Free the Drug Users and Tax Resisters Too

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Free the Drug Users and Tax Resisters Too by Jacob G. Hornberger If we’re going to let federal officials who have violated federal criminal statutes against torture off the hook, then why shouldn’t drug users and tax resisters be pardoned at the same time? After all, what the drug users and tax resisters have done pales in comparison to what the torturers have done. If the torturers are permitted to go scot-free, then the drug users and tax resisters deserve to be freed as well. Let’s compare the respective crimes. The torturers have initiated force against other people in violation of federal criminal statutes. That force has sometimes caused terrible damage to the victims, including physical injury, psychological disorder, and even death. There are those who say that since the torture was done to terrorists, the torturers should be let off the hook. But there are two big problems with that justification. First, while the people who have been tortured have been accused of terrorism, none of them has ever been convicted of the offense. Even the CIA and the military acknowledge that the suspected terrorists they have labeled as “enemy combatants” in the “war on terrorism” are entitled to a trial to determine whether they are in fact guilty of what they have been accused of. That’s what those kangaroo military tribunals are all about — to create the appearance that a fair trial is being held to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. Under America’s system of justice, all people accused of a crime are presumed innocent. That presumption continues to operate continuously up to the point that a person is convicted of the crime with which he is charged. Thus, the torturers have tortured people who have never been convicted of a crime, neither in federal court nor by a kangaroo military tribunal — people whose presumed innocence has never been altered by a criminal conviction. In fact, many of those people whom the government labeled as “enemy-combatant terrorists” have been released by the government without any trial whatsoever, not even before a kangaroo military tribunal. That constitutes fairly strong circumstantial evidence that they were, in fact, innocent. So, in violating federal criminal laws against torture, the torturers have severely harmed or killed people who have never been convicted of a crime, people whom the law presumes are innocent of the crime that the CIA or the military accused them of, many of whom were ultimately released without a trial by the authorities. Second, even if a person is convicted of terrorism, whether in federal court or by a kangaroo military tribunal, where is the morality in torturing him at that point? There isn’t any. That’s in fact why our American ancestors, through the Bill of Rights, expressly prohibited federal officials from inflicting cruel and unusual punishments on people, including people who had been convicted of federal criminal offenses. Now, compare the federal crimes of drug possession and tax evasion. Many of the people who have been convicted of violating those federal criminal statutes are sitting in a federal penitentiary, possibly for the next several years or even the rest of their lives. Yet, what force did they initiate against other people? Answer: None. Unlike the torturers, they haven’t employed force that has resulted in physical or mental damage against anyone or caused the death of anyone. In fact, the only damage that drug users have caused is to themselves and possibly their families. Is that a valid reason for keeping them incarcerated? Why shouldn’t that be their personal business and the business of their families? What business does the state have punishing them for having engaging in purely self-destructive conduct? Do we permit the state to do the same with respect to alcoholics or tobacco users? In principle, it’s really no different with respect to tax resisters. They too haven’t initiated any force against other people that has resulted in mental or physical pain or death. All they’ve done is evade taxes, a purely peaceful act. Why should they be facing years in jail for that? While Switzerland treats tax fraud (e.g., false documents) as a crime, it does not treat tax evasion as a criminal offense. When people are caught evading taxes, the Swiss government’s remedy is limited to a civil proceeding in which the government seeks payment of the back taxes plus penalty and interest. Their belief is that tax evasion is not a matter for criminal penalties, only civil ones. If we’re going to let the torturers off the hook, then isn’t it only fair to let the drug users and tax resisters off the hook too? If the torturers aren’t going be punished for inflicting severe pain or even death in violation of federal criminal statutes, then the drug possessors and tax resisters, who haven’t initiated force against anyone, deserve no less.

FROM RON PAUL'S CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY ON HEALTHCARE

