Know A Tree By It’s Fruit 

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

I am genuinely surprised when people approach me and ask my thoughts on Mitt Romney.  I invariably ask why they want to know and the reply they offer most often is that they really don’t know the man.

That is when I really want to grab them by both shoulders, shake them, and declare:  “PAY ATTENTION!”

The scriptures tell us:  “You shall know a tree by the fruit it bears.” In Matthew 7:16 it is said:  “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?”

In the New Testament book of James, the third chapter and the twelfth verse, we are informed thusly:  “My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

In other words a man is what he is – period.  If you want to know WHAT he is, what he believes, then pay attention to what he does. His accomplishments are the “fruits of his labors.”  Those fruits will define him completely.

Remember George W. Bush's “Compassionate Conservatism?”  Well, that was, in fact, code for “moderate.”  G.W. was a moderate AT BEST.

Mitt Romney is a liberal … moderate on some things … but at the core he is a liberal.  It is something the conservative base of the GOP knows instinctually and that is why they are avoiding support of Romney at all costs, even if that cost is the loss of the election to Obama in November.

I am old enough to remember the “Me Too” republicans.  Ever hear of them?  You’d have to harken back to the days of Nelson Rockefeller and the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party in the 1960’s. (There is an excellent article on this HERE.)

Even then, the liberal wing of the GOP was based in America’s northeastern states.  It still is today.

Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts a liberal state if there ever has been one.  There is no way under the sun a conservative can be elected governor of Massachusetts. Yet, Mitt Romney was -- and he would have us believe he is a conservative.  This fact alone should be enough evidence to convinced anyone that Mr. Romney is no conservative. He is a solid member of the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party.  In 1964 we called them the “Me Too” republicans.  Today we call them RINO’s. (Republican In Name Only)

Ever since conservatives began to grow in power within the Republican Party there has been an internal war raging for control of the party.  In 1960, Richard Nixon managed to merge the two factions of the GOP into one concentrated effort.  But -- just four years afterwards Nelson Rockefeller could not.  And he was furious.  He led an unprecedented attack on the GOP conservatives that failed but left massive scars on the GOP base that are still swollen and sensitive today.

Like Rockefeller, Romney is where he is because he was “next in line.”  It is “his turn” in accordance with the way the northeastern liberals ran the party. (They have yet to learn that they no longer control the Republican Party.)  GOP voters were simple told that Romney is the “frontrunner”  … no matter that Romney did not have the strength that comes from the support of the party faithful – including the conservative base of the party today. 

The so-called “republican establishment,” somehow, missed the fact that the power in the GOP switched from the northeastern states to the southern states years ago.  They also seem to have been oblivious of the inherent distrust of northeastern politicians in the south, which is left over from “Reconstruction” of the South immediately following the American Civil War a hundred and fifty years ago.  (Painful memories tend to last much longer than pleasant memories.)

Michael Gerson is an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, a Policy Fellow with the ONE Campaign, and a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter from 2001 until June 2006, as a senior policy advisor from 2000 through June 2006.  Mr. Gerson once described Romney this way:  "Romney's main political vulnerability is a serious one. Running for Massachusetts' governor in 2002, he was a pro-choice, economically centrist, and culturally liberal, business oriented Republican."

You DID see “pro-choice,” “centrist,” and “liberal” in Mr. Gerson’s description of Mitt Romney above, didn’t you?

Yes, as a conservative I want to deprive Obama of a second term as President.  But I do not want to swap one liberal for another.  Besides, we have the likelihood of two vacancies on the US Supreme Court coming up in the next four to five years and it is vital that there be a conservative in the White House to appoint two conservative justices.

Romney cannot pull the two factions of the GOP together.  He may win the nomination but he will not win the election against Obama. The GOP’s “Anybody But Obama” strategy will not work. It is doomed to failure. It is as simple – AND -- as sad as that.  And yes, it IS depressing.

J. D. Longstreet      

Global Mischief Caused By A Weak US President

Global Mischief Caused By A Weak US President
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

North Korea artillery firing on South Korea is just the sort of global mischief we can expect when the Chief of the Global Police is weak, and has a worldwide reputation for being an international “pushover.”

Why would North Korea fire on South Korea? Because they can -- and because they are confident the Obama Administration will do nothing more than posture in public, issue a "stern" warning and ... well ... that's IT!

All the behind-the-hand-snickering we have heard from the world’s rogue state leaders was an indication that they understood Obama had loosened their leash.

First there is a missile launched off the coast of California a few days ago. (You may choose to believe it was the contrail of an aircraft, if you wish. I do not.) I have to believe that was a Chinese missile and it served its purpose, which, I believe, was to say to Obama: “Hey, we’ve got you by the cajones ... and don’t you forget it! Now – about Taiwan … “

Oh, this is just the beginning. Things are going to get rowdy around the globe until we get a new sheriff in town or, if you will, a new Chief of the Global Police.

For Instance: When Jimmy Carter was President we had the Iran Hostage situation. Within minutes of Ronald Reagan being sworn in as President, those hostages were freed.

They may be rogues, but they understand power and they understand and respect the application of power, and they understand when a US President decides to bring the hammer down, they are going to be smashed.

There is Syria, North Korea, Iran, Russia, China, Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia, Venezuela, the Palestinians, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, not to mention Al Qaeda or The Balkans, all capable of creating trouble at a moment’s notice. Of course, I did not mention Iraq or Afghanistan because we already have boots on the ground in both countries.

It is a fact that man is basically evil. We humans are capable of anything including appalling cruelty to our fellow human beings. As a conservative I understand that, so I expect my fellow man do such unthinkable things as initiating a war on a whim.

Man is a rebel. As people of faith the world over understand, man rebelled first against his own Creator. As punishment, man received the gift, or curse, of free will. The mixture of free will and a rebellious nature is explosive. We have been at each other’s throats since the children of the first couple became a murderer and the victim of murderer.

Nothing much has changed since that fateful day. Now, we murder in much greater volume and with much greater efficiency.

Over time our tribes became klans and then countries. Countries initiated governments and governments initiated laws in an attempt to control man’s rebelliousness and conduct all that energy into productive channels that would benefit the population of the various countries.

Obviously, some countries became better at it than others. Some thrived while others did not prosper as well. We became a planet of “have” and “have-not” countries or nations. It wasn’t long until the “have-nots” decided to take what they wanted from the “haves.” Or the “haves’ decided to simply take the “have-not” country and make it a part of its greater self in order to make better use of the natural resources of the aforementioned “have-not” nation.

In the case of the former, it never worked – at least not for long. In the case of the latter, it did work often enough that great empires were born such as the empire of Alexander the Great and the Roman Empire.

But man is a rebel – remember? Tell him he cannot have something and that is the thing he wants most. Call it covetousness, or whatever; the plain truth is that man is never satisfied. He hungers for that which he cannot have.

There are two primary hungers, which have eaten at man since the Garden of Eden: freedom and power. Even today, in the twenty-first century, the desire for freedom and power burns within the heart of man with the fiery brilliance of an atom bomb explosion. And that gift, or curse, of freewill is the lit fuse on that volatile mixture.

