Much Ado about the Ukraine … Alan Caruba

Much Ado about the Ukraine

By Alan Caruba

 

Events in the Ukraine are now big headlines and the topic of a torrent of commentaries by experts on Russia, the European Union, NATO and related subjects. The whole thing began after protests forced its president to flee to Russia, followed by the Russian Federation’s annexation of Crimea as disputes between Eastern and Western Ukraine broke out.

 

At the time and still now I thought it was a predictable action and one that did not involve “invading” the Crimea since Russia has for many years had several thousand troops already stationed there to service and protect its military and naval facilities. Rather than wait around for the Ukrainians to resolve their conflict, the Russians took the reasonable, rational action of annexation. Crimea had been a part of Russia for hundreds of years and the Ukraine was as well. The national language there is Russian.

 

The problems the Ukraine has encountered began with public rejection of its president, Victor Yanukovycha, a fellow who preferred alignment with Russia than the West. Many Ukrainians thought this was a bad idea, but it seems now that many others had no objections. The main objections appear to have been the dismal governance of the nation, replete with major corruption.

 

The problem Vladimir Putin poses today is the problem that Russia has always posed for any nation on its borders. From the czars to the commissars, it has a long history of imposing control on its neighbors. They were regarded as a buffer zone. Russia had been unsuccessfully invaded by Napoleon and, after being betrayed by the Nazis with whom they signed a deal to split Poland, they wanted territory between them and Europe. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, those satellite nations declared their sovereignty once again, happy to be free and to embrace Western Europe.

 

NATO, a European mutual defense organization, was created to respond to what was seen as the potential for Russian aggression. As a member, the U.S. is committed to join in their defense. World War Two was followed by over forty years of “containment” by the West. When in 1992 the U.S. Senate ratified NATO expansion to include nations that bordered the former Soviet Union, it set up the present tense situation. Ukraine, however, is not a member of NATO.

 

Interviewed in 1998, George Kennan, the U.S. diplomat who was ambassador to Moscow in 1952 and who authored the “containment” policy adopted by the U.S., said the expansion of NATO was a very bad decision.

 

Presciently, he said, “I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies,” adding “It shows so little understanding of Russian history and Soviet history. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia and then (the NATO expanders) will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are—but this is just wrong.”

 

On April 28, the Associated Press reported that President Obama said of increased sanctions on Russia, “We don’t yet know whether it’s going to work.”

 

Nothing else in the Obama foreign policy regarding Russia has worked since the famed “reset” in his first term so he’s probably right. On a personal level, not just Putin, but most leaders of foreign nations have concluded Obama is too weak and too incompetent to be treated with anything other than the courtesy his office requires.

 

Thomas Graham, a former senior director for Russia on the U.S. National Security Council staff from 2004 to 2007, recently expressed his view of the current situation in the April 28 edition of the Financial Times. He dismissed a new version of “containment” saying “It will not work. Nor will it advance U.S. interests. Economically, Russian is impossible to isolate.”

 

That’s true, but its economy is primarily dependent on oil and natural gas sales. If the prices of either were to fall, its economy would go with it. As it is, money is fleeing Russia, investment has halted, and its present threatening posture toward Ukraine may make Putin a hometown hero, but in the rest of the world, he is trouble with a capital T. As for Ukraine, its economy it’s even worse. But Russian pipelines runs through it to Europe. That is reason enough for Russia to show some concern for events there.

 

Whatever Russia does, the West can be counted upon to wimp out, doing little or nothing. In this case, staying out of the internal dispute in Ukraine may be the wisest course of action.

 

At home we have watched the influence of the United States decline from the day Obama took office. He has made matters worse by engaging in the reduction of our military capabilities. Until Obama leaves office, there is little that can be done to reverse this lamentable trend.

 

As the White House and the rest of us watch from the sidelines, we will hear a lot of empty rhetoric. Putin will be called a war monger, but he just wanted to protect Crimea. If he can covertly subvert Ukraine enough to gain more influence over its eastern half, he will try.

I cannot weep much for a nation with historic ties to the Nazis and one in which anti-Semitism is still virulent. This is hardly a nation to which the U.S. should be lending millions with loan guarantees for billions.

 

What happens to the Ukraine is a matter for the Ukrainians to address, not us.

 

© Alan Caruba, 2014

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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 3.2 millionpage 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 Alan Caruba on both Facebook and Twitter as well.

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Adding Age AND Gaining Insight … J. D. Longstreet

Adding Age AND Gaining Insight
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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Recently, I have noticed something a bit different in my work, that is to say — my writing, my commentaries, if you please.

I have noticed that my faith has much more influence on my thinking than I had thought.  I’m told that is a sign of aging and wisdom.  I can readily agree with the aging part.  However, the wisdom part, is something else  entirely.  That, dear reader, is decided by you.
That’s is a little out of character for me. I have always felt a man’s faith was between him and his chosen deity — and nobody else. As my family will unhesitatingly tell you “Papa” is subject to go off on a tear over a subject having to do with religion quicker than any other subject.

I have found, now that I am well into the eighth decade of my lifespan,  that I am far more able to cope with the vexing problems that living life as a human being tends to deliver to our doorstep.  That does not mean that I don’t stumble and fall every once in a while,  nor does it mean that I am mistake free.  Look.  ALL the erasers on my pencils are well worn.

Often, I have been extremely lucky, having the ability to learn (usually) from my mistakes.  That is learned behavior, behavior taught me — along with many other things — by my father.  Thus armed, I have been able to inform those who follow behind me of my personal flawed processes that led to my latest embarrassment — whatever that might be.