GOOGLE 'CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY' TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE LINKS FROM THIS EMAIL August 26, 2009 Dear Friend of Liberty, Make no mistake: there's a strong, unrelenting push to destroy what remains of private health care in this country. And now congressional leaders are attempting to overcome their scheme's plunging approval numbers by manipulating Ted Kennedy's death to create support for a “legacy” health care bill. Our representatives and senators are eager to get back to Washington and away from the tremendous grassroots opposition to health control. Which means it's time for us to turn up the heat. Click here to get contact information to write, call, and fax Congress to express your outrage at their plans to finish taking over what remains of private health care. And be sure to sign our "Stop the Government Health Care Scheme" petition. Health control propagandists claim that we are defending the status quo of a "failed" private sector by opposing their latest scheme. However, their bill cements the status quo in health care: continuing (and expanding) government intrusion. Protectionist regulations have decimated competition in health insurance at the local level, and the vast, complex tax code has subsidized employer-provided high cost health care. The FDA, in the name of consumer protection, has restricted the supply of drugs from home and abroad. And individuals are barred from shopping across state lines for health insurance. Watch this YouTube video (http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=24061) to see a ER physician describe how the government obstructs the supply of health services. Does any of that really sound like the free market at work to you? Government-manipulated health care is bankrupting this country. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are drowning in tens of trillions of dollars worth of unfunded liabilities and red ink, yet the response from Congress is to propose more 1,000+ page bills that will move our health care system perilously close to other nations' statist care. You know as well as I that this unfair plan is doomed to be a fiscal nightmare comparable to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and that Congress-created HMOs are notorious for denying care to control spiraling costs. Our nation has seen enough big government schemes, especially in medicine. President Obama is right about one thing: it's time to take action. It's time to let the free market work. COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK (http://www.campaignforliberty.com/campaigns/hr3200action.php) for contact information for the House and Senate in order to demand real reform. In addition to contacting your representative and senators, be sure to campaign hard for health freedom at your local townhall meeting. Urge your representative to fight to allow individuals to shop across state lines for insurance, curb the authority of the FDA to prevent Americans from going outside the country for cheaper medications, and enable individuals to purchase their own health insurance without being taxed for doing so. Tell Congress to give Americans control over their health care by giving them control over their health care dollar via tax credits and deductions similar to those outlined in Congressman Ron Paul's Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act (HR 1495). Ask your congressman to protect privacy rights by allowing patients and physicians to opt-out of any government-mandated or funded system of electronic health care records, and to repeal the federal law creating an "unique patient identifier" by adopting the policies contained in Congressman Ron Paul's Protect Patients and Physicians Privacy Act (HR 2630). In the meantime, we can push for reform of our respective state's competition-destroying mandates on private insurers. These simple, common-sense reforms would immediately alleviate the costs of health care without adding to the exploding national debt. And if you are able, please donate to Campaign for Liberty today so that we can educate Americans on a true free market health care system and defeat this latest health control scheme. Don't let the proponents of Obamacare sell you on the notion that we need the government to save us from the mess that government made. Click here to demand that Congress support legitimate health care reform! In Liberty, John Tate President P.S. Campaign for Liberty is committed to fighting this health control scheme and Congress' other attempts to further shred our Constitution, but we can't do it without your continued support. Please contribute to Campaign for Liberty today to ensure we can not only defeat big government's plans for our lives, but also champion the principles of freedom, peace, and prosperity.

Global War and Dying Democracy: The Revolution of the Elites

Five Part series of articles Go to the list of links for the five articles to start at the first one Credit to Goldmelter for the link http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14839

Dismantle Bernanke's 'Happy Conspiracy' ... now!

Dismantle Bernanke's 'Happy Conspiracy' ... now! 6 reasons more power for the Fed will destroy capitalism and democracy http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dismantle-bernankes-happy-conspiracy-now-2009-08-25

Dismantling the Temple By William Greider

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090803/greider

Takeover Of All Food Production From Farm To Fork Almost Complete!

http://www.healthtruthrevealed.com/articles/10443121107/article

Six Important Gold Price Indicators

Recommended reading by Jim Sinclair http://seekingalpha.com/article/157195-six-important-gold-price-indicators