I explain all this, as best I can, to try to explain that one must understand these basic facts of human nature before one can understand all the strife between nations the of our modern world.

And it is here that conservatives and liberals disagree, fundamentally, on how a powerful nation, such as the United States, must approach its enemies and the nations that continue to create, cause, and even fund worldwide mischief.

Conservatives understand that you cannot negotiate with someone who will not negotiate. You cannot talk to someone who will not talk. You cannot take the word of a liar whether that liar is an individual or a government.

Conservatives, unlike liberals, also understand that war can, and often does, solve a host of problems. It is also true that war sometimes creates a host of new and unexpected problems. Conservatives, who do not seek an unobtainable Utopia on earth, understand this and accept that it is a part of the human condition. We do not accept the delusion that man is basically good and kind. We know that wishing it so does not make it so.

The US has been the leader of the free world, on planet earth, since it was granted that position by, well, default. However, we have often made mistakes. But they have been mistakes we have quickly corrected or made amends. Making a “pilgrimage of apology,” bowing and scraping before the leaders of other countries, does nothing but demonstrate a nation’s weakness. When the leader of the United States makes a point of doing just that, America must expect mischief to be forthcoming.

The current President of the US, unfortunately, is seen around the globe as a weak leader. As a result America, and the free world, are just beginning to see emboldened enemies probing, trying, and testing his fortitude.

So far, in his tenure in office, President Obama has acted more as a politician than a leader. He is a great orator, a great politician, but a poor leader, especially on the international stage. The world knows this, even if his own political party does not.

There will be more incidents such as the North Korean shelling of a South Korean Island in the months ahead. “While the cat is away, the mice will play” is an old axiom with a great deal of truth attached to it. Until the US elects a new cat -- there will be much more activity among the mice. Count on it.

J. D. Longstreet

The Triumvirate of DUMB!

The Triumvirate of DUMB!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Where are the “Grown-ups” IN the Obama Regime? I look around and I see emotionally immature people traipsing about in the West Wing of the White House with the blessing of the uno numero socialist in America, President Obama. Then I look up the Hill to the Congress and I see Harry Reid over in the Senate, and I see Nancy Pelosi over in the House of Representatives -- and I shudder. I fear I am looking at “Dumb” and “Dumber.” It is frightening to realize that our country is in the hands of those three people: Obama, Reid, and Pelosi. You know what is even scarier? Pelosi is third in line for the Presidency should something, God forbid, happen to the President and the Vice-President.

There is a great deal of angst in the US these days. One can almost feel the tension in the air. Each day we awaken to another day of wondering what exactly the Obama regime is going to do today to strip more of our precious freedom away.

Already we have a Cap and Trade bill hanging over our heads. That bill alone is going to cost every American family mucho deniro in the years ahead as the government attempts to fight an enemy that doesn’t even exist. I am referring to global warming, or as the “environuts” are wont to say -- “Climate Change.” The “Bailouts” have strapped a generation, or so, of Americans, even those yet unborn, with thousands of dollars of debt they must pay off in their lifetimes on this earth. I have read that the Obama Regime has saddled America with more debt in his ten months, or so, in office than all the previous US Presidents combined! Unemployment in America is now over nine percent and climbing. With fewer jobs there is less disposable income, less money in the marketplace, and that has affected Wall Street and stocks are all over the map. Investors are as nervous as a lady of ill repute in church!

Now, comes socialized medicine. The added cost to Americans is expected to be well over a trillion dollars in the first decade, and, frankly, we have serous doubts it will turn out to be that cheap. And regardless of what our esteemed senators and congresspersons are telling us it WILL affect the nations deficit and wreak even more havoc with what is left of our economy.

If there is any silver-lining, at all, to the dark clouds gathered over America these days, it is the very real possibility that in one year, if we can hang on, there is likely to be a political massacre of democrat politicians at the ballot box.

Even the liberal voters who flocked to the polls in 2008 to elect Obama are now having serious doubts about him and his policies.

I have noticed some of the more liberal journalists are bemoaning Obama’s failure to stand by his campaign promises, those promises especially favored by ultra-liberals, and, in fact, has continued a number of Bush’s policies and programs with what appears to be total disregard for the leftist dreams he has shattered along the way over the past ten months, or so.

Now, we are told, some in the White House are experiencing some trembling in the knees as Tuesday’s elections approach and their candidates are not making the “showing” they were expected to make against the more conservative candidates. In fact, The Obama Regime is admitting that at least a couple of races, they deem especially important to them, are likely to go to the opposition as their candidates go down in flames. One must ask: is this a precursor to coming attractions in 2012? Could be. But, 2012 is still a long way off and things change at a remarkable velocity in politics, especially national politics.

Dumb, dumber, and dumbest. Taking on Fox News was, probably the dumbest move yet. But, hey, that is what happens when people with power get cocky. They open themselves up to return fire.

I was in the US Army Artillery during my service in the military. One of the important lessons we learned -- and it is a lesson readily applied to one’s life -- is to always remember when the enemy is in range of your guns – YOU are in range of THEIRS! Somebody apparently forgot to tell the folks in the Obama Regime.

Americans have, at a minimum, three more years of wondering what we are going to be hit with next. Are we worried? You are “durn tootin” we’re worried -- and with good reason. We still do not see a viable presidential candidate being groomed by the Republicans to run against Obama in 2012. Oh, yes! It is truly worrisome.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Obama-Regime+Pelosi+Reid+Dumb

Obama’s Chicago-Style Politics

Obama’s Chicago-Style Politics
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Ah, Chicago! It is mythologized as the land of the mobster, the gangster, Al Capone, etc, etc. Many politicians, and even some journalists, are adding the name of Obama to that list of supposed infamy.

Do you remember back during the campaign for President when Obama promised to re-introduce “bipartanship” into Washington politics if he was elected? I do. As a matter of fact I wrote at least once piece in which I blasted bipartanship as a bad thing, a VERY bad thing for the country if Obama was elected. Well, as it turned out he WAS elected and it also turns out, I needn’t have worried about bipartanship being re-introduced, by Obama, into politics in our capital city! It didn’t happen -- and it isn’t likely to happen -- as long as Obama is President. (As for my part, I hope it NEVER happens because that is not the way a democratic republic works!) As a matter of fact, Obama has introduced Chicago style politics into Washington politics.

Strong arms and brass knuckles are now the order of the day. No velvet gloves for the Obama Regime. Nope. It is Obama’s way, or the kneecaps are mush! See, Obama and his minions run everything, I MEAN EVERY THING! His Czars will see to it. THEY decide how you and I will live. If you are inside Obama’s orbit you get pretty much what you want. If you are outside Obama’s orbit you get what they let you have and no more. THAT is what Americans; especially the business community in America, is living with today.

Michael Barone has an excellent article on this very thing entitled: “Obama Hits Opponents With Chicago Brass Knuckles.” You’ll find it HERE. In his commentary Mr. Barone says: “It's not the worst way to run a city… But it's not the optimal way to run a national administration, at least if you've promised to bring in a new era of bipartisanship and mutual respect. Even so, it appears to be the way that Barack Obama, who once aspired to be mayor of Chicago, has decided to run his administration.” Mr. Barone goes on to say: “…Maybe Obama thought everyone in Washington would be his great friend. Having encountered un-Chicago-like dissent and disagreement, he has responded with classic Chicago brass knuckles. We'll see how far this kind of thuggery gets him.”

