“Obamanomics” …Socialism… or not?

“Obamanomics” …Socialism… or not?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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(From Feb.2009)

The question of whether or not Obama is a socialist continues to come to the fore. The rush by Obama’s people to put out that particular fire has done nothing to quench it. In fact, their efforts may have had just the opposite effect. Surely you are aware of the “Law of Unintended Consequences”.

We have been pounding that drum for a while now. Problem is… nobody wants to hear it.

There is an article at “Abolishing Socialist Slavery” titled: “Barack Obama: Not a Hero, But…”. You’ll find the article HERE.

So what is Socialism, anyway? Well the dictionary says this:
1.
a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

2.
procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.

3.
(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Sir Edmund Burke defined socialism this way:

“A perfect equality will indeed be produced--that is to say, equal wretchedness, equal beggary, and on the part of the petitioners, a woeful, helpless, and desperate disappointment. Such is the event of all compulsory equalizations. They pull down what is above; they never raise what is below; and they depress high and low together beneath the level of what was originally the lowest.
………….. Edmund Burke

Sir Winston Churchill had this to say about socialism:

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery”.

Could it be that Americans who are socialist sympathizers or, are, in fact, socialists themselves, are ashamed of their collectivist proclivities? Well, it is an honest question.

Here we are in a capitalist society set in a representative republic, which is arguably, a Christian nation, and as such, we have been at war with socialism and communism for nearly 60 years. Now we have socialists openly living and working amongst us and ensconced within our national legislature.

I have been convinced, for some time now, that having Mr. Obama, as President, will mean one thing for Americans: redistribution of the nation’s wealth. That, as any thinking person can instantly tell you, will destroy the capitalist economic system this country is built upon and will lead, very quickly, to “business flight” as giant corporations begin to flee the country to escape the inevitably cascade of inflated taxes they are sure to be burdened with under an Obama regime. With them will go jobs. When the jobs are gone there is no creation of NEW wealth. The economy will simply starve to death. If you think the economy is in bad shape now (I don’t… but that is for a another article) just wait until we have “Obamanomics”

Socialism and communism were based on forcible redistribution of a nation’s wealth. There are a number of ways to take the wealth from those who have it and give it to those who do not. The one favored most, by the liberals/socialists in America, it seems, is taxation. Friends on the Left can hardly wait to begin raising taxes.

We must remember that Obama has been rated as the most liberal senator in the US Senate. Liberals have a demonstrated tendency to take from those who are the most productive in America and give what they take to those who are not productive. Expect, as we said above, huge tax increases on big and small businesses alike. And the nightmare of the “welfare state”, conservatives have warned Americans against, for a very long time, will become reality. And, lest we forget, a national healthcare system… socialized medicine in America.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… well, you know the rest.

J. D. Longstreet

Should the District of Columbia be given Statehood?

Should the District of Columbia be given Statehood?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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The short answer is NO! The long answer is: NOOOOOOOOOO!

Washington is a city, a government compound, if you please; it is anything but a state! And it should never become a state… unless… the Nation’s Capitol is moved to a more centralized location in the US. Then, I would propose breaking the District up and returning those parts of the district which had formerly belonged to the neighboring states… if they will take it back, which, frankly, I doubt. That portion belonging to Virginia has already been returned. The remaining portion used to belong to Maryland.

George Washington, the nations first president, chose the spot, a swamp named “Foggy Bottom”, upon which to build the city. It was close to his home, don’t you see. Sadly, Washington never served as President in the city, which bears his name. Somehow, I suspect that given a look at what the city has become today, Washington would ask that his name be removed.

Not to worry, those pushing for statehood for the District already have a new name chosen: “New Columbia”. I’ve not heard whether the folks in the Old Columbia, which is the capitol city of South Carolina, would mind, or not. I dare say they haven’t been asked.

The city was created as a “municipal corporation” on February 21st, 1871. And it’s been nothing but trouble and a drain on the US Treasury ever since.

The rambling here is, hopefully, to establish a truth which seems to be very inconvenient for those who want statehood for DC. The truth is: Washington was conceived as a city within which to locate the seat of the US Government. It was not to be in a state, or any portion of a state. It was to be in a district… separate, and apart, from ANY state!