GARY NORTH...WHY WE LET THE STATE TAX US

Gary North's REALITY CHECK Gold's price: http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/300.htm The Federal debt: http://www.GaryNorth.com/snip/544.htm To subscribe to this letter: http://www.snipurl.com/subscribenow Issue 885 August 21, 2009 WHO WILL INHERIT YOUR MONEY WHEN YOU DIE? "Tell me what country I will die in. I will never go there." Men do not like to think about their inheritance. That's because of the word "die." This is why they delay writing a will. A will is like a road map to the border of the final country. "I will never go there." But they will, with or without the map. Everyone knows this, but almost everyone who has not been diagnosed with a fatal disease assumes that he has at least five more years to live. For 4.9 years, this assumption is incorrect. Some men hire a lawyer to draw up a will for them (cheap or free). The lawyer names himself as the executor (retirement income). Other men hire a lawyer to draw up a living trust or revocable trust ($2,000 for computerized boilerplate). One way or another, someone will inherit. The capital will be used by someone else for his purposes. Most men think that their children will extend their posthumous legacy. Why should they believe this? Because they never ask themselves these questions. 1. Do my children think the way I do? 2. Why should they think the way I do? 3. Do I think the way my father did? 4. Do their spouses think the way I do? 5. What is the evidence that they do? 6. Are my children good with money? 7. What is the evidence that they are? 8. Are their spouses good with money? 9. What is the evidence that they are? 10. Will the money be worth anything? 11. What is the evidence that it will be? The government understands inheritance far better than most parents do. The government has determined that it will impose an inheritance tax. Rich men hire lawyers to devise ways around the inheritance tax. Less rich men think they will beat the inheritance tax altogether. That is for rich men to worry about, they think. They are wrong. So are the rich men. THE REAL INHERITANCE TAX The inheritance tax is to governments what the red cape is to a matador. It focuses the victim's attention away from the sword. The inheritance tax begins to be collected early. It is collected by a special team of tax collectors. Like all tax collectors, their salaries are paid for by the taxpayers. The government has purchased specially designed tax- collection vehicles, comparable to Brinks or Loomis armored cars. We see them on the road nine months a year. They are painted yellow. When their red lights are flashing, don't pass them. I have written about them here. http://lewrockwell.com/north/north278.html Government officials, unlike parents, understand that the secret of inheriting enormous wealth is to persuade the heirs to spend the money your way, not the deceased's way. The money is merely capital. The crucial factor is the will. Human will. This is why, in every nation, the government requires attendance at schools. It then taxes people to fund these schools. The handful of schools that it does not fund it regulates. The schools that it does not regulate are so few in number that the government ignores them. This strategy was spelled out in detail by the scholar who is sometimes called the father of American central planning: Lester Frank Ward. His 1883 book, "Dynamic Sociology," presented the program. First, destroy all private education. Second, force parents to send their children to tax-funded schools. Third, filter out all objectionable ideas in the textbooks and classrooms. Ward hated inequality. He hated inequality in intelligence. He wanted to equalize intelligence. He had a plan to do this. The system of private education, all things considered, is not only a very bad one, but, properly viewed, it is absolutely worse than none, since it tends to increase inequality in the existing intelligence, which is a worse evil than a general state of intelligence would be. (Vol. 2, p. 588) Society, through the State and through the public schools, must place teachers in charge, and these teachers must be independent of three groups: "parents, guardians, and pupils." (II, p. 590) PARENTS SURRENDER CONTROL At some point, parents surrender control over the content of their children's education. Some parents hold out longer than others. Normally this takes place when the child reaches the age of six. Compulsory attendance laws take over. The parent must either send the child to a tax-funded school that his taxes pay for, or send him to a private school, or educate the child at home. The first decision is easy and uncontroversial. The second is expensive in terms of money. The third is expensive in terms of the mother's time. If she works outside the home, she must quit in order to stay home and teach her children. The father bows out at this point. He is only rarely involved in the education of his children. Farmers were the last to surrender this freedom in the late 19th century. Only Old Order Amish fathers still teach their sons today, at least after the sons graduate from the eighth grade. The states allow them to go home at this age. It took a Supreme Court case to give the Old Order Amish this exemption. ("Wisconsin v. Yoder," 1972). The second decision -- putting the child into a private school -- is rarely resorted to. The parents assume that the school system is trustworthy, at the prevailing price. The parents at this point surrender to the New York City-based textbook publishing companies. This is where New York and Washington take control over the inheritance. The goal is simple: to shape the agenda of the children. If they can do this, they gain the