The Mechanics of How the Dollar Became the World's Reserve Currency

During WWII, I guess around the time of the Bretton Woods agreement, the US government decided to make the US Dollar the reserve currency of the world. The Treasury or Fed shipped out two types of huge boxes the size of refrigerators, Federal Reserve Boxes and Wells Fargo Boxes. Their destination were the governments/central banks of post war nations. The former were full of Federal Reserve notes and the latter were full of Federal Reserve notes, gold, and diamonds. These Federal Reserve notes were printed in exceptionally large denominations. The purpose of these contents was to serve as bank reserves for the world financial system after the war. They were never meant for general circulation.

Some boxes were lost because planes crashed in the mountains, ships sank at sea, or were captured. Several of these have been found over the years, some legitimate and many fake. People have tried to cash these in, mostly unsuccessfully.

Supposedly the Federal Reserve has seven men who are assigned the task of dealing with these as they come to light. Redeeming them is a complicated process. You cannot just fly these into America on a commercial plane or they will be seized. They have to be brought into the US via private aircraft.

If redeemed, they are currently being redeemed for 2% of face value, it used to be higher, 10%! But this still results in a huge amount of Federal Reserve Notes, a few billion worth. And they won't just hand you the cash, they will fund a charity.

The reason why the government does not just ignore the whole issue is because of embarrassment. They are embarrassed that these boxes are out there and still circulating and getting attention. I guess payments are hush money!

The problem with such treasure hunts, even if people find the high value notes, is that they rely on the U.S. Treasury or Federal Reserve to pay up at the end. Not a likely scenario. They are worth the same as all other Federal Reserve Notes in the end... worthless paper, zero.

The Silliness of the Iraq Study Group

In going through the Iraq Study Group Report, recommendation number 19 is pretty silly...something that a high school student might come up with for a current events report.

To have learned men suggest that the President and National Security team stay in close and frequent contact with the Iraqi leadership is amazingly simplistic.

Of course that is being done currently.

To make this a serious and grave recommendation is just silly.

More Prisons....

During Robert Gates' testimony for Defense Secretary this week, Senator Sessions of Alabama asked about the need for more prisons in Iraq.

Now isn't that just typical of the federal government to broach the subject of a prison building scheme?

They truly want to turn Iraq into another America...a land of prisons.

The White House Can’t Put Out the Mideast Fires It Ignited

"Remember when narrow-minded Republican know-nothings launched a hate campaign against French President Jacques Chirac and everything French because Paris would not go along with George Bush’s jolly little war in Iraq?

Well, it turns out that Chirac’s warnings in 2003 that a US invasion of Iraq would set the Mideast on fire, encourage terrorism, and produce a disaster have been tragically born out by events.

Iraq is falling ever deeper into chaos and sectarian conflict. Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calls it “worse than a civil war.” Lebanon is teetering on the brink of civil war. The agonies of Palestine – now the world’s largest outdoor prison – continue without relent. Iran’s power and influence are surging, scaring the daylights out of Washington’s Sunni clients in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf.

For the latter, thank George Bush. He overthrew two of Iran’s bitterest enemies, Taliban and Saddam Hussein, then stuck US ground forces in the $250 million per day Iraq quagmire that is now estimated to cost at least $1 trillion before the United States admits defeat and pulls out."

Click here for the rest of the article.

Ron Paul Interview

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas was recently interviewed by Al Korelin.

Ron Paul sits on the Banking Committee in The House of Representatives. He makes an interesting comment. Members of the committee actually believe that the US Dollar is backed by gold. This is incredibly naive thinking.

The dollar has not been attached to gold since Nixon closed the gold window in the early seventies...and even then it was only superficially associated with gold.

Here is a link to the interview with Ron Paul.

The Future

"The image of the future of this country is in the books, in the great prophecies of the twentieth century, that did not come from our pseudo-Christian leaders but came from the pen of Orwell and Huxley, and came from the filmic talent of Ridley Scott in "Bladerunner," that is the future. It is the totalitarian future, it is a future that works, it is a future that is efficient, it is a future in finally which our welfare, health and education problems will be solved, not by persuasion but by that gentle tyranny that is provided today to the one-child policy in China which Planned Parenthood supports, in which women are forced to abort the unwanted, the unwanted children which they themselves wish to bear. That is the future.

