Climate Change Falls Apart

I've been reading the latest on Climategate.

The much vaunted "peer-review" process has problems. As Dr. Tim Ball has rightly observed, the climate scientists argued that they were checking each others work. However "peer-review" just gave the climate scientists control over the process. The process made certain that no dissent was allowed and that a uniform politically correct message was churned out every day.

Websites that are on the cutting edge of exposing the climate fraud are Climate Depot and read the alleged CRU e-mails

The Sewer of the Senate is Down the Sewer

What a day of thanksgiving.

One of the most thoroughly evil men in the US Senate has finally departed this world. Ted Kennedy did enormous evil in his Senate career. He enters Hell with the blood of millions of unborn children pouring from his hands.

Obama's Economic Berlin Wall

Obama's Economic Berlin Wall - The White House went on a mission this week to establish an economic Berlin Wall around American business. In a spectacularly misguided policy, the Obama Administration has proposed that the US Congress force US business interests that do business overseas and hold their profits overseas to pay US income tax on those profits irregardless whether or not those profits are repatriated to the United States.

The United States government enforces a particularly discriminatory tax policy known as worldwide taxation. Currently if a US business interest makes and sells a product overseas, pays the income tax in the overseas tax jurisdiction, the US government then taxes the profits of the US company. In almost every other country, territorial taxation is practiced. If a French company makes and sells a product overseas, the profits are taxed in the overseas tax jurisdiction, but when the French company repatriates those profits back to France, the company gets to keep those profits. The French government does not tax those profits again.

US Military Destroys Soldier's Bibles

Laurence Vance writes:

U.S. Military Destroys Soldier's Bibles - "Breaking news: 'Bibles in Afghan languages sent to a U.S. soldier at a base in Afghanistan were confiscated and destroyed to ensure that troops did not breach regulations which forbid proselytizing, a military spokeswoman said.'

And who collected the Bibles and destroyed them? The chaplains.

And here is another reason for Christians to not join or to get out of the military: "U.S. Central Command's General Order Number 1 forbids troops on active duty--including all those based in Iraq and Afghanistan--from trying to convert people to another religion." Since the Bible commands Christians to try to convert people, this means the U.S. military is anti-biblical. Christian soldiers, you should obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). If you can't obeyGod in the military then get out.

And then there is the matter of the unjust war in Iraq. But that is something I have written about many times before."

I forwarded this comment to a three pastors that I know. One of them responded by saying,

"I do not presently have access to CENTCOM standing General Orders. If I, who have an inside track, do not have access, then how does Mr. Laurence Vance have such access.

Now, it may be the case that such a General Order exists. This may have been a condition stipulated by the Afghani Government. Afghanistan is a sovereign state, and it is a predominately Muslim country. If Afghani troops are brought to US military bases I would be concerned that neither the US Government nor the Afghani government subsidize the 'missionary endeavors' of such Muslims that may land on our shores.

As the article states, bibles were sent to a soldier. (One presumes a US soldier and not an officer). A US soldier has sworn an oath to obey orders. If the United States Government chooses to not act as a Christian missionary while engaged in combat in Muslim territory, why would anyone be surprised?

Mr. Vance seems to take the position that the US Government should act as a Christian Missionary (and one would have to ask, under the direction of which church?).

What we have here is most likely some well intentioned para church or otherwise unsupervised entity encouraging a US soldier who is a Christian to disobey a lawful order. Soldier are NOT at liberty to do whatever they will. When deployed in a combat zone soldiers are agents of the US government. They are not in the position to act as Christian Missionaries.

The cold harsh reality is that Mr. Vance is expecting the civil government to replace the proper role of the Church. Mr. Vance, I suspect in a very unexamined way, is a Statist, or at least a Theocrat. He is the Christian version of the Tailiban. He may not be a terrorist, but the logical and theological end of his argument is identical to the position of the Taliban. He posits that the
state should be the agency of spreading the gospel, and since it is not, then Christian ought to flee from service in the US military.

