Daily news sites| Find Breaking World News
Latest Updates

check this out

I told you that weekend was going to be a killer! Sorry for my MIA-ness on Monday but mamma was beat.

The good news is the weekend was a success. I had three great new client meetings and finished up a rather large article for St. Louis At Home Magazine that the hubs called 'the term paper'.

The bad news is now I've got another list of looming deadlines. You know when you've been working on something for a long time and you feel like you're in good shape, but then that thing that seemed like it was weeks away is suddenly around the corner and you feel totally unprepared? That would be me.

We are hosting my parent's 50th wedding anniversary party at my house next weekend (which is going to be awesome) and I suddenly feel very behind.

So please bear with me over the next few days as I might be a bit patchy with my posts. I promise tons of good DIYs and pretty pictures post party though, so it will be worth it. Cross my heart.

In the meantime, I've got two great deals you should check out.



My friend Mary Ann at classic. casual. home. is having a one of a kind giveaway and shopping opportunity for a great cause. Please go check it out - you will be able to help the widowed women of Uganda and find great jewelry all at the same time.


Also, my girls at Indie Mats are having a week full of great deals. Today its a buy one get one free that you don't want to miss. Check it out.

Now I'm off to do some more weeding and a little power washing. If only I could power wash the weeds, I'd kill two birds with one stone. Hmmm.

Have a great day!

Insanity in Two Flavors...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Lib
erty -vs-Tyranny


Speaking of INSANITY...



A judge on Tuesday accepted James' Holmes plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, setting the stage for a lengthy mental evaluation of the Colorado theater shooting suspect.

Holmes is accused of opening fire in a packed Denver-area movie theater last summer, killing 12 people and injuring 70. He is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The mental evaluation could take months. {Read More}

Sometimes it just seems to make more sense to clean out the defective gene pool. Or does it? You be the judge...

Via: Memeorandum

The Enamored of ObamaCare and the Democratic Party Emerging 2014 Campain Srategy...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Libe
rty -vs-Tyranny



For sure the healthcare system in America has been in need of serious overhaul for sometime. One should give the President credit for tackling the system that is both expensive for those who's company does not provide health insurance. Which often results in many being uncovered due to the EXCEEDINGLY HIGH cost for private health insurance. Something I know a bit about having had to use COBRA coverage as my company continued on a ten year "rightsizing", which of course was in the name to remain competitive and thereby lose the fewest jobs possible. Net job loss over ten years; 1300 jobs. The wave of the future methinks.

Back to the point of the post. Many are enamored of ObamaCare and have been sold on how it will improve, if not solve our present healthcare nightmare. However, the truth is ObamaCare while having some positive benefits. mostly for the lower economic strata also carries with it some serious negatives. Interesting;y enough the plan was essentially crafted by the health insurance and drug industry lobbyists. That, in and of itself should scare the hell out of people.

Something certainly needs to be done. However, ObamaCare is not the answer as it is nothing more than a juggling of the current system with some added safeguards for the poor or indigent. Many which already exist today and are covered by tax dollars. What we need is a market based healthcare system which allows for open competition and is regulated to the degree that uncontrolled profiteering by insurance companies and big pharmaceuticals are controlled and capped. While profit is a VERY important consideration the pursuit of ever higher profit margins should not trump affordable healthcare for American citizens. Perhaps America ought to collaborate with countries who have a better healthcare system the the USA and adopt what has been shown to work.

Perhaps it is time for the USA to get down from it's lofty perch believing everything American is always the best and start looking at what may really be the best.

POLITICO - Scarred by years of Republican attacks over Obamacare, with more in store next year, Democrats have settled on an unlikely strategy for the 2014 midterms: Bring it on.

Party strategists believe that embracing the polarizing law — especially its more popular elements — is smarter politics than fleeing from it in the House elections. The new tack is a marked shift from 2010, when Republicans pointed to Obamacare as Exhibit A of Big Government run amok on their way to seizing the House from Democrats.

But the Democratic bear hug, reflecting a calculation it’s probably impossible to shed their association with the law even if they wanted to, is still a high-wire public relations act. The White House has consistently struggled with messaging on Obamacare, hoping the public would gain an appreciation for the health care makeover as its benefits became apparent. That never really happened, but Democrats seem to be banking that it finally will.

The strategy will be put to the test as the law kicks in next year and is implemented in the months leading up to the election — with the inevitable snafus and critical media coverage as the public gets its first up-close view of the massive undertaking.

California Rep. Scott Peters, a freshman Democrat who narrowly won election last year, said he doesn’t agree with every part of the law. But he said he’s not afraid of addressing health care — far from it.

