Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh

Eating to Live Not Living to Eat

I don' t look at food the same way most Americans do. I grew up on my grandparents' small farm in the village. Everything we ate came from our garden and our livestock--fresh vegetables in season, canned vegetables in winter and spring, goat and cow' s milk, butter, goat cheese, eggs, smoked meat, lardy bacon, fatty sausages in natural casings, and eggs.

Why Global Citizenship and Not American Citizenship?

I have asked many students over my 30 teaching years why they attended college. The answers encompassed a wide range:

Shameless Communist Propaganda from the Left

Lately I see a lot of Marxist propaganda in our country, particularly in the MSM and in education. I know all the slogans because I lived the lies of the communist propaganda for 20 years.

The Incredible Legal Immigrants

I am always fascinated by legal immigrants who left their loved ones and their homes behind, came to this country, and made America a special place unlike any other on earth. Their individual stories of true grit and endurance in the face of adversity gives our American citizens their unique character and cultural fabric.

Arlington National Cemetery is 150 Years Old

There was a quiet and peaceful stillness about the cemetery this January day. It was snowing heavily and the pristine white was accumulating between thousands of rows of headstones marking the graves of our true heroes who gave their lives in battle or died in old age, having served our country for decades, fighting enemies to preserve our freedom.

On Being a Xenophobe and a Bigot

Humans are creatures of habit and do not like to uproot – unless, of course, you are an American with a sense of adventure and pioneer blood coursing through your veins. With its vast lands, lakes, rivers, prairies, and mountains, mobility in America by any means is not a problem. Ask the die-hard pioneers who braved snow, rain, mud, droughts, deserts, mountains, wild animals, and predatory outlaws to find their magical piece of land where they could settle and raise a family.

The Scam of Amnesty, a Political Hot Potato

“You can’t have open borders as long as you have a welfare state.” – Milton Friedman As a legal immigrant who waited patiently across the ocean to receive my permission to immigrate to the U.S., I understand the plight of over four million forgotten legal immigrants who are awaiting patiently the disposition of their cases, while the Immigration office works the backlog of applications, some as old as twenty years.

Political Class and Crony Capitalism: Communism under a Different Name

I was elated but very suspicious when communism failed suddenly in Eastern Europe in 1989. I suspected that the communist elites had decided to go underground to recoup and gain the trust of the west while attempting to rebuild their ranks.

Global Warming, EPA, and Exploding Toilets

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson posed an interesting question in support of the idea that we should not worry about cutting carbon emissions, “What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?”

The Polar Vortex Was Called Winter in My Childhood

It was bitter cold last night. Tiny snowflakes started to fall in the afternoon, turning lawns into a fantastic winter wonderland. Snow began to accumulate like a soft immaculate blanket. Then the hawk came and started blowing the soft dry snow into swirls of wind, howling past the windows, biting and stinging cheeks with the pricking sensation of needles. The wind chill was below 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The ghostly whiteness cast an illuminating glow inside the house all night. Trees were claiming their stake of the pristine snow-covered ground with intense shadows. The moon was a hanging globe of shiny silvery yellow. The sunrise made the snow sparkle with an orange glow peppered with crystal rhinestones. It was an invigorating and frost-biting sun.

Conservation Easements for Unsuspecting Farmers

After Delegate Bobby Orrock introduced on January 8, 2014, HB 268 and Senator Richard Stuart filed a companion bill, SB51, Delegate Bob Marshall introduced on January 17, 2014, HB 1219.

The Paris Club and the London Club

The consequences arising from the continual accumulation of public debts in other countries ought to admonish us to be careful to prevent their growth in our own. -- JOHN ADAMS, First Address to Congress, November 23, 1797

Boneta Bill Part Deux

Farming comprises less than three percent of an American labor force that feeds 307 million Americans and many other millions around the world yet government regulations are making it harder and harder for small farms to operate and bring wholesome foods to the market. Why should farmers be subjected to “annual property monitoring visits and inspections” by environmental groups, environmental councils, and local supervisors beholden to international agencies, groups that have no idea how their food gets to the table nor do they care? Virginians have fought back the NGO environmentalist assaults on their land, private property rights, and the right to farm by introducing HB 1430, The Right to Farm Act, better known as the Boneta Bill, which passed the House of Delegates 77-22 in February 2013 but was blocked by the Senate Agricultural Committee by a vote of 11-4. The sponsor of the bill, Delegate Scott Lingamfelter, promised to reintroduce the bill in 2014.

Voodoo Economics and Unemployment

Ninety-two million Americans are unemployed yet the spin masters are telling voters with a straight face that the economy is recovering nicely. The much touted 6.7 percent (U-3) unemployment rate has dropped again miraculously in December thanks to voodoo economics and statistics that totally discount millions of discouraged workers who have dropped out the labor force and stopped looking for work.

The Skinny on Bitcoin

Precious metals, gold, silver, copper, have been used as payment for goods and services as early as 2500 B.C. Such money made of precious metals was called commodity currency because it had intrinsic value, the precious metal which could be melted or shorn on the edges to make gold dust.

America’s expanding police state

In the increased police state around us and the amplified NSA surveillance everywhere, citizens are feeling more and more like they are guilty until proven innocent. The police in Fairfax County, Virginia, cannot stop many people for speeding since the interstates and highways are constantly partially blocked by accidents, road repairs, and rush hour - it is almost impossible to go fast – just a crawling speed bumper to bumper at all hours of the day and night.

The Government-assigned Concrete Block Apartments

An American diplomat who flew over communist Romania during Ceausescu’s reign of terror asked the innocent question, where are the farmers and their homes, I see nothing but fields of green everywhere?

The Ship of Global Warming Folly

I ponder the 1549 German woodcut, “Ship of Fools,” Albrecht Durer’s illustrations, and even Hieronymus Bosch’s artistic allegory of humanity’s folly sailing aboard a ship without a pilot, a stark reflection of what humans do, sometimes ignorant of their own direction, pursuing untrue and unattainable objectives.

Tiger Paws

Princess, the cat we babysat for a military family assigned overseas, was pregnant. What a joy! We had no idea because she was a plump kitty. She gave birth on January 18 to three smoke-grey kittens and a yellow one.

Falsifiers of History

“The absolute worst – and often irreparable – damage done to the Free World has been caused by the Kremlin’s disinformation operations designed to change the past.” – Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa The Oxford dictionary defines “disinformation” as false information that is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media.” The word originated in the 1950s with the Russian word, “dezinformatsiya.”