Daily news sites

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Big Brother Is Watching You by Petr Kratochvil

Senator Rand Paul leading in the effort to protect the civil rights and the privacy of all American's. Like his father before him he is focused on the Constitutional limitations of the Federal Government and limiting its ability to snoop into our private affairs. There is no doubt but what the Classical Liberal thinkers and Founders of our nation are in agreement with the Senator.

THE HILL - Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he would examine ways to block the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs before the Supreme Court.

“I'm going to be seeing if I can challenge this at the Supreme Court level,” vowed Paul on “Fox News Sunday.”

“I’m going to be asking all the internet providers and all of the phone companies: Ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit. If we get 10 million Americans saying we don’t want our phone records looked at then maybe someone will wake up and something will change in Washington,” he said.

A report in the Guardian last week revealed that the NSA had sought information on phone numbers, and the location and duration of calls to help identify potential terror threats. A separate program, PRISM, sought information on foreign Internet users from American tech companies.

The disclosures unleashed a firestorm of criticism at the Obama administration’s record on civil liberties, coming weeks after news that the Justice Department had seized reporter records in leak investigations and after the Internal Revenue Service admitted targeting Tea Party groups.

The administration has defended the programs, with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Saturday saying that Internet companies only provided user data to the National Security Agency after an order from the secret FISA court, and only for information requests tied to a “foreign intelligence purpose.”


Administration officials said Saturday that Congress had been briefed 13 times on efforts to obtain electronic data for national security, as the White House sought to push back against claims from many lawmakers that they were not properly briefed on the measures.

Paul said he was concerned with the scope of the NSA’s surveillance.

“They are looking at a billion phone calls a day, is what I read in the press and that doesn’t sound to me like a modest invasion of privacy, it sounds like an extraordinary invasion of privacy,” said Paul.

Paul said such snooping was “partly what our founding fathers fought the revolution over.”

Asked about reports that the programs had helped thwart a terror attack in New York, Paul said he did not oppose surveillance targeted at a particular individual suspected of wrongdoing.

“I have no problem if you have probable cause and you target people who are terrorists and you go after them and the people they are communicating with…... Read More

Indeed. I'm sure all Americans are okay with targeting terrorists when there is probable cause or significant and justified suspicion of possible terrorist activity. But mining millions or billions of phone records? Obama and his administration are proving it (they) is (are) just as intrusive and statist minded as GWB and his administration were.

American that truly value freedom and civil liberties need to speak up, no, SHOUT OUT writing blogs, letters to the editors, communicate by phone as well as through letters to their congress critters and senators voicing outrage over these invasive and unconstitutional actions by our federal (feral) government.

That's my position. What is yours?

Via: Memeorandum

Never tired wearing S-T-R-I-P-E-S and here is another proof of that. This dress is just magnifique and in order to make this outfit even more special I paired with this Helena and Troy fabulous bag.
I hope you like it and wish you all a great Sunday!

Soon I will start posting my outfits from New York.





                                                                             Bag: Helena and Troy/ Here
                                                                             Dress: Lauren Moffatt/ option Here 
                                                                             Heels: BCBGeneration/ great option Here
                                                                             Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren
                                                                             Silver Sterling cuff: E&L/ option Here

 My artistic input love is quite obvious in today's post. Printed flowers pants ( very like a Monet ), yellow heels to brighten up even more this look and a daring clutch manually painted by a fellow artist are the wearable art pieces of today's outfit post:)
I guess I can't help myself with these avalanches of colours.

And now the critique please :)



                                                                             Heels: Shoemint/ a fabulous option Here
                                                                             Clutch: thanks to Alina Cioara/ Here
                                                                             Top: Lauren Moffatt/ Here
                                                                             Pants: Mcginn/Here
                                                                             Sunglasses: c/o zeroUV/option Here

Riding The Whirlwind
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*********************
A whirlwind is a vertical column of air whirling around itself as it moves over the surface of the Earth.  Think about that for a moment.

Now.  Consider this:  "For they sow the wind; and they reap the whirlwind."  That is from the Old Testament book of Hosea chapter 8 verse 7.

Like so many of the conservative commentariat,  I am STILL trying to analyze why America deliberately decided to turn a corner, or choose a path, that will unquestionably lead to its own destruction.  

The choice to forsake a constitutional republic for a socialist, collectivist, Marxist, form of government is surreal.  It's like something from a bad science fiction movie in which the population is entirely controlled by some malevolent entity intent upon controlling the world.

I must confess:  I made a terrible mistake in that I assumed the American people still had enough common sense, enough discernment, enough honor left to do the right thing. 