Another inconvenient fact is that statehood for DC would be unconstitutional. That’s right! Unconstitutional!

You see, The Constitution specifies “a federal district not exceeding ten miles square.” It is not to be a part of any state. Today the District is six times as large as the constitution stipulated at over 61 square miles

It is my personal belief that only a constitutional amendment can legally make a state of the District of Columbia.

Many disagree. A number believe that the government compound could be shrunk down to contain only those federal buildings, which are a part of the government and the remainder of that 61 square miles turned into a state.

The Democrats, especially, love the idea of statehood for DC. They know they would get three liberal democrat members of the Senate, and Congress, right off the bat. According to the 2000 census there are 343,312 Blacks in DC. Whites account for only 176,101. That’s 60% Black and 30% White. The median age is 34.6 years old.

Right now, when numbers mean so much for the Democrats, you can bet they are looking, and lusting after, the District of Columbia.

Why do I bring this up now? I refer you to the paragraph immediately preceding this one. You can bet that should the democrats manage to win the Congress, or just the US House, a new push for statehood for DC will be introduced, almost immediately. And, another thing you can bet on… if they can figure out a way to get the job done, short of a constitutional amendment, they will see that DC becomes the 51st state of New Columbia ASAP. I mean, 93% of the voters casting ballots in DC in the last election, voted democrat. That fact alone should tell you all you really need to know about the “Statehood for DC” push.

So, if the Congress wishes to diminish the size of the District say, down to the constitutionally mandated ten square miles, that’s fine by me. But, I would insist that the remainder of the current District be returned to Maryland and/or any other state from which the land was originally appropriated.

The final answer, so far as I am concerned, is no statehood for the District of Columbia, no matter its size and population… ever.

J. D. Longstreet

Why does Sarah Palin Scare the living Daylights out of the Left?

Why does Sarah Palin Scare the living Daylights out of the Left?
Mainstream Media Nightmare: Sarah Palin
Democrats worry, lose sleep, over Sarah Palin!
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Have you taken a second look at Sarah Palin lately?

Maybe we conservatives should. Hey! I'm JUST SAYING......!

I must tell you that anytime a conservative, candidate or not, strikes fear in the hearts of the Socialists, Marxists, Communists, and Progressives in the Congress, the White House, and the leftist Mainstream Media in America, we conservatives are selling ourselves short -- if we do not sit up and take notice and, at least, try to determine what, about this particular conservative, is driving "those people" mad.

Of course, like so many other conservatives it bothers me , greatly, that she quit the office of governor of the state of Alaska. I cannot, so far, put the feeling that she is a "quitter" to rest. Why did she do it? I wish I knew the real answer to that question. Maybe someday we will. Someday, should the occasion arise for a face to face with Ms. Palin, I intend to ask just that question. Whether it will make a difference, or not, I cannot say. Her answer to that question , I would think, will make, or break, any future national political ambitions she may have.

In the meantime, though, she is selling books like hot cakes and making appearances across the country and drawing record breaking crowds in some cities and towns.

Representatives of the mainstream media are tagging along like bloodhounds sniffing for any mistake, or misstep, or misspoken word that offers even a meager opportunity for them to discredit her further.

Battalions of reporters and investigators are pouring over her book looking for errors or, well, anything that could be construed as less than truthful in their never ending campaign to belittle her, and diminish her standing among conservative and independent voters in America.

Now, here is what is troubling me. I had written Ms. Palin off as another "also ran". A "has been," a failed "wannabe politician" on the national stage. Now, as a result of the left wing's oh, so obvious fear of this little woman, I am forced to take a second look and reevaluate my most recent negative feelings toward her as a possible candidate for something, or other, either in 2010 or 2012.

See, any conservative who can throw the "Fear of God" into the socialist/progressives/communists/democrats in our Congress and the White House compels me to sit up an utter the words: "What the H**l??? And THAT, dear reader, is what Ms. Palin has done.

There is a reason the socialist leaders of America run screaming from the room at the mere mention of Sarah Palin's name. I mean -- she is bright, eloquent, obviously has a "presence" in any room she enters, and to top off the package, she is strikingly beautiful. And she is resilient. She has managed to fend off all the arrows fired at her by the left-leaning media and the left's hit men and hit women and remain poised, with that striking smile, and her continuous profession of faith in a God who will never forsake her in good times or in bad.