“In the American Mafia Family everyone has a job to do. Some people are bosses and some are workers. However you can always work your way up the ladder of power, and respect. Below is the hierarchy of an American Mafia family.

The Boss of the family. He controls everything that goes on in the mafia family. Every worker and lower ranking boss works for him. It is the boss who decides if someone should be killed or if someone should be initiated. The boss gets money from all of his workers and therefore is usually the richest person in the family.

The Underboss. The underboss is the person who actually runs the family. He is boss over all the other members except the actual boss. He will often become the boss of the family if something happens to the boss. The boss will choose who his underboss is. A family will usually have only one underboss.

The Consigliere. Consigliere is an Italian term meaning someone who gives advise. The consigliere in a mafia family is the "right hand man" to the boss. It is his job to help the boss make important decisions. The consigliere is as important as the underboss but is not the boss of anyone in the family. A family will usually have only one consigliere. Acts as a middle man in personle vendetas. He is supposed to make impartial descions which are best for everybody.
Caporegimes.

The next position of the family is caporegime (or captain). Families will have different numbers of caporegimes. A caporegime is in charge of a group of workers (see below; Soldiers). The underboss of the family is in charge of the caporegimes. The job of the caporegime is to collect money from the workers to give to the boss, underboss and consigliere as well as keeping money for himself. A family can have anywhere from 2 to 20 caporegimes.

Soldiers. The workers of a family are called "soldiers" or in Italian "soldati". There job is to earn money to give to their captain (caporegime). They will do any job asked of them by their captain or the boss or underboss. A family can have anywhere from 10 to 300 soldiers.
Each family will have a number of associates. These are people that work with them or for them but are not official members.” (Courtesy of Wikipedia. You can read the full article HERE.)

As you observe the Obama Regime in action keep this article (HERE.) in mind. It might help you sort through the smoke and mirrors and gain some insight into how the current regime occupying the White House operates.

Lest you conclude we are dubbing the President a gangster, allow me to disabuse you of such an idea. What we are saying is simply that his STYLE of politics resembles, greatly, the style of politics infamously attriubuted to the style of politics in Chicago, which is famous, or infamous, (as you will) for it’s history of gangsters.

A recent example of the Obama Regime’s Chicago style politics is their attempt to freeze Fox News out of an interview with White House pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. Plus, some of the President’s aides have recently referred to Fox News as an arm of the Republican Party, as the opposition, and as a non-credible news operation. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), at his weekly press briefing last week, said the following: “When you can’t win an argument based on the facts, launch vicious political attacks. This Chicago-style politics is shutting the American people out and demonizing their opponents.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a former Nixon White House aide, said: “An 'enemies list' only denigrates the Presidency and the Republic itself." (You will find an excellent article on this at CNSNEWS.com HERE.)

In our view, the President needs to “grow-up.” Petulance does not become a President of the United States.

Thinking back over the long months of the presidential campaign we recall that we were warned on more than one occasion that the President has a strong bent toward narcissism. His actions, and those of his staff, in the past few months have done absolutely nothing to ease our concern over those warnings. Self-importance, self-absorption, self-centeredness, all these shortcomings are more than a little evident in the Obama Regime. And they all point to narcissism. Narcissists tend to strike out, to flail, viciously when they perceive opposition.

If anything has become clear, in the past nine months or so, it is that America has made a monstrous mistake in choosing a leader. As the remaining years of the Obama Regime go by, we can only pray that the damage to The Republic can be held to a minimum until the next presidential election in 2012 and the nation can begin the process of healing.

J. D. Longstreet

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Liberal+Socialist+Chicago+Politics+Obama

The Demise of the Fourth Estate?

The Demise of the Fourth Estate?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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If there was any doubt in your mind that the mainstream media in the United States is bias toward the political left the very fact that two of the major broadcast networks in America recently refused to air any ads that were not favorable to ObamaCare should erase even the slightest among those doubts.

Talk about a “Fairness Doctrine”! Fair is when you present both sides of an issue, isn’t it? Where are the howls of protest from the government about this obviously unfair position on the part of these networks? Do you hear the commissioners at the FCC complaining about the one-sided policy of these networks? No, and I dare say you will not!

Years ago, I found that to get anything approaching a balanced report of news in America one had to go to “off-shore” sources. Many Americans frequent news sites in Australia, Israel, and Western Europe, including the UK in order to get reliable reports on what is happening in America. How sad IS that?

“Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist” is the title of an article you’ll find HERE. I think you will agree, after reading the article, there was little of a surprising nature in it – especially if you happen to be a conservative.

Not too long ago, the press didn’t mind allowing their bias to show. They did not deny them. In fact, they claimed them. They would push the platform of the political party they liked and the candidate or politician they liked. The larger towns and cities would have more than one newspaper and those papers would compete. Now, here is one of the differences between then and now. Back then news and editorializing were kept separate. Back then they kept the news reporting as neutral as possible, and as factual as possible. On the other hand, their editorials expressed the opinions of the publisher of the paper. Often they’d have editorial cartoons, which would support the publisher’s opinion as well. These days, however, editorial comment is mixed right in amongst the news items, sometimes within the news stories themselves.

As a result of these changes in the way media presents the so-called “news” the credibility of the news media has plummeted. In a recent survey, Pew Research found that ”just 29 percent of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63 percent say that news stories are often inaccurate.” You can learn more about this in an article by Geoff Metcalf titled “Credibility of Biased Media Sinking.” HERE.

In his article, Mr. Metcalf quotes David Limbaugh as having said: “the mainstream media have finally been reduced to sputtering incoherence, as they've observed the un-deification of their anointed messiah and experienced firsthand their own diminishing relevance.” However, media malfeasance is more than just the reality check of a begrudging epiphany. The wounds suffered by the mainstream media are all self-inflicted.

As we survey the newspaper industry in America today we find that a number of leading papers are in financial trouble. There is even talk of a government bailout for newspapers! Of all the bad ideas to come out of Washington, since the election of last year, this ranks among the worst! It seems to me that for newspapers to take money from the government would make them beholden to the government. If you take the government’s money, you play by the government’s rules. How then could they ever hold government accountable to the voters? Of course, many of us are asking why the press is not holding government accountable today. The answer is simple – left wing bias.

If the press were not biased in favor of the Obama Administration, the Obama birth certificate question would have been settled a very long time ago. Africa and Hawaii would have been virtually crawling with reporters from the wire services, the broadcast media, the print media, reporters from “news” shows, etc. If he, or she, had press credentials they would be on the story right to the bitter end. But it did not -- and has not -- happened. Somehow, the media seems to think the public did not notice. But we did. Their reluctance to say, or do, anything that might reflect badly on Obama, or his administration, has damaged what was left of their credibility immeasurably.