Last November the American electorate proved me wrong.  Woefully wrong.

Our ship of state was (is) (so obviously) headed toward the jagged rocks I assumed we would remove the less-than-adequate helmsman and replace him with a real mariner who would stir us away from certain destruction on the shoals and rocks. I was terribly wrong. 

The reelection of Obama was a grand victory for ignorance.  It is the pay-off for years of indoctrination in our public schools.  The old Judeo-Christian ethics have been purged from our public education system in favor of secular humanism.  You can lay the blame for paving the way for it at the feet of our leftist, radical, Supreme Court and the Court's rulings from as far back as the 1960's. 

Abraham Lincoln is given credit for saying: "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."  Whoever said it -- it was spot on. 

The old Proverb -- "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree" is absolutely correct.  I think the ultimate source of this old proverb is from the Bible: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22: 6.  We see ample proof of the wisdom of this proverb in our public education system today.

If you, perhaps, thought those of us who warned for decades of the trouble ahead for America due to the secular (and even religious) humanism being taught in our public schools were just blowing smoke -- consider the following carefully: "Expanding upon the role the public education establishment should play to bring about the goals described in the Humanist Manifesto II, John Dumphy wrote: "I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers that correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being...The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and new -- the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent with the promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of 'love thy neighbor' will finally be achieved." (Emphasis by underlining is MINE.)  SOURCE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanist_Manifesto      

The generation of Americans who elected -- and then reelected -- Obama were graduates of this public school system.  They were programmed to act as automatons, to choose loyalty to the state over loyalty to God and their family.  They marched to the polls and did as they had been told, indeed, had been taught, programmed, -- indoctrinated to do.

Author Ron Taylor, in his book  "Agenda 21: An Expose of the United Nations" in which he writes of  the  "Sustainable Development Initiative and the Forfeiture of American Sovereignty and Liberties" says the following:  "It is their stated goal...to steal one generation of children and teach them to place loyalty to the state above loyalty to family."

See, this generation knows almost nothing of American history.  They know next to nothing about the Judeo-Christian origin of America.  They are ignorant of our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.  The only thing they know about capitalism and the American system of free markets is what they were taught -- that capitalism is bad.  They know far more about the benefits of Socialism and Marxism and "equality." 

"Those coming out of years of humanistic brainwashing masquerading as public education know little of the Bible, America's Christian origins and founding documents, and the blessings of free-market capitalism. Instead, they know a great deal about sex education, values clarification, moral relativism, Darwinian evolution, Socialism and Marxism, earth worship, multiculturalism, one-world globalism, Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and appeasement foreign policy. Products of these schools comprised the Obama voters in 2012."  SOURCE:  http://www.bibleprophecyblog.com/2012/11/there-arose-another-generation-after.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BibleProphecyBlog+%28Bible+Prophecy+Blog%29#                    

The definition of discernment is:  The cognitive condition of someone who understands.  It also means:  The trait of judging wisely and objectively.  We learned on November 6th, of last year, that "discernment" is something that is "verging" on extinction in America today.  We no longer know our right hand from our left -- nor good from evil.  Thanks to moral relativism, better known as political correctness, modern Americans believe there is no such thing as good and evil, or right and wrong.  Everything is, well, relative. 

It no longer matters what scripture teaches us, what history teaches us, what experience teaches us, what common sense teaches us, nor what plain old morality teaches us. No.  Now it is -- how do I feel about it.  "I," and/or "Me," is at the center of their very existence. 

For a perfect example of this self-centered life, one has only to listen to one of our President's speeches.  Try to keep a running tally of the number of times the words "I" and "Me" and "MY" are spoken in a single address.  What is equally troubling is how effective the narcissism indoctrination of our young scholars has been.  For the most part, they don't even notice the over-abundant use of those personal pronouns "I" and "me" and the  "possessive" adjective "my,"  because,  to them, it's NORMAL!   How inexpressively sad that is.          

Some years ago, I left my church when I "discerned" it was swinging away from the Gospels and embracing the apostate teachings of the leftist political agenda.  Now,we have social justice, environmentalism, inclusiveness, tolerance, multiculturalism, all lovingly spoken of from the pulpits of our religious community. 

With all the respect I can muster for those of America's religious community who have sold out to mammon, allow me to ask:  Are you REALLY surprised that the leftist agenda you supported, and led your flocks to support, would come back to bite you?   As you have now learned, you cannot pick and choose which parts of the leftist agenda you will support and which parts you will not. It is all -- or nothing!

