Superpower China ... Alan Caruba

Superpower China
By Alan Caruba

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As the sun begins to set on an America whose dollar set the standard and whose capacity for manufacturing was unchallenged, a new superpower is emerging and it is China .

Many of the economists and China-watchers have been quick to seize on any bad news coming out of the Asian giant, but for the most part they have marveled how, since the new century began, China has proven adept at maintaining a fast growing economy. Indeed, so fast, it is beginning to show signs of protectionism.

In July 2007, an article in The Washington Times noted that “ China , this year for the first time, has dislodged the United States from its long reign as the main engine of global economic growth, with its more than 11 percent growth eclipsing sputtering U.S. growth of about 2 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund’s 2007 projections…”

Further down in the article, the IMF’s deputy director of research, Charles Collyns, was quoted saying, “if you add together Russia and India as well, you get over half of global growth coming from the emerging-market countries.”

C-Span recently aired a segment in which John and Doris Naisbitt answered questions from a group of students at Tenafly High School (NJ) when they launched a tour to promote their book, “China’s Megatrends: The 8 Pillars of a New Society.”

Why, I wondered, start a book tour in a school, but it later occurred to me that these students will grow up and live in a very different world than either their parents or grandparents. It will be a world in which China will be a superpower and American may be in decline if current trends continue.

Up until the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, China had suffered grievously from the communist takeover he had led, beginning with the founding of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Prior to that from the 1930s on through World War Two, the Chinese had suffered from Japanese occupation. Mao, a dedicated Communist, was clueless regarding how to create a successful economy.

The story of how China embraced capitalism while retaining its communist government is quite remarkable, if for no other reason, than the progress it has made. John Naisbitt authored “Megatrends” in 1982, a book that was on The New York Times bestseller list for more than two years, was published in 57 countries, and sold more than eight million copies. Many of those copies were bought by an emerging generation of leaders in China after Mao had decimated much of the nation’s educated classes.

Naisbitt, long before most others, knew that China was embracing change on a scale that most Americans and others could barely comprehend. He and his wife began to spend a lot of time there. Today, his wife Doris is the director of the Naisbitt China Institute in Tianjin and is a professor at the prestigious Nankai University where John is also affiliated.

My generation enjoyed all the fruits of the post-WWII bounty that accrued to an America that had no real economic rivals. Along with the Soviet Union , China was regarded as a threat because it was communist, but to his credit President Richard Nixon understood China should not be ignored and began the process that has led to an extraordinary economic partnership.

The Naisbitt’s book focuses on how China rose from the ashes of Mao’s horror show, asking “Why has ‘autocratic’ China succeeded while many other, democratically governed states have failed to make economic progress? Why is it that despite all efforts by westerners to push China toward western-style democratization, there is no similar outcry for such a shift in China ?’

They conclude that “the constancy of the Communist Party has worked not against but for the well-being of the Chinese people. Long-term strategic planning could be carried out without the distractions and disruptions of elections that characterize western democracies.”

That transformation has been overseen by Deng Xiaping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao, three remarkable CEOs who created “an entirely new social and economic society with a ‘company culture’ that serves the needs of the enterprise and its people on its own path to modernity and prosperity.”

In the process, the Communist Party itself changed, adapting a “top-down, bottom-up” approach to governance that set the objectives at the top and allowed the people to introduce their “bottom-up” answers. As a result, “ China , often thought as a monolith, is actually decentralizing power more than any other country in the world.” It has unleashed a torrent of entrepreneurial activity.

When one considers how the battle over healthcare “reform” has torn apart Americans in the struggle to avoid turning the nation into a European-style socialist economy and society, China’s “highest goal is a harmonious society and governance that is based on trust.”

This has worked in China because “Chinese gain power and self-confidence in the family, in a group, in the network in which they are integrated.” Not surprisingly, “The first reforms took place in agriculture, where today 40 percent of the Chinese still work…” What is often overlooked, however, is that by 2008 two-thirds of China ’s economy was in the private sector!

Some of the results are remarkable. With a population of more than a billion people, “ China has a literacy rate of 90.9 percent; life expectancy at birth is 73 years; and the per capita GDP is $5,962.” India , often noted as the other emerging economy, still has a lot of catching up to do. Its literacy rate is 6l percent, life expectancy is 69 years, and a per capita GDP income of $2,762.

It is not my purpose to load you down with statistics. It is to say that, while America suffers from a surfeit of too much government spending and borrowing—debt—the Chinese are forging ahead and doing so, ironically, with an economic system that has to be considered western in origin.

It is folly to not recognize the economic and societal miracle that has allowed the Chinese to move from a rigid system to one in which its people had a GDP in 1980 of $209.3 billion to about $1.2 trillion by 2000. A decade later, it continues to show growth.

Some time ago my nephew asked me what language his little girl should begin to study. I told him it should be Chinese.

Alan Caruba blogs daily at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. An author, business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information on “scare campaigns” intended to influence public opinion and policies.

© Alan Caruba, 2010

Let’s Roll, America!

Let’s Roll, America!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Todd Beamer uttered the immortal words: “Let’s Roll” just moments before he and a handful of his fellow passengers, aboard the doomed “flight 93,” counter-attacked their hijackers and thwarted the terrorist’s attempt to fly the airliner into the nation’s capitol building and thus saved the lives of US senators, Congresspersons, and members of their staffs, as well many other Americans just visiting the seat of their government.

I opened this commentary with the reference to Mr. Beamer’s immortal words because they capsulize the character of America.
“Let’s Roll” was a call to action by passengers on a hijacked airliner. Today, “Let’s Roll” is a call to action by Americans whose country has been hijacked by Socialist/Marxists.

We have said many times before that Americans are a breed apart. We are a mongrel nation, a mongrel people. Our national DNA, of necessity, must resemble a jigsaw puzzle. The one thing we have in common is our “uncommonness!” Many of us may resemble our European ancestors, or our ancestors from other parts of the world -- until you scratch the surface. Underneath you will find a “whole ‘nother” animal.

Now, most folks don’t know this and even fewer understand it, and fewer, still, understand what being “a breed apart” means, especially when Americans find themselves in trouble.

At this moment in history, the American people understand they -- and to be even more specific— their country -- is in jeopardy. Granted, we were slow to come around, at least some of us were, but now roughly 80% of Americans understand the power grab in Washington by the socialists/Marxists is, in fact, “a clear and present danger” to the republic and they have determined to stop those responsible and banish them to the “wilderness from whence they came.”

The democrats (Socialist/Marxists) are convinced they can maintain their hold on power by manipulating their base, the leftists, and the sub-class of Americans who are permanent, life-long, “wards of the government,” dependent on the federal government’s dole every month for their very existence. They are convinced they can rouse those people to the polls in November in a tidal wave of socialist approval and drown the flames of freedom now lighting up the landscape of America.

In the meantime, the Socialists/Marxists/Democrats need, desperately, to re-direct the nation’s attention away from their ruthless power grab called ObamaCare. They understand the more Americans learn about the new American Socialism (which, in reality, is nothing more than the OLD socialism) the angrier they become. The deeper the passion, the higher the level of American anger, the more likely is the possibility of a political massacre for the democrats at the polls this coming November.

