Destroying America's Moral Fiber ... Alan Caruba

Destroying America's Moral Fiber

By Alan Caruba

There’s something very wrong when the forthcoming memorial ceremonies of 9/11 at Ground Zero in New York City will not include prayer. Almost by definition, a memorial service includes prayer for the souls of the dead and for renewal in the face of adversity.

No doubt a combination of political correctness and common sense made it clear that having a Muslim imam joining the clergy would be a very bad idea, given that it was Muslims that planned and carried out the attack. That would have been an affont, but denying representatives of the Judeo-Christian faiths on which America is based seems to me a bad idea, too.

Religion, for whatever reason, is being squeezed out of the public square whenever and wherever some athiest complains about it.

Across America we have seen the slow creep of moral decline in public institutions despite a population that is widely understood to have a deep faith in a greater power in their lives, but which I mean God, not government. America overcame its economic problems in the 1980s through the leadership of Ronald Reagan who never hesitated to cite God as the inspiration and source of our fundamental belief in freedom and liberty.

To my mind, it began with the prohibition of school prayer, a part of the educational experience for generations of American children. Since then, schools have been turned into minimum security prisons with a notable rise in bullying. Along with the Pledge of Allegiance, a short prayer was a reminder and reinforcement of the belief that there is a higher power, despite the arrogance of officialdom at all levels.

Though homosexuals represent a very small percent of the population, they have received increasing attention in the nation’s media and have become emboldened to hold parades in cities where they celebrate their sexual deviancy.

Most notably has been the decision by several states to authorize same-sex marriage despite the extension of “civil unions” to provide for gaps in the legal process as they affect homosexuals living in committed relationships. The degradation of the sanctity of marriage, a practice and tradition dating back for millennia, has been nothing less than an attack on moral values in America.

The campaign to reduce former levels of intolerance for homosexuals began when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) concluded in 1973 that homosexuality was not a mental disease or disorder. It voted to support “gay rights.” .

Peddling Pedophilia

A recent conference sponsored by B4U-Act, a pedophilia advocacy group, featured psychiatric professionals who argued to remove pedophilia from the APA’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. If that were to occur, pedophilia would no longer be considered a mental disorder, at least by this professional group.

This is the North American Man-Boy Love Association on steroids.

Should that occur, the doors would be open to consider this abhorrent behavior, condemned throughout our society, as just another behavior that does not merit severe penalties. As if every child in America is not already at risk, this would encourage the media to encourage greater public acceptance and “understanding” of pedophilia.

The B4U-Act conference concluded that pedophilia was “not a choice”, that efforts to treat pedophilia are “similar to methods used on homosexuals 50 years ago and similarly ineffective”, and that ‘minor-attracted persons “do not exhibit narcissism, psychosexual immaturity…psychopathology, neurosis or any personality disorder more than people attracted to adults.”

This is such a blatant effort to suggest that pedophiles are just like everyone else that it renders the profession of psychiatry a thin excuse for every form of deviancy that threatens individuals—in this case children—and society at large with the failure to discourage and punish this abomination.

Those psychiatrists and psychologists have apparently already forgotten the horror that greeted revelations of widespread pedophilia among Catholic priests and others responsible for children in their care.

In early August, former child star, Corey Feldman, courageously declared “The number one problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be pedophilia” saying that the “casting couch” exists for children, too.

This is occurring as America witnesses the most gay-friendly administration in its history. The appointment by President Obama of Kevin Jennings to a position in the Department of Education is an example. Jennings helped introduce Bill 4530 in Congress that would require the normalization of homosexuality, transgenderism, cross-dressing and other behaviors into the curriculums of schools from coast to coast. California has introduced legislation mandating such views in its schools.

Jennings was a long-time homosexual activist in Massachusetts and the founder of GLSEN, a homosexual organization that targets children in schools. He has since left the administration to lead an organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts with the same goals.

The nation’s economic problems can be fixed and we can ensure a strong defense, but the moral rot that is occurring with every passing day will destroy America from within more surely than any external enemy could hope for.

© Alan Caruba, 2011
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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit. 

Rick Perry To Be GOP Presidential Nominee

Rick Perry To Be GOP Presidential Nominee

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

OK.  So my tongue WAS firmly fastened in my cheek when I wrote the title to this piece.  But, I have to tell you that signs are pointing to Perry becoming the GOP nominee and eventually President of the US.

Admittedly, predicting (at this point) that Perry will be “President Perry” is a bit of a stretch, but I am beginning to feel the inevitability of it.

Consider this:  When the media raises the question of a republican candidates IQ… that means they are genuinely frightened that that candidate poses a serious threat to THEIR candidate.   THEIR candidate, of course is the current occupant of the Oval Office, Barack Hussein Obama.

For evidence of this, one need look no farther than President George Bush.  According to the political left, and the leftist media, George Bush was DUMB.  How the heck did a dumb man graduate from two Ivy League universities and manage to fly jet fighter planes   … AND BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?? 

And then there was Ronald Reagan.  My, oh, my, how the democrats challenged the man’s intellect.  They ran a pitiless campaign throughout his presidency questioning Reagan’s ability to reason.  It actually gained the democrats nothing as the American people caught on quickly to whom, exactly, the mental midgets were.

It is no secret the democrats favor elitist egghead presidents who are disasters as chief executives of the nation.  As evidence we offer Jimmy Carter and Barack Hussein Obama.  When the democrats manage to elect a non-elitist, good ole boy, for president, the country gets along fairly well – for a country run by democrats, that is.

The United States does not need an elitist, educated beyond his ability, to try to run the country.  America needs a man who can actually lead.  A man who can actually make decisions without confusing himself with advise from a host of councilors, each with his own agenda.

I am a firm believer in the “bumblebee theory.”  Aeronautically, the bumblebee cannot fly.  The body to wing ratio is just too great.  The tiny little wings simply cannot create enough lift for that large bulky body to ever get off the ground let alone sustain it in flight.  But, you see, the bumblebee is so dumb he doesn’t know it – so he just goes on and flies anyway.

