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Milwaukee Police profiling at Mexican Fiesta 2013? (Telemundo 63 news video at) http://bit.ly/17mNzCt

This is a big week for me. I've got my first photo shoot and I'm pretty excited. It's too early to divulge any details (as soon as I can promise) but I will say that my sourcing adventures have led me to a place I hardly ever go.

Pier 1.


Crazy, I know. I posted this picture on Instagram (you should totally follow me btw, we'll have great fun together) and everyone was as surprised as I was to find such goodness at old Pier 1.

Look what other lovelies I found.




Next time you're out running errands, stop in. You might be surprised.

Happy Monday!

Democracy Is Dangerous
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*****************

I look at the utter mess in Egypt and I think: THIS is what democracy has wrought!

OK.  Before you climb all over me for my seeming put-down of democracy, hear me out.

I am now more convinced than ever that some people, some nations of peoples,  simple cannot handle democracy.  They are not ready for it.  Some never will be.   The grandiose idea that we, the US, can spread democracy throughout the world has proven to be America's bite too big to chew, and certainly, too big to swallow.

You would think after serial failures in the Middle East, notably, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Egypt, the US would recognize the utter futility of establishing an American style representative republic in any of those lands where Islamists hold sway. 

Freedom is scary and it is dangerous.  Even here in the land of the free, America, where a sizable portion of the citizenry's ancestors had freedom handed to them one hundred and fifty years ago, have yet to learn how to handle it. A century and a half later they still require help from the government that purportedly freed them. Being free is not easy. 

In the Muslim countries of the Middle East, their definition of freedom is quite different from our definition.   They have found their freedom within the confines of Shariah Law.  True freedom, such as we enjoy in America, cannot exist in a state in which it must compete with Shariah Law.   If you doubt that, look at Egypt today.   It is a roiling inferno of religious passion, hate, lust for power, despotism, and control.

Imad Eddine Adeeb, an Egyptian columnist, in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al Awsat has said:  "We lack the culture of democracy, and our institutions are still outdated, corrupt and decaying, operating with the same old administrative structures and tattered values and moral codes, all of which have nothing to do with democracy."
SOURCE:   http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/arabs-not-yet-ready-for-democracy#ixzz2ckAPc3Fa

There are considered to be fourteen countries in the Middle East.  Only two of those countries are electoral democracies.  ONLY TWO.  They are, of course, Israel and Turkey.

It seems that those of us in the west are just beginning to realize the unique challenges of bringing democracy to tribal societies.  We are learning, much to our chagrin, that there are, in fact, some cultures that are simply not, repeat -- NOT,  capable of creating a harmonious society of any kind, democratic, tribal, or otherwise.  

A free election does not guarantee the voters in the newly democratic nation will not vote themselves a new dictator.   We've already seen this happen.

My guess is that when all the smoke finally settles in the Middle East and the so-called Arab Spring has finally sprung, the world will be right back where it started -- or very near it.  I expect "strongman" rulers in all the Muslim nations now in turmoil.   Why?  Because the people of those nations are just not ready for a government in which they, themselves, take responsibility for their government.  Maybe in another century or two, but certainly, not now.

In the meantime, the US ought to stop meddling.  Let them alone.  If they want to fight and annihilate each other, more power to them.  Let them have at it.  If, and when, they strike out at us, smack them down -- hard. Otherwise, leave them alone. 

Look, it is just extremely difficult for me to become concerned when I see the enemies of my country busily, and industriously, slaughtering each other.  And it seems utterly nonsensical to me for elements within the US government to insist that we supply weapons to help one side, or the other, thereby inserting the US into the middle of a civil war that is, in fact, working to our advantage by decreasing the numbers of our enemies.

One has to wonder if Israel would not be better served if Assad's forces eventually win the ongoing conflict in Syria.  Israel and Assad's governments know and understand each other -- and they know just how far one can push the other.  A new Islamist dictatorship in Syria will almost certainly lead to war with Israel.