It requires no great imagination, nor is it difficult to predict, a new crisis, of some kind, in the near future. The Obama regime, will, in my opinion, formulate a new crisis in order to deflect America’s attention, to take America’s attention away from his Socialist/Marxist power grab. Whatever the crisis turns out to be – it will happen fairly soon. So—be ready.

Now that Americans understand their country is under attack, under assault, watch for gun sales and ammunition sales to, once again, skyrocket.

Many off us took an oath when we were sworn into the US military. We swore to protect America from all enemies, foreign and domestic. It was a solemn oath -- one we took seriously then -- and continue to take seriously today. Is it any wonder Americans are beginning to feel a “showdown” of some kind is coming?

In “normal” times Americans have mini-revolutions -- at the ballot box -- every election day. But this coming Mid-Term Election, in November, is now understood to be absolutely critical to the continued existence of a constitutional republic on these shores – and -- in order to preserve it we have no choice but to cleanse the government of as many Socialist/Marxists as we possible can and continue the process through the Presidential Election in November of 2012.

So, let’s roll, America! We have a job to do. We must rescue America! Our freedom, our liberty, depends upon it.

J. D. Longstreet

America: Prepare For An Avalanche Of Taxes

America: Prepare For An Avalanche Of Taxes
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Occasionally, someone who really knows what he or she is talking about actually speaks. Such is the case in the article by Timothy P. Cahill formerly the Democratic state treasurer of Massachusetts. (He is now running for governor as an independent.)

In an article titled: “Timothy P. Cahill: Romneycare's failure teaches need to repeal Obamacare” Mr. Cahill says the following: “Despite our warnings about the damage done by RomneyCare, the President and Congressional Democrats ignored the will of the American people and passed the bill anyway. Now we must send a message to Congress loud and clear: "Repeal and replace ObamaCare." Mr. Cahill goes on to say: “The only reason RomneyCare has survived at all is that we have been propped up by the federal government over and over again. But this begs the question of who will bail out the federal government when ObamaCare goes into effect.”
Finally, Mr. Cahill says this: “There is still time to repeal and replace this bill before it is implemented. That's exactly what we have to do-before it is too late. You may read the entire article HERE.

So – how ARE we supposed to pay for ObamaCare? TAXES, TAXES and MORE TAXES!
In an article at The Washington Examiner entitled: “Slow-growth Europe, here we come” author Irwin Stelzer makes the following statement: “His (Obama) fiscal plan is to raise taxes; his political calculation is that Americans will come to love their new entitlements and rank him with Franklin Delano Roosevelt in their pantheon of heroes.”

Mr. Stelzer goes on to say: “Next on the president's list is the financial services sector: More and in some instances better regulation of banks, procedures for winding down busted banks without massive taxpayer bailouts, consumer protection, control of bankers' compensation systems. On to the energy and education sectors, both also on Obama's "transformation" list. Mr. Stelzer’s conclusion is as follows: “When the transformation of America is complete, the country will have been moved in the direction of the European social welfare state. You may read the entire article HERE.

Months ago we warned that Americans should prepare for a new “VAT TAX.” That is a Value Added Tax. I don’t think anyone took us seriously at the time -- no matter that this scribe was dead serious!

In any event, rest assured that the President's Commission on Fiscal Reform would suggest a European style VAT tax.

So – what the heck IS a VAT Tax? Well, you’d better sit down for this one: A VAT tax is a Value Added Tax. Below is a comparison of sales tax and a VAT tax (from Wikipedia) we hope will shed SOME light on a VAT tax. You may read the entire article HERE.)

“Value added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST) is a consumption tax (CT) levied at each stage that value is added to a product or service. VAT is an indirect tax, in that the tax is collected, and paid to the state, by someone who does not bear the cost of the tax. In contrast to sales tax, the number of steps there are between the first producer and the final consumer is neutral in terms of tax charged, whereas sales tax is levied on total value at each stage, resulting in a cascade effect (at each stage tax is levied on the tax levied at the previous stage.

Ok, here is an example comparing a VAT TAX to a sales tax.

Consider the manufacture and sale of any item, which in this case we will call a widget. In what follows , the term "gross margin" is used rather than "profit". Profit is only what is left after paying other costs, such as rent and personnel.

Without any tax:

A widget manufacturer spends $1.00 on raw materials and uses them to make a widget.
The widget is sold wholesale to a widget retailer for $1.20, making a gross margin of $0.20.
The widget retailer then sells the widget to a widget consumer for $1.50, making a gross margin of $0.30.

With a North American (Canadian provincial and U.S. state) sales tax:
With a 10% sales tax:
The manufacturer pays $1.00 for the raw materials, certifying it is not a final consumer.
The manufacturer charges the retailer $1.20, checking that the retailer is not a consumer, leaving the same gross margin of $0.20.
The retailer charges the consumer $1.65 ($1.50 + $1.50x10%) and pays the government $0.15, leaving the gross margin of $0.30.

With a value added tax:
With a 10% VAT:
The manufacturer pays $1.10 ($1 + $1x10%) for the raw materials, and the seller of the raw materials pays the government $0.10.
The manufacturer charges the retailer $1.32 ($1.20 + $1.20x10%) and pays the government $0.02 ($0.12 minus $0.10), leaving the same gross margin of $0.20.
The retailer charges the consumer $1.65 ($1.50 + $1.50x10%) and pays the government $0.03 ($0.15 minus $0.12), leaving the gross margin of $0.30 (1.65-1.32-.03).

OK – Complicated enough for you? The bottom line is this: There will be a humongous increase in the price of everything you purchase, which is covered by a VAT tax. It ain’t gonna be pretty.

Charles Krauthammer has authored a piece entitled: “The 'value added tax' is coming to America” In his article Krauthammer says: “People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude — if you exempt food the yield would be more like $900 billion).

It's the ultimate cash cow. Obama will need it. By introducing universal health care, he has pulled off the largest expansion of the welfare state in four decades. And the most expensive. Which is why all of the European Union has the VAT. Huge VATs. Germany: 19 percent. France and Italy: 20 percent. Most of Scandinavia: 25 percent. (Read more from this Tulsa World article at HERE. )

You know I could not help but consider that God, Himself, only asks 10%! But then, Obama isn’t God, just an uberhuman, right???

There is no doubt that a large percentage of Americans have NO IDEA what they got themslevs into with ObamaCare. Many will only get it as they stand in line for several hours just to buy toilet paper.

Yes, America is now a socialist state very much like the old Soviet Russia was and the modern European states are today.

Pity.

J. D. Longstreet

Illegal Aliens and Obama's Socialist America!

(From September 2009)

Illegal Aliens and Socialist America!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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They tell us there are 12 million illegals living in the United States of America. 12 million! (I don’t believe, for a second, there are ONLY 12 million illegal aliens in America!) But, for the sake of this commentary, let us accept, for the moment, that figure is true. That means the southern border of the US has been violated, crossed illegally, 12 million times, that we know of, and it MUST STOP!
I suppose the thing that galls me so much about it is the fact that those illegals will play the race card in a heartbeat - and they claim to be so “put upon” when we confront them and declare their crossing the border without the proper paperwork a crime, which it most certainly is!

Thinking back to the demonstrations months ago, I remember I could only stare, wide-eyed, as my jaw dropped! There were no federal authorities there to round those people up and check their citizenship! None. There they were, in broad daylight, marching and protesting that we, legal US citizens, are angry that THEY broke into OUR country! It bothers me greatly that he US government extends the rights granted to US citizens by the US Constitution to non-citizens. They ARE NOT CITIZENS and they ARE NOT ENTITLED TO ANY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS!