One of life’s lessons I have learned (the hard way) is that a man who does not acknowledge and learn from his mistakes and then pass that invaluable information along to the younger generation — is a FOOL.

It is said that a man can count his real friends on the fingers of his hands.  Some say the fingers of ONE of his hands.  When I was younger I thought that was nonsensical.  As I have grown older I have learned that a man is blessed, indeed, if he has ONE real friend.

When I refer, to and use, the word “friend,” please understand that I am not using that word in any context in which it can be associated with today’s social media on the Internet.  Those friends exist only in zeros and ones.  They are purely binary language.

I have made a number of acquaintances by way of the Internet that I most likely would not have made without the web.  I treasure these connections. 

It is said that a friend will help you hide.  It is also said that a TRUE friend will help you hide the body! Sometimes, these “hard sayings” have a bit more truth to them than we are comfortable with.

I have become convinced that once the “finish line” of one’s life is peeking over the horizon, it tends to help one focus on that which is really important.

For a little over fifty years I have been walking my life’s pathway with death ever beside me.  We have become “comfortable” companions.  I know that sounds impossible, but like anything else in life, constant contact with a person, place, or thing, will result in a certain level of comfort in the presence of that companion.

Back in my mid-twenties, the family was summoned to my bedside and told that I would not live ’til morning.   Obviously, I did survive.

My doctor recently told me that he has been constantly surprised that I have survived  episode after episode of vicious attacks that should have taken my life and that he had expected me to die a number of times in the past fifty-three years only to have me still around making others uncomfortable, as is my wont.

So what keeps me going?  I wish I knew.  I have blamed it on pure stubbornness and persistence, something I believe I may have inherited from my Celtic ancestry.

More than anything, though, I believe it was my father.  He taught, he instructed, he indoctrinated persistence in ALL things.  You don’t quit, you don’t give up, you never give in, you never, ever, admit defeat — for a man is never conquered until he surrenders. 

My father also taught self reliance.  A man should depend upon no one — or nothing — but himself … period.  A young man during the depression, my father was determined that his children would be able to fend for themselves if, and when, the time came.

He taught me to hunt and trap.  He taught me to build traps, bait, and set traps and those secrets that disguise the human scent on a trap.  He had me running the traps before school on icy Carolina mornings.

I thought of my Dad when the story on Cliven Bundy broke.  See, I have been there — with my Dad, too, many decades ago.

Our confrontation was over the state taking a portion of our land to change the path of a roadway. It seems the state engineers had built in a huge, unnecessary, curve in their plans for the new roadway and that curve would take a huge, unnecessary, bite out of our land, which sat in the corner of the planned new road and the existing highway with which it would intersect.

Dad went to the state capital and met with the state engineers and explained that their survey was wrong, and that it was unnecessary to take that chunk of land when  the old path of the roadway was a much better roadway than the newly planned one.

The state listened — and refused to change their plans.  So the morning they work crew showed up to begin bulldozing our land, my father and I met them — with our guns.  Dad, careful to remain on our property at all times, stepped up where he could be clearly seen and heard and announced that he intended to shoot the first man to climb aboard the bulldozer. 

After a hurried conference, the work crew left.  A few days later we were visited by representatives of the state engineer’s office.  Dad had had me sketch out a route for the proposed roadway that would eliminate that godawful curve and not take a foot of our land.

Survey stakes were removed, a new survey was run, and the proposed roadway was moved, the curve was taken out, and wonder of wonders, we didn’t lose any land, at all.

At no time was law enforcement involved, period.

Would my father have opened fire?  Look. There was no political correctness in those days.  A man said what he meant and meant what he said.  I never doubted he would fire on those men.  More importantly, THEY never doubted it, either.

America was a better country then. We were tough, we had honor and more importantly, we understood how important honor was.  Back then we still understood that a man’s home, his land, his livestock, belonged to him.  He had a right, indeed, a duty to defend them from all threats, no matter the quarter from which those threats came.

Individual rights, personal freedom and liberty, were the foundation of the constitution and the constitution the foundation of the country.

I mentioned earlier that my faith has become a mainstay, a source of support and stability for me as the years pile up.

I think all my life I have been training for the end of my life.  I think we are are granted that opportunity.  Some of us take advantage and prepare while others, well, just let it slide.

Remember the old Negro spiritual:  “I MUST WALK MY LONESOME VALLEY?”   Read the words:

“I must walk my lonesome valley

I got to walk it for myself,

Nobody else can walk it for me,

I got to walk it for myself

I must go and stand my trial,

I got to stand it for myself,

Nobody else can stand it for me,

I got to stand it for myself.

Jesus walked his lonesome valley,

He had to walk it for himself,

Nobody else could walk it for him,

He had to walk it for himself.”

There is a wonderful pearl of a lesson in those words.

“I” have to do it.  Nobody will do it for me.   “I” have to do it myself.

It’s the lesson my father instilled in me as a lad.  “You are responsible, son.  Only you.”

When it becomes my turn to walk that valley, God willing, I intend to walk it with my back straight, my head held high,  leaning slightly forward in expectation of the wondrous things awaiting my arrival at the end of the valley.

But, I’ve not entered the valley yet.  So, my pen shall not rest in my hand.  There is yet much to do, much to be said,  places to go, people to see, ideas to share, thoughts to formulate, … much to do.

Yes, I’m bent.  But I’m not bowed.  I’m bloodied, but I’m not slain. So I’ll lay me down and rest a bit — then, I’ll rise to fight again.

Deo Vindici!