As we have seen, democracy did not lead to peace, love, and joy in Egypt.  Why in the world would we think it would do so in Syria should the forces in rebellion to Assad win and decide democracy is the way to go for them, as well.

Yes.  Democracy IS dangerous.  Even a limited democracy, such as our constitutional republic can be dangerous.  With all the checks and balances we have in the US, we have seen how ignorance can produce a socialist/Marxist government in America, the citadel of democracy, itself.

I am of the opinion that we Americans need to clean up around our own doorstep before we go meddling in other nations conflicts.  We have enough problems to keep us occupied for at least a few decades.

© J. D. Longstreet 

St. Louis Fed: CredAbility Consumer Distress Index



Click to enlarge.

That index is showing a relatively strong recovery from "distressed/unstable" to "weakening/at-risk". Yay.

As seen in the following chart, I have chosen to use the median instead of the average. Why? A few good apples can't purify the barrel! Put another way, I think the median can generally do a better job of describing the core trend (and where we are within it).


Click to enlarge.

As of the first quarter of 2013, the median index value was 65.5 (solidly "distressed/unstable"). The index most responsible for the recent decline in this chart was the household budget distress index. It's doing some serious damage to this alternative consumer distress index (just like it was heading into the last two recessions).

The long-term trend (seen in the red trend line) is definitely not our friend. In my opinion, we're in rearranging deck chairs mode. We can temporarily boost some of the indices apparently (but only at the expense of the others). And why might that be?


Click to enlarge.

The looting will continue until morale improves.

July 30, 2013
PandoDaily: America can kiss its ass and consumer economy goodbye: The view from dystopia


Nail... on... the... head.

Just opinions! Once again, this is not investment advice.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: CredAbility Consumer Distress Indices
St. Louis Fed: Gini Ratio of Families

More than 250 undocumented immigrants were riding on La Bestia freight train car when it derailed early this morning.

The Left's Guilt is Weighing America Down
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**********************************

I am absolutely convinced that had America had the government we have today back in oh, say, the late seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds we would never have grown into the world power we became and, in fact, were - up until the Presidential Election in 2008.

Never in my life on this earth, as an American, have I seen the people of America so morose, so depressed, so completely whipped, as I see today. The ‘spirit” has almost gone out of the average American.  In biblical terms: our “countenance has fallen.”  In other words, our self-esteem has fallen through the floor - and then some.

The average American has watched as his job has fled from him, his home has been foreclosed upon, his car has been re-possessed, his president went traveling around the world, early in his first term,  apologizing for doing all the things that made America great, making the average American look and feel like a fool. Yes, Americans have a right to feel let down.

If I were a young man and had fewer responsibilities, I’d pack-up and move to Australia.  I am hearing more and more young American men uttering those words today than I have since the 1960’s, when a number of middle aged Americans took their families and fled to Australia.

But, you see, this is what socialism does to a people.  This is what socialism does to a country.  It guts it. It eviscerates a country and that country’s people.  It smothers their motivation.

There is little reason to feel any of that HOPE Obama preached about during his first campaign for the presidency. Oh, we got the “change” all right.  Yep!  Everything changed for the worst.  But, there simply is NO HOPE. Even if there was, the average American is without the energy to grasp even the proverbial straw.

Just a few short months ago America had limitless horizons. Today the American horizon lies just in front of the toes of his shoes. Americans find themselves  beaten down by a relentless government grown so big it sucks the air out of any project it touches. Once Obamacare goes into full effect, the US government will have, indeed, touched everything in America.

The average American’s nerves are strained so they are virtually vibrating as we are hit with a continuous parade of one crisis after another, many man-made and formulated, in my opinion, in the offices of the West Wing.  For the first time in the history of the United States, Americans speak of their government in hushed voices and in guarded tones for fear that someone friendly to the Obama Regime may overhear and report them to whomever one reports such things.  There is genuine fear of our government in America these days and, unfortunately, those in power have found they like it when Americans fear them.