The illegal aliens in the US today act as if we OWE them! We OWE them nothing! Nothing! They are upset that we conservatives want to treat them like criminals. They ARE criminals!

My regional newspaper has said that we simply cannot keep people out who wanted to better themselves. Oh, contraire! Yes, we can… and we must! At least until they make use of the proper channels and enter the US legally!

I am tired, no, I’m past tired of seeing my tax dollars go to care for people who just broke into the country.

It’s time to warn Mexico that if they continue encouraging their poor to illegally cross the border, into the US, we will invade… again… and just annex their whole country and be done with it! Maybe the oil they have would offset the cost of supporting them. Well, I mean, they want to be Americanos, so darned much, why don’t we make the whole country of Mexico the 51st state and be done with it!

Until the US can get it’s immigration under control, we need to stop ALL immigration, legal as well as illegal. Take down Lady Liberty, dismantle her, and ship her back to France! OK, so that’s a bit much, but I think you get the passion I bring to the subject at hand!

This immigration boil has needed lancing for a long time now. It’s going to hurt for a little while and then it will feel SO MUCH BETTER!

You folks in the northern tier of states may not feel the invasion as we do. Down here, in the southern tier, we are being overrun. And we are fed up! When the South gets fed up, it tends to make life miserable for those in charge until something gets done!

We want the southern border closed and sealed. We want the illegals already in the US found and put in prison. No more trucking them back across the border so they can come right back as soon as the moon rises. No, we want them put away - in prisons - for a long, long, time.

While we’re at it, we ought to serve notice on Mexico that any more incursions by their military across that border will be considered and “act of war” and the US military will act accordingly.

This is not over. The Southern States, especially the Border States, have had it. It IS going to stop. One way or the other. If the current crop of politicians in DC can’t do it, then we desperately need to throw them out and elect people who can and who will actually TRY!

The US is split right down the middle, these days, with the citizens in one of two camps. If you are an American today, you are either a capitalist or a socialists.

We Conservatives are, for all practical purposes, without a political party these days. So, we are fighting the socialist agenda of the Democratic Party on our own. We have no choice. (Thank God for the Tea Party Movement!)

As a conservative, I am convinced that as soon as the Obama Regime gets the Socialized Medicine issue behind them… and declares victory for the President… they are going to turn their attention to illegal immigration. They are not going to try to solve the issue; they are going to make another attempt to ram an AMNESTY for ILLEGAL ALIENS through Congress. They want and they need the votes of those people in the US illegally and they are going to make an all-out push to secure them.

It is time for conservative Americans to step up, once again, and meet them head-on and stop their sweeping attempt to turn the United States into just another mediocre socialist country.

J. D. Longstreet

Is This The End for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”

Is This The End for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”
An Effeminate US Military Will Not Win Wars

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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The answer to the question in the title of this piece is, of course, yes, Obama will end the military’s “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy. Honestly, now – was there ever any question about how this would play out? Of course not!The entire US Military will change the moment the word comes down from on high. In fact, it has already begun. Many, many, veterans are shamed and disgusted by the decision to throw the doors of the US Military open wide to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the Armed Forces of the United States.

I must tell you that I can no longer recommend a career in the US Military for any heterosexual young man or woman. In fact, I will strongly recommend to my grandchildren to look elsewhere to serve their country, not in the military.

I am of the opinion there should be a policy of zero tolerance for homosexuality in the US Military. That said, you know -- I don’t even agree with the current “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a part of the “Policy of Incrementalism” the government uses to force Americans to accept something we really detest. They feed it to us as you would feed a child – one bite at a time. Slowly.

The US military has had the “Don‘t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, for homosexuals in the military, in place since 1993. Under the terms of that policy homosexuals could serve in the US military as long as they kept quiet about their sexual orientation and didn’t go public with it, admit it, or openly take part in homosexual activity. If either occurred, homosexuals were shown the door and bade farewell from the US Military.

Look, in my opinion, having a known homosexual in a military unit disrupts that unit’s cohesiveness. If it happens to be a combat unit, lives are at stake.

The real problem here is this: Too few people in Washington have served in the military, and I include Senators, Congresspersons, Presidents, and even their staff members, to know what the heck they are doing with their social experiments on the military. Try to tell them they are getting Americans needlessly killed and they will stare blankly at you as if they have no idea what you are talking about, and the sad thing is – they DON’T!

Try as you might, you will never be able to convince me that an effeminate US Military can win a battle, let alone a war, against an army of testosterone-charged males rushing at them with the intention of killing every living thing before them. The opposition forces are going to win.

I understand that the US Military is far more into technology to fight and win wars these days instead of the braun, and brute force, and just plain GUTS it took to come to blows with the enemy on a battlefield and fight to win! I know that! But there is still the underlying necessity of motivation. A soldier must be motivated to kill his enemy, the enemy of his country, and thereby remove the threat, forever.

So why IS this coming up now? The answer is simple. A socialist won the last presidential election and became the President of the US. Add to that the increase in numbers in the Congress of ultra-liberal (Socialist/Neo-Comm) democrats cinching their control over the two branches of the government -- and with a Supreme Court that is almost as liberal as it is conservative… and you have to ask???

They intend to strike while the iron is hot. There is no reason to believe they will fail in striking down any and all laws that might keep homosexuals out of the US military. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is doomed. Bet on it!

A couple of years back I asked why not have a compromise? Why not allow those Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen, whose religious faith bars them from association with known homosexuals, to apply for, and receive, an honorable discharge from the U.S. Military Services? At least show some respect for a soldier’s faith.

Of COURSE, it won’t happen. Because that is a part of the plan… to force the American people, even against their religious belief, to accept a way of life their faith teaches is an “abomination.” We have come to expect this heavy-handed approach to religion, especially Christianity, from the left in America.

And then -- there is the recruitment problem, sure to come, as a result of this “social engineering” experiment by the left. Re-enlistments are going to drop off and new recruits will be few and far between. All this while we are fighting two “hot” wars. That means… what else? The military draft will return. But then, that too is what the socialists want. So, get used to it.

A liberal/progressive/socialist/Marxist take over of the US government has been successful. They now hold the reins of power. America is now a socialist nation -- whether you want to admit it or not.

If you doubt America’s transformation to socialism under Obama’s leadership, we urge you to look up the word socialist in the dictionary and compare it to what our government, under the Obama Regime, has done, so far, THEN, try to convince yourself that America is not a socialist country today!

We “old fogies”, who believe in freedom, liberty, and things like the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, had a pretty good run, but we are no longer wanted and the Socialist Eurocrats and Neo-Comms (New Communists) have taken over and have begun to roll back the freedom(s) we worked so hard to preserve since the country’s founding. Their destruction of the hated US Military is just one of their goals. And that is why the issue has resurfaced at this particular time. They have the numbers to do it this time.

It is depressing to watch a nation commit suicide. To watch the world’s only superpower do so is gut-wrenching. But like it, or not, we are witnessing the destruction of a way of life, envied the world over, as the Socialists, the Euro-crats, the Marxists, and Neo-Comms tear down the last best hope of mankind on this planet.

