Metal

Somnambulist Pedophile by Sleep Terror

Tainted Lumch Meat : black friday

It seems every year some one gets trampled, stampeded or otherwise injured on the day after Thanksgiving at a mall or Walmart. What happened this year to the victim in New York is tragic, but not surprising. What is surprising is that more people aren't seriously injured during these shopping events. I was hoping to see Black Friday be just another Friday this year. With the economy in the shitter and people losing jobs and homes and cars and credit lines, I wasn't expecting to hear stories about 2,000 people being lined up in front of a Walmart to buy crap. I feel like those people are like the zombies in Dawn of the Dead, they don't know why they are there, they just know they should be there, there's no other place to be on that day. It's sad. Certainly there were better things to be doing at 5am, like sleeping, not being complicit in the death of another person, etc. I bought cigarettes and a soda on Black Friday, two things that may lead to an early death, two things that didn't significantly impact retail numbers for any major chain store, glad to be doing my part to not help our consumer economy. If shoppers still show up for nonsense like Black Friday deals in the midst of one of our biggest clusterfuck economic downturns, I can't wait to see what happens during a good economy, maybe we'll see a Blood Red Friday as the zombie shoppers battle for deals designed to separate them from their savings.

Wal Mart Worker Dies

I wouldn't normally post a story that's been published by the Associated Press, since they are the primary news source in America that all the other news outlets rely on. This confirms for me that there is no free media in America except the internet which the government hasn't been successful in regulating yet. Sure, the news outlets like CNN and FoxNews will of course write some of their own stories, but because the news reporters are employees to a corporation, and thus cannot go against the interests of such a corporation, we can never expect any of them to be telling us the truth. As long as these reporters work for these companies, they are compromised. Compromised, forever.

The reason I'm carrying this story on this blogsite, despite it being recorded by Associated Press, I wanted to submit my own commentary.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday when "out-of-control" shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.

Shoppers stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store. When told to leave, they complained that they had been in line since Thursday morning. Nassau County police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour of Queens, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.

"This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos."

Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help Damour were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said.

Items on sale at the store included a Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" for $9. Damour, 34, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 6 a.m., police said. The exact cause of death has not been determined.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital, where she and the baby were reported to be OK, said police Sgt. Anthony Repalone.

Police said criminal charges were possible in the case, but Fleming said it would be difficult to identify individual shoppers. Authorities were reviewing surveillance video.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., called the incident a "tragic situation" and said the employee came from a temporary agency and was doing maintenance work at the store.

"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority," said Dan Fogleman, a company spokesman. "At this point, facts are still being assembled and we are working closely with the Nassau County Police as they investigate what occurred."

Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling 'I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said. "They kept shopping."

A woman reported being trampled by overeager customers at a Wal-Mart opening Friday in Farmingdale, about 15 miles east of Valley Stream, Suffolk County police said. She suffered minor injuries, but finished shopping before filling the report, police said.

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically been the day when stores broke into profitability for the full year.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iDXtETwP7G17BQsO07DecwxuziLgD94O9EAO3

It can be argued at what point materialism reached its cultural high point in America. This man died and all they could respond with is: "I've been on line since yesterday morning"? I don't blame this on the mass of people who shop. The minds of people are malleable. Corporations have been engaged in subliminal seducation advertisement as far back as the 70s; longer than that even. I blame this on the concept of the bargain deal window that gives Black Friday its name.

Ron Paul Warns of Secret Plans to Create International Central Bank

Texas Congressman Ron Paul has warned that international forces are planning the creation of a global central bank that will see a new fiat monetary system come to dominate the world economy.

The 2008 presidential candidate also warned that Barack Obama's administration will only represent a change in faces and not in policies. Speaking about the recent G20 meeting Paul told Russia Today:

"I think something will come of it but you probably didn't hear about it yet. There was some pomp and ceremony that the public knew about, but behind the scenes they were talking about the future and what they are going to do to try to internationalize all regulations, going in the opposite direction of free market and more towards international regulations. I'm sure they even talked about an international central bank."

Paul also pointed out that global bankers have been holding their own talks on the same matter:

"At the same time the G20 was meeting, we also had the central banks meeting in Europe. Bernanke was over there, and they are doing the same type of planning, so real planning will not be out in the open, until they want us to know about it." the Congressman said.

"The system that we have today where the fiat dollar is a reserve currency of the world, it's losing that status and they have to replace it. Hopefully they'll have enough sense to realise that another international agreement along the Bretton Woods will be no more successful than the last one." Paul continued.

The Congressman argued that more regulations administered by central banks, rather than placed on to central banks, represents a dangerous move away from the free market.

"We could restructure by getting rid of all the central banks, then you would have honest money come up because nobody could commit fraud. Governments get away with committing fraud - that's what fiat money is." Paul commented.

The Congressman warned that an Obama presidency offers no alternative to the economic policies that have led the U.S. and the world to the brink of economic meltdown. Paul Described the kind of change Obama offers as:

"Just change in faces and change in party labels. Both parties represent the same special interests, they both have to represent big business. Obama's supposed to be a man of the people, well he collected $750 million, more money than anybody else ever collected. Wall Street supported him, the media supported him, all the big money supported him, so his change is not going to be much change at all. He's not talking about changing monetary policy, the Federal Reserve or getting rid of the income tax or bringing our troops home."

Paul also commented that he does not believe Obama will withdraw troops from Iraq and pointed out that he has never said he will close down the military bases throughout the country and eliminate the huge embassy in Baghdad.

"Policy will remain interventionist," the Congressman warned. "We will remain in the middle east and we will not be coming home, we'll stay in Korea, we'll stay in Europe, we'll be in eastern Europe, we'll be doing all these things. Even though Obama benefited tremendously from 'change', all we are changing is the face of our government."

Paul also warned that the stage has been set for fresh terrorist attacks in the U.S. as a consequence of a sustained interventionist foreign policy.

Watch the entire interview here.

Ron Paul Warns of Secret Plans to Create International Central Bank

(blogger's note: the news never ends, and I'm still working on some blogs to be posted later on. I'd rather post my own news stories myself, but what happens so many times is that I begin writing something and end up worrying about grammer and word function.)

Tainted Lunch Meat : I'm a lead farmer motherfucker.

Just now got around to watching Tropic Thunder . I like war movies, always have. Not that big of a fan of war movie spoofs though. Hot Shots and it's sequel, kind of shit really. Tropic Thunder worked for me. It wasn't trying to be all the time over the top funny. Plus that line up there in the title of this post is my new favorite line of all time, it won't last so hopefully it enjoys itself while it's there. Although when Lincoln Osiris, Robert Downey Jr's character, says the line I kept wanting to see lightning bolts shoot from his fingertips. They shoved in just about every classic or cliche Vietnam war movie song into the soundtrack as possible, which I appreciated, and had The Crystal Method on for one track kind of oddly alone in the overall mix, but again appreciated nonetheless. There's a sweet toddler throwing scene, which seems to be greatly under utilized in most movies. Shit tons of explosions reside here, thankfully. The cinematography was excellent which is usually not the case in movies of this sort. A scene toward the end of the movie exemplifies how well the movie was shot. Ben Stiller's character is laying on the ground and the camera is grounded as well, and it's all slow motion and muted from the explosion and it almost feels serious and weighty until Jack Black starts screaming about his ass, which has apparently been injured during a fall. The special features on the DVD are OK. Fairly standard stuff, making of, trailers, commentary and so on. One unique item in the special features is a PSA for intellectually disabled persons. Apparently some people were upset with the film because of it's use of the word "retard", and presumably Stiller's depiction of a "retard" in a fictional film that his character had starred in. The PSA on the DVD is I guess a sort of apology to those people who were offended. I find this to be completely uneccessary. The fact that a significant role within the film was given to Jack Black should be more than enough to encourage all intellectually disabled persons worldwide that they too can lead normal, productive lives with dignity and respect. All in all not a bad way to waste an hour or two, I give it a B.

Tainted Lunch Meat : a few links

Some Chomsky, mercury laden tuna, and a smart guy.

Chomsky via Alternet regarding promises of change.

Oddly appropriate article regarding mercury levels in tuna, via Truthdig.

And a link to a blog that covers mainly news from the middle east, Informed Comment . It seems the Iraqi-American Security Pact was passed on Thursday. Sofa's are king, when dealing with occupations.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We do this every year. It's a ceremonial ritual and has become a vapid holiday because of sanctimonious commercialism that has bled into American culture. But as political as I have become over the years -- well, two years ago -- I'm thinking how the government figures to benefit every year in a way to garner more worship from its subjects.