Those of us accustomed to speaking out with our honest opinions about our government and what our government is doing have now found that we must weigh our words even more carefully, especially when the words we speak and scribble are not complimentary of the Obama Regime. Our speech, our actions, our affiliations, are all carefully scrutinized by the Obama Regime.

Unused to this fearful atmosphere many Americans are confused and disoriented and unable to combat the all out attack of socialism on our democracy.  The use of “thugocracy” to defeat democracy in America is an altogether new experience for most Americans, especially those of us who live outside the urban areas where the practice of strong-arm politics has been known for a hundred years.

Here in the hinterlands the aforementioned  “atmosphere of fear” will last only so long. There WILL be a backlash.  Fear will turn to anger. Americans will demand the return of their birthright of freedom and liberty, and they will not be denied.

Already Americans in the so-called “fly-over” country are well ahead of their brothers and sisters in metropolitan America in making the transition from fear to anger. Unwilling to live under the yoke of slavery lain across their shoulders by the politburo of Obama’s socialist Central Committee, they will not quietly accept the desecration of their constitutional rights. 

There are among us many who believe America may not survive.  I think she will.  But – America will never, I repeat, America will NEVER be the same as she was prior to the Obama Regime.  The doubt, the guilt liberals carry around like lead weights on their souls has now been draped onto the shoulders of this country.  It will drag us down.  Much as an athlete running the hundred-yard dash with weights tied to each leg, America will find she cannot distance herself from the pack as she has in her meteoric past.  Now she is a part of the mediocrity of the pack and there is no real future for a nation as an “also ran.” 

America was a leader.  No longer. That distinction has been stripped from us by the political left whose feelings of guilt for being superlative strangles the desire to excel.

Limits on America’s potential are imposed by those among us who preach “fairness” in all things. Fairness may provide a warm feeling but it throttles the ability to excel in those whom God has endowed with special abilities exceeding those of their fellow Americans.  America was a special place because she dared to  BE special.

Americans today are restrained by their government and by their fellow Americans by laws, the purpose of which, we are told, is to save the earth. Creativity and innovation, formerly the hallmark of American society will be, in fact already are, restraining the country from meeting standards of excellence that come naturally to a free people. And therein lies the key.

In the paragraph above I mentioned “a free people.”  People must be free to accomplish the truly marvelous things America has accomplished in her brief history.   By voluntarily giving up that freedom, that liberty, in 2008 America began her meteoric crash into the dustbin of history and relegated herself to the bone yard of once great nations.

© J. D. Longstreet  

Anyone identified (profiled) as a possible gang member, wearing colors, face tattoos or affiliated to any suspected gang by police intelligence at the Summerfest grounds is being denied entrance to the festival.
Alexander Ayala
Also on Saturday, Rafael Hernández posted on Facebook (FB)  that on Friday, he was escorted out of Mexican Fiesta by Milwaukee police for having tattoos in his face. On Saturday, he covered his face with "tattoo cover-up" and went back to Fiesta, but unfortunately he was again escorted out by police. No refunds were given.
Is the Milwaukee Police Department, LPOA and Mexican Fiesta ripping off people by keeping their money after being kick-out of Fiesta?
Even Mexican Fiesta volunteers of the event were stopped inside the grounds and got their tattoos checked out first before they were allowed to continue after they showed their official Fiesta badges.
FB  friends send messages to South Side Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy Romo-West and to 12th District Alderman José Pérez about the current discrimination people are facing at Fiesta by police, LPOA and Mexican Fiesta. This type of discrimination has been taking place for the last three years and how many victims were kick-out without getting a refund.
According to comments made in Hernández's FB account by friends, Fiesta and Milwaukee police are turning out to be known in a four letter word "F..k Fiesta Mexicana and police" identities, which is going viral on FB. It sure has become one bad public relation static (nightmare) used by police and Fiesta in dealing with good community relations, marketing and making money or trying to reach out to the younger generation.
Mario Reyes posted on FB, "I am the coordinator for the Mexican Fiesta car show and personally know Rafael Hernández for 20 years. I can guarantee you he has never been in a gang and a matter a fact doesn't even consume alcohol or any drugs at that! I stated this to security and they didn't want to hear it. I also was to told by Officer Ayala that I should be prepared to receive a lot of complaints from my fellow car enthusiast, I said why he stated because he cut some of them slack just for the car show but since it was about to end and some of them were starting to go enjoy the the festival he was going to escort them out! Also my co- coordinator was pulled to the side and asked to see his tattoo on his arm when he stated he was a volunteer for Mexican Fiesta he was told we have to check yours too!"
By HNG/HNNUSA


