Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh

Lives Destroyed by 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.

Amnesty, American Values, and Economic Dependency

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 to which the proponents of amnesty on both sides of the isle in Congress are referring?

Flying South for Spring

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.

Uncle Ion and Grandma’s Orchard

Last fall 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.

Lessons Learned and Lessons Missed from the Attempted Land Grab

The recent standoff at the Bundy ranch in Nevada has taught us many lessons, but the most important one was missed.

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.

“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

The Dinosaur Exhibit Will Close for Five Years

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.

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

Abundant Energy Supply Strangled by Environmentally Driven Regulations

The Committee on Energy and Commerce convened on March 25, 2014 to hear testimony on H.R. 6, the “Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act,” introduced by Rep. Cory Gardner. This bill was precipitated by the Energy Information Administration’s statement that “America’s natural gas has been raising since 2006. EIA projects such increases to continue through 2040, and expects domestic production of natural gas to remain well above domestic demand.”

U.S.A. Nanny State of Mind

It does not matter how many weeks of vacation (Europeans get five), often paid by the nanny state, leisure time and holidays are not enough for the socialist-minded, entitled liberals.

The Environmentalists Are Not Giving Up

The small farmers in Virginia rejoiced when Senate Bill 51 and House Bill 268, dubbed the “Boneta Bill,” passed both houses and the Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe signed it. The bill gave farmers legal protection from overreaching and overzealous county bureaucrats who impose unreasonable requirements and unnecessary fees on small farmers.

Man’s inhumanity to man: Cannibalism in China

I remember the story of the Uruguayan air force flight 571 that crashed in the Andes in 1972 with 45 people on board and the 16 survivors who cannibalized the snow-preserved dead in order to survive. Humanity recoiled in horror.

Sonny the Yellow Lab and Lucky the Red Shouldered Hawk

Sonny, the yellow lab, and Lucky, the Red Shouldered Hawk's lives crossed on a cold snowy day in Virginia when Sonny sensed something was terribly wrong with the beautiful raptor perched on the fence for hours.

Fatherhood Initiatives and Nanny Government

In the age when big government has displaced and replaced fathers, making traditional families obsolete by giving financial incentives in various forms of welfare to millions of out-of-wedlock mothers in head of household families, the idea of fatherhood programs and initiatives seems commendable.

Where Do We Find Money When We Are Broke?

Where do we find money to fund so much out-of-control spending when we are so broke, our national debt ($17.5 trillion) with unfunded liabilities ($128.3 trillion) exceeds $145.8 trillion?

Private Property Rights Under Attack by Comprehensive Land Use Plans

Humans have always desired to own a piece of land that could be passed on to their heirs. Once they acquired property for homestead or farming, men labored on their land under the assumption that it was theirs to keep in perpetuity.

Profitable Global Warming Enterprise and Man-Made Drought

"It doesn't matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true."--Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace Another co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, a Canadian ecologist who was a member from 1971-1986, told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, "After 15 years in the top committee I had to leave as Greenpeace took a sharp turn to the political left, and began to adopt policies that I could not accept from my scientific perspective.

Malalai, an Afghani’s Story

Malalai is tall and willowy, an elegantly dressed Afghani beauty with a witty sense of humor. Her piercing and fascinating green eyes remind me of Michael Zhang’s iconic 1995 National Geographic portrait of the mysterious “Afghan Girl.”

"Engineering" Climate Change

Our omniscient government is going to spend $1 billion in addition to the billions already wasted so far in order to attempt the impossible, "engineering" climate change to satisfy the Green agenda.