Sunday, December 31, 2006

Second Anniversary of INSIGHT on Freedom!


Just a note:

Today marks the second anniversary of “INSIGHT on Freedom”. It has been a bumpy two years and an exciting two years. I have met and spoken with people from all over the globe. It has been very gratifying... to say the least.

So, we here at IoF, would like to express our deep appreciation for those of you who keep coming back to this site to see what the resident “NUT” has to say each day. It is you who keep us going.

And for the record, it doesn’t matter whether I agree with you, or not…. or whether you agree with me… or not. What is important is... that we are able to exchange ideas, and express ourselves, within the bounds of good taste, with little or no government interference. That is priceless.

So, as we push ahead, into another year, we want to thank you all… and wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Longstreet
and the staff of INSIGHT on Freedom

Conservatives are concerned over the war in Iraq, too!

(This Post First Ran in August of 2006!)
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Conservatives are concerned over the war in Iraq, too!

__________________

Trust me when I tell you that Conservatives in America are not satisfied with the prosecution of the war in Iraq. We haven’t been happy with it in a long while now. That said, however, our concern is quite different from that of our liberal brethren and sisteren.

You see, we want the war fought as a war… and not a Sunday School class!

We have just had a very public demonstration of what happens when you try to fight a war with kid gloves. When you try not to hurt the opposition, when you try to be fair and equitable in causalities. In other words, if the enemy kills two of your men, you should only kill two of his men! Ridiculous!

For our friends in the media, Hizbollah’s; condemnation of Israel for fighting too hard is not the first time we have heard that refrain. The American left has been beating the Bush Administration, and the US military, about the head and shoulders, with the willing assistance of the left leaning media, in this country, and the world, right from the outset of the war in Afghanistan right through the current phase of the war in Iraq. And you see what it has gotten us! A mess! The same thing it got Israel.

As I said, Conservatives are not satisfied with the prosecution of this war. We want it to be far more aggressive than it has been. We want our troops to flatten Iraq. We want our troops to kill as many of the Islamofacists as it is humanly possible to do. We want an unrelenting steamroller of war bent on the destruction of everything before it. We want the enemy completely wiped out, decimated and taught a lesson. Go against the US and you will suffer as no human being has suffered before… in the history of the world. Then, and only then, can we load up our troops on our planes, and ships, and bring them home.

If the US continues on this half-assed way of war fighting, we will still be slogging away at those at those empty-headed Islamo freaks, until kingdom come, with no particularly noticeable effect. In other words, pretty much what we have today.

Our good friends, in Israel, have experienced it first hand. It now appears they are not prepared to have that happen again. There will, most likely, be changes at the top, in both their top military echelons and political echelons. And there should be.

Israel has approximately 6 million inhabitants. The Arabic nations surrounding them contain some 650 million, not counting Jordan and Egypt. Count those two nations and the Arabic count goes to 250 million Arabs, and Persians, to, as we said, roughly 6 million Israelis. The point of all these numbers is to point out the sheer idiocy of trying to fight a “kid gloves” war with their enemies, any of their enemies.

I do not understand the lack of will on the part of the US government to understand the importance of “peace through victory”. We are fighting an enemy bent on world domination. The Islamofacists are no less a threat to America than the Nazis of World War II were. Quite possibly, the Islamofacists are worse than the Nazis.

One thing is for sure. This war will not stay away from our shores. It’s coming… as surely as night follows day. It is only a matter of time. So, if we do not use the full potential of our armed forces against them in Iraq and in Afghanistan, to blunt their coming attack on our homeland, we are in for a rude awakening of the worst possible kind.

America is a sitting duck. We have a target painted on our back and the Islamofacists are aiming directly at it.

Longstreet

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Confederate Sons Mourn the Passing of President Ford

"Confederate Sons Mourn Ford Passing"

Columbia, TN., Dec. 30, 2006


The Sons of Confederate Veterans joins the nation in mourning the passing of President Gerald Ford.

Commander in Chief Christopher M. Sullivan, speaking on behalf of more
than 32,000 members said "Our deep condolence goes to the Ford family with sincere respect for the great service rendered throughout President Ford's long, remarkable career."

Commander Sullivan said "Perhaps our most memorable moment of sincere appreciation for President Ford, was when he signed the legislation restoring the citizenship of General Robert E. Lee long after the general's death."

At that signing, President Ford said, "General Lee's character has been an example to succeeding generations, making the restoration of his citizenship an event in which every American can take pride."

On January 19th, 2007, the nation will celebrate the 200th birthday of Robert E. Lee with proclamations and ceremonies scheduled throughout the nation.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans has continuously operated in local camps throughout the world and is now in its 110th year. Membership is open to all who are descended directly or collaterally from a Confederate Veteran.

For more information on the Sons of Confederate Veterans, visit
www.scv.org

Is Hillary’s Presidential Campaign Over? Could Be!

(This Post First Ran In May of 2006!)
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Is Hillary’s Presidential Campaign Over? Could Be!

______________________


The Democrat party has been very nervous, for many months now, wondering what they would do if Hillary actually won the nomination of their party to be their candidate for President. Support was noticeable soft among the rank and file Democrats. The very thought of the daily Clinton scandals, for another four years, was/is almost too much to bear. Allowing Bill back inside the White House, in ANY office, was/is a nightmare for the majority of the Democrat Party.

Now that the “Clown Prince” of their party has re-emerged as a possible candidate, they are beside themselves with joy and relief. The left –wing media, read the Mainstream Media, sprinted to see which would be the first to lift up Al Gore and gently nudge Hillary to the rear of the pack. This was a not so gentle reminder that she, Hillary, was only a “stand-by” candidate in the event someone, even more left of center than she is, would step into the breech. Someone did. Al Gore is back! And the fawning has begun!

The folks at “The American Thinker” have a terrific piece on this at:

http://americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5538

We recommend you click on the address above and read their thoughtful piece.

So, how will Gore stack up against McCain. Frankly, as a Conservative, I don’t care. I could not, in good conscious, vote for either of them, (let alone sleep at night after having done my country such a disservice)!

If McCain is the Republican candidate, watch for “write-ins” galore. I mean, even a debate between both Gore and McCain, on stage together, could not establish a difference between them. Both hail from the left wing of their parties and both deserve to lose. I can think of no better cure for insomnia that a Gore/ McCain debate (?).

Hopefully, after the drubbing the Republicans are going to get this November, the RNC will wake up in time to recognize their Conservative base has left the building!

2008 is the best shot the Dems have of electing a far left wing candidate, a real “space cadet”, and it sure looks like they are gearing up to do just that!

As far as the Republicans are concerned, now that the “blue bloods” and the “country club set” and the “RINOS” have managed to drive the conservatives from the party, I wonder what they think they will be able to do with the party. I have a hint for them! Lose! And then LOSE some more. It’s back to the good ole days of second-class citizen in the Congress for the GOP.

What a waste!

This would be funny… if it weren’t so serious!