Milwaukee Police profiling at Mexican Fiesta 2013? (Telemundo 63 news video at) http://bit.ly/17mNzCt

Where Are America’s Heroes?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*******************
DEFINITION of HERO:  A man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility
and strength 
This country, America, needs some heroes.  Badly.

Have you noticed that we have none?

In my youth heroes abounded.  There were, first and foremost, the military heroes, then the sports heroes, even the guy down the block who saved the neighbor’s cat by climbing up the tree to retrieve the cat, he, too, was a hero.  But it is not so, anymore.

Humans need heroes.  Heroes remind us that there is a better side to us.  Heroes remind us that we DO have it in us to be better than we are… to accomplish what was thought to be the impossible, and that we do have it in us to defend those things most precious to us, like our families and our homes and even our country. 

But today there are no heroes.

Military heroes went out of style during the Vietnam War.  Although many, many, Vietnam veterans came home as a heroes, they were not accorded that status by their fellow Americans.  Many were reviled and even spat upon.  Men who had answered their country’s call and gone to war, and had every right to be accorded the status of heroes were, instead, shunned by American society.

When I was a boy, there actually were sports heroes.  Oh yes.  No any longer.  Professional athletes tell us they have no desire to be a ROLE MODEL, A HERO, if you will. And they aren’t.  Many we would silently think of as heroes turn out to be abusing drugs, which brings into questions their athletic triumphs.   So, we no longer have sports heroes. 

Well, you may ask, what about the neighborhood guy who climbs trees and rescues felines for the neighbor’s children?  What about him, huh? 

Well, that cat is stranded now, for good and all, except in the rare case where the local fire department will agree to come rescue the critter. 

Why? 

Well,  the neighborhood guy is concerned that if he should climb that tree and break a limb, some enviro-nut group will sue him.  If he should accidentally harm the kitty, while in the attempt to rescue her, then the animal welfare groups might sue him, and if the kitty scratches the kids he returns it to, he might well be sued for allowing those children to play with a dangerous animal.

See the direction America has taken… and why, there are no heroes today?  It is, indeed, far too risky to be a hero today. 

And then there is the “Moral Relativity” problem.  Here in America, the Moral Relativity adherents rule the day.  Now known as “political correctness”, we are indoctrinated, from day one, that all men are created equal.  Well, one can easily put the lie to that… if one wanders into the shower room of any military barracks in the world, or walk down a crowded beach in July.  All men are NOT created equal.  All men are guaranteed an equal shot at life and its abundance here in America by the constitution, but that is as far as it goes… or at least, that is as far as it SHOULD go. 

Now, if you believe that all men are equal then you cannot have heroes.  Because the very nature of heroism means that one person has exceeded the level playing field of equality and has become better than his fellow man in some way. 

We used to understand that, in this country, and we celebrated our heroes.  Look back at Audey Murphy, the most decorated soldier of the Second World War.  A tiny little fellow, unimposing, but the man had the heart of a lion. He was a true hero. 