So, maybe we need a “dumb President.”   Maybe he’ll be so dumb that he doesn’t know the problems with the US can’t be fixed and just goes ahead and fixes them, anyway.  I’ll vote for that kind of dumbness  -- and I expect a whole slew of Americans will, as well.

Honestly, I am tired of the flowing oratory of the Obama speechwriters.  Well, to be honest, its not so much the oratory I am tired of – it is the FLOW.  The word “flow” does not do justice to the absolute FLOOD of words coming from Obama.  In reality, his oratory falls flat.  Why?  Because they are just words – words from the brain not the heart. 

For an orator to be effective, he must speak with conviction from the heart about his subject.  And he must speak to his audience as if he were speaking to a single person, a confidant, and a friend. 

Obama’s speeches are cold and calculated and the listener knows it.  They don’t know who he is talking to, but they know it is not they.

I have yet to hear Rick Perry deliver a speech.  But I can imagine a southwestern accent where the “g” and the “t” are dropped.  (The Texas accent is not too different from the South Carolina accent.)  Having never heard him, I’d bet that he knows how to speak directly to every member of his audience and each audience member will leave believing that Gov. Perry was speaking directly to him or her.  He will have connected with them and he and his former audience will share an intimacy of knowledge they did not know prior to the address.   That is effective oratory.

If Mr. Perry can, indeed, do that, the White House will be his.

It seems to me, that that ole cotton-picking country boy from Texas is an unexpected problem for the Obama campaign.  Now they must switch gears from campaigning against a republican, whom southerners feel is not too different from Obama, to campaigning against a populist candidate, a man of the people, a country boy who is plain spoken like so many of the American people.  It will be a challenge.

The Obama campaign and the Mainstream Media are, once again, underestimating the GOP candidate they have already judged as dumb.  I think they have made a massive mistake that may cost them the White House – and I couldn’t be happier about that.

J. D. Longstreet

An Over-Hyped Storm

 

An Over-Hyped Storm

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

A reputable online meteorological service, says none of their reporting equipment on the NC coast recorded over 33 mph winds during Irene’s “assault” on our coast.  At the same time the National Hurricane Center was reporting 85 mph winds. 

Those of us on the ground in NC were wondering when the hurricane was going to begin. 

Some forecasters are referring to Irene as a fake hurricane while others are saying Irene was over-hyped by the media.  I don’t think Irene was a fake storm, but I DO think the media unnecessarily scared the hell out of the public along the eastern seaboard of the US.

Irene had the punch of a strong tropical storm.  Having lived here in Hurricane Alley for just less than fifty years, I have experienced a heck of a lot of tropical storms and hurricanes.  Irene was a pussycat compared to most.

My house did not creak or shudder a single time as Irene drifted over my section of eastern North Carolina.  The highest gust of surface wind I recorded was 22 mph.  I am certain there were gust that were higher, but were not recorded by me.

I would compare Irene to a strong summer thunderstorm in southeastern North Carolina. (We have some duzzies!)  I have experienced and reported on hurricanes striking North Carolina since the early 1960’s and Irene, as I said above, compared to her forerunners -- was a puny weakling.  She was certainly undeserving of all the hype by the mainstream media.

Here in North Carolina, it is second nature to take the necessary precautions when a hurricane is expected.  We don’t wait for the federal government to direct anything. We just do it.  In fact, a spokesman for FEMA was reported as having said that when they arrived and looked over NC’s preparations they could find Not A SINGLE NEED WANTING.  

So, when a Tar Heel tells you that there was a huge gap in the reporting/predicting and the actuality on the ground during hurricane Irene’s visit to our state, then, believe me, something went very wrong.

The mainstream media, in my opinion, did a major disservice to the American public by over-hyping Irene.  It WAS a large storm and an impressive looking storm, but it was never very powerful.  Small tightly knit storms are usually far more powerful than large storms spread out over 600 miles. Think of an ice skater with arms in close to the body spinning furiously with lots of energy and speed.  Then think of that same skater spreading his/her arms out and slowing down with the resulting reduction in energy and speed.  The same principal applies… but not always.  The one thing predictable about hurricanes is …  their unpredictability.

Then, too, Congress is considering a near 40% cut in the budget from which the Hurricane Hunter program is financed.  That would force the brave men and women who fly those highly sophisticated and technological aircraft into the eye of the storms (twice a day) to get vital information for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- including the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, to partially stand down, reducing the number of flights, and badly crippling the program AND NOAA’s ability to read the storms and make accurate forecasts and predictions. 

A hurricane that threatens the nation’s legislative buildings, and the White House itself, could be seen as a “godsend.”  It would surely drive home the point concerning how important it is that the Hurricane Hunter program be left intact.  Understand:  This is NOT an accusation.  It is purely an observation.

For those whose first hurricane experience is/was Irene, especially those of you in the northeast – a word of warning:  Do not judge the ferocity of hurricanes by Irene.

The MsM has lost even more credibility with the consumers of their news product.  Co-mingling news and entertainment is not the best format for informing the public of a natural threat headed their way. As we witnessed, after a few hours, the real information about Irene was embedded in a continuous show that painted a doom and gloom scenario.  It was entirely too much.

Back in my day of broadcasting we made sure we did not create a climate of fear when reporting information on hurricanes headed our way.  We reported the location, speed, and direction of the storm while assuming that our listeners had sense enough to take the necessary precautions.  And they did.

And they still do.  Unfortunately, the media seems to believe we are the dumbest creatures on God’s green earth.  Folks along the southeastern seaboard, especially Florida and the Carolinas, are walking encyclopedias on hurricanes. 

If the major networks want to interview an authority on hurricanes, it is not necessary to have academic meteorologists – just interview an old-timer from southeastern North Carolina.  Where hurricanes are concerned – experience beats book-learning and lab-training every time.