Longstreet

Friday, December 29, 2006

What a Sorry Field of Candidates, from which, Americans Are Being Asked to Choose a President in 2008!


What a Sorry Field of Candidates!
What kind of... maybe I'm asking the wrong question here... maybe I should have asked… how large an EGO must it take for a person to decide to run for President of the United States? I mean, it’s quite something to think you have all the answers and you are the salvation of a nation.

Now, consider that while you remember that a current candidate for President of the US has already been turned down by the American electorate for Vice President ... and add to that... his failed term as a Senator from the state in which he currently resides, then add to that the state he claims as his home state, and the state in which he currently resides, BOTH voted for his opponent last time around... and you begin to detect the awesome regard in which John Edwards holds himself.

I happen to have been born, and raised, in the same state, as Mr. Edwards, and I happen to reside, currently, in the same state as Mr. Edwards. I have a little insight into what the people of those two states feel toward Mr. Edwards as a candidate. It ain't good!

When one looks objectively at John Edwards one cannot help but see another version of Bill Clinton. He strikes one, as being a man who must be the center of attention at all times.

As for Mr. Edwards’ "Two Americas" just remember this is coming from a man who is a millionaire several times over, who lives in a multi-million dollar mansion, and made that money by ambulance chasing. Ask yourself.... do we really want another lawyer in the Whitehouse???

So, let's see now… the dems will be running Edwards, Obama, Biden and Clinton. (If Clinton actually decides to run after Obama eats her lunch in the early caucuses.) Not a single one holds a promise of anything good for America.

Looking at the Republican slate, it appears it will be McCain, Romney, and Giuliani, All of whom are liberals. (McCain can claim the cloak of conservatism all he wants but those of us who are, and have been, conservatives since the stone age know him for what he is... liberal.) I must tell you the coming presidential; contest for 2008 is beginning to resemble a consolation game between the losers of a High School Basketball tournament! I see not a single candidate the conservative voter can get behind and support. From the Republican standpoint it looks like the “Bob Dole fiasco” again. Pitiful. Except... that the Democrat standpoint is even worse!

One more note on the Democrat field. I'm looking for Al Gore to toss his hat into the ring once more.

Now, if we can only get Newt to commit to run..................


Longstreet

Thursday, December 28, 2006

In Memory of Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the United States


In Memory of Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the United States.

Every so often, down through history, a person is suddenly thrust upon the world stage and yoked with the burden of leadership in a time of great turmoil. Such a man was Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States.

Mr. Ford took the reins of a country suffering one of the lowest ebbs in it’s history. I will never forget, at his "swearing in", he unashamedly asked for the prayers of the American people. He was a man who had suddenly found himself in a situation from which there was no easy way out. All the eyes of his countrymen were upon him... and he felt every one of them.

Then the day arrived at which he must make a decision, which would affect his country in a positive way and affect his life, and career, in a negative way. He made that decision and for the remainder of all time he will be remembered as the man who pardoned President Richard Nixon.

Mr. Ford’s decision to issue the Presidential Pardon for Mr. Nixon doomed his political career; yet saved a nation many more years of tumult. It had the effect of cauterizing a wound. The searing heat brought momentary pain, but it also began the healing process. America was in dire need of healing and Mr. Ford sacrificed himself on that alter.

He was a man’s man. Klutzy, while athletic, with the always prominent male pattern baldness on display, he was “everyman”.

As the years passed and Mr. Ford moved into retirement off the world’s stage he chose to represent America, as a Past President with the quiet dignity of an American at peace with himself. He did not feel it necessary to remain in the spotlight, or to steal the spotlight from current leaders, no matter what the political party in power, and no matter what he thought of that administration’s policies. He was content. He had had his “at bat” and for better or worse, he was over it... and over himself.

Unlike later presidents, he chose to uphold the tradition, of America’s past-presidents, to fade quietly into the shadows and not remain active on the world’s stage and possibly create problems, or embarrassments, for the administrations, which followed his. I’m sure the many Presidents, which followed Jerry Ford, are forever thankful for that common courtesy. Mr. Ford was very different from those past presidents who wander the world’s stage and seem to pop up in turbulent spots around the globe and oft times condemn their own country, or the current administration, from the shores of nations who claim no friendship for America.

Mr. Ford was a man of HONOR. He was a kind and decent man. He was a loving husband, a loving father, and a great American. He loved his country and he did not shrink from executing his duty, as America’s leader, no matter whether doing so was popular or not. He did what was right. That’s character.


America was blessed to have had Mr. Ford in the Oval Office. We would like to express our deep gratitude to his family for “loaning” him to us for too few decades. His absence is felt, already.

The current administration, and those to come, would do well to look upon Mr. Ford’s conduct in office and adopt the quality of leadership he demonstrated.

Oft times, in a nation’s history, it does not recognize greatness in a leader until that leader is taken in death. As we look back, over the next few days, to Mr. Ford’s life, let us examine that greatness... greatness that was there, all along, and to which many of us were blind.

Godspeed, Mr. Ford! Heaven awaits!

Longstreet

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

President Gerald R. Ford Dead.

America’s longest living past-President has died. Gerald R. Ford, 93, has passed from this life to the next.
Here is a little information on this historic figure in American History. There is much more at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
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Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (
July 14, 1913December 26, 2006[1]) was the 38th President (1974–1977) and 40th Vice President of the United States (1973–1974). He was the first person appointed to the Vice-Presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment; and, upon succession to the presidency, he became the only president in U.S. history to fill that office without having been elected either President or Vice-President. He was also the longest-lived United States president, having surpassed Ronald Reagan's record on November 12, 2006.
Ford was born in
Omaha, Nebraska. He was originally named Leslie Lynch King, Jr., after his biological father. His parents divorced when he was less than a year old, and when his mother remarried, he was given the name of his step-father, Gerald Rudolff Ford. He later changed the spelling of the middle name. Ford obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a football star. He went on to obtain a law degree from Yale University before serving in the United States Navy during World War II. Returning from the war a confirmed "internationalist", Republican Ford defeated the incumbent in the party primary and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1948, representing the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area. He was elected House Minority Leader in 1963 and served in the House until 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Ford was appointed Vice President of the United States at the height of the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to Richard Nixon's resignation.
The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces from
Vietnam, the execution of the Helsinki Accords, and the continuing specter of inflation and recession. Faced with an overwhelmingly Democratic majority in Congress, the administration was hampered in its ability to pass major legislation, and Ford's vetoes were frequently overridden. Ford was criticized by many for granting a pre-emptive pardon to Nixon, and was subsequently defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.