“I don’t have any problem talking about it,” Peters, who hails from a San Diego-area swing district, said in an interview. “I think it’s a big issue. I think it’s going to be talked about more than immigration or guns.”

One early sign of the shift: After House Republicans brought a health care repeal measure to the floor last month — the 37th time they’ve tried — Peters joined a cast of other Democratic incumbents from competitive districts to criticize the GOP for the maneuver.

In 2010, Democratic congressional candidates in tough races actively promoted their opposition to the just-passed law, in some cases running ads blasting it. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee privately instructed members and candidates to change the subject if they were asked about the health care law in town hall meetings or on the campaign trail. {Read More}

POLITICO's website naming the top five complaints about ObamaCare.

Via: Memeorandum

Opportunity knocks: the IRS and the tax code badly in need of repair

Opportunity knocks: the IRS and the tax code badly in need of repair


Good things sometimes result after bad things happen. The growing revelations of wrongdoing at the Internal Revenue Service dramatically illustrate the agency's devolution into near anarchy, and this ought to lead to an operational revolution. It ought to also lead to something else that needs to be done, and has needed to be done for a long, long time: overhauling the current tax system.

An organization known as CCH has tracked the growth of the tax code from 1913 when it was only 400 pages to 2012 when it was 73,608 pages.

An Associated Press story noted, "At nearly 4 million words, the US tax law is so thick and complicated that businesses and individuals spend more than 6 billion hours a year complying with filing requirements, according to a report Wednesday by an independent government watchdog. That’s the equivalent of 3 million people working full-time, year-round."

“This report confirms that the code is 10 times the size of the Bible with none of the good news,” said Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the House and Ways and Means Committee. “Our broken tax code has become a nightmare of loopholes and special interest provisions that create added complexities and costs for hardworking taxpayers and small businesses.”

“If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States,” according to Nina E. Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate. She said that since 2001, Congress has made an average of more than one change a day to tax law, nearly 5,000 in all.

The tax code is a chaotic mess that no one can comprehend. So, replace it with something much simpler that can be easily understood, and doesn't require 100,000 federal bureaucrats, some of whom cannot control the urge to persecute the people they work for.

Without going into great detail, there are two sensible approaches that would vastly improve the tax system. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but both the Flat Tax and the Fair Tax are far superior to the 73,000 page monstrosity we now suffer under. Even substantially lowering tax rates and reducing deductions and loopholes in the current system would improve things.

It has never made any sense to tax people's productivity, particularly when so many are excluded from paying any tax at all. Those who have no skin in the game thus don't mind raising taxes on the people that pay the freight for them.

Taxing what people spend, on the other hand, puts everyone in the game to the extent that they buy stuff subject to taxation, excluding food, medicine, medical care, and perhaps a very few other things from the tax, while protecting charitable contributions, and move ahead with replacing our asinine tax code with something that makes sense, and is immune from malfeasant bureaucrats and politicians. Then, when Congress wants to raise the consumption tax from, say, 10 percent to 12 percent instead of being frugal, nearly everyone will have a reason to care.

The current system enables politicians trying to make political hay to demonize corporations or the wealthy by criticizing the way they pay or don't pay taxes. The most recent example of this manufactured "moral outrage" concerns Apple, Inc., which earns money in the US as well as in foreign countries. Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), has leapt to the front of the bandwagon to condemn Apple, which paid nearly $6 billion to the federal treasury in 2012 on money earned in the US, but keeps money earned overseas out of the US due to the high corporate tax rate. But Apple does only what the tax code allows or encourages it to do.

America's corporate tax rate, which at 35 percent is one of the highest in the world, literally drives corporations to keep money overseas that otherwise could be brought here to produce jobs, and be taxed here, if Congress wasn't so greedy. Rather than make an honest effort to fix that problem, Sen. Levin foolishly prefers to label Apple a "tax dodger."

Many Americans agree with him. Those who think corporations are misbehaving by using provisions of the tax code to pay less tax should do a little personal reflection. Anyone who has ever taken a deduction for mortgage interest or other adjustment to earned income is just as guilty of being a tax dodger as Apple.

Managers and employees who lack character and integrity have fatally soiled the IRS. It has violated the most sacred tenet of American government: to honorably serve its citizens. At the very least it must be overhauled and slashed in size and power, but better yet, let's rid ourselves of the need for an agency like the IRS.

A final thought: The Affordable Care Act is a 2,700-page bill hatched in the dark of night by one political party, passed on a partisan vote by elected representatives who had not read the bill, controls 14 percent of the private economy, opens private medical data of every American to government scrutiny, and will be controlled by 16,000 new IRS employees. What could possible go wrong?

