Identity Theft and Data Breaches

Identity thieves have victimized 12.6 million Americans in 2012 to the tune of nearly $21 billion. Eighteen percent of all Federal Trade Commission complaints received that year involved identity theft. More complaints were lodged in 2012 when compared to 11.6 million in 2011 and 10.2 million in 2010. (Javelin Strategy and Research, 2013 Identity Fraud Report: Data Breaches Becoming a Treasure Trove for Fraudsters, February 2013)
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Amnesty, American Values, and Economic Dependency

Ellis Island Immigrants Ellis Island Immigrants
In the ongoing battle about amnesty for illegal aliens, one recurring theme has been “these are not American values,” meaning that we have to bestow citizenship on these people who broke our laws because they are already here, we can’t send them back, it’s un-American. This question should be asked, what are the American values the proponents of amnesty on both sides of the isle in Congress are referring to?
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On Being a Parent

Little Ileana Ileana as a Child in Romania
I was one of those parents who worked two jobs her entire career to indulge my children. I wanted to make sure they never had to suffer like I did in my childhood under the oppressive communism with its equally miserable and impoverished masses. I now know that I made mistakes from time to time. I should have said no more often in my effort to make my children’s lives easier and better.
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Flying South for Spring

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA Princess, the adopted kitty
From the moment I left the house, I did not know what I was going to find on my journey. This time I left at 3 a.m. and I discovered that, even at such an early hour on Easter Sunday, the roads were not exactly clear in the suburbs of Virginia, the capital of congestion and perennially clogged highways and interstates.

On my way south, my airline ticket offered a convoluted route via the windy city. Once aboard the plane, having escaped the unnecessary frisking of the TSA, I started perusing the in-flight magazine – they’ve never disappointed me, bursting with colorful ads, magnificent stories of faraway romantic places that look so much more fascinating in glossy photographs than in reality, and the usual environmental propaganda. This time it was all about “green” coffee, sustainability, community gardens, and U.S. Airways’ one world alliance (part of the merger with American Airlines) that is supposed to compete with Delta Sky Team’s. The name “one world alliance,” meant to help “international travelers better connect with their world locations,“ gave me shivers.
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Uncle Ion and Grandma’s Orchard

A story from my upcoming book, “Death or Rebirth of Communism?”

Grandma's house

Grandma’s house


In the fall of 2012 I was on a mission to see my Dad’s last three surviving siblings, two sisters and a brother. I wanted to visit uncle Ion, my Dad’s youngest brother, first. Had my Dad lived to a ripe old age, he would have probably looked very much like his sibling. When they were kids, Dad helped raise Ion and was his role model, especially after Grandma Elisabeta became a widow with eight kids at such a young age.
Ion turned 78 in 2013 and lived in Grandma Elisabeta’s house in Popesti, not far from the bustling city of Ploiesti, the center of the oil industry during the communist regime. Continue reading

Lesson Learned and Lessons Missed from the Attempted Land Grab

Cow
Photo: freedigitalphotos.net
The recent standoff at the Bundy ranch in Nevada has taught us many lessons, but the most important one was missed. We learned that the government will do anything to private citizens in order to grab land and private property either under the guise of protecting an “endangered” desert tortoise that is actually overpopulated, or getting rid of “feral” and destructive “trespassing cattle” grazing the land for generations, cattle that are in the way of developing a $5 billion Chinese solar panel plant (ENN), and the exploitation of rare earth elements in the larger adjacent area.
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Liberals and Progressives, Telling Other People How to Live Their Lives

Liberals and progressives (LPs) like to control and micromanage other people’s lives. They consider themselves the ultimate arbiter of every facet of our existence. You could say they are the proverbial busy-bodies. You can ignore the busy-body down the block. But, if you ignore liberals and progressives who have the power of the HOA, of violent protests, of boycotts, of the law, of the purse, and of the police behind them, you do so at your own peril.
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“Building the Machine,” the Common Core Documentary

Common sense of the common people is more important for the health of the nation than the ideas of the philosophical elites.” – Wayne Brasler

In 2013, sixty-two percent of Americans have not heard of Common Core. Ian A. Reid set out to change that. He directed the best documentary on the National Common Core Standards, “Building the Machine.” www.CommonCoreMovie.com
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The Dinosaur Exhibit Will Close for Five Years

National Natural History Museum
The National Fossil Hall at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History will receive its “first nearly-complete” T. Rex specimen on April 15, 2014 during a live webcast ceremony. The Fossil Hall will close its doors on April 28, 2014 to undergo “the largest and most complex renovation” which will last five years. When the National Fossil Hall reopens in 2019, the dinosaur will become the centerpiece of the newly renovated museum. http://naturalhistory.si.edu/fossil-hall/
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Teach Common Sense not Common Core

“Common Core will be raising good little socialists, who are in tune with their feelings, not so much their critical thinking skills.” – Author unknown

I have seen many educational fads come and go, trying to replace teaching methodology in our public schools with something so revolutionary and never tried before that would make teaching a “science” instead of an art and place all children into a national standardized one mold fits all in spite of the human variability in intelligence, talent, aptitude, ability, and the desire to learn. All these fads were driven by the Department of Education’s intention to fund new research that justified its existence and the college professors of education who were under the threat of “publish or perish” when it came to obtaining the very sought-after tenure – life employment without dismissal for cause. Education grew more and more liberal, infusing non-science subjects with Chavezism, Castroism, Maoism, Stalinism, feminism, racism, socialism, and communism.
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