There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

There Are None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

I received the article below recently by e-mail as I expect many of you did.  I have no clue as to the author.  The message it contains is profound.

Many of my generation remember Castro -- even before he proclaimed he was a communist by his words and deeds.  By that time, the people of Cuba were enslaved.  The nearest freedom lay ninety miles away -- across a watery divide.  The “five and ten cents” stores sold Castro hats and Castro beards to America’s children.  Castro’s façade was THAT complete and THAT effective. 

Many conservative commentators have been warning America for four years that unmistakable signs of communism are emanating from the leader of our nation.  The warning flags went up long before he was elected.  They were ignored. 

Those issuing the warnings have been scoffed at, belittled, and made the butt of jokes.  It matters not that those warning America to beware were, and are, men and women of experience.  Their words of caution have come from a lifetime of defending America in and out of uniform.

See, we recognize the philosophy of America’s leader.  Why?  The answer is simple … because we have seen it all before.  If fact, we saw it in our neighboring country … Cuba.  We watched as Cuba embraced a charismatic savior with flowing oratory who quickly became their slave master.  

“There are none so blind as those who WILL NOT SEE.”   John Heywood is credited with having said this way back in 1546.  It is as true today as it was then … and even before Heywood made the remark.

In 2008, America underwent a period of willful blindness during which voters elected America’s current leader.  Over the past three years, the scales have been slowly falling from our eyes as we survey the damage that mistake has caused the United States of America … and the world.  

Whoever the author of the piece below, he/she has also seen the many disguises communism uses to successfully attract those who do not have the benefit of experience.  Like moths to a flame, they flock to the warmth of the bright light that will consume them.

To those of us with a lifetime of experience, the Obama Regime is all too familiar and utterly frightening.

Please read the article below.  The author is unknown to us.

J. D. Longstreet

************************  

What others see plainly, we often ignore.

*Here's something to think about. * 

*******************

I remember asking dad about Castro when I was about 9 years old. I asked, "Is Castro a good guy or bad?"

Dad said...he couldn't tell!! This was about 1955. We were living in Louisiana ...at the time. Dad was in the Army there.

Cuba was fairly close and in the news a lot. The Cubans were asking the same question!

Ike was President.

This past July, we had the pleasure of sharing a summer barbecue with a refugee from Cuba. Our dinner conversation was starkly different than most.

This refugee came to the United States as a young boy in the early 1960's. His family was more fortunate than most, as they were able to bring a suitcase...and $100 when they fled Castro's newly formed revolutionary paradise.

Our dinner consisted of all-American fare: hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon, and fresh ears of sweet corn. This is a menu shared with family and friends nationwide...while celebrating the birth of our beloved America ...on the Fourth of July.

We began with a simple discussion about our country, and the direction it has taken since Barack Obama came to power. We shared the usual complaints about the sour economy and liberal social engineering emanating from the rulers in Washington.

But then he said it. The sentence came naturally. I assume it was unplanned. But it carried the weight of a freight train. "You know, when Castro took power, none of us knew he was a Communist.”

We sat stunned. He continued, "Yes, we all thought he was a patriot, a nationalist. Before the revolution he didn't sound like a radical."

The comparison at this point was easy, and I interjected, "You mean just like Barack Obama?"

He responded; "Yes, just like Barack Obama."

He continued, "We were all shocked as the government just continued to grab more power. First they said the revolution is over, so please turn in your guns. We all complied."

I remember my uncle saying after it started; “Castro will only nationalize some of the big industries. He will never come and take our family hardware store!!” But that is exactly what happened. Castro started with the sugar mills and the large industries, but they eventually came and knocked on the door of our family hardware store. My family had run this store for generations. They said we now own the hardware store. You work for us. And that nice, large four-bedroom home you own...it is now our property also, and ... you can move yourself and five children into two rooms of the house, because others are moving in with you."

The lesson learned from this discussion, is a lesson most Americans refuse to hear. Political leaders can lie about their agenda and once in office...they can take totally unexpected turns.

