Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Who Won the Iraq War? ... by Alan Caruba



Who Won the Iraq War?
By Alan Caruba


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With all the reams of news and analysis that has been written about Iraq since the United States and a few reluctant allies invaded in 2003, you would think we would know who we were fighting, whether we have “won” the war, and if not, who did?

As of November 30, 2008 the number of U.S. dead was 4,205. The amount of money the U.S. has poured into Iraq as the result of the invasion exceeds $500 billion. Also at the end of November, the Iraqi parliament voted on an agreement that would have the bulk of the U.S. military depart by 2011. The agreement, though, leaves plenty of wiggle room for Iraqis to request U.S. military to stay on.

So, who won? The answer is Iran.

I have read a dozen or more books that have been spawned by the Iraq War, but if you really want to know the truth, you need to hear from the people who actually fought the war there. I am talking about the kind of book that soldiers write for their comrades in arms, cautionary tales that say, “Look, this is what we did wrong and here’s why we should not keep making the same mistakes.”

One such book is Steven K. O’Hern’s “The Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad.”
($25.98, Prometheus Books) In 2005 O’Hern served as the director of the Strategic Counterintelligence Directorate of the Multi-National Force in Baghdad, Iraq. He served as the senior military intelligence officer in Iraq while overseeing the work of counterintelligence offices and their sources.

O’Hern is presently a retired Air Force colonel, an attorney in Overland Park, Kansas, and what he does not know about the magical arts of intelligence gathering and analysis is probably not worth knowing. The bulk of his book is about the need for “HUMINT”, the kind of intelligence you can only get from humans, not technology.

We begin, though, with the obvious fact that “After the invasion of Iraq, the United States and its allies were facing an insurgency in a country adjoining Iran.”

“We knew that Iran had demonstrated the willingness to attack via proxies in the past at the marine barracks in Lebanon, Khobar Towers (in Saudi Arabia), and in the Lebanese Hezbollah war against Israel in 2006,” says O’Hern. “Yet we didn’t treat Iran as a threat. We failed to take a long view of a long war.”

Most Americans think we have been fighting Iraqi insurgents in Iraq. We have, in fact, been fighting people whose leaders have strong links to Iran, that were equipped for battle by Iran, and short of massed Iranian troops in the field we have been at war with Iran.

“After the US invasion of Iraq, Iranian investors and intelligence officers had spread out across the country with orders to buy as many as five thousand apartments, houses, stores, and restaurants in Baghdad, Basra, Najaf, and Karbala.,” says O’Hern. “These locations would be used as living quarters and command centers for Iranian agents and militias loyal to Iran.”

O’Hern’s experience is pre-surge and that has since changed the dynamics in Iraq to a considerable degree. It is entirely likely that much of the surge involved hunting and killing insurgents whose names and addresses were known to the U.S. military by then, thanks to effective intelligence.

The politics of Iraq is an impenetrable maze to outsiders, but it helps to know that the present prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is from the Islamic (Shia) Dawa Party, known to be closely allied with the Iranians in much the same way his opponent Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Militia, and who heads the United Iraqi Alliance is closely allied with the Iranians. The result is that “People and organizations with very close ties to Iran gained control of much of the government.”

Al-Maliki has been asserting himself, reaching out to Sunni politicians, military men, and others to widen the base of the Dawa Party. However, there are more than 400 political parties registered in Iraq with more than 150 just in Baghdad. In the coming provincial elections, more than 14,600 candidates and some 36 or more coalitions will be vying for power.

It can be argued, however, that it doesn’t matter who runs Iraq because, in the end, Iran will run Iraq and it just needs to patiently wait until 2011 when most U.S. forces are scheduled to leave. There remain many obstacles to overcoming a three-way split between the Kurds in the north, the Shias in the south, and the Sunni area of Anbar. In the meantime, Iran can work on developing its own nuclear weapons.

What men like General David Petraeus know is that we are now into what is called “fourth generation” warfare. As O’Hern points out, “Nations such as the United States will face tribes, clans, religious groups, and criminal societies that may operate in several nations and that are immune to sanctions and attacks against their host nation’s economy or infrastructure.”

We are now fighting ghosts, a phantom army that does not put on a uniform, form up ranks, or has an arsenal of tanks, planes, missiles, surface ships, submarines, and the other accoutrements of war, although you can be sure that Iran has all of that. And, soon, it will be able to put nuclear warheads on top of its missiles. When that day arrives it will alter the balance of power in the Middle East and South Asia.

What the United States has is some of the fanciest technology ever brought to bear on a battlefield. What it needs is more HUMINT, the most essential element of intelligence, the eyes and ears of people who know what is going to happen next.

“Even as early as 2005,” O’Hern notes, “the second-highest-ranking officer in Iraq wrote that HUMINT was needed because technology-based tools were ineffective in Iraq, a theatre where developing actionable intelligence was difficult.” The intelligence community’s devotion to technology-based information gathering will remain an obstacle for a long time to come though the military has learned since 2005 how essential HUMINT is.

Clearly the decision to invade Iraq a second time underestimated or misunderstood the nature of the enemy we would engage. One thing is known, though, the U.S. lacked an adequate number of troops to initially get the job done. The demands put upon our volunteer military were met with bravery above and beyond the call of duty.

The refusal for the longest time to recognize or admit that the enemy was Iran cost a lot of lives to the weapons being manufactured and brought into Iraq from Iran.

To this day, American policy has been reticent to identify the enemy that the whole of the Middle East knows is pulling the strings, whether it is Hezbollah in Lebanon or some of those running Iraq these days.

There is, however, an unknown factor. In general, Arabs and Persians are adversaries. The whole of the Persian Gulf these days bristles with Arab fear of Persian intentions. And, finally, Iraqis despite everything they have been through have a sense of their own nationality and may resist being an Iranian satellite state.

The American public, impatient with long wars, wants to leave. Iran may give them cause to leave even sooner than 2011. These are, after all, Persians, the descendents of the people who invented the game of chess.



Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/


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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Why Does So Much Of The World Hate The Jews?

Why Does So Much Of The World Hate The Jews?
By: J. D. Longstreet
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I took my regional newspaper out of the box this morning, and unfolded it, and there, centered above the fold, was the photograph I already knew would be there. It was a photo of a wounded Palestinian in Gaza, a "victim" of the Israeli bombing.

