Back to Basics

Just before sitting down to write this piece, I checked the news, as I always do.  As usual, it was distressing and depressing.

I learned that the US stock market had plunged again.  This time by as much as 500 points before it closed at 391 points down.  I learned that the global markets closed down by 4%.  And I heard the recently oft repeated refrain that the US is on the slippery slope toward another recession—making this a so-called double dip recession. Sadly, I am convinced that much of today’s global population hasn’t a clue as to just how serious and just how dangerous a period in world history we are currently experiencing.

I was born into a world still reeling from the Great Depression.  I joined the human race just before the Second World War.

The so-called experts say the first five years of a child’s life are the formative years.  What he sees, hears, and experiences will determine, for better or for worse, how he lives his life.

My generation’s internal wiring was influenced by a world under tremendous stress.  Some say it was a time of unequal distress for the inhabitants of the planet.

Those early experiences lead us to compare every world crisis or pseudo-crisis with the REAL world wide crisis we were born into and, for all intents and purposes, grew-up in.

So.  Having said all the above, allow me to assess where we are today—as seen through my eyes.

I’m a plain ole country boy with average intelligence and a hell of a lot of experience earned in the school of hard knocks.  Many of those “hard knocks” were self-imposed as a result of my own stupidity.  But – I learned and, for the most part, I retained the knowledge gained from those errors in judgment.

With those bona fides behind me … here we go.

I am very afraid we are on the cusp of a world war more destructive than any this earth has ever experienced.

Look around you.  The people of the planet are near panic mode.  Their countries and governments are crashing around them, their money is quickly becoming worthless, the fortunes many have worked and accumulated, or inherited from the sweat of their ancestors, is quickly draining away.

There are wars and rumors of wars all over the planet.  The worldwide anxiety level is palpable.

My own country, the United States, is involved in three wars as I write.  America’s military is stretched to very near her military limits.  Our combat forces are fatigued and war weary.  But there is no end in sight.

Serving as the global police department has been a huge drain on America’s treasury and our military.

OK. So my tongue WAS firmly fastened in my cheek when I wrote the title to this piece. But, I have to tell you that signs are pointing to Perry becoming the GOP nominee and eventually President of the US.

Admittedly, predicting (at this point) that Perry will be “President Perry” is a bit of a stretch, but I am beginning to feel the inevitability of it.

Consider this: When the media raises the question of a republican candidates IQ… that means they are genuinely frightened that that candidate poses a serious threat to THEIR candidate. THEIR candidate, of course is the current occupant of the Oval Office, Barack Hussein Obama.

For evidence of this, one need look no farther than President George Bush. According to the political left, and the leftist media, George Bush was DUMB. How the heck did a dumb man graduate from two Ivy League universities and manage to fly jet fighter planes … AND BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES??

And then there was Ronald Reagan. My, oh, my, how the democrats challenged the man’s intellect. They ran a pitiless campaign throughout his presidency questioning Reagan’s ability to reason. It actually gained the democrats nothing as the American people caught on quickly to whom, exactly, the mental midgets were.

It is no secret the democrats favor elitist egghead presidents who are disasters as chief executives of the nation. As evidence we offer Jimmy Carter and Barack Hussein Obama. When the democrats manage to elect a non-elitist, good ole boy, for president, the country gets along fairly well – for a country run by democrats, that is.

The United States does not need an elitist, educated beyond his ability, to try to run the country. America needs a man who can actually lead. A man who can actually make decisions without confusing himself with advise from a host of councilors, each with his own agenda.

I am a firm believer in the “bumblebee theory.” Aeronautically, the bumblebee cannot fly. The body to wing ratio is just too great. The tiny little wings simply cannot create enough lift for that large bulky body to ever get off the ground let alone sustain it in flight. But, you see, the bumblebee is so dumb he doesn’t know it – so he just goes on and flies anyway.

So, maybe we need a “dumb President.” Maybe he’ll be so dumb that he doesn’t know the problems with the US can’t be fixed and just goes ahead and fixes them, anyway. I’ll vote for that kind of dumbness —and I expect a whole slew of Americans will, as well.