From the following article, which you will be able to read in its entirety:

In a word, the reason for Thanksgiving Day is government. It is on this day that the government – specifically the President of the United States – orders us to be thankful. Since our government is secular in form and content, we really are supposed to be thankful to government for our bounty.

For example, I almost certainly will hear someone at church say that he or she is "thankful that we live in a country where we can freely worship God." Yet, people around the world have that freedom. One can put it another way, a way that is guaranteed to offend others: "I am thankful that the American state has not yet destroyed all of our freedoms, including the freedom to worship God."

While I write this, the U.S. Government actively is debasing the dollar, waging war against people who were not at war with us, arresting people and falsely charging them with crimes, blocking mutually beneficial economic exchanges, making it more difficult to produce and sell goods (and then condemning producers for not producing enough), and then propagandizing us in saying that the government is the only thing that gives our lives meaning.

While we think of the Pilgrims celebrating a successful harvest in 1621, Thanksgiving as an official government-sponsored holiday came to this country via the presidency of Abraham Lincoln in 1863. While armies under his command were destroying the harvests of the southern states, burning houses and forcing families to face the winter without food and shelter, and generally plundering and pillaging, he declared an official day of "Thanksgiving."

The next president to further make Thanksgiving a government-sponsored holiday was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939. Thus, two of the presidents who were most active in destroying the liberties and social fabric of this country were at the forefront of telling everyone else how thankful they should be.

Bill Hicks: Outlaw Comic

"For all the talk about Bill being Hendrix or Dylan or Jim Morrison or Lenny Bruce, it was Jesus Bill wanted to be. He wanted to save us all. But Bill got freeze-framed in the scene where Jesus went through the temple and said 'this is my father's house and you have turned it into a den of thieves.' 'Cause that's what Bill always wanted to do. He wanted to be Christ at His angriest!" - comedian Brett Butler, documentary Bill Hicks: It's Just a Ride

When someone teaches me how to link all the videos together so they stream without interruption, I'll come back and edit this post so it doesn't take up so much space. Hopefully one of my fellow contraptionists can leave a comment below. That's a hint, guys!

Ron Paul Speech @ Houston - End the Fed

The Bailout Surge by Ron Paul

This week the bailout of the Big Three automakers was under heavy consideration in Congress’s lame duck session. I have always opposed government bailouts of private organizations. Back in 1979 Congress had hearings about bailing out Chrysler and I was on record pointing out that these types of policies are foolish and very damaging to the long term economic health of our country. They still are.

There was also renewed pressure this week to bailout homeowners and send another round of stimulus checks to “Main Street” to balance out all the handouts to big business. It seems that eventually the entire economy is going to be blanketed over with Federal Reserve notes. Most in Washington are completely oblivious as to why this model of money creation and spending is so dangerous.

We must remember that governments do not produce anything. Their only resources come from producers in the economy through such means as inflation and taxation. The government has an obligation to be good stewards of these resources. In bailing out failing companies, they are confiscating money from productive members of the economy and giving it to failing ones. By sustaining companies with obsolete or unsustainable business models, the government prevents their resources from being liquidated and made available to other companies that can put them to better, more productive use. An essential element of a healthy free market, is that both success and failure must be permitted to happen when they are earned. But instead with a bailout, the rewards are reversed – the proceeds from successful entities are given to failing ones. How this is supposed to be good for our economy is beyond me.

With each bailout we hear rhetoric that this is the mother of all bailouts. This will fix the problem once and for all, and that this is absolutely necessary to avert disaster. This sense of panic squeezes astonishing amounts of dollars out of reluctant but hopeful legislators, who hate the position they are being put in, but are relieved that it will be the last time. It is never the last time, and again and again we are faced with the same scenarios and the same fears. We are already in the bailout business for such a staggering amount that admitting it was wrong in the first place would be too embarrassing. So the commitment to this course of action is only irrationally escalated, in the hopes that somehow, someway eventually it will work and those in power won’t have to admit they were wrong.

It won’t work. It can’t work. We need to cut our losses and get back on course. There is too much at stake for too many people to continue down this road. The bailouts thus far to AIG, Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie, and TARP funds amount to around $1.5 trillion. Considering our GDP is $14 trillion, and our Federal budget is already $3 trillion, this additional amount will significantly eat into our future lifestyles. That amounts to an extra $5,000 that every person in the country needs to somehow produce just to keep up. It is obvious to most Americans that we need to reject corporate cronyism, and allow the natural regulations and incentives of the free market to pick the winners and losers in our economy, not the whims of bureaucrats and politicians.

Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Offer Half of US GDP to Wall Street Banks

I've been deliberating about posting so soon again. The next few blogs I'd like to take my time in preparing for this blogspot. I don't want to reveal any of my ideas and I don't particularly care about reposting a blog from another blogspot site, but I felt compelled to post excerpts from this news article. This appears in Jesse's Café Américain.

Fed Pledges Top $7.4 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit
By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) - The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $2.8 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s.

When Congress approved the TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. Now, as regulators commit far more money while refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return, some Congress members are calling for the Fed to be reined in.

The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages.

Articulated Starfish: The Money Hole

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

Tainted Lunch Meat : Alternative currency

I came across this over at The Consumerist . It's an article about the guy who created the Liberty Dollar. It's an alternative currency that was in direct competition with the US Dollar. It's also apparently illegal to mint and market competitive currencies in the US. Bernard von NotHaus runs or ran this enterprise had his offices raided a year ago. No one has been arrested or charged with anything, but all of the precious metal currency was confiscated along with computers and records. All around interesting read and some money quotes from some big economic talking heads. Bullion with a Mission give it a look, well worth the time.

Tainted Lunch Meat : wondering

This is likely not an informative post. However, after reading through many of the posts on here regarding monetary policy and so forth, I'm left wondering. Inflation is defined in a few different ways. Some say it's when prices rise, others say it's when the money supply increases, and still others say it's when currency becomes devalued. I don't know if there is a singular correct definition of inflation, but the devaluation view seems best to me. Also, I'm not entirely sure who or what causes inflation. I believe I read on here that the Fed has some direct control over that. Other factors are surely at play too, sometimes prices do, in fact, naturally rise, and purchasing power is dynamic. Now here is where I get stuck and can't make sense of things. Two thirds of our economy is based on consumer spending. We have to have a reasonable amount of purchasing power if we expect to continue a consumer economy. If my money continually buys less and less stuff, I will eventually quit buying stuff, it's just no longer a good value, I'm better off saving my money. If everyone follows that path, 2/3rds of our economy goes to shit. Since the mid 1980s personal savings has been in serious decline. I think this lines up well with our economy shifting to being consumer based. The question is, how does the Fed introducing inflation, our economic need for consumer spending and our refusal to save money all work together in a sustainable way. It seems to me that it can't work. Personal savings is now around or below zero. The only way to continue spending is by going into debt. With purchasing power likely to dive again with the introduction of a couple of trillion dollars by the Fed in the months or years to come via bailouts and such, seems like a downward spiral that we are trapped in. So exactly where does one get out of such a trap, and would a non-fiat asset or reserve backed currency alleviate this problem. I realise I may have some of this wrong in my head, but many of these parts seem to form a whole, and I can't quite get my head around it regarding some future solution. More on this to come if I can generate coherent thoughts based on the disparate details.

Cracking the Code: The Fascinating Truth About Taxation in America

All credit goes to Peter Eric Hendrickson. Everything that follows henceforth is not of my prose.



For the 64 years of its existence, the U. S. Internal Revenue Code has been ridiculed, feared and despised by virtually everyone. And why not? As presented by the Internal Revenue Service, the code appears illogical, inconsistent and incomprehensible. As presented, the code defies practically the entire Bill of Rights– requiring citizens to testify against themselves, allowing searches and seizures without warrants, levying fines and penalties without trials and imposing a tax on the basic right to earn a living. As presented, the IRC would appear to turn everything we all thought we had learned in grade school English and Civics on its head.

Is it possible that we all just misunderstood those simple lessons? Maybe. But researcher, analyst and scholar Peter E. Hendrickson believes that after Cracking the Code, you’ll agree that what has been misunderstood is the 3,413,780 word monstrosity itself– and how, and to whom, it applies.