Even before the smoke had cleared from the first bombs dropped many of us knew who the world wide press would make the bad guys. The Israelis. It never fails. The world's hatred of the Jews is just as vehement, just as rabid, as it was when Hitler was murdering six million of them in his gas chambers and concentration camps in Europe in the 1930's and 1940's. Frankly, I am not sure that given a chance to do it again, much of the world would stand by, again, and allow it to happen. Millions would simply look the other way... then claim they were not aware it was happening. Sound familiar? It does to my generation.

There is a sickness deep down in the rotten core of the human race that allows a hatred this deep. You want to see racism? You want to see bigotry, you want to see black, mindless, wrathful hate and pure stinking jealousy? Then look into the souls of the people who will allow a country, Israel, to be pounded day after day by a people sworn to wipe them from the face of the earth, a people who will not even recognize the right of the Jews to exist, to live, to breath, and walk the same earth as they do. There you will see the blackness of hell. Those who support the people who spend their days and nights searching for ways to kill, maim, and in any way possible deny the basic right of life to a whole people (because they are Jews) are, themselves, assuredly assigned to the deepest, hottest, level of Hell itself.

Someone must stand up and call them what they are... angels of perdition, angels of death.

Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jews, has been a country since the late 1940's. Within twenty-four hours of the United Nations proclaiming them a state, they were attacked, from all quarters, by the Arabs. That tiny, little, infant of a country managed to whip every last one of the Arab countries coming against them. Every day since 1948 Israel has had to fight to exist. From kidnappings to wholesale slaughter of the Israelis the world has watched and pretended not to see. That is sick, people! To really seal the diagnosis of pathological Jew Hatred, the nations of the world, by and large, point accusing fingers at Israel when she attempts to defend herself. It never fails.

Over the weekend, the international representatives to the United Nations stumbled over each other in a rush to condemn Israel for going after the people who have been sending rockets into Israeli territory killing Israelis. The International Media brought us stories of dead Gazan children and old men and women. Where was the same international press to tell us the stories of the dead Israelis from the rocket blasts and the suicide bombers and the kidnappers sent into Israel by those who fund the perpetrators of their godless evil? All you ever need to know about the international media can be learned by picking up a newspaper today, or watching a TV newscast today. They are shouting their bigotry from the rooftops of the world!

This world-wide hatred of the Jews is a sickness. It pollutes the souls of mankind. It pollutes everything we human beings touch. It must be, it HAS to be, a foul stench in the nostrils of God. Those of us who profess the Christian faith pray to Christ and say we believe that Christ is the Son of God. People, I have news for you! Jesus was a JEW! Talk about hypocrisy!

Why DOES the world hate the Jews? Why? Maybe it is because, as some have said, the Land of Israel is a constant reminder of God to a world which has largely rejected the very existence of God. And yet... there is little Israel, standing in the face of six or seven countries all vowing to wipe them from the face of the earth. Yet, they stand... and continue to stand... no matter what is thrown at them. Why? I can give you the answer I learned in Sunday School and at my father's knee as a child. That answer is that God made Israel a promise. He gave them that land as their own forever. By the way, the land given Israel, by God, today includes the countries of: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the land called today The Palestinian Territory, as well as the land we know today as the state of Israel
.

Now, I am not a very good Christian. In fact, I expect I'd make a pretty good Pharisee. But, I believe that God does not make promises He does not plan to keep... and once made... it is for darned sure God does not break His promises. Otherwise, my entire faith is a fallacy and as the apostle said I ,amongst all men, are the most to be pitied.

My American family hails from the northern parts of western Europe. A geographical area that used to be, and by all appearances today, remains a hotbed of antisemitism. My ancestral home embarrasses me. Europeans are quick to boast of their belief in Human Rights. It would certainly seem they mean Human Rights for everyone but the Jews of Israel. My fellow Americans who support those who call for the demise of Israel embarrass me as well.

I believe we are quickly approaching the time, in the cosmic scheme of things, when the sheep will be divided from the goats. The nations of the world are going to be called upon, soon, to decide, as nations, with whom they stand, Israel... or those who call for her death. Those nations blind enough, and hate-filled enough, to choose to stand with Israel's oppressors ... are doomed. I cannot put it any more succinctly than that. God himself has said" "I will bless those who bless you (Israel), and I will curse those who curse you" . An accounting IS coming. It cannot be escaped.

The world is awash in antisemitism. If you have any doubt about that, be sure to pick up your newspaper tomorrow morning and scan its pages for the inevitable stories of the way the terrible Israelis are slaughtering the "Palestinians" (the "Gazans"). The hate spewing media cannot help themselves. They have made their commitment to go against God and there will be a price extracted. Watch as some of the most powerful and influential news organizations on the face of the planet are going out of business and, in the process, suffering a very public, humiliating, long drawn out death. They have chosen their path and they are now powerless to do anything about it.

In the meantime, we will continue to pray for Israel's success in the current war against the forces of evil and Israel will be victorious.

For those who find my "preachiness" in this article too much, we direct your attention to that little "X" in the upper right-hand corner of this screen. USE it.

J. D. Longstreet
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Monday, December 29, 2008

The Eternal War Heats Up Once Again


The Eternal War Heats Up Once Again

J. D. Longstreet

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The Israeli Air Force is reported to have knocked out some 40, or more, Hamas targets in five minutes as the current Jewish/Muslim war kicks off in Gaza. The devastating opening to this war has been described as the Israeli version of "Shock and Awe".


Planning, (we learned very recently) for this raid was initiated at least six months ago by the Israeli military. The decision that "Operation Cast Lead" was "a go" for Saturday morning was, in fact, made Friday morning only one day before the bombs began to rain down on Hamas.


Hamas had evacuated many of their command and control centers earlier in the week, in expectation of a Israeli raid. But much of the command personnel had returned to those centers when they received word that Israel had put off making a decision on when the raid would begin until Sunday. Thus, they were right where Israel wanted them when the air assault began, right beneath the bombs.


Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak, was informed, in person, by Tzipi Livni, the leader of Israel's Kadima political party, after Livni flew to Cairo, for that explicit purpose, on Wednesday, while Defense Minister Ehud Barak continued to work out last minute details of the raid. So, even Israel's neighbor, Egypt, which shares the other Gaza border knew this was coming. There is an excellent article on this HERE .