inheritance. The money flows down government-approved channels. For over a century, they have gained this inheritance. This is by far the longest-term plan that the New York/Washington axis has -- the true axis of evil. In Great Britain, it is one city: London. In France, it is one: Paris. In Germany, it is one: Berlin, and in Japan it is one: Tokyo. In Russia, it is one: Moscow. This system has led to the so-far unbreakable control over the West by bureaucrats. The heirs cannot think apart from a series of slogans. These slogans place limits on the terms of political discourse. These limits channel the forces of politics down approved paths. The debates take place within a framework that does not threaten the Powers That Be. It allows different factions of these powers to gain temporary control. Let us consider a few of the more widespread slogans. These are inculcated in the textbooks, the state-accredited classrooms, and the media. 1. FDR saved capitalism from itself. 2. It is better to have a little inflation than a depression. 3. Deficits don't matter. 4. We owe it to ourselves. 5. Society's great complexity requires government planning. 6. If the government did not take action, poor people would starve. 7. Society needs a government-supplied safety net. 8. The U.S. Supreme Court has the final say. 9. The solution is more education. 10. Everybody deserves. . . . 11. Everyone should pay his fair share. 12. Criminals should pay their debt to society. 13. There oughta be a law. Not one of these is true. All are either actively promoted by the public or at least grudgingly accepted. The conservatives love this one. "Criminals should pay their debt to society." This is the first judicial step toward tyranny. It denies justice to the victim. It substitutes the State for the victim. The injured party is not the victim; rather, it is the State. The State therefore must tax the injured party to incarcerate the criminal. Think "disinheritance of the victim." What did Moses say? If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief be found breaking up [in], and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double (Exodus 22:1-4). This was a system of restitution. The thief owed his victim. If he could not pay, then he was to be sold into slavery and the sale price given to the victim. This is exactly what the U.S. Constitution authorizes. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction (13th Amendment). Were you taught this in high school? For that matter, were you taught that the United States are plural Constitutionally? The text says "any place subject to their jurisdiction." Filtered? Yes. "The U.S. Supreme Court has the final say." True or false? With respect to "Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls" -- consuls? -- true. However, "In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make" (Article III). Were you taught this in high school? Or was this information filtered? These judicial matters are not hidden. They are in plain sight. The Constitution is short and highly specific. These matters are right in front of our collective noses. But our collective noses no longer can conduct the famous smell test. When you walk into a stranger's house, you can smell it. When you walk into your own, you can't. The bureaucrats have employed a kind of ideological incense to keep the heirs from smelling confiscation in the air. Over time, even the parents no longer smell something fishy. This is part of the most brilliant inheritance tax scheme of all time. It is working all over the world. There is a model for it. We find it in the Bible. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king (Daniel 1:3-5). When was the last time you heard a sermon on this passage, where the pastor identified the contemporary Babylonians and the contemporary Hebrews? As I like to say, "the one will be the first." The larger the congregation, the less likely the sermon. The Apostle Paul spoke to the king in whose court he was accused. "For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner" (Acts 26:26). The State's inheritance program is not openly revealed, but the institutional foundation of it has not been hidden in a corner. It is open. The victims defend it, for if they did not defend it, they would be faced with the personal cost of escaping from it. CONCLUSION R. J. Rushdoony had little patience with conservatives who complained about high taxes. "They have tithed their children to the State, and then they complain against how much the government is costing them." He thought all such tax protests would come to nothing. Well, not nothing, exactly. Mass inflation. We live in a world where the tax collector is a matador. "Keep your eye on the red cape." Conservatives think they are making progress when they say, "No, no; keep your eye on the red ink." Keep your eye on the yellow buses. ------------------------------------------------------ The Daily Reckoning is a free, daily e-mail service brought to you by the authors of the NY Times Business Bestseller "Financial Reckoning Day", "Demise Of Dollar", "Empire Of Debt", and "Mobs, Messiahs and Markets". To learn more or subscribe, please visit our website here: http://clicks.dailyreckoning.com//t/AQ/XA0/YOM/DMQ/AQ/AUdX+g/LF8m ------------------------------------------------------ Our writers and contributors also welcome your questions and comments. Simply reply to this e-mail with the word 'Question' or 'Comment' in the Subject of your reply ------------------------------------------------------ Are you having trouble receiving your Daily Reckoning? You can ensure its arrival in your mailbox by whitelisting The Daily Reckoning here: http://clicks.dailyreckoning.com//t/AQ/XA0/YOM/Bsw/AQ/AUdX+g/evfx