A Dream, An Idea, A Nation -- In Distress ... J. D. Longstreet

A Dream, An Idea, A Nation -- In Distress   ...   J. D. Longstreet
A Dream, An Idea, A Nation -- In Distress
By: J. D. Longstreet

************************

THE FLAG CODE Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10 As amended by P.L. 344, 94th Congress Approved July 7, 1976
§ 176. Respect for flag:

No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down,
except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

**************
I mention the flag code above to note that a friend has recently flown the US flag outside his business upside down.  When asked why, by customers and curious travelers on the busy highway just outside his store, he explained that it was a sign of distress.  He continued that with Obama and his fellow Marxists and Socialists in charge of the US government, America is, indeed, in serious distress! 

Americans have a long and storied history of rising to the occasion when the nation is in jeopardy. I was born before the Second World War and I must tell you that, in my opinion, the nation is in more jeopardy, this very moment, than it has been since even BEFORE WWII.

Our government is dragging at least half the nation's population, kicking and screaming, into SOCIALISM, which is, as we know, only one small step away from COMMUNISM. The nation is in serious trouble and I don't mean from businesses going belly-up.

Until January 20th of 2009, this nation was a capitalist nation. In a capitalist nation business is the bedrock of the society. Consumers decide which businesses live and which businesses die. Not the government! The Socialist way is for the government to decide, for the consumer, which businesses live and which don't.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines Socialism as follows:

Main Entry: so·cial·ism
Pronunciation:
\ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\
Function: noun
Date: 1837

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.


If you find you cannot take my word for it, can you take the word of this renowned dictionary?

So... what to do? First we have to accept that the America we knew, the America that dates back to even before the year 1776, is GONE! We also have to accept the fact that the US Constitution is being ignored. Soon with a turnover of Justices on the Supreme Court the Judiciary branch of the government will join the Executive and Legislative branches as a socialist entity and the transformation will be complete.

If we continue to tell ourselves that we only have to wait until 2016, or the next round of elections for Congress in 2014, we can change the government back to a democratic representative republic as The Founders intended, then we are setting ourselves up for total defeat.

By 2016 the country can and probably will be in such dire straits, financially, that the government can declare a national emergency and "postpone" the election. I would not put it past the bunch in control of our government, currently, to do just that. Once your right to vote is rescinded, what do you do then? Time is not on the side of those who wish to reinstate a representative republic in America.

The Republican Party cannot be counted on to do whatever is necessary to retard the socialist stranglehold on America. As a "recovering registered republican" (now an Independent) it gives me great pain to acknowledge this fact. But, there it is!

Soon, the socialist government of the US will be coming after the Internet, especially conservative bloggers. You can be sure they are burning the midnight oil searching for ways to shut us up even as I write these words.

Paranoia, you say? Well, "when an entire government is after you, paranoia is just damned good thinking!"

We must begin NOW. We cannot wait. As I said above... time is not on our side.

May God Save America!

© J. D. Longstreet

U-Haul rental rates compared - not looking good for Chicago, Northern California or Northern New Jersey

In this video U-Haul rental rates are compared in a simple supply and demand analysis. The numbers say it is not looking good for Chicago, Northern California or Northern New Jersey. The liberal areas appear to be losing out to the conservative regions in a big way. Help spread this video to young people, it's something even a California educated kid could understand.

Senator Cruz on the IRS Scandal and the Need to Abolish...

Senator Cruz on the IRS Scandal and the Need to Abolish...
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Li
berty -vs- Tyranny


It ain't going anywhere... But the flat tax? An idea whose time should have come a long time ago. However, in the trenches of class warfare, where the evils of capitalism and rational self interest are the twin evils it is understandable why it hasn't. IMNHO anyway.

