Just A Few Words

“Just a Few Words … “
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Paraphrasing the great American novelist: “ Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.” I am still alive and kicking… just not very high.

I have been off-line for a week today. We have been moving our residence. Our eleven room, nearly one hundred year old, home had become a financial drag on our budget. To put it bluntly, it was a money pit. (When it costs you over a thousand dollars a month to heat your residence – then it is time to relocate.

So we moved from the home we owned, mortgage free, to a nice rented cottage, with half the rooms, which is much easier to heat and cool and much kinder to our bank account.

We began the move a week ago today. We are near to three-quarters of the way finished with the move.

It has been a nightmare!

Oh, the moving parting, the actual physical move, itself, was the usual pain in the rear, the back, the arms, etc.

The most vexing problem we had -- and continue to have – was -- and is -- with the utilities companies – especially the phone company!

If I told you what happened with the phone company you would think it was a skit written especially for some weekend late night TV comedy show. In other words, you simply would not believe it!!! Suffice it to say that we have been trying for over a week now to have our telephone number simply transferred from our old address to our new address -- with no luck. Even a threat to report the company to the NC Utilities Commission was shrugged-off by the phone company.

Even one of the largest trash handlers in the nation seems to find it near impossible to deliver a roll-out trash can to a residence in a week. I am not allowed to simply move my old trash container from my old residence to my new residence, which is only three blocks distance. No. That, you see, would be entirely too simple.

The long and short of it is: we expect to complete the move some time before the close of 2011. I doubt we will have our phone problems corrected by that time and I expect we will have canceled our account with them and will have moved on to a bundle of services from our cable provider.

I have been sort of “unplugged” for a week now. I have been catching the news as “catch can” during that time.

I did learn of the Congresswoman’s shooting a day after the event, however, and instantly understood that the left would seize upon the event as a tool to push forward their agenda for gun control in America.

I did manage to see the Democratic Party’s political rally, which was badly camouflaged as a memorial service for those killed in the Tucson, Arizona killing spree in which the Congresswoman was critically injured. It was embarrassing to watch.

The very first thing I noted was the location. The so-called memorial service was held, not in a church, but in a college campus auditorium, or sports arena, or… whatever it was. I suppose the dems thought they might offend someone if they held a memorial service in a religious setting.

I am not going to write a commentary covering all the events I have not commented on in the past week -- but, I DO want to touch on a few things like:

Raising the US debt ceiling. My response to that is -- NO. Do not raise it. Now, I KNOW the GOP WILL raise it, but I would insist,then, that they raise it only trivially forcing Obama to make concessions for that raise and to make concessions for the next request to raise the debt ceiling, as well. In other words, use the debt ceiling as a tool to break back some of the socialist agenda items on Obama’s “to-do" list.

Now, I heard last night, there is a proposal floating about in Washington to have all the congresspersons sit “together” during the President’s State of the Union” speech later this month. Usually, they sit in their political party’s section of the chamber-- the republicans on the right and the democrats on the left. I’d prefer that it be left that way. Republicans should sit with republicans and democrats should sit with democrats. That arrangement makes it much easier for TV viewers to determine which political party supports the President’s socialist agenda and which party does not.

Oh, allow me to point out that one should not misread Obama’s recent “centrist” appearance. It is not real. He is attempting to create the illusion of moving toward the political center in the hope of convincing the less intelligent among us that he is willing to govern from the center. It is a lie. Mr. Obama lusts after a second term as president. If he should win that second term, he will be unrestrained! He will not have to worry about re-election!

A second term for Obama means he will drag the US down into the hell of socialism as deeply as he possibly can within four years. America cannot survive that.

Our job, if seems to me, as conservatives, and the job of the Republican Party, over the next two years, is to see that Obama is unable to mount a successful campaign for President in 2012. At the same time our republican House of Representatives must work diligently to overturn, defund, and render impotent, as much of the socialist agenda of Obama, and his liberal-socialist Democratic Party, as they possibly can.

If the GOP does not do that, they, too, will be gone in two years.

J. D. Longstreet

Obama Prepares To Rule By Executive Order

Obama Prepares To Rule By Executive Order
Obama Assumes Dictatorial Powers?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

In ancient times, the dictators/emperors ruled by proclamation. If they spoke it – it was made to happen.

That is not supposed to happen in a republic, especially a democratic constitutional republic like the United States.
But it is about to happen in the US. In fact, it has already begun.

Recently Charles Krauthammer said: “For an Obama bureaucrat … the will of the Congress is a mere speed bump.”

Recently, Americans received a Christmas present from the Obama Regime. The “Death Panels,” which had been stripped from Obamacare because even the dems knew there was no way they would get even their own pols to vote for Obamacare with the death panels a part of it, were made a part of US law by regulation.