If you had asked us three years ago if we thought General Motors would be nationalized, we would have never believed it. We could never contemplate a country where the rule of law, the most fundamental building block of a just society...would be evaporating, just like it did in Castro's Cuba in the early 1960's.

But the news of injustice keeps increasing. Black Panthers are not charged with wrong doing by the U.S. Department of Justice...because their crimes are against whites. The bondholders of GM are stripped of their assets...without due process by the government! Governmental leaders are bribed in full daylight...only to have all investigation of the crimes stifled...by the Attorney General.

The U.S. borders are over run with crime and illegal activity, and the leaders in D.C. act as if it is important to protect the lawbreakers.... while the innocent are killed and over run. When local communities attempt to enforce the law, they are ridiculed...and threatened as racists and bigots. They are sued by the very administration...entrusted with enforcing the law.

Without the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution is a sham!! Without the rule of law, our beloved America is swiftly becoming a country where only the well connected and politically powerful will be safe. As Michelle Malkin has so eloquently explained in her recent book...a culture of corruption has replaced honest government.

The only way this problem will be fixed is by massive citizen action. All honest citizens that want to be treated equally, must come together...and demand that the favoritism, the bribes, the uneven enforcement of law...end now!!

And yes, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE!!

Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Recently I wrote:

“America is at a point in world history when we need a strong leader -- a leader not afraid to assert America’s leadership.  Obama is NOT that person.

I am very afraid there is no one vying for America’s leadership today any stronger as a national or world leader. 

In a recent column, Thomas Sowell said:  “The 2012 Republican primaries may be a rerun of the 2008 primaries, where the various conservative candidates split the conservative vote so many ways that the candidate of the mushy middle got the nomination – and then lost the election.”   I think he pegged it.” (SOURCE)

I have watched intently as the GOP goes all out to lose the 2012 election to Obama and the democrats.  I continue to be puzzled, or as we used to say in the south – “bumfuzzled” – by what MUST be a concerted effort to lose the next election.

Pardon me, if I show my befuddlement … because I just don’t get it.

A sense of “doom” has already set in among the legions of conservative voters in the south. Their sense that the hierarchy of the Republican Party is so completely detached from the reality on the ground (at least here in states of the old south) has been, (they feel) proved absolutely true.

There is a growing sense of “why bother” to go to the polls and vote when the election is already lost to Obama.

Look.  I am no more intelligent that the average guy.  And I have seen the great wave of exhilaration and expectation of victory crash against a shoreline of mediocre candidates that have proved more an embarrassment than anything else.  That great wave has been diminished to a mere ripple in an isolated tide pool.

If you want to know what’s going on in your community – go to the community barbershop.  I did that yesterday.  Turns out, my barber has been taking a very unscientific poll on who his patrons would vote for in the GOP Primary here in North Carolina (currently scheduled for May).  He has been polling since the South Carolina Primary.  The results are interesting and informative.

My barber told me that, to a man, every single patron stated they would vote for Gingrich in May.

My community is heavily Democratic and heavily conservative. 

I pressed to learn who those would-be primary voters thought would win the election in November.  The answer, to a man, was … Obama.

For months now we have warned that if the GOP is counting on conservative voters to vote for the nominee, whomever the nominee turns out to be, then – the GOP is very wrong.  Sure, there will be SOME conservative voters who would cast a vote for, well, anybody, just to vote against Obama. But I am not hearing that sentiment expressed here.

Here’s what I THINK is happening:

Southern voters have concluded that Romney cannot win. Southern voters just don’t like the man.  They are satisfied that Gingrich will not win the nomination, so they feel it is safe to support and vote for Gingrich if for no other reason than Gingrich brings a little fire, fervor, passion, and a little excitement to an otherwise hum-drum campaign that is already a lost cause.

The more debates, the more infighting, the more defecation is tossed into the fan blades, the more damage will be done the eventual republican nominee.  It is already bad enough, but it is sure to get worse.

So, I wonder if it is time to turn our attention to the candidates for the US Senate and House of Representatives and redouble our efforts to claim more governorships for conservatives and stop wasting our time and effort on a predetermined race for the GOP nominee for President.