Hendrickson delves deep into the history, statutes and case law behind the Code to reveal its startling and liberating secrets; and unless you live in a cave, you need to know what he’s uncovered.

Once you’ve finished “Cracking the Code”, the tax laws will never mean the same thing to you, or your bank account, again!

What You Will Learn in 'Cracking the Code':

• That the vast majority of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) is not the law itself, but is only evidence -- a representation -- of the actual statues in force, and like in the game of post-office, the real language has beena bit garbled in transmission.
• That "income", "wages", "self-employment income", "employee", "employer" and "trade or business" -- as these and certain other terms are used within, and in regard to, the tax law -- have narrow legal meanings exclusive involving, applying to, certain privileged activities, such as holding or administering a government office, or working in one.
• That altough the tax statutes make perfectly clear that, for instnace, language describing the obligations of "employees" -- and the taxes to which "employees" are subject -- only apply to a small minority of American workers, the distinction is artfully concealed int he IRC representation of the law, and is never forthrightly acknowledged in any IRS publication (although it is obliquely acknowledged whenever necessary for the avoidance of legal jeopardy).
• That an elaborate system has been created which causes some people to whom the tax laws do not otherwise apply (maybe including you) to inadvertently declare themselves to be among the poersons to whom those laws do apply.

"The revenue laws are a code or system in regulation of tax assessment and collection. They relate to taxpayers, and not to nontaxpayers. The latter are without their scope." United States Court of Claims, Economy Plumbing and Heating v. United States, 470 F.2nd 585, at 589 (1972)

From the Forward:

It was not until the late 1990's, when the Internal Revenue Code was digitized (and thus made searchable) that it became possible to decipher its deliberately confusing and misleading construction. Only then could complete searches be doen of all 3,413,780 or so words (not counting regulations!) for every incidence of "liable", "imposed", "income", "employee", and dozens of other key or misleading terms -- checking every reference, exception, definition and sources. Only then could it be established that, as written, the laws behind the code and the taxes that they impose technically comply with the Constitution, just as all the judges have said over the years.

But the same analysis also reveals that, as written, these laws don't apply to most of the receipts of most private citizens. Indeed, the two things are interdependent -- the former couldn't be true unless the latter was also true.

What you will learn as you read this book is that specific Constitutional limitations on the federal government’s power to tax do shape related law, and have generated a coherent Supreme Court doctrine which clearly and soundly answers the question of what is taxable "income”. Both the statutes and the doctrine acknowledge the exemption of the vast majority of private-sector receipts from that taxing power’s reach.

However, you will also learn about a complex combination of craft, routine bureaucratic incoherence, and casual-- and not-so-casual-- corruption by virtue of which many people are led to inadvertently allow, and even participate in, the legal transformation of their untaxable earnings into taxable "income”. Such people are tricked into voluntarily and utterly unnecessarily enabling the diversion of a river of wealth from their own hands, usually never to be seen again.

Thanks to an unhappy coincidence of reiterations and amendments of the law, a series of complicated judicial rulings, and the passage of time and memories, the details of American tax law-- and the principles upon which it is based-- have come to be widely misunderstood. The opportunities presented by that reality have been seized upon, by those paid to maximize revenue flow to the government, to successfully construct an elaborate and deceptive tax scheme rooted in today’s Internal Revenue Code.

This scheme capitalizes on widespread public ignorance of general legal doctrine and rules of statutory construction. It practices a careful gauging of extraction levels to the tolerance limits of key demographic segments. It relies upon the concealment of the underlying actual-law-in-force behind the misleading words of the code, which is legally no more than ‘evidence of the law’, and not the law itself.

Fundamental to the scheme is designing that code to be so dauntingly and profoundly confusing as to force the vast majority of those against whom it’s directed to abandon even a pretense of personal comprehension. These targets are thus compelled to surrender their decision-making to the code’s administrative bureaucracy or a professional class of fixers and go-betweens-- the members of either of which are dependent on the scheme for their own earnings.

Unsurprisingly, both assure any who ask that of course private-sector receipts are taxed under the law. If pressed, these experts will trot out carefully selected, out-of-context and ambiguous fragments of law calculated to convincingly suggest that what they claim must be in the law, somewhere. But somehow, they never manage to demonstrate exactly where. ‘Cracking the Code’ is going to provide that missing context, unravel the tangle of deceit and confusion, and make clear that not only is it not in there anywhere, what is in there is just the opposite.

http://www.losthorizons.com/

Articulated Starfish: Ayn Rand and The Moral Meaning of Capitalism

An excerpt from Ayn Rand's 1961 publication, For the New Intellectual, of an excerpt form her 1957 publication, Atlas Shrugged:

This is a statement made by Hank Rearden at his trial for and illegal sell of a metal alloy which he had created and which has been placed under government rationing and control.


"I do not want my attitude to be misunderstood. I shall be glad to state it for the record....I work for nothing but my own profit-which I make by selling a product they need to men who are willing and able to buy it. I do not produce it for their benefit at the expense of mine, and they do not buy it for my benefit at the expense of theirs; I do not sacrifice my interests to them nor do they sacrifice theirs to me; we deal as equals by mutual consent to mutual advantage-and I am proud of every penny that I have earned in this manner. I am rich and I am proud of every penny I own. I have made my money by my own effort, in free exchange and through the voluntary consent of every man I dealt with-the voluntary consent of those who employed me when I started, the voluntary consent of those who work for me now, the voluntary consent of those who buy my product. I shall answer all the questions you are afraid to ask me openly. Do I wish to pay my workers more than their services are worth to me? I do not. Do I wish to sell my product for less than my customers are willing to pay me? I do not. Do I wish to sell it at a loss or give it away? I do not. If this is evil, do whatever you please about me, according to whatever standards you hold. These are mine. I am earning my own living, as every honest man must. I refuse to accept as guilt the fact of my own existence and the fact that I must work to support it. I refuse to accept as guilt the fact that I am able to do it and to do it well. I refuse to accept as guilt the fact that I am able to do it better than most people-the fact that my work is of greater value than that of my neighbors and that more men are willing to pay me. I refuse to apologize for my ability-I refuse to apologize for my success-I refuse to apologize for my money. If this is evil, make the most of it. If this is what the public finds harmful to its interests let the public destroy me. This is my code-and I will accept no other. I could say to you that I have done more good for my fellow man then you can ever hope to accomplish-but I will not say it, because I do not seek the good of others as a sanction for my right to exist, nor do I recognize the good of others as a justification for their seizure of my property or their destruction of my life. I will not say that the good of others was the purpose of my work-my own good was my purpose, and I despise the man who surrenders his. I could say to you that you do not serve the public good-that nobody's good can be achieved at the price of human sacrifices-that when you violate the rights of one man, you have violated the rights of all, and a public of rightless creatures is doomed to destruction. I could say to you that you will and can achieve nothing but universal devastation-as any looters must, when he runs out of victims. I could say it, but I won't. It is not your particular policy that I challenge, but your moral premise. If it were true that men could achieve their good by means of turning some men into sacrificial animals, and I were asked to immolate myself for the sake of creatures who wanted to survive at the price of my blood, if I were asked to serve the interests of society apart from, above and against my own-I would refuse, I would reject it as the most contemptible evil, I would fight it with every power I possess, I would fight the whole of mankind, if one minute were all I could last before I were murdered, I would fight in the full confidence of the justice of my battle and of a living being's right to exist. Let there be no misunderstanding about me. If it is now the belief of my fellow men, who call themselves the public, that their good requires victims, then I say: The public good be damned, I will have no part of it!"

Articulated Starfish: Ayn Rand on Faith and Reason

"I will not die, it is the world that will end."

Articulated Starfish: Ron Paul Takes Ben Bernanke Back to School

Psychiatry as an Arm of the State

I wasn't going to post another blog. I really shouldn't even have posted the last one with the two videos spoofing Hitler. I don't like to post too many blogs at once because then what happens is people reading our submissions get backlogged and everyone has a life outside of this blog.... well, maybe everyone except for me since I seem to be the most active and frequent blogger. Haha. Anyway, here's an interesting blurb from the Lew Rockwell Show.

Psychiatry as an Arm of the State: Lew Rockwell interviews Dr. Thomas Szasz.

Mel Brooks = Hitler?

Oh..... My.... Gawd!!!



Those hotsie-totsie Nazis know how to get down!!!