If your calling (by the Holy Spirit) is to be a Missionary in foreign lands, and you join the military to do this, then you are in rebellion against God. If the church is not doing the job of sending missionaries, then the state is not the substitute standard for the church. However, if your calling is to be a soldier, then a soldier you should be.

Mr. Vance's position that Christians should flee from military service would result, taken to the ultimate end, in a military bereft of Christian influence. So, the Muslims, the Wiccans, and whatever else would, within a generation, emerge as the leadership of the Military. And, the military is often the incubator of Political leadership. Look how many Presidents and other elected leaders served in the military.

Mr. Vance is advocating Christian surrender on the field of spiritual warfare. He needs to be taken to the wood shed.

Bibles should not have been shipped to a US Soldier for distribution. They should have been shipped to an Afghani Christian (or some other appropriate missionary). Vance is advocating lawlessness as a good Christian witness.

As far as the Chaplains getting involved! What is the alternative? The commander probably requested the Chaplains take action to avoid the Court Martial and imprisonment of the Soldier in question.

I do not know exactly what transpired here. But, I do know enough about the Military to know that Mr. Vance is having an immature and ill-informed reaction to whatever the incident was.

At any rate, I can not advocate the state taking on the responsibility of the church. By the way, where is the church in all of this?? And, to what church is Mr. Vance responsible? For whom does he speak. I suspect he speaks for himself." - Rodney Longmire

Kirkpatrick Sale On Secession

Kirkpatrick Sale Writes:

Taking Secession Seriously–At Last - As little as I wished to make my first post for FPR an overtly political essay on contemporary affairs–I had meant to rumination growing up in a small village attendant upon farmlands in upstate New York–I was compelled by the events of the last few weeks to say a few words on the new phenomenon of serious discussion of secession. And secession is, anyway, a core principle of decentralism and self-determination, having to do with the distribution of power, approximate self-government, and the proper scale of human endeavors that I would take to be inherent in the Front Porch Republic.

Continue Reading: Taking Secession Seriously–At Last

The Rush Towards Socialism and How to Stop It

Thomas DiLorenzo has written an excellent piece on the suicidal rush towards socialism in the United States. It was originally posted on www.lewrockwell.com.

It only took the Obama administration a couple of weeks to prove that the national leadership of the Democratic Party is guided by totalitarian-minded socialists who seek to create an omnipotent government. The U.S. government is now controlled by people who have been dreaming of living out their Utopian socialist fantasies ever since the fantasies were brought to their attention in college decades ago by their Mao/Castro/Che Guevara poster-hanging, capitalism-hating, communistic professors.

The administration’s main agenda is an explosion of federal spending and debt so large and outrageous that America will soon exceed Sweden in the proportion of the economy that is controlled by government – if it hasn’t already. That’s just for starters. They also want to sharply increase taxes on the most productive and hardest-working people in society; increase the capital gains tax to deter private investment; expand the welfare state; spend trillions on pure, pork barrel spending in a massive vote-buying spree; set all corporate compensation levels by governmental fiat; tax away the wealth of unpopular business people (only starting with those AIG executives); regulate and control all risk taking by private entrepreneurs; enforce a civilian draft to create a modern-day, American version of the Hitler Youth (See Rahm Emanuel’s creepy, Stalinist-sounding book entitled The Plan); nationalize entire industries, starting with the capital markets (they understand that there can be no capitalism without private capital markets); and double, triple, and quadruple the number of "regulators" who already regulate all aspects of human life in America.

At the recent G-20 meeting Obama even signed off on the creation of an international regulatory "authority" that could set compensation policies in American corporations. On top of this, there is a never-ending drumbeat of anti-capitalist propaganda coming from the administration and its worshipful mouthpieces in the "mainstream media."

What can be done? How can this rush toward totalitarian socialism be stopped? Will the Republicans find another old, angry geezer to appeal to the angry white male vote? How about another mumbling and incompetent Bush family heir? Will there be another Reagan who will talk libertarian while governing more like a European Social Democrat? Will they trot out another old "war hero" who will plunge us into war with Iran, North Korea, China, or whomever, to divert our attention away from the economic mess government has placed us in? These are the likely alternatives if we cling to the fantasy that "throwing the bums out" at election time leads to something other than another group of slightly different bums.