I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist.  I am a realist.  With me the glass is neither half full nor half empty.  It is simply the wrong size glass.

J. D. Longstreet

How Not to Go Crazy in 2012 ... Alan Caruba

How Not to Go Crazy in 2012

By Alan Caruba

Election years tend to create a level of frenzy concerning the selection of the nominees and the outcome. The media feed this in order to keep readers reading and viewers viewing. The history of American elections has always been one of vituperation between the parties, so there is nothing new about this. Indeed, since so much depends on it, the political free-for-all is a healthy exercise.

It can, however, make for a difficult environment in which to go about one’s life; the air filled with charge and counter-charge, polls going up and down, and a general sense that something is very wrong with the way the government functions.

On the bright side, a gridlocked Congress may bring a measure of relief to everyone. Writing about gridlock in January 2011, Marcus E. Ethridge, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, noted that “By fostering gridlock, the U.S. Constitution increases the likelihood that policies will reflect broad, unorganized interests instead of the interests of narrow, organized groups.” In 2011, we saw what happens when advocates of “renewable energy”, wind and solar power, or electric cars, get priority over the needs of most Americans for reliable energy and transportation.

At the heart of the 2012 election will be the recognition that the economy is still not recovering, that government is seeking to extend and expand its control over our lives, and, even among former supporters of Barack Obama, that he has been a failure of historic proportions.

A Friday Rasmussen Reports said that “Voters right now give the edge to Republicans when asked which political party is likely to win the White House and control both the House of Representatives and the Senate in next November’s election”, adding that “a lot of voters are undecided.” Those voters may actually wait until entering the polls to cast their vote.

Another bad piece of news for President Obama is a new comparative analysis of current voter registration data in key electoral states of Nevada and North Carolina. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, there has been “a drastic drop from 2008 levels when a record-high proportion of young Americans turned out overwhelmingly to cast their votes to elect Barack Obama as President.” This is significant because more than two-thirds of young voters supported the Obama/Biden ticket in 2008.

The President had a low moment following the passage of Obamacare that transformed itself into the Tea Party movement and an even worse one in 2010 when it propelled a large number of Republicans into the House of Representatives, causing its control to change hands. He has had, in fact, only one truly high moment and that occurred when he announced the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011. At the time, he typically took complete credit. In a speech at Fort Bragg to returning troops from Iraq, the word “victory” was never spoken.

Americans are not unmindful that the downgrade of the rating of the nation’s sovereign debt, the first in the nation’s history, was announced on Obama’s watch. The rate of "official" unemployment has receded to 8.6% but most Americans are well aware that it is far closer to 11% or more. America continues to experience that longest period of long-term unemployment since the 1930s.

For these and a myriad of other reasons, there is little reason to conclude that President Obama has any chance whatever of being reelected. The widespread contempt for Congress is also a hopeful sign for change. These are reasons to remain calm amidst the din of electioneering in the months ahead.

There is, however, all manner of troubles brewing in the world. Europe will have to find a solution to what will happen if its southern tier of nations elects to default on their sovereign debt. Cracks in the European Union are evident. If it falls apart, it will be very messy, but Europe existed before the EU and would if it disbands.

The Middle East is in the midst of a huge struggle between its fanatical Muslim faction and a population unhappy enough with former dictators to have forced out several in 2011 with the prospect that Syria’s Bashar Assad will fall in 2012.

Iran remains the wild card and its nuclear dreams will likely end with a well-timed and well-executed attack by Israel. Israel saved the world from a nuclear Iraq in 1981 and a nuclear Syria in 2007. An attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities could trigger an internal movement to overthrow the mullahs.

There are other wild cards in the Middle East. The Palestinians show no indication of giving up their dream of destroying Israel. That will not happen. Without Iranian support, both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza will be set adrift. Muslim atrocities in nations such as Nigeria where Christian churches were bombed on Christmas Day will contribute to a growing movement against Islamic terrorism. It will not happen overnight, but it will happen.