Mike G. Mickey and Rapture Alert

I've been wanting to post about this subject for a while now. This has been a subject of interest and considerable irritation to me. Call it a pet peeve of mine. Or perhaps a major psychotic hatred. It could be that its just had too long a time to fester.

Anyway, let's lance this boil. His name is Mike G. Mickey and he hosts and manages a website called Rapture Alert: Sounding the Alert that Jesus Christ is Coming Soon!. Why is he the target of my contention? A few years ago while I was working at my previous job I met a co-worker who had come across this person online and wanted me to know about this website owner. I had just learned about the Federal Reserve and its purpose. She explained to me that he charts the prophecy of revelation through news outlets, and uses this as his argument that Christ's time is drawing near. At the time of this discovery of mine, I had never heard of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Anyway, Mike's objective is to reach as many people as possible about the story of Jesus Christ and His offer of eternal salvation. Ok, I don't mind this opinion. Believing in a superior intelligence on a personal level is fine with me. And we're certainly closer to the End than we have ever been before. But as the progression of email exchanges continued between us, I found him to be a stubborn, opinionated neoconservative. And I'm sure he came to the conclusion that I was a godless heathen.

This is how I learned about pre- and post-millenialism, dispensationalism, and the violent and literal interpretation of the Book of Revelations. In summary, what Mike G. Mickey over at Rapture Alert proposes is that for Jesus Christ to return, there has to be geopolitical support for the establishment of Israel and the maintaining of Israel in all that this racist Marxist terrorist state does. Of course, what he believes, as do so many other brainwashed lemmings, is that if you criticize Israel or her existence, you've just committed the unforgiveable sin of antiSemitism, whatever that means.

There is a different opinion however, and this is of Orthodox Jewry, the belief that there can be no Jewish kingdom on earth until the coming messiah. Since the Jews haven't accepted Jesus Christ as their messiah, no Jewish kingdom allowed. How does the Christian community in America reconcile this difference? They completely forget about it.

While investigating the site, I found this article he wrote on Secret Societies. He lists the Federal Reserve as being one of them but very few articles register under the search term Ron Paul, the sole voice in Congress dissenting against such a sinful organization. Christians, such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsay, and John Hagee, are always expressing God's damnation against America. If there is any truth to this is at all, maybe the existence of the Federal Reserve is among the numbered reasons God is damning America. You'd think that being aware of this simple little fact, a Christian like Mike G. Mickey would've supported someone like Ron Paul for President, but it is because of his misinterpretation of Christianity that prevents his support. After all, and maybe someone should tell Mickey, it wouldn't have been achievable to establish Israel without a fractional-reserve bank like the Fed to float the capital it needed.

But I'm assuming this man is a Christian. This man isn't Christian at all. Instead he is what the scriptures refer to as a false prophet. Christians are usually altruistic. I've met them, I know this, but this current breed is nothing of the kind because true Christians believing the Book of Revelations would protest the facilitation of global government at all costs, sparing no expense, risking life and limb to halt its production.

Not only is this current breed misinterpreting Christianity in this respect, they may also very well be pushing people away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which the bible says Hell reserves for such special transgressions.

In one of our last exchanges, Mike told me that the only one I could trust was Jesus Christ. So I asked him then if this meant that I couldn't even trust my very own mother, the woman who gave birth to me. He replied that I couldn't even trust her. Mike G. Mickey says that he is a retired police officer. I wonder then if he's a plant. I guess I shouldn't be trusting what he says either.

The Federal Reserve System

"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible, to maintain their control over governments, by controlling money and its issuance."- James Madison

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
- Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin

I hope I don't fail at this explanation. It's a complicated subject. It's not meant to be understood by very many people, so I'm going to try to simplify a very complex technical procedure.

Alright... so what is the Federal Reserve System? The Federal Reserve System is not Federal, you can access its phone number in the business pages of any public phone book, it is not a Reserve because its a bank of issue, and it is not a system either. Instead the Fed is what Eustace Mullins terms a "criminal syndicate" and is the product of international Jewish activity. Like any other company it has its own stock. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 stipulates, however, that the only owners of its stock can be those who it is bequeathed to and those families that made the initial stock purchase. These families are the Rothschilds of the Bank of England, the Rockefellers, the Warburgs, the Schiffs, the Harrimans, the Morgans and others which comprise what Mullins terms "the World Order." The Fed was created for two purposes: to seize control of money and credit of the people of the united States and to finance wars. By controlling the issuance of money, the Federal Reserve controls the value thereof. How is this accomplished? Allow me to quote Mullins: The Federal Reserve Board of Governors, meeting in private as the Federal Open Market Committee with presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks, controls all economic activity throughout the United States by issuing orders to buy government bonds on the open market, creating money out of nothing and causing inflationary pressure, or, conversely, by selling government bonds on the open market and extinguishing debt, creating deflationary pressure and causing the stock market to drop.

Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 5 of the Constitution expressly charges Congress to coin money and regulate the value thereof. This is the most important part of the Constitution as it is the spine of Constitutional governance. Once the position is relaxed, America ceases to be free. On the night of November 22nd, 1910, Senator Nelson Aldrich and Jewish emigrant Paul Warburg led a delegation of financiers from the Brunswich Station of Hoboken, New Jersey to meet in secret at Jekyll Island, Georgia to hatch this sinister plot. Three years later, Paul Warburg's creation was installed overtop the united States government.

It wouldn't be usurious if the Federal Reserve loaned interest free money to Congress and allowed Congress to pay it back by printing up its own interest free money. But then there wouldn't be much purpose for a Federal Reserve because why would Congress allow a seperate entity the performance of a duty the Constitution granted Congress the power to do in the first place? It becomes a scam when the Federal Reserve issues interest bearing currency and disallows government to print up its own non-interest bearing currency to pay it off. This is beneficial to the Federal Reserve bankers because the Fed forces Congress into paying off its debt to the Fed by using the same procedure that creates the debt. Meanwhile, to collect the interest of the debt directly from the people, the Fed uses its private collection agency, the Internal Revenue Service with its unconstitutional federal income tax. During Reagan's presidency a commission was formed and led by J. Peter Grace. The Grace Commission reported that "100% of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal Debt ... all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services taxpayers expect from government."

This mean that not one penny of federal income tax goes to pay for schools, police, libraries, fire departments, roadways, road work, or anything else. This is all paid for by state and local taxes. "But, Mr. Goldbug," you'll ask, "if the federal income tax goes to pay off the national interest of the national debt, then where does all the other money come from to pay for social security, medicare, medicaid, the umemployment wage, our military adventures, et cetera ad infinitum?"

Six months before the fiscal year begins, which starts in October, the President sends a budget proposal to Congress. If Congress doesn’t agree with the President’s budget proposal then the House of Representatives prepares their own budget proposal and then sends it to the Senate. If the Senate doesn’t approve of the budget proposal sent to them from the House of Representatives then the House of Representatives has to revise it and send it again. If the Senate doesn’t approve of the budget proposal sent to them from the House of Representatives the second time then the House of Representatives and Senate get together and jointly forms a budget agreement. Now, if the budget agreed upon exceeds the amount collected from taxes through the IRS, then the U.S. Treasury holds bond auctions to fill in the separation in the budget gap created by not collecting enough taxes. At these U.S. Treasury bond auctions, 22 primary dealers (representatives from Citibank, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan-Chase, Morgan Stanley, etc) who are required by government to attend, purchase the bonds to keep the country running. The U.S. Mint doesn’t just print dollar bills of varying denomination, the U.S. Mint also prints bonds of varying maturities. And here's the catch. For the banks to be a part of the Federal Reserve System, they have to hold government bonds in their core portfolios. The central bank system with its fractional-reserve lending (which is to say being able to lend out 9x the one held in reserve) is inherently anti-free market because from its very inception it is a monopoly cartel. The Federal Open Market Committee protects the banks from competition in the market place. And the members of the Fortune 500 all benefit from this monopoly. The prophecy of Thomas Jefferson has come to pass.