J. D. Longstreet

Bringing light, health and prosperity to Africa

Bringing light, health and prosperity to Africa
US energy and environmental policies must help Africa improve the lives of its people
Roy Innis and Niger Innis
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“I see Africa as a … partner with America on behalf of the future we want for all of our children,” President Obama declared in Ghana last July.

However, three months later, the President signed an executive order requiring that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and other federal agencies reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with their projects by 30% over the next ten years. The order undermines the ability of Sub-Saharan African nations to achieve energy, economic and human rights progress.

Ghana is trying to build a 130-MW gas-fired power plant, to bring electricity’s blessings to more of its people, schools, hospitals and businesses. Today, almost half of Ghanaians never have access to electricity, or get it only a few hours a week, leaving their futures bleak.

Most people in Ghana are forced to cook and heat with wood, crop wastes or dung, says Franklin Cudjoe, director of the Imani (Hope) Center for Policy and Education, in Accra. The indoor air pollution from these fires causes blindness, asthma and severe lung infections that kill a million women and young children every year. Countless more Africans die from intestinal diseases caused by eating unrefrigerated, spoiled food.

But when Ghana turned to its United States “partner” and asked OPIC to support the $185-million project, OPIC refused to finance even part of it – thus adding as much as 20% to its financing cost. Repeated across Africa, these extra costs for meeting “climate change prevention” policies will threaten numerous projects, and prolong poverty and disease for millions.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 800 million people, 80% of whom live on less than $2.50 per day. Over 700 million people – twice the population of the USA and Canada combined – rarely or never have access to the lifesaving, prosperity-creating benefits of electricity, notes Cudjoe.

Even in South Africa, the most advanced nation in this region, 25% of the populace still has no electricity. Pervasively insufficient electrical power has meant frequent brownouts that have hampered factory output and forced gold and diamond mines to shut down, because of risks that miners would suffocate in darkness deep underground. The country also suffers from maternal mortality rates 36 times higher than in the US, and tuberculosis rates 237 times higher.

And yet President Obama told his Ghanaian audience last July that Africa is gravely “threatened” by global warming, which he argues “will spread disease, shrink water resources and deplete crops,” leading to more famine and conflict. Africa, he says, can “increase access to power, while skipping – leapfrogging – the dirtier phase of development,” by using its “bountiful” wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels energy.

The President made these remarks before the scandalous “Climategate” emails were made public, and headline-grabbing claims about melting glaciers, burning Amazon rainforests and disappearing African agriculture were shown to be mere speculation and exaggeration from climate activists. He is also getting awful advice on climate change and renewable energy.

Literally thousands of scientists disagree with claims that we face an imminent manmade global warming disaster, or that warming is connected to disease or harvests. Africa has faced drought, famine and disease since before Biblical times, and armed conflict is far more likely where a lack of electricity perpetuates poverty, scarcity and dashed hopes.

Wind and solar power can help remote villages, but are too costly, intermittent and land-intensive to meet the needs of emerging economies. A single turbine requires 700-1000 tons of concrete, steel, copper and fiberglass – far more raw materials than involved with coal or gas-fired power plants, generating equal amounts of electricity far more reliably and cheaply. And biofuels mean dedicating scarce farmland and famine-level crops to producing energy.

That is why rapidly-developing nations like China and India are building power plants at the rate of one per week. In India alone, 400 million people still have no electricity at all; tens of millions more have it only a few hours a day. Nearly all this electricity must be based on coal.

Wind power is constrained by high cost and limited reliability. Nuclear energy faces major cost and political obstacles. To electrify India in the absence of coal, the country would have to find 14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, build 250 nuclear power plants, or construct the equivalent of 450 Hoover Dams, Penn State University professor Frank Clemente calculates. Those alternatives are unrealistic.

Blessed with abundant supplies of coal, South Africa has applied for a World Bank loan to continue building its 4,800-megawatt Medupi power plant. The Medupi plant would be equipped with the latest in “supercritical clean coal,” pollution control and “carbon capture” technologies.

However, the project and loan have run into a buzz saw of opposition, led by the Center for American Progress, Africa Action, Friends of the Earth and Sierra Club. These radical groups claim to champion justice and better health for Africa, but oppose the very technologies that would make that possible.

“Telling Africans they can’t have electricity and economic development – except what can be generated with wind turbines or solar panels – is misguided at best and immoral at worst,” Cudjoe declares.

The proposed Ghana and South Africa power plants already leapfrog dirtier development phases, by providing state-of-the-art pollution control technology. The energy alternatives President Obama envisions would do little to address the desperate crises that threaten Africans’ health, welfare and lives.

China and India are showing Africa the way forward. Those of us in already developed countries should support Africa’s aspirations – and help it address real health and environmental problems, by using affordable, dependable energy that truly is the lifeblood of modern societies, and the key to a better future for children everywhere.
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Roy Innis is national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality. Niger Innis is national spokesman for CORE and co-chair of the Affordable Power Alliance.

Reflections on a National Disaster ... Alan Caruba

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Dear US Reader:

Repealing ObamaCare will be a HUGE task for Americans. Can we do it now that so much damage has been done to our country?

There is no doubt that the Obama Regime has so damaged the US that it will take generations to repair those damages and recover. Some of the damages are permanent.

I remain of the opinion that the US will not survive another two decades as a single fifty state entity. The differences are much too great for Americans to continue to live together in harmony as we have in the past. The wounds are too great and much too deep.

Mr. Obama has delivered on his promise to “fundamentally change America.” In his short time in office he has managed to drive a wedge between us that can never, in my opinion, be removed.

I now accept that Obama is a “transformational president.” The physical evidence is such that I can no longer deny it. All one has to do is look about. American went from a constitutional republic to a socialist state in just a few months under Mr. Obama’s Marxist rule.

Next time you have access to a dictionary, please look up the word “socialism.” The definition you see there will match what Obama has done to America to a “tee.” I checked several dictionaries before I used the word in the first article I wrote about the changeover in America to socialism.

Our friend and fellow blogger, Alan Caruba, has been reflecting on what has happened in America and the near impossibility of repealing ObamaCare and turning back the damage Obama and his minions have done to the once great constitutional republic called America. It is a sobering, thoughtful article, which will certainly have you mulling over what it means to have lost the freedom America has enjoyed since we gained our freedom from Great Britain. It is a must read for every American worried about the future of America. You will find Mr. Caruba’s piece directly below.

J. D. Longstreet
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Reflections on a National Disaster
By Alan Caruba

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“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.” -- John Adams (1835-1826)

There is no question in my mind that I have lived long enough to see everything the nation once stood for in our own eyes and in the eyes of the world begin to disintegrate and fail.

John Adams, for those who slept through history class, was America’s second president, and one of the Founders who participated in the writing of our Constitution. If you worry about deals made behind closed doors, you are herewith reminded that the Constitution was written behind closed doors. Though the room in Philadelphia had its share of lawyers, the man who presided over the process was a soldier and farmer called George Washington. Others included farmers, physicians, and even clergymen.

Along with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the sharpest mind among them was that of John Adams. After the ratification of the Constitution, he warned that “a Constitution of government once changed from freedom can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

The healthcare bill is freedom lost forever. I hope I am wrong, but I now doubt it will be repealed, nullified by the states, or reversed by the Supreme Court. While it is true that most constitutional scholars believe it is unconstitutional, taking and twisting the Commerce clause beyond recognition, I believe the damage has been done.