Even the Russians show signs of tiring of their post-Soviet ruling class led by Vladimir Putin.

America faces a long period of restructuring the socialist programs that began in the 1930s and reached their peak in the 1960s. Should the GOP gain control of Congress and Obama is defeated, real change will occur.

Two other factors signal better times ahead. They are the failure of the global warming hoax and the disdain the “Occupy” movement engendered.

In 2012 Americans will take steps to end the scandals and deprecations of the Obama administration.

We shall ignore the anticipated shouts of racism.

We shall see the Supreme Court disembowel Obamacare or set in motion its repeal by a GOP controlled Congress.

We will select a President and a Congress to put things right.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

***************

 

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.

If Not Romney, Who? ... Alan Caruba

If Not Romney, Who?

By Alan Caruba

Generally overlooked in the midst of the many debates and the usual competition between Republican candidates for the Party’s nomination is the fact that a rather impressive number have thrown their hats in the ring. It is testimony to the health, depth, and diversity of the Party. Compare that with the Democratic Party’s lone candidate, a President already ceded the title of worst ever.

As campaigns proceed toward the on-rushing primaries, Republicans are increasingly focused beyond the usual circus atmosphere, including the latest problems encountered by Herman Cain and Rick Perry’s gaffs. Selecting the GOP candidate has now reached the critical stage.

That is why a lengthy editorial in a recent Wall Street Journal is noteworthy. “Romney’s Fiscal Awakening” was a thorough analysis of a November 4th Romney speech on the subject of reversing the nation’s economic problems. The Journal said “his remarks deserve more attention than they’ve received as a guide to how he might govern.”

Romney has run a smart campaign to this point, not attacking the other candidates and waiting for them to exhaust themselves while he maintained a fairly constant 25% of support to this point. Unlike the boxer who spends all his energy in the first or third round, Romney has tended to the grassroots kind of effort necessary to succeed in the early primaries.

He’s been here before--losing the nomination to John McCain the last time and it is likely that many Republicans have some very serious regrets about that. He learned from that effort, probably in the same way Ronald Reagan did when he challenged Gerald Ford for the nomination. McCain was an updated version of Bob Dole, the kind of GOP candidate who gets the nod because he was judged to have earned it even if he couldn’t campaign is way out of a paper bag.

Increasingly, Republicans are asking themselves, “If not Romney, who?”

While many believe that almost any GOP candidate could beat Obama that kind of optimism is unwise because an incumbent president has a lot of resources to draw on between now and Election Day. That said, Republicans have seen their own incumbents, George H.W. Bush and the aforementioned Gerald Ford defeated.

On Saturday, November 12th, Rasmussen Reports reviewed the week’s polling results. “Poll after poll shows former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to be the Republican presidential contender voters are most comfortable with and the GOP hopeful who continues to run most competitively with President Obama. But that's not enough for a lot of Republican voters.”

“Just this past week, new surveying found that Romney is the GOP candidate viewed most favorably by all voters. This parallels other recent findings that voters see Romney as the GOP hopeful most qualified to be president and the candidate for the White House closest to the mainstream in a group that includes Obama.”

I would recommend reading “Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics” by R. B. Scott (Lyons Press) because it is not an authorized biographical profile, the author has excellent journalistic credentials, and he provides useful insights regarding the Mormon Church you are not likely to read elsewhere.

I have concluded that Romney’s religion is not going to play that much of a role in the forthcoming election. Consider that he won the governorship of Massachusetts, one of the most liberal states and a Democratic stronghold. Romney knows how to win elections.

In saying that, I am also saying he is a very skilled politician. In addition, he has also a proven record in the world of business and finance. These are two elements that are going to be vital to his election in 2012. Yes, I think he will get the GOP nomination. Yes, I would vote for him.

The highest hurdle Romney must overcome is his reputation as a “flip-flopper.” There is no question that he has changed his views over the years on many topics, but that can be easily countered by merely listing the many times that Obama has done the same or, in his case, voted “present.”