Via: Memeorandum

Obama goes where no president has gone before

Obama goes where no president has gone before

Obama goes where no president has gone before

Depravity will be the signature achievement of the Obama Administration, once its history is finally written. Obama’s clarion call to teenagers that fornication is acceptable, even if children are under 15 years of age, should have been a wake-up call to every parent in America. Worse, he gave these children a way out if a pregnancy occurs, over-the-counter birth control. When the latter means fails, no problem, abortion on demand will be available on request. Parental consent, not any more, Obama’s programs allow the government to intercede in many cases.  Obama’s devilish work does not stop with childhood fornication, his push to have the gay agenda fully accepted by society continues unabated. From the military and marriage to school curriculums and now the Boy Scouts homosexuality is being forced on a population that would rather see this disgusting behavior back in the closet. Military has seen an exponential jump in the number cases of sexual harassment in the last few years, after Obama gave his blessing to an openly gay armed forces. He forgot to ask the soldiers how they feel about sleeping, bathing and living in close quarters with openly gay individuals. Obama’s intent to enable the “gay establishment” to make homosexual marriage as acceptable as the traditional version displays his profound level of deviance from the normal course of human thinking. School systems are slowly implementing curriculums that explore the gay lifestyle, backed by funds from Uncle Obama. This filth is not limited to the upper grades, impressionable minds in lower schools are being introduced to the “new norm” as well. With a complaisant Department of Justice at his backside Obama and the gay gang’s next stop was the Boy Scouts of America. Much consideration went into the Scouts recent decision to allow openly gay children into their ranks, most of it from fear of lawsuits. Yet, the gay crowd is not fully happy with this decision. They aspire to have gay Scout leaders leading these packs of children. Time will soon come when the Boy Scouts of America disbands, because the majority of normal parents do not want their children exposed to such trash. Obama’s attack on the fundamentals of religion and traditional society comes on the heels of a push to move atheism into the forefront of religious thought. In this case, Obama’s moves imbue our culture with a sense of worthlessness. His policies and programs turn the population away from the elements it needs most, a belief in a higher power and the organizational structure implemented by that power. Moral decay and social stagnation were two reasons why Rome fell, America appears to be heading in the same direction. Obama’s deviances need to be checked or America will become Sodom and Gomorrah on steroids. Mark Davis MD, platomd@gmail.com, www.healthnetsreviewservices.com, President of Healthnets Review Services, Author of Demons of Democracy and the forthcoming book, Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Precription for Disaster. Manager of the group on LinkedIn, Government in Transition (join, comment and debate).

A Retro Love Affair





     Most of you told me many times that "yellow" is my color! Well yes, I love yellow very much :)Here today is one example of how much I like to embrace this bright color in a retro inspired outfit.
I hope you like it and I want to thank you all for your wonderful comments and remarks. I hear you and I appreciate it a lot!






                                                                                   Top: Lauren Moffatt/ Here 
                                                                                   Pants: Zara/ I also love this pair Here 
                                                                                   Sandals: Zara/ option Here 
                                                                                   Bag: Joe Fresh/  great option Here 
                                                                                   Necklace & Bracelet: c/o Cooee.se/ Here and Here 
                                                                                   Ring: vintage/ option Here 
                                                                                   Sunglasses: c/o zeroUV





Yes, America IS Lost ... J. D. Longstreet

Yes, America IS Lost    ...   J. D. Longstreet
Yes, America IS Lost
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet


Yes, I fear that rare gem, Columbia,  is gone. Sunk beneath the waves of soft communism she has drowned in her own ignorance and apathy.

As I speak with more and more conservatives -- and a few liberals -- it is becoming clear that a growing number of Americans now believe that America is irretrievably lost.  The American optimist has finally been mugged by reality and, for the first time, can see clearly what we realists have been shouting from the rooftops for many years.

Already, freedom is in its death throes in America. The constitution, the very foundation of America, has been shredded, and kicked to the curb as the thundering sound of leftist jackboots reverberate off the marble halls of what used to be the seat of a government of, by, and for the people.

America has gone from "free state" to "police state" almost overnight.

Even as I write these few words I am cognizant that the government will snatch it right out of the ether and store it in a secret cavernous complex where it will remain for centuries --  just in case they decide to prosecute me for exercising what used to be speech protected under the First Amendment to the constitution,  But that was before we entered the Post Constitution Era in America. Now freedom is whatever the person in power over me says it is -- and nothing more.

I am become as chattel.

A great chasm has opened between those of us who treasure freedom and liberty and what used to be OUR government.  It is a gorge to wide to be bridged and to deep to be filled. It is a permanent reminder that we are "persona non grata."

In the early days of the deconstruction of America some of us held out hope that Americans would rise up and protect the constitution.  Sadly, we overestimated the patriotism of modern Americans. It hasn't happened -- and try as I might, I can find no sincere indication that it ever will happen.

Here on the Internet, the last outpost of free speech, conservative writers are sensing the gathering of leftist forces intent on wiping them/us out, stopping our voices, wresting control of our words from us through intimidation, old fashioned scare tactics,  and misusing the law against us.  None of this would be possible IF the Constitution was still the law of the land.  But it isn't.

Ignorance and apathy have done America in.