The reason so many are so concerned about America's future under Obama's second term is not JUST his Socialist/Marxist agenda only.  It is the sudden understanding that this was a culmination of all the work the progressive left has done in our schools and our churches since, at least, the late 1940's.

The progressive left has successfully created a hybrid American. They have created a society wholly dependent  upon others for, well, everything.  Easily led these new Americans can be made to do, say, and believe anything their masters want.  They are the perfect slaves.  And they are self perpetuating.

Ultimately, it means the death of America as the stabilizing force on the planet. Without America, chaos will reign on planet earth.  We are already seeing ample evidence of this all over the globe today.

This is why so many of us on the right are so troubled and upset by the results of the election last November.  Obama's reelection was the final step toward a single world-wide government or "global governance."

For many decades we have sown the wind.  Now, we shall reap the harvest from that which we have so blithely sown -- the whirlwind.  And having no choice now, we must learn to ride the whirlwind we have created. 

© J. D. Longstreet

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny



We can thank the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security (ie: GWB) for the current and nefarious acts by the NSA. However, what the hey, after all it's all in the name of giving up a bit of freedom in the name of a bit more security.

I imagine good and wise Benjamin Franklin must be rolling over in his resting place right about now.

POLITICO - Several lawmakers said they had not been briefed on the Obama administration’s classified programs to monitor cellphone and Internet traffic.

That’s in direct contradiction to President Barack Obama’s assertion. The president said on Friday that “every member of Congress” has been briefed on the programs led by the National Security Administration.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a telephone interview late Friday that he learned about the two programs after requesting a briefing under “classified circumstances” following urging by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Durbin said congressional leadership and intelligence committees had access to information about the programs, but that the “average member” of Congress likely wouldn’t have been aware of the breadth of the telephone and Internet surveillance.

“They don’t receive this kind of briefing,” Durbin said of the congressional rank-and-file.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who has railed against government intrusion on the Senate floor, told POLITICO that he “hadn’t been briefed on this particular issue,” referring to the NSA collection of phone records. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) also said he learned of phone monitoring through news reports, although he said it “wasn’t a surprise.”

“Not quite!” tweeted Rep. Billy Long (R-La.) in response to a tweet by ABC’s Rick Klein that said “Obama says ‘every member of Congress’ has been briefed on phone program #NSA; suggests only intel comm. knew of PRISM.”

The House and Senate intelligence committees, which oversee agencies like the NSA and Central Intelligence Agency, are routinely briefed on classified intelligence operations.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also get briefed, along with intelligence committee chairs and ranking members. Rank-and-file members of Congress, however, are only periodically briefed on specific incidents — there have been briefings recently on Syria and the Boston bombings.

Certainly BIG BROTHER IS watching and listening to us ALL. One of the saddest aspects of the situation is that BOTH the rEpublican and dEmocratic party are involved.

Destined no doubt to pick up steam given our national paranoia. That is my take on the situation. What's yours?

Good night. Rest soundly as BIG BROTHER is watching over and looking out for us all. Don't you feel so much better?

Via: Memeorandum

Today is the last installment of the Simply Baby blog party and Elisa of Fancy Me Free is taking us out with a bang! Check it out!


Any big plans for this weekend? Feel free to come over and help me if your bored. Follow along on Instagram and see if I can get it all done. I've got a lot of work to do before this rain hits.

Happy weekend friends!!!

Probably you noticed that lately I'm wearing this light coat quite a lot. For a Spring rainy day this is just perfect. I have to admit that the pattern is a plus and I find it very easy to match with other prints as this pair of striped jeans.
A burst of color yellow and I was ready to ignore the foggy weather.




                                                                                 Coat: Kate Spade/ Here
                                                                                 Jeans: c/o PersunMall/ similar Here 
                                                                                 Shoes: Zara/ option Here
                                                                                 Blouse (borrowed from Bogdan): Joe Fresh
                                                                                 Bag: Joe Fresh/ option Here 
                                                                                 Nut cuff bracelet: c/o Cooee.se/ Here
                                                                                 Sunglasses: Foster Grant/ option Here 

The American Police State
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
******************

I am one of those hapless Verizon customers the government is snooping on ... and I don't like it -- at all!

Look.  We Americans simply MUST realize we have a government gone rogue!   Corruption has now overtaken the bureaucrats and they have forsaken their green eye shades for whips and chains and shackles -- of the electronic sort, of course.

“Why should freedom of speech and freedom of the press be allowed? Why should a government which is doing what it believes to be right, allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinion calculated to embarrass the government?” -- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Read the original report on this latest US government atrocity here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/06/verizon-telephone-data-court-order

Americans today are experiencing an unprecedented erosion of civil liberties and a blatant disregard for transparency at all levels of government. And it is only going to get worse.

