The concept of a man's home as his castle dates all the way back to the time of the Roman Republic.  We Americans brought it over from England as we borrowed it from the historic English Common Law dictum that "an Englishman's home is his castle." It was established in English Common law in 1628. Originally it was meant to imply a person's absolute right to exclude anyone from his home.  Of course, the modern day version DOES have exceptions.

I found this article to be particularly interesting, as well.  Consider the following: "The American interpretation of this doctrine is largely derived from the English Common Law as it stood in the 18th century. In Book 4, Chapter 16 of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, he states that the laws "leave him (the inhabitant) the natural right of killing the aggressor (the burglar)" and goes on to generalize in the following words:

    And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium? For this reason no doors can in general be broken open to execute any civil process; though, in criminal causes, the public safety supersedes the private. Hence also in part arises the animadversion of the law upon eaves-droppers, nusancers, and incendiaries: and to this principle it must be assigned, that a man may assemble people together lawfully without danger of raising a riot, rout, or unlawful assembly, in order to protect and defend his house; which he is not permitted to do in any other case.
    —William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England

Not only was the doctrine considered to justify defense against neighbors and criminals, but any of the crown's agents who attempted to enter without a proper warrant as well. It should be noted that prohibitions of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution share a common background with current castle doctrine laws."  SOURCE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine

Each state differs in the way it incorporates the castle doctrine into its laws, what premises are covered (abode only, or other places, too), what degree of retreat or non-deadly resistance is required before deadly force can be used, etc..

Here in North Carolina, the Castle Law is clear as a bell.  "North Carolina's Castle Doctrine protects people in their home, workplace or automobile. It allows a person to use defensive force, including lethal force, if they have a reasonable sense of fear of serious bodily harm in their home, workplace or car. North Carolina law does not require the person to retreat before using deadly force.

The law presumes that "a person who unlawfully and by force enters or attempts to enter a person's home, motor vehicle, or workplace is presumed to be doing so with the intent to commit an unlawful act involving force or violence."

The law goes on to read, "a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have the duty to retreat in any place he or she has the lawful right to be if either of the following applies: he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another." SOURCE: http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/290516/1/Explaining-North-Carolinas-Castle-Doctrine

There are a few states with what is known as "Make My Day Laws."  "The specific conditions of the Make My Day Law are that an invader has made unlawful entry onto the property, that there is a reasonable belief the invader is or intends to commit a crime on the property, and that there is a reasonable belief the invader may use physical force himself. If these conditions are satisfied the immunity applies, and no verbal warning must be issued. Though again, it varies by jurisdiction, in most cases the presumption of innocence rests with the property owner in being justified.

Some states go even further and make it legal for such stand-your-ground laws to apply outside of one's home. Florida is one such state, where an individual may use deadly force when assailed at any location he has a right to be. As of 2010, more than 30 states in the US have some degree of Stand Your Ground Law."  SOURCE:  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-make-my-day-law.htm

Note:  These are ALL STATE LAWS passed by the people of the states.  And yet, our federal authorities are searching for a way in which the federal government can squash those laws, which reflect the will of the people of those states.  The power grasping of the Obama Regime seems to know no bounds. 

Again, the fall back of American gun owners is the 2nd Amendment.  Each time the government announces, or in anyway demonstrates their desire to infringe upon those 2nd Amendment rights, gun owners "cling" a little tighter to their weapons.  So far, the Obama Regime has been the best salesman for gun dealers in America since,  well, EVER!

As a friend reminded me recently: "The left is relentless."  They're not going away and they are not about to stop their quest for America's guns.   Going after the Castle Doctrine laws, and the Stand Your Ground laws, and the Make My Day laws is simply attacking from another direction.

Regardless of how it all plays out, in the end when one awakens at 3 AM to sounds of uninvited miscreants rummaging through his things, and he quietly takes his 50 caliber Desert Eagle from the drawer of his bedside table, the one question uppermost in his mind will continue to be:  "Is it better to be tried by 12 than carried by six?"

© J. D. Longstreet
******************

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