There was genuine surprise when Americans learned that various departments of government have been using their power against Americans who dared have a different political philosophy than that of the political left.  That ignorance was shocking to those of us who have been writing of just those violations of our constitutional rights by the government for years and years and years.   Like a white sail on an ocean of black it could not have been more obvious.  And yet there was surprise.

The apathy of those who admit to knowledge of a government gone rogue but whine as how they have no power to change anything so they just don't get involved was -- and is -- a cop-out that has -- or will -- cost us our freedom and force us into serfdom and slavery to the state.

Ayn Rand once said that “freedom, in a political context, means freedom from government coercion.”  Even Helen Keller could see that THAT freedom is non-existent in America today.

America was to have been a "moral" country. Our government was to be built on Individual rights.  Individual rights are now gone and in their place we have socialist "collective" rights. Our national morality is even lower than that of Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah.  This tends to happen when a people replace God with the state.
It has been said that "Free Stuff" did America in. There is much to be said in favor of that viewpoint.

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck, N.J., some time ago, wrote an analysis of the 2012 presidential election.  In it he said: “It is a different world, and a different America. Obama is part of that different America, knows it, and knows how to tap into it. That is why he won. Romney lost because the conservative virtues – the traditional American virtues – of liberty, hard work, free enterprise, private initiative and aspirations to moral greatness – no longer inspire or animate a majority of the electorate. The notion of the ‘Reagan Democrat’ is one cliché that should be permanently retired. Ronald Reagan himself could not win an election in today’s America. The simplest reason why Romney lost was because it is impossible to compete against free stuff."  SOURCE:  http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/the-end-of-america-why-romney-lost/ 

Ayn Rand also said: "Traditionally and historically, the American people can be pushed so far, and then they stop it."   I would counter with Rabbi Pruzansky's words from above: “It is a different world, and a different America."

One is tempted to raise a glass in a farewell salute to a people so arrogant in their ignorance that they committed national suicide while still in their infancy -- not even 250 years old.

As I enter the winter of my life, I had hoped to have the satisfaction of leaving my country a better place for my progeny.  In that -- I have failed -- utterly.   As an old  southerner from the Carolinas, it is a part of my ingrown "Noblesse Oblige" to work hard, contribute to the betterment of society, maintain my honor ( and that of my family), and be generous in all things.  And yes, I know how high-faluting that must sound in this day and age, but in my day, no matter one's socio-economic standing in a southern community, one understood -- clearly -- that one had the OBLIGATION to attempt to live up to the Noblesse Oblige creed.  And, in my opinion, we were a better community, county, state, and nation for it.

Alas, it has come to naught. The "Shining City's" shining hour is spent.  The "Grand Experiment" has failed.

"O, Columbia, the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine if each patriot's devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemble
When Liberty's form stands in view;
Thy banners make tyranny tremble
When borne by the Red, White and Blue!
When borne by the Red, White and Blue!"


Here's to the legend of America!  We truly mourn your passing.

© J. D. Longstreet

SOMETHING TO PONDER: George Carlin

SOMETHING TO PONDER: George Carlin
SOMETHING TO PONDER: George Carlin

George Carlin's wife died early in 2008 and George followed her, dying in July 2008. It is ironic George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent and so very appropriate. An observation by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.

George Carlin

Hurricane Season Begins ... NOW ... J. D. Longstreet

  Hurricane Season Begins ... NOW   ...   J. D. Longstreet
    Hurricane Season Begins ... NOW
               A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

                            **************

Saturday, June 1st, marks the official beginning of the 2013 Hurricane Season. 

It is a date graven into the memories, and on the psyche of those of us who reside in the "catcher's mitt" of the Carolina coast.

Already, the experts are telling us to expect a busier than usual hurricane season for the Atlantic.

Those of us who live in Hurricane Alley ALWAYS expect a busy hurricane season. It's the way we survive. It's the way generations before us have survived.

The moment a storm slides off the western coast of Africa, we assume it is headed directly for Little River, SC.   Oh, it may zig and zag a bit, even a great deal, but we remain steadfast in our belief that THAT particular storm has our name written all over it.  Until it is north of Newfoundland it remains a threat -- at least in our minds.

Too often I have begun to enjoy a sigh of relief -- when a storm had moved north of my location -- only to have that storm make a complete loop and launch itself at the Carolina coast ... again.  (Yes, hurricanes can -- and do -- make 360º circles!)

For those of you who may be new to our region of the US, understand:  There is no such thing as a predictable hurricane nor a minor hurricane.