Most economists would have you believe that rising prices is inflation. This is incorrect. Austrian economic theory teaches us that inflation is the increase in the money supply and the rise in prices is a consequence of inflation. The popular misconception is that prices are rising, which is only half-truth. The devaluation of the dollar causes the prices to rise. The devaluation, however, doesn't happen at all once and to the same degree. As the Fed increases the money supply, the politically well connected -- goverment contractors, big banks, etc -- they enjoy a windfall. As the new money ripples out into the marketplace at a widening geometric-ratio, there is an immediate redistribution effect. Before the newly created money reaches the mass of people, businesses have already adjusted their prices while the average Joe suffers from living off an income that hasn't adjusted. The true losers in this cruel game of Robin Hood are the ones on fixed incomes (annuities, pensions, etc) because they never get to enjoy the money at all. This not only becomes a redistribution of wealth but also a hidden insidious tax which is far more underhanded than any other obvious tax. How is this so? The rich expropriate the middle class and the poor through the windfall of inflation and the value of the dollar which the people rely on as an instrument to barter with has been stolen from them. The liberal socialists are always complaining about an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor but never do they understand what causes this. And this is why there are so many more billionaires on Wall Street than ever before.

So with the ability to charge government interest on inflation and collect from the people of the government, the Rothschild banking family has been able to amass fortunes no other family in history of the world has been able to accomplish. And they have their signature banks all around the world, charging interest on inflation, turning once powerful countries into third-world plantations by invention of "trade agreements". Then with the money they've made through theft, they fund and create wars to use as pretext excuses for global government which they achieve by criss-crossing the world stringing each nation together into a heavily laced network under the umbrella of the U.N. Once someone becomes the richest man in the world the next step is to become the most powerful man in the universe.

Jesus Christ can be found in the Bible speaking out against such Jewish treachery.

Tainted Lunch Meat : Ron Paul makes Ben Bernanke look kinda silly

Watching C-span this morning and I saw Ron Paul questioning Ben Bernanke. Paul seems to make a solid argument for going back to a pre-1971 system of asset backed reserve currency. Not entirely sure what to make of the video, but it seems interesting to hear comments like Paul's in this economic climate. I doubt there is much traction for the idea in the public. However that may be due to a lack of understanding of what exactly our economy is based on.

Articulated Starfish: Chomsky and Conspiracy

There has been some recent discussion concerning the role of conspiracy theories and disinformation; in regard to this discussion in particular, 9/11, JFK, and a myriad of others, and the insight of one Noam Chomsky.

I've been trying to deviate from responding to other blogs posted by the fellow contributors of MercuryToona in open forum, as I believe this creates sentiments of inclusion that may turn potential readers away; however, this has stirred up some thoughts and remonstrance.

The problem that I see within the varying spheres of conspiracy theories and artifices, is that I believe it causes derisive divisions within the intellectual community by making frivolity worthy of academic merit, and hinders any inclination towards pursuing something that may suffice vindication.

I really, truly believe, without equivocation, that we will never conclusively know if there are or ever were underlying conspiracies surrounding the most grievous tragedies and scenes of our time. But I think it is absolutely abhorrent to trivialize the pains and sufferings of thousands of peoples to mere speculation and conspiracy. I believe that when we engage these adversities, we must seek out those foundations made of stone, not sand, if we are to find truth absolutely, and make restitution absolutely.

Tainted Lunch Meat : Obama probably not the Antichrist

Newsweek has an article discussing the possibility or not that Barack Obama is the Antichrist. I for one hope that he is. Please shatter my atheistic delusions, please. Absurd. Unfortunately, at least one 'expert' in the article seems to think that Obama probably isn't the Antichrist. Probably not. Really. I'm disappointed that it took an expert to come to that conclusion. Maybe we'll get the Antichrist elected next time. Jesus fucking christ.

Tainted Lunch Meat : Good morning Alaska

Good news out of the cold north west. Ted Stevens has lost his reelection bid for the Senate to one Mark Begich. Glad to see Alaskans not wanting a convicted felon representing them. Also good news because it essentially keeps Sarah Palin from being able to appoint herself or someone else to the Senate seat after dismissing Stevens from the seat due to the recent convictions. I think they have to have a special election for the seat, but the governor could have run for it. That could have better prepared for a Presidential run in four to eight years, but since the convicted felon Stevens wasn't able to hold the seat, no need to worry. The future of the conservative movement must now find another path to the White House, and it looks likely to not pass through a Senate seat.

Begich claims victory

Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky Deny 9/11 Truth

Revelations are coming out from the Alex Jones website, InfoWars, that Howard Zinn has stated very clearly that he doesn't care whether or not the WTC buildings were blown up or not. I'd like to make myself clear regarding these "conspiracy theories" about 9/11, as I am a guest contributor here to this blogsite, and I don't know how many of Shane's friends agree with me or not.

I think that 9/11 wasn't what the government told us it was, but I do tend to take the more extreme position -- this is to say, extreme according to mainstream American views -- that the Israeli Jewish Zionists are complicit in the crimes of that day. But what happens so many times over in these kinds of discussions is that the sections of debate discredited by the opposing party tend to end up being the most passionate arguments of those who argue for it, whether it be the JFK Assassination or Pearl Harbor. And it is the demolition arguments that become the focal point and source of origin for the 9/11 debates. Regardless of who is right in the debate on demolition, 9/11 was still a criminal conspiracy involving elected officials of high office in both America and Israel.

I try not to involve myself with the arguments supporting the demolition theory because I'm no physics and demolition expert and what happens so often with me is I get confused in the maelstrom of debate on it. Already both sides have mountains of evidence for their arguments and limos full of experts ready to defend their positions. You'll spend half of your time arguing pointless technicalities and by the time an agreed consensus is reached favoring the demolition theory, an interval of time will have passed rendering any levied depredation pointless by the egregious violations of the Constitution and ethics of morality.

Having said all of that, and boy, that was a mouthful, I'd like to at least cite a portion of the article written that has to do with Noam Chomsky because I know that our friend Shane hear is a big fan.

During a 2006 Internet forum event, Chomsky claimed that the 9/11 truth movement peddled “arcane and dubious theories” and had distracted activists from pursuing “crimes that are far more serious than blowing up the WTC,” presumably belittling the deaths of around 2,000 Americans, along with hundreds of thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis, as well as thousands of U.S. troops in the wars that followed that could not have been launched without the pretext of 9/11.

When a critic asked Chomsky why he was so dismissive of the supposition that 9/11 was a false flag event, pointing out numerous other examples throughout history including the bombing of the Maine, the Gulf of Tonkin incident and Pearl Harbor, Chomsky merely reiterated his insolence, stating, “The concept of “false flag operation” is not a very serious one, in my opinion. None of the examples you describe, or any other in history, has even a remote resemblance to the alleged 9/11 conspiracy. I’d suggest that you look at each of them carefully.”

Chomsky actually dismissed U.S. government complicity in 9/11 a mere four months after the event, and over a year before it was again invoked as a reason to invade Iraq, when he told an audience at a FAIR event at New Yokr's Town Hall, 22 Januaryar 2002, "That's an anternet theory and it's hopelessly implausible. Hopelessly implausible. So hopelessly implausible I don't see any point in talking about it," in response to a question about U.S. government foreknowledge.

Note that Professor Chomsky also vehemently maintains that Lee Harvey Oswald was the long gunman in the JFK assassination, even despite polls showing that around 80 per cent of the American public believe otherwise.

Chomsky was presented with convincing evidence for a wider plot by JFK assassination experts as far back as 1969 and according to Selwyn Bromberger, an MIT philosophy professor who had sit in on the discussion, Chomsky indicated that he believed there was a conspiracy, but has failed to voice his conclusion for nearly 40 years.

It’s painfully clear that the likes of Zinn and Chomsky are intellectual cowards who, despite being abundantly aware of the fact that both 9/11 and the JFK assassination represent far wider conspiracies than the official version of events dictates, they are afraid of using their prominent soapboxes to bring either subject to wider attention for fear of whatever reprisals might ensue. As Vincent Salandria enunciates, this makes them worse than disinformation agents.

“I agree that Professor Chomsky is not a CIA agent,” states Salandria, “But with respect to his pronouncements on the JFK assassination he is worse than a CIA agent. Without being an agent, with his enormous prestige as a thinker, as an independent radical, as a courageous man, he does the work of the agency.”

Indeed, at the time of the release of Oliver Stone’s JFK movie, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky and another liberal luminary, Alexander Cockburn, went on a seemingly orchestrated media campaign in an attempt to convince the public that the JFK assassination was not a wider conspiracy and also that it didn’t matter even if it was.

“When cornered themselves, Chomsky and Cockburn resort to rhetorical devices like exaggeration, sarcasm, and ridicule. In other words, they resort to propaganda and evasion,” notes one blogger.