Whether it’s been about abortion and choice, stem cell research, gun control, immigration, or taxes, Romney has been on one side of the issue or the other over the years. What is called “flip-flopping” can also been seen as a process of growth, of examining his positions on these issues and—yes—changing them.

Here’s where Romney’s religion really plays a role. The Mormon Church, in which he has been an active leader, is famous for its moral code. They don’t drink. They don’t smoke. And they have positions on major moral issues that are not dissimilar from the Roman Catholic Church.

As R.B. Scott says in his book, Mormons have values that include “veneration for the experience, wisdom, and caution of the elderly; respect for the talents and pragmatism of skilled tradesmen; honor and gratitude for those who perform heavy labor; deep admiration for poets, musicians, writers, entertainers, and athletes; and veneration for religious, academic, and secular achievements.”

Romney has diverged from the church’s positions on occasion, but Mormons also hold to a fundamental tenet, the doctrine of free agency. “Regardless of existing laws, faithful Mormons had the obligation to make moral judgments for themselves”, says Scott. Romney has done that.

Romney has been the clear winner of the recent debates. Rick Perry was the biggest loser and the rest of the candidates increasingly look like window dressing.

Romney has been successful at almost everything he has ever put his hand to. He is the right man at the right time to defeat Barack Hussein Obama in 2012.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

Americans Are Mad As Hell!

Americans Are Mad As Hell!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
******************************

The Last time Americans were this mad, they were colonists and the government to which they were tethered was across the Atlantic, in England, and paid no mind to the “bitching” Americans. Today the government is in Washington, DC. Little else has changed!

The end result of the first scenario above was revolution. The end result of the second scenario above may be the same thing!

The word “Revolution” is being used more and more by Americans in daily conversations and especially on the Internet, by bloggers, and everyday folks who comment on those bog sites.

If you happen to be a member of the US government and you just happen to be reading this blog, you had better take notice. Americans have had all they are going to take from a government that gives all indications that it doesn’t give a damn what we Americans, their constituents think, or what we want, or what we do not want. We never intended a “rogue” government such as we have today. We will not abide a rogue government such as we have today.

If you are an incumbent politician, you have better figure out a way to stop the November elections next year, or you will be out of a job, at least in Washington. If you DO stop the scheduled election, the pitchforks and torches will magically appear and Americans will, once again, take up arms to rescue their country from a government that is far, far, too big, far too powerful, and no longer represents the people of the republic. You have to go!

The Founding Fathers intended us to toss you people out on your butts when you became all the things you have become -- and are today! They said so!

Admit it! You people are a bunch of Socialist, Marxists, Progressives/Communists, and only God, Himself, knows what else! I don’t know whom you represent -- but you do not represent the American people.

And we are sick of it!

We have had our fill of your abuse of power, of your abuse of the American people. I mean, you have the unmitigated gall to pass a healthcare bill that will affect every American -- except you and your families! How’s that for abuse of power, huh? How’s that for thumbing your nose at your constituents?

Just look at what you are doing. You are trying to pass a Cap and Trade bill that will raise our taxes, increase the amount we have to pay each year to heat our homes, to drive our vehicles, and heavens knows what else. The increase of taxes on fuel alone will drive prices up all across the board. EVERYTHING will cost more. Well, we are not going to allow that one out of the Senate without a knock-down, drag-out fight!

Next, you are about to hit us, for a third time, with another Amnesty Bill for illegal aliens in the US. The billions and billions that one is going to cost us is incalculable. We’re going to fight you all the way to the finish line on it just as we did last time. Seal the damn borders. Arrest and lock up all illegal aliens. Put them in detention camps, somewhere in the deserts of the southwest, until they can be deported. Can’t find ‘em? Put a bounty on their heads and we will be driving busloads of them to those detention camps within 24 hours! Where there is a will there is a way!

That damnable healthcare bill you passed out of the Senate is going to break the country and destroy the world’s finest healthcare system. 57% of us said NO; we’d rather have no healthcare bill at all than have that monstrosity. Yet you passed that thing through the Senate anyway. Well, the fight is NOT completely over -- and believe me when I say -- we are going to fight you for every last vote on it.