At the moment I cannot see how the media can regain any of it’s lost credibility. If, perhaps, they returned to the olden ways of presenting the news, as balanced news, with editorials reserved for a specific part of the newspaper, and broadcast media separating and clearly defining editorials within a “newscast, that would certainly be a start -- but ONLY a start. As so many other commentators have already said the wounds the news media is suffering are self inflicted. If there is to be healing, the healing must come from within the news industry. Unfortunately for the media, they have yet to acknowledge their own culpability in what may be the demise of the news industry, as we know it today. As an old “news hound,” I find that very sad, indeed.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Liberal+Press+Media+Bias

Faking Sincerity.

Faking Sincerity.
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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Back in “the day” there was an expression that went something like this: “When you can fake sincerity, then you’ve really got it made!”

I think of this expression, and the absolute truth it represents, every time I hear that Obama is making, or is about to make, a speech. Well – truth be told -- I have NEVER heard Obama make a speech. No lie. The man hasn’t a thing to say that I want to hear -- other than “I resign.”

I have to admit – he IS one of the all time great ones. I mean, it is really difficult to look another person in the eye and lie through your teeth, but Obama has mastered that skill. Combine that with faked sincerity and the gullible of America will stampede just to get in line to hear his lies. And do not DARE to call him a liar! Why that is pure blasphemy! In other words -- do not dare to speak the truth about all the glib promises he is making especially about socialized medicine in America.

When you step back and survey the way the country is divided over ObamaCare you quickly see the folks supporting Obama are the folks who want, oh so badly, to be made fools of. You can point out the truth to those people all day long, until you are blue in the face, and it will do no good. They have made up their minds. They will follow the empty suit in the Oval Office right off the cliff of the looming socialism. They resemble, for all the world, the followers of Jim Jones as they guzzle down Obama’s kool-aid.

Obama’s promises cannot be kept. It is IMPOSSIBLE. He cannot supply healthcare for everyone in America without raising your taxes and rationing healthcare at the same time. Even the government agencies charged with checking such things say it is impossible. Yet, the “true believers” kneel at Obama’s feet and worship as they chant, “Yes, we can! Yes, we can!”

Look, The US is B R O K E! We are W I T H O U T F U N D S! We are, temporarily, financially embarrassed. Call it what you will, the fact is -- we cannot afford ObamaCare. We cannot dredge up the money it will take to pay for it – PERIOD!

Try a little experiment. Next Friday and/or Saturday evening pay a visit to the Emergency Department of your local hospital. Look at the crowds waiting for medical help. Take note of who those people waiting are. They are being treated at no cost to them. You and I, the folks with insurance pay for them as the cost is spread out over my hospital bill and yours when we receive medical treatment at that facility.

The crowds at some Emergency Departments have been so large the hospitals have been forced to close that department down completely. They simply could not afford to stay open. The financial drain was too much for the hospital.

Now, just imagine the size of the crowds awaiting treatment under ObamaCare when there is no “apparent” cost to the recipient of those services. There is NO WAY the existing hospital staff will be able to handle those crowds. SOMEBODY is going to be turned away, or given a number and told to report back in a week, or a month, or six weeks, or even a year. THAT is called healthcare RATIONING! It is not just a possibility -- it is a certainty!

And another thing: Where are all the doctors and nurses coming from to man those ER departments and where are the funds coming from to build the new hospitals and clinics that absolutely will be required to handle the hugely increased demand for free healthcare? Where? Some reports say we can expect as many as 50 million new patients increasing the drain on our existing facilities and the few primary care doctors we now have. Considering the fact that we are already experiencing a shortage of those primary care doctors today, many, many, more primary care doctors are going to be needed almost overnight. Where are they coming from?

When considering thatnearly half of America favors ObamaCare, I must tell you that leads me to believe that we need some sort of National Mental Healthcare Program – and that’s for certain. Sane people don’t act this way. Sane people do not accept a continuing flow of lies from anyone without question.

"Something for nothing" is the most welcome promise of all and really good con men know that. They use it all the time. Obama is no different. He is making the same empty promise with his offer of free healthcare for all without costing the recipient anything. There it is: “Something for Nothing."

Thomas Sowell has an excellent article on just this thing titled: “Charlatan-in-Chief.” We highly recommend that you click your way over to National Review Online and read it. You’ll find it HERE.

There is no doubt in my mind that before the year 2009 is ended the US will have some sort of Socialized Medicine. It is the price we will pay for electing the socialists of the Democratic Party to power. Already, in barely seven months, the democrats have raped, and sacked, and looted our country. They have bankrupted the treasury and caused every man woman and child, now alive in the US, to bear the burden of some $40,000.00 debt to the US government. And that is BEFORE they slap us with Socialized Medicine!

The plain truth is, dear reader, if America is to survive the damage done by the democrats we must begin at the ballot box in 2010. We must vote out every democrat seeking re-election and those seeking office for the first time must be turned away. The very survival of the USA depends upon it.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Liberal+Socialists+Obama+Lies+Healthcare

The Dream of America Lost to a Socialist Nightmare

Multiculturalism, Diversity, and Political Correctness have Destroyed America
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

As I observe more and more frustrated Americans opining how “they/we want our country back,” I also observed that more and more Americans have no clue what we are asking! THAT was, in itself, and epiphany, of sorts, for this scribe. You see, our young people in America have been denied their lessons in history, especially the history of this country, the United States of America. And, yes, they ARE doomed to repeat the “mistakes of the past” and, equally as unfortunate, they are doomed to make new and event worse mistakes as a result of their ignorance of our sometimes tortured past as well as our sometimes glorious past.

I remembered that I had written about this a while ago and decided to look it up.

As I was reading over my ancient scribbling it occurred to me that not much had changed -- if anything. It also occurred to me that now, right now, as our beloved nation is tearing itself apart trying to find a majority of Americans to either swing America completely over to socialism, which is the first step to national communism, or remain a representative republic, it might be a fairly good idea to re-publish my words of long ago.

So, I brushed off some of the cobwebs and dusted it off, a bit, and I present them now, with some updating for your edification.

First allow me to mention the following: I find nothing quite so repulsive as those who feel WE are the enemy of America. “We” being those of us who want our country back. It is THEY who demonstrate their own blinding ignorance of this country’s sacrifice to gain and maintain the freedoms granted us under the constitution as a representative republic. It is THEY who are ignorant of the blood sacrifice shed on the alter of freedom to preserve the constitution under which they are allowed the freedom to slander the very America that gave them the freedom they enjoy as a birthright. It is they who damage our beloved nation once described by one of America’s greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan, as a “Shining City on a Hill.”

Many Americans fell for one of the oldest political “come-ons” in history offered by one of the least qualified candidates for president this nation has ever had the misfortune to have offered it by a political party which has adopted so much of the socialist platform they are almost indistinguishable from those who openly claim their socialist beliefs. They feel for “C H A N G E .”

Change is not always good. Change for the sake of change is almost always BAD. And yet that is what put the current occupant of the presidency in the Oval Office as America’s President and the Commander – in-Chief of the US Armed forces.

So – how did we arrive, as a nation, at this pitiable juncture which, I sincerely hope will go doen in the future history books as an anomaly?