J. D. Longstreet

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The American Public School System Gets an “F” … J. D. Longstreet

The AmericanPublic School System Gets an “F” 

America Should Be Ashamed Of Its Education System  

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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The Public Schools system of the US has crashed and burned!  No longer are our children the best educated in the world.  Now our scholars rank among the less well educated even among a few of the third world countries.  This is a shame we have brought upon ourselves by inviting the Federal Government and the Unions into our schools.

 

One-room schoolhouses turned out scholars of unequaled accomplishment when compared to today’s graduates.  A high school education, just 50 years ago, is the equivalent of a college degree today.   Our Public School teachers are barely qualified to teach.  But, they have a Union to see that they are paid well, whether the can teach or not!  Oh, you thought teachers unions were for the welfare of the students???  Surely you jest!

 

Our local school boards have gorged themselves from the federal trough at the expense of local control of the curriculum and the rules and regulations.

 

Pupils are not challenged by the courses they study and fall short of goals set by the federal Government.  So, the schools are now “teaching the tests”.  Indoctrinate the students in the questions and answers on the test in hopes of attaining the sought after number of students passing the tests.  A well-rounded education is lost to the efforts to make a good showing on the tests.

 

Students are forced to remain in school even though they have no interest in what is being taught and are a distraction to that handful of youngsters who really do want to learn.

 

Self-esteem is the number one course of study.  Our students are dumb as fence posts but, by golly, they think highly of themselves!  They can’t read their diplomas but they sure do feel good about it!

 

So what do we do about it?

 

Take back our schools for a start.  Refuse federal money and all the strings that go with it.  If we have to teach school, again, in one-room school buildings, then so be it.

 

 Test the teachers.  If they have no business in a classroom, see to it that they are removed.

 

Make school voluntary.  If a student does not want to be there, then don’t make them.  This will allow those students who do wish an education to get one without the continuous interruptions by the bored kids who’d rather be someplace else.

 

Discipline?  Yes.  Expulsion.  Period.  Expel troublemakers for a few days, a few weeks, and full school year, or forever, depending on the infraction.  Make school a serious business again.  We owe an environment, suitable for learning, to those students who are there for the purpose of learning and making a better life for themselves.

 

We can take our schools back.  We have to want to do so and we have to be ready to make the sacrifices necessary to insure our children a good education, not the pitiful excuse for an education they are getting now.

 

(Spend a few minutes in the comments section of any blog on the Internet and take special notice of the sentence structure, the composition, the horrible grammar, the god awful spelling, and the obliviousness to it all by the writer.  You have just taken the measure of the product of the American public education system.  It is beyond horrible.)

One of a parent’s primary obligations, as a parent, is to see that their children have a shot at the brass ring in life.  The first, and most fundamental, step in that process is a solid education.

 

Government vouchers were killed by the teachers unions because they rightly understood that the public school system would crumble, and collapse, as parents pulled their children out of those useless institutions and placed them in private schools where they had some say, and some control, over the quality of education their kids were getting.

 

The public school system is near collapse right now.  I don’t think it would be a bad thing, actually.  When an institution is so badly damaged, and no longer serves it’s primary purpose, it SHOULD be trashed and a new institution begun in its place. Create an Institution to educate our kids.  They’re not getting an eduction today.  They’re getting an indoctrination.

 

Parents, we owe our kids that!  We owe them a chance to make the best of their talents.  We owe them a shot at a good, solid, education.  Get them out of the public schools and into a private, or parochial, school where there are qualified teachers who still have an incentive to teach our kids, the will to teach our kids, and the desire to teach our kids.

 

The public school system is America is a failure.  It should be put out of its misery.

 

J. D. Longstreet

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A Time of Reckoning Approaches … J. D. Longstreet

A Time of Reckoning Approaches
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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As Americans draw ever closer to a time of reckoning, many have begun to take notice of that freedom we have remaining.

Some of us old, grizzled, scarred-up, graybeard veterans of multiple past skirmishes with power hungry Leftist zealots in our government are actually gratified today. 

Why, you ask?
We have finally begun to make inroads into the nearly closed minds of younger Americans who have now lived long enough to allow some of the Marxist indoctrination from their days in the government school system to wear thin.  Plus, their own personal experience with REAL LIFE,  as opposed to the communist Utopia sold by the Leftists, has, too, worn thin and it is beginning to be seen as the ethereal mirage that it really is. Their perception is changing.

We can thank Obamacare for so many Americans coming to realize that the cheese really ain’t free! 

How many times did we warn that if you thought healthcare was expensive before Obamacare, just wait until Obamacare gave it to you —free!?

But, Obamacare is just a part of the story of the deconstruction of the Obama/Marxist dream.

There are the lies.  SOOOO many lies.  Americans believe NOTHING coming out of the Obama Administration.  They will lie even when telling the truth is easier.  That says to me they really DO think you and I are stupid, ignorant, and unable to think for, and care for, ourselves.  Of course, that DOES describe so much of the voter base of the Democratic (Marxocratic) Party these days that I suppose that explains why the Dems think of all of us in the same way.

Fortunately for America we are not all dumb, stupid, and ignorant.

As far as I am able to ascertain, the Obama Regime is the second American presidential administration to suspend the constitution.  The first, of course, was the Lincoln Administration.

Lincoln’s abuse of the constitution wasn’t so bad, after all.  It only cost the lives of 700,000 Americans, tore a country apart, forced it back together at the point of a federal bayonet, and today the country suffers the stress of a nation with two distinct cultures and strong regional distrust between Americans  — to this very day.

As if the lingering suspicions from the “recent unpleasantness” of the War of Northern Aggression was not enough, our failed President has driven a wedge deeper between the black and white races in America.

Look.  Obama won the Presidency precisely BECAUSE he is black. (Well, at least HALF black, anyway.)  In 2008 it was as though nothing Obama said was of any importance.  The only important thing was the color of his skin. America had decided it was time to elect a black President and, come hell or high water, they would — and did.  Blacks voting for Obama came in in the high 90’s percentile.  Even so, it was white voters who put Obama over the top and into the Oval Office.

Yes, it was an historical “feel good” moment for the country.   But as everyone (save for the Leftists) knows — those “feel good” moments are totally worthless in the real world.

Obama is a failed President.  Oh, the history books will not record that.  It’s too embarrassing, too, uh, truthful.  Today’s history is mostly fable written by the revisionists of the Marxist persuasion, in any event.  Any Obama short comings that cannot be left out of the official record will be blamed upon Obama’s opposition, the Republicans.

Obama has done his race no favors.  All black politicians will be judged, henceforth, using Obama as the rule. The ethics of ALL black politicians will now be called into question.  As a result, it will be a cold day in the warmer climes when another black man resides in the Oval Office of the United States.  And that is sad, really, because there are some extremely well qualified conservative black politicians out there who would, in my estimation, make an excellent Commanders – in – Chief and President of the US.  Former Congressman, Colonel Allen West, leaps to mind.

There is a school of thought that Obama is a failure because of overexposure.  Oh, I agree that he was — and is — overexposed!  It is so bad that when the man shows up on my TV to make another of his boring speeches, the channel is changed instantly, or the TV is switched off immediately.  He has nothing to say, I care to hear — other than: “I resign, effective immediately.”

No.  It was not overexposure that ruined Obama’s Presidency, it was Obama’s un-American political philosophy and his Marxist agenda for America.  THAT’S what ruined him!  He is surrounded by so many Communists, Marxists, and Socialists, that the West Wing is referred to (by some) now as the Kremlin West.

Around the world Obama — and America under his leadership — have become laughingstocks.  He has proved, unquestionably, that he is unable to go toe to toe with America’s enemies, and that means America’s friends are now on their own for the first time since before the Second World War.  Now, instead of America’s enemies being frightened, it’s America’s friends who are frightened — and with good reason.

Meanwhile, back in the USA, the natives are growing more restless as each day passes.   See, Americans have an option most people do not enjoy.  We have the option, in fact, the duty, to take our government from the hands of those who prove detrimental to the constitution and return her to constitutional rule.

The title of this piece mentions a time of reckoning approaching.  Many feel that a calendar date can actually be set — for November 2014.  Americans are gong to  make every effort to take the entire legislative branch of the government over and bring a screeching halt to the Marxist agenda of Obama and his henchmen. That is the peaceful — and preferable — way to begin the process of returning America to her rightful condition as a constitutional representative government.  

Look.  America is a product of revolution.  Is it so difficult to imagine a continuing revolution to guarantee the survival of our freedom and liberty? 

Victor Hugo a French poet, novelist, and dramatist once said: “When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.”

I’ll close with this brief reminder from the American Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. “— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The men who penned those few lines changed the world.  They did not do it lightly.

When next revolution comes to these shores if will be for the same reason.  It will be men doing what they are convinced they MUST do. 

America is far too precious to let her go without a fight.

J. D. Longstreet

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Has The Revolution Already Begun? … J. D. Longstreet

Has The Revolution Already Begun?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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The amygdala (pronounced ah-MIG-dah-lah) is that little walnut sized “thingy” resting near the bottom of the human brain that warns us when danger is near.  Its sorta like a burglar alarm for your life.

Ever have those tiny little hairs on the back of your neck stand up?  Ever have goose bumps?  Ever get the feeling that you are being watched by someone, or some thing that does not have your, ahem, best interests in mind?   Ever have the persistent feeling that all is NOT well and eminent danger is lurking in some quarter not yet identified? Well, unless your amygdala is broken, or has simply atrophied, that teeny-tiny little mass of nuclei buried deep in the anterior inferior temporal lobe of the brain. is where ALL the above comes from.

I like to think we humans developed the amygdala about the time we decided to climb down out of the  trees and live in holes in the ground and the sides of mountains and cliffs we later came to call caves.  I’m no anthropologists or biologist, or any other kind of “ologist,”  so I have no clue when the human amygdala became standard equipment.  So, I’m just winging it here.

Still — smart people pay attention to the warnings from their amygdala.  A great number of those who didn’t — aren’t here any more. And a disproportionate number of those who still don’t today, will not be with us much longer.

It is the way of things.

My amygdala has been virtually bouncing off the inside of my skull for well over a week now. I can almost hear it humming much like a plucked bow string of an English longbow.

Something is going on that presents a danger to my person.  IF it is what I THINK it is, then by extension, you, too, are in danger.

Allow me to deliberately digress for a moment, or two:  The Cliven Bundy Affair in Nevada recently.  That whole thing was the dumbest operation yet devised by government brain-trusts in Washington.

-OR-

It was not!

Who could NOT have foreseen the reaction by Bundy’s family, his neighbors, and freedom loving American across America.

The answer is — the idiots in DC who planned this donnybrook, IF, of course, that is what REALLY happened.

It has been suggested that the raid at Bundy’s ranch was purposely designed to cause the chaos that ensured so as to provide the government planners a truer picture of the response they can expect from the American people when they, the Marxist tyrants in Washington, finally bring the legendary “iron curtain” down around America.

If Washington had ANY doubt that government  dictatorial overreach would be met with the same level of violence from the American people, then all doubt should have been removed from their bureaucratic minds when throngs of American citizen militias, armed to the teeth, began arriving and squaring off with the government’s domestic armed forces.

The tension was so high that a single shot, even fired accidentally, would have set off a firefight locally and a nationwide rebellion.  I don’t think the public yet understands just how close we came to yet another war of revolution in America during those tense days in Nevada.

Look, the American people are, like that humming bow string I mentioned above, strung about as tight as they have ever been.  It won’t take much for then to utter an oath, grab their semi-automatic rifle, all the ammo they can carry,  and head for the swamps and woods and form up into organized resistance.  Many groups of citizens have already “formed-up.”  They are simply awaiting orders from headquarters. (And NO, I don’t know who, what, and where headquarters is.  That is by design, I feel sure.)

At the moment, America resembles that duck sitting placidly on the waters of the old mill trace.  On the surface that duck is quiet, serene, subdued — while beneath the surface, the duck is paddling like hell.

The Mainstream Media is deliberately NOT covering the most important story on the planet today.  Why? Because they are owned and controlled — lock stock, and ink barrel — by the Marxist tyrants of the Obama Regime.   They are the willful ally of the Marxist government in the US and they volunteer their propaganda efforts in support of the communist efforts to destroy America.

“It’s this bias that President Obama has come to depend on to advance his radical agenda. With the help of a very eager and compliant press willing to do their bidding, the White House controls talking points, advances their left wing agenda, and molds public opinion through propaganda disguised as news.” — SOURCE:  https://stopthepropaganda.com/?utm_source=CNS&utm_medium=slideout&utm_campaign=stopthepropaganda

You would think, the government would allow for a cooling off period before they tried another hostile takeover of private property.  You WOULD think that — and you would be wrong.

Consider the following: “Texas officials are raising alarm that the Bureau of Land Management, on the heels of its dust-up with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, might be eyeing a massive land grab in northern Texas.
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At issue are thousands of acres of land on the Texas side of the Red River, along the border between Texas and Oklahoma. Officials recently have raised concern that the BLM might be looking at claiming 90,000 acres of land as part of the public domain.
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BLM said it is merely in the “initial stages of developing options for management of public lands,” as part of a “transparent process with several opportunities for public input.” — SOURCE:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/22/republicans-warn-blm-eyeing-land-grab-along-texas-oklahoma-border/

Does Washington REALLY want to MESS with Texas?  Of all the bone-headed decisions to come out of Washington the last five years THIS one has to rank right up there at the top.

Look.  Texas does not NEED the US to survive.  That state is self-sufficient.  The fact is, they are doing the US a favor by remaining in the union.

And lest we forget, Texans WILL fight, no matter the odds.  If BLM sends an armed force into the Red River area, you can bet they will be met with armed resistance.

Oh, and just a few steps north lies Oklahoma with some 50,000 militia members who love freedom.  And though those “Sooners” happily pick at their southern neighbors,  they will rush to their side immediately should they be needed.

More and more we are seeing the Gadsden flag being displayed, in all its glory, on more and more homes around America. You know, the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag.”

 

The Gadsden flag is an historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike. It was created by Christopher Gadsden.  Gadsden was named the Lt. Governor of South Carolina in 1778.

Gadsden was the principal leader of the South Carolina Patriot movement in the American Revolution. “Gadsden was an American patriot if ever there was one. He led Sons of Liberty in South Carolina starting in 1765, and was later made a colonel in the Continental Army. In 1775 he was in Philadelphia representing his home state in the Continental Congress.”  — SOURCE:  http://www.gadsden.info/Christopher.html

(As South Carolina is my native state, I want to be sure my fellow “Sandlappers” get the credit due them for their efforts at securing freedom for America then and now.)

You can feel it in the air.  Americans sense a coming fight, an internal struggle to restore the America our Forefathers left in our keeping.   Many are just coming to understand the gravity of the mistake voters made in 2008 and again in 2012.  It has nearly destroyed the country and wreaked havoc around the globe.

But, the federal government, through their mindless, power-hungry antics, may be opening a doorway through which freedom loving Americans will be able to retake that which is rightfully theirs/ours and restore the republic to its constitutional status.

Just remember the duck mentioned above.  We may appear placid and serene, but just beneath the surface we’re working like heck to save our country.

J. D. Longstreet

 

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It’s Hard Being a Black Conservative … Alan Caruba

It’s Hard Being a Black Conservative

 By Alan Caruba

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“We’re not being governed. We’re being ruled by incompetence.” 

It is refreshing to read a book that reflects one’s own views and “Guardian of the Republic” by Allen West, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army for over twenty years and a former, one-term congressman from Florida, who is perhaps best known these days as a Fox News channel contributor. He is a very conservative, articulate black American.

As he points out, “The Left must destroy black conservatives because it cannot afford to have freethinking, independent-minded black Americans. When the Left wins, our community loses. The result of such blind loyalty is that many black voters have come to resemble Vladimir Lenin’s ‘useful idiots.’ They make up an electorate that is completely taken for granted and no one even bothers to listen.”

It is ironic that the first black President will not only be remembered as our worst, but that his failure will reflect on the entire black community in America even while men like West and other blacks of real achievement exist.

For now, it is definitely an uphill struggle for black conservatives, particularly for those in public life. “The mainstream media,” says West, “have a clear tendency to recruit other blacks to denigrate and demean black conservatives” and have “sought to disrespect and deny the existence of black conservatives, but they’re losing the battle and they realize it. The big lie that has resulted in the twenty-first century economic plantation will be exposed and defeated, and our community will be restored.”

I don’t know when I first heard West, but I suspect it was during his run for Congress.  I do recall I was instantly and enormously impressed. He won that race and served from 2011 to 2013 representing Florida’s 22^nd District. His race for reelection was a classic case of electoral tampering, misconduct, and political slander by those who wanted to defeat him.

“One of my biggest frustrations and concerns about America (is that) our electorate doesn’t have a clue about who we are or whence we came.” Much of his book is devoted to a mini-history lesson regarding the founders, the Constitution, and the principles that set America on the path to greatness among nations. West holds two masters degrees; one from Kansas State University in political science and the second from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in military arts and sciences.

He had just over twenty years to practice military arts, but he had set his heart on joining the Army early on, joining the ROTC in college and thereafter being recognized at every stage for his intellect and his leadership skills. He was deployed to Kuwait in 1991 and Iraq in 2003.

West is plain-spoken. He defines our fundamental governing principles as “limited government, fiscal responsibility, a free market, individual sovereignty, a strong national defense, and an understanding that all of man’s freedoms come ultimately from God.”

And then he says, “Measured against our fundamental governing principles, we clearly do not have good government—heck, we suck! We have excessive debt, growing poverty, exploding deficits, an expanding nanny-state, and an anemic economy.”

“The sad thing is,” says West, “there seems to be no reprieve in sight. Why? Because, as a nation, we have become uninterested, uninformed, and disengaged from the truth.”

Throughout his book, West mixes lessons regarding the system the Founders implemented and his fears about the present generations of Americans, given the last two elections. “I fear national-level elections have become nothing more than a version of American Idol,” says West at one point. He concludes his first book saying, “We have to turn off the brain-draining reality TV shows for a few hours and read, think, assess, and challenge ourselves to be better.”

West has had a remarkable life to this point and he could choose to make a lot of money in some corporate position or as an entrepreneur, but he wants to reach out, not just to the black community, but to all Americans because he is worried about where President Obama has taken the nation he loves and wants to see it saved from unimaginable and unconscionable debt.

We need a lot more men like Allen West. The black community needs to pay him and other black conservatives more attention. The rest of us should hope that a change in future administrations will bring his talent to bear on the restoration of America.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

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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 3.2 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 Alan Caruba on both Facebook and Twitter as well.

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Earth Day — High Holy Day of Paganism … J. D. Longstreet

Earth Day — High Holy Day of Paganism
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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 Let me be clear at the outset of this commentary.  I am not making an attempt to impress you with my piety.  Heck, I’m just another old Pharisee trying to make my way through my remaining days on this confused, baffling, wondrous, puzzling, and often enigmatic little mud ball floating in third place from the sun.

 

I’m as confused as the next guy, but then, occasionally, there’s a spark somewhere deep down in that place that passes for my mind.  It’s an idea that I feel compelled to pass along to my companions on this brief journey we call life.

 

There’s nothing stellar or exceptional about it. It’s just an idea, a passing thought, that MIGHT be useful to someone.

 

The following commentary is a product of one of those sparks – or – misfires.  You be the judge.

 

JDL

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I find it more than a little interesting that within 48 hours we are celebrating the high holy days of two of the world’s largest and oldest religions: Christianity and (the oldest) Paganism.

Today, masses of human beings around the globe will celebrate the worship of the earth … not God … not the creator — but the creation.  

Rocks will be worshiped, rivers will be worshiped, trees will be worshiped, the sun will be worshiped, fish, snails, spiders, and all sorts of creeping things will be worshiped today. 

Grown-up, adult, men and women will bow down to “THINGS,” to idols, in fealty to a god of their own creation.  They will offer their lives in service to, well, NOTHING.  And these are grown-up people, adults, human beings you would think would have the intelligence to know better.  But you would be mistaken.

Even worse, there will millions among the Pagans who worship the earth, or Gaia (goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology), who claim  to be Christians.  Please notice:  I said “CLAIM” to be Christians.

Let me be as clear as I possible can be here:  You cannot be a Christian and worship Gaia (by celebrating Earth Day) at the same time … period.  It is impossible. 

Man cannot serve two masters. “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”  — SOURCE:  Matthew 6:24 –The New Testament

Then for those of you who are the cafeteria type Christians who pick and choose the parts of the Christian faith you like and just ignore the parts you dislike, please note that you are in violation of the Ten Commandments.  In fact, you are violating the very first commandment:

 “And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”   Exodus 20: 2 – 4  The Old Testament 

You may find some way to justify your Pagan faith in some way that will settle your conscience, but, as a Christian (at least you claim to be) you are spitting in the face of God with your worship of that which He created.

It is not unusual to see mainline Christian churches taking part in Earth Day celebrations across America.  They have become a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty and are become apostate — no longer faithful to Providence. 

One must wonder if that explains the great falling away of celebrants from the mainline denominations today.  Their numbers are dwindling as the evangelicals numbers are climbing.  As I said, one must wonder.

Look.  I’m not a preacher, a pastor, an evangelist, a prophet, or anything remotely approaching that — BUT — I have eyes to see and ears to hear and I use them and I reason. 

Reason!  Ah!  There lies the rub! 

See.  I observe that which takes place around me.  I listen to that which goes on around me and then I allow my brain to do its God-given task of reasoning — and discerning. 

Discerning is another of those special gifts that, unfortunately, seems to be reserved for only a few human beings on earth at any given time.  

A person with discernment is blessed with having or revealing keen insight and good judgment.  Usually they are unobtrusively perceptive and sympathetic, and usually they are able to make, or detect, effects of great subtlety, meaning they are quite sensitive.

You can quickly see the truth in my statement that there are few of these people around today.

When I see the utter madness that reigns on Earth Day around the globe,  it is extraordinarily easy to understand how evil can so easily warp the minds, the hearts, and, yes — the soul of man.  For understand, gentle reader, participants in this Pagan worship, this Pagan ritual, endanger their very soul. Those who bow down to this false god — Gaia, are committing blasphemy against God.

If you, dear reader, are among those committed to the celebration of the Pagan rite of worshiping the earth and the so-called earth mother, Gaia,  then you are standing at a precarious point in your life.  By your life, I mean not just your life span on this planet, but your life from the moment that eternal spark we call the soul was ignited by God until, well, forever.  

See, I am convinced there is much more to life than our brief time here on earth.  A soul, like energy, can be created, and even changed, but it cannot be destroyed.  So after seventy or eighty years here, I believe it moves on to so much more.

It seems to me it would behoove us all to pay more attention to the way we use our limited time on planet earth and avoid such stupid, idiotic, blasphemous, apostate activities as the Pagan worship of a non-entity represented by a tree, a rock, a lizard, a snail, or whatever.

One of the laws of nature is this:  For every action, there is an equal, and opposite, reaction.  The point is:  There will be retribution — divine retribution.   

As I observe the mindless celebrations on Earth Day I am reminded of the Israelites making — and then worshiping — a golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments from God.

To be sure, the Israelites thought their Pagan festival was, well, logical, just as we excuse our own foray into Paganism today.  It cost them … dearly.  Three thousand men were killed in a single day and that entire generation of Israelites were barred from ever entering the Promised Land.  They were forced to wander in the desert until all had died.  Their children then claimed the prize.

Earth Day is an abomination. It is disgusting and abhorrent.  America and, indeed, the world will pay for this affront to the Divine.

The choice for Christians, dear reader, is clear.  No one, NO ONE, can serve two masters.

Consider the clear and concise words of Joshua echoing down the ages:  “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  — SOURCE:  Joshua 24:15 — The Old Testament

Earth Day is the catalyst for decisive action on all our parts, especially those who claim to be Christians. 

Today we must make a choice between eternal separation from God or disavowing all association with the evil entity sponsoring Earth Day.

So, there it is:  My opinion, my view, on Earth Day and Christians participating in it’s festivities.  Simply put:  True Christians don’t participate in Earth Day.

J. D. Longstreet

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Public Hangings? Bring ‘Em Back! … J. D. Longstreet

Public Hangings?  Bring ‘Em Back!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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I studiously watched Saddam Hussein’s hanging … four times!  (The tape made it to the Internet almost immediately due to a  cell phone which had been smuggled into the room where the hanging took place.  At least, that was the pubic explanation for how it happened.)

“The last legal public hanging in America took place in 1936 in Owensboro, Kentucky. The “event” attracted 20,000 people and turned into such a sickening spectacle that many credit it with ending the practice in the U.S.”  — SOURCE:  http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/27/413611/north-carolina-gop-lawmaker-calls-for-bringing-back-public-hangings-starting-with-abortion-providers/

I must tell you that I admire the state of Texas for continuing to exercise the death penalty just as prescribed by that state’s law.  The recidivism rate, at least for the convicted/executed prisoner is absolutely — ZERO!

Here in North Carolina we have had over the past two decades, at least, a high influx of liberals from out of state who go weak in the knees when they come face to face with the fact that Tar Heels really DO support the death penalty.  As a result there has been a steady attack on our judicial system in a leftist effort to end capital punishment in North Carolina. 

We’ve had moratoriums on executions. We’ve had the Racial Justice Act, which was mercifully repealed by the Republican Legislature as one of their first acts after taking over the NC State legislature.

Still, cases begun under the old RJA are still winding their way through the high court system in the state.

Eventually the cases will all be heard and verdicts rendered and we can move on, one way or the other.

But there are some Tar Heels who’d like to see justice administered quickly, efficiently — and in public.

In other words — bring back public hangings.

Look.  I have no problem with a permanent gallows erected  on the court house grounds of every court house across the state.

Ghoulish, right?  Nah!  Just practical.

Back in 2012 NC House Republican (You just KNEW it would be a Republican, didn’t you?) Rep. Larry Pittman, expressed his views in an email sent to every member of the NC General Assembly.

In his e-mail Rep. Pittman said:  “We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner,” Pittman wrote in the email. “If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnapers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.” — SOURCE:  http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/27/413611/north-carolina-gop-lawmaker-calls-for-bringing-back-public-hangings-starting-with-abortion-providers/

” … last year Republicans in South Carolina, Nebraska, and Iowa pushed legislation that would essentially legalize the murder of abortion providers. Such radical sentiments have been echoed by prominent conservatives like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who said during his 2004 campaign, “I favor the death penalty for abortionists.” — SOURCE: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/27/413611/north-carolina-gop-lawmaker-calls-for-bringing-back-public-hangings-starting-with-abortion-providers/

According to Zachary R. Shemtob, assistant professor of criminal justice at Connecticut State University, and David Lat, a former federal prosecutor, “There is a dramatic difference between reading or hearing of such an event and observing it through image and sound. (This is obvious to those who saw the footage of Saddam Hussein’s hanging in 2006 or the death of Neda Agha-Soltan during the protests in Iran in 2009.) We are not calling  for opening executions completely to the public — conducting them before a live crowd — but rather for broadcasting them live or recording them for future release, on the Web or TV.”  — SOURCE:  http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4e4_1312269466#1GyuTP3SmrUjBAry.99

There is some discussion that pubic executions would turn the public against the death penalty.  I happen NOT to think so.  In fact, once the pubic is reminded of the heinous crime that brought the convict to the death chamber, I believe watching the perpetrator receive his/her just deserts would bring some closure and some finality to the chain of events initiated by the original crime.  It might also result in more respect for the law and restore, at least to some degree, people’s faith in the system.