Look, just how stupid do you think we are, anyway? Do you not think that we understand that you are simply setting the stage for America to join a single one-world government as an “equal” country to all others? Do you not think that we understand that you do not believe in “American Exceptionalism?” Hell, we KNOW THAT! We’ve known that for some time now. See, we are way ahead of you there -- and that is why YOU HAVE TO GO!

Pollsters tell us that 66% of Americans want smaller government and fewer government services. DID YOU GET THAT? Hell, NO! Even if you had heard us, you would have shrugged it off and continued on your merry way.

What a mess this country is in! In my nearly 7 decades on this earth, I have NEVER seen it in worse shape -- and that includes all the wars in my lifetime.

We have a President so inept he can’t find his own rear-end with both hands and a bird dog. We have a Congress, which has gone rogue on us and set itself up as an oligarchy in which all power is vested in them as the dominant class or clique. America now has government by the few.

Americans are mad as hell! We will TRY to suffer your arrogance until November. But that is it. Either stand down by resigning while you still have a shred of dignity and respectability left or be driven from office by the waves of wrathful, angry, just plain MAD Americans who wish election day were today!

J. D. Longstreet

The Health Care Bill Americans Don’t Want

The Health Care Bill Americans Don’t Want
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet.
*****************************

The US House of Representatives passed a Health Care Bill over the weekend that will never see the light of day. Yes, it will go to the US Senate -- and that is as far as the House bill will go. The Senate Health Care bill will be a different animal, entirely.

Public Option must go. Public Option will not be a part of a Senate Health Care bill. That is a good thing. An even better thing would be for there to be no Health Care Bill at all!

Now, I am just an ole country boy, with limited book learning, but even I know that Americans don’t want the monstrosity the US House was congratulating itself on passing last Saturday.

I could not help but think to myself, as I watched them preen and parade their pride before America that many of the Democrats had just committed political suicide. Their façade of smiles and backslapping will crumble soon, especially when they get home for the holidays and their spurned, and burned, constituents begin to “button-hole” them and explain to them why they can expect this to be their last term in the Congress. And that, too, will be a good thing.

NEXT November the American voters will have their say officially and it is going to be a democrat massacre at the polls.

Why is it so difficult for the democrats to understand that Americans would have settled for insurance coverage for those unable to afford it? THAT we could do. It would be a strain but we could manage to pay for it. What Americans do not want is Universal Healthcare with a trillion and a half dollar price tag, which we cannot pay for!

Americans also do not want the so-called public option. Americans do not want anybody, or anything, or any entity, between them and their doctor! Period! When the government announces IT will be the gatekeeper between all Americans and their sacred relationship with their personal physician, the national ire began rising.

Allow me to give you an example of what Americans fear. Today I was experiencing a problem with my eyes. I picked up the phone and dialed my doctor’s office and explained the symptoms. I asked when I could see the doctor. The receptionist asked how long it would take me to drive to the office. I replied: “5 or 6 minutes.” The receptionist then directed me to “come on.” I was seen and treated in short order and was back home in no time. Do you really, REALLY, think Socialized Medicine will provide that sort of medical service? This relationship with one’s doctor will be destroyed by Socialized Medicine… and THAT is what Americans fear!

Today, Americans are finally paying attention to the run-away, rogue, Congress in Washington. Not just conservative Americans, either. Our congress is out of control and is in desperate need of being reined in. The way we rein in a congress is by tossing out as many offending Congresspersons and Senators as we possible can. Unfortunately, in America, we have no apparatus for a vote of “no confidence” with which we could dissolve the Congress and hold new elections. As a result we must wait until November of 2010 to clean the House AND the Senate!

Many months ago this scribe told you the problem with the democrats is -- every time they come to power they overreach. EVERY TIME. They have not disappointed. This past weekend the democrats stayed true to their history and they overreached again… BIG TIME. And it will cost them BIG TIME!

J. D. Longstreet

*****************

Conservative+ObamaCare+Congress+Democrats+Election