The One-Hour Meltdown...credit to FLARPH for the article

The One-Hour Meltdown Copyright © July 22, 2009 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E. Introduction The following is just my opinion. It is nothing more than my opinion. I have nothing to substantiate or prove any aspect of my opinion. My opinion is simply the logical conclusion of a law-abiding sixty-year old Christian grandfather who has both an engineering degree and an M.B.A. degree and who has seen both good times and hard times during his life. The Current Situation: At the present time every nation in the entire world is facing serious financial and social stress. If only a few nations were involved then it might be possible to contain the upcoming meltdown to a few specific geographical areas. This has been successfully done in the past. However, since the entire world is currently on the edge of the cliff, when the meltdown begins it will impact almost everyone on the face of the earth. Unless God chooses to intervene, the meltdown is no longer avoidable. Our governments and our financial institutions are no longer in control. However, to keep the system working just a little longer they must maintain the illusion that they have the system under control. But the system is broken and it can't be fixed. There are two reasons why the system can't be fixed: 1. It has grown beyond its own capacity to support itself. 2. It has become so complex that no one can do anything significant to fix it because it is hemorrhaging in too many different places. The average person in every nation on the face of the earth knows the meltdown is coming. The wealthy people know it. The poor people know it. Nobody wants it to happen. But almost everyone is just patiently waiting for it to begin and at the same time hoping that it doesn't begin too soon. Nobody knows when the meltdown will actually start. It may begin one-month from now. Or a year from now. Or three-years from now. But almost everyone knows that at some future date the meltdown will occur. This widespread knowledge of the impending disaster is the reason that when the disaster begins it will quickly and completely spiral out-of-control in one-hour or less. In my opinion, most people do not seriously believe it could happen this quickly. Most people expect a more gradual meltdown. They may be right because nobody can predict the future, and that includes myself. The One-Hour Meltdown However, my personal opinion is that once the meltdown begins then in less than one-hour it will quickly escalate far beyond anyone's ability to control or manage it on a worldwide basis. The five basic assumptions that cause me to believe in my "one-hour meltdown theory" are as follows: 1. Banks: The financial institutions around the world cannot withstand a full-scale worldwide bank run. Therefore, they have already made plans to immediately shut down the instant they are told to do so. Within minutes, all across the globe, all the ATM machines will be offline, all credit card and debit card verification transactions will be halted, and all banks will have their vaults locked and their doors locked and their building emptied of all personnel, except perhaps for some special security guards. All high-level bank executives will immediately disappear to a wide variety of remote safe unknown locations. All telephone call inquiries to any of the financial institutions will be automatically answered by a computer with a pre-recorded message similar to the following: "Our system is currently experiencing an extremely high call volume and therefore we are unable to answer your call at this time. Please try again later when our call volume returns to normal." 2. Governments: The vast majority of our government leaders all over the world are relatively intelligent individuals. They completely understand the ramifications of a "bank holiday" in our computer controlled financial economy. Therefore, all government offices will also be immediately shut down, and they will empty their buildings and lock their doors. Any transaction in progress, including any trials in progress, will be immediately halted and postponed until some future date. All high-level government officials, including all judges and tax officials, will immediately disappear to a wide variety of remote safe unknown locations. 3. Retail Businesses: Since they will be unable to process even simple transactions, all retail establishments, both large and small, will immediately lock their doors to prevent anyone else from entering. If possible, they will complete any transactions for customers already inside their building if those customers have enough cash to pay for their purchases. Any customers wishing to pay by check or credit card or debit card will be told that the verification system is down and their transaction can't be completed. All customers will then be immediately escorted to the doors and the doors will be briefly opened and then immediately locked after they exit. In addition, in a manner similar to what happened during the World Trade Center meltdown, each store's management may demand that their employees remain at their stations until further notice or they will lose their jobs for leaving without management's permission. But most of the more intelligent employees will leave at the same time as the store's last few remaining customers. The store's special security guards may or may not remain behind in order to protect the store with their lives. Since most of these special security guards are not paid exceptionally well, a large number of them may decide that they should return home and protect their own families instead. 4. Criminals: Anyone and everyone who has any criminal tendencies and who has been patiently waiting for this to happen will immediately see it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve their financial situation. More than likely the vast majority of these criminals have already made very detailed plans that includes exactly which businesses they are going to rob first, second, third, and so on. Any business with a reasonable level of cash-on-hand will be very high on every criminal's list. Every jewelry store and pawn shop that has any type of silver or gold jewelry, or precious stones (diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc.), will be very high on everyone's list. The warfare that breaks out at these establishments between competing criminals will not be pleasant. 5. Normal People: Normal average people will begin looting. Grocery stores will be broken into and they will be completely emptied from wall-to-wall, including the rear storage area, in less than one-hour. Stores that have firearms, ammunition, appliances, clothing, shoes, or anything else needed by the average citizen will be emptied in less than one-hour. In skirmishes over the few remaining resources, normal average people will begin killing one another inside the stores, and in the parking lots outside the stores, and on the streets as these fully loaded vehicles try to escape with their loot. The above events will all happen simultaneously during the first one-hour of the meltdown. After that first hour has passed, things will really begin to get nasty. Everyone will quickly realize there are not are not enough law enforcement personnel to protect everyone and everything. Although the military will probably be ordered to protect specific high priority establishments and resources, there will simply not be enough military personnel to protect individual civilians or businesses. Events After the One-Hour Meltdown Almost everyone who has lost their jobs, their vehicles, their homes, and their life savings will now have nothing more to lose by seeking some form of retribution against the society that took everything away from them that they once "partially" owned. Anyone who has received a minor speeding ticket in the recent past and who honestly could not afford the fine will be in a very unpleasant mood. Everyone who has had their property taxes increased at the same time their income decreased will not be in a good mood. Everyone who has had their credit card interest rate increased at the same time their employer was reducing the number of hours they worked each week will not be in a good mood. Everyone who has been reduced from a two-family income down to a one-family income will not be in a good mood. Everyone who lost their job because their employer went bankrupt will not be in a good mood. The vast majority of these individuals will have been just barely surviving in a situation where they were living hand-to-mouth on government welfare or the charity of the local community (unemployment checks, welfare checks, food stamps, food pantries, etc.). The instant they realize there will be no more government welfare or charity, then these individuals will have no hope for survival unless they are able to immediately acquire the food and other resources they need before it is all gone. Anyone who tries to stand in their way, or who tries to reason with them, will have a life expectancy of less than three-seconds. After the stores are all emptied, and there is nothing ...

CASH FOR CODGERS

Legislators, realizing the success of the President’s "Cash For Clunkers" rebate program, have revamped a major portion of their National Health Care Plan. President Obama, speaker Pelosi, and Sen. Reed are expected to make this major announcement at a joint news conference later this week. I have obtained an advanced copy of the proposal which is named… "CASH FOR CODGERS" and it works like this… Couples wishing to access health care funds in order to pay for the delivery of a child will be required to turn in one old person. The amount the government grants them will be fixed according to a sliding scale. Older and more prescription dependent codgers will garner the highest amounts. Special "Bonuses" will be paid for those submitting codgers in targeted groups, such as smokers, alcohol drinkers, gold bugs, dollar shorts, persons 10 pounds over their government prescribed weight, and any member of the Republican Party. Smaller bonuses will be given for codgers who consume beef, soda, fried foods, potato chips, lattes, whole milk, dairy products, bacon, Brussel sprouts, or Girl Scout Cookies. All codgers will be rendered totally useless via toxic injection. This will insure that they are not secretly resold or their body parts harvested to keep other codgers in repair.