J. D. Longstreet

Hurricane Phobia

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Phobias are usually considered mental illnesses that require physcological treatment.  However, in the nearly 50 years that I have been a resident of America’s “Hurricane Alley” I have learned that Hurricane Phobia is one of the only – if not THE ONLY -- phobia that is considered perfectly normal by physicians, shrinks, and lay people.  For good reason.

Only a fool is not afraid of a hurricane.  And like his money, a fool not afraid of a hurricane will soon be parted from his life as well.

Hurricanes change everything. If one is unlucky enough to be caught in the right front quadrant of a hurricane it can be a hundred times scarier than an earthquake.  An earthquake last for a few seconds to a couple of minutes, usually.  A hurricane lasts for many, many hours.

As of this writing Hurricane Irene is approximately 500 miles south of me.  Yet, the weather and the ocean waters are already being affected. Even if the eye of Irene storm remains at sea, I am well within the “wind field” and the reach of the “rain bands.” 

I man a small weather monitoring station here and report to the various news media in the region. Already this month, alone, I have recorded 7.63 inches of rainfall.   Sounds good, I’m sure, to those folks in drought wracked areas of the state and the country.  But – consider this:  The soil is already wet, very wet.  And even though it is not saturated with water, enough has fallen and been absorbed into the ground that the tree root systems are loosened.

Now, bring in to the equation powerful winds, sometimes straight line winds, at frightening speeds, and those trees begin popping out of the ground in a fashion akin to a cork on a fishing line popping to the surface.  Add to that tree bark that becomes soddened with the weight of all that water, especially on far reaching limbs and branches, and the stage is set for massive power outages as those same trees and tree branches fall across power lines taking down the power lines and often the utility poles upon which they are affixed.  I have even witnessed electricity drop or feeder lines from the main lines to house snatched right off the sides of the homes sparking fires, if, of course, those lines still had electricity at the moment they were so forcibly ripped off the homes.

No electricity in these modern times spells abject misery … especially in 90+degree weather with the humidity resting near 100%. (I have recorded only four days this month during which the relative humidity at my home was below 90%.)

Until you have seen the power of wind rip and tear a structure apart, you just cannot comprehend wind’s power.  Remember, hurricanes are gigantic tornadoes.

And then – there is the sound.  The sound, alone, is terrifying.  It is felt in your bones.  I cannot describe it here simply because it defies description.  Once you have experienced the eardrum throbbing and screeching mingled with the sounds of your home being torn apart, with you in it, you cannot begin to grasp that horrifying assault on your sense of hearing. 

Riding out a hurricane during the hours of darkness can only be described as a nightmare of undeterminable horror.  You can hear your world outside being destroyed, but you cannot see WHAT is being destroyed. All you can do is hunker down -- and pray.  Daylight will be late due to the cloud cover and your anxiety level only climbs.

Then there is the flooding.  A foot of rain is not unusual, at all.  I have recorded as much as eleven inches of rainfall in a singe afternoon as rain band after rain band sweeps across the affected area.  Low-lying areas flood quickly.  Homes that may have survived winds of the storm are then ruined by the floodwaters.  But the floodwaters do not subside for days as all the water dropped up stream from your location must past through as it makes it way downstream to the ocean.

The floodwaters pollute the wells of rural folk and they cannot drink their own water for days or even weeks to come.

Finally, the storm moves on and folks begin to tentatively, gingerly come out from wherever they had taken shelter and the tallying of the losses begins.  But first -- there is the disbelief -- and then the mourning for lost family members, lost homes, lost businesses, and for some the loss of their sense of security for the remainder of their lives.

I am sitting here with hurricane Irene less than 500 miles away now, bearing down on my loved ones and me.  I have done everything I know to do, all based on my experience of nearly 50 years struggling to defend against these storms.  But the nagging feeling persists that I have not done enough, that I have forgotten something, that someone’s life may depend upon me getting the preparations right.   I have never been able to free myself from that burden.

I have experienced many hurricanes in my seven decades of life.  They are big, scary, powerful monsters.  They are killers, not thrillers, as some inexperienced thrill seekers many of whom have lost their lives just to get a chance to shake their fists in the face of God. For many, it is their last act of defiance on this earth.  Stupidity has a price and it is extremely high.

We folks here in North Carolina are going to get the full measure of Irene’s fury in the next few hours. For the most part, we have the good sense to be scared – and we are not the least bit embarrassed by it.

We will be turning to the only source available for protection, solace, and, yes, healing.  It will not be FEMA.  It WILL be God.

J. D. Longstreet    

Rick Perry WAY out in Front Amongst Republicans

Rick Perry WAY out in Front Amongst Republicans

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

According to the Gallup Poll Perry has taken a huge lead among the Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for President of the US.

In an article entitled “Perry Zooms to Front of Pack for 2012 GOP Nomination” Gallup says the following:  “Shortly after announcing his official candidacy, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has emerged as rank-and-file Republicans' current favorite for their party's 2012 presidential nomination. Twenty-nine percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents nationwide say they are most likely to support Perry, with Mitt Romney next, at 17%.” (These results are based on an Aug. 17-21 Gallup poll)

The same article goes on to say:  “Perry is a strong contender among key Republican subgroups. Older Republicans and those living in the South show especially strong support for him, at or near 40%. Conservative Republicans strongly favor Perry over Romney, but liberal and moderate Republicans support the two about equally. Perry's support is also above average among religious Republicans.”

I think there is more to it than just the usual flurry when a new face enters the contest. I think Americans, especially republicans, are yearning for what we consider a “real” man as our leader.

Now – don’t be too quick to snicker. Much of America still loves the “cowboy” image, especially in their leader.  At the moment we are, for all practical purposes, leaderless.  We don’t like would-be leader who “lead from the rear.” 