Another proclamation/regulation came in late December from the Interior Department. They gave themselves the authority to designate public lands as “wild lands.” By doing so, they can restrict exploration for oil on those lands even though America is in dire need of more domestic sources of oil.

Oh, and the beloved Environmental Protection Agency, again in late December, announced it would draw up anti-carbon regulations on oil refineries and power plants in 2011.

Congress passed none of these new laws. None of them!

This is what Americans can expect when we have a dictatorial socialist in the Oval Office.

Even now Obama is girding up his loins and preparing to issue a host of presidential executive orders. It is well know that he intends to rule by executive order and regulations issued by HIS czars and the heads of the various government agencies under his command.

Obama is going to make an end run around the people’s national legislature, the Congress.

He must be stopped. The House of Representatives must deny funding to those agencies having the power to carry out Obama’s orders -- and their own. If that means shutting down agencies, and disbanding them, agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, then it must be done -- and it must be done quickly.

In an article at the Washington Examiner entitled: “Obama ready to deploy executive powers against GOP Hill” Julie Mason says the following:

“In response, Obama is expected to make more frequent use of executive orders, vetoes, signing statements and policy initiatives that originate within the federal agencies to maneuver around congressional Republicans who are threatening to derail initiatives he has already put in place, including health care reforms, and to launch serial investigations into his administration's spending.” Read the entire article (HERE).

It has become apparent, even to those who were reluctant to believe earlier in Obama’s reign that he doesn’t give a hoot for what Americans want or desire. He is so immersed in his socialist ideology that he is willing to abuse the power of the Office of the President to press on his “fundamental change” of America.

WE call on the new Congress to stop the power mad clutch of “Obamanites” in the executive branch by using the power of the purse and by overturning the dictatorial rules and regulations issued by those agencies under Obama’s immediate command and disbanding as many agencies as possible. (That’s a LOT!) The savings would be hugely significant and the relief felt by the American people would be immeasurable.

Let’s face it, fellow Americans, we have a narcissistic president who reigns and rules rather than governs. THIS IS NOT THE AMERICAN WAY! We fought a Revolutionary War to free ourselves from just such a situation in the 1700’s. Are we going to allow it to continue in 2011?

America has one of the most power hungry executive branches in the history of this nation. It has taken unto itself powers the American people had no knowledge even existed. The end result, to date, is an administration that has the hallmarks of a dictatorship. It cannot be allowed to continue.

Congress must do whatever it has the constitutional authority to do to “defang” the Obama dictatorship. The freedom of America is at stake. Liberty is at stake. The continued existence of the constitutional republic of the United States is at stake.

When America was founded it was determined there would never be a king in America. There would never be a dictator in America. Yet, ignorance and apathy has handed us the dictator we swore never to have.

This must be set aright. NOW.

J. D. Longstreet

Humans! Get Over Yourself! ... by Alan Caruba

Humans! Get Over Yourself!

By Alan Caruba

The greatest absurdity has been the belief that human beings have any influence over the planet on which they live. The Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest of the Solar System’s four terrestrial planets. It is the only planet that sustains life as we know it and humans came late to the party.

The Earth is dated to be 4.5 billion years old in a universe that is increasingly believed to have always existed, despite the Big Bang theory. Such evidence as exists suggests it is the only planet that has given rise to the evolution of life from self-replicating molecules, starting around 4 billion years ago.

Scientists have given names to the various periods of time of the Earth’s existence. These include the oldest, the Devonian, followed by the Silurian, Ordovician, Cambrian, Paleocene, Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Permian among others.

Robert W. Felix, in his book, “Magnetic Reversals and Evolutionary Leaps”, notes that “For all intents and purposes, though, life on Earth began about 580 million years ago at the beginning of the Cambrian Period, when new life suddenly exploded across the Earth.” “A dizzying burst of shelled forms took place, and virtually all major forms of animal life.” This is known as the Cambrian explosion and Felix notes there was an “abrupt change from simple life forms to more advanced. No one knows how or why it happened. What we do know is that the pattern has always been the same—sudden—always sudden.”

What we do know is that mass extinctions have marked every period since the Earth’s beginning. Following the Cambrian explosion around 535 million years ago there have been at least five major mass extinctions, all pre-dated the existence of mankind. Indeed, mankind didn’t begin to gain traction as a species until the end of the last continental glaciation—ice age—about 10,000 years ago.

The Archaic Homo sapiens, anatomically human, date back about 500,000 years, but what we regard as modern humans did not make an appearance until 200,000 years ago and the earliest indicators of anything resembling Homo sapien sapiens, humanity, date back a mere 35,000 years ago.

Civilization is defined in a variety of ways, but is usually dated to the development of agriculture and the organization of human life around villages and cities. The Jews date their history back 3,500 years, but some date their arrival to 5,000 years ago. The last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago, so humans as we know ourselves didn’t begin until well after that event.