RON PAUL ON HEALTHCARE DEBATE

LewRockwell.com Healthcare Plan Based on Economic Fantasy by Ron Paul As the healthcare debate rages on, there is one reality that even the proponents of this hostile takeover of healthcare by government cannot ignore – and that is money. The government simply does not have the money for a new, expansive, public healthcare plan. The country is in a deep recession that will deepen even further with the coming collapse of the commercial real estate market. The last thing we need is for government to increase and expand taxes to pay for another damaging, wasteful program. Foreigners are becoming less enthusiastic about buying our debt, and creating another open-ended welfare program when we cannot pay for what is already in place, will not help. Champions of socialized medicine want to tax the rich, tax businesses that already cannot afford to provide health plans to employees, and tax people who don’t want to participate in the government’s scheme by buying an approved healthcare plan. Presumably, all these taxes are to induce compliance. This is not freedom, nor will it improve healthcare. There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host. Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflating them instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market pressures without unintended consequences. Market forces would drive prices down. Government meddling negates these pressures, adds regulatory compliance costs and layers of bureaucracy, and in the end, drives prices up. The non-partisan CBO estimates that the healthcare plan will cost almost a trillion dollars over the next ten years. But government crystal balls always massively underestimate costs. It is not hard to imagine the final cost being two or three times the estimates, even though the estimates are bad enough. It is still surreal that in a free country we are talking only about HOW government should fix healthcare, rather than WHY government should fix healthcare. This should be between doctors and patients. But this has been the discussion since the 60’s and the inception of Medicare and Medicaid, when government first began intervening to keep costs down and make sure everyone had access. The result of Medicaid/Medicare price controls and regulatory burden has been to drive more doctors out of the system – making it more difficult for the poor and the elderly to receive quality care! Seemingly, there are no failed government programs, only underfunded ones. If we refuse to acknowledge common sense economics, the prescription will always be the same: more government. Make no mistake, government control and micromanagement of healthcare will hurt, not help healthcare in this country. However, if for a moment, we allowed the assumption that it really would accomplish all they claim, paying for it would still plunge the country into poverty. This solves nothing. The government, like any household struggling with bills to pay, should prioritize its budget. If the administration is serious about supporting healthcare without contributing to our skyrocketing deficits, they should fulfill promises to reduce our overseas commitments and use some of those savings to take care of Americans at home instead of killing foreigners abroad. The leadership in Washington persists in a fantasy world of unlimited money to spend on unlimited programs and wars to garner unlimited control. But there is a fast-approaching limit to our ability to borrow, steal, and print. Acknowledging this reality is not mean-spirited or cruel. On the contrary, it could be the only thing that saves us from complete and total economic meltdown. Find this article at: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/riggenbach3-1.html Copyright 2009 LewRockwell.com

Mike Whitney

Bulletins From Clunkerville By Mike Whitney Toxic assets, falling home prices, widespread malaise in the credit markets are just part of the problem. The deeper issue is the dismal condition of the US consumer who has seen his home equity dissipate, his retirement funds sawed in half,his access to credit curtailed, and his job put at risk. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23272.htm

THINK IT'S NOT A POLICE STATE?

http://www.azfamily.com/video/index.html?nvid=388316 And they charged him with 'disorderly conduct'. Who's conduct was the most disorderly?

PROSECUTE THEM ALL

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Eric Holder’s Cover-Up by Jacob G. Hornberger http://www.fff.org/blog/index.asp Attorney General Eric Holder is considering appointing a special prosecutor to investigate whether crimes relating to torture were committed by federal personnel during the Bush administration. There’s one big problem, however, with what Holder is proposing: His mandate to the special prosecutor would limit the investigation to underlings who committed acts outside the parameters set forth in the so-called torture memos and prohibit any investigation and prosecution of the higher-ups who designed the overall scheme or participated in its implementation. It also would prohibit prosecution of people who broke the law by committing acts that fell within the authorized parameters. In principle, Holder’s plan would be no different from the many investigations into the torture at Abu Ghraib conducted by the Army, in that it would have the effect of making it look like the U.S. government stands against torture by going after underlings while, at the same time, protecting the higher-ups who are ultimately responsible for what their underlings have done. What if conduct within the authorized parameters violated the law? Under Holder’s plan, that will not be investigated and will just have to be excused. The notion is that the underlings who committed those acts were just following orders. What about the president, vice president, and other higher ups who designed and implemented the interrogation program? Undoubtedly, Holder would say that they should be immune from investigation and prosecution because they were just complying with the legal opinions of the lawyers in the Justice Department. What about the attorneys themselves who issued the torture memos? Are they subject to criminal prosecution? Holder would say no, under the assumption they were just innocently issuing good-faith legal opinions in response to a request from the president. How can we prosecute lawyers for doing nothing more than issuing flawed legal opinions? What a crock, and Holder knows it, because there is another distinct possibility that deserves investigation and, if confirmed, criminal prosecution: a conspiracy to violate laws on torture, one in which the torture-memo attorneys were actively involved by conspiring to issue bogus legal opinions to provide cover for the president and the vice president and other higher-ups who were designing and implementing the torture program. For those who think that lawyers would never conspire to violate the law, don’t forget the occupation of the main co-conspirators in the Watergate conspiracy: lawyers. Richard Nixon, John Mitchell, John Dean, and John Erlichman. Did such a conspiracy exist? Were the torture memo attorneys truly issuing good-faith legal opinions or were they knowingly issuing false legal opinions for the purpose of providing requested cover for the White House? We don’t know the answers to those questions. That’s what a special prosecutor should be free to ferret out in a full investigation. By limiting the scope of the inquiry to underlings who went outside the authorized parameters, Eric Holder is ensuring that the American people never find out. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. FFF.ORG