The fact is that the American people have been servants or slaves to their government for generations. It wasn’t always that way. When the Adams administration enforced the Sedition Act that made criticism of the federal government illegal, Jefferson and Madison responded with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves of 1798 that clearly stated that the people did not intend to allow the enforcement of this unconstitutional law within those two states. Section One of Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolve stated, for example, that "the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principles of unlimited submission to their General Government . . ." Other states supported Jefferson and Madison in their defense of free speech.

When President Thomas Jefferson imposed a national trade embargo and consummated the Louisiana Purchase, New Englanders, led by George Washington’s Secretary of State, Timothy Pickering, loudly threatened to secede. They decided against it (for practical economic and political reasons) at the Hartford Secession Convention of 1814, but their actions sent a clear message to national politicians.

Outraged by the embargo, the Massachusetts legislature used the language of Jefferson’s own Kentucky Resolve to proclaim that the embargo "was not legally binding on the citizens of the state" while denouncing the federal law as "unjust, oppressive, and unconstitutional" and reminding President Jefferson that "this state maintains its sovereignty and independence . . ." All the New England states, plus Delaware, did the exact same thing and nullified the embargo.

When Alexander Hamilton’s Bank of the United States, a precursor to the Fed, created 72 percent inflation in the first five years of its existence and corrupted politics with its politicized spending policies, citizens all over the country assisted President Andrew Jackson in eventually destroying the institution. The heroic Ohio legislature slapped a $50,000/year tax on each branch of the BUS, attempting to drive it out of business. "The states have an equal right to interpret the Constitution for themselves," announced the Ohio legislature, and it decided that the BUS was not constitutional. Kentucky, Tennessee, Connecticut, South Carolina, New York, and New Hampshire followed suit.

When the War of 1812 broke out the New England states effectively seceded from the union by refusing to participate. A proclamation by the Connecticut legislature was representative of the opinions of New Englanders: "[I]t must not be forgotten that the state of Connecticut is a FREE SOVEREIGN and INDEPENDENT State; that the United States are a confederated and not a consolidated Republic," and that it was refusing to support the war.

When the 1828 "Tariff of Abominations" created an average tariff rate of 45%, applying mostly to Northern manufactured goods, South Carolinians clearly understood that this was a pure act of political plunder at their expense. They convened a political convention to utilize the Jeffersonian idea of nullification and refused to collect the tariff. They even got the South Carolina legislature to allocate $160,000 for the purchase of firearms with which to fend off any would-be federal tax collectors. The result was that they forced the federal government to lower the tariff rate.

During the 1850s the "middle states" of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey developed a very active secession movement that sought to either join a Southern confederacy, form a middle-states confederacy, or support Southern secession. (See The Secession Movement in the Middle States by William C. Wright). Their overriding desire was to separate themselves from the imperious New England Yankees.

When the Southern states seceded in 1860–61, Abraham Lincoln pledged his everlasting support for Southern slavery in his first inaugural address, an address in which he endorsed a constitutional amendment (the "Corwin Amendment") that would have forbidden the federal government from ever interfering with slavery. In the same speech he promised a military invasion and "bloodshed" in any Southern state that ceased paying his beloved tariff on imports which, at the time, accounted for more than 90% of federal tax revenue. The average tariff rate and had just been doubled by the Republican-controlled Congress.

The Southern states, along with most people in the North, still held the Jeffersonian belief that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and when that consent is withdrawn the citizens have a duty to abolish the existing government and form a new one. Jefferson never wrote in the Declaration of Independence that the citizens have a duty to abolish the government and form a new one "as long as the other states all agree that you may do so." If the right of secession depends on someone else’s permission, then one does not have a right of secession. That was a fantasy invented by Lincoln, which he used to "justify" waging total war on his own country, murdering some 350,000 American citizens, including some 50,000 civilians. From that time on, government in America was no longer "for the people, by the people, of the people," as Chief Justice John Marshal once said in a phrase that was later plagiarized by Lincoln. From that time on the purpose of government has been for those who run it to plunder those who do not. Nullification and secession were no longer tools with which the citizens could control their own government.