And there was The Duke.  Yep, John Wayne.  So far as I know Duke never served his country in uniform.  Except that, actually, he did.  He portrayed such heroes, so often, and so convincingly on the American movie screen, that he became one.  He played role after role of a hero in different uniforms of our military service. Those western characters he portrayed paid homage to the early days of America on the frontier.  He became a hero.  The thing with Wayne was that “what you saw was what you got”.  Off screen, he was the same man he played on screen.  And that came through, clear as a bell, in the characters he portrayed.

Say what you will about the Duke, but he taught, at least one generation of American men, what it meant to be a man… and even more importantly what it meant to be an American man.

Heroes provide us with role models. “We don’t need role models,"  you may argue.  Oh, but we do, I would counter.  Role models teach our children important lessons about who they are and of what they are capable.

When I first reported for military training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, back on July 5th, 1959, I had no idea what I was capable of.  None.  I thought I did.  But, boy, how wrong I was.

I weighed approximately 126 pounds ... and that was soaking wet! And then they took us up to a place known then as “Tank Hill”.  That’s where you went, in those days, when you reported to Ft. Jackson to be whipped into shape as an American soldier.  Eight weeks later, having survived pure hell, I left that Army post a brand new American soldier, believing I could lick the world and, if necessary, single handed.  

How did it happen?  One important factor of that training was that there were genuine heroes training us.  The instructor cadre were men who were veterans of the Second World War and the Korean War.  Men who had seen the worst the enemy could throw at them and they rose above it… and won! 

We had a First Sergeant, with an Irish name, and all the accoutrements, including the blue eyes and red hair.   Never saw him that he didn’t have a bayonet scabbard hanging from his web belt.  Never. He was a sergeant in the manner of old first sergeants. That guy was something to behold.  When he walked into a room, or onto a training field, all the noise became muted and all eyes were on him.  He commanded respect.  For those of us un-initiated, at the time, there was one huge question we all wanted to ask and that was… “Why”?  After a few weeks, I screwed up enough courage to ask one of the lowly buck sergeants what it was about the Top Kick that brought all that respect.

The sergeant pointed to the Top Kick’s bayonet.  “You see that,”  he asked? I assured him I couldn’t miss it.  The sergeant went on to say there was a story behind that bayonet.  He told me that even though he didn’t know all the details he knew that the Top Kick had saved his squad, in Korea, by charging an enemy machine gun nest with nothing but that bayonet in his hand.  He over ran that enemy gun emplacement and put the machine gun out of action and saved the lives of his men.  For his actions the Army had award him a medal. His fellow soldiers had awarded him something far more precious… their respect.

As I listened in awe, I came to understand the awe, in which his men held him, that day. And… I had something of an epiphany, and that was that… even heroes need heroes.  The men training me were genuine war heroes, and yet… they looked up to the Top Kick as THEIR hero.

It is the nature of the human beast.  We need “markers” to show us what we can achieve.  Those who rise above the rest ARE those “markers” and we call them heroes.

America has become a nation in limbo.  Having no markers, no heroes, to look to we are wandering about in a sea of disillusionment, not knowing who we are. Ofttimes we are discouraged from accomplishments, which exceed the norm.  We are told it is better to remain a non-entity than to accomplish more than one’s neighbors, and rise above them, for in so doing we make those who seek to remain equal feel ashamed, or less important than we.

To that I say… “Tough!”  It is that kind of thought that is killing the American spirit. It is that kind of thought that is killing America… period!  It is that kind of thought that is ushering in socialism in America with Mr. Obama at the point of the socialist spear.

America used to be a “can do” nation.  Now we are a “can you do it FOR me?” nation.  We have not yet recognized that those who willingly “do it” for us will soon reign over us.    

Regardless of what you may think, or you may have been taught, there are persons among us who are heroes.  These are persons who have risen above and simply not been recognized by a society that has chosen to hide itself in the mire of equal aspirations based upon our society’s lowest common denominator.