GT COMMENTS

In recent days the economic situation has finally triggered the populace to voice its anger, at one of the few venues (townhall meetings) afforded to them for such purpose, over what our 'leaders' have done to us all. The sad part is that those who are blessed to have access to our TV media don't have a clue why the people are mad and becoming violent. Chris Matthews, yesterday, interviewed the fellow who carried a legally licensed, loaded side arm (legal in his state) outside O'bomba's town meeting. He grilled the man in such a rude and authoritarian manner, with the implication that the man was a nut, that I would have thought Chris was our 'National Prosecutor' of all things unAmerican. The man held his ground, despite the unfamiliar territory before the lights and cameras, and was informed enough to counter all Matthew's prosecutorial thrusts, with his limp sword of indignation, at a citizen who dared to own his Constitutional, legal right to have, carry, and use a weapon as well as voice his complaint of how our country is being pushed into the ditch by people who have the real weapons that they use to keep the population in line, seat belted up, driving the correct speed and eating the right foods and disciplining their children properly. None of our TV commentators realizes that the problem is that the MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE is being destroyed, which destroys the populace's ability to conduct TRANSACTIONS among themselves, which is what our commerce really is, the accumulation of all our transactions. When you destroy the medium of exchange (the blood system of an economy) you kill the economy (patient) and drive the system into anarchy. Those in power only care about retaining that power and the benefits that come with it. They will use the weapons they have accumulated with the money they have stolen from the populace through taxation, fines, and inflation to keep that very population under control, or they will eliminate those who they can't control, and that DOESN'T mean locking them up in prison cells, as California has recently found out they can't afford to do. IT MEANS KILLING THEM! They will eventually use the youngsters in the military that they have trained to be killers and who they have mentally crippled in our phony wars and brought back home to go nuts on us. These kids could care less about shooting a stranger...they've already done it many times. The change of clothing won't matter to them. They just like seeing bodies explode. Be very aware that you are now walking in Human Country (like the warning signs that warn you when you're in Bear Country) and you won't know which ones are on their last nerve and could explode on you in a fit of insanity brought about by desperation and their inability to do anything about it while those who 'should' be able to help try ineffectually to calm them with soothing words that 'everything will be okay'. Yeah? Bullshit! Stay on your toes and keep your eyes doing a 360 degree swivel at all times and when you think you are safe, be doubly on guard, because that's when you are the most vulnerable.

This is No Recession It's a Planned Demolition

This is No Recession It's a Planned Demolition By Mike Whitney Those days are over. The world is changing and the US role is getting smaller. As US markets become less attractive to foreign exporters, the dollar will lose its position as the world's reserve currency. As goes the dollar, so goes the empire. Want some advice: Learn Mandarin. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23231.htm

EXCELLENT ARTICLE AND CHARTS ON GOLD...A MUST TO READ AND STUDY CAREFULLY

CREDIT TO FASTGT FOR THE LINK: http://news.goldseek.com/CliveMaund/1249844182.php Every year for the past five years I have been ABSOLUTELY convinced that gold was going much higher about this time of year, only to get hammered badly hanging on to my long positions thinking I had enough in my trading account to weather any dip in price. I was wrong EVERY TIME! Don't let this happen to you! I was greatly influenced by Jim Sinclair's commitment to gold. But remember ALWAYS... Sinclair is a proponent of CASH GOLD, not trading gold. He adamantly has ALWAYS chastised gold traders warning them that the commodity markets are a ZERO SUM GAME, in which one side wins and the other loses. And almost always it's the little guy that loses. You can't get hurt holding CASH GOLD! You only lose opportunities to buy it at lower prices, but in the long run you will at least have the gold. By far, most people don't have a clue how to trade anything, but think they're smarter than those around them after learning the basics...Those people almost always lose everything, but usually blame it on everything but themselves. Don't be one of them. Practice good money management and AVOID GREED! I think there will be a FINAL planned wipeout of the gold market so the BIG BOYS can scoop up all the gold they can accumulate before THE END occurs. Take your profits quickly from your long positions while you have them as you trade. A small profit is far better than having to wait out a losing trade, or worse yet, taking the loss. BUILD UP YOUR TRADING ACCOUNT so you can position yourself to buy in at the bottom of the wipeout. It will be deeper than you think it could ever go...if it happens. Look at annual charts of the past five years to see the pattern and how deep the sell offs were. Then notice that the turn arounds went to the moon clear into Feb/March of the following year in some cases. This next big rally after the wipeout will be the start of the bigget rally in gold in history...BE ON IT! or be decimated by the economic collapse that goes with it. And whatever you do...DON'T EVER CHASE THE GOLD MARKET HIGHER! There will always be a pull back as it ascends higher to enter the market. The swings in the gold price on a tick by tick basis are going to blow your minds when they start moving $50-$100 per tick in the not so far off future. The exchanges will be raising margin requirements to ridiculous levels to squeeze out the little traders too, so be prepared for that.