Honestly, I am tired of the flowing oratory of the Obama speechwriters. Well, to be honest, its not so much the oratory I am tired of – it is the FLOW. The word “flow” does not do justice to the absolute FLOOD of words coming from Obama. In reality, his oratory falls flat. Why? Because they are just words – words from the brain not the heart.

For an orator to be effective, he must speak with conviction from the heart about his subject. And he must speak to his audience as if he were speaking to a single person, a confidant, and a friend.

Phobias are usually considered mental illnesses that require psychological treatment. However, in the nearly 50 years that I have been a resident of America’s “Hurricane Alley” I have learned that Hurricane Phobia is one of the only – if not THE ONLY—phobia that is considered perfectly normal by physicians, shrinks, and lay people. For good reason. Only a fool is not afraid of a hurricane. And like his money, a fool not afraid of a hurricane will soon be parted from his life as well.

Hurricanes change everything. If one is unlucky enough to be caught in the right front quadrant of a hurricane it can be a hundred times scarier than an earthquake. An earthquake last for a few seconds to a couple of minutes, usually. A hurricane lasts for many, many hours.

As of this writing Hurricane Irene is approximately 500 miles south of me. Yet, the weather and the ocean waters are already being affected. Even if the eye of Irene storm remains at sea, I am well within the “wind field” and the reach of the “rain bands.”

I man a small weather monitoring station here and report to the various news media in the region. Already this month, alone, I have recorded 7.63 inches of rainfall. Sounds good, I’m sure, to those folks in drought wracked areas of the state and the country. But – consider this: The soil is already wet, very wet. And even though it is not saturated with water, enough has fallen and been absorbed into the ground that the tree root systems are loosened.

Now, bring in to the equation powerful winds, sometimes straight line winds, at frightening speeds, and those trees begin popping out of the ground in a fashion akin to a cork on a fishing line popping to the surface. Add to that tree bark that becomes soddened with the weight of all that water, especially on far reaching limbs and branches, and the stage is set for massive power outages as those same trees and tree branches fall across power lines taking down the power lines and often the utility poles upon which they are affixed. I have even witnessed electricity drop or feeder lines from the main lines to house snatched right off the sides of the homes sparking fires, if, of course, those lines still had electricity at the moment they were so forcibly ripped off the homes.

No electricity in these modern times spells abject misery … especially in 90+degree weather with the humidity resting near 100%. (I have recorded only four days this month during which the relative humidity at my home was below 90%.)

Until you have seen the power of wind rip and tear a structure apart, you just cannot comprehend wind’s power. Remember, hurricanes are gigantic tornadoes.

And then – there is the sound. The sound, alone, is terrifying. It is felt in your bones. I cannot describe it here simply because it defies description. Once you have experienced the eardrum throbbing and screeching mingled with the sounds of your home being torn apart, with you in it, you cannot begin to grasp that horrifying assault on your sense of hearing.

Riding out a hurricane during the hours of darkness can only be described as a nightmare of undeterminable horror.

Not only will the EPA’s new ruling force Americans to turn off their lights and air conditioning, it is going to shutdown a HUGE portion of the coal-fueled power plants across America, causing massive lay-offs and running America’s already astronomically high unemployment rate into outer space!

Look.  We Americans are going to have to take the reins in our teeth and see to it this rogue agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, is abolished… forever!

I want to hear a Presidential candidate climb up on the stump and proclaim that if elected President he/she will see to it that the EPA is – not cut back- not reined in—SHUTDOWN, abolished, consigned to the dustbin of history.

You may recall that our currently vacationing President told us this was coming IF he became President.  He told us electricity prices would “necessary skyrocket.”  Well, here it is.

Apparently, Mr. Obama and his legion of old hippies in the EPA have finally screwed-up enough chutzpah to shove their new regulations down the throats of the power companies and they have managed to do immeasurable harm to the economy of the United States.

It is looking more an more as if the Obama team actually DOES believe that Obama is a one-term president and they intend to do as much damage to America as they can before they and he are booted out of the White House by the outraged American electorate.

Now is the time… today … to contact your congressperson and your senators and demand that the EPA is forced to roll back this catastrophic ruling.  Congress must step in and stop this destructive move by the EPA.