“There have been a total of 1320 executions from January 1977 to the end of 2012. Lethal injection is now almost universal in the USA, being either the sole method or an option in all of the states that retain the death penalty. Electrocution, hanging, shooting and the gas chamber are still legal alternatives in some states although very rarely used. There was one electrocution in 2010 and one shooting and another electrocution in 2013, in all cases the inmate elected this method.  The majority of executions take place in the southern states, 930 out of 1136 to the end of 2008, with Texas having carried out 422.”  — SOURCE:  http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/thoughtsUS.html

OK.  Do we southerners have a different take on the value of human life than other Americans?  I don’t THINK so.  See, we equate a human life for/with a human life.  No life is more valuable than another and no life is less valuable than another.  Stated frankly, and flatly, — southerners feel that of you take a human life, for any reason other than self defense or the defense of others, you forfeit your own life.  It’s very simple and very straight forward.  So far as we are concerned you are a dead man walking from the very moment of the murder.  So, to us, an execution is no big deal. It just seals the deal with southern society.

With crime rates spiraling upwards in our cities and even out in the rural parts of America, it sometimes seems we are producing, and raising, young ANIMALS rather than young PEOPLE.  Since nothing much seems to make an impression on theses young psychopaths maybe seeing a few of their friends and associates tried, convicted, and hanged — right in front of them, might have SOME effect.

It’s worth a try.

J. D. Longstreet

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What is the rule of law, anyway? … Sylvia Thompson

What is the rule of law, anyway?

Sylvia Thompson

Talking heads and elitists from both the left and right of the political spectrum are decrying that Cliven Bundy (the rancher who recently defied the federal government) must follow the “rule of law.” Why should he? Barack Obama, the President of the United States does not follow the rule of law. Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States, pays no heed to the rule of law. Why, then, must an average citizen?

Recently, a Congressional Committee called upon a group of legal and policy professionals to testify regarding Obama’s blatant disregard for his Constitutional limits. In that committee hearing, a Cato Institute policy director (Michael Cannon) offered that if citizens conclude that government officials are not bound by law, they may also conclude that neither should they be. And I will add that citizens most certainly will not see a need to obey wrong-headed laws that serve to enslave them.

Yes, the jackboots who control the government can bring down the full force of that government upon citizens, and to varying degrees, they have been doing just that. What else would you call the IRS scandals and the umpteen lawless agencies at their command to harass citizens? Yes indeed they can and do exert force. The issue, however, is not what this corrupt, vile government can and will do; the issue is how long Americans will cower on their knees in the dirt, shielding their necks from the next boot drop. That is the issue.

The organized group of armed Americans who came to the aid of the Bundy family were not thinking in terms of “I might be killed today,” although they knew that could happen. They were more likely thinking that on this day if I do not stand up to the federal jackboots, I will live to see myself and my progeny enslaved to people who are drunk on power and hateful of individual freedom. I am sure that this is the thinking looming foremost in their minds.

The irritating hype coming from all the media types (conservative and otherwise) imposing themselves on the situation to bring “calm” and to “avoid violence,” was so typical of weak people with agendas. The most disgusting to me were the politicos who glommed onto petty issues, such as the construction of the “Free Speech” zones by the feds and the over-dramatization of a woman being pushed, or a Bundy son being tasered. All that energy expended on relatively minor issues when it should have been laser-focused on the diabolical, tyrannical United States federal government that ordered the armed agents there in the first place.

While the Washington political and pundit elites (including Fox News) are whining and moaning about preventing violence and the rule of law, the Bundys and their supporters (who, I think, represent a majority of Americans) have vowed that they will not play victim to an enslaving government. Freedom is what the Founders envisioned for America, so much so, that they endured a revolutionary war and a civil war to bring the vision to full fruition. Some of us do not fear the power of the federal government and are not willing to see that freedom destroyed without a fight. Thank God for that.

I am encouraged by my sense that the Americans standing up for the Bundys are worlds apart from the likes of the Nevada Governor (Brian Sandoval) and the Clark County Sheriff (Douglas Gillespie), the two officials who seem most fearful of the federal government. I am also heartened by the fact that so many Americans are armed and are fighting leftist and federal attempts to disarm them. The only reason that those people were able to face down federal agents is because the Constitution allows them to be armed. Additionally, there were alternative media to the mainstream news agencies. Those alternative sources reported in real time what was transpiring. The federal government could not lie about the consequences of its behavior.

My fervent hope and prayer is that organized militia groups spread out over America (many, by necessity, remaining under the radar) are poised and at the ready to do what they have trained to do. Fight for their country against tyranny from within. They will receive no encouragement from conservative leadership or any government entities, or any elites – those who profit from the status quo. Nor will they receive support from media pundits, left or right. The left will always vilify and condemn and the right will implore them to lie down and grovel – for the sake of nonviolence and peace. I say ignore them all. These patriots must keep ever vigilant and always prepared to fight, with weapons if necessary, and maybe, just maybe, more will have the courage to join them in that inevitable (and I stress inevitable) final clash over what will be the future of America.

LINK:  http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/sthompson/140420

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Sylvia Thompson is a black conservative writer whose aim is to counter the liberal spin on issues pertaining to race and culture.

Ms. Thompson is a copy editor by trade currently residing in Tennessee. She formerly wrote for the Conservative Forum of Silicon ValleyCalifornia Newsletter and the online conservative blog ChronWatch, also out of California.

She grew up in Southeast Texas during the waning years of Jim Crow-era legalized segregation, and she concludes that race relations in America will never improve, nor will we ever elevate our culture, as long as there are victims to be pandered to and villains to be vilified. America is better served without victims or villains.

© Copyright 2014 by Sylvia Thompson

GOOD NEWS!