I freely admit that, before the vote, I remained hopeful that, even if enacted and signed, it could be overturned, but I am now less confident of that. In retrospect, the entitlement society that began in the depths of 1930s Great Depression and has been expanded ever since has proven to be the slow poison that will undo our constitutional system of government.

Conservatives have long warned against the excesses and delusions of liberals, but we have also seen self-identified conservatives like former President George W. Bush preside over the expansion of Medicare with a prescription program that defied any manner of funding at a time when Medicare and Social Security was known to be going broke.

In 2005, Bush did try to mend the system for the vast redistribution of wealth by campaigning to allow workers to divert some of their Social Security into private accounts as a hedge against old age and illness. When Nancy Pelosi said this was a plan to unravel public pensions, the voters decided they didn’t like that idea.

I confess I have tried in my mind to dismiss the Speaker of the House as just some lunatic, fringe advocate for liberalism run amuck, but like a lot of Republicans today, it is clear that she was underestimated (along with the Senate’s Harry Reid) for her political skills.

She engineered a political victory that has not only restored President Obama’s reputation as a leader on the domestic front, but has set in motion the destruction of America’s frail financial foundations.

Few believe that the U.S. can continue to borrow the billions necessary to maintain Social Security and Medicare. The alternative, of course, is to tax all Americans to such an extent that it destroys the middle class and drives more corporations offshore.

Speaker Pelosi eat, drank, and breathed Democrat politics from birth. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro was a congressman and mayor of Baltimore. Her brother was also a mayor of Baltimore. She made her first public speech at age seven at her father’s swearing in ceremony.

I opened with a quote by John Adams and will close with one by Thomas Jefferson:“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

Americans, however, have long since abandoned the principles of the Constitution, a small and limited central government, for a behemoth that now controls our very lives through a bill that vastly expands the federal government and gives it the power to intervene between our physicians and ourselves.

We have been betrayed by an insurance industry that will be happy to rid itself the high risk and costly need to provide health insurance while continuing to prosper from life, property, and other forms. We have been betrayed by the pharmaceutical companies now salivating at the prospect of future profits funded by the taxpayers. The American Medical Association supported healthcare reform; a betrayal.

Even the States, many of which now want to protect themselves from even greater unfunded mandates, have long since abandoned their sovereignty by allowing the federal government to control education, highways, environment, and a myriad of other local responsibilities.

None of the institutions of government, not the executive, not the Congress, and probably not the courts will uphold a Constitution now distorted beyond recognition. Despite the usual talk of a new revolution, of midterm elections to return power to the Republican Party, the People are essentially defenseless.

Tell me I am wrong. Then tell me why.

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Alan Caruba blogs daily at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. A business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center.© Alan Caruba, 2010

Obama And Fellow Socialists To Ram Through The New Amnesty Bill Soon!

Obama And Fellow Socialists To Ram Through The New Amnesty Bill Soon!
Democrats drunk on Power and Jazzed by the Use of Dictatorial Tactics!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Rogue tigers, having tasted human blood for the first time, often become “man-eaters.” Man is an easy prey for the ruthless tiger. Now that the democrats in Washington have tasted the political blood of their constituents they have become emboldened to hunt again. This time they intend to use their successful back room, closed door, tactics to ram through the New Amnesty Bill referred to as the Comprehensive Immigration Bill. (Dictators, the world over, are just SO proud of the Democrats!)

The comparison between the Bolsheviks in 20th century Russia and the Socialist Congress of the US today is striking. Their driving force is their lust for raw power coupled with their completely insane ideology of a utopian society in which everything is free! That is all wonderful – until the money runs out and the nation collapses in on itself, as America is about to do -- if she is not rescued and rescued very soon.

Flush from their pyrric victory with ObamaCare they now intend to ram the New Amnesty Bill down our throats before we have a chance to recover and rally our forces to stop them. They don’t care because it matters not to them that we don’t want it. All that matters is that they declare those illegal aliens, already within our borders as citizens, as quickly as they can, so they can vote for democrats. I am surprised they are not already registering them to vote as they take their first steps across the wire and into the US.

I know I’m going to get slammed for this but the plain truth is this: We need a literacy test, a competency test, and proof of citizenship – AT THE VERY LEAST-- before one is able to vote in America. Can the would-be voter read? Can the would-be voter even speak English? Is the would-be voter mentally competent? Does he/she even know what day of the week it is?

The democrats are counting on the sub-class of US citizens who are permanent wards of the government to save their collective behinds this coming November at the polls. They are the Americans who depend on the government for their very existence. They vote for democrats because democrats promise them their continued dole every month. The millions of illegal aliens, once granted citizenship, will, for the most part, join the millions in this sub-class and add their votes to the democrat side of the ballot. THAT is the reason for the Comprehensive Immigration Bill… or the New Amnesty Bill.

The ignorance of the average American voter got us the socialist government we have today in America. Already we have seen a humongous decline in America, on all fronts, since the election of 2006 and it only quickened its pace upon the election of a socialist President in 2008.

Recently I wrote the following:

“We have said all along the problem with illegal immigration across our southern border could be fixed, almost immediately, if the government wanted it fixed. Now we know for certain that they do not want the southern border sealed. See, those are democratic voters coming across that invisible line headed north into the land of milk and honey and along side them on their northward trek is cheap labor!

Basically, Americans STILL want the border closed and sealed FIRST! It is common sense to stop the leak before bailing. Once the border is closed and sealed then taking care of those aliens here illegally can begin and mass deportations can begin.

Yes, Americans ARE angry with the illegal alien mess and the numerous attempts by our government to offer them amnesty, which would, in time, offer them citizenship. But, as Rasmussen learned when doing a survey, Americans are not mad at the illegal aliens. No! They/we are mad at our government for allowing this to happen in the first place!

Those of you who support open borders do not, I repeat, do not try to beat us about the head and shoulders with the old saw that says America is a nation of immigrants. See, we already know that because our ancestors were immigrants, too. Mine came into the country, legally, in 1789 through what was then Charles Town Harbor and were assigned a place in the 96th precinct of the state of South Carolina. Notice - they came into this country LEGALLY! That is all we expect of any who want to immigrate to America. Do it legally and we will welcome you with open arms. Do it illegally and we want you caught and deported forthwith!

It is becoming ever more clear, everyday, that America’s biggest problem with illegal immigration is not with those who illegally break into our country and help to bleed it dry, but with our government which refuses to uphold the laws already on the books. Had those laws been enforced we would not be in the situation we find ourselves today. Plus, the problem of what to do with these 12-plus million illegal aliens would not be a problem, at all, if the government would simply follow the laws on the books today.

The bottom line for Americans to ponder is… what do we do with a government that refuses to uphold/enforce the nation’s laws? Well, let me ask you - suppose you had a business and an employee consistently refused to follow the rules of the workplace. What would you do to that employee? See? The answer is simple. The ONLY way we are ever going to get relief from this problem is to clean the house in Washington.

My friend and fellow blogger, Alan Caruba, recently said in his piece entitled “A Crisis of Governors”: “What, in fact, Americans are witnessing is a failure of government at both the state and federal level. The nation has managed to elect too many people to public office that are so clearly inept, incompetent, and untrustworthy, it poses a threat to the republic.” Alan, as usual, is spot on. America’s most dangerous enemy, at the moment, is its own government! I would add that, in my opinion, America’s second worst enemy, at the moment, is its own ignorance. It was through the ignorance of the American electorate that these pitifully inept politicians were elected to office to begin with.