The same rhetoric was utilized when questions about 9/11 reached a crescendo. Cockburn, Zinn and Chomsky not only dismiss clear evidence that the official story is demonstrably false, but in addition attempt to generate apathy around the whole issue, classic gatekeeper behavior in preventing the left from becoming active in pursuing the truth about 9/11.

The article's link is here: http://www.prisonplanet.com/howard-zinn-i-dont-care-if-911-was-an-inside-job.html

If Zinn and Chomsky don't come clean and apologize for such blasphemous treachery I will have no other choice than to declare them disinformation agents purposefully misleading people away from the truth. I really shouldn't be giving them this much benefit of the doubt. Are Zinn and Chomsky part of the criminal cabal? For that matter, who does Alex Jones work for? We know he's on the Genesis Communications Network whose satellites are loaned to them by one of the three major networks, either ABC, CBS, or NBC. That's controlled oppposition right there, out in the open.

These People Shouldn't Be Voting, Part II!!

Tainted Lunch Meat : very important

In perhaps the most important post this blog has yet to see, I bring you Street Fighter IV. Found over at Kotaku , this is the best news I've read in some time. The console version of the game hits North American shores on February 17th. Still no word on the HD remix of Super Turbo, but surely it will be out before December. Hopefully. Regardless, good times ahead for any Street Fighter fans.

Le Metropole Cafe Article Excerpt.

I've been meaning to post a blog about the dire straits America is in now thanks to our bandit Federal Reserve.

The following piece appeared in an article on Le Metropole Cafe. I forgot who wrote it, it was either Bill Murphy or Chris Powell of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committe, of whom I'll be blogging more about when I can organize some blogs in a chronological educational manner. But for now, since I've been procrastinating posting my "definitive" account of the failure of Wall Street, I figured I'd just post this. I think it has enough dramatic pomp to please the reader. This was included in an email of mine to someone else dated 9/21/2008.

This past week was a disaster for markets worldwide. We came closer to a financial meltdown than any time since the Depression. Don't take my word for it, listen to Pres. Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, Cox, Dodd, Schumer, Gross, etc.. These are the same people who have been telling us all along that everything was just hunky dory. Remember Paulson, Bernanke, and Sheila Bair doing their media blitz and assuring anyone who would listen that the "banking system is sound" and "the financial system is strong"? That was just TWO WEEKS AGO during the Fannie and Freddie failures.

WOW! What happened? How could the whole system go from "sound" and "strong" to the verge of a meltdown in such a short period of time?

So what really happened? The Dow and S+P hardly went down this week so what's the big deal? The big deal is that the credit markets completely seized up, no one was lending, we had a $100+ Billion run on money markets, short Treasury rates went negative, Central banks were forced to pump half a Trillion Dollars into the system just to keep the doors open. Lehman Brothers failed, Merrill Lynch disappeared and AIG was saved by the government all within 3 days, this, the week after Fannie and Freddie were nationalized. How come no one told us 30 days ago that we had big enough problems that could threaten the entire system? No, no one from the government had anything other than BLATANT LIES for public consumption 30 days ago [actually 20]! Now we are told they have the answer, WE WILL ALL BE SAVED! They weren't telling the truth last month but now they are? Why? Because tomorrow is a new season? Because they planned to go to church today and will swear to God that if he spares them they "won't do it again"? NO! Because the game is over, they know it, we know it, and they know we know it. They have to tell us that all is well even though it isn't, as the TRUTH will cause THE panic of all time.

OK so here's the deal, we were one minute to midnight this past week. We know this because Wall Street and the government finally admitted that the system was imploding. But wait, now they have a plan, didn't they have a plan before? Treasury is going to wave its magic wand and buy up $700 Billion of "toxic mortgages" [their words not mine] and that will solve everything. $700 Billion is a lot of money no? NO!!! $700 Billion won't even scratch the surface of this problem, the derivative market is now over $1 Quadrillion. This is over one thousand TRILLION DOLLARS. The mortgage market in the US probably approaches $20 Trillion. This new "plan" will not do anything other than bail out institutions that ALREADY own toxic debt. It won't help me, and it won't help you make next months mortgage payment. All this does is buy time. How much? Who knows? It buys time until people realize that all the Treasury is doing is trying to prolong a system that has already broken down.

We already know that without government intervention this past week, the system would have imploded. Now the government wants to save the system with more of the same [more debt] so we can go back to living like we have in the past? Wasn't the way the system worked up until now just proven to be a failure? It felt good, it was fun, in some ways it was even easy. Of course it was all of this because we LIVED BEYOND OUR MEANS for years upon years! So now the Treasury will go out and borrow $Trillions [yes Trillions not Billions] more to fix a problem that was caused by living too large for too long in the first place.

But there is a big, fat fly in this ointment. In order for the magic wand to wave its magic powers, the Treasury has to have the ability to borrow these $ Trillions. For years now the US has not been able to fund it's own debt. We have gone across the globe to borrow the money necessary to live light years beyond our means.

Foreigners now know that we have not been entirely truthful about the status of various financial products we sold them, nor were we truthful about companies' prospects, economic numbers [inflation , money supply etc.] and the health of the entire system in general. Are foreigners now going to fall all over each other to line up and lend the Treasury more capital? I think not. I think not because the Treasury has already had it's debt downgraded in the CDS markets. The credit default swap rates on US Treasuries have more than doubled in the last month so that market has already made a judgment with negative bias. I can see big pressure on interest rates to rise because of this additional necessary debt. When rates rise for Treasury borrowings, I assure you mortgage rates will rise also. This cannot be good for the real estate markets.

Last but not least is the value of the Dollar. Let's assume this is only a $700 Billion magic wand [I assure you it will have to be more]. This is an additional $700 Billion of added money supply and added debt that goes into the system without the system expanding. The mathematical outcome of this action is a MUCH LOWER DOLLAR value. This is highly inflationary. Over the next sixty days or so the inflation volcano will surely spurt a few unpleasant and unintended consequences. Inflation of "things", the things we need to live our daily lives will explode. Even if $700 Billion is the correct number, US debt will expand 7%. So in one sense this amount of money is chicken feed as to the amount really needed, and on the other hand it is a huge amount based upon the Treasury's ability to borrow.

Actually all of the above will soon prove to be moot because a total collapse will stop the clock. Treasury will have a failed auction very shortly, let's do some math. Just over the last two weeks Treasury has announced spending of $100 Billion each for Fannie and Freddie, $85 Billion for AIG, extra $s for the Fed [because the Fed has run through it's balance sheet and now only has the ability to print], Lehman ?, FDIC will need $50 Billion, and the magic wand of a mere $700 Billion. So... that will come to ...over $1 Trillion! I don't know about you, but since we are broke we might as well spend the exta .69 cents and supersize it! The funding will not be there for US to borrow, all that remains now is Ben Bernanke's printing press. Monetization will become as common a phrase as "would you like to supersize that". Your only protection against monetizing the debt is a four letter word that the government wishes you didn't know.

These People Shouldn't Be Voting!!!

Can't we just shoot these people??? Please? Please??

You have to at least give them credit for knowing which one has a pregnant teenage daughter.

Rahm Emanuel's Military Conscription Plan

Come join the military!! At least that's what Rahm Emanuel wants you do! In fact, he's going to force you to join whether you want to or not if you're between the age of 19 and 25.

Rahm Emanuel explains how to "fight against the spread of evil and totalitarianism.." by "expanding the U.S. army by 100,000 more troops..." through the process of creating a "new domestic counterterrorism force like Britain’s MI5" in his 2006 book The Plan: Big Ideas for America. On pages 61-62, he writes:

It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service. …

Here’s how it would work. Young people will know that between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service. They’ll be asked to report for three months of basic civil defense training in their state or community, where they will learn what to do in the event of biochemical, nuclear or conventional attack; how to assist others in an evacuation; how to respond when a levee breaks or we’re hit by a natural disaster. These young people will be available to address their communities’ most pressing needs.

This kind of military establishment harkens back to Soviet Russia's Stasi and Nazi Germany's Hitler Youth. And this is the "golden boy of the Democratic Party" who funded recruited candidates and placed them in office.

At the present moment Rahm Emanuel is the most powerful man in Washington, D.C. Barack Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod, Jewish Zionist, is Emanuel's long-term friend.

