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Worse Than Watergate!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
******************

Four Americans are dead and the American people are being lied to as to how and why they got that way. 

Either the President is lying - and needs to be impeached, or he's NOT lying -- and needs to be impeached -- because he DIDN'T know what was happening!

Repeat:  Four Americans are DEAD. And as much as it pains me to say it -- it doesn't look as if our government made a genuine effort to save them.

I have watched, listened, and read as much as we have been allowed to know -- plus -- information gleaned by non-mainstream media sources,  and I  concluded -- long ago -- that there is a major cover-up at the top levels of the US government over the incident in Benghazi.

Now, let me be clear:  I am not an investigative reporter. That is not what I do.  I am a commentator -- an opinion writer ... nothing more.   I have deliberately "hung back" on any in-depth comments on the Benghazi affair simply because there always seemed to me to be more THERE there.  In other words, it was obvious, at least to me, that we were only getting drips and drabs of what really happened and, I felt (and still do) that we have been told nothing of WHY it happened.   But, dear reader, even Helen Keller could see there is a major cover-up surrounding the incident in Benghazi! 

That CIA "safe-house" has troubled me from the very beginning of this horrible story.  What was the CIA doing there?  There was no embassy in Benghazi.  In fact, the building attacked was not even a consulate.  If anything, it was a "mission."   Had it been an embassy, I'd not question a CIA presence.  They are practically a part of the furniture in any US Embassy.  But, as I said,  this was NOT an embassy.

Remember too, the last person our ambassador met with the evening of the attack was a Turkish diplomat.  What was a Turkish diplomat doing in Benghazi, Libya, meeting with Ambassador Stevens at an unprotected site?  Why not meet in the embassy in Tripoli? 

It now seems that the ex-SEALS were not attached to the consulate, but were assigned to the CIA "safe-house." They (laudably) went against orders and made a rescue attempt of the US officials and staff at the consulate/mission -- and lost their lives in the attempt.

There was quickly a fog of misinformation spewed up and out by the Obama Administration in what -- in my opinion -- is an attempt to cover-up an on-going scheme/operation to smuggle weapons into Syria through Turkey.

A few weeks ago, there was a report that Libyan militia members had been ordered to turn-in the weapons that had been supplied them in their struggle to overthrow Qaddafi. That report confirmed that many of those weapons had been turned in.  Where did those weapons go?  Perhaps, to the Syrian rebels?

It has been suspected for some time now that the US has been supplying small arms to the rebels in Syria for a while -- even though the Obama Administration denies it.

It is the kind of operation the CIA would be up-to-their-necks in and it would explain their presence on the ground in Libya in a safe-house just a mile away from the consulate/mission.

For the sake of argument, suppose the guns gathered from the Libyan militia were being covertly sent to Turkey and then smuggled across the Turkey/Syrian border to the Syrian rebels.

I continue to cycle back to the question -- WHY was the Ambassador THERE , alone, without a security detail, at that particular time, meeting with a high Turkish diplomat.  Remember, this was on September 11th.  If there was going to be an attack by terrorists -- September 11th would be the day for it.

Now, I'm just hypothesizing here.  I have no idea, at this point, what was really going on. But, I am confident there was a covert operation underway -- one so black that sacrificing the lives of four Americans was deemed "worth it" by our leaders in Washington. 

For whatever reason, the Obama Administration has chosen to tell the world a bald-faced lie about what happened in Benghazi. 

So politicians lie, right? Yeah, they do. But this time -- four Americans are dead and the country wants to know why that happened and why the Obama Administration chose to lie to us about it. 

It is clear now, that all the warnings from the political right about the penchant of this President and his administration for lies was absolutely correct. If they are lying about the "Incident in Benghazi," what else are they lying about?

It is clear the Mainstream Media is NOT going to cover this story.  They are not going to investigate what happened for fear that it will drive down support for Obama.  They seem to have taken the attitude:  the truth, the welfare of the country, be damned.  Keeping their man, Obama, afloat is the most important thing, bar none.  Nothing can be allowed to interfere -- not even the truth!