I think the words below may shed some light on how such a thing can happen to a nation, any nation, even one so blessed by Providence.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

There was a time in America, not so long ago, when we had white people, black people, brown people, yellow people, etc. We had men and women. We had healthy people and we had sick people and we had handicapped people.

We had smart people and we had dumb people. We had retarded people and we had normal people.

We had queers and homosexuals and but we had no gay and lesbian people.

We had the truth and we had the lie.

We had people who loved America and people who hated America. There was no “in-between.”

We had Republicans and Democrats and no Independents. We had conservatives and liberals. We did not have moderates.

Well, what happened? Answer: World War Two!

What’s World War Two got to do with it, you may ask? Glad you asked. It has everything to do with the mess in which we find ourselves in America today.

Our US troops who fought in Europe, and were stationed there after the war, brought something back from Europe that was, up ‘til that time, alien to America. In those days it was called “Moral Relativism.” Simply defined it says there are no absolutes. There is no absolutely black and there is no absolutely white. There is no absolute truth and there is no absolute lie.

Now -- this was like a bombshell going off in America. Those of religious faith saw it instantly for what it was. The GREAT LIE!

The pointy-head elites, all over the country, especially those of university academia, saw instantly a way to cover all the things they wanted to do and say with the cloak of moral relativism. And they took it up and reveled in it. They began to teach it to our kids. Then those kids became elementary and high schoolteachers themselves… and they, too, taught it to our kids and, their kids.

It is not accidental that those on the left side of the political spectrum in America came so quickly to adopt Moral Relativism. You see… they WERE the university elite. Someone has said recently, it is now a part of the DNA of the political left and the Democrat Party.

Nowadays, Moral Relativism is known as Political Correctness. No matter what it is called it is still the most effective way to live a lie and sell that life style to others.

When I was a boy, America was referred to as a great Melting Pot. People from all over the world would come to America and melt right into the unique American society and culture. Sometimes it took one, or even two, generations to make the cycle complete but they worked at it. And it made America strong.

Then, the left came up with something called “Multiculturalism.” Basically, that is to say any and all cultures are as good as ours. (When we had a unique American Culture. And for those of you too young to remember… we DID have our own culture!) The breakdown of American society, and culture, began at that moment. The political left began to foist their plan to no longer have a single American culture but a vast array of cultures from all the peoples who had come here to ostensively become Americans.

It was kind of cute at first, the gay colors of the Hispanic peoples and their holidays… and the October fest of the Germans, and the Irish holidays, and the various other cultural celebrations of the host of other peoples in America. Then it became sinister. That unique American culture began to be absorbed into the multitude of other cultures. Now, for all intents and purposes, the American culture is gone. And with it went the identity of the American people.

And then came the icing on the cake: Diversity.

Ever since there has been the institution of marriage, a man and a woman deciding to live together and create a family… man has needed to get away from the little woman.

You have to understand, men are barbarians. We can’t help it, that’s the way Nature made us and we will never be house broken. Even in the pre-Columbian days of the Native Americans on this continent the tribes had their “Man’s House”. Even then, the men needed to get away. It’s not that the man loved or respected the woman any the less; he just needed to let the beast out for a while. He could not, and cannot, do that in a domesticated setting.

For a very long time, the work place served as the man’s retreat. Then the feminist movement came along and women decided they could have it all… including the heart attacks, ulcers, nervous breakdowns, alcoholism, infidelity to their spouse, and everything that goes with the workplace, and they chose that over their families! The invasion into the man’s retreat was on and it was overwhelming.

The office known as “Personnel” was suddenly changed to “Human Resources” and diversity in the workplace was near complete. But… not quite so in American society.

The Military was next. Man’s last retreat from curtains and all forms of domesticity was invaded and defeated. Again In the name of diversity.

Now, diversity and multiculturalism feed off each other and they both feed off Political Correctness. How IS that, you may ask?

Well, if we clear the fog of political correctness away for a brief moment, we can clearly see that multiculturalism is bad for the country. It has robbed us of our identity. Diversity has robbed us of our homes and families… and robbed us of our places in society. Male and female have morphed into one sex now. And again, we have lost our gender identity. Even the forced injection of different races into each other’s cultures, in the name of diversity, has robbed ALL races of their distinct identity. So we came up with hyphenated names to try to identify who we are. But… it doesn’t work. Not really.

Why can’t we see this? Because Political Correctness has laid the cloak of the Big Lie over everything and we dare not question any of it because that would be… you guessed it… Politically Incorrect.

And so… we are lost. We don’t know who we are anymore, we don’t know where we are anymore, and we don’t even know how we got here.

So how can we change it? We can’t. You can’t unring a bell. You cannot re-instate virginity. We’re stuck!

The US has succumbed to that fatal disease which strikes all great nations and brings them their knees. Guilt.

I mean, heck, we can’t even fight a successful war anymore for fear that we will hurt the enemy. And we feel guilty for, well, something or other. The left will certainly fill in the blank for us.

The Thanksgiving season in America is only a couple of months away. Certainly we can take a tip from our founders, those 102 frightened, but determined, souls who left their country in search of a new beginning.

Like the Pilgrims we are going to have to leave and begin anew. Where, you may ask? Antarctica? Hardly. I would point in one direction. Straight up. I firmly our destiny lies out there … among the stars.

Since government can’t afford to fund a colonization program, it will have to be private enterprise, which comes up with the money, the will, and the way. And do not kid yourselves; my guess is -- they are hard at work on plans for such a venture right now.

In the past 2 decades or so, I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the nearness of our horizons. We have become fat, lazy, and satisfied. Our wanderlust is gone. The curiosity to learn what lies over the next hill has diminished. And THAT, Dear Reader, is a death sentence to any society. To paraphrase the scriptures “Without a vision, the people perish.” OUR vision is gone.

Well, that’s not ENTIRELY true. Some, among us, cling to the vision of spreading our collective wings and soaring into the universe. Some of us believe it is our destiny. And, as we look around us, some of us believe it is our salvation as well.

J. D. Longstreet

Conservative+Liberal+Socialist+America+Paradise-Lost+Mediocrity" rel="tag">Conservative+Liberal+Socialist+America+Paradise-Lost+Mediocrity

Eight Years Later ... Alan Caruba

9/11 Eight Years Later

By Alan Caruba
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Has it been eight years?

What I learned from 9/11 was that a lot of Americans have concluded that it was America’s fault we were attacked. That may sound screwy to people who correctly believe that al Qaeda planned, funded and provided the men who carried out the attacks, but why deal with the facts when conspiracies are so much more fun? Why not just blame the victims?

9/11 was not the first attack on the Twin Towers. For those with any attention span, the first attack came in 1993 and was treated as a criminal act by a “gang who couldn’t shoot straight” Muslims, one of whom actually returned to the rental agency to get his money back because the truck used in the attack was destroyed.

Here’s where we are eight years later. As far as the government is concerned, it has learned NOTHING from the event and the subsequent efforts to kill the Taliban and al Qaeda lunatics who were operating in Afghanistan and badlands of Pakistan.

Not only are we still in Afghanistan, not only have we blandished billions on “nation building” in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well on Pakistan, but the Obama Justice Department thinks the CIA interrogators are the bad guys and wants to extend Miranda rights, the full protection of the U.S. Constitution, to terrorists.