The final nails in the coffin of government by consent were pounded in during the year 1913 with the advent of the federal income tax, the creation of the Fed, and the Seventeenth Amendment calling for the direct election of U.S. senators. The income tax and the Fed gave the federal government the ability to do whatever it wanted to do regardless of the Constitution – even to wage "undeclared" wars. These vast "riches" were used to make millions of Americans totally subservient to the state lest they lose their tiny government subsidies, and to bribe or threaten state governments to do whatever our masters in Washington, D.C. decree, lest they lose their cherished federal highway grants. The ability of the citizens to oppose the federal Leviathan by organizing political communities at the state and local levels was finally destroyed and the centralized, monopolistic bureaucracy that rules America and much of the rest of the world today was created.

The direct election of U.S. senators, as opposed to the original system of having them appointed by state legislature, ended popular control of the federal government. Today, candidates for the senate go to New York, California, China, or wherever the big money is that can be raised as "campaign contributions" to finance their political careers. The interests of such "contributors" are not necessarily congruent with those of the folks back home.

If American citizens are to resist the rush to Obammunism they must first give up on the fantasy that the Republican Party is anything but another cabal of crooks, conmen and clowns, just like the Democratic Party. The only realistic route to freedom, including a restoration of genuine free enterprise, is through the devolution of power away from Washington, D.C. via peaceful secession and nullification, the original American ideals.

Thomas Jefferson understood that democracy could never work in a country as large as the U.S., let alone one with more than 300 million people. In a January 29, 1804 letter to Dr. Joseph Priestly he wrote: "Whether we remain one confederacy, or form into Atlantic and Mississippi confederacies, I believe not very important to the happiness of either part. Those of the western confederacy will be as much our children & descendants as those of the eastern." On the topic of secession, Jefferson continued: "[D]id I now foresee a separation at some future day, yet I should feel the duty & the desire to promote the western interests as zealously as the eastern, doing all the good for both portions of our future family which should fall within my power." When the New England Federalists were threatening secession, Jefferson wrote to his friend John C. Breckinridge on August 12, 1803 that if New England seceded and created a second confederacy, "God bless them both if it be for their good, but separate them, if it is better."

Unlike Lincoln, Jefferson did not believe in threatening "bloodshed" in the case of a "separation" or secession. He understood that such behavior would be a moral abomination and an unimaginable act of barbarianism. A civilized society does not wage total war on "our children," as Jefferson described the future citizens of a new state formed by an act of secession. Yet it is Lincoln, not Jefferson, who is portrayed by American court historians as a kindly, benevolent, and charitable angel.

The Constitution long ago ceased placing any meaningful limits on governmental power. This social contract between the American people and their government was destroyed long ago by Hamiltonian nationalists. Americans now live under a series of dictators (called "presidents") who all believe that they are essentially dictators of the world, capable of ordering the bombing of any place on earth without anyone’s approval. (Within weeks, Obama dipped his hands in blood by ordering a few bombs to be dropped in Pakistan).

As of this writing, several dozen states have reportedly issued resolutions in support of the Jeffersonian principle of nullification. These will all be completely meaningless unless the American public has the fortitude to actually enforce the resolutions and begin ignoring any and all federal government actions that they interpret as unconstitutional and illegitimate. In addition, citizens of every state should learn about the Second Vermont Republic which, for several years now, has been laying the groundwork for Vermont to secede and once again become an free and independent republic, just as all the states thought of themselves as being prior to 1865.

Obama passing new law to allow searching of PC's, Laptops, and media devices

Guns, Gold, Secession

Karen De Coster:

Guns, Gold, Secession. - There is a secession movement afoot and its proponents are determined to put a halt to the federal government’s ambitions to destroy and reconstruct an entire economy and dissolve the last remnants of individual liberty. Twenty-eight states are invoking the law of the land, the U.S. Constitution, by rolling out legislation to assert their sovereignty as free states in order to keep from being undermined by the never-ending swarm of unrestrained federal decrees.