The future, the future of this country, is a geneticists, is a geneticists plaything, and is a nightmare to those who have any conception however vague or remote, however vague and distant, of ideas which once rang in our republic, of freedom, and dignity, and equal rights before the law; due process, and representation before the court system." -Frank Schaeffer, 1992

Today in History

"On this day in 1777 the Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation after 16 months of debate. Although much maligned by modern historians, the Articles were in many ways
superior to the constitution that succeeded them. They certainly did a better job of preserving the rights and sovereignty of the states, but the economic stagnation spawned by the states' issuing paper monies, and the tariffs they wanted to impose on intrastate commerce, stalled American development & prosperity." -Franklin Sanders

The Elections of 2006

I am delighted that the Republicans have finally lost power. I am however, very saddened that the Democrats have won control of Congress.

The Republicans have been an embarrassment to this nation and the world. They have spent this country deeply into debt. They have not been a check on President Bush who is a dictator and a scofflaw. Republicans have greatly increased the size, power, and scope of the federal government.

They were elected in 1994 to reduce the size of government. They have not done so. Shame on the Republicans.

The Democrats will be no better. They will continue to promote envy and coveteousness. They will steal from one class of people and redistribute it, first to themselves and finally to their constituencies.

Both political parties in this country are corrupt. Unfortunately they merely reflect the values of the people of this country who are just as corrupt and immoral.

A Point to Ponder

Attorney General Gonzales is quoted on the website of the Whitehouse, regarding the Military Commissions Act of 2006, as saying, "I want to make one thing clear: The Military Commissions Act does not apply to American citizens. The military commissions established under the Act may try only alien unlawful enemy combatants, and the new law does not restrict the rights of United States citizens to file writs of habeas corpus in federal court."

In 1978 the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals proclaimed that they could "find no basis in constitutional history, judicial interpretation, political history, legal scholarship, or persuasive argument to conclude that...a right ['to trust the federal government and to rely on the integrity of its pronouncements'] exists under...any...provision of the Constitution". Mapco Inc. v. Carter, 573 F.2d 1268, 1278 (Temporary Emergency Ct. App.)

So in light of the ruling, quoted above, by the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals (which has never been overturned by the US Supreme Court), why should I believe Mr. Gonzales' statement that I have not lost my right to Habeas Corpus in the federal courts?

The War in Iraq

Here is my prediction on the outcome of the war in Iraq.

The United States Government will spend itself further into debt in its efforts to stabilize Iraq.

In time, Congress and the American people will realize the futility of fighting this war and pull out.

Within five years or less after American troops leave, a dictator as bad or worse than Sadam Hussein will rise to power. US efforts will have been in vain.

The Totalitarian State is Here to Stay

Congratulations!

Yesterday in history, 17 October 2006, y'all lost your ancient right to habeas corpus. Your government can now detain you indefinitely, without cause or charge, and, as an extra bonus, your government can now torture you as a prisoner, legally.

You now live in certified totalitarian tyranny.

Don't be caught clapping too softly for Comrade Stalin.

For more information, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igycXBseoAg&eurl.

The Ring of Power

I have been recently rereading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. The following passage in Fellowship of the Ring got me thinking:

"We of Minas Tirith have been staunch through long years of trial. We do not desire the power of wizard-lords, only strength to defend ourselves, strength in a just cause. And behold! in our need chance brings to light the Ring of Power. It is a gift, I say; a gift to the foes of Mordor. It is mad not to use it, to use the power of the Enemy against him. The fearless, the ruthless, these alone will achieve victory. What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? What could not Aragorn do? Or if he refuses, why not Boromir? The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!"

Like Boromir's desire for the Ring of Power, Christians have desired positions of power and influence in our Federal government. This caused me to think, what if Christians suddenly found themselves in positions of power tomorrow? What mess would we then have on our hands?


Far too many Christians on the right have desired their own precious: the power of big government. They see the good that they could do with the power if they had it. I have no doubt that Christians could and would do a lot of good. Many bad bills would be vetoed and maybe even some good legislation passed.

But like the Ring of Power that did so much evil in Middle Earth and yet was so terribly difficult for Isildur and Frodo to destroy, the power of the Federal government that has done so much evil in our own country and the world would be very difficult to destroy. It would be so difficult because so much good could be done with that power.

The Federal government ought to be completely dissolved and all power returned to the States and to the People.