Astonishingly, your government has returned to pre-9/11 status wherein the FBI is now responsible for preventing terrorist attacks and the CIA is largely irrelevant, if not suspect.

Recall that, at the time of 9/11, the CIA was forbidden to provide information about terrorism to the FBI and vice-versa. Welcome to the bad old days!

And Obama is still intent on closing Guantanamo although he gave zero thought as to what we should do with the terrorists detained there. Those that were returned to their homelands promptly headed for new battlefields against American forces.

Eight years on, Osama bin Laden is presumably still alive. How is it that a nation with our enormous resources, spy satellites, drones to over-fly where we believe he is hiding, special operations military personnel, and yet this very tall Arab eludes us?

Here, too, is something worth considering. Al Qaeda waited eight years after the February 26, 1993 Twin Towers attack to strike again on September 11, 2001. And 2009 is eight years since the last attack. These people are patient. The next attack has been planned that will greatly exceed the casualties of 9/11.

Had the machinery that the Bush administration put in place and which kept the nation safe been respected and augmented, I would feel more confident, but who can feel confident with Janet Napolitano heading the Department of Homeland Security?

Napolitano cannot even bring herself to say the word “terrorist” and the Obama administration has not only expunged the phrase “war on terrorism”, but the Postal Service has issued of a stamp to commemorate Eid, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan!

It was the weak response of the Clinton administration that spurred al Qaeda to stage 9/11 and the same conditions are in place again today.

In addition, in an absolutely bizarre change of focus, instead of capturing or killing terrorists, it is the former Vice President, Dick Cheney, and dedicated CIA operatives that the Obama administration would like to drag before the dock and prosecute!

It is eight years later and I do not feel one bit safer. Do you?

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

September 10, 2009

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Conservative+Liberal+Socialist+9/11

Leader of None ... by Paul Driessen

Leader of None
Obama’s global warming policies have few US followers – and fewer on the global stage
A Commentary by Paul Driessen
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“Few challenges facing America – and the world – are more urgent than combating climate change,” President Obama has asserted. “We will make it clear that America is ready to lead.”
The President and Al Gore are certainly ready to lead. But how many will follow?

Even in America, and certainly on the world stage, the two increasingly look like Don Quixote and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza. As they tilt for windmills, and against a “monstrous giant of infamous repute” – climate disasters conjured up by computer models and Hollywood special effects masters – their erstwhile followers are making politically correct noises, but running for the hills.

The House of Representatives passed a 1400-page energy and climate bill – by a razor-thin margin, and only after Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman packed it with enough last-minute deals to protect favored congressional districts, buy votes, and curry favor with assorted special interests. Not one legislator actually read the bill – which would create a trillion-dollar cap-trade-and-tax industry, ensure that energy and food costs “necessarily skyrocket,” kill jobs, and impose an all-intrusive Green Nanny State.

Republicans want to control what people do in their bedrooms, insists the old canard. Democrats, it appears, want to dictate what we do everywhere outside of our bedrooms. And Sancho Gore wants to become the world’s first global warming billionaire, by selling climate indulgences, aka carbon offsets.

The reaction has been predictable – by anyone except House and White House czars and czarinas.

Citizens are livid over yet another attempt to use a purported crisis to justify further expanding the government and spending billions more tax dollars for alarmist research, activism and propaganda, just ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference. Global warming continues to rank dead-last in Pew Research and other polls that actually list it as an issue. Rasmussen puts the President’s approval ratings at 46% and falling. Zogby reports that 57% of Americans oppose cap-and-trade bills.

Manufacturing states, which get 60-98% of their electricity from coal, worry that the only thing they’ll export in ten years will be jobs. Democrat senators from those states worry that the energy and climate issue will be “toxic for them during midterm elections,” says Politico magazine.

Even companies that had eagerly sought seats at the negotiating table are now gagging. ConocoPhillips, Caterpillar and others finally realize that cap-and-tax will severely penalize them and their customers.

Not even the climate is cooperating. Outside of Dallas, 2009 has brought some of coldest summer days on record across the US. Near freezing temperatures nipped at crops, and gas heaters were sine qua non at an August 29 outdoor wedding in Wisconsin. The Farmers Almanac predicts a brutal 2009-2010 winter.

In Europe, every longitude has a platitude about saving the planet. But EU countries that agreed to slash greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels are well above their Kyoto Protocol targets – Austria by 30% and Spain by 37% as of 2008. And despite new commitments to cut emissions 40 years from now, you don’t need tarot cards or entrails to predict the more probable EU emissions future.

Germany plans to build 27 coal-fired electrical generating plants by 2020. Italy plans to double its reliance on coal in just five years. Europe as a whole will have 40 new coal-fired power plants by 2015, columnist Alan Caruba reports. The Polish Academy of Sciences has publicly challenged manmade global warming disaster hypotheses. And only 11% of Czech citizens believe rising carbon dioxide emissions caused global temperatures to climb 1975-1998 – and also caused them to rise 1915-1940, fall 1940-1975, then stabilize and decline again 1998-2009.

Australia just voted down punitive global warming legislation. New Zealand has put its emissions-bashing program in a deep freeze.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s top economic aid bluntly dismissed any talk of following President Obama’s quixotic lead. “We won’t sacrifice economic growth for the sake of emission reduction,” he told reporters at the July 2009 G8 meeting.

Chinese and Indian leaders are equally adamant. China is playing a smart hand in this high-stakes climate poker game, drawing up plans to combat global warming sometime in the future, and gradually improve its energy efficiency and pollution control. However, it is building a new coal-fired power plant every week and putting millions of new cars on its growing network of highways.

So is India, which will double its coal-based electricity generation and produce millions of Tata and other affordable cars by 2020. “India will not accept any binding emission-reduction target, period,” Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has stated. “This is a non-negotiable stand.”

India and China have a “complete convergence” of views on these matters, Ramesh added. No wonder: 400 million Indians still do not have electricity; 500 million Chinese still do not.
No electricity means no refrigeration, to keep food and medicines from spoiling. It means no water purification, to reduce baby-killing intestinal diseases. No modern heating and air conditioning, to reduce hypothermia in winter, heat stroke in summer, and lung disease year-round. It means no lights or computers, no modern offices, factories, schools, shops, clinics or hospitals.

Fossil fuels are “gradually eliminating poverty in the Third world,” observes UCLA economist Deepak Lal. Any call to curb carbon emissions would “condemn billions to continued poverty. While numerous Western do-gooders shed crocodile tears about the Third World’s poor, they are willing to prevent them from taking the only feasible current route out from this abject state” – oil, gas, coal, nuclear and hydroelectric energy development. The situation is intolerable, unsustainable, lethal and immoral.

The only way India and China would agree to cut their emissions is if the United States cut its emissions 40% by 2020, says Ramesh – back to 1959 levels and pre-JFK living standards, when the US population was 179 million (versus 306 million today). No way will that happen. So Asian energy and economic development will continue apace. And rightly so, to foster human rights and environmental justice.