Articulated Starfish: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve

Long but comprehensive. Features: Ron Paul, Joseph Salerno, Hans Hoppe, and Lew Rockwell.

Tainted Lunch Meat : break time

I posted about the Mirror's Edge demo a while back, and while it was great, early reviews of the full game make it seem novel but not revolutionary. That's fine, I'll still pick it up. Soon as that happens I'll do a full on review myself. In the meantime I did come across this wonderful little flash version of the game. Apparently EA had their hands on this so it's official. So far it's just a 1 level beta version, but it's smooth as silk and twice as tasty. http://www.bornegames.com/?page_id=369. enjoy.

Tainted Lunch Meat : 30 days to oblivion

So, yeah, wow, that's a list and a half there. I can't wait to see the next 30 days either. I just wonder how many will survive the first 30 days to see the next 30. Now I'm not entirely against every step in that plan, but I do have some reservations. I couldn't 100% tell if this plan was being presented with seriousness or with tongue in cheek humor in mind. I'm going to assume it was posted with a serious mindset.

1. So let's start from the top. With a progressive income tax, like we have, the wealthier citizens pay more taxes than the less wealthy citizens. If you cut out those revenues and offset that with a reduction in spending, the country is no worse for the wear, kinda, sorta. It depends on what spending is cut to match the lack of income tax revenues. Most poor people don't pay income tax. Money comes out of there paycheck but it can usually be recovered as a tax refund check later on. Most wealthy people however do pay income tax, so eliminating it would be great for them, inconsequential for poorer people. Cutting spending could hurt either set, depending on where the cuts are. If you cut social programs for the poor, then it's obvious who wins out in this situation. Maybe the spending cuts could be devised to adversely affect the people who most benefit from them no longer having to pay their fair share.

2.I really don't like the idea of a pay-to-play voting system. A lot of people could be priced out of civic participation almost instantly. Horrible idea, completely.

3.Being a poor person myself, I quite like public land, since I don't own any for myself. And seeing as how many landowners are far from generous in letting me or anyone else have free run of their property, public land needs to stay public, or I need to be rich, either way is good.

4. Again with the bad ideas. Workers need protection. The job market should be upwardly competitive, not a race to the bottom. There is always some jackass willing to do your job for less money than you. He may even do it better. The has to be a floor for wages. And it needs to be high enough that people can live off of it. If you reduce the minimum wage to zero, that's quite likely close to what employers will be willing to pay for the work.

5.Can't really see the benefit of having blind and deaf economic planners.

6.This really doesn't seem to be a burden on big business. They would love to have less regulation.

7.I don't know if prices of oil and gas would plummet. Those prices tend to not plummet, unless we're in the middle of an economic crisis. Of course, if this plan came to fruition, then maybe oil and gas prices do indeed plummet.

8.I wasn't aware competition was illegal. I could be reading this wrong.

9.There is a bit of a difference between HUD housing and "cheap, private, apartments". That difference is a substandard somewhat livable dwelling and a lean-to. I just cant imagine developers lining up to sell or rent cheap housing. The tenants quite likely won't take of the property and the margins and much thinner for profit.

10.I'm not entirely against the general concept of this step. But I think the gas tax can be priced so as to make the roadways just barely self sufficient.

11.This is just hateful. "Work or starve" really? So maybe it's not fair for some people to game the system. I'd still rather see them do that than die. And I'm completely tired of being told people should fall back on charity during hard times. We may be a generous population, but the government of the richest country in the world should be able and willing to take care of its less fortunate citizens.

12.You realise when they repealed the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, that kind of led us to the meltdown we are seeing now. I can't see how further deregulation helps this in any way whatsoever.

13.I'll never have more than $100,000 in the bank, so alright, down with the FDIC, sure.

14.I like this step, actual asset based currency seems right to me.

15.The only way I'm flying is if I sprout wings, so yeah, I'm good on this step of the path to doom as well.

16.The post office is still cheaper than UPS, and it's not like FedEx is making UPS any cheaper, and DHL is going out of business apparently. Seems like some cartels are worth keeping.

17.Welfare farmers, well I laughed when I read that. "How's the harvest Clem?" "Little short on the welfare, but OK I reckon." That's what went through my mind. Anyways, yeah I'm good with this step too.

18.Really? Get rid of anti-trust laws? They barely save us from Vista as is. Seems like a terrible idea to me.

19.Again with the charities, somehow a cold, heartless government will lead to a kind, caring populace. I don't know, sounds risky, and again an assault on the poor, who may or may not be able to afford private education.

20.Why on earth would you want to sell the Federal Monuments? I like them, I can't afford to buy my own, but I like them all the same. Bad idea. Mt. Rushmore on Ebay FAIL.

21.Now this is something I can get behind. As a late adopter of cell phones, I'm a bit of a Luddite. Data bases are indeed evil. Good idea here.

22.Another idea that just strikes me as hateful. Unpopular minorities need protection, otherwise the tyranny of the mob will oppress them(I'm looking at you California).

23.Yeah, cause you know, of course you can win a legal battle against huge companies over pollution. Their enormous legal budget would absolutely not have any impact on the outcome of the trial. Surely if some evil polluter were dragged in front of a judge, your bargain bin lawyer could totally take 'em to the cleaners. Right. Moving on.

24.I don't even understand what this step means.

25.I'm glad we didn't move to privatize Social Security last year. That may have been painful after watching the Dow shed 4000 + points over the last few months.

26.Leave the NEA alone.

27.I can live with cutting off foreign aid.

28.I'm for it, I like guns. Good idea.

29.I'm down with this one too. Close down most of the 700+ military bases we have all around the world. The empire needs to be over.

30.Good idea, can't wait to get me that discounted Honda Civic.

Exhilarating indeed.

Is I.O.U.S.A. Documentary a Fraud?

I've been deliberating about what subject I should blog about tonight. At one point I decided not to, but now I've changed my mind because I felt so strongly about this particular subject that I couldn't ignore the impulse to share.

There's an independent documentary film that has been produced and presented to the Sundance Film Festival called I.O.U.S.A. and I just read a scathing critique about how it is more fraud than truth.

I'm going to provide you the link to the trailer to this documentary so you can at least understand the dramatic hype appeal it has generated.



And here follows the film review, written by Doug French.

The American empire, like the Roman one, is heading for a fall, and an out-of-control government deficit is one of the reasons. However, destruction by deficit is not fait accompli, if Peter Peterson, David Walker and the Concord Coalition have anything to do about it. Peterson and Walker like their government after all. Peterson was United States Secretary of Commerce and Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is the Senior Chairman of the politically connected private equity firm, Blackstone Group. Walker was Comptroller General of the United States and head of the General Accounting Office. The Concord Coalition is an organization founded by the late former Sens. Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.) and Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), along with Peterson. Concord added former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) in 2002.

Not exactly a confederation of anarcho-capitalists.

I had high hopes for the documentary film I.O.U.S.A., because it was conceived of, co-written and executive produced by Agora Financial’s Addison Wiggin, co-author with Bill Bonner of the excellent book Empire of Debt. When the movie finally started, the opening credits even indicated that the documentary was based on the book. I wish.

Bonner and Wiggin wrote that the purpose of empire was “to show that the United States is headed for trouble.” And, “their burden is only to show that the people making important policy decisions are morons and frauds.” I.O.U.S.A. shows that the United States is in trouble all right, but instead of politicians and central bankers being outed as crooks and mountebanks, the likes of Bill Clinton and Paul Volker are treated as heroes. Ex-Fed Chair Alan Greenspan is made to look like an idiot by Ron Paul in one clip and by comedian Jon Stewart in another, yet the filmmakers continually go back for sound bites from him and ex-Fed governor Alice Rivlin as authority figures. The film even claimed that one Federal Reserve mandate is to keep inflation low. Good grief, the Fed creates inflation.

Empire of Debt cited gold 23 times, government debt 19 times and David Walker only once, Stephen Fairfax noted on the LewRockwell.com blog. But the movie made no mention of gold and makes David Walker out to be the nation’s savior. I.O.U.S.A. is essentially a buddy-movie with Walker and Concord’s Executive Director Robert Bixby hitting the road to alarm Americans into holding their elected officials accountable. So there are plenty of scenes in the car, in the banquet rooms and being interviewed by local TV stations that don’t air their story.

Interspersed amongst these action sequences are person-on-the-street interviews that make the point that the average Joe and Jane don’t know or care about the goings on with the government budget.