Remember Sandy, from just last year.  Well, due to media hype, and the active imaginations of folks unfamiliar with hurricanes, you would have thought Sandy was the worst hurricane ever! Not so! Sandy was not a hurricane when she went ashore in New Jersey.  In fact, Sandy was not even a tropical storm when she made landfall. She was, in fact, so weak at that point that she was only a sub-tropical storm!

"As The New American reported last year, Superstorm Sandy was “neither the largest Atlantic storm on record nor the deadliest. The National Hurricane Center reports Olga was the largest in recorded history with a wind extent of 600 miles, more than 100 miles greater than Sandy's. In terms of death toll, among the top 10 worst U.S. natural disasters reported by LiveScience are the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 which claimed 8,000 lives and the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 which killed 2,500.” Neither did it make the top 10 list of costliest hurricanes. ICAT's Damage Estimator, we reported, “ranks the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 as number one at more than $180 billion in 2012 dollars. The Galveston and Lake Okeechobee storms rank second and ninth respectively, and seven of the top 10 occurred before 1961. Hurricane Katrina is number four.” Nor are hurricanes more frequent today. As James Taylor writes, “NOAA reports a long-term decline in strong tornadoes striking the United States. The National Hurricane Center reports that the past 40 years have seen the fewest major hurricane strikes since at least the mid-1800s. Even Hurricane Sandy reminds us that the U.S. Northeast has experienced only one major hurricane strike since 1960, but experienced six major hurricane strikes during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, when global temperatures were cooler.”  SOURCE:  http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/14542-obama-vows-to-bypass-congress-on-climate-change

---AND --

SOURCE:  http://thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/13500-blaming-climate-change-for-hurricane-sandy

I have, in my office, hurricane tracking charts at the ready.  Plotting a storm's track is an excellent way to become better acquainted with a storm.  Comparing the track of the new storm to tracks of old storms helps one get a feel for the pattern of hurricane approaches to the Southeast and Gulf coastlines of the US.

                                   

Storm Names for
Hurricane Season
2013

The following names will be used for named storms that form in the North Atlantic in 2013. Retired names, if any, will be announced by the World Meteorological Organization in the spring of 2014. The names not retired from this list will be used again in the 2019 season. This is the same list used in the 2007 season, except for Dorian, Fernand, and Nestor which replaced Dean, Felix, and Noel respectively.

    Andrea (unused)
    Barry (unused)
    Chantal (unused)
    Dorian (unused)
    Erin (unused)
    Fernand (unused)
    Gabrielle (unused)

   

    Humberto (unused)
    Ingrid (unused)
    Jerry (unused)
    Karen (unused)
    Lorenzo (unused)
    Melissa (unused)
    Nestor (unused)

   

    Olga (unused)
    Pablo (unused)
    Rebekah (unused)
    Sebastien (unused)
    Tanya (unused)
    Van (unused)
    Wendy (unused) 

And so it begins.

It is a little eerie, at least to me, to be writing of hurricanes when our fellow Americans are digging out from tornadoes.  But such is weather.

Whatever happens during the 2013 hurricane season which ends, officially, on November 30th, we won't blame it on man-made global warming or climate change. See, I don't believe in "Global Warming."  I AM convinced that we have entered a global cool down, which will lead, over time, to the next mini ice age on earth.

Thomas Sowell is credited with having asked:  "Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation?"

A very wise man that Mr. Sowell.

Even John Steinbeck seemed to understand the difference between weather and climate when he said:  "I've lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate."

As America is still digging out from last year's hurricane assault and yesterday's tornado rampage, we begin to focus our attention on the west coast of Africa where so many of our deadly hurricanes are born. Too, we remember the warning of Thomas Fuller who said: "In fair weather prepare for foul."

As I sit here writing,  the temperature is 82º, the heat index is 91º, the relative humidity is 59%, the sun is shining, I have a 4 MPH breeze from the south, and I am thinking "hurricane season."  I think Mr. Fuller would be proud of me!

© J. D. Longstreet

You Never Know Who's Packing!

From Monkey in the Middle


From Bob (With Thanks)

"Pistol Packing MAMA MIA!"

And if LOOKS could kill, she wouldn't need a gun ... or a knife, or a sword, or a grenade, or a harpoon, or a flame thrower, or some poison, or an atomic bomb, or even Cloverleaf Food, ...


If Eleanor Roosevelt can have a gun, shouldn't we all be able to have a gun?

BTW:  Even then official pictures looked terrible!

Wild Bill openly challenges the IRS

Summer Prints




Hot days are officially installed in the city and I'm not complaining at all! Sandals, easy tops and lots of prints to celebrate the Summer first days...