All is not bleak, however, for Canute Obama’s impossible dream of controlling global temperatures.

British politicians remain committed to slashing CO2 emissions and replacing hydrocarbons with wind power. Unfortunately, the biggest UK wind projects have been abandoned or put on indefinite hold – and a growing demand/supply imbalance portends still higher energy prices, widespread power cuts, rolling blackouts and energy rationing, the Daily Telegraph reported on August 31. Brits may soon trade their stiff upper lips for contentious town hall meetings and ballot-box revolution.

The Democratic Party of Japan’s landslide victory in the August 30 election will likely create a new coalition government tilted strongly to the left. The DJP has pledged to cut carbon dioxide gas emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 – though this will likely strangle economic growth and job creation, especially if one coalition partner’s opposition to nuclear power becomes DJP policy.

Then there is Africa, where leaders appear ready to support curbs on energy use – in exchange for up to $300 billion per year in additional foreign aid, “to cushion the impact of global warming.” That will be nice for their private bank accounts, but less so for Africa’s 750 million people who still don’t have electricity. Those people will simply be sacrificed, to prevent natural or fictitious climate disasters.

Of course, the real goal was never to control the climate. It was always to control energy use, lives, jobs, economies, transportation and housing – and usher in a new era of high tax global governance. The American people are increasingly saying they’re not ready to grant that power to Obama Gore & Company.
___________
Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and Congress of Racial Equality, and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power ∙ Black death.
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Conservative+Liberal+Global-Warming+Obama+Hoax+Leadership

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
***********************************************

“I cannot accept, your canon that we are to judge pope and king unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”… Lord Acton

What will it take to convince Americans that the people we place in office ought to be of high moral character? I no longer think it is even possible. I no longer think Americans even care… as evidenced by the results of the presidential election, and numerous congressional elections, and even state and local elections around the country just last year.

We have become so accustomed to self serving, double-dealing, dishonest, greedy, callous, crafty, deceitful, duplicitous politicians that we now accept it as “normal”. What that says about Americans, as a people, is absolutely shameful. What it says about the future of America is terrifying!

I dare say ancient Rome was not as corrupt as America is today. We have managed to dumb down our populace, the voter base, the electorate, concerning what is expected of public servants, until we think nothing of electing to public office people of such low morals they ought not be allowed IN public, let alone serve in a public office. Nowadays, the use of the phrase “choosing the lesser of two evils,” when describing our choice of candidates, is in regular use… and we don’t even raise an eyebrow. Why? Because it is true!

James L. Buckley once said: ” What people fail to appreciate is that the currency of corruption in elective office is, not money, but votes.” He was spot on!

I am not surprised at the corruption of our politicians. How could I be? How could YOU be? It is we who elected them. It is we, the people of America, who bear the shame and the guilt for placing these people of low repute in offices that good men fought, bled, and died for on foreign and domestic battlefields to secure for us. Do we not understand that we have disgraced our heritage? Do we not understand that we have brought shame upon our ancestors, upon our forefathers, upon the Founders of this nation, and… upon ourselves for not being good citizens and good stewards of this priceless jewel of a country?

Too long have we abrogated our singular duty to study the foundations of this country, the constitution of this country, the legal/judiciary system of this country, and, just as important, the government of this country, and… the way that government was intended to operate. We haven’t done any of this.

Our public education system has failed, utterly, in educating our young about their heritage as Americans. It has failed at instilling pride in our young as Americans. The angry cries of “nationalism” have drowned out “patriotism” until one is frowned upon for any public display of pride in America. There is something intrinsically wrong about that! In modern day America education has been devalued while ignorance is celebrated… even unto the voting booth! It is revolting!

Yes, I am angry. It is an anger born of frustration. I am frustrated with my fellow Americans who absolutely refused to see that substance does trump style every time. The percentage of the electorate who voted to place a man in office, primarily because of the color of his skin and, secondly, his eloquent way with words, have done America a huge disservice. The cost is going to be monumental, biblical, even.

One of the great men of the American Revolution, Samuel Adams, said this: “The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.”

I would draw your attention to the last portion of the last sentence above: “… or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.” THAT is precisely where we find ourselves in America today. And we have no one, no one, to blame… but ourselves.

Are you ready for the years, immediately ahead, with tailgating scandals and stories of corruption and graft and the peccadilloes of powerful men unable to restrain themselves when let lose on an ignorant populace? You’d better be - for I am mighty afraid that is exactly where we are heading. The political shenanigans in Washington, to which we have, unfortunately, become accustomed, are, I’m afraid, only the tip of a vastly underestimated iceberg of such conduct. America’s ship of state is sailing directly into that iceberg.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative Liberal+Progressive+Socialist+Obama+Absolute-Power+Corruption

The Collapse of the Mainstream Media in America?

The Collapse of the MsM in America?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*******************************************

The Mainstream Media (MsM) in America, especially, has gone all out to support Obama and anything Obama does. They have dropped nearly all their pretense of unbiased reporting. Well, most of it anyway. Some of the old press vets are still clinging to claims of “unbiased reporting”, but they are “aging-out” and will soon be gone from the American scene.

All of this has not gone unnoticed by the consumers of “news” in America and those consumers (of which, I am one) have been, and ARE, upset and disappointed with the MsM’s obvious lack of unbiased reporting. The backlash has already begun.

Look at the financial mess the MSM in America finds itself today. All the financial problems of the MsM cannot be blamed on the Recession, because their collapse began long before the recession set in.

Why do you suppose the implosion of the MsM began at this point in history?
If I had to guess… and had only one chance to get it right, I’d say it was because the MsM decided to openly support Obama during the presidential campaign and continues to openly support him - and his socialist programs - even today while claiming, all the while, that they are unbiased. They are like the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Understand – there are some Americans extremely ticked-off at the Mainstream Media today. In my opinion, there is something akin to an unannounced boycott of the MsM in progress in America today.

See, the MsM is pro-Obama, anti-war, anti-military. The American public interprets that as anti-American behavior. And they don’t like it – at all!

The Mainstream Media in the US is largely controlled by the political Left, and as such, is bound to play down any successes the US has in the any theatre of war - no matter the reasons America had/has for going to war.

Much, if not most, of the MsM have never worn the uniform of any of the branches of America’s armed forces. They haven’t the foggiest idea what war is all about, and certainly not how to wage a war. But, they are experts at telling the world what is wrong with America’s war effort and how badly America is losing and what a “quagmire” the US military has gotten itself into while they would not know a “military quagmire” if it bit them on the butt! Besides, a quagmire to them is defined by the US Military’s inability to invade, conquer, and withdraw in three weeks, tops!

Now, don’t misunderstand. The US is quite capable of iniating and winning a war in three weeks. However, we would have to tap our reserves of those dread “weapons of mass destruction” in order to do it, and frankly that gets a little messy. Plus, the MSM would have apoplexy if we even used a simple little battlefield nuke! Their constant carping and complaining will eventually begin to affect the morale of the troops.

Freedom of the press is a privilege, and most importantly, it is a constitutional right, in America. But with that freedom comes responsibility. It is certainly seems the MSM has no concept of their responsibility to America. It is enough that America has granted them the “right” of “freedom of the press”. They willingly use that right irresponsibly, and, in doing so, they assume the predictability of a loose cannon.