The Nixon Pardon
On
September 8, 1974, Ford gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed while President.[21][22] In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country and that the Nixon family's situation "is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."[23] At the same time as he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada.[24] Unconditional amnesty, however, did not come about until the Jimmy Carter presidency.[25]
The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and claimed a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men.[3] They claimed Ford's pardon was quid pro quo in exchange for Nixon's resignation that elevated Ford to the Presidency. Nixon's chief of staff, Alexander Haig, offered a deal to Ford. Bob Woodward, in his book, Shadow, recounts the Haig deal. Woodward recounts that Haig entered Ford's office on August 1, 1974 while Ford was still Vice President and Nixon had yet to resign. Haig told Ford that there were three pardon options: (1) Nixon could pardon himself and resign, (2) Nixon could pardon his aides involved in Watergate and then resign, or (3) Nixon could agree to leave in return for an agreement that the new president would pardon him. After listing these options, Haig handed Ford various papers; one of these papers included a discussion of the president's legal authority to pardon and another sheet was a draft pardon form that only needed Ford's signature and Nixon's name to make it legal. Woodward summarizes the setting between Haig and Ford as follows: "Even if Haig offered no direct words on his views, the message was almost certainly sent. An emotional man, Haig was incapable of concealing his feelings; those who worked closely with him rarely found him ambiguous." Despite the situation, Ford never accepted the offer from Haig and later decided to pardon Nixon on his own terms. Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the election in 1976.

The Russians Have Never Stopped Spying on Us ... by Alan Caruba

It is not for nothing that Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Republic, is a former member of the KGB. From its earliest days, Soviet Russia maintained a vast army of spies around the world and penetrating the United States remained high on its list of priorities.

In 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Robert Hanssen, a FBI special agent who was a Russian spy, judged to be one of the most damaging moles in U.S. history. As Bill Gertz, a Washington Times reporter, notes in his latest book, “Enemies: How America’s Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets—and How We Let It Happen”, “Today, nearly 140 nations and some 35 known and suspected terrorist groups target the United States through espionage, according to intelligence officials.”

“Over the past several decades, foreign agents have penetrated every U.S. national security agency except the Coast Guard. That includes the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department, the State Department, and the Energy Department.”

My thoughts turned to espionage as the saga of the murder of Alexander Litvenko, a former member of the KGB’s counterintelligence now known as the Federal Security Service (FSB) unfolded. In 2000, he had fled with his wife and son to Great Britain where he was granted asylum. He became an author and outspoken critic of the Putin regime.

Silencing the enemies of Russian ambitions has a very long history including the famed ghulags of the Stalinist era.

Americans these days are prone to worry about whether the government is listening into their phone conversations, despite repeated confirmations that the National Security Agency is listening to calls from overseas to suspected Islamic terrorists located here. The notion that everyone’s phone calls are being monitored is fairly idiotic given the volume and the utter waste of resources with which to spy on Americans who pose no threat of terrorism.

There was a bit of a flurry of outrage over recent remarks by Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, who suggested that listening in on our enemies, particularly those here in America, was a good idea since they intended to kill us all. Common sense like that always gets liberals atwitter. As some sage noted, the First Amendment is not a suicide pact.

Some lunatic Muslim convert, seized with “Instant Jihad Syndrome”, was recently arrested by FBI agents after he confided to informants that he intended to kill a lot of people while they did some Christmas shopping in a mall. Kudos to the FBI.

However, Gertz notes that “The FBI has continually resisted efforts to change, even in the aftermath of the Hanssen case and the September 11 attacks. The need for change applies at all levels, from high-level officials to agents in the field.” This is not good news. Indeed, Gertz asserts that, “The FBI has failed to protect its people, its secrets, and U.S. national security.”

“Enemies” devotes an entire chapter to “Russia’s Aggressive Espionage” and this included planting a spy in the U.S. Central Command’s warfighting headquarters in Doha, Qatar, where he transmitted the details of the 2003 invasion plans to his controllers who, in turn, gave them to Saddam Hussein.

The two most devastating spy cases in recent times involved Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames, both Americans and both of whom were spying for Russia. According to Gertz, “There are as many Russian spies in the United States today as there were during the Cold War.” The book also documents Red China’s successful espionage program.

There is, in fact, no good news in Gertz’s book. “The CIA’s once-proud Directorate of Operations has been decimated by retirements and low morale. By 2005, the agency had fewer than 1,000 case officers in the field. Many CIA stations had been reduced to single CIA officers who acted as little more than liaison officers with local services.”

On the cusp of 2007, this should signal why we probably do not know what Iran is up to. Or North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and a laundry list of nations and non-state groups like al Qaeda that would like to see the greatest experiment in democracy and capitalism come to a nasty end.

And, finally, Americans have just put the power of Congress into the hands of a group of people who would much rather “talk” to our enemies than kill them. Our enemies have no such qualms. As easily as they would kill Alexander Litvinenko, we can look forward to more efforts to encourage America to self-destruct.

The ancient Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu, long ago wrote that the greatest skill in war is t
he defeat of one’s enemy without firing a shot.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs”, posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/. His book, “Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy”, has been published by Merril Press.

© Alan Caruba, December 2006

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The Beauty of the Scriptures is Lost!


The Beauty of the Scriptures is Lost!

My favorite translation of The Bible is the Revised Standard… and second, the American Standard.

As a youth, in grammar school, I read The Bible from cover to cover. The King James edition, I might add. I was enthralled with the beauty of the near poetical rhythm of the scripture as it flowed.

I was brought up in a church, which stressed knowledge of the scriptures. And so… I learned them. That scripture has served me well over some 65 years of life and I'm sure it will serve me until my death.

Now, having said all that, I have to tell you... the new translations leave me cold. There is no beauty, there is no poetry, there is no rhythm, and there certainly is nothing to draw a reader to the pages.

For thirty years I made my living with the spoken, and written, word. I know a little something about words, and stringing them together to create a visual image in the minds of the listener or reader.

As my wife prepared the bulletins to be used in her church services for the various Christmas services, she asked me to proof read them. I did. But as I read the scripture, which was from one of the new translations, I found myself, as I said above, left cold. There was no passion there… there was no life to the words on that page. I found myself interjecting words and phrases from the old King James Version of "The Christmas Story". I simply could not help myself. My brain shifted gears, and before I was conscious of it, I was spouting that beautiful passage of scripture, which was burned, indelibly, into my consciousness as a child. There it was! "The Christmas Story" I knew. "The Christmas Story" with the warmth, the passion, the beauty, the inspiration, and yes, even something which resembles a soul.

Today, we read the modern day accounts of the events which transpired on Jesus’ birthday over two thousand and six years ago and they are, well, like reading a 6th grade student's book report! DULL. Lifeless. Boring!

Now, I don't recommend the King James Version of the Bible for accuracy. I DO, however, recommend it to you for a classic work of art. The Revised Standard, and the American Standard, are probably the most accurate translations to be found today. The Revised Standard, which I believe is now out of print, maintained some of the beauty of the old King James Version and added the accuracy.

It seems to me that the churches, which use the new translations of the scriture for their services, should consider using the King James Version for the two High Holy Days of the Christian Calendar, Easter and Christmas.

I taught myself to read as a child reading first the newspaper, and then Popular Mechanics, and then Popular Science, and then... I discovered the Bible. I was hooked on reading from then on. Even then, I could see the difference between the language of the newspapers and magazines, of the day, as compared to the language of the old King James Version of the Bible.