Daniel Hannan Takes On The Devalued Prime Minister

Another Question for Gordon Brown

I found another question on the London Summit 2009 social networking site:

Gordon Brown, The only real cure for a depression is a depression. Why are you focused on rescuing sick banks and industries, ignoring the lessons from the Weimar Republic, the Great Depression, and the Japanese quagmire? Everything you are trying now has been tried before, without success and immeasurable additional harm to boot. If bailouts are to be, then why not bail out the British citizens, who have to bear the consequences of your debasement of the British pound? Also, why not replace all 20 fiat currencies at the forthcoming meeting and substitute them with a gold-based currency?

You may vote for the question by clicking the link below and clicking on the TV like box that says "vote":

http://www.yoosklondonsummit.com/question_share_this/1740/The_only_real_cure_for_a_depression_is_a_depressio.aspx

London Summit 2009

The London Summit has a quasi-social networking site that allows you to propose questions. If the question gets enough votes, your selected politician might answer the question. I posed my question to Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of England.

"Gordon Brown, How will regulating the world's tax havens do one single thing to solve the world's financial crisis? It appears from what I am reading that the financial crisis is the result of the poor regulation ofthe two largest tax havens in the world: New York and London. It seems to me that the Group of Twenty really wants to make small sovereign nations that compete on the basis of tax competition nothing but vassal tax collectors so as to prop up the bloated and dying welfare states of Europe and America."

You may vote for my question by clicking the link below and clicking on the TV like box that says "vote"::

http://www.yoosklondonsummit.com/question_share_this/1736/How_will_regulating_the_worlds_tax_havens_do_one.aspx

London Summit

In pledging to clean up the world's financial mess, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain has pledged to go after tax havens and force them to cooperate as vassal tax collectors for Europe's and America's welfare states.

This tax cartel of high-tax nations arrogantly thinks that it is entitled to the capital built up by individuals and families.

It's not.

Capital belongs to the individual. It is the individual that has the right to the fruit of his labor. Not the state.

It is the foolish and stupid financial policies of the two largest nations in the Group of Twenty that have led to the financial catastrophe in the world. The cities of London, New York, and Washington DC are the source of this mess. The tiny tax havens throughout the world such as the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, etc., already have tax information exchange (for cases of probable cause), or tax withholding, agreements with the U.S. and other countries such as the U.K. and France. They apparently are also better regulated than New York, London, and Washington.

Europe and America are reaping the consequences of 95 plus years of central banking, fiat currency, fractional reserve banking, class envy, and coveteousness.

Constitutional Tender Act

Franklin Sanders in his daily commentary (or sometimes daily commentary) reports, "Susan & I took off for Atlanta last night, about 6 hours away on word from a friend with the Constitutional Tender Act www.constitutionaltender.com. Georgia Rep. Bobby Franklin entered the act which requires the state to perform its duty under US Constitution Art. I, Section 10 to make nothing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debt. Today the House Committee on Banks & Banking held a hearing,& the bill's supporters asked me to testify.

Needless to say, the banks will fight it tooth & toenail, because they don't understand it. If they did, they would support it as it offers the only chance for them to survive. Listening to the banking lobbyists specious objections,it dawned on me: Their time is past. A wave of revulsion against fiat money & uncontrolled fractional reserve banking will become a tidal wave as the economic crisis deepens. Within two decades at most, the fiat system will be dead, and with it, banking as we know it today.

The group behind the bill made stunningly adept & forceful presentations. It was an historic occasion, one I have longed to see for over 40 years, a state legislative body seriously listening to the requirements of constitution & common sense. Thank God I was privileged to witness it!
Mark this, and remember: we are witnessing the end of fiat. We will see silver & gold restored as money, & with them, lasting & stable prosperity. But first the old must die."

Freedom Index

Here is The New American's Freedom Index based upon the US Constitution. Find out how closely, or more likely not, your Representatives and Senators are following the US Constitution and preserving liberty and freedom in America. (Hint: There is not a whole lot of good news).