Talk about a “Nanny State!”  The EPA is justifying their move by claiming the following:  “The EPA projected the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year and prevent more than 400,000 asthma attacks as well as 19,000 admissions to hospitals.”  (Read the entire article HERE.)

The article goes on to say:  “Nationwide, the EPA estimated that utilities are projected to spend $800 million on the rule in 2014, in addition to $1.6 billion a year that’s been spent to satisfy an earlier version of the regulations.
But the EPA estimates the nation will see $120 billion to $280 billion in annual health and welfare benefits beginning in 2014. (Read the entire article HERE.)

The first phase of compliance hits utilities in 2012.  That means, of course, it will also hit Americans in the pocketbook beginning early in 2012.

How much more must America suffer at the hands of an agency run amuck?  Is THIS the straw that will, finally, break the camel’s back?

If the Congress of the United States is serious about helping America regain a healthy economy, the very first thing they should do, when they return from their August vacation, is to STOP this EPA regulation and take the necessary action to completely strip the EPA of all it’s power and close and shutter that agency’s doors … forever.

From EUROPE, no less, comes the word: Failure! It is used to reference multiculturalism. From England, from France, from Germany—the leaders of all three countries decry multiculturalism as a failure. I must tell you that when I heard the news reports on this I cracked up with laughter.

I swear, sometimes the sheer idiocy of man is just immeasurable. The endeavor to foist multiculturalism on human beings was one of those totally nonsensical ideas of the bleeding heart lefties that was doomed from the “git-go” It has single-handedly caused deep hatred, suspicion, derision, and it has led to revolutions, and populations at each other’s throats in countries all over the globe where its practice was instituted—including the United States.

Now – can we get back to some common sense for a while? I know that is a commodity much in demand and sorely short in supply, especially on the left side of the political spectrum.

Contrary to what you may have been taught, multiculturalism did NOT make America great. On the contrary! It was that unique American culture forged in the crucible of the so-called “melting pot.” People of various cultures coming to America to actually become AMERICANS created it. They assimilated and poured bits of their unique cultures into that melting pot where it was blended with all the rest before being ladled out into the mold stamped “Made in America.”

It was dumb beyond measure to ever believe that multiple cultures could exist under one flag. Some cultures will simply run rough shod over other cultures. It is the way of the human animal.

From nations, to clans, to tribes, to families, each has its own culture. In order to live together peaceably we all have to sublimate our personal cultures to that of the country we choose to call home. Otherwise, there is no country.

When people of the same culture clump together they form clans, or tribes, and that will doom a nation. As evidence, I offer Afghanistan, and most of the Middle East. Why do you think Africa, one of the richest continents on the globe, (with the earth’s natural resources) is home to some of the most backward countries in the world where civil unrest and poverty rule the masses? THAT is a prime example of multiculturalism at its finest.

So what has suddenly opened the eyes of national leaders in Europe to the failure of multiculturalism? The answer is right in front of our eyes. The culture of those who practice Islam as a religion, as a way of life, with the total refusal to assimilate into the culture of the host nation within which they have chosen to reside does cause a problem and, at some point will kindle an explosion of resentment. At some point, the refusal to identify with the people of the host nation will inevitably create friction that will spark violence leading to the deaths of many of the citizens of the host country. The next step is all out war with an escalating body count

Look.

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ratified by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784, and by the King of Great Britain on April 9, 1784 (the ratification documents were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784), formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States of America, which had rebelled against British rule. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements.

For details of these, and the negotiations which produced all four treaties, see Peace of Paris (1783). (SOURCE)

The American Revolutionary War formally ended with the signing and ratification of the Treaty of Paris. That treaty may prove to be as important today as it was in 1783-84.

I am now in my seventh decade on this earth. I am what we call in the US – a “southerner.” My generation of southerners has a strong sense of exactly who we are.

In our youth we were drenched in Western History, American History, the history of our state, and our southern history and heritage, most of which came from our Scot-Irish ancestors who flocked to these southern shores early on.

We are a proud, independent, freedom loving people with little hesitation to challenge anyone when our liberties are threatened.

You may recall, having heard somewhere, that our ancestors were actually forced to go to war to defend our freedom after legally seceding from the United States after the US Congress nearly succeeded in bankrupting our economy—much as they are doing the US today. (It WAS the ECONOMY – even then!) The US could not afford the loss of the southern states —because — the southern states were paying the bills for the US.