I have spoken to servicemen, just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, and they told me they have access to network and cable news in Iraq. They told me they couldn’t believe the reports they saw on the television news. One soldier said to me, it was as if they (American troops) were fighting one war and the press was reporting on another war… somewhere, other than in Iraq.

Abuses such as these are going to cost the MSM in the long run. Unfortunately, it can only lead to a loss of the freedoms they say they value so much, but abuse so willingly. Sooner, or later, the country will grow tired of their continuous efforts at denigrating this wonderful country and their first amendment rights will be curtailed. That will be a sad day for freedom, but a day the MsM will have brought upon itself.

It is a shame to see a great institution collapse inwards, upon itself, as the MSM is doing. But, there is bound to be a reckoning, and not that far in the future.

There are many more sources of news available to the public now than ever before in history. No longer are consumers of news tied to a newspaper, or a certain TV network, or a cable network. With a click of the “mouse” the world’s news media is at your disposal. Many, like myself, are availing themselves of it.

We get our news, often unfiltered through the lenses of the MSM, and we are better informed for it.

The MSM has only just begun to get their “comeuppance.” Sadly, they brought it upon themselves.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Liberal+ MsM+Mainstream-Media+biased+Reporting

Obama’s Communists ... Alan Caruba

Obama’s Communists

By Alan Caruba

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“Tailgunner” Joe McCarthy, a 1950s U.S. Senator who lent his name to any effort to expose America’s enemies, was right. At the height of his fame, he said the U.S. government was shot through with communists, many of whom were participating in a vast espionage effort orchestrated by the Soviets.

Though McCarthy was singularly unsuccessful in uncovering communists within the government during Eisenhower’s first term, the “Army-McCarthy” hearings, April 22 to June 17, 1954, were televised for all to see and he became one of the best known anti-communists of his day. Were there Communists and spies for the Soviet Union? Yes, but we would not learn more until a young Senator from California, Richard M. Nixon identified Alger Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official as one.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, the records that became available to historians and other scholars confirmed McCarthy’s worst fears.

During the 1930s and 1940s, communism appealed to many Americans. Some had soured on capitalism because of the Great Depression. Others saw communism at work in the Soviet Union and, believing the propaganda, concluded it was a viable alternative to capitalism. It would take a speech by Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Krushchev to draw back the curtain and reveal the horrors of living under Stalin.

Then, as now, communists found a home in the American labor movement and among the liberal elites of the Democrat Party who saw in the New Deal the way to transform America into a socialist nation, as well as among America’s intellectuals on its college campuses. Not much has changed.

One of the founders of the “Weathermen” group that conducted a number of bombings in the 1960s is now a “distinguished professor” at the University of Illinois—Chicago. Bill Ayers is also a longtime, close friend of Barack Obama.

Sen. McCarthy was quite possibly the worst person of his era to lead the investigation of communist infiltration and Soviet espionage. He was bombast and a boozer. In August 1954, a Senate committee released a report censoring him for having abused his power as a committee chairman. He would remain in the Senate, but his days of glory were over. His drinking increased and in May 1957 he died from acute hepatitis.

The sad irony of McCarthy’s story is that the government was, indeed, filled with communist sympathizers, known as “fellow travelers”, and with Soviet-run spies. The story can be found in “The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America’s Traitors” by Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel. “Venona” was the U.S. code word given to secret Soviet spy communications.

Venona revealed the full extent of the spying that was occurring. Venona documented that Harry Hopkins, a close friend and advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt was also a spy. Both the FDR and Truman administrations were chockablock with communists. The Venona program of interception and analysis ran from February 1943 to 1980.

In the post-war years, the U.S. created the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency to discover and monitor not just the Soviets, but many other enemies of the nation.

A significant example is the way the Soviets were able to build their own atomic bomb long before their own scientists ever could thanks to their espionage program. There were many others who were known in spy craft as “agents of influence”. One of them was I.F. Stone who wrote a widely read newsletter that provided cover for the actual spies and their activities. Stone continues to be hailed in journalism circles as an outstanding investigative reporter.

Among the Soviet spies were the Rosenbergs who were found guilty of passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviets. The most famous spy of that era was Alger Hiss who at one point served as the director of the Office of Special Political Affairs in the State Department. He would go on to serve as the secretary general of the founding conference of the United Nations and later become president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The current attacks on the CIA, include a statement by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who said “They lie to us all the time.” The Obama Justice Department has re-opened an investigation into interrogation techniques of the CIA as a further effort to discredit the Agency. If you don’t believe this is at the direction of President Obama, you’re being naïve.

In “The Venona Secrets”, the authors note that a classic Stalinist tactic was “demonizing an opponent and then using his vilified name in a broad-brush smear against anyone who challenged Communist views or activities.” This is why the term “McCarthyism” has entered our political vocabulary. This is also what is occurring right now as former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Governor Sarah Palin, get the treatment.

How can you spot a communist sympathizer in the U.S. Congress? You can visit the website of the “Progressive Caucus” where, as of February 2009, more than 80 members of the House, including two from the Senate, self-identify themselves as progressives. “Progressive” was the term communists used after the McCarthy era. It is still in use today.

Some of the progressive caucus members are Ed Markey and Henry Waxman, co-authors of the “Cap-and-Trade bill that would impose a huge tax on all energy use in America. You will find Charles Rangel, currently under ethics investigation for having hidden hundreds of thousands of dollars from authorities. Barney Frank, the “brains” behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s purchase of millions in worthless mortgage loans, is a member. He is the godfather of a meltdown on Wall Street that remains a threat to our capitalist economy.

A significant number of the caucus are Afro-Americans. They include Jesse Jackson, Jr., John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Donald Payne, and Bobby Rush to name just a few.

With the collapse of the former Soviet Union, many former communists became “environmentalists”, often playing major roles in the many organizations serving that cause.

Among President Obama’s ever-expanding circle of “czars” is Carol Browner, the former Clinton-era director of the Environmental Protection Agency (1993-2000) whose latest appointment also revealed that she served on the Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which is part of Socialist International. Her association with the group has since been scrubbed from their website.

Most obvious and notorious is Van Jones who has never made a secret of his political preference for communism and who is Obama’s new “Green Jobs” czar. The links between the environmental movement and communist goals are numerous, nor should it surprise anyone that the “global warming” hoax was birthed in the bowels of the United Nations.

Today, thanks to the way history is taught in America’s government schools, the threat to freedom that communism posed then and still does pose, is barely a subject for discussion. When he was still an adolescent in Hawaii, President Obama came under the influence of Frank Marshall Davis, a widely known communist in the 1950s.

Obama is completely at home with communists, but is ironically being attacked by the nation’s far Left for not fulfilling their dream of the complete transformation of the nation from capitalism to socialism fast enough.

The destruction of the nation’s economy is necessary to complete the transformation and it is only the outrage and protests of Americans that will save us from a fate that has been and remains the goal of the nation’s communist enemies.

Alan Caruba

(Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. A business and science writer, he is the founder of The National Anxiety Center.)

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