 We desperately need a hero to lead this nation through the dark decades ahead.  We are facing an enemy, which wants us dead and will stop at nothing to wipe us out.   We need a leader who is not afraid of taking the tough stands, and making the hard decisions, which may lead to the deaths of countless numbers of our enemies, but, in the end, save the USA.

But can a man, such as that, be elected in America anymore?  Probably not.   Can a man, such as that, be found among us?  Oh yes!   But I must warn you… they are few and far between.  You see… some say America stopped producing “real men” in the 1960’s.  And those of the male persuasion, who survived the ‘60’s, are now teaching our male children what THEIR definition of a real man is and, dear reader, it is far from what nature created the human male to be.

So what are America’s options?  Frankly, I don’t see any.  We, as a nation, are destined to ride this train to the end of the line.  You see, when a people, voluntarily, choose to emasculate themselves, they must pay the price.  America has only begun to pay that price.

© J. D. Longstreet

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

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in
almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce
unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and
constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any
pretence, raised in the United States."

–Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal
Constitution, 1787

That was then.

In an interview with the Daily Times Herald in Carroll, Iowa, state Rep. Dan Muhlbauer said governments should start confiscating semi-automatic rifles and other firearms.

Muhlbauer, a Democrat from the western Iowa town of Manilla, is a cattleman and farmer. The newspaper reported that he owns a .410 shotgun, a .22 rifle and a .22 pistol.

“We cannot have big guns out here as far as the big guns that are out here, the semi-automatics and all of them,” Muhlbauer told the newspaper during a December 19 audiotaped interview. “We can’t have those running around out here.

Dan Muhlbauer, Iowa State Representative.

This now.

Will an eventual call for confiscation and a complete ban on owning firearms be made by our statist national leaders? Perhaps only the Shadow Knows for sure. But, don't count it out because a bit of internet searching will turn up a lot of individuals who would be perfectly happy with just such actions being taken.

Click to enlarge.

Reverse mortgages! Don't fail me now!

March 9, 2008
Some Seniors Victimized in Reverse Mortgage Boom


December 12, 2012
It’s full-speed ahead for reverse-mortgage industry


Fantastic!

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Click to enlarge.

August 23, 2013
Calculated Risk: Comments on New Home Sales


For what it is worth, I shall take the under.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

Click to enlarge.

The Good News: MZM can apparently generate roughly $800 in interest per month per capita (July 2013 dollars) in a "perfect" economy, regardless of how much MZM has grown.

The Bad News: The economy can apparently only stay "perfect" for a month. Further, the economy is about as far from "perfect" as it can get right now. $11.9 trillion in MZM is currently generating just $28 per capita per month in interest (July 2013 dollars).

As seen in the chart:

* In 1982, the interest earned took just one month to bottom. Nice bounce!

* In 1994, the interest earned took just one month to bottom. Nice bounce!

* In 2003, the interest earned took roughly 18 months to bottom. Sticky bounce!

* In 2009, the interest earned took at least 45 months to bottom. Yet to bounce!

Stickier and stickier!

The bottom of the trend channel cannot trend down forever. There will be a linear trend failure here. Guaranteed. It is impossible for interest earned on MZM to fall below zero. The best it can do is fall to zero and stick there semi-permanently. So what would happen if the economy needs it to fall below zero as part of some future recovery process? Or even this "recovery" for that matter?

December 1999
Japanese Monetary Policy: A Case of Self-Induced Paralysis? - Ben Bernanke


Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! House prices? Oil prices? Bubble economy? Hello?


Oh, yes. Very helpful. Still doing it indefinitely! I shall end on a bumper sticker idea.

ZIRP Don't Werk!

This might be an "indefinite" money making idea! Well, maybe. Time will tell. Just be sure to have the bumper stickers ready in case the economy ever falls apart again. Keep in mind there is a risk here. I'm assured over and over that it can't ever happen again. The Fed has finally perfected monetary policy. Nothing but biscuits and gravy from here on out! It's therefore more of a contrarian play.