Congressman Ron Paul has recently said, "The notion that an all-powerful, centralized state should provide monolithic solutions to the ethical dilemmas of our times is not only misguided, but also contrary to our Constitution. Remember, federalism was established to allow decentralized, local decision-making by states. Today, however, we seek a federal solution for every perceived societal ill, ignoring constitutional limits on federal power. The result is a federal state that increasingly makes all-or-nothing decisions that alienate large segments of the population."

So far the record of Christians in power is not a good one.

Look at John Ashcroft. For four years he served as President Bush II's Attorney General. He had the authority and the power to greatly reign in the power and tyranny of the United States Department of Justice. Rather than honestly review every law and statute for their constitutionality, Ashcroft and his US Attorneys went on a fishing expedition. They have used their power to go on a search and destroy mission for every violation, real or imagined, of federal law that they could find.Furthermore under Ashcroft, The Patriot Act was hurriedly pushed through Congress in the name of fighting terrorism. This evil legislation has given even more power to the Federal government's jackbooted thugs in their war on the liberties of the American people.

Ashcroft did at least two things wrong. First, John Ashcroft often used the courts to his political advantage to advance the power of the federal government. Second, there is no right for Federal judges to hear questions regarding abortion (and a host of other issues). Ashcroft tacitly agreed with the enemies of liberty and life that the courts did have jurisdiction in areas like abortion. He did so by not standing up to the Federal Courts and prosecuting judges that usurped their constitutional powers.

I think a Christian in the position of Attorney General could have done much to advance the cause of liberty. A Christian could have done an honest review of the laws and statutes and refused to enforce unconstitutional laws. And a Christian would be well within his rights and duties to do so. "An unconstitutional act is not a law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is, in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed." Norton v. Shelby County, 118 U.S. 425, 442 (1886).

I am all for Christian involvement in politics. But the power to do good can often be used for destructive purposes later. The power of the Federal government, like the Ring of Power, is a power that nobody can wield rightly. This leads me to conclude that if Christians were to obtain power tomorrow, they would be twice the sons of hell that the pagans (who currently run the political system) are today.

Dictatorship Is Here

"BURIED IN THE complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects in the Guantanamo Bay fortress. The compromise legislation, which is racing toward the White House, authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights," write Bruce Ackerman. BRUCE ACKERMAN is a professor of law and political science at Yale and author of "Before the Next Attack: Preserving Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism." Published September 28, 2006 at the Los
Angeles Times website.

America: Freedom to Fascism

I highly recommend the movie America: Freedom to Fascism. You may find more information at the following website: America: Freedom to Fascism

Apparently, there is no law that requires an individual to file an income tax return. Unfortunately most people don't know this and the IRS makes sure that you won't know this.

Aaron Russo exposes the lies, fraud, and deceit of the IRS and the US government. There are some funny episodes as Aaron Russo tries to track down answers to his very simple questions.

An Excellent Observation

"The fiscal conservatives are enraged at six years of the President’s financial recklessness. The nationalists are incensed, betrayed by the President’s lack of concern over border security. The Religious Right has begun to wonder what Jesus would do, and find that His righteous anger is directed not at Muslims or terrorists, but at a faithless flock that built idols of war and created their own Caesar." -Karen Kwiatkowski, Ph.D. For the full article go to: Cutouts
and Paper Tigers, and What To Do With Them

On Secession

It is high time that serious thought and action be given to secession.

Americans no longer share common values, goals, and religious faith. It does not make sense to stay together as a nation.

This division has become quite apparent with the division of the country into blue and red states. Both divisions really don't like each other.

So I propose that the national government be dissolved and the states allowed to reclaim their sovereignty.

On Liberty

Americans for the most part LOVE the current system. So long as they have access to easy credit, keep the credit card payments up to date, abort their children, keep the bribes (taxes) to the US Treasury paid up, keep fuel in their fancy cars, and stay off the radar screen of the US Attorney's Office, absolutely NOTHING is going to change.

And why should there be any change? Our social engineering program "works" because it is tied to the free market and gives the illusion of prosperity.

Change won't happen until the whole house of cards comes crashing down. So I say let it come crashing down.

I don't want to save or reform the current system. It needs to be trashed thoroughly.

The final nail in the coffin of the US Constitution was hammered in with the defeat of the South in 1865. I don't think that the American people could live under such a system of freedom as the US Constitution affords them. It requires too much responsibility and character to maintain those freedoms.