Until we can come up with a solution to the problem of an unresponsive government we are stuck standing on the sidelines observing the largest land invasion and take-over of a country in the history of the world.” (From “Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Back Soon? You Bet!” by J. D. Longstreet)

By the way, don’t buy the government’s argument that they cannot round up and deport the illegal aliens in our country today. The Eisenhower Administration managed to round up -- and deport -- 1 million and 3 hundred thousand illegal aliens in what was tagged “Operation Wetback” in 1954! I dare say with the technology we have today we could do a whole lot better… if the government just wanted to do it.

J. D. Longstreet

Talk of Impeachment ... Alan Caruba

There is a growing tide of opinion in America that America’s President has abused the power of the Office of the President. Now, I am not going to defend Obama because, frankly, I’m not sure that he HAS actually abused it – or just USED it to its absolute limits -- something we Americans are not used to – AT ALL.

It is my opinion that sometime, soon, the courts need to look into the use of Executive Orders by this President, and others, to, in effect, CREATE LAW. If abuse of power IS found, it may be found there first.

The anger at our unresponsive Congress and President continues to wax hot across the nation and cries for “impeachment” were sure to come from a citizenry trying to be heard.

As America lurches from one crisis to another, on practically a weekly basis, patience has simply run out.

Many conservative pundits are of the opinion that maintaining this crisis mentality is simply a tool the Obama Regime is using to their advantage to shove through unpopular laws that otherwise would be defeated out of hand -- laws such as ObamaCare. Next up we can expect Comprehensive Immigration Reform known by US citizens as “The NEW Amnesty Bill.” And let us not forget the old "Cap and Trade" bill still lurking in the shadows.

There are a number of pundits and commentators who have concluded that at least some of the crises the Obama Regime warns Americans of are simply manufactured and would be resolved in the normal course of doing business in the Congress.

But impeachment has now begun to be heard above the din of the crowd clambering to get the attention of their senator, their representative, indeed, their President.

Alan Caruba, of The Anxiety Center, as some thoughts on that. As usually, Alan brings a cool head to the discussion as he focuses on just why impeachment of Obama, at least at this time, is just NOT going to happen.

Please read Mr. Caruba’s extremely cogent remarks below.

JDL

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Talk of Impeachment
By Alan Caruba
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“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”-- C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

Jeffrey T. Kuhner, president of the Edmund Burke Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, and a columnist at The Washington Times, might as well have rolled a grenade down the main aisle of the House of Representatives chamber. On March 19 he wrote a column titled, “Impeach the President?”

It is a bold proposal and would end much of the agony that President Obama has inflicted on Americans. In lesser developed nations a leader as unpopular as Obama would risk being seized by a mob and dragged through the streets before being hung.

Of course, we don’t do that kind of thing and, truth be told, impeachment proceedings have been rare in American history and both have failed.

Only two presidents have faced impeachment. One was Andrew Johnson who became president upon the assassination of Lincoln. Taking power in the wake of the Civil War, he was deemed to be too friendly to the defeated South. His removal from office in 1868 was defeated by a single vote.

The other president to be impeached was Bill Clinton in 1998. The charges brought against him included perjury, obstruction of justice, and malfeasance in office. He was no doubt guilty of all three, but the proceeding was initiated primarily as the result of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and a lawsuit brought by Paula Jones.

It was the considered judgment of the Senate that his failure to keep his penis in his pants did not rise to the punishment of losing his job. In hindsight, the senators might have been mindful that they would be installing Al Gore, the vice president, if they removed Clinton.

I cite this to demonstrate that impeaching Barack Obama—while probably the right thing to do—would be an impossibility in a Senate and House controlled by Democrats.

Not to go all legal on you, but Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution says, “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and, Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Constitutional lawyers deem “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” as acts of criminality in which a law was broken; abuses of power; and something called a “violation of public trust” as defined by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. The definition of this is, for all intents and purposes, whatever the House of Representatives say it is. These are, after all, folks who can’t even kick Charlie Rangel out on his kiester.

The two acts of impeachment issued in the past cited exceeding the constitutional bounds of the powers of the office of president; behavior that is considered grossly incompatible with the function and purpose of the office; and using the power of the office for an improper purpose or for personal gain.

Being fellated in the Oval Office by a White House intern did not turn out to be sufficiently grossly incompatible in 1998. Clinton finished his second term, pardoned a lot of felons, and probably had to be restrained from leaving with the White House silver and chinaware.

Kuhner, however, made a very strong case for impeaching Obama. He accused the president of “imposing a leftist revolution” with the de facto nationalization of “key sectors of American life—the big banks, financial institutions, the automakers, large tracts of energy-rich land from Montana to New Mexico” were cited as examples.

The ugliness concerning the healthcare “reform” legislation and the proposed Cap-and-Trade legislation was cited as Obama’s willingness “to devour his presidency, his party’s congressional majority and—most disturbing—our democratic institutional safeguards to enact” both pieces of legislation.

“He is a reckless ideologue who is willing to sacrifice the country’s stability in pursuit of a socialist utopia.”

That is, in fact, what both Stalin did in Russia and Mao did in China. Both inflicted death in the millions and economic ruin on both societies.

The question, however, is whether the process of impeachment can be initiated and, once commenced, whether a case could be made to depose Obama. That is not likely to happen. It has nothing to do with whether a just case can be made, but because of the vast corruption of the political process and the moral decay Americans are witnessing in the Democrat Party.

We are now living in a state of constant crisis in America. That is precisely the way the White House likes it. Such conditions could lead to a complete seizure of power in the name of protecting the Republic.

It worked in Nazi Germany in the last century. It worked in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It worked in Cuba. And it is at work today in Venezuela.

Despotism never sleeps.
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Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. An author, business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center.


© Alan Caruba, 2010

The Election That Never Was

The Election That Never Was
Will Obama Suspend the Mid Term Election?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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More and more politics-watchers are coming around to the conclusion that the scheduled Mid-Term Election in November of 2010 will be a political bloodbath for the Democratic Party. It is beginning to appear as if the democrats may, indeed, lose control of BOTH houses of the Congress. As a conservative I can only hope and pray they do.

But – the democrats lust for power is so great and their zeal for socialism so intense, that I cannot see them allowing their hold on power to be placed in jeopardy by, of all things, an election where the voice of the people is actually heard.

So, the question must be asked: Will Obama and the socialist/democrats in our government suspend, postpone, or “call-off” the Mid Term Election scheduled for this coming November?

First we must remember that Obama promised during the presidential campaign to bring “Fundamental Change” to the United States. I do not believe a person alive in America today could doubt his sincerity when he said that. Plus, the evidence of that fundamental change is right before our eyes, and in our wallets. In less than eighteen months the Obama Regime has managed to take America from a constitutional republic to a socialist republic. That accomplishment alone should give you reason enough to suspect that when their power is threatened they will use the full force of the Central Government to ruthlessly crush any and all who they perceive as a threat. At this moment in history, a threat is anyone, any American, who does not agree with them.

What the Obama Regime needs is a national crisis of some kind, a national emergency, in order to suspend the election in November. There is much talk about the Obama Regime declaring martial law as the result of a national emergency. That would take care of the election.

Next question: Who decides what a national emergency is? You’ve got it -- the Obama Regime!