                           

                                                                                     Top: c/o Sugarlips.com/ Here
                                                                                     Pants: Paul & Joe/ option Here 
                                                                                     Bag: Lancaster Paris c/o/ Here
                                                                                     Sandals: Prada/ great option Here 
                                                                                     Necklace: Ananda c/o Sweep Street Jewelry/ option Here





Words Worth Heeding...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Li
berty -vs- Tyranny


Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Wise words from a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Chicago Tribune - Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor made a plea for preserving the impartiality and independence of the American judicial system in a lecture Thursday at Elmhurst College.

O’Connor, who addressed a crowded audience at Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel on the west suburban campus, delivered the Rudolf G. Schade lecture on history, ethics and law.

Although the U.S. judicial system is respected and emulated around the world, there are aspects of it that could be improved to better ensure impartiality and independence, she said.

O’Connor said she opposes the election of judges, and she believes the practice may create a misunderstanding of the role of a judge.

“I think there are many who think of judges as politicians in robes. In many states, that’s what they are,” she said.

People should expect a judge to rule on legal issues in a fair and unbiased way, but she said many people seem to think that judges are supposed to be a reflection of popular opinion, O’Connor said.

“They seem to think judges should be a reflex of the popular will,” she said.

Judges “need to turn a high-power lens on themselves” to avoid bias or the perception of bias as they consider legal issues and make decisions, she said...{Read More}

In today's politically charged and highly divisive climate the tendency towards overt judicial activism is ever present.

What say you?

Via: Memeorandum

Reform the IRS Now: Help With Writing Your Letters to Congress

No IRSThese are some of the ideas I came across as I composed my letter to my elected officials in Congress. Feel free to use whatever you like but get your letters out daily!!! Here are the links to finding the contact forms for your U.S. Representatives and Senators online.

The IRS must be completely reformed in the wake of the agency targeting tea party and other conservative groups.

The IRS has violated it’s own regulations and the American Constitution by targeting and unlawfully delaying and obstructing conservative organizations’ applications for a determination of tax-exempt status, and the IRS has continued to bully and intimidate Conservatives.

Additionally, the inspector general found that on many occasions the IRS made inappropriate and intrusive demands for information from conservative groups that applied for exemption under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code.

On May 29th, 2014 The American Center for Law and Justice filed a  lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of 25 Tea Party and conservative organizations against the U.S. Attorney General, Treasury Secretary, and Internal Revenue Service - including top IRS officials. (Read more here)

In the lawsuit, the ACLJ cited six counts arguing the federal government violated the Constitution, federal law, and even its own rules and regulations.

The IRS and the Obama Administration must be held accountable for these unlawful actions and reparations must be made on behalf of all Americans. It is not enough that certain parties be found guilty or that injunctive relief and punitive damages eventually be awarded.

The IRS must never again be in a position to target and/or intimidate any American group or individual because of race, religion, or political beliefs. The IRS must be completely reformed by Congress Now.

America no longer has any confidence in the IRS. This overgrown, complex, and corrupt agency has not earned the right to take on additional responsibilities that will effect the daily lives of all Americans. We cannot allow the IRS, as it exists today, to police Obamacare!

Now is the time to completely break this monster apart. Now is the time for comprehensive tax reform!

As FAREED ZAKARIA, wrote in Investor's Business Daily:

The U.S. tax code is at the heart of a system of institutionalized, legal corruption. The code is so vast because companies, industries and lobbying groups receive special preferences in return for campaign contributions, a cash-for-favors scheme that Washington would denounce as crony capitalism in any Third World country.

Ted Cruz Scares The Heck Out Of The GOP ... J. D. Longstreet

Ted Cruz Scares The Heck Out Of The GOP   ...   J. D. Longstreet
Ted Cruz Scares The Heck Out Of The GOPConservative Leader-In-Waiting?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

*************** 

 Conservative republicans are focusing on Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.  I sense a collective holding of breath amongst the right wing of the Republican Party.  The same holds true, in my opinion amongst  conservative independents.
Cruz is talking old style conservatism.  It's the kind of conservatism that wins elections because it stirs the blood of conservatives, I mean, TRUE conservatives.

Many conservatives, myself included, are not yet ready to endorse Cruz simply because we have been burnt too many times in recent decades.  

And there is the problem, at least for me, of Cruz having been born outside the US. (Cruz is a Cuban-American from Texas who was born in Canada.)  Obama's eligibility problems for President aside, Cruz is a republican and we all now there is a separate set of rules for republicans.  To understand how that works one must understand this:  It is legal -- when the democrats do it.  Not so much when republicans do it.