Rebellion to Law

There is a fundamental rebellion to law in our culture. The old republic fell apart in 1865 because of rebellion to law. A new nation was founded on the ash heap of that war, but it was founded on rebellion to law and today we are seeing the whole culture being pulled apart by rebelling to law yet again.

This Case Says it All

In 1978 the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals told us that they could "find no basis in constitutional history, judicial interpretation, political history, legal scholarship, or persuasive argument to conclude that...a right ['to trust the federal government and to rely on the integrity of its pronouncements'] exists under...any...provision of the Constitution". Mapco Inc. v. Carter, 573 F.2d 1268, 1278 (Temporary Emergency Ct. App.)

A Bit of History

In Maurice Ashley's fine biography, The Greatness of Oliver Cromwell, Ashley writes that in July 1635 King Charles I demanded a levy of money to pay for an Anglo-Spanish alliance against the Dutch. The King asked the judges to confirm that the levy was legal, and they did so.

One of the justices explained, "There was a rule of law and a rule of government, and that many things which might not be done be the rule of law might be done by the rule of government."

If You Dare to Dissent....

"In the federal courts, dissent cannot be tolerated. Federal judges have created the perfect existential argument: law, history, and precedence do not matter. The only thing that matters is here and now; what the court says is the law, is the law.

The danger of this should be obvious. If only the court can divine the law, then the law is unknowable to the common man, and nobody is safe."

Axis of Evil

"The White House, Justice Department, and the Federal Judiciary are an axis of evil."

Organized Crime

"The United States Government is the largest organized criminal racket in the world today."

The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798

1. Resolved, That the several States composing, the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral part, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

2. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations, and no other crimes, whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, not prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” therefore the act of Congress, passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, and intituled “An Act in addition to the act intituled An Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,” as also the act passed by them on the — day of June, 1798, intituled “An Act to punish frauds committed on the bank of the United States,” (and all their other acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution,) are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory.

3. Resolved, That it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitutions, that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, our prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”; and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to the States or the people: that thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And thus also they guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same, as this State, by a law passed on the general demand of its citizens, had already protected them from all human restraint or interference. And that in addition to this general principle and express declaration, another and more special provision has been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press”: thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch, that whatever violated either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, arid that libels, falsehood, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals. That, therefore, the act of Congress of the United States, passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, intituled “An Act in addition to the act intituled An Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States,” which does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is altogether void, and of no force.

4. Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction and protection of the laws of the State wherein they are: that no power over them has been delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to the individual States, distinct from their power over citizens. And it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," the act of the Congress of the United States, passed on the — day of July, 1798, intituled “An Act concerning aliens,” which assumes powers over alien friends, not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is altogether void, and of no force.

5. Resolved. That in addition to the general principle, as well as the express declaration, that powers not delegated are reserved, another and more special provision, inserted in the Constitution from abundant caution, has declared that “the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808” that this commonwealth does admit the migration of alien friends, described as the subject of the said act concerning aliens: that a provision against prohibiting their migration, is a provision against all acts equivalent thereto, or it would be nugatory: that to remove them when migrated, is equivalent to a prohibition of their migration, and is, therefore, contrary to the said provision of the Constitution, and void.

6. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person under the protection of the laws of this commonwealth, on his failure to obey the simple order of the President to depart out of the United States, as is undertaken by said act intituled “An Act concerning aliens” is contrary to the Constitution, one amendment to which has provided that “no person shalt be deprived of liberty without due progress of law”; and that another having provided that “in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to public trial by an impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense;” the same act, undertaking to authorize the President to remove a person out of the United States, who is under the protection of the law, on his own suspicion, without accusation, without jury, without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him, without heating witnesses in his favor, without defense, without counsel, is contrary to the provision also of the Constitution, is therefore not law, but utterly void, and of no force: that transferring the power of judging any person, who is under the protection of the laws from the courts, to the President of the United States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning aliens, is against the article of the Constitution which provides that “the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in courts, the judges of which shall hold their offices during good behavior”; and that the said act is void for that reason also. And it is further to be noted, that this transfer of judiciary power is to that magistrate of the general government who already possesses all the Executive, and a negative on all Legislative powers.

7. Resolved, That the construction applied by the General Government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,” and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution, the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof,” goes to the destruction of all limits prescribed to their powers by the Constitution: that words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument: that the proceedings of the General Government under color of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject of revisal and correction, at a time of greater tranquillity, while those specified in the preceding resolutions call for immediate redress.