I must tell you what I believe has happened. I believe the publishers of bibles have “dumbed the bible down” to, roughly, the comprehension level of a 5th or 6th grader. In so doing, in my opinion, they have done great disservice to the Christian faith, and to the literacy of the Christian Community.

Now, this is all my personal opinion, mind you. If you find understanding in the modern translations of the Bible, then good for you. But, for me, reading the back of a cereal box has about as much meaning.

Longstreet

Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas Day ... 2006


Christmas Day 2006

Today, Christmas, is the day each year we wish for peace on earth and good will to men. Yet, we seem, each Christmas, to find ourselves lacking that Peace and the Good Will.

This Christmas, again, we find that American troops are far from home, very near the birthplace of the baby who gave his name to the day we call Christmas. Families will open presents and gather for a family meal and rejoice over the birth of the Christ child, and yet, we cannot bring ourselves to follow the teachings of that baby and stop fighting with each other. Christ, himself recognized that, a couple of thousand years ago, and said: “Men will cry peace, peace, but there will be no peace!”

Americans have found themselves in the unenviable position of being the policemen of the world… by default. It was thrust upon us. We did not seek it, we did not want it, but we learned, much to our chagrin, that we had no choice. When the “evil-doers” attacked us on our soil, we were instantly committed. We have been at war now since September 11th, 2001. No end is in sight, no matter what we may have been told.

Back in the mid 1800’s America found herself in another war, much worse that the one we fight currently. It was a war among brothers. A war, which was being waged here, on our shores, and the carnage, was biblical in proportion. Families were torn apart by the war and entire families displaced as the war raged up and down the Middle Atlantic States and even out west, across the Mississippi River. 700,000 Americans lives were lost as a result of that war. Many of the scars can still be seen today in our buildings and landscapes. Many scars are less obvious, but are there, nevertheless.

I’m a member of the "Sons of Confederate Veterans", and as such, I am, acutely acquainted with those unseen scars… as are the members of the "Sons of Union Veterans". Our entire reason for existence is to not allow the memory of what those men did fade from the memory of this nation. We feel that by holding the reasons for that war up to public scrutiny we can learn from it and never allow such a thing to happen on these shores again.

The South was the recipient of more suffering and carnage than were our brothers to the north. It was a sad, disheartening, time.

Here is a small part of the text of a letter, written to his family, by a Confederate soldier on Christmas Eve of 1863:


" This morning battalion guard mounting began for the three batteries. It is Christmas Eve. I am sitting in my little cabin and my thoughts carry me away to Helena where I see my good wife before the hearth with three children around her; the eldest a girl standing and looking earnestly into her mother’s face; the second a boy, five years old, sitting in a small chair looking into the fire; and the youngest a girl about four, leaning on her mother’s lap--all listening attentively to what their intelligent mother is relating in regard to the visits of Santa Claus having visited them on former Christmas Eves with presents of toys, their curiosity is at its height to know if he will come tonight and fill their stockings. Ah, will not these little innocents be disappointed? Their father has not seen them for twenty months, and is now far away battling for home and liberty, and has no means by which he can convey them toys or money to purchase them. Whether their mother has the means to spare in procuring Christmas presents for them is unknown to me, but I pray heaven to provide her with the necessaries of life, and to bless and cheer the young and innocent hearts of my children during the Christmas holidays. Happy Christmas to my wife and children!" [From The Campaign Diaries of Thomas J. Kay, CSA and Robert J. Campbell , edited by Wirt Armistead Cate, 1938; entry for December 24th (1863).]


Surely, there were similar letters written by soldiers on the federal side of the lines.

So, as we tear open the presents today, feast at the table piled high with God’s bounty, lets us find time, somewhere during this hectic day, to remember what this child, whose birthday we celebrate, taught us. Even if we cannot find it within ourselves to put his teachings into practice, we are obligated to try. In trying we will find that peace so often mentioned at this time of year.

Let us remember our troops, so far from home, in constant danger, because the remainder of the world cannot find it within themselves to fight tyranny… of any kind. Let us pray that those misled peoples will somehow find the courage to stand up, like men, and fight the enemies of freedom as our brave men and women are doing. Let us pray that they come to understand that the brave American soldier, who dies, on that foreign battlefield, has given his life for them as well as for his American family.


And, finally, let us pray that next Christmas will find America, and the world, in a less contentious state than this Christmas.

May God richly bless you and your family this Christmas and in the New Year to come.

Merry Christmas, everyone, from the staff of “INSIGHT on Freedom”!

Longstreet

Sunday, December 24, 2006

"From My Cold, Dead, Hands!"


(This Post First Ran in
November of 2005!)

“From My Cold, Dead, Hands”

I was listening to a radio show in the wee hours of the morning, the other day, and there was an on going debate about gun control in the USA.

As I listened, it became clear to me that those on the “take the guns” side have managed to delude themselves into thinking that those of us on the “keep the guns” side will give up our weapons without a bloodbath in the streets of America. I nearly dropped my razor, as I was shaving at the time. It was such a blow to me to realize that those “Ban the Guns” folks are so out of touch with reality that they actually believe that.

Now, I’m a Southern American. I was reared around guns as a child and have handled, and fired weapons, all my life. I was taught to fire weapons at the age of six. That is actually a little late for a Southern boy to learn how to handle firearms. I legally purchased my first shotgun at age 12. It was a Winchester, model 37, with a 30-inch barrel, full choke. It was a very good squirrel gun… and a “weapon of mass destruction” on small game. It made a terrific Deer weapon with either a 12-gauge slug or double ought buckshot. But good marksmanship was required. It was a single shot, so often the shooter had a single chance to bag the game he was aiming for.

I have hunted the woods and the swamps of the two Carolinas all my life until failing health put a stop to it.

In the eyes of the “Ban the Guns” folks I own an arsenal of weapons. In a manner of speaking, I suppose I do. I own long guns; handguns and I even have edged weapons such as Bowie knives. Generally speaking… I’m armed to the teeth. At one time I was very good with a bow as well. Often my aim was better with a bow that with a rifle. Go figure! I tell you this, not as a boast, but to attempt to point out that I’m an average gun owner. Actually, a bit below average, here, in my part of the country.

Only a tiny portion of weapons owned by citizens of the United States are registered. Would you care to guess why? Because… if the weapon is registered, the government knows where it is located.

And one other point the “Ban the Guns” folks overlook… it is fairly easy to manufacture both handguns and long guns in your basement workshop. Back in the day of the “zip guns” I made several myself. I was nearly always armed during my teen years.

As I said, I’m just an “average” gun owner here in the American Southland. I have no gun rack in my pick-up.

Having said all this… let me ask you a serious question. Do you really believe, way down deep, that I would willingly hand over my weapons and place my safety, and that of my family, into the hands of a bureaucratic government agency such as the local police department? Do You?

Well, friend, if you do … you are demented and need serious help, right away.

I can say, with no hesitation, the only way the US government will ever come close to getting gun owning Americans to give up their weapons is with force of arms. In other words… they will have to use guns to take our guns. There will be a blood bath the likes of which this country hasn’t seen since the “late unpleasantness” in 1860 to 1865. It would cause an instant separation in the country. The UNITED states would be no more.