The Greg Knox Letter

One day last year, Greg Knox came to work and received this email in his inbox:

Dear Employees & Suppliers,

Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis......................As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke
President General Motors North America

So Greg sat down at his computer and started typing out a response to the President of GM. When he was finished, he sent the letter to his mother. Like a good mother, she wanted to share it with others .. and the letter soon became viral on the Internet.

Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Franklin, Ohio

Gentlemen:

In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clark, President of General Motors North America.

Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation, awaiting our new "messiah", Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream"... Believe me folks, The dream is over!

This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities...this dream where you still think the masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever.

Don't even think about telling me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's throughout the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I've seen over those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not."

You're right Mr. Clarke, it's not JUST management...how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass...so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time...for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics...for putting out too many parts on a shift...and for being too productive (We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?)

Do you folks really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea: "over the last few years ...we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors." What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. It's time to pay for your sins, Detroit.

I attended an economic summit last week where brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research, surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money".

"Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems," but despite what people like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day... and the following very important thing would happen...where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up...that is how a free market system works...it does work...if we would only let it work..."

But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government to step in and "save us"...Save us my ass, Hell - we're nationalizing...and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation's citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is really happening...But, they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams...yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it...

Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country?... How can that be??? Let's see... Fuel efficient... Listening to customers... Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul...

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent planning... Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy"... Efficient front and back offices... Non union environment...

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know down deep in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh... Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults..

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins. Bad news people - it's coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away." I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the final vote count was tallied..."we really might not do it in a year...or in four..." Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for office.

Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks ... That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000... People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits... That job driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year... We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe...

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home... Let the market correct itself folks - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna' be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has...and doesn't live beyond its means...and gets back to basics...and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world...and probably turns back to God.

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news". I hope you take it to heart.

Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005

The Germans Voted Themselves Into Slavery

On this day in 1933 the National Socialist German Workers Party (popularly known as "Nazis") won a surprising 44% of the vote in German parliamentary elections. Together with the Nationalists that gave it a slender majority in the Reichstag. The rest is history.

Ponder that the Nazis rode to power on the back of inflation & hyperinflation. Hitler's first attempt to seize power, the Putsch in Munich, was staged at the height of the hyperinflation in 1923. That wiped out the savings of most Germans. When the Depression threatened to put every German out of a job, they listened to Hitler's promises & voted for him. The lesson of those times instructs us still today. Economic distress often brings totalitarian politics. America is not immune.

Lincoln's Birthday

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday, 1809, & a fit time for us to meditate on the ironies of history. Lincoln is hailed as the Liberator of Slaves, yet he despised black people in the most racist terms, & offered a constitutional amendment to secure slavery forever.

Hailed as the Saviour of the Union, he was actually the Annihilator of the Constitution. Praised as reluctantly going to war, he actually broke his word to the South & forced them to fire the first shot. Hailed as a humanitarian, he broke with a 1800 year tradition of the law of war and waged war without quarter on civilians. Hailed as a statesman, he was nothing more than a pliable corporate lawyer & politician. Hailed as the Saviour of Freedom, he ruled the north with an iron hand, throwing more than 50,000 political enemies into prison ignoring constitutional rights & initiating a revolutionary reign of terror.

One thing we know for sure: the victors alone get to write the history books.

Still Waiting

I'm still waiting for Change. I've not seen any yet. I've heard all the same liberal promises to spend, spend, and spend. That is the "same old same old". It's not the Change we were promised.

A Silly Charade

President Obama messed up his oath ("oaff" according to Senator Feinstein) on Tuesday. So he retook the "oaff" the following evening.

Why?

The reason given by the White House, it was done "out of an abundance of caution."

What a joke. If the Constitution were to be followed with an abundance of caution, President Obama would have to eliminate at least 95% of all government programs and departments because there is absolutely zero constitutional authority for them. Members of Congress would lose their jobs for passing unconstitutional legislation.

But Americans are about the dumbest people on earth. They are slaves who are told every Fourth of July that they are free. If Americans actually began to believe in the liberties that the US Constitution guarantees them and actually acted on those guarantees they would find opportunity, liberty, freedom and the change they all say they hope for.