So, she can be "folksy." That is NOT A BAD THING IN MY REGION OF THE USA -- the South. Plus, her "folksy" manner of speech is obviously NOT FAKE. That will go a long way toward establishing the honesty factor in her favor.

Having said all the above, Yes, I am taking a second look at Sarah Palin. If for no other reason than because the mainstream media, which is so biased toward the political left, is expressing such overt fear of her.

When the Left fears the Right, conservatives are doing SOMETHING RIGHT! Is that "RIGHT THING" conservatives are obviously doing... Sarah Palin? I DON'T KNOW! But, you can bet -- I am going to try to find out!

J. D. Longstreet

Iran Draws Ever Closer to the “Islam Bomb”

Iran Draws Ever Closer to the “Islam Bomb”
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Over the past few months, there have been a few shrugged shoulders, and a few mutters, about allowing Iran to acquire the atomic bomb rather than have a third front in the War on Terror. Granted, those shrugs and mutterings have been emanating from those with, shall we say… less “constitution,” than most? But, still, whispers of that nature tend to grow into cacophonies among, as we said, those with, uh, less constitution.

“But, J. D., doesn’t that make sense?” you may ask. “I mean, it’s only one more country in the Middle East,” you may continue.

Well, while it is true that Pakistan has the bomb, and Israel has the bomb, Iran is a whole ‘nuther story.

Pakistan is a constant worry for the US. There is little doubt that at some point, in the not too distant future, the US will have to deal with an overthrow of the current regime in Pakistan and the possibility that some, less than stable, individuals will gain control of that country’s nuclear arsenal. It’s going to happen. Bet money on it. That could be years down the road, or it could be tomorrow. The fact that we have troops next door is not a coincidence. You can bet the Pentagon has burned the midnight oil, on numerous long nights, planning, and then re-planning, how to rectify that situation… when if happens.

Israel has a nuclear arsenal. You know… the one they don’t have. Right… that one! The thing is, Israel has no plans to wipe anyone out, save for those who may attempt to do her and her people harm.

From the media we learn this: “Earlier this week, Iran state television reported that the Islamic Republic has successfully test-fired the Sejil-2 missile, whose range outstrips the Shahab, a missile said to be capable of striking Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf. Al Alam, Iran's Arabic-language satellite television, said the Sejil missile had a longer range than the Shahab missile, which Iranian officials in the past have said can reach targets 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away, which would put Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf within reach.” Read the entire article HERE.

Which brings us back to Iran. Iran has yet to acquire the bomb. At least… we THINK they haven’t. If not, they are certainly on the threshold of obtaining what some are calling the “Islam Bomb”.

For those “shoulder shruggers,” please consider… Iran is the instigator of much of the terror around the globe today with training, and with money, munitions, material, and in a number of cases, personnel. It is one thing for Iran, alone, to have the bomb, it is quite another for Iran to begin handing those nuclear bombs off to bands of terrorists, all over the planet, who have absolutely no qualms about setting one of them off in Berlin, Paris, Lisbon, London, or New York! And therein lies the greatest threat posed by Iran’s ownership of The Bomb.

Too often we have adjusted our national blinders so that we are seeing only an atomic attack upon Israel instigated by Iran. I must tell you, the likelihood of Iran arming terrorists with A-bombs is far more likely and, far and away, more dangerous to the US and the world.

Some of us in America understand that it will take a nuclear disaster in one of our large cities to get the attention of that portion of Americans who normally do not take part in the daily grind of everyday politics in the country and the world. They are those folks who will ask: “Now why would anyone want to bomb one of our great cities”? They are the folks who will STILL be puzzled as the mushroom cloud rears it’s dark, ugly, countenance above the ruins of what was formally a thriving metropolis with hundreds of thousand of Americans minding their own business, just like them, before the blinding flash that took their lives.

We have always had those folks with us. Historians tell us that when the 13 American Colonies girded for war against Great Britain, 1/3 were for the war for Independence, 1/3 were against the war, and 1/3 didn’t care, one way or the other.