America is in deep trouble and we are looking for a leader to ride to the rescue astride a great white stallion, packing trusty six-shooters, and waving his white Stetson overhead.  Yeah, it is an iconic figure, for sure.  But, I must admit that even an old dude like me, finds this image compelling.

Contrary to what some are saying about Rick Perry being the second coming of Ronald Reagan, I don’t believe that.  Reagan was one of a kind. It is not likely we will ever see his like again.

However, like Reagan, Perry says he believes in smaller government.  You may recall that in his announcement for his presidential bid he said:  “I’ll work every day to try to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your life as I can.”  I like that and so do millions of other Americans coast to coast.

Also like Reagan, Perry believes government is not the answer. It is the problem.  He has said:   “America is not broken. Washington is broken.”  Americans understand that, and believe that.  We see it every day played out right before our eyes on the news channels.

Does any one remember, “core value?”  Core valises are those things you believe in.  Core values are those things that you attempt to build your very existence around, and those things you will fight to the death to defend.  Core values make you want you are and they make a nation what it is.   When a people lose sight of their core values they are finished.  When a nation loses sight of its core values it, too, is done for. 

Mr. Perry, we are told, shares the core values of conservative Americans who make up the majority of the American population and the electorate.

America is fed up.  It wants a change from the malaise of the Carter Administration brought back by Obama.  Perry promises to do just that. 

We desperately need another “Morning in America.”  Americans are ready.  Get the government off our backs, free up business, and allow Americans to get back to work.

Conservatives have been hesitant about Mitt Romney viewing him only as a last ditch republican to vote for just to attempt to unseat Obama.  Nobody I have spoken with was enthusiastic about Romney.   Many feel he is not that much different from Obama.

But with the differences between Perry and Obama are almost retina searing.  All one has to do is observe the left’s reaction to Perry.  A skunk in an elevator filled with leftists, stuck between floors, could not upset them more. 

Rest assured the left will very soon begin firing volleys of hateful accusations in the direction of Gov. Perry.  It is in keeping with their philosophy of destroying anyone who disagrees with them.

We are assured that Gov. Perry is a “Hard Core” conservative.  Good. I have had about all ever want of “compassionate conservatism” with George W. Bush. 

In my opinion, Independent voters are more likely to support a REAL conservative than a candidate who only “appears” conservative.  Gov. Perry will win the majority of the Independent vote.

Americans are fed-up.  We want a President who actually believes in American Exceptionalism. We like winners.  We LOVE being the winner – and we hate failure.  We are not wired for accepting second best… at anything.

We are sick to death of the current crop of American leaders preaching that America is in decline and that we have to accept that.  No we do not! And we are about to prove it.

It is time for Americans to put their house in order once again. We intend to do that in November of 2012.

J. D. Longstreet

The Hideous MLK Memorial ... Alan Caruba

The Hideous MLK Memorial

By Alan Caruba

I was a young working journalist during the era of the Civil Rights movement and one evening I was covering a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the campus of Drew University in Madison, NJ. I was accompanied by Vivian Braxton, a civil rights activist who said, “Let’s go backstage and meet him” when the speech was finished.

Backstage, Dr. King stood alone while others stood at a respectful distance, afraid to approach him, so overwhelmed by the power of his words and personality. Vivian, however, headed straight for him with myself in tow. My first reaction was that he was shorter than I had thought and my second was a smile that was an embrace.

I introduced myself as a freelance journalist who was there to cover the speech for a local black newspaper and Dr. King found that very amusing. We chatted briefly and I tucked away a great moment in my memory, never anticipating that he would fall victim to an assassin’s bullet or that, years later, a Washington, D.C. memorial would be created in his honor.

Opened to the public on August 19, a statue of Dr. King stands thirty feet tall and in an irony that boggles the mind, was carved in China, the work of a Chinese sculptor, working in an Orwellian, totalitarian society.

It is also one of the most hideous works of “art” imaginable for anyone who recalls the times and the character of a man who said, “I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I am interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good.”

The statue depicts a scowling figure, his face fixed with the look of every despot whose statue is intended to instill fear or awe in those who gaze upon it. His arms are crossed over his chest as if protecting himself or preparing to pass a harsh judgment.

It is hideous because it completely obliterates the gentleness of Dr. King, the heart that strove against injustice. The awfulness of the statue reminded me of another of his quotes, “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

I have no idea what the memorial committee had in mind when it sanctioned this statue, but I have little doubt that Dr. King would have been mortified by it. He was a man who, on that long ago evening on the Drew University campus, greeted Vivian and me with a big smile in the midst of a great struggle to secure the rights of blacks in America.

In these times in which Arabs in Syria, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia have put their lives on the line to overthrow their tyrants, Dr. King had anticipated that human aspiration saying, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

So, now, on a four-acre site on the Tidal Basin between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, a huge intimidating statue stands where a life-size statue would have permitted visitors to marvel at the power of love over hate, morality over oppression, and the struggle for justice that is the birthright of all men and women.

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking,” warned Dr. King. “There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

Dr, King’s life was devoted to making all Americans think about the kind of society, the kind of nation, in which they wanted to live.

“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”

The memorial will be dedicated on August 28 by President Barack Obama, a man who was elected more for the color of his skin, than the content of his character. The date marks the 48th anniversary of Dr. King’s speech, “I have a dream”, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Dr. King surely would be appalled that young blacks would be rioting in the streets of American cities, looting, attacking people, nearly a half century after the achievement of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts for which he gave his life.

I think he would have been appalled by a thirty-foot-tall statue that resembles those of tyrants like Mao tse Tung, Stalin, or Saddam Hussein.

For my part, the King Memorial completely misses his message of humility combined with tenacity, of spirituality linked to non-violent struggle, of faith that great wrongs can be put right by people of faith and of courage.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit.

EPA To Turn America’s Lights And A/C Off!

EPA To Turn America’s Lights And A/C Off!