If billionaire Warren Buffett has his way, the great unwashed and uninformed will pay the $12.50 they saved by not seeing the movie to the government in taxes. After I.O.U.S.A. concluded, CNBC’s Squawk Box honey Becky Quick moderated a panel of wise ones live from Omaha, led by Tout TV’s favorite guru, Buffett. The panel assured everyone that government Ponzi-scheme Social Security would be there when they retire. The Cato Institutes’ freedom-loving chairman William Niskanen even thinks people should be forced to save for retirement. Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP, believes the five guys on the panel could solve all of the country’s problems. And more than one panelist blamed everything on partisanship in Washington. If our representatives in this great republic could just learn to get along, everything will work out fine, was the claim. After all, America has faced greater challenges and triumphed.

But by far the most annoying was the Omaha Oracle, who continually piped in that the budget deficits aren’t that big a deal, but that trade deficits are, and that future generations of Americans will live better than the present generation, as long as Americans will pay enough in taxes to keep this good American thing going. We are lucky to be born here, according to Buffett, but he is unhappy that he pays a lower tax rate than his cleaning lady. No doubt she is, too.
The main message of the film – that, by the way, was purchased by The Peter G. Peterson Foundation last month – is that all of this debt will “swamp our ship of state,” and that the trade deficit will lead to less leverage in matters overseas. So, pay more taxes, and urge your congressman to decrease government spending.

Instead, moviegoers should spend their time reading Wiggins and Bonner’s book, buying gold and avoiding taxes.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french96.html

Lew Rockwell's Thirty Day Plan

Rockwell's Thirty-Day Plan
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

When Eastern Europe broke free in 1989, we all realized just how little thought had been given to the transition from socialism to capitalism. Mises had told us the collapse was coming, and we should have been prepared.

As America comes to resemble a command economy, we need a transition plan here too. Yuri Maltsev proposed a "One-Year Plan" for the U.S.S.R. We're not in that bad a shape (yet), so we could do it in 30 days.

DAY ONE: The federal income tax is abolished and April 15th is declared a national holiday. The 40% reduction in federal revenues is matched by a 40% cut in spending. The budget is still almost twice as big as Jimmy Carter's.

DAY TWO: All other federal taxes are abolished, including the corporate income tax, the capital gains tax, the gasoline tax, "sin" taxes, excise taxes, etc. Businesses boom, and the few legitimate federal functions are funded with an inexpensive head tax. People who choose not to vote need not pay it. (Note: this was a mainstream view in the 19th century.)

DAY THREE: The federal government sells all its land, freeing up tens of millions of acres for development, mining, farming, forestry, oil drilling, private parks, etc. The government uses the revenue to pay off the national debt and other liabilities.

DAY FOUR: The minimum wage is reduced to zero, creating jobs for ex-federal bureaucrats at their market wage. All pro-union laws and regulations are scrapped. The jobless rate falls dramatically.

DAY FIVE: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, like the rest of the Labor Department, is sent to that big hiring hall in the sky. Without detailed economic statistics, future economic planners will be blind and deaf.

DAY SIX: The Department of Commerce is abolished. Big business has to make its own way in the world, without subsidies and privileges at the expense of its competitors and customers.

DAY SEVEN: The plug is pulled on the Department of Energy. Oil and gas prices plummet.

DAY EIGHT: All regulatory agencies, from the Interstate Commerce Commission to the Federal Trade Commission, are deep-sixed. Competition is legalized.

DAY NINE: HUD is squashed like a bug. There's a building boom in cheap, private, apartments.

DAY TEN: The interstate highways reopen as private businesses. Road entrepreneurs price travel according to consumer demand. Using modern technology, drivers get bills once a month. Credit risks – and drunks and dangerous drivers – aren't allowed on the road. Non-drivers no longer subsidize car owners.

DAY ELEVEN: Government welfare is wiped out. Bums work or starve. The deserving poor find a cornucopia of private services designed to make them independent. Private charity explodes, as the American people, already the most generous in the world, find their incomes almost doubled, thanks to the tax cuts.

DAY TWELVE: The Federal Reserve closes its open-market operations and stops protecting the banking industry from competition. But banks can now engage in all the non-bank financial activities previously forbidden to them. The business cycle, which is caused by monetary expansion through the credit markets, is liquidated.

DAY THIRTEEN: Federal deposit insurance is scrapped. All insured deposits are redeemed from federal assets, which include the personal assets of high-level government employees. The threat of bank runs forces banks to keep 100% reserves for their demand deposits, and prudent reserves on all other accounts. There are no more inherently bankrupt banks propped up by the government, at taxpayer expense, and no more bail-outs.

DAY FOURTEEN: The shaky fiat dollar is defined in terms of gold, with the ratio determined by dividing the government's gold stock by all existing dollars on that day.

DAY FIFTEEN: The federal government sells National and Dulles airports to the highest bidder, and stops all subsidies to other socialist airports around the country. All constraints on airline prices and service cease. It costs more to fly during peak hours than off-peak, but overall, air travel drops in price.

DAY SIXTEEN: All government regulations that create and sustain cartels are abolished, including those for the post office, telephones, television, radio, and cable TV. Prices plummet, and a host of new and unforeseen services becomes available.

DAY SEVENTEEN: Centrally planned agriculture, as imposed by Hoover and Roosevelt, is repealed: there are no more subsidies, payments-in-kind, marketing orders, low-interest loans, etc. Farm prices drop. Entrepreneurial farmers get rich. Welfare farmers go into another line of work. The poor eat like kings.

DAY EIGHTEEN: The Justice Department shutters its anti-trust division. Companies, big and small, are free to merge – up, down, or sideways. Stockholders can buy any other company, or sell their stock to anyone else. Marginal producers can no longer battle their competitors with bureaucratic weapons.

DAY NINETEEN: The Department of Education flunks the constitutionality test, and is kicked out. Private charities set up remedial reading and writing programs for the former bureaucrats. Federally subsidized sex education and other anti-family programs go out of business. Local school districts become responsive to parents or close, pressured by a fast-growing private school sector (which many more parents can now afford).

DAY TWENTY: All federal monuments are sold, in some cases to non-profit groups based on the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, which owns and runs George Washington's home. The VFW buys the Vietnam memorial. There is much bidding for the Jefferson and Washington monuments. Nobody wants FDR's, so it's torn down and the land sold to a farmer. (With the federal government cut back to its constitutional size, much of Washington reverts to productive uses like agriculture, as in late 18th century.)

DAY TWENTY-ONE: The computerized financial and political dossier maintained by the government on every American is erased. The public wanders through the federal offices to make sure, in a reprise of the East Berliners' visits to Stasi headquarters.

DAY TWENTY-TWO: Equal rights are granted to all Americans, even members of non-victim groups. There is no affirmative action, no quotas, no set-asides, no public accommodations laws. Private property and freedom of association are fully restored.

DAY TWENTY-THREE: The EPA is cleaned out, with all "clean air" and similar big-government laws repealed. Ten thousand lawyers leap from their balconies. Private property is established in air and water. Americans harmed by pollution are free to sue the polluters, who are no longer protected by the federal government.

DAY TWENTY-FOUR: Americans are given complete freedom of contract, restoring rationality to malpractice and product liability law.

DAY TWENTY-FIVE: Government scrambles for more assets to sell (i.e., the National Zoo, also known as Washington, D.C.) to pay off the liabilities of the privatized Social Security system.

DAY TWENTY-SIX: Porno artists have to earn their own livings, as the National Endowment for the Arts tries to raise its budget through sidewalk painting sales.

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN: Foreign aid is outlawed as unconstitutional, unjust, and un-economic. Foreign politicians have to steal their own money. The World Bank, IMF, and United Nations close their super-luxurious doors.

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: The American people are given the unrestricted right to keep and bear arms.

DAY TWENTY-NINE: The Defense Department is reoriented towards defense. American troops come home from all around the world. We adopt a policy of armed neutrality, remembering the Founding Fathers' teaching that we could not have an empire abroad and a constitutional republic at home.

DAY THIRTY: All tariffs, quotas, and trade agreements are put through the shredder. Americans can trade with anyone in the world, without barriers or subsidies. Japanese car prices drop an immediate 25%.

In just 30 exhilarating days, we have established the outlines of free market. Radical? Maybe so. Me, I can't wait until Month Two.

This article appeared in The Free Market for March 1991.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/30-day-plan.html