8th. Resolved, That a committee of conference and correspondence be appointed, who shall have in charge to communicate the preceding resolutions to the Legislatures of the several States: to assure them that this commonwealth continues in the same esteem of their friendship and union which it has manifested from that moment at which a common danger first suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specified national purposes, and particularly to those specified in their late federal compact, to be friendly, to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the general government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non fœderis) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them: that nevertheless, this commonwealth, from motives of regard and respect for its co States, has wished to communicate with them on the subject: that with them alone it is proper to communicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last resort of the powers exercised under it, Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject as to its assumptions of power to the final judgment of those by whom, and for whose use itself and its powers were all created and modified: that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them; that the general government may place any act they think proper on the list of crimes and punish it themselves whether enumerated or not enumerated by the constitution as cognizable by them: that they may transfer its cognizance to the President, or any other person, who may himself be the accuser, counsel, judge and jury, whose suspicions may be the evidence, his order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast the sole record of the transaction: that a very numerous and valuable description of the inhabitants of these States being, by this precedent, reduced, as outlaws, to the absolute dominion of one man, and the barrier of the Constitution thus swept away from us all, no ramparts now remains against the passions and the powers of a majority in Congress to protect from a like exportation, or other more grievous punishment, the minority of the same body, the legislatures, judges, governors and counsellors of the States, nor their other peaceable inhabitants, who may venture to reclaim the constitutional rights and liberties of the States and people, or who for other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious to the views, or marked by the suspicions of the President, or be thought dangerous to his or their election, or other interests, public or personal; that the friendless alien has indeed been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment; but the citizen will soon follow, or rather, has already followed, for already has a sedition act marked him as its prey: that these and successive acts of the same character, unless arrested at the threshold, necessarily drive these States into revolution and blood and will furnish new calumnies against republican government, and new pretexts for those who wish it to be believed that man cannot be governed but by a rod of iron: that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism — free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go; and let the honest advocate of confidence read the Alien and Sedition acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in fixing limits to the government it created, and whether we should be wise in destroying those limits, Let him say what the government is, if it be not a tyranny, which the men of our choice have con erred on our President, and the President of our choice has assented to, and accepted over the friendly stranger to whom the mild spirit of our country and its law have pledged hospitality and protection: that the men of our choice have more respected the bare suspicion of the President, than the solid right of innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force of truth, and the forms and substance of law and justice. In questions of powers, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this commonwealth does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of their sentiments on the acts concerning aliens and for the punishment of certain crimes herein before specified, plainly declaring whether these acts are or are not authorized by the federal compact. And it doubts not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment unaltered to limited government, weather general or particular. And that the rights and liberties of their co-States will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked in a common bottom with their own. That they will concur with this commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States, of all powers whatsoever: that they will view this as seizing the rights of the States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General Government, with a power assumed to bind the States (not merely as the cases made federal, casus fœderis but), in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent: that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and that the co-States, recurring to their natural right in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void, and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that neither these acts, nor any others of the General Government not plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shalt be exercised within their respective territories.

9th. Resolved, That the said committee be authorized to communicate by writing or personal conference, at any times or places whatever, with any person or persons who may be appointed by any one or more co-States to correspond or confer with them; and that they lay their proceedings before the next session of Assembly.

A New Corollary to an Old Legal Maxim

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Reliance on the law is no defense." -David Mueller

Pigs in Congress

Here is a copy of a letter that I wrote to the Roanoke Times. It was printed.

Dear Editor

Congressman Goodlatte recently introduced legislation to establish the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library (HR 4846) and issued a press release to let us know that the Committee on Government Reform unanimously passed his bill.

I am not inclined to share in Congressman Goodlatte's enthusiasm.

It was under President Wilson that we got the nightmare called the income tax.

Additionally, under President Wilson the Federal Reserve Bank was created. The Fed has destroyed the value of the dollar by creating excessive amounts of money and credit out of thin air. This has enabled greedy politicians like Congressman Goodlatte to spend foolishly and expand the scope and power of the federal government well beyond its Constitutional boundaries.

As the purchasing power of our pieces of paper declines and prices keep rising, let us not stupidly complain. After all we have ourselves to thank. We elected these morons to Congress.

Perhaps the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library is not a bad idea. It will stand as a witness, testifying of our own insatiable appetite for plundering the public Treasury.