Singled-handedly forces America into 3^rd world status

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Not only will the EPA’s new ruling force Americans to turn off their lights and air conditioning, it is going to shutdown a HUGE portion of the coal-fueled power plants across America, causing massive lay-offs and running America’s already astronomically high unemployment rate into outer space!

Look.  We Americans are going to have to take the reins in our teeth and see to it this rogue agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, is abolished… forever! 

I want to hear a Presidential candidate climb up on the stump and proclaim that if elected President he/she will see to it that the EPA is – not cut back- not reined in—SHUTDOWN, abolished, consigned to the dustbin of history. 

You may recall that our currently vacationing President told us this was coming IF he became President.  He told us electricity prices would “necessary skyrocket.”  Well, here it is.

Apparently, Mr. Obama and his legion of old hippies in the EPA have finally screwed-up enough chutzpah to shove their new regulations down the throats of the power companies and they have managed to do immeasurable harm to the economy of the United States. 

It is looking more an more as if the Obama team actually DOES believe that Obama is a one-term president and they intend to do as much damage to America as they can before they and he are booted out of the White House by the outraged American electorate.

Now is the time… today … to contact your congressperson and your senators and demand that the EPA is forced to roll back this catastrophic ruling.  Congress must step in and stop this destructive move by the EPA.

Talk about a “Nanny State!”  The EPA is justifying their move by claiming the following:  “The EPA projected the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year and prevent more than 400,000 asthma attacks as well as 19,000 admissions to hospitals.”  (Read the entire article HERE.) 

The article goes on to say:  “Nationwide, the EPA estimated that utilities are projected to spend $800 million on the rule in 2014, in addition to $1.6 billion a year that's been spent to satisfy an earlier version of the regulations.

But the EPA estimates the nation will see $120 billion to $280 billion in annual health and welfare benefits beginning in 2014. (Read the entire article HERE.)

The first phase of compliance hits utilities in 2012.  That means, of course, it will also hit Americans in the pocketbook beginning early in 2012.

How much more must America suffer at the hands of an agency run amuck?  Is THIS the straw that will, finally, break the camel’s back? 

If the Congress of the United States is serious about helping America regain a healthy economy, the very first thing they should do, when they return from their August vacation, is to STOP this EPA regulation and take the necessary action to completely strip the EPA of all it’s power and close and shutter that agency’s doors … forever.

Getting rid of the EPA would hardly put a dent in the government’s micromanagement of American life.  But – it would be a start.

 

J. D. Longstreet

Obama’s Back Door Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

Obama’s Back Door Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

There Must Be An Election Coming

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Once again the Obama Administration has by-passed Congress, federal laws, and the Constitution by granting what amounts to amnesty for illegal aliens within the US.

The Washington Times reported last week (Friday August 19^th, 2011) the following:  “ … the Obama administration said Thursday that it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria, such as attending school, having family in the military or having primary responsible for other family members’ care.


The move marks a major step for President Obama, who for months has said he does not have broad categorical authority to halt deportations and said he must follow the laws as Congress has written them.


But in letters to Congress on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she does have discretion to focus on “priorities” and that her department and the Justice Department will review all ongoing cases to see who meets the new criteria. (Read the entire article HERE.)


You may recall, dear reader, we warned months ago that Obama was seeking some method to grant amnesty to all those “undocumented democrats” in time for his reelection bid.  Plus, we have warned many, many, times that Obama would do whatever it takes to win in 2012.  This, I warrant, is just the beginning of the Obama Campaign’s shenanigans to secure his bid to return to the Oval Office in November of 2012.

The Washington Times article continued:  “The top House Republican on the Judiciary Committee said the move is part of a White House plan “to grant backdoor amnesty to illegal immigrants.”


“The Obama administration should enforce immigration laws, not look for ways to ignore them,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican. “The Obama administration should not pick and choose which laws to enforce. Administration officials should remember the oath of office they took to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land.” (Read the entire article HERE.)

When is enough … REALLY enough?  Seems to me this is the Obama Administration thumbing its nose at federal law.

When, oh, when, is the Congress going to grow a spine and confront the Obama White House and explain that America does not have a KING!  We have a constitution and the Obama Administration is trampling all over it.

How many times must we repeat that illegal aliens are law-breakers, criminals, and ought to be jailed and deported… period?

As soon as Congress returns it must pass legislation that outlaws exactly what the Obama Administration is doing by granting illegal aliens amnesty and refusing to comply with the federal laws already on the books.  Seems to me this is serious grounds for impeachment proceedings. 

This is such an in-your-face move aimed directly at the Congress that it defies explanation other than the Obama Administration has decided they are going to lose nest year and they’ve just decided to throw everything they have at the American people, and the Congress, and see what sticks.

And, really, isn’t it about time we rid ourselves of the Department of Homeland Security?  I mean, it might have been a good idea at the time (one I did not agree with) but DHS has taken on far too much power and the fear of DHS by the American people rivals that of the German people for Hitler’s Gestapo.  Even the name sounds like one of the Third Reich’s numerous security departments.  Its not as if we don’t have enough intelligence agencies … we do.  DHS is acting more like some state secret police than is comfortable for the people of a constitutional republic. 

The Congress should cut off all funding for DHS and do so immediately.  Just shut it down.  It has grown far too powerful and is entirely too easy to manipulate by an administration, any administration, that wishes to force its will on the American people.  In my opinion, it has become a threat to the liberty and freedom of Americans.

If this Congress allows the Obama Administration, including the Dept. of Homeland Security, to get away with this blatant refusal to enforce immigration laws, the law of the land, passed into law by the people’s representatives in the national legislature, then not a single currently serving senator or congressperson should be allowed to keep their seats in the Congress.

Look.  It is very simple.  If a department of government, or even a President, is allowed to refuse to uphold any law they choose, then what’s to stop them from refusing to recognize any other law they choose… say… like … oh, the second amendment, for instance?

