The Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Admin

Old Mine Road
Green foliage and flowering trees have exploded virtually overnight in a symphony of pink and white. The temperatures are mild and a gentle breeze dries the morning dew. The old pyrite mine road is quiet, peaceful, and sunny. We walk slowly, taking in the natural beauty and the fresh air. Our spirits match those of the chirping birds – we are so happy to be alive, relishing in the moment, enjoying the spring that finally arrived. It has been a long winter. We shoveled a lot of global warming snow from our driveway. It is finally a pleasant day of May with a cloudless blue sky.
Continue reading →

Unintended Consequences of Renewable Energy?

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Admin

The D.C. metro was plastered last month with ads by GoWithCanada.ca, promoting the proposed 1,179-mile Keystone XL Pipeline, a 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline originating in Hardisty, Alberta, and extending south to Steele City, Nebraska. Described as “America’s best energy partner,” Canada provides United States refineries every day with 2.4 million barrels of crude oil, more than Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. The ads explained that “80% of Canada’s oil sands production capacity is owned by North American companies.”
Continue reading →

Identity Theft and Data Breaches

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Admin

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)
Continue reading →

Amnesty, American Values, and Economic Dependency

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Admin

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?
Continue reading →

On Being a Parent

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Admin

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.
Continue reading →

Flying South for Spring

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Admin

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.
Continue reading →

Uncle Ion and Grandma’s Orchard

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Admin

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

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

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Admin

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.
Continue reading →

Liberals and Progressives, Telling Other People How to Live Their Lives

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Admin

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.
Continue reading →

“Building the Machine,” the Common Core Documentary

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Admin

“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
Continue reading →

ILEANA JOHNSON

American By Choice

Author Archives: Admin