The plain and simple truth is, that if Cruz does decide to run for president in 2016, he will be battered beyond belief for not being a "natural born" US citizen.  Understand this, too.  He will be attacked by both the Democratic Party AND the Republican Party.  There are many in the GOP of the country club set, the blue bloods, if you will, who see Cruz as a direct threat to their power -- within the party -- and they will do everything they can to insure failure for any Cruz presidential run. 
Then there are those, like myself, who are not ready to climb aboard the Cruz band wagon until we learn whether or not he is a "penny match candidate."  (For you youngsters -- a penny match , back in the day, was famous for flaring up into a huge extremely hot flame for just a moment when struck, then quickly burn out leaving you with a small piece of worthless smoking charcoal in your fingers.)

At the moment, Cruz is hot. 

Conservatives are yearning for a true conservative champion. We are tired of staying home on election day.  We are tired of being told we MUST support the so-called conservative candidates the GOP pushes to the forefront in every campaign. 

Allow me to make something clear today:  Trues conservatives are NOT ready to support another Bush in the Oval Office.  And we are not going to support Rand Paul, a libertarian republican, for President, nor will we support Marco Rubio.  Rubio's immigration reform philosophy sunk any chance he had of getting to the Oval Office anytime in the foreseeable future.

The GOP is leaderless at the moment. 
That is because, in my humble opinion, the internal leadership wants it that way.  The hierarchy of the Republican Party is its own worst enemy.  So long as the party remains splintered there is no chance a conservative can ascend to the leadership position. 

With an extremely important election coming up in 2014, the old guard republicans have a death grip on the upper echelons of the party and they will see it die a slow and painful death before they will relinquish power to a representative of the great unwashed conservative masses within the GOP.  Would you care to guess how they view Ted Cruz??

Consider this:  "The bulk of the conservative movement, and thus the base of the Republican Party, recognizes this reality. They have become increasingly alarmed at the fate awaiting the country if these radicals are not purged from the mainstream of American governance in the 2014 and 2016 election cycles. But when they look to the leadership of the Republican Party they see a nauseating deference to the party in power and the media -- in other words business as usual in Washington. Apparently the Republican Establishment believes it will eventually win when it is their turn if they just can find a way to bribe minorities, particularly Hispanics into voting for them."  SOURCE:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3001392/posts So, while the GOP establishment is content to "wait their turn" at the Oval Office, the GOP base, the conservatives, are chomping at the bit, leaning forward, rattling the trace chains, even threatening to overturn the wagon, all in an effort to get back in the fight with a real competitor, an honest to goodness conservative candidate, whom they can really trust  -- AND believe in --  AND support. 

At the moment the fire in the bellies of conservatives has been banked.  That accounts for the lackluster GOP these days.  Senator Cruz COULD be the fuel that will turn that conservative fire in the belly into a human blow torch again.

... or NOT!

The reason so many conservatives are holding back on Cruz today is that we get the feeling he is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!  It has been a long time since someone espoused the conservative platform so completely and, well, it is disconcerting.

So.  We'll watch a while longer "with hope in our hearts," as they say.

Problem with waiting is the crumbling of America as we wait.  The country is being eaten alive, from the inside, by the "marxocrats" of the left.  Their campaign to reinvent America as a police state is well on its way to fruition.  The recent problems with the Department of Justice, and the Internal Revenue Service are just bumps in the road. 

Conservatives can't wait much longer.

America can't wait much longer.


The "progressive overlords" of the Obama Administration, such as those in the  Department of Homeland Security, are growing stronger readying themselves for the day when the half of America that still values freedom and liberty says "ENOUGH" and rises up in righteous indignation to restore constitutional government to this once great land.

All that is lacking is a national leader for the conservative movement.  Is Senator Ted Cruz that leader in waiting?  Well, IS HE?

© J. D. Longstreet

calgon, take me away

Have you ever had one of those weeks? Those weeks where you feel like you are behind on everything and no matter what you try to get done, more things just pile on top? What do they say in Alice in Wonderland?

"The hurrier I go the behinder I get."

Yep, that's me this week sister. No worries though. I'll have met the bulk of my deadlines by the time Monday roles around and then I'll start myself fresh. I've never been so excited for a Monday.

So I'll stop by bellyaching and leave you with this beauty.


A bouquet for you.

Because flowers always make me happy, even the virtual ones!

But on the bright side, make sure to stop by Simply Baby this week, I'm talking nurseries.


A Debte That Should Take Place, On the Rational Level...

A Debte That Should Take Place, On the Rational Level...
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Li
berty -vs- Tyranny




I knew there was a reason I like Juan Williams...

Lets have the debate America.

Via: Memeorandum