The whole thing smacks of illegal amnesty for illegal aliens.  Shouldn’t SOMEONE be drawing articles of impeachment?  If we don’t stop this unlawful power play by the administration … what will they do next, huh? 

It is long past time for the Obama Administration to be brought to heel.  If we wait for the election – there may NOT BE AN ELECTION.  There ARE ways to, uh, “postpone” an election.  Do we really want to take that chance?

J. D. Longstreet    

Giveaway Nation ... Alan Caruba

Giveaway Nation

By Alan Caruba


I am not sure that Americans, the generations born since the New Deal of the 1930s, are ready to give up all the goodies that the federal government provides.


My father’s and my generation found comfort in Social Security checks and Medicare payments, but as the late Nobel Prize winning economist, Milton Friedman, used to say, “There is no such thing as a free lunch” by which he meant you pay for what you get one way or the other, even it does not seem obvious at the time. When it comes to federal loans and guarantees, John Q. Public gets stuck with the bill.


As a result of government housing programs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation ran smack into a financial crisis in 2008 and got its credit rating downgraded in 2011.


Now Moody’s, another rating agency, is warning that the student loan program, dubbed Sallie Mae, could implode leaving Americans holding the tab for millions in unpaid loans as students graduate into an economy where no jobs would enable them to pay them back. There’s a long history of students who simply defaulted on these loans.


Typical of the idiotic double-down approach of the Obama administration, the volume of these loans has actually accelerated during the recession. The student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt. Put plainly, not all young people should go to college just as not all people should own a house. There was a time when some standards were expected, but no more when bankers and lenders just want to pig out at the federal trough.


There was a lot of talk about cutting the size of government and its programs during the debt ceiling debate. It ended with the largest historic increase, adding another trillion to the national debt. The result was Standard & Poor's downgrade of the nation’s credit rating! No more blank check said S&P and they were right.


A bogus congressional “super committee” has been created to do this, but it is doubtful a divided Congress can achieve this unless and until new elections put people in office that actually will. Turning this function over to a dozen Congress critters is a very bad idea.


Fox Business News anchor, John Stossel, published a commentary on his July 28 blog that cited some recommended reductions by libertarian and conservative experts at the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation.


Many involved eliminating whole federal departments and agencies that included the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Agriculture, Energy, Commerce, Interior, and Labor.


That kind of draconian approach—his blog was titled “Take a Chainsaw to the Budget”—has a certain kind of appeal, but only if one puts aside that some of these departments actually have some good programs amidst the questionable ones. We tend to forget that the Preamble to the Constitution includes the objective to “promote the general welfare” of Americans, though it has been much abused, like the commerce clause, by progressives over the years.


The Constitution authorizes the government “to borrow money on the credit of the United States” while also stating that “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law” while calling for a budget to be “published from time to time.” The Democrats haven't submitted a budget in over 800 days, though the Republicans did when they took control of the House.


The debt the nation has incurred has been authorized by a succession of Congresses, but mostly dates to the exigencies of the Great Depression of the 1930s when “entitlement” and make-work projects—among them the Hoover Dam and the Tennessee Valley Authority—were initiated to relieve the plight of American workers and provide electrification of significant benefit.


Future events are impossible to predict. Neither the consequences of those programs, nor a Second World War, the threat of the Soviet Union posed, nor were the recessions that followed were entirely predictable at the time. As in the case of 9/11, Congresses reacted within their existing time frame.


There is, for example, no justification for public broadcasting subsidies when it is clear that PBS is controlled by politically motivated liberals.


Cutting the Defense Department budget is pure folly as a weak nation will surely be attacked. There’s room for reductions, but maintaining a strong military is necessary to “provide for the common defense” as set forth in the Constitution. Eliminating many of our foreign bases would save billions.


There are, among the recommendations, many good ones such as privatizing the Army Corps of Engineers and the Post Office. Leasing the coastal plain of ANWR would generate $1.5 billion in addition to providing billions of barrels of oil to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The Gulf of Mexico must be reopened to more drilling.


The “War on Drugs”, estimated to cost $15 billion, is widely regarded as a failure. Drug laws fill our prisons to the point where the U.S. has more people in prison, often for minor drug offenses, than any other nation. Greater efforts at interdiction at our porous borders would help. Legalizing marijuana would help.


Eliminating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two “government sponsored entities” that currently own half of all mortgages would take the government out of the housing mortgage business and return it to banks and mortgage firms that would be forced to be more prudent. The housing bubble was largely caused by these two agencies and the banks and mortgage lenders that knew a government bailout was guaranteed no matter how many bad loans they made.


Instead, the White House is talking about renting homes back to those foreclosed upon, thereby making the central government the largest holder of private property! That is Communism, pure and simple.


Stossel and the Washington, D.C. think tanks offered lots of other options, but the greatest option of all is an end to mindless, often insane, government spending and that includes major, rapid changes to Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Don’t look for that to happen anytime soon.


© Alan Caruba, 2011

Please, MR. President, Take A LOOOONG Vacation!

Please, MR. President, Take A LOOOONG Vacation!

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

The only time I feel really safe is when the Congress and the President are recessed and/or out of town.  That is not an original statement.  Someone said it long before I -- and that makes it even weightier, or lends it more gravitas, if you please.

I have heard it asked so many times in the past few days whether the President should be taking a vacation at this particular time.  To that I answer… YES!   Get him the heck away from Washington and keep him away as long as possible!

Hey, I won’t even complain about the taxpayer money it is costing us to house, feed, and protect the First Family, IF the President will just stay away.

Middle class Americans are begging the Obama Administration to please stop trying to help us.  It seems everything they try only makes matters worse.  I am of the opinion that it is time for them to back off and allow us to catch our collective breath.