This is not an easy thing for me to say. It is not an easy thing to contemplate, yet is an undeniable truth.

I’m not a member of the NRA. I used to be… many years ago. And, I will be again… if a Democrat is elected President in 2008.

Many of us understand that a Democrat can never be trusted with the security of the US again. That means OUR security is at risk. The security of our families is at risk.

Call us what you will, but when that last element, the security of our families, is added to the mix, the line will have been crossed and that’s when the gun safes, and gun cabinets, are opened and we take responsibility for the safety of our homes and our families.

There is much truth to the old adage: “An armed man is a free man. An unarmed man is a “subject’”.

America was conquered and taken with the gun. Our independence was taken with the gun, our freedom is secured with the gun, and our liberty, as a free people, will be safe as long as American citizens are armed with a gun.

To quote Charlton Heston: “…from my cold, dead, hands!”

Longstreet

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Creating a Needless World-Wide Panic!

(This Post First Ran in October of 2005!)

Creating a Needless World-Wide Panic!

It has become literally impossible lately to open a newspaper or turn on a radio or TV and not hear dire warnings about the horrible crisis the world and the US in particular faces, in the coming months and years, as a result of… no… not Global Warming, this time, (that is an entirely different panic button issue), this time it is the Avian or Bird flu.

Having watched the way organizations, which depend upon the largesse of government money to operate, and even exist, tend to present whatever it is they have latched onto for their government gravy train of money, I have concluded we are being lambasted with a hoax.

That is not to say the Bird Flu does not exist, for it does. But to scare the living daylights out of a few billion people with so little evidence to support their proclamation of an eminent pandemic, I think, is irresponsible.

Sure we have chickens and turkeys and all sorts of birds in the US, too. But we don’t live with them!

Beware any time the government becomes interested in your health! There is something more at work here. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but this much noise from the egghead section of our health organizations tends to spook me.

The last time the US got involved in heading off a flue pandemic they wound up killing a rather large group of Americans… needlessly.

On February 5, 1976 an army recruit at Fort Dix said he felt tired and weak. He died the next day and four of his fellow soldiers were later hospitalized. Two weeks after his death, health officials announced that swine flu was the cause of death. Alarmed public health officials decided that action must be taken to head off a major
pandemic and they urged that every person in the US be vaccinated for the disease. The vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems but about 24% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was cancelled.
The vaccine was blamed for 25 deaths (more people died from the vaccine than died from the swine flu itself) and a small, but statistically significant, rise in the incidence of a rare illness called
Guillain-Barré syndrome or GBS.
In February
2004, avian influenza virus was detected in pigs in Vietnam, increasing fears of the emergence of new variant strains. It is feared that if the avian influenza virus combines with a human influenza virus (in a pig or a human), the new subtype created could be both highly contagious and highly lethal in humans. Such a subtype could cause a global influenza pandemic, similar to the Spanish Flu, or the lower mortality pandemics such as the Asian Flu and the Hong Kong Flu.
From October 2004 to February 2005, some 3,700 test kits of the 1957
Asian Flu virus were accidentally spread around the world from a lab in the US[2].
In May 2005, scientists urgently call nations to prepare for a global
influenza pandemic that could strike as much as 20% of the world's population.

In October 2005, cases of the Avian flu (the deadly strain
H5N1) were identified in Turkey. EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said: "We have received now confirmation that the virus found in Turkey is an avian flu H5N1 virus. There is a direct relationship with viruses found in Russia, Mongolia and China." Cases of bird flu were also identified shortly thereafter in Romania, and then Greece. Possible cases of the virus have also been found in Croatia, Bulgaria and in the United Kingdom.[3]. However, by the end of October only 67 people had died as a result of H5N1 which was atypical of previous influenza pandemics.

Despite popular newspaper reports, Avian flu cannot yet be categorised as a "pandemic".

Back in October, of 2005, I wrote the following:

"The Avian Flu. Anything like the Swine Flu??


What the dickens is going on with the Avian flu, the media, and the politicians?

I have had any number of people approach me, in the past few days, and exclaim, “You know, if the Press keeps on, they’re gonna talk people into getting the Avian (Bird) Flu!”

Well, I spent over half my life in the media and I know a little about shaping and guiding public opinion. Seems to be, all the earmarks of a full out propaganda campaign are at work here.

Now, lets see, there have been, worldwide, only 60 (Actually 67 as of this writing in October of 2005) cases of Avian flu… right? And all the cases were in Asia… right? How many thousands of chickens have been slaughtered? A lot.

In the past few days the airwaves in America have been filled, to overflowing, with talking heads telling us that the sky is falling! The end of the world is nigh! The Bird flu is coming! It’s coming and it’s going to kill you, and your family, and wipe out civilization, as we know it, on this planet!

That sound about right?

I mean… did I catch the tenor of the panic-stricken voices shouting: “Pandemic”! “Pandemic”!

Now, take a deep breath, and sit back, and allow me to remind you another such campaign to invoke panic in the American populace.

Ever hear of the Swine Flu scare in 1976? Oh yeah, it was a mess. The National Immunization Program failed. A lot of people WERE immunized, but the epidemic never appeared! Never! To make matters worse, hundreds of Americans were killed, or injured, (including those who wound up with
Guillain-Barré syndrome) as a result of the inoculation given them by the government. Some 40 million Americans were inoculated for the Swine flu. The Swine flue epidemic never appeared. I repeat: It never appeared!

Millions of dollars spent, people frightened, hundreds killed (and injured) by the vaccine, and no epidemic.

It has been nearly 30 years since that fiasco. Basically one generation has expired. But those of us still on the “right side of the grass” remember that disaster and are not eager to see it again.

However, it sure appears that between the docs, the press, and the politicians… that is exactly where we are headed.

So, next time you hear “Avian Flu”… think Swine Flu. Remember, many more people were killed, in the US, from the inoculation to prevent the Swine flu than were killed by the flu itself. Let’s not do that again! "
****************

I have concluded there is a group of people, on this tiny little planet, who simply do not feel important if they are not at the spear point of a worldwide “scare”. Let’s see: there’s Global Warming, Nuclear winter, an asteroid striking the earth, HIV, famine, and now the Bird Flu. If all these fail, they can always bring back the time honored Bubonic Plague, the “Black Plague”! Of course all these warnings come attached to a warning that everyone on earth will be wiped out, or, nearly everyone.

It takes very little, it seems, to frighten the moneygrubbers at the UN and they are among the first to climb aboard the bandwagon to raise money from “voluntary” donations from concerned member nations, which, in turn, get it from the tax money of their “frightened-nearly-to-death” citizens.