In the days of yesteryear it was gallant, chivalrous even, to allow the opponent to get off the first shot before America took them out. Today… there will be no chance to strike back. The weapons of war are so powerful that he who gets of the first shot, most likely, will be the winner (if there is such a thing as a “winner” in a nuclear war.)

The point of my rambling is this: We have to take the reins in our teeth, dear reader, and do what must be done… before it is too late. Iran must be stopped. And the deed must be done sooner, rather than later. Americans, befuddled by all the politics in the air, both day and night for the past few years, are NOT paying attention to the gathering threat. While we are in the midst of the so-called GREAT RECESSION, Americans are, indeed, distracted. Dear reader, “distracted” is not a good thing when a country is at war for it’s very existence.

It is more likely now that Israel will attack Iran with the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in charge. Netanyahu, himself a former member of the Israeli Special Forces, is acutely aware of the danger posed by Iran’s acquisition of the Islam Bomb. Remember the former government’s bungling of the war in Lebanon? Many in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) are still smarting from that fiasco. And, it is becoming ever more clear that the US, under the Obama Regime, cannot be counted on to stand with Israel if, when, the “War with Iran” begins. This scribe had originally thought a series of bombing raids on Iran’s nuclear facilities might be able to, at least, set back the Iranian race for the bomb a few years. Now, however, I am convinced a few air raids will not do it. It now appears, at least to this scribe, that there will be a protracted war between Iran and Israel with many casualties and, quite possibly, an exchange of missiles with major cities of both countries being destroyed in the conflagration. In other words there will be little “surgical” about it. It will be a brawl.

No, I have no idea when the strike will come, but come it will. Iran is showing all the signs that it is spoiling for a war with Israel. Israel will have no choice. Well, actually, there is a choice. Europe and America can get behind Israel and assist Israel in taking out the nuclear threat from Iran and continue to enjoy a life of freedom. Or Europe and America can allow Iran to build the bomb, disseminate it to terrorist bands around the globe, and live in fear and trembling as slaves to the Islamofacists. Those are the choices. There is NO MIDDLE GROUND… contrary to what some leading politicians would have us believe.

Now, understand. I am not “warmongering” here. What I AM trying to do is redirect the spotlight onto the very REAL, and possibly worse, threat emanating from Iran’s possession of an Atomic Bomb. And that is… again… arming terrorists with it.

America has had it rather easy, as a nation. We’ve had our wars, even amongst ourselves, but we have had periods of peace. But, I fear that is over.

I hate to break it to some of you, but the war on terror is a never-ending war. It is not likely we will ever again have a world without US troops in the Middle East. But, even if it comes to pass, that we DO manage to dampen the hostilities there, it will be only temporary. In the meantime, wars all over the globe will flare-up and US troops will be required and called into combat in diverse places. It will be a constant struggle; waged from day to day, as young Americans spill their blood in an attempt to keep the death and destruction from our shores. But, eventually, it will arrive here, in America, and we, too, will live then as Israel does today. We’ll not be able to board a municipal bus without worrying if it has a bomb affixed to it, or enter the doors of a shopping mall without the same fear, or attend a sporting event, without that same dark worry tugging at our conscious minds. It will become a way of life and we will yearn for these days of relative peace. Hardly an American family will survive without a death, or multiple deaths, of their young as a result of these wars.

Gloomy? Yes, it is, very. But as I approach my seventieth decade on this earth, I can look ahead and base this prediction on my experience of the 5 wars in my lifetime (so far) in which we have engaged the enemy and found that we have won, lost, or “tied” at the conclusion.

It is said in the Holy Scriptures that in the latter days, or “end times” as some refer to those days, “men will cry peace, peace, but there will be no peace”. Those Scriptures have proven time and time again to be right on target. I see no reason to doubt them, or their wisdom, as we stand at the threshold of a war without end.

The future is going to be difficult. But, it CAN be easier, If the Obama Regime, gets behind Israel in the coming conflict with Iran. Unfortunately, it appears to all who care to observe objectively the Obama Regime’s maneuvering in the Middle East, that the President’s sympathies tend to lie more with the Islamic faction, than with the Israeli faction and, by extension, with the American and European factions.