Ok. So now I am worried about a natural disaster such as a major hurricane striking the Eastern Seaboard this summer or this fall. As all of us who live in Hurricane Alley will attest, we know from experience that we are due a major strike.

All right, already! I KNOW this all sounds paranoid as the dickens! But understand this: A little paranoia in the face of danger can save your butt! Lord knows -- we are starring danger in the face every day the Obama Regime enjoys in power.

Will there actually be a Mid Term Election this year? I honesty wish I could answer affirmatively, but I fear the raw power on which the democrats are drunk may decide that for us. Understand this: there is nothing as dangerous to freedom in the US as a Progressive (Socialist) Democratic Party inebriated on raw power.

I can say this: The American people are a patient people. We will put up with a lot of nonsense from our government – for a while. But we draw the line when that government ignores the constitution, as the Obama Regime and the Democrats in the Congress have done. There is a seething rage in America today. It has cut to the quick many a patriotic American’s soul. There is a tidal wave of unrequited anger, roiled up and posed, ready to fling itself at a government it sees as a threat to America’s freedom and liberty. Woe be unto him who is caught in the deluge.

Look, some of us have a knack, a talent, a curse, call it what you will, of sensing huge changes around us well before they actually occur.

During the past few months I have sensed a change in the American atmosphere. Where there was anger, there is now rage. Believe me, there is a HUGE difference between anger and rage. Both are great motivators. but motivation by anger can be considered and well thought out. On the other hand, motivation by rage (or outrage) is often not well considered and thought out. It is more akin to lashing out, and is, therefore, to be avoided when it is possible.

But, my senses tell me it is too late to avoid the “lashing out” Americans are about to unleash.

Why do I even bring this up? I bring this up because -- at this very moment that tidal wave of anger and outrage is damed up, increasing in power and intensity, waiting, just waiting, for an incident that will knock the chocks from the dam wall holding back the cascade. Postponing, or suspending, the Mid-Term Election, currently scheduled for this coming November, would be the spark that ignites a firestorm that will consume all in its path.

But those in our nations legislature, intoxicated on their acquisition of more and more raw power, haven’t seemed to notice the shadow of liberty loving Americans looming over them as they celebrate.

Elections are a sort of safety valve in America. Without a safety valve to release unwanted pressure a boiler would soon explode. This coming Mid Term Election, in November, is one of the most important safety valves ever to exist. Shut it, remove it, or disable it, and believe me, the boiler will explode with unimaginable force.

If America was one huge computer, we could simply “reboot.” Of course we cannot do that – but many are saying we CAN “reset.” That is the aim of Americans in the coming Mid Term Election.

The federal government MUST be brought back under the control of the citizens and limited to only that power, and those particular powers, granted by the US Constitution. If Americans can accomplish that -- then most everything else can readily be taken care of -- and a return to constitutional republicanism in America restored.

I don’t even want to think about what will happen if we are unsuccessful in saving and restoring America at the ballot box in November. It MUST happen if America is to survive.

Remember in November!

J. D. Longstreet

Requiem for America

Requiem for America

Now The Socialist States of America!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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And so, today we celebrate the short life of a constitutional republic formerly known as the United States of America.

In her former life she was a jewel whose glistening light illumined an entire planet and even “near space.” She was often referred to as “A shining City on a Hill.”

The charity of our now lifeless Titan was without compare. She fed the hungry, rescued whole countries and even continents from the clutches of tyrants even as she had once rescued herself. In return she asked only friendship from those she had saved from the darkness of dictatorial serfdom. The downtrodden did not run away from her army. No. Instead, they ran joyously toward her army for they knew that she brought, not only salvation, but justice and mercy, as well.

In her all too brief lifetime she was a force for good on this earth. Now that she exists no more, that force for good is gone. Evil is now loosed on the planet with no counter force to protect those unable to protect themselves.

In all her might she was unable to save herself from the evil within. Her might was no match for the dark forces at work within her very on government to bring her downfall and to recreate her as a Socialist, Marxist, and Communist entity pulsating with a lust for power.

She was betrayed -- betrayed by her very own citizens who did not love her enough to stand beside her and defend her from the denizens of the deepest parts of hell, itself.

Their weapon was ignorance. A populace whose ignorance had been taught them in her very own public education institution brought this giant of giants to her final resting place on the ash heap of history. Here she will rest beside other colossi of nations whose fate, much as her’s, was sealed by their very own citizens.

The United States of America is gone. She no longer exists except in our memories. Now, instead of turning our faces into the wind and plowing ahead toward victory, we turn away from the breeze and allow the zephyr of fortune to blow us where ere it wishes.

We raise a glass to the glories of the United States of America and toast her memory.

A second glass we raise to the new Socialist States of America -- and tremble as we bring the shaking glass to our lips and our eyes dart furtively around the room searching, in vain, for the government spies who watch our every move, for our own benefit, of course.

The ice-cold fingers of fear clutch our hearts as we wonder just how awful this new future will be without our beloved “Columbia” standing as a guardian at the gates of freedom.

And then we become conscious of the heavy blanket of guilt resting unpleasantly on our shoulders. It is guilt well earned. It is a guilt that accompanies the “Mark of Cain.” It is the guilt of a murderer.

We stand in horror at the memory of what we have done. We have murdered our own country. Her own children cut down the noble experiment in constitutional republicanism.

As we leave this mournful gathering, with our National I. D. cards and papers in hand for the authorities to scrutinize, the searing of our souls over the flames of Marxism is near complete. Deep within our throats we form the words “God Bless America,” but choke them back as we realize there IS NO America for God to bless! She is gone – gone forever. Worse yet, we realize that God will have nothing to do with this new country where He is unwelcome.

Through tears of awful dread we mutter the words: “The Socialist States of America” and taste their bile-like bitterness on our tongues -- bitterness that nothing, nothing, will ever take a way. It is the eternal bitterness of self imposed slavery.

May God forgive the democrats for what they have done to America!

And finally: may God aid us in our efforts to purge our government of Socialists, Progressives, and Marxists -- and return her to the constitutional republic she was intended to be by The Founders of the God-inspired experiment we call America.

(I have learned, since this article was posted originally, that my Congressman, Mike McIntyre , a conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat, stood his ground and voted "NO" on ObamaCare! Our heartfelt thanks to Mike for the good sense to recognise socialism for what it is and to stand against it! "Thanks, Mike!" I WILL remember this come November!)

J. D. Longstreet

Today Everything Changes in America ... J. D. Longstreet

Today Everything Changes in America
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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America, as we knew it, ceases to exist today (Sunday, March 21st, 2010). You may think that is an overly broad statement, a statement that just isn’t so. But, I would assure you it is, if anything, an understatement!

Today the socialists in the US House of Representatives will pass (or by the time you read this tome will have passed) National Healthcare Reform – that which we have chosen to refer to as ObamaCare. It will forever have HIS name on it, as well it should, because it was his campaign to “fundamentally change America” and his use of the ignorance of most publicly educated Americans that brought us to this reintroduction of slavery in America.

Yes, ObamaCare, by any other name, would still be slavery. Why? Because it is pure, flat-out, socialism, and socialism is the enslavement of a people until communism takes over their nation’s government.
,
I may have lost one of the best friends I have ever had, in my entire life, as a result of our own debate over ObamaCare and socialism in America today. His belief in a strong central government and my belief that a strong central government is pure evil, and my persistent belief in “state’s rights” as granted by the US Constitution, drove us to a heated debate. Later, I reminded myself that the socialists in charge of our government today NEED Americans at each other’s throats.