The US may well have a few cases of Bird flu. It would be foolish to think otherwise. But to project it into a world-wide pandemic, at this point, is , in my view, unwise and needlessly frightening the masses. You can bet that the minute the first case of Bird flu shows up in the US, Hospitals and doctor’s offices, all over the nation, will be flooded with people who know, beyond a doubt, that they have Bird Flu and they will demand treatment. Most of them will not have it, and will never get it, but our medical community will be overloaded and people who are truly sick will not get necessary treatment and lives will be lost. I’m concerned that this is the scenario the “Bird Flu Scare” has set into motion.

Surely, we are better than this! Surely, we Americans will not be herded, like sheep, by fear!

What’s need here is calm, clear thinking. Those attempting to create a panic should be told to back off. Let’s see some real science on this and not the “pop” science we get so much of today. Let’s not have a replay of the Swine Flu Scare of 1976. The sun WILL come up tomorrow and most of us will be alive to see it. Bird Flu, or not!

Longstreet

Friday, December 22, 2006

It Does Not Take A Village… It Takes Dedicated, Loving, Parents!


“It Takes A Village” is being re-released… just in time for the 2008 presidential campaign! And I must say it is as totally dumb and useless a piece of propaganda as has ever been written. Even the name is an affront to parents all across the world, let alone the US.

Yes… Mrs. Bill Clinton is running for President of the US. That alone is scary enough. But, if she were only a normal run-of-the-mill leftists, it wouldn’t be so bad. But, she is the "queen bee". And along with her will come that paragon of virtue her very own husband…”Slick Willie” Clinton!

Back to the book, “It Takes A Village”. I submit to you that that is the causation of most of the crime and vandalism done to our towns and cities today. It is also the root cause of street gangs rivaling the murderous gangs of the old west. All because a village raised those kids.

In actuality, it takes a mom and a dad to take responsibility for their offspring and raise those children in the way they should go. It is the most important duty of every parent. As Solomon said: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is grown he will not depart from it”. The scriptures also teach us that: “as the twig is bent, so growth the tree”! There it is, folks. Child-Rearing 101!

Did you see anything about a village raising your child? I didn’t either. A village raising a child is strictly a socialist idea. They know that if they can get hold to that young mind they can indoctrinate that child and create another leftist clone. And they are correct. They can. It has happened, already.

If you are going to bring a child into this world… be prepared to raise that child and teach that child what it means to be an American. Teach him, or her, the freedoms, the privileges, and most importantly the responsibility, one has as an American toward his fellow Americans.

Daycare has caused more damage to the American family and the American society that an atom bomb would have caused! Mothers, gojng off to work and dropping their children off to be raised by a stranger. That stranger spends more time a week with their children than they do. And they wonder why they have discipline problems when they have their child at home? Think about it. The child is just a visitor in his own home. His real home is at the daycare center!

I remember that my mother decided she would go to work, soon after my younger brother was born. He was a toddler and I was no more than five years of age. The company provided a nursery school for the employees, So my mother and father dropped us off there on mother’s first day at work. It lasted almost an entire day. By the end of the day, I had managed to cuss out the lady in charge of the place, got slapped across the face so had that the full imprint of the lady’s hand was plastered all over the left side of my face, plus, I had a ruptured eardrum. All because I did not like the way she was treating my brother and I went to his defense. She decided she would treat me the same way; I rebelled and told her to take her hands off me and called her a” white-headed old Bi-ch”! That’s when I got smacked. The lady was fired and my parents nearly sued the company… but for fear of losing my father’s job, they did not. Thus, ended my one, and only, personal experience with daycare! I remain proud of it to this day! My near deaf left ear is a constant reminder of the events of that unfortunate day. And… I detest over zealous authority figures to this day.

No, a village cannot raise a child properly. Oh, sure, they can raise a child, but you get … well, what we have today, young barbarians!

Young parents, if you want your child raised properly, with the values you believe in, and with the core beliefs of your family, then YOU raise your child yourself! If, on the other hand, you trust someone else’s values above your own, then you allow someone else to raise your kids.

It’s as simply as that.

Longstreet

Thursday, December 21, 2006

The Global Sideshow called the UN!

Well, now that John Bolton has faded from the UN scene, and with Democrats deciding who will represent the US, at the corrupt UN, look for some limp-wristed pansy to get the job. I mean, the last thing the dems want is a man, especially a man with testacles, to hold the UN to account. Nosiree! Can’t have that!

We’ve just had a political hack given the job of Secretary of Defense. He will do his master’s bidding with nary an independent thought.

But this is the way a socialist government, especially the “new socialist government” we have, today, in the United States, works!

Buy, hey, Americans voted the socialist into power! I mean… Americans have spoken! They WANTED SOCIALISM, and now they have it! As Churchill said: "Government of the duds, by the duds, and for the duds".

If you are a regular to this site, you already know my feeling concerning the UN. Simply put, for the newcomers: Get the US out of the UN… and the UN out of the US! (Where is Jesse Helms when we need him?! Ole Jess would have been giving ‘em what for…!)

Look, the only thing the UN is truly united about is their Anti-Americanism and their Anti-Semitism against Israel.

I’m not a globalist. I do not believe in a one-world government or a one-world anything. If I could build a wall around the US and tell the remainder of the world where to go… I would. But, that’s not possible.

I feel the US has paid its debt to the nations of the world several times over… if, indeed, there ever was a debt! I’m tired of wasting our money, and the blood of our youth, to usher in a democratic government in some god-forsaken hellhole of a “tribal-striven” place wistfully called a nation. Whether in the deepest, darkest jungles of the African continent, or the deserts of the Middle East, or even in Europe, I want to see the US wash its hands of acting as the “world’s policeman”. The remainder of the nations on this globe should be told to stand up and take their place among the nations of the world, or lie down and… die… all without US intervention… one way or the other.

Very soon we would, once again, have a bi-polar world. Of course, one country, other than the US, would be willing, and eager, to enforce it’s will over the remainder of the globe and THAT country would instantly be our enemy. Very similar to the way things were between the US and the Soviet Union.

The US is anathema to the UN. That Leftist organization of crooks, bandits, thieves, anti-Semites, tin pot dictators, and arrogant socialist Europeans, holds no place for a nation such as the US, one of the actual creators of the UN. The US, and it's allies, created a Frankenstein… much akin to the monster in the horror classic. That monster turned on its creator… and the UN has done exactly the same thing.

Yeah, I know! I’m preaching to the choir and myself. “Blowing in the wind” is another way of putting it. The US will remain a member of the UN until they forbid the US membership. That day cannot come too soon. One problem… the US finances one quarter of ALL the UN expenses. They would be biting the hand that feeds them… and they know it.

So… whom does the US send to represent us in the UN. I’ve heard only one name put forward, so far, and that is the name of a former Democrat Senator. I have no like nor regard for the man. And, if he agrees to the nomination, he WILL be confirmed.

One day the UN will overstep and the American people will become incensed. Most likely, it will be as a result of UN troops firing on US troops. Already, we have reports that UNIFIL troops, led by France, are threatening to fire on Israel aircraft making recon runs over Lebanon. The instant those UN batteries open up on those Israeli jets, the Israelis will wipe those batteries off the face of God’s green earth… and they should. Will that be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back? I doubt it. Even though Israel is a client state of the US, we have a very high percentage of anti-Semitism among the American left and, at this moment, the Left is in control of the US government.