This is not investment advice.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

What better way to wrap up unofficial 'pillow week' with my official pillow source? A lot of you probably already know about Arianna Belle, maker of all things lovely, and if you don't you'll thank me in a minute.

I found Arianna way back when while doing one of my late night Etsy pillow searches. (I know how to have a good time) She created my Schumacher Ric Rac pillow and I've been a member of her fan club ever since.

Girlfriend can create anything you can dream up, her work is impeccable and her taste is spot on. Here are some I've added to my wish list. (take notes hubs)

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

Check out her shop and prepare to drool. Welcome Arianna Belle to the LBD family, I'm happy you are here!

Interested in a sponsorship with little black door? Email me!

Four women reported dead after driver lost control of his SUV near Las Cajas in the state of Jalisco.

Sensitivity Training Equals Communist Brain Washing
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
************************

I got to thinking about sensitivity training after reading that someone has suggested sensitivity training for the rodeo clown who donned an Obama mask and was promptly fired and then banned from ever working as a rodeo clown in that particular  state again.

A couple of things:  For a couple of years of my misspent youth, I worked as an announcer for a rodeo and as a track announcer for a quarter horse race track. 

I have the greatest respect in the world for rodeo clowns.  They save lives at great risk to their own personal safety.  The whole while they entertain the spectators which, in turn,  lessens the feeling of danger amongst the onlookers until the critical moments of exposure to that which presents the danger is past.

There is no more public figure than a President of the United States.  As a public figure, having fun poked at you goes with the territory. Having a "thin skin" AND finding oneself a public figure is not a good thing.  Either you thicken your skin or you get the heck out of your public job.

Poking fun at public figures is far more American than apple pie ever was. It is one of the ways Americans maintain the playing field on an even keel. "All men are created equal" ... remember?  

I have lived under every Presidents since FDR and I can say with no hesitation, Obama is the most sensitive of them all.  Even worse are his minions, his henchmen, that cohort of leftists/socialists/statists/collectivists/Marxists and communists who construct a phalanx around Obama to protect him from the proletariat. (Or as we like to refer to them down here... "the great unwashed masses.")

One must remember that Liberalism is an authoritarian philosophy.  To be a good liberal you must get in line -- and STAY in line.   If you get out of line you WILL be punished.

One of the favored ways of punishment is by isolating the offender from the group by the use of labels like racist, extremist, etc.

All tyrants know it is much more acceptable to keep the proletariat in line than to bring them back into line.  Often the later is extremely difficult requiring the spilling of large quantities of blood.  

All despots attempt to avoid such messy solutions to problems when one can avoid the problem altogether by ... brain washing the masses.

Yep.  That's what I said:  BRAIN WASHING.

The manner in which the Obama administration governs has been described as "soft despotism."  One of the most often used tools of the "soft" despot is sensitivity training, known by plain speaking folks as plain ole brain washing.

Sensitivity training is, when stripped of all the hyperbolic build-up, nothing more than "thought reform" based on the Communist Chinese technique of brainwashing from the Korean War era. 

It is good, I think for all Americans to understand that communists are social engineers.   They continually seek to change things like laws, institutions, and primarily -- society.  

Remember, Obama promised "change."  He meant it.  It was not JUST a campaign slogan.  Social engineers, like Obama, actually believe they can change society and in so doing eradicate wars, racism, hate, even squash prejudice.  The end result they are so sure they can attain is summed up in a word in little use today -- Utopia.

Utopia is an imaginary place, an ideally perfect state; especially in its social and political and moral aspects. 

No.  It doesn't exist and never will -- not on this earth, anyway. BUT -- with brain washing, with sensitivity training, the communist state can compel you to believe that Utopia IS attainable and you will act accordingly.