Consider the following:  "Despite his clear and popular promises to the contrary, President Obama has not shifted the balance between security and freedom to a more natural state—one not blinded by worst fears and tarred by power grabs. If anything, things have gotten worse.
    Killing civilians and U.S. citizens via drone.

    Seizing telephone records at the Associated Press in violation of Justice Department guidelines.

    Accusing a respected Fox News reporter of engaging in a conspiracy to commit treason for doing his job.

    Detaining terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, despite promises to end the ill-considered Bush policy.

Even the IRS scandal, while not a matter of foreign policy, strikes at the heart of growing concerns among Americans that their privacy is government's playpen.

And now this: The Guardian newspaper (Of the UK) reports that the National Security Agency is collecting telephone records of tens of millions of customers of one of the nation's largest phone companies, Verizon."  SOURCE:  http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/welcome-to-the-bush-obama-white-house-they-re-spying-on-us-20130606

It appears to have finally come down to the government against the people in America.  All this simply means -- Americans are no longer free.

Just as an aside, does anyone else sense the irony that we Americans have a "black" American President creating the new American plantation upon which ALL Americans are slaves???  Is this some kind of cruel joke?  Hardly.

What did you expect, those of you who voted for Obama?  He plainly told you he planned to fundamentally change America -- and he HAS!

You cheered and applauded when he said:  "     It’s been a long time coming.

    But tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America." -- President Barack Obama, November 5, 2008.

And so, dear reader, the police state was ushered in to America -- not so much ushered in as elbowed in.

You know, as I think back to my high school days, when we actually studied the US Constitution, I recall that the Founders of the US warned us that the constitution would only work for a  “virtuous and moral” people.  If that is, in fact, the case, then all this chaos in our government today was inevitable.  I mean, we Americans are a lot of things but today's American is NOT a  “virtuous and moral” character.  Nosiree!  Anyone of our major cities would make Sodom and Gomorrah look like a monastery.

Just so we are clear -- the constitution did not fail us.  No.  WE failed the constitution! 

Today we can look back and say the Founders of America were naive.  Perhaps they were. But -- they were honorable men and often honorable men tend to be a bit naive.

Maybe the Founding Fathers assumed that America would always see to it that only honorable men would hold national elective office.  Well, that didn't last long.  In less than one hundred years the first President to be impeached, Andrew Johnson, was impeached AND acquitted in 1868.  And it has been, pretty much, down hill from there.

The plain and simple truth is, dear reader, we Americans have done this to ourselves.  It will only be undone if we suck it up and do whatever is necessary to right the ship of state and return America to the course set for her by those honorable men two hundred and thirty some odd years ago. 

The longer we wait the more difficult our task will become.  Some feel we have already waited too long.  My personal assessment is that we are on the cusp of having waited too long.  There is a window, left slightly ajar, for a reform movement to take America back, but -- realistically -- it is closing rapidly.

This latest atrocity by our power hungry government is just a symptom of the disease rotting the heart from our formerly great country.  It is even more frightening to wonder WHAT ELSE the government is doing. 

Finally, for this scribe, the most troubling part of all is the lack of interest shown by so many Americans today concerning the loss of freedom.

For Americans less than 50 or 60 years of age,  a loss of freedom is unfathomable.   They have no clue what we "old fogies" are yelling about.  They were born into an America in which American freedom was already greatly curtailed and they have never known the freedom, personal freedom, and liberty my generation had the great good fortune to enjoy.  They don't miss it because they never had it!

Today, I think it has been made clear that the American police state we have been awaiting, arrived, already. We are just now becoming aware of it. 

Sadly, those of my generation, those who see so clearly what America has lost are, due to the limitations of age and health, unable to do little more than enlighten the masses through our writing, and vocal protestations.  We can only make available the truth and hope that a spark will ignite the love of freedom once again in the breasts of the citizens of the once great America and rouse them to action with the determination to rescue their country from the jaws of a socialist dictatorship so deeply entrenched in our halls of government.

Look.  A world without America in a leadership position is a dangerous place.  Just look at the globe-scape today.  We are racing toward Armageddon.   We are stumbling and bumbling our way into a world-wide conflagration.  Only one nation can lead the world out of certain disaster -- AMERICA.  Unfortunately, America's leaders have chosen NOT TO LEAD.

America must be rescued and restored.  And it must be done quickly.  Time really IS running out.