Let’s face it, in this circus we call “The World”, the UN is but a sideshow!

Want more on getting the US out of the UN? Then go here:

http://www.getusout.org/

Longstreet

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Bring on the Government Gridlock... PLEASE!!!

Government Gridlock is a GOOD thing!

I was thinking, just the other day, what a wonderful thing Government Gridlock is. It brightened my day, decidedly, when I realized that once again we are headed for the blessed relief of gridlock in both houses of the Congress. The only time I feel completely safe, as an American, is when the Congress is in recess... and the second most safe time for American citizens is when the government is in gridlock.

A productive Congress means more laws... and more laws means... more regulations on the people of the country. It also means more money is needed to keep the government in a financial position to enforce those new laws and to finance the everyday operations of the various agencies that must be funded to enact and enforce those new laws. That, of course means even more money is needed, therefore more taxes are levied on the American taxpayers... and the cycle continues. Big government only gets bigger. But... when gridlock occurs, the growth of government is brought to a screeching halt . And that, Dear Reader, is always good news!

You can read more on government gridlock in the post "In Praise of Gridlock" at “RedBlueChristian.com” .


... And already I am tired of hearing the word “Bipartisan” tossed around. Bipartisan means absolutely nothing, and shouldn't, in today’s Congress. If one loves government gridlock, as I do, then one cannot have both bipartisan AND gridlock. When everybody agrees with everybody else, that’s bipartisan(ship) and THAT is the most effective curb on gridlock. So, I am not interested in bipartisanship. I want the GOP to fight the Democrats at every turn. Get down and dirty, wrestling in the aisles of the House and Senate, as in olden days, if needs be.

We have a nation absolutely divided and when it comes to "law making" that is a good thing! When each side must consider the other side seriously, that is a good thing, too, for America.

Government gridlock is as American as apple pie... (which, I believe is actually Dutch, or German?). The Founders wrote it into the rules for the conduct of business by the bicameral Congress. Think about it: Two parties, at least, which drives everyone mad. Filibusters, Presidential vetoes, 60 vote majorities in the Senate, etc, etc. The Founders set the US government up for gridlock as a safety valve to protect the governed... you and me. As long as we have gridlock, the government will serve the people. Without the threat of gridlock, the citizens serve the government.

I have noticed that the TV media, especially, where youth and good looks are at a premium rather than age and sagacity, almost NEVER gets the story on Government gridlock right. They actually believe it is government's business to spend money and raise taxes. The truth is, it is just the opposite. But when a Congress does not pass a massive hopper full of laws then the Media attaches the name of a "Do Nothing Congress" on them". Often, doing nothing is the exact right thing TO do!

Someone has said the government gridlock is another of those checks and balances The Founders intentionally created to slow down government intrusion into our lives. I'm all for that!


Longstreet

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Gov. Leakers: Hunt 'em down, Try them, and Jail 'em!


"Government Leakers": Hunt 'em down, Try them, and Jail 'em!

... at the very least fire them!

I know the MSM thrives on leaks from government employees within the various agencies of the government. They (the press) claim the public has a right to know! I'm not so sure about that, actually. There are some things, it seems to me, that my knowledge of, might bring harm to my fellow Americans. In that case, I happily waive my right to know.... if, indeed, there is such a thing, in the first place.

It has always ground on me that an employee of any government agency would divulge that agency's information to the press. It's sort of like an employee of a business passing information to that business's competition. That's a firing offense. That employee should be fired and escorted from the premises immediately. They have taken sacred oaths NOT to divulge such information to the press or to our enemies. Leaking to the press is very close to the same thing as leaking to our enemies. Information, disseminated by the press, in whatever form, provides access to that information for our enemies.

Look, the Freedom of Information Act provides us all a way to get our hands on information a particular government agency may have seen fit to withhold, for whatever reason. it's bulky, it takes time and it will not satisfy those whose primary aim is speed. I mean this IS the federal government. Moving them is like stopping and ocean liner or a locomotive. It takes time and distance.

Whether you agree or not, the United States IS at war. Much of the information government employees leak to the press, in a time of war, places the lives of Americans at home, abroad, and on the battlefields, in serious danger. Firing that employee, that leaker, is not nearly enough!
What we have, in my opinion, is treason and sedition. Those are two words we don't hear much anymore. The fact that we don't use those words doesn't mean that the act, or acts, of treason and sedition aren't happening, it just means that the tender ears of Americans have grown entirely too sensitive to the truth!


It is all very simple. When a government employee leaks information to the press that could be helpful to the enemies of the United States, and the press disseminates that information, it is a case of treason, or sedition, or both, and both the leaker, and the press outlet, should be tried and, if found guilty, thrown in jail for twenty or thirty years!

Our enemies have clamed over the years that the US press has seemed to be far more interested in beating out their competition with a story, in which "leaked" information is published, than they are in the security of the country which grants them the "freedom of the press". I'm very afraid they are correct in their assessment. One of the single most valuable sources for any intelligence community is the press, the news media, of the opposing country. Sad to say, the US press is a veritable treasure trove of information for the enemies of this country.

Is it time for the law and the constitution to collide over the extent that freedom of the press stretches? Quite possibly it has. Clearly, the US needs stronger laws concerning the publishing of government secrets, and information, which could bring harm to this nation. Will such laws try the extent of the First Amendment? Yes. Do we need an amendment to the constitution to limit Freedom of the Press in the US. Clearly, we do.

Back, many years ago, as a boy in school, I was taught the value of freedom. But I was also taught that along with "freedom" comes "responsibility". Unfortunately the news media, the press, in the US has chosen to revel in "freedom" and completely ignore the "responsibility" they have to this country. That must be stopped. If it takes a curtailing of those freedoms they say they cherish so much, then so be it. It is they who have abused them. It is they who will have brought the anger of the American people down on their heads and it is they who must be made to pay for their juvenile "pushing of the envelope".


If the Congress doesn't get a grasp on the problem now, it will only get worse. Currently, there is no accounting for the damage done the US by an irresponsible press. If they will not willingly take up the mantle of responsible citizenship then the law must force it upon them.

Longstreet

Monday, December 18, 2006

Barack Hussein Obama's Ears!


What's wrong with Barack Hussein Obama's ears, huh?

I mean, hold on here! Some things are sacrosanct and big ears is one of them!

I am one of the fortunate few who have, shall we say, abundant ears. In size, I mean. Actually the size isn't any different from the norm. However, their propensity to stand out from the head reminds an onlooker of two parabolic antennae "SETI" might be using to search for signals from outer space! I mean... when I was born my parents debated whether I would walk or FLY!

Look, we all have some physical feature, or features, about ourselves that we don't like. Hell, I have a pugilist's nose. A BIG HONKER, I have. It has been flattened so many times boxing, and just plain fist-fighting, that it will move around like a blob of jello. See, I had this problem growing up. Small size and a big mouth! A dangerous combination where I grew up. My big mouth kept getting me into trouble and my small stature kept getting me beat to a pulp! My nose seems to have taken the worst of it, though, and the damage still shows.