You know, ObamaCare is scary enough -- all by itself. But when one understands that it is only the BEGINNING, only the very first step in total control of the lives of Americans, it is not only frightening, it is terrifying. Freedom loving Americans must, somehow, stop this socialism.

Freedom-loving, liberty-loving, Americans must begin the campaign to repeal ObamaCare right now, today. Actually, I have already begun my personal campaign to have the “law from hell” repealed. I urge you to do the same.

I was thrilled to see the crowds of Americans in Washington yesterday demonstrating against socialized medicine. It was a great event for the Tea Party. I thought, as I watched on TV, that we have to bring this same level of energy toward defeating as many of the socialists and RINO’s in Congress as we possibly can this coming November in the Mid-Term Election. America will need a fresh start and she cannot get it if the incumbents remain in power in our national legislature. What is even more important -- we won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of repealing ObamaCare if we do not remove the incumbents and replace them with representatives and senators sworn to support repeal of ObamaCare.

Repealing ObamaCare will certainly not be easy. Some fellow commentators are questioning the fortitude of the GOP members of Congress when the chips are down and the battle rages for repeal. I must tell you, I have the same concerns. Remember, even if we manage to gain control of both houses of the Congress this November, Obama will STILL be in the White House and he will most certainly VETO any bill that repeals ObamaCare -- should it ever reach his desk. Yes, repeal will be an uphill battle – all the way.

Repeal of ObamaCare will be one of the most difficult tasks ever undertaken by the American people. Once a government program wraps its tentacles around the freedoms and, yes, the wallets, of the American people it is near impossible to loosen them enough to forcibly extract them and return America to its free state.

We have a most difficult job ahead of us. It begins now, today. We absolutely must see that the democrats are defeated at the polls in the Mid-Term Election this coming November. Between now and then we have to locate and encourage candidates who believe in freedom for Americans -- and candidates who hate socialism -- to run for the offices up for election. And, somehow, we must only elect that candidate who will not fold when the going gets rough in Congress.

Bipartisanship be damned! It was bipartisanship that got us to this point in American history where the country has adopted socialism. In order to repeal ObamaCare and return America to its “constitutional republic” form of government, we cannot afford to elect a single limp-wristed, weak-spined, candidate. We will be engaging in a war in our national legislative body and we will need WARRIORS!

I urge you to begin your personal efforts today to Repeal ObamaCare.

J. D. Longstreet

America Creates God In Her Own Image!

Neo-Pagans Rule!

America Creates God In Her Own Image!
By: J. D. Longstreet

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As socialism wraps it’s cold, icy, fingers around freedom’s throat in America many Americans have slowly come to the realization that the socialist takeover of America did not happen overnight. There were plenty of warning signs over the past few decades. As I think back, the most obvious of the “warning signs” was/is the so-called “Green Movement.”

Those who follow the Green Movement, the acolytes of the Global Warming “religion,” are easily identified by their unbridled compulsion to bow down to the false idols of science, to socialist politics, and, let us not forget… M O N E Y! You find them everywhere these days. Turn on a TV and there they are straining to burden you with a guilt trip about the damage YOU have done to the planet and how YOU must atone for your wickedness in order to be redeemed from your sins against the “Earth Mother.”

Go to church, and there they are, often in the pulpits, railing about YOUR sins NOT against God, but your sins against the Earth, the climate, the Polar bears, etc, etc.

In America’s schools YOUR children are being indoctrinated in the world’s newest religion and they are instructed to act as missionaries taking the message of the new salvation back home to their parents and family and friends and neighbors. They are made to sit through propaganda movies by Nobel Prize winners which scare the living daylights out of them and help mold those malleable mental crucibles into warriors of the LEFT armed with lies, deceit, and more propaganda.

Spreading the Green Gospel ain’t easy. If the Greenies get them at birth, and all the way through 16 to 20 years in our public education system, they are lost. The Green cult has got them… unless there is an “Intervention.”

Our politicians sold out, longs ago, to the “greenies.” They preach energy independence and then refuse to allow America to become energy independent by using the oil and coal we have right here beneath American soil or under American waters or in the rocks that litter America’s landscape. And now we have a President absolutely committed to the green religion. The man can be forgiven some of his folly for if you dig a little past his carefully crafted veneer you will find him not as intelligent as you have been led to believe.

Back to the new OLD religion. (That was not a mis-print, or an editorial screw-up.) See, that’s what this new Green religion is… O L D! It is out and out paganism. The first time I heard a minister preaching on the merits of environmentalism from the pulpit, I nearly burst out laughing! The man was obviously educated beyond his abilities! There was a man, supposedly a man of God, speaking from a sacred spot in a building set aside for the worship of God, endorsing paganism which, itself, is the world’s OLDEST religion! I ask you, how is it possible for any reasonably educated individual NOT to recognize the Green Movement for what it is… pure Paganism, the worship of Gaia, the “earth mother, or “Mother Earth”.

Many believe that paganism died after Constantine in the third century. Not so! It DID recede but the practice of paganism continued in the jungles of Africa and right here in what we now call America, and even in Europe where the practice went, for all intents and purposes, underground. Paganism has survived into the 21st century. Not much about it has changed except the name by which it is known today…. environmentalism. It is the worship of the earth. It is the deification of the planet and raising it up above that which Christians and Jews refer to as God, Jehovah, and Yahweh. It is, for Christians and Jews, a violation of the First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Even now, as I write this, I envision modern day Americans bowing down to trees and rocks and rivers and oceans paying homage to Gaia the “earth mother”. How utterly disgusting it is to see grown men and women make complete fools of themselves in pagan worship services on this day. What makes it truly disturbing is that these same men and women who, on this Wednesday, bow down to the idols of a false god, a pagan god, Gaia, will rush to church or temple or synagogue on Saturday, or Sunday, and keep a straight face while they go through the motions of worshiping the creator of all this is, seen and unseen.

Yes, the pagans are back from the fringes of society and the shadows of civilization to take advantage of mankind’s deep yearning for something to worship that he, or she, can see and hold and touch and pay tribute to in order to, somehow, redeem himself/herself from whatever his/her, darkest fears happen to be. They call it environmentalism, but those of us who recognize it for what it is call it by its real name… paganism.

It is important to understand the link between paganism and socialism. Here in America we now have a socialist government, as does much of the rest of the world. Here’s the link…socialism is the incubator and the nursery for paganism.

You see, America is now in it’s “Post-Christian Era.” We are no longer a Christian nation. America, today, is, at best, a Socialist/Pagan nation. There is a price America must pay for her failure to live into her promise, to live up to her role as the leader of the world. Make no mistake, America forsook her leadership role and joined the mob. If you have been surprised at the rapidity with which America has crumbled, then you have not been paying attention. Stand-by, for the worst is yet to come. We are only at the cusp of the troubles and tribulations this nation must yet suffer.

Already, today, I chafe under the yoke of socialism. The knowledge that the burden is only going to grow heavier makes the chafing even worse. Watching America desperately seeking redemption through the pagan worship of the earth, this oldest of old religions, it occurred to me that, at least here in America, we have finally succeeded in creating God in our own image… and it is an abomination!

J. D. Longstreet