After four and a half years of the Obama administration,  we see a boy praying to Obama rather than God.  Does that tell you anything? Are you not alarmed?   You may read the article and view the video here:
http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/video-stunner-boy-prays-to-obama/ 

I worry that this young man's prayer to Obama is a sign of things to come in America.  Primarily -- the replacement of God with "The State." 

It is a fact of life that those pushing a radical agenda always go for the young and nieve FIRST. Getting access to them, indoctrinating them, brain washing them,  renders more foot soldiers for their cause and draws them ever nearer to attaining their end goal.

An integral part of reaching the Marxist/Communist goal of a take over of America is conditioning the citizens in "group think" and directing that group think in the direction they would have them go.  To do that sensitivity training is a must. There must be brain washing.

It's funny, isn't it, how someone firing a clown nearly a thousand miles away sparked the thoughts in this commentary.  Good thing I've not been brain washed.

Uh ...

© J. D. Longstreet

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


An interesting poll out by pollster David Winston clearly shows that American's, by a wide margin, favor ObamaCare and big statist government. Not at all surprising as this is the way America has been heading over the last 113 years. It is indeed a slow simmering process to the utopian gates of the Progressive Kingdom.

Washington Examiner - A new poll done for Republican members of Congress has found huge public opposition, and solid opposition among Republicans, to the idea of shutting down the government over the issue of funding Obamacare.

In a national survey of 1,000 registered voters done July 31 and August 1, the question, from pollster David Winston, said, “Some members of Congress have proposed shutting down the government as a way to defund the president’s health care law” and asked respondents whether they favored or opposed that plan.

Overall, 71 percent of those surveyed opposed a shutdown, while 23 percent favored a shutdown. Among Republicans, 53 percent opposed, versus 37 percent who favored. (Emphasis Mine)

Winston found a huge gender gap among Republicans. Republican men favored a shutdown by a narrow 48 percent to 44 percent margin. But Republican women opposed it by an enormous 61 percent to 29 percent margin.

Among Republicans who called themselves conservative, those who said they are very conservative favored shutdown by 63 percent to 27 percent, while those who said they are somewhat conservative opposed shutdown by 62 percent to 31 percent. Overall, Republicans who call themselves conservative were evenly split on the issue, 46 percent to 46 percent.

Conservative Republicans make up about 19 percent of the entire electorate. Of that number about nine percent call themselves very conservative, while ten percent say they are somewhat conservative. What the poll suggests is that even that conservative cohort is deeply split on the defunding initiative. {Read More}

Yes indeed. Changing times. Time for some popcorn.

Via: Memeorandum

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


If being considered a great president is defined as effective leadership during times of great change or challenging circumstances the following list of the United States top ten presidents may very well be accurate.

10) Lyndon Baines Johnson
9) Thomas Jefferson
8) Franklin Delano Roosevelt
7) William Howard Taft
6) Dwight David Eisenhower
5) James Madison
4) Andrew Jackson
3) George Washington
2) Theodore Roosevelt
1) Abraham Lincoln

Count the number of statist presidents in the top ten. By my count it is five, or 50%.

Now on to the worst American presidents. If ineptitude and lack of leadership is the marker the following list may might be accurate as well. I say might be because it was compiled by U.S. News and World Report.

10) Zachary Taylor
9) (Tie) Herbert Hoover
9a) Richard Nixon
8) William Henry Harrison
7) Ulysses S. Grant
6) John Tyler
5) Millard Fillmore
4) Franklin Pierce
3) Andrew Johnson
2) Warren G. Harding
1) James Buchanan

My personal view is top two best 1) Tomas Jefferson, 2) James Madison and bottom two worst 1) Richard Nixon, 2) Ulysses S. Grant. Of course I'm quite biased not being a proponent of statism in any form.

Click to enlarge.

September 25, 2007
Automation and Inequality




Source Data:
BLS: Occupational Employment Statistics