Now, where is all this leading... right back to Barack Hussein Obama's ears. (Yes... "Hussein" is his correct middle name! Why do you suppose the MSM has gone out of it's way to hide that fact? Huh?. I mean, there is another Hussein to be "hanged by the neck until dead" next month, isn't there?)

There are a lot of things I don't like about Mr. Obama... but, I hasten to add that his ears are not one of them. Mr. Obama's political philosophy worries me way more than his ears. I mean, his ears are balanced. He has one on each side... the left side and the right side. Unfortunately his political philosophy has only one side... the left side.

What makes me think he is a leftists? Well, the folks over at "Opinionnation Times" put it this way:

"Mr. Obama is somewhat fanatical about allowing abortions and does, in fact, support the grotesque and inhumane practice of partial birth abortion. He also abstained from the Parental Notification Act. And when it came to the Supreme Court he voted against both of the well-qualified nominees, Samuel Alito and John Roberts. He also voted against John Bolton, the Ambassador to the UN. Not to mention, as reported here at Opinionnation Times, Barack claimed that it was the media’s "job" to expose NSA secrets. He basically falls in line with the Democratic Party but in some cases, as seen with his support for partial birth abortion, he is more extreme than the average moderate."

Read the entire article at:
http://fromopinionnation.blogspot.com/

Nope, a moderate, Barack Hussein Obama ain't!

Want to know more? Then visit "The Creative Conservative" at:
http://threeforthsright.blogspot.com/2006/12/hysterical-hyping-of-hussein-obama.html


And while we're on the topic of Obama's ears, we have a word of advice for him: Forget your ears! Get past the sensitivity toward remarks ridiculing them. (Until Mr. Obama, himself, mentioned his ears, frankly, I hadn't noticed!)

See, the thing is... a grown-up takes his "knocks" and learns from them. He allows adversity to act as a crucible in which his real self is formed. Learn to laugh at one's self! One of the saddest things in life is to meet another human being who is so serious about himself, or herself, that they fail to see the humor in their inadequacies. That person is set up to be a target for all the "slings and arrows of misfortune" rather than use one's sense of humor as a shield to deflect those incoming darts. Someone said: "A person is never so empty as when he is full of himself". I wish I could remember the author.


All of us are sensitive about something or other. The measure of a man, or a woman, is how he, or she, handles such an inadequacy. We either learn from it, and deal with it, in an acceptable manner, or allow it to harm us forever.

Mr. Obama, sir, I disagree with your politics, but I think your ears are just grand!


Longstreet

New Church Aborning ???


New Church Aborning ???

Just a note on those 8 Virginia Episcopal parishes, which voted this weekend to leave ECUSA (Episcopal Church in America) and join with the more conservative convocation of Anglicans… I have been close to this story since the mid eighties and I have watched this unfold up to this point. I an absolutely delighted at the actions of the churches in Virginia, yesterday, and I am certain it is the tip of the iceberg. Many Episcopal parishes, I feel, would like to make the move but are afraid they will lose their church property including the building(s) land, and all, to their diocese. In most Episcopal parishes, the parish does not own the building(s) even though they paid for it to be built and have kept it up many years. They are, in fact, holding all that property “in trust” for the diocese. This is a HUGE stumbling block for those smaller parishes, which would like to leave ECUSA but cannot afford to begin anew. A court battle is likely to establish, once and for all, who exactly owns the property. My guess is the diocese will ultimately own everything.

This has been coming for some time as ECUSA moved farther and farther to the left and as they became more and more secular in their teachings. By consecrating a homosexual bishop, they didn’t just shoot themselves in the foot. They shot themselves in the heart. It was a deathblow.

Unfortunately, my own church the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is standing on exactly the same precipice and is facing the exact same reaction from it’s parishes as ECUSA is facing today. Many of us (Lutherans) feel our church has been hijacked and we do not recognize the church many of us were raised/reared in today. It is but a shell of it’s former self.

My personal opinion about all this is simple. This is a part of that eternal struggle for the souls of men and women. Some of us will say no, we will not turn our backs on the faith of our fathers… and some will reluctantly go along rather than cause a ruckus. I submit to you it is time for the people of God to cause a ruckus, a huge ruckus!

Over the history of the church it has cost many lives to stand up for what is right. Some faced the lions in Rome rather than submit to the pagan religious practices of their day. I dare say, losing a church building, or a parsonage, or a rectory is anywhere near akin to losing one’s life for the cause of right.

Our fellow Christians, in Virginia, have shown the way. They had the courage of their convictions and it may very well cost them their beautiful houses of worship. But, their souls, dear reader, are untouchable.

I salute those faithful Christians for standing, as did Martin Luther, in the face of adversity and refusing to submit. That is what we are called to do. That is what they did.

Longstreet

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Hands Off Africa! We Can’t Afford It!!!!

(Editor's Note:
With the Left's desire to pull US forces out of the Middle East, where there is clearly a US Interest, and turn them toward the Dark Continent, where there is NO discernable US Interest, we must guard against the incoming Leftist Government of the US embroiling the US in a true quagmire... Africa!)

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(This Post First Ran in July of 2005!)


Hands off Africa! We can’t afford it.

Why, suddenly, is the world so interested in Africa? (ie: Darfur)

Let’s face it; Africa is loaded with natural resources... from diamonds, and gold, to that black gold, oil.

Until recently, Africa has been written off as a “lost cause” with no hope of salvation, at least by the western world. Now there is renewed interest in the welfare of Africa. This is suspiciously sudden!

Africa has been feeding on itself since the last days of Colonialism. They have shown a marked inability to govern themselves or even to shed the “tribal” state of mind for the common good. As a result they have remained in a perpetual state of unrest and turmoil. Black dictators and demigods rule some of the worse off African nations. There is no end in sight. Maybe the west was correct to pull out and leave them to their own devices.

Look, if we get sucked into that morass of chaos, we may never be able to free ourselves. Pouring money into Africa is like pouring water into a bottomless pit. There will never be enough to fill it up. If Europe wants to take on this burden, then by all means the US should let them. But, the US should keep a hands-off” policy towards Africa.

The “Dark Continent” remains dark primarily because the knowledgeable Africans have gotten out. Many have come to Europe, and the States, for an education… and stayed. As a result, the best, and brightest Africans are here, in the States, and in Europe. Some have called it a massive “Brain Drain”. That might be an apt description.

I have thought many time we should re-institute Colonialism in Africa. The problem is, as it was then, the cost. No single nation can afford the drain on its treasury that the rescue of Africa will cost. Belgium, France, Great Britain, The Dutch, none of these can afford it. The combined wealth of the west can not save Africa.

Only Africa can save Africa. Only when Africans come to realize their only hope is to pull themselves together, shape-up, and join the modern world, will they even have a chance of succeeding.

Until then, Africa is lost.


Longstreet