The Constitution is a dead document. It was written for a people who cherished liberty, freedom, independence, small government, and the rule of law. Those people are long gone.

Change, Change, Change

All we've heard for the last two years is the word "Change, change, change, change, change" come out of Barak Obama's mouth in speech after speech.

He's been in office for nine hours and where in the hell is all the change?

Has the sea level been lowered? Has climate change been licked? Has the financial crisis been resolved? Has peace broken out in the Middle East?

I was promised change. I was told that Obama was the messiah incarnate. Where is my change?

Barak Obama has failed to deliver one single shred of change. Barak Obama is a miserable screwup as President of the United States.

Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Empire

A friend of mine published the following:

"We are witnessing one of the greatest migrations in world history, massive numbers of Third Worlders into the United States. The outcome is inevitable. Coming from tyrannical, brutal, servile cultures, these immigrants will make loyal imperial subject to replace the potentially restive native version. They will not ask questions, and they will not insist on any silly 'ancient rights.' Heart, soul, and bank account, they belong to the new imperial order.

If the United States is still a republican polity, its immigration policy is suicidal. If it is an empire, its immigration policy is logical."

THE TRUE ESSENCE OF SLAVERY

No, slavery is not forced labour. It isn't a legal term. Neither is it a form of property. Neither is it racism nor nationalism. These things are only symptoms; they are not the real essence of slavery.

Slavery isn't a "socio-economic formation." It isn't a "stage in the historical development of mankind." These are but convenient words used by people who want to conceal the true essence of slavery.

The essence of slavery can be clearly seen in the experience of Moses with his people, the Israelites. The people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt, they were forced to do exhausting labour, subject to cruel taskmasters, no human rights, and the Egyptians slaughtered their children.... And when Moses took them out of the land of slavery to bring them to the Promised Land of liberty, they rebelled and complained, "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic" (Numbers 11:5). The former slaves remembered the slavery not for the taskmasters, the whippings, and the forced labour. They remembered it for the things which they "did eat freely."

The Stugatskie Brothers see the essence of slavery just the same in their novel, The Second Invasion of the Martians. In the "fist invasion of the Martians" in H.G. Wells' novel, War of the Worlds, the Martians come with arms and force. But the Martians in Strugatskie's novel know very well the nature of man and the essence of slaver. They don't conquer by force; they just supply everything that man needs.

Freely.

And slavery wins.

Slavery doesn't start with the slaveholders. Slavery starts with the slaves. It doesn't start when someone draws a gun and forces other people to work for him. It starts when people refuse to take care of themselves and their families and want someone else to provide the necessary things for them - from cradle to grave. Slaves come when man decides to abandon the responsibility to make decisions for his own life and leaves those decisions to other people. The true essence of slavery is in the self-conscious exchange of liberty for security. Slavery is in the self-conscious surrender of individual rights and responsibilities to other people and institutions. Slavery is in the sheepish instinct to seek for a shepherd to graze and shear you.

We can say in today's social and political language that slavery is the government welfare. It is in the government medical care for people who never care about their own health. In the pension plans for people who never want to think about their own future. In the free government educating for the children of parents who can make children but are unwilling to take care of them. In the regulations imposed upon personal and economic life.

The Constitution of Bulgaria proclaims, "the Republic of Bulgaria is a welfare state." This welfare state can be found in the tariffs that give security to the ineffective Bulgarian producers. In the labour legislation that represses the employers and gives security to the workers irrespective of their performance and skills. In the government certificates "for life" for university professors who desire security against competition from young, energetic, and ambitious scientists. In the government licensing of vast branches of the market that gives security to the old guilds against the newcomers into the market. In the election promises for free breakfast for schoolchildren or free dental fillings for the elderly people. And so on.