But our southern ancestors, many of whom had grandfathers who had fought the British for our freedom, remembered something very important—the Treaty of Paris signed in 1783 and ratified in 1784.

As noted above, the treaty of Paris officially ended the American Revolutionary War with Great Britain. But – it also did something else, which few remember today.

Article one of the treaty acknowledges the Thirteen Colonies to be free, sovereign, and independent States. (SOURCE) To this day – the states have never given up their sovereignty!

Last Friday, we southerners celebrated the day when the delegates from six southern states, which had already seceded from the Union, met in Montgomery, Alabama to officially create the Confederate States of America (February 4th, 1861)—one hundred and fifty years ago. See, they remembered Article One of the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

The southern states had been nullifying those harsh laws, aimed directly at the southern states, whose gross national product at the time far, far, exceeded that of the “northern” states. Those laws, which had crippled the southern economy, and were sucking the life out of the southern states, would no longer be tolerated. Why? Because the southern states WERE sovereign and they did not have to put up with it any longer.

The US government refused to accept the sovereignty of the states and vowed to crush them and force them back into the Union, much as Saddam Hussein attempted to do with the so-called 19th Province of Kuwait.

Is America prepared for a “shooting war” with China? Well, that WAS a rhetorical question. Of course, the answer is an emphatic NO! It seems important (at least to me), these days, with news that China has deployed a new anti-ship ballistic missile made especially to take out aircraft carriers.

With America’s aircraft carriers regularly plying the ocean waters, in and around the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea, one would have to conclude the Chinese developed this particular missile for the mission of taking out, or rendering useless, America’s ocean going pride, her aircraft carriers.
The new Chinese missile is the “D” version of China’s DF-21 medium-range missile. It involves firing the mobile missile into space, returning it into the atmosphere and then maneuvering it to its target.
Military officials consider using ballistic missiles against ships at sea to be a difficult task that requires a variety of air, sea and space sensors, navigation systems and precision guidance technology – capabilities not typical of other Chinese missiles. (From the Washington Times HERE)

With North Korea kicking up it’s heels… again, with America’s treaty with Taiwan (to come to it’s aid if China decides to re-attach it) and with Japan, another country we have promised to assist in the event it is attacked… by anyone … this should be of enormous interest for America and a source of considerable concern for the White House. All these countries lie near China and American aircraft carriers in waters near those countries present convenient targets for China’s new ship-killing missile. And we haven’t mentioned the Philippines, Vietnam, and much, if not all of Southeast Asia.
Obama’s foreign policy has been an abysmal failure for America. In fact, it is worse than a failure. As an example, the recent “SALT” treaty with Russia leaves the US naked against a missile attack.
I suppose the Obama Regime believes we owe China so much money they would not dare attack us. WRONG!
As bad as the Obama Regime is at managing domestic problems, it is even worse at handling foreign problems.
The article in the Washington Times goes on to say the following: “Richard Fisher, a China military-affairs specialist, said the new ASBM is only one part of a series of new Chinese weapons that threaten the region.”

“When we add the ASBM to the PLA’s [People’s Liberation Army’s] growing anti-satellite capabilities, growing numbers of submarines, and quite soon, its fifth-generation fighter, we are seeing the erection of a new Chinese wall in the western Pacific, for which the Obama administration has offered almost nothing in defensive response,” Mr. Fisher said.”
The article quotes Mr. Fisher as having said: ““Clearly, China’s communist leadership is not impressed by the administration’s ending of F-22 production, its retirement of the Navy’s nuclear cruise missile, START Treaty reductions in U.S. missile warheads, and its refusal to consider U.S. space warfare capabilities. Such weakness is the surest way to invite military adventurism from China,” he added.”
Yes, America has problems at home. But we cannot slacken our defenses abroad. Even now the US government is considering “cut-backs” in defense.

We have issued this warning until we are nearly blue in the face, yet, somehow, Americans still do not seem to grasp the fact that there is, currently, a stealth attack on the First Amendment by the US government.

We have warned, time and time again, that a free Internet is an immeasurable threat to the liberal-socialists who currently control the US government.