© J. D. Longstreet

Hanging Up The Stethoscope 
The Doctor Is OUT!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

America's unmatched healthcare delivery system is already taking a beating from Obamacare.  

As a semi-professional patient, having been hospitalized over eighty times since the mid 1960's, I have had a front row seat from which to observe the disintegration of our healthcare system.  It's bad, dear reader, very bad.

Many doctors are just hanging up their stethoscopes and walking away, going into retirement, selling their practices out to hospitals or to companies that specialize in running medical services.   Both my doctors had done exactly that. One retired and the other sold his practice to a hospital.

And this is on top of the doctor shortage we are already experiencing.

Consider this:  "When the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate takes effect in 2014, some 30 million newly covered patients—people generally treated in emergency rooms now—will be shopping for doctors. That’s a problem because the U.S. has 15,230 fewer primary-care physicians than it needs, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services." SOURCE: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-27/a-looming-u-dot-s-dot-doctor-shortage

Then there is this:  "In fact, a recent Deloitte 2013 survey  of U.S. physicians found 57% doctors view changes in the industry under health-care reform as a threat, and six in 10 physicians report it’s likely that many will retire earlier than planned in the next two to three years, fueling the shortage."

The article goes on to say the following: "... but come 2020, there will be about 70,000 less doctors available to consumers as a direct result of the law, according to Deloitte." SOURCE: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/04/17/obamacare-reality-doctor-shortage-on-way/#ixzz2VNdKV1C7

Think about this for a moment:

Suppose you went to school for 6 to 8 years (and longer) to earn your medical degree?  Suppose you had HUGE student loans to pay off as well as set up a practice and purchase the necessary equipment you need as a doctor to treat your patients properly -- and suppose you had to submit to more training practically every year of your career to stay abreast of new treatments, new equipment, and new federal and state laws pertaining to your practice of medicine.

Just suppose you did all of the above and then wake up one morning to find that you were no longer a private physician, no longer a small business owner, no longer your own boss, but a government apparatchik taking orders on how to practice medicine, how and with which government approved treatment plan you are allowed to treat your trusting patients.   What would YOU do?

Well, according to a recent survey, 46 percent of the Primary Care doctors practicing medicine in America today said they WOULD quit when Obamacare becomes the law of the land… and I do not blame them one bit!  The New England Journal of Medicine reported in its March-April 2010 issue that 46.3% of Primary Care Physicians would likely leave the practice of medicine if Obamacare was passed into law.

With a large shortage in Primary Care doctors causing problems in America today and half of the remaining P. C. doctors vowing to quit – do you still believe the myth, no, let’s call it what it is, the LIE, the Obama Administration fed to gullible Americans that there would be no healthcare rationing in America.  It was BS all along… and Obama and his minions knew it then -- and they know it now!

Face it people, you/we have been had – again!  Obama LIED to you/us. The socialist (sometimes referred to as democrats -- but more often these days the more accurate term is – socialists) lied to you/us!

The whole Obamacare package is a lie from start to finish!  It is the biggest swindle ever perpetrated on a nation anywhere, anytime.     America has been SCREWED!

You know, we have come to expect politicians to lie, but for goodness sakes, dear reader, the Obama Regime has become a nest of pathological liars.

Look, America blundered, big time, back in 2008 when they elected Obama as President then doubled-down in 2012 with his reelection.  I suppose one ci;d say we deserve what we get, huh? 

The folks in Europe may just LOVE him, but here in America, he is fast becoming one of the least respected Presidents ever -- worse, even, than Jimmy Carter OR Bill Clinton (Clinton was Impeached!)  I am convinced he is a socialist.  I mean:  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and flocks with other socialist, then it is most likely, a duck/socialist. 

Obamacare is destined to ruin the American healthcare system.  With the current HUGE shortage in doctors, especially General Practitioners, plus the 46%, or so, of currently practicing doctors about to quit – where will the doctors come from to work in the Obamacare system as government apparatchiks?   How many scholars, who had been considering medicine as a career, will look elsewhere for a profession not yet tainted by the mailed fist of the federal government, thereby maintaining the doctor shortage? 

We must ask if the US government is considering bringing in doctors from abroad, doctors who may, or may not, have been trained up to the standards required of doctors practicing medicine in the US?  Will he activate military reserve medics and doctors and place them in civilian hospitals and government clinics?  Hey, the doctors have to come from somewhere?

We already expect to find, manning the front lines in doctor’s offices, Physician’s Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. My state is even considering allowing Nurse Practitioners to use the title of “Doctor.”  

America is in serious trouble.  The depth of that trouble is, as yet, unfathomable.

© J. D. Longstreet