COURTESY OF GOLDMELTER

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress." - John Adams "If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." - Mark Twain "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress . . . But then I repeat myself." - Mark Twain "I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." - Winston Churchill "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." - George Bernard Shaw "A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money." - G Gordon Liddy "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." - James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994) "Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries." - Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian "Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." - Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850) "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases. If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." - Ronald Reagan (1986) "I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts." - Will Rogers "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!" - P.J. O'Rourke "In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other." - Voltaire (1764) "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!" - Pericles (430 B.C.) "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session." - Mark Twain (1866) "Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it." – Anon =0 D "The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." - Ronald Reagan "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing20of misery." - Winston Churchill "The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin." - Mark Twain "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools." - Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903) "There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress." - Mark Twain "What this country needs are more unemployed politicians." - Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995) "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson

I.O.U.S.A (30 minute version)

CREDIT TO GEIST FOR THE LINK http://www.iousathemovie.com/

DANGER, DANGER, DANGER, YOU ARE WARNED! DON'T ANSWER ANY MESSAGES FROM PERSONS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE!

CREDIT TO GOLDMELTER FOR THE WARNING. IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT AREA CODE 809 We actually received a call last week from the 809 area code . The woman said 'Hey, this is Karen . Sorry I missed you--get back to us quickly. I have something important to tell you.' Then she repeated a phone number beginning with 809 We didn't respond. Then this week, we received the following e-mail: Do Not DIAL AREA CODE 809 , 284 , AND 876 THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US BY AT&T. DON'T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809 This one is being distributed all over the US .... This is pretty scary, especially given the way they try to get you to call. =0 ABe sure you read this and pass it on. They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc. In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls. If you call from the U.S. , you will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute. Or, you'll get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges. Unfortunately, when you get your phone bill, you'll often be charged more than $24,100.00 . WHY IT WORKS: The 809 area code is located in the British Virgin Islands (The Bahamas). The charges afterwards can become a real nightmare. That's because you did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You'll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong. Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam. AT&T ALSO SAYS TRUE http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=6045 SNOPES SAYS A LSO IT'S TRUE: http://www.snopescom/fraud/telephone/809.asp

TIC REPORT FOR JANUARY 16, 2009

REMEMBER THAT OUR DEBT IS DECREASED BY A WEAKER DOLLAR. January 16, 2009 hp-1357 Treasury International Capital (TIC) Data for November Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for November 2008 are released today and posted on the U.S. Treasury website (www.treas.gov/tic). The next release, which will report on data for December, is scheduled for February 17, 2009. Net foreign purchases of long-term securities were negative $21.7 billion. Net foreign purchases of long-term U.S. securities were negative $56.0 billion. Of this, net purchases by private foreign investors were negative $18.9 billion, and net purchases by foreign official institutions were negative $37.1 billion. U.S. residents sold a net $34.3 billion of long-term foreign securities. Net foreign acquisition of long-term securities, taking into account adjustments, is estimated to have been negative $33.7 billion. Foreign holdings of dollar-denominated short-term U.S. securities, including Treasury bills, and other custody liabilities increased $51.1 billion. Foreign holdings of Treasury bills increased $82.1 billion. Banks' own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents increased $39.4 billion. Monthly net TIC flows were $56.8 billion. Of this, net foreign private flows were $64.7 billion, and net foreign official flows were negative $7.9 billion.

SURVIVING THE DEPRESSION

http://www.sprott.com/pdf/marketsataglance/MAAG.pdf A PDF DOC FROM SPROTT MANAGEMENT

JANUARY 15, 2009 FROM GATA

URL: http://www.gata.org/node/7090 Another analyst predicts a big official revaluation of gold Submitted by cpowell on Thu, 2009-01-15 02:36. Section: Daily Dispatches 9:24p ET Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: In commentary posted tonight at 321Gold, Stewart Thompson, editor of the Graceland Updates financial newsletter and a retired broker for Merrill Lynch, joins those who are predicting a coordinated, international, and massive upward revaluation of gold by central banks to devalue the dollar, stop the hoarding of cash, restart spending, and avert worldwide depression. Thompson acknowledges the need of central banks to control the gold market and expects, upon that revaluation, new controls on gold ownership if not quite confiscation. His commentary is headlined "Is President Obama Wearing a Giant Gold Mask?" and you can find it at 321Gold here: http://www.321gold.com/editorials/thomson_s/thomson_s_011409.html What may be the U.S. Treasury Department's most recent statement on confiscation of gold, silver, and related financial instruments can be found in an exchange of correspondence with GATA in 2005, reposted by GATA in 2007 here: http://www.gata.org/node/5606 In short, the Treasury Department claims the power, under the Trading With the Enemy Act of 1917, to prohibit during wartime the private possession of gold and silver bullion and to freeze ownership of gold and silver mining company shares, as well as the power, under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 and upon a presidential declaration of emergency, to seize or freeze any financial asset, not just those related to gold and silver. The likelihood of such action by the Treasury is arguable, as are the prospects for compliance by the descendants of the men who fought at places like Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Bastogne, Okinawa, the Chosin Reservior, and Khe Sahn. But in any case the Treasury's statement of policy is probably not what Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote that song about "the land of the free and the home of the brave." CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.

SPONSOR AN EXECUTIVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhP4E4g9aSo

MONDAY 1/12/09 BUSH EXCUSES HIMSELF FOR EVERYTHING

Listening to our pathetically incompetent presidunt this morning, I believe that the unbelievable crap he is babbling to the press core, will be analyzed by professionals in all fields as the true representation of the total ineptitude and stupidity of George W. Bush. The man doesn't qualify to pick up flat cats out of the roadway. What a complete abomination he has been to the Office of the Presidency, the country, and to the entire World. Please shut up George, go back to Dallas or Midland, and wait to be indicted as the War Criminal you are. You have pushed the World backward centuries. History has already judged you...as the greatest FAILURE in history.

DON'T EXPECT OUR ARMY TO PROTECT US AT HOME...BE AFRAID...VERY AFRAID

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 The Real Value of the Standing Army by Jacob G. Hornberger VIEW THIS ARTICLE FROM THE FFF.ORG WEBSITE TO ACCESS THE LINKS WITHIN THE ARTICLE USE THIS URL: http://www.fff.org/blog/index.asp As commentators such as Salon’s Glenn Greenwald and Cato’s Gene Healey have reported, the U.S. military has deployed combat-tested troops to a homeland-defense mission here in the United States. The unit is the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, which has just returned from duty in Iraq. The Pentagon is denying that the troops will be used for law-enforcement purposes. That, of course would violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the military as a domestic police force. However, let’s not forget that ever since 9/11, the Pentagon has considered the domestic United States to be part of the worldwide battleground in the war on terrorism, which has empowered the military to round up Americans as enemy eombatants and treat them accordingly, as they did with American citizen Jose Padilla — that is, with torture and the possibility of indefinite military detention. Thus, given the right circumstances, such as another 9/11 attack, there is nothing to prevent the Pentagon from ordering the 3rd Infantry Division to sweep into cities and towns across America and round up enemy combatants. When confronted by critics with the Posse Comitatus Act, all the Pentagon would have to do in response is declare, “Ever since 9/11, we have possessed the power to treat terrorism as either an act of war or a crime. On authorization of the president, we have declared the people we are rounding up as enemy combatants, not criminals. Therefore, our actions are justified and constitutional. We are protecting our nation and our national security.” And make no mistake about it: The troops would faithfully and loyally obey the orders of the president to effect such round-ups. While the troops take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, in their minds that is equivalent to obeying the orders of their commander in chief. That phenomenon was reflected by the willingness, even eagerness, to obey the president’s orders to invade and occupy Iraq despite the fact that there was no congressional declaration of war, as required by the Constitution. It has also been reflected by the willingness of the troops to establish the Pentagon’s prison camp at Guantanamo Bay for the precise purpose of avoiding the application of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as well as interference by the federal courts that the Constitution established. We also mustn’t ignore the convenient possibility that those combat troops could also be used to quell domestic unrest arising out of a catastrophic economic crisis, one that has nothing to do with terrorism. For example, suppose a perfect storm of economic chaos were to strike our nation — with an industry-wide banking collapse, a worldwide dumping of U.S. government bonds, a massive run on the dollar, and the financial inability of the federal government to meet all its trillions of dollars in obligations without hyperinflation. Imagine millions of old people angrily demanding their Social Security checks. And millions of sick people angrily demanding their Medicare payments. And millions of people angrily demanding their FDIC checks after their bank has gone under. And millions of angry stockholders who have lost their retirement funds in a stock-market crash. Who better to maintain order than the troops? After all, don’t forget that that’s what President Hoover did when World War I veterans marched on Washington during the Great Depression demanding an early payment of their war bonuses. Hoover sent U.S. troops, who faithfully obeyed orders, to attack the demonstrators and restore order. Don’t forget also the ruthlessness displayed by Franklin Roosevelt, who is an icon for President-elect Obama and other liberals as well as conservatives. His Justice Department criminally prosecuted Americans for owning gold, doing its best to convict them of a felony for committing that dastardly economic crime against the state. That same Justice Department also went after people like the Schechter brothers, who ran a chicken operation in New York, for violating inane New Deal regulations, and did its best to have them incarcerated. At the advent of the Great Depression, it was important for U.S. officials to immediately blame the Depression on the failure of free enterprise. They knew that if Americans were to discover that the 1929 stock-market crash, in which millions of Americans lost fortunes, was actually caused by the federal government, specifically the Federal Reserve, there would be tremendous anger and rage directed against the government. (Of course, we also witnessed this phenomenon immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when U.S. officials blamed the attacks on hatred for America’s freedom and values to avoid having Americans focus on what the U.S. government had been doing to people in the Middle East as part of U.S. foreign policy.) Today, however, many Americans have discovered the truth about the cause of the Great Depression. Even the current chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, openly admits that the federal government, not free enterprise, was the culprit behind the Great Depression. Thus, if a catastrophic economic crisis there were to occur, federal officials would undoubtedly blame it on the usual suspects — speculators, greed, OPEC, Big Oil, free enterprise, capitalism, businessmen, price gougers, profiteers, and Wall Street. And they know that the average American is just as likely to buy it as Americans did back in the 1930s. But U.S. officials also know that many Americans might well figure out that all that is nonsense and that it’s the government itself once again — and specifically its fiscal and monetary policies — that are the root cause of the catastrophe. In such a case, those combat-ready troops, purportedly stationed to protect Americans from the terrorists, would be conveniently positioned to suppress protests by angry and outraged citizens. Of course, as the Founding Fathers emphasized, that is the real value of a standing army. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.