We are now 11,500 years since the last ice age and the next one is due any day now. The Earth has been in one of its cyclical cooling periods for a decade, the result of less solar activity, also a cyclical event.

Humans, you need to stop worrying about “controlling” carbon dioxide and stop passing laws to reduce its emissions. CO2 is 3.618% and man-made CO2 is even more miniscule, only 0.117%. Without CO2 we and everything else dies.

As the late Dixie Lee Ray, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, noted, “Such increases (of CO2) have occurred in the past without any help from us at all, and this time is probably no different. Most likely, the causes were and still are colossal cosmic forces quite outside human ability to control.”

The Earth’s atmosphere is composed primarily of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Water vapor is being constantly recycled from the atmosphere to the Earth and absent the atmosphere no life would exist on Earth.

The other major factor affecting our lives is the Earth’s magnetic fields. The magnetic poles drift and periodically reverse. The magnetosphere deflects particles in the solar wind. The collision between the magnetic field and the solar winds forms the Van Allen radiation belts that protect the Earth.

The most recent magnetic reversal occurred approximately 700,000 years ago and reversals appear to occur in sync with ice ages and with the procession of the equinoxes.

We just experienced a winter solstice, one of the equinoxes marking the seasons as the Earth hurtles through space, circumnavigating the Sun, completely indifferent to human beings and all other life. In the southern hemisphere, they had a summer solstice.

As the human race continues to grow in numbers; it reached 6,803,000,000 by the end of 2007 and is projected to reach seven billion by 2013, it is worth keeping in mind that only 13.3% of the Earth surface is arable; which is to say is available for growing crops that in turn feed us and the livestock we grow.

Only about one-eighth of the Earth’s surface is suitable for humans to live on. Three-quarters is covered by oceans, while half of the land area is either desert (14%), high mountains (27%) or unsuitable unless you are an Eskimo or Bedouin. Most of us live in or near cities.

The relatively short history of humans demonstrates a capacity for violence documented in myths, the Bible, and recorded documentation of wars without end.

There is little evidence that murder, individual and organized, for any reason or no reason will end. The primary change of the last century was the development of nuclear weapons to destroy humans in numbers that defy the imagination.

So, humans, get over yourself!

You do not control the biosphere of life on Earth. You do not control its natural calamities. Your attempts at governance are fought with conflict, conquest, and oppression.

After the next magnetic reversal, the survivors—if there are any—will likely learn nothing from the experience.

Alan Caruba
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© Alan Caruba, 2011

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.

America’s Coming War With China

America’s Coming War With China
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Is America prepared for a “shooting war” with China? Well, that WAS a rhetorical question. Of course, the answer is an emphatic NO!

It seems important (at least to me), these days, with news that China has deployed a new anti-ship ballistic missile made especially to take out aircraft carriers.

With America’s aircraft carriers regularly plying the ocean waters, in and around the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea, one would have to conclude the Chinese developed this particular missile for the mission of taking out, or rendering useless, America’s ocean going pride, her aircraft carriers.

The new Chinese missile is the "D" version of China's DF-21 medium-range missile. It involves firing the mobile missile into space, returning it into the atmosphere and then maneuvering it to its target.

Military officials consider using ballistic missiles against ships at sea to be a difficult task that requires a variety of air, sea and space sensors, navigation systems and precision guidance technology - capabilities not typical of other Chinese missiles. (From the Washington Times HERE)

With North Korea kicking up it’s heels… again, with America’s treaty with Taiwan (to come to it’s aid if China decides to re-attach it) and with Japan, another country we have promised to assist in the event it is attacked… by anyone … this should be of enormous interest for America and a source of considerable concern for the White House. All these countries lie near China and American aircraft carriers in waters near those countries present convenient targets for China’s new ship-killing missile. And we haven’t mentioned the Philippines, Vietnam, and much, if not all of Southeast Asia.

Obama’s foreign policy has been an abysmal failure for America. In fact, it is worse than a failure. As an example, the recent “SALT” treaty with Russia leaves the US naked against a missile attack.

I suppose the Obama Regime believes we owe China so much money they would not dare attack us. WRONG!

As bad as the Obama Regime is at managing domestic problems, it is even worse at handling foreign problems.

The article in the Washington Times goes on to say the following: “Richard Fisher, a China military-affairs specialist, said the new ASBM is only one part of a series of new Chinese weapons that threaten the region.” "When we add the ASBM to the PLA's [People's Liberation Army's] growing anti-satellite capabilities, growing numbers of submarines, and quite soon, its fifth-generation fighter, we are seeing the erection of a new Chinese wall in the western Pacific, for which the Obama administration has offered almost nothing in defensive response," Mr. Fisher said.”

The article quotes Mr. Fisher as having said: “"Clearly, China's communist leadership is not impressed by the administration's ending of F-22 production, its retirement of the Navy's nuclear cruise missile, START Treaty reductions in U.S. missile warheads, and its refusal to consider U.S. space warfare capabilities. Such weakness is the surest way to invite military adventurism from China," he added.”

Yes, America has problems at home. But we cannot slacken our defenses abroad. Even now the US government is considering “cut-backs” in defense. This kind of thinking is a godsend to our enemies, of which China is, in my opinion, “numero uno.”

It has been my contention for many decades now that, eventually, America and China will ultimately clash in a world war. China has interests around the globe now, so any war with China will, of necessity, be a global war.

If history has taught us anything it is that a weak US President invites trouble from America’s enemies. Obama is such a weak President.

Leftist and liberal presidents usually are weak in defending America. It appears they are embarrassed for being an American citizen, and they jump at every chance to apologize to the world for what THEY consider America’s mistakes. Such weakness only emboldens America’s enemies and makes a laughing stock of America’s President. More importantly, it places the people of the United States in danger.

One more apology is required of Obama -- an apology to the American people for his lack of interest in their defense.

That is one apology I don’t expect we will ever hear.

J. D. Longstreet

Conservative Americans and a Conservative Political Party

Conservative Americans and a Conservative Political Party
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet


I am pounding a drum, upon which, I have beat a rather consistent rhythm over the past few years -- the need for a third political party for America –and this time a truly conservative political party.

I am not convinced the Tea Party is in the fight for the long haul. I suspect the Republican Party feels the same way. I expect we will see a flurry of activity, when the new congress opens this week, orchestrated by the GOP and designed to give the impression that they (the GOP) does intend to comply with the demands of the Tea Party. But, I am afraid – it is only another façade and not intended to last very long.

Washington’s power has a beguiling effect upon new comers. For the first time in their lives many f them will know REAL power and they will find it compelling and addictive. Soon they will fall in line with all the other power brokers in Washington and, for all intents and purposes, become useless to the conservative cause in America. The GOP is counting on that and so is the Democratic Party.

Don’t misunderstand. The Tea Party was a grand idea and it produced a firestorm of much need patriotism in America. It was the force that brought a near purge of the Congress of those wishy-washy, limp-wristed politicians who had nearly brought America to her knees.

As the new Congress goes to work this week, Tea Party members and supporters, myself among them, are concerned that the Tea Party will not press home its advantage and make an effective effort to rescue America from the socialist agenda of the Obama Regime and liberal-socialists in Congress.

So, I am stating what I believe to be a fact: Conservatives need a political party of their own in order to have the wherewithal, and the power, to make a difference in the Congress, itself.

The new Presidential Campaign has already begun. Frankly, as of today, I see no way we conservatives can beat Obama in November of 2012 -- without an organized political party with all the tools needed to get the job done.

There is also the specter hovering over the GOP of another slate of impotent candidates for president that conservative voters will not support -- ensuring the defeat of the GOP in its run for the Oval Office.

For instance, there is absolutely no way we conservatives will vote for someone who doesn’t represent a drastic change from the current policies of spend, spend, borrow some more -- and spend it, too!

And another thing: I am tired of "big tent political parties.” I'm tired of being told I must share the GOP tent with liberal Republicans, and moderate Republicans, and the hosts of special interest groups who feel it is in their best interests to be under that tent. I want a party I can point to with pride and say, that’s my party -- a CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL PARTY!

Yes, I AM convinced that we can have such a political party. It will take work, determination, and the ability to ignore the naysayers who insist that a third party will not work.

I must tell you… as I have before … that I have a great deal of difficulty supporting a Republican Party, which does not represent me. And I repeat: I will leave the Republican Party, which has been my home since I registered to vote the first time, on my 21st birthday, in South Carolina... as soon as I have a political party, which actually represents me, as an alternative.

As I wrote two years ago: “We desperately need a Conservative Party. Someone in this formerly great country must step up to fight the rampant socialism the current crop of Congresspersons and Senators and even the President are “locking-in” in the minds of the those voters not equipped to think for themselves and not in possession of all the material they need to make an informed decision in the voting booth. They won in 2008 because they bought Obama’s message of socialism. It was a sparkling victory for ignorance in the USA.
If we conservatives want to change that, then we are going to have to do it ourselves and stop relying on the Republican Party to do it for us. That means we MUST have a viable Third Party… and the sooner the better!”

Some readers will think, I suspect, that I am jumping the gun – again. That’s OK. Maybe I am. But I must tell you; I have this gut-wrenching feeling that we conservatives are about to be snookered again.

I am expecting the current GOP leaders to make a great show of complying with the wishes of the Tea Party conservatives early on and then slip right back in to their “democrat-lite” mode while the country flounders on the verge of sinking beneath the waves of history for ever.
I am convinced that America needs a third political party – a conservative political party -- and I will revisit this issue in the future.

J. D. Longstreet