So far, the Obama Administration has been lurching from one crisis to another almost on a weekly, or monthly basis.  Their efforts at solving the nations problems seem juvenile, at best.  In fact, one wonders if a group of high-schoolers from “Boy’s (or Girl’s) State” couldn’t do as good a job, and … with a little effort, a better job than the bunch of seemingly clueless, er, people who are stumbling and bumbling through the worst presidency this county has ever experienced.

Yes!  I AM glad the President is out of town.  I am equally glad the Congress is out of town … even though the House is meeting every day in “pro-forma” sessions, lasting minutes or even seconds, to stop the President from making those annoying “recess appointments.”

No, I don’t worry because they are out of town.  I worry that they are coming back in September.  And the President has promised a NEW PLAN that will end all problems and solve all the nation’s financial puzzles, which seem to be wrapped in the most disturbing enigma ever.  (My apologies to Sir Winston Churchill.)  Now THAT scares the living daylights out of me.       

Yeah, come September we will have THREE entities to worry about as opposed to the two we have now:  The Office of the President, the Congress, and that mini-congress called the “Super Committee.”

Expect a continuation of one crisis after the other.  The President’s plan is already dead on arrival in the US House of Representatives.  The Congress’s plan is dead upon arrival at the President’s desk, and if the 12 members of the super committee don’t break out in fistfights and manage to pass something out of their partisan pit, it, too, will be dead as a doornail when it comes before the full Congress.

See what I mean?

By this Christmas, the outrage of the American people will be at historical levels and will certainly damage the “goodwill” of the holiday season.

Keep in mind that all this legislative wrangling will be going on while the presidential campaign is really heating up with accusations and counter accusations flying in both directions like snowflakes in an Oklahoma blizzard.  It’s going to be a long, long, fall and an even longer year ‘til November of 2012.

I was thinking, just the other day, that maybe it is time to bring back dueling.  Now -- think about it.  Dueling was an honorable way to settle “affairs of honor.”  Just think of the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate meeting in a clearing down in “Foggy Bottom” on the banks of the Potomac, swaddled in the mists of dawn to settle their differences.  Having chosen rapiers as their weapons, they’d have at it with full coverage by every TV network on the planet.

Of course, there would be a rather large turn over of Senate Majority Leaders and Speakers of the House, at least for a while, until the escalating loss of political talent in the Congress forced a more amicable approach to legislating. 

Yeah, I know it is a far-fetched idea. But it would certainly serve to focus our legislator’s attention on their jobs and not so much their reelections.

Term limits, in my opinion, would have given the US a more effective legislature.  But the Supreme Court has ruled term limits unconstitutional.  Of course, if the constitution was amended in such a way as to make congressional term limits constitutional -- then that would make the Supreme Court’s ruling void an of no account. 

I know.  That, too, is just a dream because no Congress is going to limit its member’s time in their cushy offices with all the perks that go with the trappings of power.

But some flicker of light may be seen in the darkness at the end of this long tunnel America is traversing today -- Election Day 2012. 

Another purge of the Congress is shaping up next year.  As the pollsters continue to point out, Americans are extremely dissatisfied with the Congress and the President. That is pointing to another historical change in the make-up of both houses of the Congress and the Oval Office.

For now, however, we can revel in the fact that the people making American’s lives miserable are currently out of town -- on vacation.   Ain’t it grand?

J. D. Longstreet    

Buckle-Up! It’s Going To Get Mean!

Buckle-Up!  It’s Going To Get Mean!

Campaign 2012.  The Ugliest Yet!

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

As the President sweeps through the Midwest, bashing republicans at every stop, riding in a black custom-made bus (made in Canada), and campaigning all the way, it is difficult NOT to notice that fuel for the bus is not the only thing being paid for with taxpayer dollars.

There is something just wrong about this.  In my opinion, there ought to be a law forbidding the President of the US from using taxpayer money to finance a campaign.  It does not matter who the President is -- or which party he is affiliated with -- it is just unseemly.  And that is putting it mildly.

It doesn’t help that the worst President in the history of the universe is having his campaign for reelection paid for by voters who can’t stand his political philosophy!

It has been reported that the reason for this bus trip was to demonstrate that the President feels American’s pain in this time of low employment, etc.  GIVE ME A BREAK!  It’s a crock!  This president is so completely unattached to the American people that it is frightening.

But the campaign is in early days and frankly; I see it going downhill from here. 

Very soon we will have “race” introduced into the campaign. And it will REALLY spiral downward from there.

The coming face-off between Obama and Perry is going to get blistering hot.   The two men hail from two geographical extremes of the country -- Texas and Illinois.  (Of course, I know that Alaska is farther north than Illinois, but I mean the contiguous states.)  Not only are their politics different but also the customs and culture is vastly different in those two sections of the US.  There are bound to be sparks.  Rest assured, the sparks will be fanned into flames by the mainstream media (Code for “leftist media.”)

Obama is backed by the labor unions and, generally speaking, labor unions are barely tolerated in the southern states. There will be clashes. 

Allow me to just lay it out for you:  Obama is just not liked in the south.  It’s not his race.  It IS his socialist, liberal, progressive, and even Marxist politics that the conservative south abhors.  It grinds on us like a hair shirt.  Four years of toleration is more then enough.

Now, I expect you are saying to yourself: “Longstreet must think Perry will be the GOP nominee.”  Honestly, unless someone more conservative comes along, I expect he will be.

Let me be very clear about this.  If Romney is the GOP nominee, the GOP will lose the south and the election to Obama. 

Look, conservative southerners are tired of a limp-wristed President.  We want America to have a President who stands tall, who doesn’t ask permission of the UN to do ANYTHING, who doesn’t bow to princes, kings, queens, and Islamic tribal leaders.  In other words, we want a President we can be proud of.  It is as simple as that.