Months ago the IDF had been given orders to do extensive recon to gather intelligence in Gaza and secure info on such things as the location of Hamas bases, weapon storage sites, the location of training camps, even coordinates of the homes of senior Hamas officials as well as the coordinates for other unspecified Hamas facilities. This is NOT a knee jerk reaction by Israel to those Hamas rocket attacks which have killed dozens of Israelis and destroyed homes and businesses as much as 30 kilometers inside Israel.


Already, the UN is calling for the violence to end and for Israel to avoid the killing of Palestinian civilians. Little has been said about Hamas killing Israeli civilians with those rockets. This is perfectly normal in a world warped by its thinly disguised hatred for all things Jewish and, especially, the state of Israel.


The UN statement went on to urge Israel to take necessary measures, including the opening of border crossings, to ensure Gaza's people were supplied with food, fuel and medical treatment. Israeli Radio reports tell us that Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defense Minister, did permit the borders to be partially opened to allow in medical supplies and basic humanitarian aid on Sunday.


Meanwhile, the White House is coming down, fore square, on Israel's side. "These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe is reported to have said. On Saturday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the United States holds Hamas responsible for the renewal of violence in the Gaza Strip.


From the "Land Down Under", Australia, the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, also blamed Hamas for the current war. Gillard is reported to have said: "Clearly, we are calling on Hamas and other militants to cease shelling southern Israel. Obviously they have broken the cease-fire and engaged in an act of aggression against Israel. Israel has responded. We are echoing the calls from around the world for parties to move back to a ceasefire."


And so the family feud goes on. Nothing much has changed since Abraham booted Ishmael out of his camp and anointed Isaac, his son by Sarah, the birthright. The death and destruction we see today, in 2008, can be traced directly back to that incident, thousands of years ago.


It is foolish to even consider brokering a peace between those two half-brothers. It is the height of arrogance to believe one can bring peace between the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael. As a

gentle reminder we refer you to the scripture from The Bible: Genesis 17:18,19 “And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shall call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him”." From the Koran:
Koran = 19:54 “Also mention in the Book [the story of] Ishmael: He was [strictly] true to what he promised, and he was a messenger [and] a prophet." And again from The Bible: Genesis 16:12 “And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him."


As we watch the continuation of this on-going struggle play out before our very eyes on the TV screens today, we must remember that this is only the latest flare up between these two peoples who have fought for thousands of years. No matter how this current war ends, the struggle will not end here. It will go on. No matter what the US does, or what the United Nations does, nothing will change. Only God can end this combat which is fueled by jealous rage.


The Jews and the Muslims have two different philosophies of life and religion. One leads to freedom and life and the other leads to bondage and death.


J. D. Longstreet

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Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Palestinian Answer To Everything Is War ... by Alan Caruba


The Palestinian Answer to Everything is War
By Alan Caruba

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Writing in May 2008 on the occasion of Israel’s sixtieth anniversary, Fouad Ajami, a longtime observer and commentator of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said that “The Arab imagination could never reconcile itself to the permanence of the Jewish state…stubbornly refusing to accept the verdict of what happened in 1948.”

“In its short history,” said Ajami, “Israel has held up a mirror for the Arabs, who have not liked what they have seen.”

Now we shall wait again for the inevitable condemnations of Israel for taking military action against the incessant daily attacks from Gaza. It is worth remembering that Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in the summer of 2005, forcing Israelis living there to leave their homes in order to end a 38-year occupation. Their reward for this selfless act was to watch Gaza become a staging ground for attacks.

If, say, the Canadian province of Quebec was shelling nearby cities in the United States, how long do you think it would take the U.S. to retaliate? When Osama bin Laden’s terrorists perpetrated 9/11, America sent troops halfway around the world to attack the Taliban with which al Qaeda was allied. Yet Israel is not supposed to respond to daily provocations, property damage and the deaths of its people?

The Palestinian answer to every effort Israel has undertaken to achieve peace and a two-state resolution to their grievances has been war. They have waged war from Gaza and, in the name of Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Palestinian group supported by Iran and aided as well by Syria, they have been threatened from the north.

The disgraceful and morally debased former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, was recently in the Middle East, helping to celebrate the founding of Hamas while in Damascus and, later in Lebanon, lamenting that Hezbollah had no protection from Israeli overflights.
On his blog for the Carter Center, he recently said, “Like the Syrians, they (Hamas) are patient, relatively satisfied with the status quo, and putting all their eggs in Obama’s basket. We had to caution them about expecting too much of an immediate change in U.S. Middle East policy.”

No fans of diplomacy, Hamas took over Gaza in a bloody coup two years ago, driving Fatah, the arm of the Palestinian Liberation Organization founded by Yassir Arafat, into the West Bank. In response, Israel sealed off Gaza from the outside world to the extent it could.

Two years ago, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report, wrote that “Hamas, in truth, is not a nationalist force. It is part of the global movement of jihad, a Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood founded in Egypt with the goal of eliminating Israel with help from its Syrian and Iranian backers.”

In 2006 Zuckerman reported that the Israel Defense Forces had “found more than a hundred transborder tunnels (into Egypt) through which tons of explosive, tens of thousands of rifles, RPGs, rockets and missiles of all kinds have been shipped.”

Watch now for television news to run endless tape of Gazan burials, of destroyed Hamas headquarter buildings and structures where massive amounts of arms were stored, and of grieving families of civilians, though warned to leave, were killed. Try to recall the last time you saw, heard or read any reports on the losses in Israel’s Sederot, the object of daily rockets for months prior to and since the “hudna” or ceasefire to which Hamas agreed?

The Gazan people have been victimized, but by Palestinians, by Fatah, and now by Hamas, who teach their children to become suicide bombers, by the Hamas leaders who prosper why the ordinary people must depend on UNRWA aid to find enough food. Since the founding of Israel sixty years ago, the United Nations has been the enabler of Palestinian resistance while passing a hundred resolutions condemning Israel.

In about a month the Palestinians, not the Israelis, become yet another problem on President-elect Obama’s agenda. Assuming that Hillary Clinton becomes Secretary of State, they may be very surprised to find they do not have a friend in the White House.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

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No Bipartisanship In The Coming Congress, Please!


Bipartisanship is the LAST Thing the US Congress Needs!!!
J. D. Longstreet

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If you are a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, or a member of any of the sundry other political parties in America… “Bipartisanship” in the US Congress is the last thing you should want!

One can hardly open a newspaper these days without seeing an article by a member of the MsM bemoaning the lack of bipartisanship in the Congress. Warning flares should go off in your consciousness as soon as you see the title of such an article.

Why? Isn’t bipartisanship a good thing? It may be in other countries… but not in the US.

Americans have deep rooted differences about the way the country should be run. These are, or should be, core beliefs. All political parties have those differences. Otherwise, we’d have only one political party. Then we’d really be in a mess! No checks and balances at all.

Bipartisanship requires, of a necessity, compromise. It also demands consensus. Both those things are unthinkable to “THINKING” Americans.

Look, I take a position on things, anything, because I believe I am right. So do you. So do Republicans and Democrats and all the others. To compromise your core beliefs simply means they were not core beliefs to begin with… or… you are a weak individual and your willingness to compromise is a character flaw. The same holds true for a political party. Where I come from compromise, by anyone, is seen as a weakness of will. A lack of will power. It is not seen as a good thing. One who refuses to compromise, and sticks to his guns, is looked up to as a strong individual, as someone to be admired. You may not like his position, but damnit; you know where he stands… at all times!

Now… what of consensus? Well, consensus, plain and simple, is lack of leadership. It means there is no single individual in the group strong enough to lead and/or guide all, or a part of, the group, to his way of thinking. Consensus is that paved road to Perdition!

Every organization needs and must have a leader. Without a leader there is blind stumbling about and nothing, of any import, is accomplished.

In our Congress we have two sets of political ideas and beliefs. For anything to get done one side or the other must surrender that side’s principles. And it is a disgusting thing to behold! I would rather my side lose every vote and not surrender their beliefs than to win any votes by compromising them.

Currently the Democrats control both houses of Congress. The in-coming President is also a Democrat. Conservative voters in America are without representation in the government of the United States. Yet the populace of America is, far and away, conservative. This means, of course, that anything the government does is met with derision from a large portion of the American electorate. But, that is the way our representative republic works.

A bipartisan Congress would ride, rough shod, over the wants and wishes of the American electorate. Laws would be passed and freedoms lost in the blink of an eye. A bipartisan Congress would rule rather than govern. We would awaken each morning the find a list of new laws in our newspapers, which were passed the preceding day by the Congress. The weight of those laws would soon crush the spirit of the America.

No, Dear Reader, we do not want a Bipartisan Congress.

So, never mind when the MsM calls for more bipartisanship in Congress. Consider the source... an MsM that is slightly to the left of Karl Marx.

Remember this when you see all the articles in your local paper calling for bipartisanship in Congress. Remember it when the Dems or the Repubs call for it, as well. Know that bipartisanship is the very last thing we need in the government of the United States!

J. D. Longstreet

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Saturday, December 27, 2008

America Has Lost Her Self Respect


(From July of 2007)
Political Correctness has Robbed America of Her Self Respect.
J. D. Longstreet

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One of my “Pet Peeves” is men who do not “uncover” when they enter a house, or a public building, such as a restaurant. (For those of you unfamiliar with military terms…”uncover” means to remove your “cover”…or hat)

Yes, I am a Southerner. But, I’m do not believe this extremely discourteous, and rude practice, began with Southerners. I’m about as Southern as one can get and I remove my hat when coming indoors. In my home, as a boy, the quickest way to get yelled at was to enter the house with your hat still on. The instant your feet crossed the threshold, into my mother’s domain, the hat came off. Now, the cardinal sin within a southern family is for one to appear at the dinner/lunch table with your hat on. It just isn’t done. Well, it wasn’t done until fairly recently. It is disgusting to see a person; Southerner or northerner, sitting at table in a restaurant… eating… with his hat still perched on his head. It speaks of low breeding.

The hat on the head while inside another’s home is a sure sign of disrespect. When you remove your hat upon entering another’s home you are saying, “I am in your home as a guest, and I recognize that I am at your mercy, as this is your domain.”

In olden days, when a man’s home was truly his castle, a show of disrespect, such as not removing your hat in his castle, could cost the offender not just his hat, but the head residing just beneath it, as well. This was serious business.

It has been my contention for some time that we have lost something as a society when we lost the “genteelness” which was so much a part of who we were, especially Southerners. I suppose that is one of the reasons I am drawn to the 19th century American history. It was during that period that the word “gentleman’ meant something. “Lady” was also a sign of deep respect …one the feminist movement tossed out a number of years ago. Now, for a woman to be referred to as lady is taken as a sign of disrespect!

Our society has lost a great deal in the past 30 years, or so. We have become crass, rude, discourteous, impolite, and, I’ll use a word no longer in use today: “common”. Even here, in the American South, the last bastion of good manners, we too, are slipping into the “Me, too” mindset which is founded on one’s own selfish motives and inflated self esteem now taught our children in the public/government schools.

We have lost something as a people. We have lost our own self-respect. Our society is doomed. All because men will not remove their hats while indoors, you may ask? No, that is but a sign, a marker, of the passing of a great society where the value of a human being was not in question. In America’s rush to embrace “Socialism” commonality is a must. The destruction of the “class system” is a must. The political correctness crowd, the vanguard of American Socialism, has done a smashing job of destroying the American class system in their rush to create a single class. They do not understand, or they choose to overlook, the fact that removing the three classes (Lower, Middle, and Upper classes) removes a goal for Americans to strive towards. When an American has nothing to set his sights on, no goal to work toward, he soon becomes discouraged and simply falls back into the darkness of low self-esteem and accepts that his position in life will never change for the better and he is trapped. All hope is gone. Without hope all is lost.

Good manners were always about respect… respect for the other person. Look around you. Where do you see that respect today? It is all but non-existent. We, as Americans, have lost our respect for others, and as a result, we have lost our respect for ourselves.

J. D. Longstreet

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Friday, December 26, 2008

“Bargaining” is Not Negotiating ... by Jim Camp

“Bargaining” is Not Negotiating
By Jim Camp

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I was recently asked, in my capacity as a negotiations coach, what was my opinion of the Detroit automobile manufacturer’s bailout. I am completely opposed to it, but for a reason that politicians and the media have not discussed.

Detroit’s auto manufacturers always employed flawed concepts when dealing with the United Auto Workers. Essentially, they engaged in “bargaining”, not negotiating. At the heart of the problem is what negotiators call “mission and purpose.” The auto manufacturers believed that negotiating was the same as bargaining, but bargaining requires a mindset that requires compromise.

They sat at the table and asked themselves what they would have to give up to the union to get the deal done and make their numbers in the year ahead. The most powerful “bargaining” or negotiating tool is the ability and readiness to say no and they did not exercise it. (Emphasis added by IoF...Ed)

The result is that years of “bargaining” left the Detroit auto manufacturers unable to compete even with others engaged in the same business in the United States. (Again emphasis added by IoF... Ed) Looking for those on whom to place blame is now the order of the day. Typically, labor is blamed for greed or laziness. Government legislation and regulations are also blamed.

Time and again, however, the leaders of the Detroit auto industry failed to base their most critical negotiating decisions on a clear vision, on a firm grasp of what their mission and purpose was.

Mission and purpose is defined as the long-term aim of an organization and it is their continuing task and responsibility. From my observation of the Detroit auto industry, it appears that they simply did not have either an understanding of their mission and purpose or a commitment to anything beyond the “bargaining” agreement at hand.

The result is that they became trapped in knee-jerk decisions that now threaten a cascade of failures beyond themselves, harming suppliers, destroying consumer confidence, and creating a situation that politically is so disastrous the current administration decided to hand it on to the incoming one. They are doing so with public funding that was not intended for this purpose.

Money, particularly public funding, will not save an industry that makes ineffective decisions. Change is required and without bankruptcy there will be no change.

As a veteran of the Vietnam War, I recall of how many times Ho Chi Minh and his negotiators said no to the compromise mindset of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. At great and tragic loss of lives to both sides, the Vietnamese held fast to their mission and purpose. Vietnam is now a sovereign nation with diplomatic relations with the United States.

There are many other examples; as a former airline pilot, I recall how, in the 1970s with the airline industry facing deregulation, the founder and chairman of Continental Airlines killed himself in his office. Only tough decisions restored the airline to solvency and a competitive position.

That is the mission and purpose for the three Detroit auto manufacturers; solvency and the ability to compete in the global marketplace. It should be the mission and purpose of the United Auto Workers as well.

Only sound bankruptcy procedures will produce a successful outcome. Only tough decisions in which all parties share a common mission and purpose hold any hope for them.

Polls show that the vast majority of the American public opposed a bailout. Many in Congress opposed a bailout. The Detroit auto manufacturers and the UAW are going to have to take no for an answer.

Jim Camp is an internationally known negotiation coach and the author of two bestselling books on the subject. He is the CEO of The Jim Camp Group whose Internet site is http://www.startwithno.com/.

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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!



The Roaring Twenties & the Roaring Nineties ... by Alan Caruba


The Roaring Twenties & the Roaring Nineties

By Alan Caruba
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My Mother was a “flapper”, one of the girls during the Roaring Twenties of the last century. She didn’t need a woman’s movement to assert herself. She drove a car, held down a job, but—I was assured—did not dance on table tops, nor smoke, nor anything else that today would be taken for granted. She married a Certified Public Accountant and that tells you what a level-headed a girl she was. They stayed married for over sixty years. She would live to age 98!

I was thinking of the Roaring Twenties because, in so many ways that reflect the extremes of those times, the same illusions of ceaseless growth and spending, have come to an end. For Mom, Dad and everyone else of their generation, they could tell you the precise date, October 29, 1929 when the stock market crashed.

Now, almost eighty years later, we are repeating that generation’s experience with harsh reality. The generation that survives this economic and financial mess will emerge as real adults in the true sense of the word. They will save money for their old age. They will be parsimonious in the use of credit. They will be the Wal-Mart generation.

During World War II, my parents made their greatest purchase, a home in the New Jersey suburbs, a short train ride from New York City. The house cost $11,000. Twice they would take out second mortgages to put my older brother and then myself through college, paying off both as rapidly as possible. After they passed on, I would sell the home at more than a dollar sign with six digits just a few years before the bottom fell out of the economy. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

I did not marry. Instead, after college, the Army, and a job in Florida that I quit the day JFK was assassinated, I returned home thinking I would get a place of my own. I stayed on and on. Before I knew it, the three of us had spent just slightly more than sixty happy years together. Mother was famed as an international authority on haute cuisine and wines. She wrote several cookbooks and taught for some three decades. Dad had a small, but successful accounting practice that my brother joined.

I think, in all that time, they took maybe two actual vacations. Their home was their castle and they loved entertaining friends at the dinner table. The wine flowed, the conversation flowed, and the food was superb. I just soaked it all in.

What I remember most was that these two people were adults in every sense of the word. St. Paul writes in Corinthians, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, but when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

The Great Depression turned my parents into adults. When it was over, they took great joy in their lives and we had all the material things that gave Americans a great lifestyle in the decades that followed World War II (Dad was too young for WWI and too old to serve in WWII), but always lingering in the back of their minds was the struggle of the long decade of the 1930s and the sacrifices of the 1940s in response to the war. There was gas rationing. You needed government issued stamps to buy meat, sugar and other items. People grew vegetables in “victory gardens” in their backyards.

This present younger generation, the Millennials born between 1980 and 2000, are going to be a lot like my parents and their grandparents who had to persevere through those difficult times. Their children will be the real beneficiaries even if they won’t realize it until they too are adults with children of their own.

Americans have been through hard times before and they will come through the present difficulties. Some industries that did not or would not change will pass from the scene or be reduced in size. Others will grow in response to the times. We may well see far less business travel as communications allow people to hold virtual meetings. Vacations may take place closer to home.

In time, Americans may realize just how important their energy industries are to the nation’s economy and put aside childish notions of “clean” or “Green” energies like wind or solar. Talk of “global warming” will fade as a Little Ice Age sets in again, much as the last one did from 1300 to 1850. People will discover that electric cars are just too expensive to justify their purchase. Much disparaged family values may assert themselves.

The same exaggerated expectations of the 1920s, albeit with a new set of enemies, will be replaced with a more realistic sense of how the world really works as this new century wears on. There is much talk of “globalization”, but my parent’s world was no less connected to and impacted by nations far from our shores. Nothing happens in Beijing, in Baghdad, in Berlin, in Moscow or Mali that does not affect us all in some way.

We will still need to have a strong military. Ronald Reagan said that no nation in history was ever attacked because it was too strong. We will still need to tap our own natural resources, to repeal the massive regulatory chokehold on the economy, to return education to the states and local communities, and away from the straight jacket of federal mandates.

These are lessons that each generation must learn again and again and again. Hard times seem to be the only way they reassert themselves.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.


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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

America Needs To Regain Control Of Her Congress. Here's How.


America Needs To Regain Control Of Her Congress. Here's How.
By J. D. Longstreet

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If you are a US Congressperson or a US Senator, I expect you are deep into a fit of apoplexy right about now and you are unable to read the remainder of this article. However, if you are a “normal” American you are still vertical and wondering how such a thing is done.

Well, the simplicity of it is underwhelming, to say the least.

I’ve been thinking about this since my high school days when a Congressperson was introduced to the students of my school as a “Public Servant”. In the naivete of my youth I thought servant meant “one who serves.” Further, I thought a public servant was “one who served the public.” Do you see how misled I was in those oh, so innocent days?


Even then I thought it approaching corruption to actually pay someone to serve the public in such a manner as a Congressperson, a Senator, a President, and such like.



There is a way around this and it is an honorable solution to the problem. Not to mention that after the original outlay of funds, the cost to the taxpayers of financing a national legislature would be practically nothing when compared to the costs today.


First, we need to construct a Congressional Compound. A building, or complex of buildings, with four room apartments in them. Each apartment would consist of a bedroom, sitting room, kitchen, and an office. Each Congressperson and Senator would be assigned an apartment in which he, or she, would reside while in Washington on national business. When in Washington on private business. he, or she, would have to finance their own living accommodations. (Motel or hotel) The "dormitory" would only be available when the law maker was in town on business for the nation. There would be no cost to the legislator for residing in the dorm. The CC would have a cafeteria for meals and would even provide room service to the congressperson's apartment (or "suite", if you prefer) The legislator would be provided with vouchers for meals which he, or she could receive in either of the capital cafeterias. These voucher's would be used only when the legislator was in town on national business.


There would be a parking complex at the CC for those who prefer to have their personal transportation with them while in town serving the nation. A fleet of shuttle buses would be available, 24 hours a day, to transport the legislators back and forth from their dorm to the capital for business sessions of the House or the Senate or for committee meetings, hearings, and such.


Now, I understand that we cannot expect them to serve with absolutely no pay. well, we CAN expect them to, but that is not realistic. So, since the people of the several states have chosen these people to represent THEM and THEIR interests while in DC, I submit the states should be responsible for any remuneration for the duties performed for the states. In other words, leave it to the states to decide how much to pay THEIR Congresspersons and Senators... NOT the people of the United States.


The states could use any number of formulas for arriving at a figure. One simple formula

is to take the highest salary in the state and the lowest salary in the state... toss them out , them average the remainder... and the average figure would be the salary of the legislator. Of course, the formula , and the salary figure would have to be approved by the voters. There would be no cost of living increases until the state legislature proposed them and the voters approved them.


Transportation to DC from the states would be provided my the state's National Guard on that state's National Guard aircraft. Of course, the legislator would be free to choose his, or her, own mode of transportation to and from DC at his, or her, own expense. Any traveling on official business connected directly to his, or her, duties as a Congressperson, or Senator, would be on military aircraft. (Currently we the people of the US are paying the Congress somewhere in the area of 93 million dollars a year in salaries... not including all the perks.)


Now, I've just scratched the surface here, and believe me, I know this is simplistic as all get-out! But, it seems to me that we have to do something to get back to the idea that Public Service is just that: SERVICE. Career politicians are killing this country. As things stand, currently, our national legislators are riding the gravy train and they know it.


One other thing: I think the states should be allowed to decide how many terms their national legislators should be allowed to serve. That would require a constitutional amendment, I know, as would a goodly portion of what I have proposed above.


The point in all this , for me is, we the people, need to regain control of our government. The best starting point, as I see it, is to hit them in their wallets, just as they have been doing to us for lo, these many years.It's time to remind Congress who the boss is.


J. D. Longstreet

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Monday, December 22, 2008

Congress To Get Raise ! You’re Kidding, Right?

Congress To Get Raise ! You’re Kidding, Right?
By J. D. Longstreet
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If not the worst Congress this nation has ever had, certainly the current Congress ranks among the top two worst congresses in the history of the US. No matter. They are scheduled for an automatic pay raise next month. For an excellent article on this topic we recommend you read: “Congress Should Reject $4,700 Pay Raise, Taxpayers' and Seniors’ Groups Say” . You’ll find it by
CLICKING HERE .

With this raise the Members of Congress will be jumping from $169, 300.00 per year to $174,000.00 dollars per year. That’s just their salary. It doesn’t include all the other little goodies they get over and above the loot in their pay envelopes.

You know, if I were a member of this Congress, I’d be ashamed to take my regular pay let alone stick my hand out for an additional $4,700.00! With an approval rating of 19 or 20% they must surely be nearing a record for disapproval ratings of any modern Congress.

Back in July of this year according to Gallop polls Congress did, in fact, set a records, of sorts, with a 14% approval rating. That was the lowest congressional job approval rating in the 34-year Gallup Poll history of asking the question. For details
Click Here.

Now they want a raise? Yes, they do. And… they’ll get it thanks to a 1989 amendment allowing for automatic raises… unless they vote, specifically, reject the raise.

So, who, exactly decides how much Congress is paid? CONGRESS! Oh, yes! They tell themselves how much they are to be paid. It’s the law! Article One Section Six of the US Constitution states the following: Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. Dang! How sweet is THAT!

Up until 1969 Congress had to pass a law every time they wanted a pay raise. Well, it wasn’t a LAW, exactly. It was a piece of legislation…. or law… whichever. Whatever they set their salaries at with that piece of legislation… it stayed at that level until ANOTHER piece of legislation was passed to raise the amount again. Each time Congress desired a raise they had to go out, in front of God and everybody, and vote themselves a pay raise. Sort of humbling, don’t you know. The record shows that Congress voted itself 22 pay raises from 1789 through 1968 by passing a single piece of legislation for each pay raise. And… they can STILL do it that way, if they so choose. In fact they did so choose in 1982, 1983, 1989, and again in 1991.

There is another way Congress can raise its pay and that is through a recommendation form something called a Quadrennial Salary Commission. Never heard of them? neither had I. See, what they do is… recommend pay raises for high level federal officials. Guess what? Congress established the commission back in 1967. (How’d you guess?) Then Congress raised its pay three times, in 1969, 1977, and 1987 using this procedure. (Slick, what?)

There is yet ANOTHER way Congress can raise its pay. In 1975 Congress set up something called a comparability increase. It relies on annual adjustments in their pay when those, uh, “adjustments” are compared to pay raises that federal government employees receive. This whole thing is based on a recommendation the President makes to the Congress. The Congress can then either approve it, turn it down, or they can modify it. And… wouldn’t you just know it! Congress used this method to give themselves hefty raises in 1975, 1979, 1984, 1985 and again in 1987.

Then in 1989 comes the Ethics Reform Act of 1989. Sam Hanna, Jr. of the Ouachita Citizen writes the following: “Almost 20 years ago, Congress approved the Ethics Reform Act of 1989. The act called for adopting a formula using changes in private sector wages and salaries per the Employment Cost Index to determine the annual compensation for members of Congress and other high-level federal officials. In laymen's terms, the act provides for an annual pay raise for members of Congress based on a rise (real or not) in salaries earned by people working in the private sector. Or in other words, as Joe Six Pack works harder and harder to hopefully earn more money, Congress gets a pay raise as well.” You can read Mr. Hanna’s entire article by
CLICKING HERE .

Remembering that they, the Congress, had the power to accept, modify, or reject any pay raise coming their way, the Congress accepted pay raises under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008. If my math is correct, that is twelve pay raises accepted under the Ethics Reform Act of 1989… with a tip of the hat to the Employment Cost Index, of course.

Let us remember that Congress, as Mr. Hanna points out in his exceptional article, enjoys “some of the best health care coverage and retirement compensation known to man, and those perks are not included in the annual pay check members receive.”

So. As we survey the financial mess our economy finds itself in today, and considering that the Congress must shoulder much, if not most, of the blame for the mess, should Congress even consider raising its own pay? I think not. In fact, I would support requiring them to give at least half of the last two years salaries back to the US Treasury.

If the Congress has any sensitivity, at all, to the financial plight in which the country finds itself today, they will certainly, with no hesitation, refuse to accept ANY raise in pay this coming January. But don’t hold your breath waiting for them to turn down money!

J. D. Longstreet

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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Socialism In America... Looking Back


This article ran in June of 2008. If it seems dated... that is why. ... ED


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Communism/Socialism/Democrat Party… No Difference in Their Platforms!



Does it bother you up that so many conservatives refer to the Democrat Party as Socialist? Then you are probably a Democrat/Liberal and, most likely, you have not taken the time to see if there is anything to the accusations, from the Right, that the Democrat Party has, over time, become a socialist party. Well calm yourself! We are here to help!


A few months ago, I received a “heads-up” from Alan Caruba of “The National Anxiety Center” and “Facts Not Fantasy” concerning an article written by Henry Lamb entitled: “Are the Communists Coming?” To read the article CLICK HERE


We urge you to take the few minutes to read Mr. Lamb’s enlightening article. It was posted in October of 2007. Here’s a snippet from the article:


“Should the 2008 elections go to the Democrats, as the Communist Party USA is working to accomplish, the direction of the nation will change dramatically. The direction will not be toward individual freedom, free enterprise, private property rights, and the pursuit of individual happiness. The direction will be toward the values of communism, which holds the state as the grantor of all rights, including socialized medicine through universal health care; amnesty for all illegal aliens who want to come to America; cradle-to-grave education by the state; surrender in Iraq; and acquiescence to all threats of violence; no right to own guns; and a state-assigned job for everyone.”


Mr. Lamb says the Communist Party, USA is working to get the Democrat Party elected in America. Why? Because the Communist Party’s platform and the Democrat Party’s platform are almost indistinguishable from each other! If that doesn’t scare you half to death… nothing will!


We have been preaching this for years now and it feels as though we're standing in a corner shouting at the wall. The words just bounce back with no impact on anyone else. Why is that? Simple: The American electorate has been so dumbed down by our American public education system that they simply don’t understand American politics, American law, the foundation of American freedom, namely the US Constitution, and they have not been taught the evils of Socialism and Communism, which for all intents and purposes, is the same thing. In other words, they have no fear of Communism! None! They will embrace Communism/socialism with open arms… and be crushed to death by those inviting arms of Communism and Socialism!


If the election indicators can be believed… America has just over seven months of freedom left. The Democrat candidates tell us, unashamedly; they intend to impose socialism on America. Oh, they don’t call it that, but those of us who grew up with worldwide socialism recognize it when we see it. Not to mention the 40, or so, years we actively fought it militarily and otherwise. That’s what the Cold War was about! And here… we thought we won that war!


It would seem we have, indeed, lost the Cold War from within… just as our old socialist enemies said we would. They told us over and over that they would win by taking over American from the inside! And if we maintain a democrat majority in the Congress and elect a democrat president in 2008, they will, indeed, have won… and America will be finished. Our Freedom will be lost! Why? Because we will have given it away as a direct result of our own ignorance and apathy!


Again, if you do not believe the Democrat Party and the Communist Party want the same things… then we urge you to read this article and do a tiny bit of research, on your own, and you will see the truth.


The plain truth is: the 2008 election will determine if America remains free or goes over to socialism and communism. It is as simple, and clear cut, as that!


J. D. Longstreet


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Saturday, December 20, 2008

The Liar-elect and the Death of America ... By Alan Caruba

The Liar-elect and the Death of America
By Alan Caruba

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Let’s understand something fundamental to everyone’s life in America and the entire economy. We are not “addicted” to oil. Like all developed, modern nations we use oil as a valuable resource for transportation, as the basis of plastics, and for a thousand uses from asphalt to Vaseline. We are not “addicted” to oil because it is essential to modern civilization everywhere.

Just because President Bush, whose family fortune was built on the oil industry, and now Barack Obama, President-elect, says we are addicted does not make that true, but Obama goes way beyond that statement to claim as he did in naming his energy and environmental team, that the world is running out of oil. That, too, is a lie.

The reason America must import oil is that, starting with President Jimmy Carter and in league with the U.S. Congress, access to our own billions of barrels have been forbidden by our lawmakers. We have the oil. Our oil industry is not allowed to explore for it or extract it.

Similarly, to suggest that somehow a nation that depends on its own abundant resources of coal for half of all the electricity generated should abandon that source of power in favor of solar or wind borders on either madness or a deliberate duplicity or both.

In all of the world, solar and wind accounts, as it does in the U.S., for barely one percent of all the electricity generated. Together or individually, they represent the single most inefficient, unpredictable, and unaffordable “energy alternatives” that exist today. They rank with ethanol as yet another bogus solution to “sustainability.”

As Obama introduced his energy and environmental team, all I saw was a lethal combination of ideologues and academics, all dedicated to a program of national suicide based on decades of lies about the actual science of climate change and energy use.

The notion that the United States should sign onto and accept the limitations on energy use incorporated in the Kyoto Protocols is yet another lie. On July 25, 1997 the U.S. Senate passed a unanimous resolution refusing to accept it and even the Clinton-Gore team, when in office, never offered it to the Senate for consideration.

But the Obama administration will send it and a Congress dominated by environmental loonies such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Harry Reid, a host of California lawmakers, along with the utterly deluded John McCain and others, will ratify it.

The United Nations Kyoto Protocol is based on the global warming hoax. The fate of the United States will be tied to something that is not happening!

There is no need to limit “greenhouse gas emissions” because Carbon Dioxide plays virtually no role whatever in climate change. Fully 98% of CO2 is absorbed by the Earth.

The cost of our use of every form of energy will rise based on climate claims that are lies. A nation that is already wounded by the collapse of our financial system will be pushed further into the grave by such a measure. And Obama must surely know this.

That the President-elect could stand before Americans and claim that we are seeing increased famines, face rising oceans, and fiercer storms, and not be challenged is obscene.

And he will not be challenged by what has formerly been the bulwark of our democracy, the nation’s press. It is the nation’s press that has spread the lies of the environmental movement since the days of Rachel Carson’s screed against the use of any and all chemicals.

Those who witnessed the introduction of the Obama energy and environmental team witnessed the beginning of the most aggressive attack on the nation’s coal industry, oil and gas industry, and nuclear industry. When you control energy use, you control every other aspect of life in the nation.

As the oppression gains, there will be fewer trucks on the nation’s highways to deliver goods as restriction upon restriction piles up. It has already begun in California with literally insane restrictions on trucks using diesel. As goods become difficult to deliver, the nation’s economy will suffer further.

Life in America is going to become very grim.

The nation’s financial troubles will begin to pale as the government enacts more and more restrictions, even as it presently demands to decide what kind of cars Detroit auto manufacturers must make to receive an ill-conceived bailout. New industries and those seeking to expand will encounter obstacles. Already, multinational industries such as Foster-Wheeler, Tyco, and Transocean International, formerly with headquarters in America have left. Others will follow.

That is the “change” the Liar-elect will bring. It is the slow death of the most powerful nation, economically and militarily, on Earth and only our enemies will cheer it on.


Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com.
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Friday, December 19, 2008

The Democracy Countdown

Democracy Countdown
by J.D. Longstreet
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We have been ranting for some time now on the socialist takeover of the US government. If you are a regular reader of our frequent rants you know that we are convinced that the US is already committed to a socialist form of government replacing what is left of the democratic representative republic our founding fathers gave us with their blood.

A while back, I wrote the following: “There has been a movement underway, in this country, which the Democratic Party adopted, way back in the fifties and sixties, to turn America into a socialist state like unto Europe. They have almost accomplished their goal.

For all intents and purposes, America is no longer a democratic republic. America has already become a socialist state. Those of us old codgers who remember when we were prepared to go to war to fight the spread of socialism cringe when we see how our country, America, has deteriorated into the black hole of socialism. We cringe when we hear today’s politicians, national leaders, as it were, spouting Marxist slogans from the floor of the national legislature. The national nightmare has become the American dream. Now we wait to see socialism suffocate the human spirit in Americans as it has already begun to do.

This was once, not very long ago, a land of unlimited possibilities…a land of new horizons everyday. No longer. We have chosen security over freedom. That’s all it took. Freedom is s fragile thing. One blow from the hammer of socialism and freedom shatters… and is no more.

Those of us who remember the REAL America weep for our country.”

Someone once said: “A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.

From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.” I haven’t a clue as to who actually said it. Experience has taught us, however, that it IS true.
Socialism has failed, utterly, everywhere in the world it has been tried. The European nations have begun to awaken to this fact and are voting socialists out of public office. Here in America, we have just voted into office our first socialist President, if you don’t count FDR who actually iniated socialism into the American government.

Those of us in the American middle class are going to feel the brunt of Obama’s socialist policies. With a willing and compliant Congress of the same political party, and same political mind, he will get practically everything he seeks from them. Guess who will pay the bill? The middle class, that’s who.

We old veterans catch a lot of flack for our denouncement of socialism. Understand, this: My generation was trained to go to war against the socialist movement, if it became necessary. Today we are told we must stand down and accept it as the norm in America. If you think that is easy to do, then you totally misunderstand our commitment to democracy in America. You do not have inkling as to our commitment to the representative republic that was America.

Those of us who wore the military uniforms of America swore to uphold, to protect, and to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and/or domestic. Ask any of America’s military veterans and we will quickly tell you there was no expiration date on the oath we took.

One of our Founding Fathers, a fellow by the name of Thomas Jefferson said the following: “To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, 'the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.”

T. Coleman Andrews, a former US Commissioner of Internal Revenue, said the following back on May 25, 1956 in U.S. News & World Report: “I don't like the income tax. Every time we talk about these taxes we get around to the idea of 'from each according to his capacity and to each according to his needs'. That's socialism. It's written into the Communist Manifesto. Maybe we ought to see that every person who gets a tax return receives a copy of the Communist Manifesto with it so he can see what's happening to him.”

And finally, a man I have admired all my life, Sir Winston Churchill, said this: “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy.” I would ask you to consider Churchill's phrase ”the creed of ignorance.” It is my belief that ignorance is to blame for the United States government being in the hands of a socialist elite today and the underlying reason for the election of B.H. Obama to the Presidency of the US.
J. D. Longstreet
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