Let me try, once again, to help my readers understand why I am convinced the Federal Communications Commission is such “a clear and present danger” to freedom of speech in the United States.

The Congress bestowed upon the FCC the power to issue regulations, and to make it worse, the Congress declared that the regulations issued by the FCC would have the force of law. Now, what that means is simply this: The FCC CAN MAKE LAW ON ITS OWN! It does not need to wait for Congress to introduce a bill, debate that bill, then vote it up or down, nor wait for the President to sign it into law. The FCC can issue the regulation and set a date for it to become law, and on that date—IT BECOMES THE LAW OF THE LAND!

The ability to make law that affects everyone in the United States is an awesome power. When that power is abused, or misused, especially when it is misused to serve a form of government other than the constitutional republican government we enjoy in the United States, then it becomes a danger to the citizens of the US.

I am very afraid that is exactly where we find ourselves today with the FCC about to begin regulation of the Internet.

Understand something very important. The US Congress has never given the FCC the right to regulate the Internet! And, in May of 2010, three hundred-plus members of Congress told the FCC to stop their attempts to regulate the Internet. Basically, the Congress told the FCC THEY (The Congress) would regulate the Internet.

For a time, over the summer, the FCC seemed to acquiesce to the demand of Congress. Now, it seems, their acquiescence was only a form of camouflage.

In an article published in the Wall Street Journal December 19th, 2010, Robert M. McDowell, a Republican commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, says this:

“Still feeling quixotic pressure to fight an imaginary problem, the FCC leadership this fall pushed a small group of hand-picked industry players toward a “choice” between a bad option (broad regulation already struck down in April by the D.C. federal appeals court) or a worse option (phone monopoly-style regulation). Experiencing more coercion than consensus or compromise, a smaller industry group on Dec. 1 gave qualified support for the bad option. The FCC’s action will spark a billable-hours bonanza as lawyers litigate the meaning of “reasonable” network management for years to come. How’s that for regulatory certainty?” (SOURCE)

Commissioner McDowell goes on to say: “On this winter solstice, we will witness jaw-dropping interventionist chutzpah as the FCC bypasses branches of our government in the dogged pursuit of needless and harmful regulation.

Some months ago I related to you how I stood in the parking lot of one of the Big Box stores and counted 22 cameras observing everything going on around me.  Those were just the cameras I could see from my vantage point.  There were more.  Please note: That was OUTSIDE the store.  Upon entering the store there were uncountable cameras peering at shoppers—some obvious and others strategically located and camouflaged, I expect.

Some years ago, in a nearby city, my wife and I had been shopping in a large grocery store in route home from attending church.  As we prepared to pay for our purchases by check, the cashier informed me that I must have my photo taken.  I completely lost it.

I launched into a tirade that brought the entire checkout of that giant store to a complete halt.  It also brought the store manager—and security.  By the time my wife was able to get me (and my temper) under control, I had become so angry I was literally sick to my stomach.

The long and the short of it is – we left all the groceries at the checkout because, my wife’s protestations not withstanding, I refused to make a purchase of any kind from that company.  I have never been inside of that company’s store(s) since.  I never will.

Why, you may ask, did I create such a stir?  It is really quite simply.  I despise being treated as a criminal.  I am a free American.  I insist upon being treated as such.  It is my right as an American citizen.

We Americans had better stand up for our rights and we’d better stand up yesterday!  We have very few left.  Our right to privacy is GONE!  And we, you and I, allowed it to happen.

In the past few days we have learned that not only are we on camera most of our waking hours, but now, every time we use our credit cards, it is reported to the federal government… not in a report at the end of the week or the end of the month, but in real time, at the moment the card is swiped.  They know what you bought, where you bought it, when you bought it, how much you spent—the whole 27 feet!
In an article at Wired.com entitled “Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans’ Credit Cards in Real Time,” it is reported as follows:  “Federal law enforcement agencies have been tracking Americans in real-time using credit cards, loyalty cards and travel reservations without getting a court order, a new document released under a government sunshine request shows.

The document, obtained by security researcher Christopher Soghoian, explains how so-called “Hotwatch” orders allow for real-time tracking of individuals in a criminal investigation via credit card companies, rental car agencies, calling cards, and even grocery store loyalty programs.