To many southerners, Romney exudes weakness.  He appears as a tired, worn-out, has-been, perennial candidate who would make no better a President than Barack Obama.  I have heard southerners say they would vote for Romney ONLY to avoid having Obama for a second term.  That is a problem for Romney -- even if he did happen to win over Obama.  He would enter office with the support of only half the states. He would be a weak president from day one.  That would not be good for him, or the GOP, and it would most certainly be bad for the country.

There is talk of Congressman Paul Ryan entering the race.  In my opinion, Ryan simply does not have the experience to make this nation a good president.  Maybe later.  Maybe.

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey doesn’t seem to have the fire in the belly necessary for a run for the Presidency.  Maybe later.

With the entrance of Governor Rick Perry of Texas, it is beginning to look as if the GOP slate is set for the primaries.  Of course, that could change even before this piece is published. 

My feeling is, at this early stage (and I reserve the right to be wrong!!), the race will be between Perry and Romney, with one or the other as the Presidential candidate -- and one or the other as the Vice-Presidential candidate.  That’s the way I see in now, in August of 2011… but so much can happen, so much can change in a single day’s time that making a solid prediction this early is darn near impossible.

Of one thing we can be sure.  It is going to be a rough and tumble presidential campaign – quite likely the meanest many Americans have ever seen. 

J. D. Longstreet

A Horrible Week for Global Socialism ... Alan Caruba

A Horrible Week for Global Socialism

By Alan Caruba

Over the weekend of August 6-7, the Wall Street Journal’s lead headline was “U.S. Loses Triple-A Credit Rating.”

On Monday, August 8, the Journal’s headline was “Markets Brace for Downgrade’s Toll.”

By Tuesday, August 9, it was “Downgrade Ignites a Global Sell-Off.”

On Wednesday, August 10, it was “Markets Sink Then Soar After Fed Speaks.”

Thursday, August 11, the Journal cast its eyes across the Big Pond noting that “Italy’s Woes Weigh on Europe.”

On Friday, 12, the headline said, “Stocks Swing Up in Wild Week.”

A week after the Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+, in the August 13-14 edition, the Journal took note of a “Global Crisis of Confidence”, adding that “World Policy Makers’ Inability to Agree on Fixes Led Markets on Wild Ride.”

As the new week dawned on August 15, the Journal said, “Markets Gird for Fresh Drama.”

It was a great week for dramatic headlines and a horrible week for the rest of the world. Mostly, though, it was a fulfillment of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s observation that socialism works just fine until you run out of “other people’s money.”

That is a perfect definition of “redistribution” or, as President Obama once observed, “At some point you’ve made enough money.” A more un-American statement has rarely been uttered by an American President.

The U.S. has been engaged in a huge experiment in redistribution since the years of the Great Depression when Franklin D. Roosevelt, a man who knew absolutely nothing about running a business and who had spent most of his life living off an allowance from his mother, tried everything he could think of to get the economy going again.

FDR could have tried cutting taxes. He could have encouraged Congress to avoid voting for trade barriers in a fit of protectionism. Instead, he came up with Social Security, among an alphabet soup of government programs which were a disaster when it came to encouraging private sector job creation. Not unlike President Obama's "stimulus" and other doomed-to-fail experiments

The history of Social Security is one long succession of lies that Americans have been told. By the time Lyndon B. Johnson was President, the funds set aside for Social Security payments were moved to the general fund where they could be plundered by Congress. Under President Clinton Social Security payments began to be taxed as income.

World War Two arrived in the U.S. on December 7, 1941, and full employment followed to defeat the fascists in Germany and Japan. The government that had expanded during the FDR years continued to expand.

Americans emerged from the war without a scratch on the homeland. With the exception of Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, none of our cities were bombed. We had a million battle-tested young men returning home in 1945, the GI bill let them go to college if they wanted, and by the 1950s we were on our way to being the greatest military power in the world and the greatest economy ever known.

And the federal government never stopped expanding. It needed more money, but the stock market, with occasional recessions, just kept growing too. As time went along, Great Britain and Western Europe rebuilt, alliances such as NATO were created to thwart the Soviet Union’s ambitions, while Eastern Europe stagnated under Soviet imposed communism.

In Asia, Japan became an economic powerhouse and South Korea too. China which had suffered under Chairman Mao waited until he died to convert its economy to a capitalist model, while retaining all the worst aspects of an Orwellian communist government. In the Middle East, oil allowed nations led by a handful of tribal chiefs and assorted despots acquire wealth beyond belief. Their populations remained oppressed. Now they are in the streets demanding freedom and justice. They will get Sharia law and more oppression.

Economies became increasingly global and interconnected. Europe became the European Union, a huge bureaucratic mess with the Euro as a common currency. Western bankers purchased Europe’s securities and vice versa. When the housing market imploded in September 2008, they discovered that most were de-linked from the original mortgage assets and were essentially worthless to the tune of billions.

The Federal Reserve responded by shipping $600 billion to prop up European central banks and Congress responded by authorizing the Treasury Department to “bail out” U.S. banks and the huge insurance company, AIG, with public funds--your money.

So what have we learned from all this? Foremost of all, socialist economies are inherently unfair and disconnected from the real world of hard work, property ownership, and capital investment. We learned that bankers are greedy and take greater risks than they should.

Great Britain, which has become one of the greatest welfare states in the world, was rewarded for its generosity with looting and rioting by youths whose families had lived on the dole their entire lives. Greece had already had its spate of riots.

Everyone keeps saying that the U.S. must not become Greece, but the U.S. has become Greece and that accounts for all those horrible headlines from last week.

The Obama administration, which has steadfastly ignored every previous “commission” that has studied the economy, has now engineered “a super committee” in Congress. It is composed of the twelve worst ideologues on either side of the economic policy divide in an effort to cut some spending, any spending! Failure has been baked into that cake.

The old way of conducting the affairs of nations, particularly their economies, is coming apart at the seams. It has exposed the hypocrisy of socialism here in the United States and everywhere else it has been practiced.

© Alan Caruba, 2011
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 Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit.