We’ve Had It With Obama’s Socialism … J. D. Longstret

We’ve Had It With Obama’s Socialism
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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I marvel at the MSM’s spinning of the polls and Obama’s obvious glide to oblivion in order to paper over what will be a devastating Democratic Party loss of the Oval Office and, very likely, the US Senate, as well, in less than seventy days.

Look, the denizens of the Mainstream Media already KNOW the Obama team is in serious trouble. They just don’t want democratic party voters to know it.

The Prez? Well, most normal folk have concluded that he is delusional and THAT explains his surety of demeanor. Delusional people rarely ever live in the real world.

I sense a slow but consistent swing toward the republican candidate across the country today.

In my state of North Carolina, we have gone from being an Obama state to a battleground state, to a Romney state. Obama can mark The Old North State off his list. It ain’t gonna happen for him here.

The thing is — it’s happening across the country, this slow turning away from Obama. The pendulum is swinging from left back to right. That’s a good thing.

So — what happened?

Obama happened.

To be a bit more specific, it was/is Obama’s socialism, his obvious love for Marxism, and his burning desire to — as he said –“fundamentally transform” this country.

Here’s the thing: Americans don’t want fundamental change. Oh, we will allow you to fiddle around the edges, a bit, but when you begin fooling around with the basic fundamentals of what America means, what America stands for, and you begin to demean America in the eyes of Americans — you are finished. Obama is finished.

I think America was willing to give the first black President of America a chance. The electorate did that in 2008 — and many now rue the day. His first two years in office he had control of two branches of the three-branch US government made up of his team players — democrats. He blew it — pushing the largest socialist program to come down the American pike in the history of the country –socialized medicine known as Obamacare.

By the time he had completed that task he had so angered Americans that the dye was cast. His days in office were numbered.

In 2010 the electorate deliberately sent a new team of conservatives to Congress with the mission to block, obfuscate, or plainly put, do whatever was necessary to stop Obama and see to it that he could do no more harm to the country until we could get back to the polls in November of 2012 to rid ourselves of the Obama menace to America and to America’s capitalist society. Yes, it was self-imposed gridlock. Obama and his minions HAD to be restrained for the sake of the country — and, for the most part, they were.

For nearly four years now Americans have had a taste of what a socialist system would look like in America. It finally became clear that if Obama and his fellow socialists had their way — America’s middle class would cease to exist.

It took a while for this lesson to sink in. But it did, and now Americans are fighting mad.

So, they are turning to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, the GOP candidates for President and Vice-President, to use their skills at business and economics to stop America’s slow collapse and begin the restoration process so at least SOME of the damage done by Obama can be repaired. It will, we know, take many years to right our ship of state and our economy.

There is a poll I’d like to suggest to the various polling companies. How about asking how many voted for Obama and are now ashamed of their vote. I think, there is a huge swath of the electorate who did, in fact, vote for Obama, believing he could do all those things he touted and promised. They are now embarrassed by that vote — but they are not going to openly admit it. They will make a conscious effort to atone for that mistaken vote in the voting booth in a few days.

Look. America is NOT just another country — no matter what the political left says. American exceptionalism is a fact. Evidence of American exceptionalism is the fact that Americans are not in open revolt at this moment!

We Americans ARE different. We ARE unique. That which works for Europe will not work for the USA. Most of us hail from families that left Europe generations ago to come to America PRECISELY BECAUSE America was/is different. Opportunity in America was limited only by a man’s ambition and ability. The individual American built this country — not the government. In fact, it was the individual Americans from the thirteen colonies that built the US government.

The task is clear. Our government is in trouble. It has grown so huge and become so intrusive that IT has now become the primary obstruction in the path to the continued success of individual Americans. That must change. It must change NOW. Four years from now will be too late.

Obama’s socialism has no place in America. It is a policy of personal defeat practiced by the defeated people of a defeated nation who live in constant fear. Obama’s agenda to foist his brand of socialism off on America has enraged the populace in a manner I have not experienced in my (well over) seven decades of life. It is palpable. Obama’s agenda is not to build America up and help her claim the high ground again. No! His agenda is to manage America’s decline! How totally un-American is that?!

“Live free or die” is not just a state motto, or a nice sounding slogan. It is the TRUTH. A nation cannot truly live unless it is free.

We Americans must reclaim our birthright of freedom in November and get our country restored, set right, and moving upwards again. Else — we die.

J. D. Longstreet

Can Rand Paul Deliver the Paul Voters? … JB Williams

Can Rand Paul Deliver the Paul Voters?
By JB Williams
jb.uspu@gmail.com
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As father Ron Paul prepares to retire, leaving behind a political career that spans nearly forty-years and passing the libertarian torch to son Senator Rand Paul, can Rand fill Dad’s shoes? As Rand attempts to deliver the libertarian vote for Romney-Ryan in 2012, will his father’s biggest fans follow Rand’s lead?
Ron Paul prepared a video statement that will open the GOP show on the evening that Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan will accept his nomination. Paul’s son, Rand Paul, will follow with a live speech in Tampa, following on his endorsement of Mitt Romney for President, only hours after his father’s biggest fans walked out of the convention in protest.
Ron Paul was one of several declared candidates hoping to force a brokered convention in Tampa. But when Romney officially secured 90.16% of the GOP delegates (2,061 of 2,286) ending all speculation about a floor fight for the GOP nod, Paul supporters reached the peak of their frustration. New GOP delegate rules provided a final blow to those who had hoped to wrangle delegates away from Romney on the convention floor.

In the end, Ron Paul received 8.27% of the GOP delegates, 189. Although his supporters believe Ron could have blocked the Romney nomination without the new GOP rules change, the truth is Ron Paul has been stuck at or below 10% support within the GOP for decades. Nobody can win anything with only 10% support.
Ron Paul has one of the most loyal followings in modern politics. He has had an impact by forcing subjects onto the table and GOP platform that would not be there without him. However, his all-or-nothing supporters have demonstrated a firm “our way or no way” election attitude for many years now, bordering on venomous in their assaults on all other political figures. This is a very dangerous play for both their agenda and the nation.
At a time when the nation is unifying to remove the most dangerous administration in U.S. history from power, can Rand Paul convince his father’s angry followers to become a grown-up productive part of solutions for America? Or, will he lose them to ideological bickering, backstabbing and protest votes in November?
The stakes are high for Romney-Ryan and Rand Paul. The stakes have never been higher for America. Ron Paul supporters have some options and they have been talking about those options for months now.
· Write in Ron Paul’s name in protest
· Vote 3rd Party in protest
· Stay home on election day in protest
· Vote for Obama in protest

Of course, all of these protest options will end with the same result, the re-election of the worst administration in U.S. history. It’s not possible to say you oppose these Marxists while at the same time, doing things to keep the Marxists in power. Someone is lying…

Rand Paul will try to get his father’s supporters to leave all of these protest options behind, and bring them into the mainstream where their ideas and votes can have some impact. Does he have the political clout to pull it off?
Ron and Rand both realized that they could not affect anything from the outside looking in with a critical eye. They both realized that they had to be in the game to affect the game. Many Rand Paul supporters realized the same thing when they chose to make Rand a Senator. Nobody would even know Ron Paul’s name had he not left behind 3rd Party fantasies and joined the Republican Party in order to become a member of congress.
Still, many Ron Paul supporters continue to demonstrate an “our way or no way” attitude that could leave them sitting on the sidelines complaining about Barack Obama and his Marxist march to Globalization.
The deal is now sealed. Only one candidate will have a chance to remove Barack Obama from office and that candidate is Mitt Romney. How we feel about that doesn’t matter. What we do about it will decide the future of freedom and liberty in America.
So long as the Obama Crime Syndicate controls D.C., freedom and liberty are dead in America and all over the globe. The future of freedom and liberty depends first and foremost, upon removing the current Marxist regime from power.
Rand Paul will try to convince his father’s followers to support Romney and Ryan in their historic effort to remove anti-American Marxists from the people’s Executive branch. Paul supporters have a chance to play a significant role in that effort. Or, they can take their football and go home in anger, leaving freedom and liberty in the hands of the most corrupt and tyrannical regime to ever hold power in the United States.
Paul supporters can become a force to be reckoned with inside politics, or they can sit on the sidelines and cast stones at everyone else. Millions will listen as Rand Paul tries to bring libertarians into the fold and millions will watch how Paul supporters respond to his call for unity.
But at the end of the day, those who believe in freedom and liberty could never leave our future in the hands of known anti-American despots.
There is no doubt in my mind that both Ron and Rand Paul will vote for Romney-Ryan on November 6th.
But the jury is still out on what Paul supporters will do. Ron Paul is riding off into the sunset and Rand is trying to become a person of influence in D.C. But can Rand even influence his father’s followers? If Rand can’t influence his own libertarians, who can he influence?

JB Williams
Co-Founder
http://www.PatriotsUnion.org
http://www.VeteranDefenders.org
http://www.ThePatriotsNews.com

Socialist Philosophy Thicker than Blood … Tom Greene

Socialist Philosophy Thicker than Blood
By Tom Green
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As many of you know from reading my blog regularly, your intrepid blogger suffers from cancer-terminal in fact. The cancer is very rare, only 15 reported cases. Being so rare (lucky me) the ONLY person to have it three times and survive.

Now, due to the collapse of WaMu and Kerry Killinger’s investing in high risk bad mortgage backed securities, yours truly found himself unemployed with a Socialist in the White House using failed Keynesian, state-run economic “solutions” to high unemployment. A plan by the way, the President recently said is working…really?

While unemployed the side effects of 18 years of cancer treatment, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, have rendered this blogger disabled; that is to say a consumer of Government Cheese-Velveeta, airlifted in like a third world nation. Yes, the Editor-in-Chief is a burden to society, talk about irony, eh?! Trust me, nothing galls me more.

Now, under Obamacare Insurance companies HAVE to cover me. Socialists say, “Oh, that’s great, if it weren’t for Obama you would be dead.” They seem to take pleasure in that, oddly enough? Anyhow, the truth is there is more to all of this than meets the eye.

The chemo drug I need to keep the rare cancer in check is very costly, $36,000 PER MONTH. What many of you may not realize is that in addition to the 2000+ page bill that was Obamacare, there are now an additional 13,000 pages of FDA regulations that accompany Obamacare that dictates the administering (rationing) of care and drugs.

A part of those regulations are that the distribution of NEXAVAR is rationed. Bottom line is since someone like me, one of a kind, needs a particular drug, there is no way to justify the Cost-Benefit of administering the 1 American with this particular type of cancer, a drug that costs $36,000 a month. So, as a result, the life saving chemotherapy drug I need is no longer allowed, (I can get it, but I would just have to pay full retail) based upon the reality of cost, to me.

In addition the blood thinning drug, Lovenox, that I need to keep me from clotting and croaking is no longer covered; de facto. Specifically, the drug has been “re-classified” under FDA regs, as a result of Obamacare. As a result the drug costs $22,000 for a 3 month supply; my share-$6,600. Once again, Obamacare effectively cuts me off from a drug necessary to my survival.

Now, when I had all these health issues but was employed, ALL of this was covered under my company insurance. Also, it ends up that the “evil” Pharmaceutical Giant, Bayer, provides me with the chemo drug at a co-pay of $20 a month. So much for Capitalism having no heart!

Now, I know you will say, well what about your spouse? She was unemployed for more than a year and a half and COBRA ran out. Finally she has gainful employment, but guess what? Due to the rising cost of health care (thanks to Obamacare mandates increasing costs astronomically) they are making insurance available to EMPLOYEE ONLY, no coverage for spouse. Who can blame them?
As we ran in a link last week, 10% of all employers are now saying they will be dropping health care for their employees and families since Obamacare is now the Law of the Land.

Now, to the title of this article, when I shared all of the above with my sibling, a health care professional, and Socialist, her response was, “Don’t make this political, don’t blame Obama!”

Don’t blame Obama I am told. How could I not?! If Obamacare and it’s budget busting costs weren’t passed, employers would still issue coverage to employees, AND their family, AND I WOULD BE COVERED as I always had been. But NO, under Obamacare and it’s regulations, we are effectively moving toward a Single Payer System, which, as we have said COUNTLESS times before was ALWAYS THE INTENTION.

The point in all of this, in case you don’t get it, is not “woe is me.” I accept the hand that life has dealt me and am ready to meet my maker. What galls me is that this Socialist Philosophy, so deeply ingrained in the Secular Humanists LITERALLY divides brother against brother (or more accurately in this case, brother against sister).

This is Civil War folks, not on a literal battlefield, (not yet at least) but on a philosophical battle field. When your own sibling would rather see you meet your fate sooner rather than later as a result of their adherence to Socialist Philosophy, when they would rather there be “free” health care for all rather than a free market solution that would allow better health care for all, when their actions speak louder than words, when the implied message is you, and those like you, need to die to advance the cause, we are talking a Culture War on a massive scale.

Mine is not the only story like this around the country, folks.

There is a religion, it is called Socialism. It has no God, except for “your inner god”, it hides behind words like economic and social justice, fairness, collective good, equality of outcome, tolerance, spirituality, moral relativism, etc. What it really DOES is make everyone equally miserable, it weeds out the sick and elderly through regulations or de facto Death Panels, a.k.a. Eugenics, it robs us of our dignity, of our God given rights, our freedom and our Liberty, all in the name of the “common good.” Since the “great unwashed” don’t know what’s best for them, Big Government will decide.

I mourn the loss of my sibling to Socialism. I mourn the loss of freedom and liberty, accountability and free market solutions to economic challenges.

Be forewarned folks, it is not paranoia anymore, slowly, insidiously, Socialism is permeating every aspect of our society, and it will be the Death of this once great nation. That is what I mourn.

That’s my opinion.

Tom Greene
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Thomas Greene is a full time blogger for the Greene Opinion. He has a degree in Political Science from St. John’s University. He believes in America, freedom and liberty, as described by the Founding Fathers, the free market and entrepreneurial spirit as it provides the best path to prosperity.

Tom, when not buried in blogs, books or the news can be reached at goldcoastconservative@gmail.com
You can also post comments at greeneopinion.com and stay abreast of the latest in Conservative commentary and satire.

What If … ? … J. D. Longstreet

What If … ?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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For weeks now there have been all sorts of stories of various government agencies buying up millions of rounds of ammunition. Try as they might, those agencies/the US government have/has not been able to present a plausible story to convince American citizens that they are NOT up to something nefarious.

Sad to say, we just don’t trust our government anymore … not that we’ve  trusted them a great deal for a very long time, you understand. But the level of trust that we had — previous to the Obama Administration — has plummeted right through the floor.

We have been pummeled with lie after lie from Washington until we have become saturated with their prevarications and like a soaked sponge, we simply cannot hold any more.

DC’s perversions of the truth just leave us laughing these days — and not a little worried.

I mean — using hollow point rounds for target practice is, well, laughable. Did you know that even the military is banned from using hollow point ammo by international agreement? Yep. It’s a fact. It is horrible what those rounds can do to the human body. Upon impact the leading edge of the round “mushrooms.” Think of a dime suddenly becoming a fifty-cent piece. It will often fragment with small metal pieces ripping and tearing away at the body’s vital organs — all the while that fifty-cent piece size slug is blowing a ragged hole along its trajectory.

As I said: It’s horrible what a hollow point round can do to the human body.

Now, allow me to be clear. I have no idea what the government has planned for those millions of rounds of ammo they have ordered. It’s for darn sure the US military cannot use them — on the battlefield. But, I know of no law precluding them from using that ammo within the borders of the US. They just can’t shoot America’s enemies with it — on a foreign battlefield!

Just thinking out loud here: What if a second term Obama has plans to regulate the sale of ammunition by way of a Presidential Executive Order. Seems to me that it would be much simpler to regulate ammunition sales by EO than regulating the sale of guns by EO. I mean, there IS the Second Amendment to get around for that. But the Second Amendment does not mention ammo.

Suppose the various departments of the government are ordered to purchase millions of rounds of ammunition to reduce the supply available to the market. In other words, an attempt to create an artificial shortage of ammunition available to the American marketplace today. We know that ammo sales are going through the roof as gun owners, fearing the worse in a second term Obama Administration, are stocking up. Gun sales, too, are at record levels.

OK. I want to be sure I am understood here. I have no inside information reference those ammo purchases by the government. NONE! The same is true reference Obama’s plans for an Executive Order (somehow) controlling ammunition sales. Like practically every other American gun owner, I am concerned for my 2nd Amendment rights and, frankly, the security of my family — and my fellow countrymen — should our government go rogue on us.

About a week ago, I sat in my office with a fellow conservative talking about this very thing. His business carries him all over the state and he tells me this is a topic of conversation at the various “coffee klatches” in which he often takes part.

And why not? People are worried and concerned about the direction the Obama Administration has taken America in the past almost 4 years. Added to the worry and concern is an underlying layer of rage.

I must tell you that I suspect the government is well aware of this pent-up rage and they are concerned that the tinniest crack will result in the collapse of the dam holding back that anger instantly unleashing a flood of anarchy across the country — especially in America’s large metropolitan areas.

Allow me to point out something else, too. When the mainstream media cannot be counted upon to do its job, believe me, “alternate media” WILL step up and fill that void. I think that is what has happened with the “government ammo purchases” story.

What we know for sure is — basically — NOTHING. A number of gun owner organizations are pressing for a congressional investigation of these massive purchases of ammunition by (an reportedly for) government agencies that, at first glance, seem to have no use for this type of man stopping/killing ammo.

That we are even having this conversation only adds to the feeling of unease permeating America today. We wait with bated breath to see how vicious the anarchist’s shenanigans will be in Tampa and in Charlotte as the two political parties endeavor to celebrate the official coronation of their respective candidates for President.

It just doesn’t FEEL like America anymore. In fact, America has begun to favor a banana republic, especially at our air terminals. Law enforcement officers dressed in black — and some in military fatigue-type uniforms — toting semi-automatic long guns, lends to the feeling that America’s citizens are more hostage than free.

Eventually, Americans are going to reject the “it’s for your own safety,” propaganda and the backlash will begin. One must wonder if that’s what the government’s humongous purchase of hollow point ammo is about. Could it be the government EXPECTS a backlash? If so, does their expectations of a backlash mean they are set on a course, which will diminish the freedom and liberty of American citizens even more?

What if … ?

J. D. Longstreet

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Learning To Live With A Nuclear Iran … J. D. Longstreet

Learning To Live With A Nuclear Iran
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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If the window of opportunity has not already closed for a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, it is ALMOST closed and closing rapidly.

If that turns out to be the case, then isn’t it time Israel drags it’s nuclear arsenal, out into to full view of the Iranians and the remainder of the “terror community?”

One of the fundamentals of a nuclear armed military is the ability to survive a first strike by your enemy and offer, in reprisal, a second strike — from your own arsenal — that will deal a killing blow to your attacker. Israel has such a capability. Maybe it is time to show it.

Not much is said about Israel’s seaborne nuclear arsenal. But it is there … cruising out there above and/or below the surface of the oceans.

Before the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan there was a discussion amongst US leaders and a suggestion that maybe we ought to demonstrate the power of the bomb to the Japanese BEFORE we dropped it on them.

The thought was that the fear generated by such an awesome spectacle would cause Japan to rush to the surrender table — and actually dropping the bomb on them would be unnecessary. It was eventually decided that nothing short of atomic destruction would cause Japan to sue for peace. Even then it took TWO atomic bombs, dropped just days apart, to get a surrender from Japan.

I mention this because there is some suggestion that Israel should demonstrate to Iran that it has the capability of nuking them, even now, and also has a second strike capability that would instantly set Iranian society back to the stone age in a flash (no pun intended.)

All this is predicated upon the possibility that Israel might be dealing with sane people within the Iranian government. After all, this is a government where sanity always seems to be in scant measure.

Now — all this talk about an Israeli second strike capability is worrisome because it bespeaks what I fear is reality. A preemptive strike is no longer possible and the world is going to have a terrorist nation armed to the teeth with nukes.

Frankly, Israel should have stuck Iran YEARS ago. Nothing less than an early preemptive strike would have deterred Iran. No amount of diplomatic entreaties, discussions, UN inspections, pleading, begging — NOTHING was going to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. Sometimes you simply have to kill your enemy, in great numbers, to get his attention. Been there-done that. ( Nuclear bombing of Japan by the US in WWII)

Maybe an effective demonstration of Israel’s nuclear arsenal would include the nuking of the facilities in Iran where the so-called “Islam Bomb” is being made. For darn sure, Iran would be denied the use of whatever was left of those labs for centuries into the future. And it might serve to introduce the Iranian government and their proxy terrorist gangs exactly what “nuking” means.

The other troublesome aspect of a nuclear Iran is the certainty of their passing along nuclear capability to their terrorist proxies.

Let me be clear here: All the nations of the world cowering in the shadows — frightened of a nuclear Iran — NOW you REALLY have something to worry about. Even though you might be geographically outside the nuclear missile range of Iranian ballistic missiles, you are well within range of Iran’s terrorists who will not think twice about setting off nuclear devices in your cities. You, too, had the opportunity to stop Iran and you chose to stand back and HOPE the US and Israel would do your job for you. You have no one to blame but yourselves when the inevitable happens and you have thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of your countrymen dead or dying from a terrorist nuclear attack on your territory.

Of COURSE, the same applies to America. WE COULD HAVE STOPPED IRAN!

Look. America makes mistakes. We are not infallible. And yes, we made a humongous mistake in electing as President a man who many American suspect is a closet Muslim, himself. He bears a Muslim name. His father was Muslim and he was partly reared in a Muslim country and educated in Muslim schools. There has been ample evidence during his nearly four years as our President that Obama has chosen the Muslim nations of the Middle East over America’s only friend in that region — Israel.

Many Americans, myself included, feel that Obama’s goal from the early days of his presidency was to run interference for Iran until Iran could successfully build a nuclear bomb. All one has to do is look objectively at Obama’s policies — as per Iran and Israel — and the pattern becomes crystal clear.

To the question: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago,” the Republican Party ought to add: “Are you safer today than you were four years ago?”

As soon as Iran has an operable bomb, they’re certainly going to “demonstrate” it to the world. They have told us they have two prime targets: Israel and America. When the Islam Bomb explodes in America — remember which administration is responsible for bringing it to the shores of America. Not that there is anything we can do about it. Not now.

J. D. Longstreet

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Neil Armstrong: Trail-Blazer To The Future … J. D. Longstreet

Neil Armstrong: Trail-Blazer To The Future
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
***************

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor and United States Naval Aviator. He was the first person to walk on the Moon.

I grew up a reader. I fell in love with words and especially the printed word even before I began first grade. I, basically, taught myself to read with the Charlotte News, which (in those days) was an afternoon edition newspaper. It had every thing a young scholar needed. There were photographs with captions — and there were the “funny papers,” or, as we called them, “the funnies.” Somewhere, along about the second or third grade, my aunt presented me with a gift that changed my life. It was a worn, torn, smudged, dog-eared, Webster’s Collegiate “abridged” dictionary, which had been her sister’s when she (the sister) had been a college student.

As difficult as it might be to understand, especially today with all the electronic instruments we have for communicating, I was in love with a book! I read that dictionary — from cover to cover — and used it for most of the remainder of my formal education.

Soon afterwards, she gave me a copy of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” It was my introduction to reading for the pure fun of it. It did not take long before the county library was my second home.

I do not recall how, exactly, I became addicted to Science Fiction, but — did I ever! In a fairly short time I had read my way through the “Science Fiction” section at the library.

Science fiction allowed the reader’s (my) mind to wander, to explore realms that were not explorable — but — held the promise of exploration in the future. It erased the horizon.

I recall that on one summer break my teacher offered special credit for any books we read over vacation time. I read 26 books that summer.

My love for science fiction continued into adulthood and, honestly, continues even today.

I was absolutely crushed when Sputnik flew successfully into orbit around the earth I was elated and crushed at the same time. For, you see, I KNEW that when the door to space was opened, it would be the USA that kicked it open and colonized the planets of Sol and the worlds of those, oh, so distant stars.

In those days, America was a “can-do” country with a people who simply did not believe there was anything they could not do.

The race to the stars was ON!

The US decided the moon was to be our first stop. It offered a “way station,” if you will. It was a place where man could learn to live and work in an alien “biosphere.” It was to be the jumping-off place for expeditions to our neighboring planets. Then, from the moon, it was onwards and outwards to worlds we did not even know existed but hoped to find on our gypsy-like wandering through the universe(s).

Neil Armstrong was the first human being to set foot on the surface of the moon. He opened the door for all mankind. And Neil Armstrong was an AMERICAN! The photo of Armstrong standing beside that American flag planted firmly in the lunar surface still brings a lump to my throat every time I see it. The door to space HAD been kicked open by America — and there was no turning back.

… Except — we DID turn back.

The scriptures tell us in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” It is a truth that is playing out all around us today as America is obviously a nation in decline. Not only have we restored our horizons, we have dragged them in even closer suffocating the yearning to learn what’s over the next hill or around the next corner — let alone the next universe or the next galaxy.

Someday, if America survives, and there is a huge “if” concerning our survival as a nation today, we will have to go back to the moon. It is still the stepping stone to the discovery of man’s future and some say — to man’s past. There are those who believe it is the doorway to man’s ancestral home.

When we DO go back — and beyond — it will be as the result of the courage, the work, and the risk, of a man by the name of Neil Armstrong who inspired all mankind by taking “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Yes, I know we have robots on Mars. But to me, until a human being steps onto the surface of Mars, as Neil Armstrong did to Luna, it doesn’t count.

Sorry NASA.

NASA and the government must understand. They have lost the interest of the public simply because the human element has been ejected from America’s space exploration program.

It is impossible to place a price on dreams. As Robert Browning, the Victorian English poet said: “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” Browning understood that man must continue to reach for those things beyond those he already has within his grasp. It is an inherent part of the human animal to reach for, to seek, and hopefully to discover, that which he knows is there, and that which he only suspects is there. In doing so, we grow and flourish — and — we expand those horizons I so often write about. In NOT doing so we perish — just as the proverb from the Bible so wisely states.

Neil Armstrong knew that. He was at the vanguard of man’s quest in reaching for the stars. His place in the history of human beings is well secured.

Browning also said: “The aim, if reached or not, makes great the life … ”

Neil Armstrong blazed the trail into a future of untold discovery. He showed us the way. How sad it is that we can no longer find enough “vision” in ourselves — or our leaders — to follow.

I am very afraid there is but a residue of vision left in America today as we lay to rest a trail-blazing visionary who risked everything to mark the way for all mankind to follow.

Alas, Armstrong’s countrymen may no longer be in the vanguard of space exploration, but mankind WILL go to the planets — and beyond. That is a given. When one nation falters, another steps up. When one nation’s vision diminishes, another’s expands. As in a game of leap frog, progress is slow and laborious. But in the end, it is sure. Neil Armstrong proved that.

We salute Neil Armstrong with the words of John Gillespie Magee, Jr :

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

J. D. Longstreet

On NOT Understanding Muslims … Alan Caruba

On NOT Understanding Muslims

By Alan Caruba

What if Christmas was a traditional time for Christians to set about bombing one another? We might find that strange, but the recent “holy” month of Ramadan in Iraq was celebrated with bombings and shootings that killed 409 people and wounded 975 according to an August 20 Agence France Press report from Baghdad.

Apparently if you are an observant Muslim, abstaining from food, drink, smoking and sex during the day of the “holy” month, the best way to work out your stress is to kill fellow Muslims. This was the case of Ramadan which ended on August 18 this year or a day later depending on whether you were a Shiite or a Sunni.

It wasn’t just Iraq. There was a spike in killings of both Muslims and infidels in other countries where Muslims are either the dominant population or a major part of one. In Nigeria Boko Haram, a Muslim group, claimed responsibility for a spate of bombings in Kaduna state and a number of cities. Terrorizing the non-Muslim population has always been considered the best way to gain converts.

This bloodbath, not restricted to Ramadan, is so bizarre to infidels—Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and all other faiths—that Raymond Ibrahim, writing in Jihad Watch in October 2011, said that “Islam’s nonstop aggression around the globe” is routinely passed off in the West as “a byproduct of ‘grievances’, of ‘Zionism’, of U.S. ‘foreign policy’, of anything and everything but Islam.”

In a brilliant commentary in AmericanThinker.com on May 21, 2011, David Bukay offered five keys to understanding Islam and why the Middle East is the planet’s version of an insane asylum.

The first is the West’s illusion that democracy can take root there. It “is weak and ineffective compared to the indigenous Middle Eastern social institutions: the clan, the tribe, and the religious community.” This explains why the only form of “government” that has existed there prior to and since Western colonization and the discovery of oil there, has been monarchies and the worst collection of despots since Ivan the Terrible, Hitler and Stalin.

It explains, for example, why Egyptians, after decades of military dictatorship gathered to overthrow Hosni Mubarack, a trustworthy friend of the West, and ended up with Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. He will be attending a meeting with the Iranian dictators on August 30 at a meeting of the Nonaligned Movement meeting. This is said to end to end the years of enmity between the two nations since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979.

It explains, too, the insurgency in Syria, essentially a fight between the Alawite minority that ran the nation since the Assad family, father and son, established its dictatorship. Lined up against them are a variety of the usual clans and others that want to establish their own dictatorship.

We are not witnessing an outbreak of democracy in the Middle East, dubbed the “Arab Spring”, but simply a desire to rid themselves of their former dictators in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. It has made the rulers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar very nervous, both of whom have been lavishing all manner of goodies on their respective populations to keep them from rising up against them.

Bukay’s second key to understanding the Middle East is amply demonstrated by the turmoil occurring there. “All Arab states comprise violent, hostile tribes and rival religious communities that stick together only by coercion from an oppressive authoritarian regime.” The third key is “the central role of the army, being the regime’s principal power and political supporter.”

The fourth key is the masses who have never had any influence in the political life of their nations, many of which are the result of the Treaty of Versailles after World War One in which England and France carved up the Middle East to create Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq between them. England was named the protectorate of “Palestine” which lasted until the Jews returned to create the state of Israel in 1948. After the Holocaust, many had no place else to go.

Bukay’s fifth key was the fact that, having overthrown the various dictatorships. The U.S. deposed Saddam Hussein by invading Iraq. This has resulted in the election of Mohammed Alawi Maliki who has since been forging ties to Iran where he had found sanctuary from Saddam during his brutal dictatorship.

“The Islamic phenomenon,” wrote Bukay, “is not defensive and passive; it is an aggressive onslaught against modernism and secularism led by urban, educated, secular middle class groups. Western permissiveness and materialism are the forces leading to these groups’ return to Islam and motivating them to bring the Islamic religion back to hegemony.”

So the West looks on in horror at the beheadings, the hangings, the bombings, the increasing killing of Christians trapped in these nations, and does its best not to be dragged into the vortex of insanity that is the Middle East and parts of Africa.

This has been going on since the rise of Islam in the seventh century. It is not likely to end until the world’s billion-plus Muslims begin to tire of the madness around them, the insanity of a “religion” that requires them to wage war on the rest of the world that tries fitfully to contain them.

Our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be dealing with Islam until it tires of its murderous ways, if ever. Our ancestors in the West staved off a Europe enslaved by Islam by killing Muslims and driving them from the continent. They have since returned and will likely control Europe by sheer force of numbers.

The Israelis have fought several wars against them since its founding and are likely to rid us of the Iranian nuclear threat even as the West continues to cower in fear.

And, in November, Americans will decide to either defeat Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a Muslim Kenyan, stepson of an Indonesia Muslim, a man who in 2009 traveled to the Middle East to apologize for the sins of America, and a man who has said he will “side with the Muslims”, or we will elect Mitt Romney who does not share his worldview.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

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Alan Caruba’s commentaries are posted daily at “Warning Signs” and shared on dozens of news and opinion websites. His blog recently passed more than 1.7 million page views. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. For information on his professional skills, Caruba Editorial Services is the place to go! You can find me on both Facebook and Twitter as well.

Real energy for a new American renaissance … Paul Driessen

Real energy for a new American renaissance

Sensible, responsible energy policies must replace today’s subsidies and crony corporatism

Paul Driessen

America needs more economic growth, domestic manufacturing, jobs – and secure, affordable energy to make those things happen.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney understands that achieving this goal requires unleashing American ingenuity, reducing excessive regulatory strangleholds on businesses and working capital, and allowing safe, proven technologies to tap and utilize our vast onshore and offshore deposits of oil, natural gas and other energy riches. He knows we can do all this without sacrificing important environmental values.

President Obama fervently believes the solution is to unleash more taxes, regulations and regulators, keep our subsurface resources off limits, and impose a painful transition from hydrocarbons to wind, solar and biofuel energy. He aligns with and listens to environmentalist agitators who detest hydrocarbons, frighten people into thinking fossil fuel production and use will destroy the planet, and conceal the adverse health, economic and environmental effects of “green” energy “alternatives.”

The Obama vision has been an unmitigated disaster. Countless failures, bankruptcies and layoffs are matched by a need for perpetual subsidies – taken from hard-working, productive people and businesses, and given by unaccountable bureaucrats to failed technologies and companies, run by crony-corporatists who return the favor by contributing substantial portions of our compulsory taxpayer largesse to the reelection campaigns of cooperative politicians.

The Romney vision, by contrast, actually works. Bain Capital investments brought us Staples, The Sports Authority, Steel Dynamics and many other success stories. More recently, on the energy front, America’s private sector ingenuity, sweat and perseverance launched new technologies and discoveries that abruptly ended the myths of “peak oil” and “imminent depletion” of US and global petroleum.

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, for example, was developed by private industry, funded by private investors and tested on private lands. It did not have to depend on taxpayer subsidies, approval by federal bureaucrats, or access to shale deposits on federal lands.

Had it been otherwise, “fracking” would never have gotten off the ground. The incredible North Dakota, Texas and Pennsylvania oil, gas, jobs and revenue boom would never have occurred. Vast deposits of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids would have remained trapped in shale rock formations, thousands of feet below Earth’s surface.

Natural gas prices would still be above $8 per thousand cubic feet (million Btu), instead of in the $2.50-$3.00 range. America would still be looking overseas for fuels to replace the coal that the Obama EPA is effectively eliminating from our energy, electricity, employment and economic picture.

But thanks to drilling and fracking on private lands, under commonsense state regulations, US oil and gas production is increasing, for the first time in 15 years, despite continued leasing and drilling moratoria on federal onshore and offshore lands. America is on the threshold of a manufacturing renaissance – fueled largely by access to abundant, reliable, affordable fuels and petrochemical feed stocks, to power and supply raw materials for factories, refineries and chemical plants.

Plentiful gas from the Marcellus shale formation has persuaded Shell to plan a $2-biillion ethane “cracking” plant near Pittsburgh – creating 10,000 construction jobs and 10,000 permanent jobs. Steel plants, electric utilities and countless other industries will also benefit from shale gas.

Citigroup’s “Energy 2020” report says the US petroleum industry could add “as many as 3.6 million jobs by 2020 and increase the US gross domestic product by as much as 3 percent,” while also generating billions of dollars in lease bonuses, rents, royalties and taxes for local, state and federal governments.

Fracking could bring new jobs and revenues to depressed areas of Maryland, New York, Ohio and other states. Expanded access to our newfound century’s worth of hydrocarbon energy will keep prices low and reverse the flow of manufacturing jobs out of our country – providing jobs for millions of American graduates and unemployed workers, and creating a new prosperity for current and future generations.

Moreover, the energy, manufacturing, employment and economic benefits will be unencumbered by worrisome environmental impacts. Hydraulic fracturing has been utilized since 1949, and has been carried out more than 2.5 million times, safely and without causing any serious harm.

Fracking fluids are 99.5% water and sand, combined with chemicals that keep sand particles suspended in the liquid, fight bacterial growth, and improve gas flow and production. Most additives used today are vegetable oils and common, biodegradable chemicals found in cheese, beer, canned fish, dairy desserts, shampoo, and other food and cosmetic products. Steadily improving technologies, techniques and regulations will further reduce environmental risks.

For those still worried about catastrophic manmade global warming, natural gas emits far less carbon dioxide than coal. It doesn’t create waste disposal or radiation disinformation that has stymied nuclear power expansion. Unlike wind turbines, it doesn’t slaughter birds and bats. Unlike solar power, it doesn’t require blanketing millions of acres of wildlife habitat with photovoltaic panels.

Unfortunately, facts like these have not stopped peak oil diehards and anti-hydrocarbon activists in and out of the Obama administration. They have become master fear mongers and propagandists, advancing their “just say no” opposition to North American fossil fuel energy – and using lawsuits, lobbying, fabrications and demonstrations to block drilling, fracking, the Keystone XL pipeline, coal mining and burning, and countless other projects, while promoting subsidies, favoritism, and exemptions from environmental laws for wind, solar and biofuel programs.

During his first inaugural address, in the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt told the American people, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Environmental extremists take the opposite tack – arguing that the only thing we have to fear is … just about everything.

We need jobs and renewed economic vitality. We all want a clean environment. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, industries of all kinds have made tremendous progress in reducing emissions and improving safety, efficiency and sustainability. They will doubtless continue to make further progress.

But giving in to fear and hysteria, and throwing more roadblocks in front of responsible energy and economic development, creates far more harm than benefit for our nation and its people.

Team Obama is the government arm of the environmental extremist lobby. It’s time to replace it with a Romney team that understands, encourages and enables sensible, responsible North American energy and economic development.

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Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power – Black death.

Obama’s Take No Prisoners War-Fighting … J. D. Longstreet

Obama’s Take No Prisoners War-Fighting
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Remember when we had a republican administration in Washington, DC, and the leftist media were all atwitter about treatment of prisoners taken in the war on terror. Remember all the yammering about torture, including water boarding and such. The media strutted around in their hair shirts while their hand-wringing, and brow-beating, and shedding of “woe is me” crocodile tears went on and on and on. It was pathetic.

In a piece I wrote at the time, with my tongue fastened securely in my cheek, I suggested that the way to end ill-treatment of prisoners was to — take none.

Well! That was received with all sorts of flak from the left! But — it now seems that Mr. Obama took it to heart and implemented it as his war- fighting policy. I assume he figured that you can’t place prisoners you don’t have in those cells at Gitmo. So, don’t take any prisoners. Just kill them on the spot.

Ever since then, bodies have been piling up like cord wood.

Since Vietnam, it has been considered bad form to publicly announce the body count of American enemies. Everyone assumed the figures released during the Vietnam imbroglio were elevated in the US’s favor, anyway. Frankly, I don’t care — one way or the other. Although, it is, I would think, a useful tool in psychological warfare to, you know, play games with the mind of the enemy. Keeps him off balance.

Somehow, I doubt Obama has read Sun Tsu’s “The Art of War.” I recommend it for both military persons and businessmen. Sun Tsu’s suggestions apply to both — and — as much as I hate to admit it, to politics, as well.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will have to admit that America’s use of drones to hunt down and kill terrorists worldwide is a form of terrorism itself. (Reverse terrorism??)

Now, don’t misunderstand, I want to kill terrorists just as much as the next guy. I am just saying that we ARE employing a bit of tit for tat against the enemy. But hey! Its gotta terrorize them, too. As long as they are trying to think of ways to stay on the sunny side of the sand dunes, they are not thinking about ways to kill us. That’s good.

But — here it comes — Obama’s wholesale use of drones just seems (to this old-timer) a bit less than sporting. And, too, there is the troublesome fact that you cannot interrogate dead terrorists!

Again, in my opinion, Obama is attempting to do two things: kill the terrorists, and two: take no prisoners. I’m all for the former — but have reservations about the latter.

When the drones first hit the battlefields there was worry, back in the ivy covered walls of academia, that a Commander-in-Chief might find that using the drones was an easy and relatively inexpensive way to wage war. And that a Commander-in-Chief that was, shall we say, somewhat averse to “mano-a-mano” conflicts might just find that a wholesale use of drones could deliver the results he wanted while keeping his “public hands” relatively clean. And yes, it IS hypocrisy of the purest kind — as is something we call “plausible deniability.”

Few recall when the US military refused to train soldiers as snipers. Killing the enemy, especially an officer of the enemy, at a distance — while concealed — was, well, considered un-gentlemanly, un-sporting, and worse, it came a tad too close to out and out murder for comfort. Those men chosen for such duty were often shunned by their fellow soldiers.

It requires a special kind of man to be able to look another man in the eye and shoot him dead — even at hundreds or thousands of yards. It says something about us as human beings, I think, that sniping no longer pricks our national conscious. One has to wonder at the post action mental horrors with which he must wrestle the remainder of his life.

In a way, the use of drones is similar to sniping. A young man or woman sitting thousands of miles away watching a TV monitor as he/she shoots Hellfire missiles down on unsuspecting human targets — not to mention the totally innocent by-standers — and wipes them out, kills them, blows them to smithereens — then goes home, at 1700 hours, for dinner with the family and a night’s sleep.

As I said — it takes a special person to do that.

While President Bush ordered fifty-two (52) drone strikes, President Obama has made it an art form by ordering, at last count, two-hundred and eighty-two (282) drone strikes.

I want to be clear: I want the terrorists DEAD! Having said that, I AM uncomfortable with the way we are going about it. The American culture, in which I grew up, would find this sort of war-fighting questionable at the very least.

Sniping is acceptable because a sniper delivers a surgical kill. One shot — one kill. With a drone’s missile, one shot — multiple kills (including anyone near the explosion, innocent — or not.)

I am very concerned that we are becoming risk-averse in our war-fighting strategy. That tends to happen when a nation reduces the size of its military. That may well explain why we don’t win wars anymore.

I think we are going to be forced to have a national conversation about this in the near future — whether we want it or not. Expect to see the cultural divide in older and younger Americans surface once that conversation begins.

J. D. Longstreet

Why Mitt Romney is Unlikable !

Why Mitt Romney is Unlikable !

Author Unknown

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A lot is being said in the media about Mitt Romney not being “likable” or that he doesn’t “relate well” to people. Frankly, we struggled to understand why. So after much research, we have come up with a Top Ten List to explain this “unlikablility.”

Top Ten Reasons To Dislike Mitt Romney:

1. Drop-dead, collar-ad handsome with gracious, statesmanlike aura. Looks like every central casting’s #1 choice for Commander-in-Chief.

2. Been married to ONE woman his entire life, and has been faithful to her, including through her bouts with breast cancer and MS.

3. No scandals or skeletons in his closet. (How boring is that?)

4. Can’t speak in a fake, southern, “black preacher voice” when necessary.

5. Highly intelligent. Graduated cum laude from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School… and by the way, his academic records are NOT sealed.

6. Doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol, and has never done drugs, not even in the counter-culture age when he went to college. Too square for today’s America?

7. Represents an America of “yesterday”, where people believed in God, went to Church, didn’t screw around, worked hard, and became a SUCCESS!

8. Has a family of five great sons….and none of them have police records or are in drug rehab. But of course, they were raised by a stay-at-home mom, and that “choice” deserves America’s scorn.

9. Oh yes…..he’s a MORMON. We need to be very afraid of that very strange religion that teaches its members to be clean-living, patriotic, fiscally conservative, charitable, self-reliant, and honest.

10. And one more point…..pundits say because of his wealth, he can’t relate to ordinary Americans. I guess that’s because he made that money HIMSELF…..as opposed to marrying it or inheriting it from Dad. Apparently, he didn’t understand that actually working at a job and earning your own money made you unrelatable to Americans.

My goodness, it’s a strange world, isn’t it?

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Personal Information:

His full Name is: Willard Mitt Romney . He was Born: March 12, 1947 and is 65 years old.

His Father: George W. Romney, former Governor of the State of Michigan .

He was raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan .

He is Married to Ann Romney since 1969; they five children.

Education: B.A. from Brigham Young University, J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University

Religion: Mormon – The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints

Working Background: After high school, he spent 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary.

After going to both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School simultaneously, he passed the Michigan bar exam, but never worked as an attorney.

In 1984, he co-founded Bain Capital a private equity investment firm, one of the largest such firms in the United States.

In 1994, he ran for Senator of Massachusetts and lost to Ted Kennedy.

He was President and CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

In 2002, he was elected Governor of the State of Massachusetts where he eliminated a 1.5 billion deficit.

Some Interesting Facts about Romney:

Bain Capital, starting with one small office supply store in Massachusetts, turned it into Staples; now over 2,000 stores employing 90,000 people.

Bain Capital also worked to perform the same kinds of business miracles again and again, with companies like Domino’s, Sealy, Brookstone, Weather Channel, Burger King, Warner Music Group, Dollarama, Home Depot Supply and many others.

He was an unpaid volunteer campaign worker for his dad’s gubernatorial campaign 1 year.

He was an unpaid intern in his dad’s governor’s office for eight years.

He was an unpaid bishop and state president of his church for ten years.

He was an unpaid President of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee for three years.

He took no salary and was the unpaid Governor of Massachusetts for four years.

He gave his entire inheritance from his father to charity.

Mitt Romney is one of the wealthiest self-made men in our country but has given more back to its citizens in terms of money, service and time than most men.

And in 2011 Mitt Romney gave over $4 million to charity, almost 19% of his income…. Just for comparison purposes,Obama gave 1% and Joe Biden gave $300 or .0013%.

Mitt Romney is Trustworthy:

He will show us his birth certificate

He will show us his high school and college transcripts.

He will show us his social security card.

He will show us his law degree.

He will show us his draft notice.

He will show us his medical records.

He will show us his income tax records.

He will show us he has nothing to hide.—-

Mitt Romney’s background, experience and trustworthiness show him to be a great leader and an excellent citizen for President of the United States.

You may think that Romney may not be the best representative the Republicans could have selected. At least I know what religion he is, and that he won’t desecrate the flag, bow down to foreign powers, or practice fiscal irresponsibility.

I know he has the ability to turn this financial debacle that the current regime has gotten us into. We won’t like all the things necessary to recover from this debt, but someone with Romney’s background can do it. But, on the minus side, he never was a “Community Organizer”, never took drugs or smoked pot, never got drunk, did not associate with communists or terrorists, nor did he attend a church whose pastor called for God to damn the US . [Oops!]

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Author Unknown