J. D. Longstreet

It’s All a Lie: Copenhagen, Gore, Obama ... Alan Caruba

It’s All a Lie: Copenhagen, Gore, Obama
By Alan Caruba

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When President Obama shows up in Copenhagen to take part in the greatest fraud perpetrated worldwide in the modern era, there is only one thing you need to know. It is all a lie.

It was a lie from the first moment a scientist like James Hansen told Congress on June 23, 1988 that the planet was going to be roasted by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and it was a lie when Al Gore wrote “Earth in the Balance” and there were still more lies in his Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

A British court banned the documentary from being shown in their schools unless a long list of disclaimers was read to the students before his lies were inflicted on them. American students were not so fortunate. Indeed, as I have said many times before, global warming has been a form of child abuse, causing needless anxiety and fear for countless children on whom it was inflicted.

But how could such a lie be perpetrated on such a vast stage and for so long? My answer to you is “the Soviet Union.” From its inception in 1917 when the czarist monarchy was overthrown and Marxist theory, Communism, was imposed on Russia, whole generations were forced to suffer under this huge lie that the state would provide everything for everybody.

It is such a popular lie that it has been resurrected in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. It returned the Sandinistas to power in Nicaragua. In the last century, millions died under the Communist banner, but that lie never seems to die.

Little wonder then that, when Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s communist dictator addressed the conference, Andrew Bolt of Australia’s Herald-Sun reported that he received “a rousing round of applause.” He was followed by Zimbabwe’s despicable president, Robert Mugabe, who decried “these capitalist gods of carbon burp and belch their dangerous emissions.”

A conference that celebrates such communist blather betrays its true intent. No American President should participate in such a naked display of contempt for capitalism unless of course he shares it

A really Big Lie told often enough acquires the verisimilitude of truth. Global warming, however, was dependent on a different kind of truth, one subject to vigorous review and challenge; it is scientific truth and no matter how many lies were told by the global warming scientists, there were others who stood their ground and challenged them.

By itself, the Big Lie cannot exist solely in a political framework like the United Nations or any one of the nations, including our own, that wasted billions based on it. It has to have the support of the media, both our own and those around the world.

Journalists are not scientists and they are subject to what scientists tell them unless they do some fairly easy investigation of their own. They didn’t! Instead, journalists at influential newspapers like The New York Times repeated and amplified every global warming lie and they continue to this day.

The true science, not the stuff conjured up on computer models, always refuted the global warming theory. That’s because it was widely known to honest climatologists, meteorologists, and others. It was always known that carbon dioxide (CO2) was a miniscule part of the Earth’s atmosphere, barely 0.038 percent. Of that amount, man-made CO2 emissions constitute less than 0.00022 percent! Some will argue these figures, but they always remain within these very tiny parameters.

Carbon dioxide has nothing to do with global warming or as it is now called, climate change.

Nor has the Earth been rapidly warming. The last warming cycle began around 1850 as a respond to a Little Ice Age that began in 1300. The Earth warmed about one degree Fahrenheit. By 1998, it began to cool again!

So, when President Obama shows up in Copenhagen to attend the liar’s competition called the United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP-15, anything and everything he says about global warming, fossil fuels, CO2, et cetera, will be a lie.

Al Gore has been at the conference and managed to stumble around like a punch-drunk boxer saying really stupid things like the Arctic will completely melt away any day now or that the center of the Earth is millions of degrees hot. But Gore is a stranger to the truth because, as you may recall, he’s a politician who served in Congress and as Vice President.

If George W. Bush is remembered for anything, it will be that he saved the nation from a “President Gore.” Despite Bush’s poll numbers when he left office, President Obama has accomplished one extraordinary thing; he has made people think more kindly of Bush.

At the heart of the Big Lie is, of course, MONEY! There are millions to be made selling bogus “carbon credits” for the use of energy. That’s what Obama’s “Cap-and-Trade” scam is all about.

Billions were wasted on “climate research” over the past twenty years and now they are being wasted on “clean energy” research which we’re told is needed to replace “dirty” fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. It too is all a lie.

Solar and wind power can never and will never replace or even rival the power that so-called fossil fuels provide. Combined, solar and wind provide barely one percent of all the electricity used daily in the nation. Biofuels are another bad idea.

Listen, if you can, to Obama delivering yet another of his speeches in Copenhagen, barely getting his breath back after his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, and remember, he is lying.

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