Look.  The cover-up of "Benghazigate" is far more important that Watergate ever was! 

We need a "Congressional Investigation" of the incident at Benghazi and we need it post haste!  If ever an incident deserved investigating by the Congress this horrible event in Benghazi is it. Too, it is looking more and more as if grounds for impeachment proceedings are present.

Whistle blowers, witnesses who claim to know the truth, are standing by having already stated their willingness to testify before Congress, but they are enjoined from such as a result of having signed documents that prevent them from discussing the event(s) in Benghazi.  They need to be released from those bonds so we can get to the truth.  One phone call from the President would take care of it.  Will he make the call?  Don't hold your breath.  

Yes, if only Obama was a republican, there would be no need for commentators to be begging the Congress to investigate or opining at the reluctance of the MsM to investigate.

It is what it is.  The Mainstream Media in America is an organ of the political left -- as is President Obama.  There is simply no way we are going to get anythng approaching impartial reporting or a REAL investigation of Benghazigate from the MsM. 

For me, it is not just a matter of trust, it is a matter of honor -- NATIONAL HONOR. 

America deserves better than we have gotten, or, are likely to get from Obama. 

© J. D. Longstreet

Click to enlarge.

I went 13 straight days at 211. I made an attempt to hold the line once 210 was breached. Some might argue that the seasonal peak is in. Others might argue that my girlfriend made a batch of brownies a few days ago though and they are all gone now. You'll see that damage in May's chart. Oops. :)


Click to enlarge.

I'm not at all worried about the long-term trend. That's all that really matters to me. I'm confident it is still down, especially if this is factored in. Further, hiking season is officially here. I intend to do some this weekend. The weather is predicted to be fantastic.

May 3, 2013
No school due to great weather: Seattle principal gives students rare ‘sun day’ off


No joke.

See Also:
The "Free Lunch" Weight Loss Plan v.000

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

The April job reports are out. The good news is unemployment fell to a four year low, certainly at year six in Obama's Presidential tenure strikes a positive note. Or does it? At the same time the number of people employed part time rose as well as strong indications are showing the Affordable Care Act (ACA aka ObamaCare) will have a long term negative impact on the USA economy.

The following is an interesting analysis and one that certainly has some credibility.

AEI - US job growth in April beat economist expectations as nonfarm payrolls rose 165,000, and the jobless rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5%. But the report contained worrisome signs that President Obama’s health care reform law is hurting full-time, high-wage employment.

While the American economy added 293,000 jobs last month, according to the separate household survey, the number of persons employed part time for economic reasons — “involuntary part-time workers” as the Labor Department calls them – increased by almost as much, by 278,000 to 7.9 million. These folks were working part time because a) their hours had been cut back or b) they were unable to find a full-time job. At the same time, the U-6 unemployment rate — a broader measure of joblessness that includes discouraged workers and part-timers who want a full-time gig – rose from 13.8% to 13.9%.

What’s more, there wasa 0.2 hour decline in the length of the average workweek. This led to 0.4 percentage point drop in the index of average weekly hours, “equaling the largest declines since the recovery began,” notes economist Dean Baker of Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Let’s see, more part timers and fewer hours worked. Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin says what we’re all thinking: “This is not good news as it reflects the reliance on part-time work. … the decline in hours and rise of part-time work is troubling in light of anecdotal reports of the impact of the Affordable Care Act.”

Anecdotal reports like this one from the Los Angeles Times: “Consider the city of Long Beach. It is limiting most of its 1,600 part-time employees to fewer than 27 hours a week, on average. City officials say that without cutting payroll hours, new health benefits would cost up to $2 million more next year, and that extra expense would trigger layoffs and cutbacks in city services.”

Now, there is the possibility that government furloughs are affecting the length of the workweek. (Though at the same time, steady if unspectacular private-sector job growth shows the Fed may be continuing to effectively offset any negative sequestration impact.) Here is JPMorgan on the subject:

Government shed a trend-like 11,000 jobs last month, a number which bore little evidence of a meaningful sequestration impact. Similarly, it is hard to directly link the decline in the average workweek to furloughed government workers, as the workweek only measures private industry hours. It’s conceivable the decline in the workweek may be related to the Affordable Care Act, but a simpler explanation is that it had jumped two ticks in the prior two months, and through the month-to-month noise is just settling into a stable trend.

We’ll see. But the combo of data and anecdotes should at least raise red flags about how health care reform could be permanently altering the structure of the American labor market. {Read More}

I report, you decide...

The Charts... (click to enlarge)





Via: Memeorandum

   From the "monochrome outfits" series I have for you today another example - Magic Blue -
I love wearing blue along with gold accessories, but this time I paired it with metallics. It has that futuristic feeling , maybe because I added the Pop Art clutch.




                                                                                  Shirt: vintage
                                                                                  Pants: Zara/ great option Here
                                                                                  Pointed-toe shoes: Zara/ Here
                                                                                  Clutch: 3.1 Phillip Lim
                                                                                  Watch: Mondaine/ option Here 
                                                                  Necklace: vintage
                                                                                  Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren
                                                                                  Bracelet: vintage/ great option Here

Sorry for the radio silence my friends. It appears that I've developed a case of carpal tunnel and it has totally ruined my quality blogging time. I'll be back at it next week but was told to take the next few days off. (I'm going to pretend that doesn't include being on my iPhone). 

In the meantime, head over to the Simply Baby's spring blog party today. My fellow style contributors Cindi and Emily from Scrappy Love are hosting today and I can't wait to see what they put together. And look forward to these style contributors in the weeks to come too.




Have a great weekend!

Déjà vu All Over Again?
The Audacity of Truth
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

I recently had a “commenter” question my loyalty to America as a result of my hypothesizing that we, as a nation, may be headed for another civil war.  It was an honest appraisal of our current situation, as I see it, and one at which I gingerly arrived with a great deal of uncertainty and tentativeness. 

The commenter was from a northern state, which lies on the US/Canadian border.   So far as I am able to determine, his state has never been invaded, conquered, and occupied by a foreign power. Mine has.

Now let’s be clear:  We southerners still, to this day, bear the scars of that conflagration.  A hundred and fifty years is but as a moment in time here in the South.

On May tenth, we Tar Heels will celebrate Confederate Memorial Day.  The National Flag of the Confederacy will fly over our State Capitol Building.  Celebrations will be held all over the state as well as memorial services to honor our Confederate ancestors.

We lost – yet – we celebrate the effort, the fight for “The Cause.”

Now, maybe it is because it is a part of who we are as southerners, that the past remains so alive, so vibrant here. Maybe it is because so many of us have bothered to look at what actually caused the break-up of the Union in the first place.

When one’s ancestors are referred to as “traitors” one is often compelled to investigate in an attempt to learn WHY. 

We quickly learn the accusation is a lie.  But -- we also learn of the circumstances in the United States in the 1800’s that practically insured the southern people would have to separate from the US in order to preserve the form of government given us by the Founding Fathers.

The result of the war would -- and did -- insure that the United States would have a STRONG CENTRAL GOVERNMENT and NOT a government answerable to the states and subject to the states as the Founders intended.

The original Constitution of the United States of America died at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, on the afternoon of April 9th, 1865 when Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia in the parlor of Wilmer McLean’s home. 

When one lends oneself to a study of the period one cannot help but see the similarities of the relationship between the US government and the people of the US – especially the people of the southern states -- then and now.  I must tell you it is chilling!

It was the study of the circumstances leading up to the "War for Southern Independence," as we southerners like to call it, that prompted me to point out that the US finds itself, today, in similar circumstances that might lead to another civil war in the country.

At CNSNEWS.COM on May 2nd, 2013, there is an article entitled: "Poll: 29% of Registered Voters Believe Armed Revolution Might Be Necessary in Next Few Years."  The article was written by Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr.  The lead-off paragraph says:  "Twenty-nine percent of registered voters think that an armed revolution might be necessary in the next few years in order to protect liberties, according to a Public Mind poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University." SOURCE:  http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/poll-29-registered-voters-believe-armed-revolution-might-be-necessary

(Fairleigh Dickinson University is the largest (12000+ students) independent university in New Jersey.  Source:  http://www.fdu.edu/ )

So, it would seem this old scribe isn't alone in worrying about the possibility that the nation may go to war with itself in the near future. 

Here in the southeast, it is likely we recognize the signs far more quickly that folks from other regions of this great country.  If so, then it is simply because we have been there (here?)  before.

In my home state of South Carolina cannon balls from Sherman's artillery can still be seen embedded in the walls of the State Capitol Building.

As I write, I sit a few minutes drive from the last Confederate fort to fall to the Union, Fort Fisher.  It was the death knell for the Confederacy.  Resupply for the Confederacy was ended.  The Union siege of Fort Fisher, especially the ship to shore bombardment,  was not equaled until the Second World War.

On a drive through the American Southeast you will see multiple flagpoles in the front yards of many homes flying Old Glory from high atop the pole.  Granted, you may see a state flag, or even one or more of the Confederate national flags, or even the Confederate Battle Flag or the famous Gadsden Flag (The “Don’t Tread On me Flag) flying BELOW Old Glory… on the same pole.  To a Southerner that is not the least bit confusing.  We are proud Americans, Southern Americans, to be sure, proud of our heritage. But our allegiance, first and foremost, is to the United States.

Yes.  We DO worry that it could all happen again.  And I remain convinced that the possibility grows greater every time the federal government accrues more power to itself.

Sort of like the canary in the mine shaft, we southerners might be a bit more sensitive to overbearing government simply because our region has experienced it before.  For instance, it can be argued that "Reconstruction" of the South, after the war, actually did MORE harm to the South than the war itself.  (The US sucked at nation building even then!)

I'm not sure, exactly, what it says about a nation, when the direct descendent of a host of Confederate soldiers steps forward to warn America against making the same mistakes America made in the mid 1800's (which led to a civil war) and he is denigrated for having the audacity to draw attention to obvious preparations being made by both citizens and government for just such an horrendous event.

Seems to me, we should be able to analyze what went wrong then and, at least, make an attempt to avoid making the very same mistakes.  We already know where that road leads. If we can't do that, then we are already lost.

© J. D. Longstreet 

Senate Gungrabbers Not Done Yet!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
******************

Senator Joe Manchin, a democrat of West Virginia, says there was confusion about the gun control bill he and Senator Pat Toomey, a republican of Pennsylvania, introduced in the US Senate recently.  It, of course, failed.

We have warned our readers umpteen times that the leftists are relentless in their grab and grasp for power -- and so it is with gun control.

In a television interview a few days ago, Senator Manchin said he would re-introduce the bill (or a bill similar to the original) that would require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online.  He appeared convinced that once senators read the bill they will vote in support of it.

The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this interview was:  "What was the Senator smoking?"  It is clear as a bell that once senators actually read the bill, more will refuse to support it than refused the first time around.  A NEW bill, however, might be something else, altogether.  In any event, gun owners would be wise to stay abreast of the gun control debate going on "sub-Rosa" in the Senate -- and elsewhere -- on Capitol Hill.  

It is also clear that the bill will not be introduced immediately.  Obama and his henchmen need time to beat, bash, and coerce those in the Democratic Party who had the temerity to vote against the Manchin/Toomey Bill.  They will need to be brought back in line by whatever threats -- or bribes -- are necessary.  (Remember how Obama got support for Obamacare???)

So, it is back to the barricades for gun owners in America.  Once again we must man freedom's ramparts to defend our own constitution from the very people who gave us an oath, swore on the Bible, not to do exactly what they are doing.

It is a sad day for America -- and a sad day for the world -- when Americans have to defend themselves -- and their rights -- from their very own government.

Consider this:  "According to a pair of recent polls, for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist hijackings, Americans are more fearful their government will abuse constitutional liberties than fail to keep citizens safe."  SOURCE:  http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/americans-fear-government-more-than-terror/

Even after the Boston bombings, the article goes on the say:  "the polls indicate Americans are hesitant to give up any further freedoms in exchange for increased “security.”

Look.  Even before the Declaration of Independence was written American colonists were reluctant to go against their government.  In that case it was King George and the British Parliament.  The colonists bent over backwards, at least in their own estimation, to avoid a confrontation with the crown.  But it did not work.  It never does when dealing with a tyrant and/or a despot.

Dealing with Obama, and his Marxist/Labor/Democrat Party, modern day Americans have finally arrived at the very same conclusion their ancestors did in the 1700's, which is: this far -- and NO FARTHER!   

By now we are all aware of something one of our esteemed Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin,  wrote:  “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

I'd like to take Franklin's statement a bit farther and quote Edward Gibbon:  “In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”  -- Edward Gibbon (27 April 1737  – 16 January 1794) was an English historian and Member of Parliament.

No matter how many times I read the quote above, I catch myself nodding my head in agreement with the sentiments of Gibbon. It is as though someone held a mirror up to all of America and in it we can clearly see our current reflection.

I invite you to re-read the Gibbon's statement above and instead of the words "Athenians" and "Athens" insert the words "Americans" and "America."  No further explanation is necessary, is it? 

Does it not send cold chills up and down your spine? 

Here's another observation by Edward Gibbons.  It was made concerning the Roman Empire but, much as the quote above, this one, too, looks as if it were actually describing modern day America: 

“The five marks of the Roman decaying culture:

Concern with displaying affluence instead of building wealth;

Obsession with sex and perversions of sex;

Art becomes freakish and sensationalistic instead of creative and original;

Widening disparity between very rich and very poor;

Increased demand to live off the state.”
― Edward Gibbon
SOURCE:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/11628.Edward_Gibbon

Another quote from Gibbons comes to mind as I reflect on the under-handed way so much of our legislation is rammed through Congress these days.  It is this: “Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.”
It would seem corruption is something we who live in a constitutional representative republic must expect -- and guard against -- incessantly.

© J. D. Longstreet

Obama's Cloward-Piven Strategy Taking Longer Than Expected
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
******************************

Obama's plan to fundamentally change America by crashing her government and her society and remaking it in the model of a socialist dung heap (Cloward-Piven in a nutshell) is taking longer than had been expected.

See, these pesky conservatives refuse to go away.  We're "hanging in here like a hair in a biscuit!"  Crude?  Yeah.  Accurate?  Darned right!

Think about it.  Obama only has to defeat half the country.  Nearly half of America's citizens pay no taxes and have no "skin in the game."  They could not care less what happens to America so long as those "gov-mint" checks keep showing up in their bank accounts and/or mail boxes.

Unfortunately for the "Progressive/Marxists," America's conservative core will not surrender.

So the Obama revolutionaries push even harder.  They are relentless in their drive to transform America into a communist country and a police state.

The increase in Americans on the government dole is a major part of their scheme.  In fact it is the foundation upon which the plan to collapse the American economy is built.   It is also the corner stone of the strategy to collapse our constitutional representative form of government into a communist "republic," you know, like North Korea. 

Think about it.  Already the Cloward-Piven bunch has captured one half of America's citizens.  The government feeds, clothes, and houses them -- and even gives them a cell phone. -- for FREE!  There is no way under the sun that that 49 percent of Americans will ever support a form of government that demands they work for a living and contribute something, anything, to their country. 

Half of the country is made up of wards of the government/state.  Over the generations, responsibility has been bred and indoctrinated out of them.  They are now, for all intents and purposes, drones.

Generations of families on the dole have established that form of living as the "norm." within the drone community. 

But what about their indoctrination?