All these things are slavery. Fundamentally they have had the same motive: Man's desire to abandon his responsibility for his own life and work. People who insist on these things make the same cry as those Israelites of old: "We were very well off when we had fish for free, and leeks, and onions, and garlic." "We were taken care of." "We want now to be taken care of." Even if this means to be beaten with whips and to work full days under the tropical sun. Even if it means to be burdened under 60 percent tax rates. To have to wait in long lines before greedy heartless bureaucrats. To be humiliated and to see our life, liberty and property taken away from us. Give us our daily piece of bread...for freeee!

A nation of slaves doesn't have a future. It dies. Whether from foreign invasion, or by the emigration of the young and active people (the slaves' children), or by natural dying out. The European Union can't save itself. Promises for more free pieces of bread won't save it -they will only kill it. Slaves do not have a vision for the future, and therefore they cannot have a future.

Only the free man has a future. The future belongs to those who have taken their responsibility for it. The rest is self-delusion and utopianism.

-Bojidar Marinov

-Edited by David Mueller

Stop Dangerous ID

On January 21, 2009, at 1:00 pm, a coalition of 10 organizations from across Virginia will rally at the Virginia State Capital Bell Tower, 910 Capital Street, Richmond, VA 23219 in support of legislation to stop the implementation of Dangerous ID, the so-called Real ID Act of 2005. John Tate, President, will speak on behalf of Campaign for Liberty.

At least three pieces of legislation are being introduced in the 2009 Session of the Virginia General Assembly to stop the implementation of the federal mandate to come into compliance with the Real ID Act by the beginning of next year.

Similar legislation went no where last year but lobbying efforts will gain momentum as grassroots organizations take the news of the bills to the districts across the state. We are certain to shake things up in local politics with upcoming state elections on the horizon.

Leaders of the opposition consider the "REAL ID Act of 2005" to be a bad law passed under false pretenses. It was rejected three separate times by the U.S. Senate, and was only passed because it was buried in a larger bill containing disaster relief and funding for Iraq military operations. The Senate didn't want it, and the American people don't want it either. But the majority leadership in Congress imposed it on us, and so now we have to fight to get it stopped in Virginia.

Opponents fear the creation of a centralized federal database containing personal information about all Americans. Decisions about the exact nature and scope of this program will be made by Homeland Security bureaucrats in the Executive Branch. It seems inevitable that biometric information and electronic tracking tags will be included at some point. No one intends a bad use for this system today, but it is inevitable that it will be used in bad ways in the future.

There are valid concerns with regard to security of the citizen’s personal information due to the number of databases that would be storing personal information by the federal government and shared between the states across the country as part of standard procedure within Motor Vehicle Administrations in the states, and as enabled by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Neither the Federal Government nor the states can control access, which under International law includes data sharing even with Canada and Mexico. No one can know who is getting into those data bases and for what purpose.

According to the DHS, "Real ID is a nationwide effort intended to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of identification documents that State governments issue." Yet it does nothing to prevent terrorists and other criminals from fraudulently obtaining a "Real ID" by forging the required documents. In fact, with multiple on-line, federated databases shared across multiple organizations and federal and state agencies, it will become much easier.

Many good arguments can be made against this Dangerous ID, but they all reduce to one overpowering truth. The more information government has the less it seems to know. The more power government has the less it seems able to accomplish. Big Government doesn't work. The federal government needs to do less in order to accomplish more. Small government is focused government. We need smaller government, not a massive new federal identification system.

Please plan to attend and tell your Virginia legislators to stand up to Congress and Homeland Security to keep federal bureaucrats from hijacking your state driver’s license for their national citizen control scheme.

Please log in to RSVP here, or email your RSVP to me at donna.holt@campaignforliberty.com.

Predicting the Media Spin

The financial markets are extremely oversold and they've been oversold for months. A sharp rebound is coming. . .only this rebound will coincide with Barack Obama's assumption of the presidency.

I predict that the media spin will credit the rebound to Obama, his policies, his appointees, and whatever else the elitist media can concoct however tenuous, nutty, or ridiculous.

Media elitists will do so because they are desperate to prop up Mr. Obama. They have invested much into the man and his campaign. He is their president. Hence, he is too big to fail, and media elitists will stop at nothing to shore up their investment.

Technorati Profile