In an article by David Kupelian entitled: "Americans 'snapping' by the millions" Mr. Kupelian says the following:  "We need to realize that Americans could not have twice elected a leader as transcendentally unworthy of the presidency as Barack Obama without first having had their minds and hearts captured. Through constant leftist indoctrination, emotional manipulation, ruthless intimidation – and then being rewarded once they have “converted” – perhaps half of the American electorate has been programmed over the course of decades by a subversive school system and equally perverse “news” establishment. Truth be told, both institutions have become full-blown abominations, occupying as they do near-sacred stations of public trust in American civilization." SOURCE:  http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/americans-snapping-by-the-millions/

Mr. Kupelian is spot on.  The Progressive/Marxists have been at this a very long time.  It did not just spring up with Obama.  Obama just happens to be their willing co-conspirator believing, as he does, in the Cloward-Piven Strategy -- and -- having been groomed since childhood for just this task -- at just this time in history.

Years ago, I wrote of the America's roiling rage just below the surface.  With the added weight and effrontery of Obama and Cloward-Piven, with the audacious (even arrogant) behavior of Obama's minions in the various departments of government, that rage is beginning to break through to the surface.  

Stress is the order of the day in America.  Everyone, I mean EVERYONE (except the drone community), is on edge.  Nerves are stretched to the breaking point.  There is a sense that something is about to happen, something that will throw America into chaos.

Firearm sales are at historic levels.  Ammunition has, for the most part, been sold out across the nation.  Ammo dealers and gun dealers have stacks of back orders.  Ammo manufacturers say they are working overtime to turn out as much product as possible and yet, they are unable to meet the demand.

What's happening?  Well, that fifty percent of Americans -- not in Obama's orbit -- are preparing to defend their rights, their constitution.  They are preparing to defend the country many swore to defend in the oaths they took as members of America's military and as police officers, and sheriff's deputies, etc., plus -- the millions of Americans motivated by love of freedom and the determination to fight to preserve the country their ancestors fought, bled, and died to hand down to them.

The atmosphere in America today is electric.  Like the two poles of a magnet, the two political poles repel each other. 

The country is split into two nearly equal halves.  There is a near audible hum emanating from the energy built up on both sides.

The clash, when it comes, will be "biblical" in it's intensity.  Believe me, the scars left from the last American-on-American clash are still visible and still raw after 150 years -- at least in my beloved Dixie.

There is a pressure valve, however, to ease the pressure and stave off a nationwide explosion.  It is the mid-term election in November of 2014.  If we can make it that far without going to war with each other, we may have a chance.    

In order to stop the coming conflict between Americans, voters will have to vote for conservatives to hold the US House of Representatives -- and -- capture the US Senate.  It is the ONLY way to avoid a meltdown and the explosion that will tear the nation apart no matter who "wins" the conflict.

© J. D. Longstreet

My dear friend Patriot USA is in dire need of both funds and prayers.  As many know, Patriot USA had major spinal surgery this last month.  He is unable to work, unsure that he will have a job to return to, and the bills are piling up.  Recently he had to spend big bucks on the repairs to his car.  (OK his wife's car.)  Thus depleting his savings.  His wife is out of work and has one child in college and a child in High School.  Things are getting so bad that even AJ, his dog is feeling the pinch.

I know times are tight.  Heck I am short too, but Patriot's need is greater.  A few bucks his way will do wonders for his recovery and health.

Either click here and hit the side link to donate or you can donate directly by clicking here.  And remember Patriot in your prayers.

Thank you;

Findalis

Stolen From Stop The ACLU

This goes under the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot category.

Remember how you were taught in school how to add a series of numbers? Remember how you were told to write each set of numbers on top of each other, to stack them so you could then add them together to get a total?

Kids aren’t taught that any more. In fact, the system of “cubes, sheets, sticks and dots” they are taught now is so convoluted, involved and confusing that it often results in wrong answers. But correct answers isn’t the goal for today’s fetid school systems. “The process” is all that is cared about.
If you aren’t infuriated by this video…


Click here if the video fails to load.

These are unionized teachers perpetrating this crime on our kids, folks.

Remember that.

I don't know about you, but after the first 30 seconds I wanted to find the teacher and punch him or her out.  And we are suppose to train these children to be the engineers, doctors and scientists of the future.  Really?