THE 'REAL ID' IS BACK...FROM RON PAUL

August 10, 2009 Dear Friend of Liberty, Unbelievably, Congress and the Obama administration are currently trying to resurrect the failed REAL ID Act, more accurately named “Dangerous ID.” Dangerous ID, which passed in 2005, establishes a de facto National Identification System, and opens the doors for Federal biometric tracking of every American citizen. Fortunately, no state currently complies with the burdensome mandates of the 2005 bill, and twenty-three have passed legislation refusing compliance. So what does the Obama Administration want to do? You guessed it: “Fix it,” and ram it down states’ throats. Well, I say “Repeal it.” What do you say? You see, as Obama Administration Surveillance Czar Janet Napolitano pushes for a revamp of the system to get the invasive federal program up and running, there has never been a better time to for us to push back, and fight for an outright repeal of the original legislation. And although Dangerous ID is a clear attempt to establish a National ID System, the reality might be much worse -- an INTERNATIONAL Identification System. That’s why it is so critical we get that law off the books. You see, Dangerous ID actually requires that driver’s license photographs meet United Nation’s biometric format standards. At this level of sophistication, government software can analyze facial characteristics and generate a unique identification number. Think about that for a moment -- your identity will be reduced to a single number in an international database that can be tracked globally by one-world government surveillance cameras and facial recognition software. Last month, Senator Daniel Akaka introduced The PASS ID Act to tweak the 2005 Dangerous ID legislation and ram this program into action over state opposition. Supporters claim this REAL ID Redux bill softens requirements on states, supposedly making the breach of federalism a little more palatable. But it is merely a transparent attempt to get the Dangerous ID system implemented in any form, only to be augmented later to meet government’s needs. In fact, there is evidence that this reincarnated Dangerous ID bill could wind up being worse than the original. Chief among the bill’s supporters is Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, who stands to wield expansive and virtually unchecked power to set standards. Under Dangerous ID, Napolitano can unilaterally expand required information on driver's licenses, potentially to include biometric information such as retinal scans, fingerprints, DNA information, and even Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) radio tracking technology. If international databases, RFID and biometric identification cards, and constant government surveillance are as alarming to you as they are to me, I hope you’ll (GO TO http://www.campaignforliberty.com/campaigns/stop-real-id-lite.php TO SIGN) Campaign for Liberty’s petition to stop REAL ID Redux and repeal Dangerous ID. This is an important battle, and one we CAN win. Just look at all the success stories in states that opted out of the Dangerous ID system. In many cases, local C4L groups were instrumental in passing that legislation. If REAL ID Redux passes, the new federal “concessions” may sucker many states into compliance. That’s why it is so important that we defeat this reincarnation of Dangerous ID at the federal level, and take advantage of this national conversation to repeal the original bill. So please, click here to sign the petition urging your Senators and Representative to stop this so-called “PASS ID” and finally repeal the original Dangerous ID legislation. And please, make a generous contribution to help Campaign for Liberty spread the word about this important fight. In Liberty, John F. Tate President P.S. REAL ID (a.k.a. “Dangerous ID”) is back on the move with a revamped version called PASS ID.

NOT WORRIED ENOUGH YET? THEN READ THIS ONE ALL THE WAY THROUGH

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1261.htm

THIS ARTICLE OUGHT TO WAKE A FEW OF YOU UP TO THE 'VAST CONSPIRACY' GOING ON IN OUR WORLD

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1263.htm Pittsburg Health Club “Massacre Plot” Cover-up... I can believe all of this is possible and true. When you finally discover just how fucking crazy these megalomaniacs truly are, you will no longer be shocked at their evilness.

War Hero Tackles US Over Degrading Prison Conditions

War "Hero" Tackles US Over Degrading Prison Conditions By Rupert Cornwell When it comes to sending people to jail, America is the undisputed world champion. In 1970, a mere 200,000 people were behind bars. Last year, 2.3 million were held in federal, state and county prisons, more than 1 per cent of all adults in the US and five times the international average. Blacks, predictably, bear the brunt of this compulsion to incarcerate, accounting for 40 per cent of the prison population. This punishment industry gives work to more than two million, more even than the 1.7 million employed in higher education. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23229.htm

Entering the Greatest Depression in History

Entering the Greatest Depression in History More Bubbles Waiting to Burst by Andrew Gavin Marshall http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=MAR20090807&articleId=14680

What If History Happened To Someone Else

http://wheh.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/07/3096717-what-if-history-happened-to-someone-else

ALERT! BANK HOLIDAY COMING!!!

From today's JSMINETSET.COM Jim Sinclair’s Commentary I have the deepest respect for Dean Harry, but would normally not believe the potential for what dear Harry proposes. However, with the present war between politically directed monetary policy and FOMC directed monetary policy I have to suggest serious consideration of the following. There certainly is no harm to be done by doing what Dean Harry suggests. Harry Schultz newsletter Conclusion: Stand by for a possible bank run & bank holiday on Aug 26th, after the news breaks on the 25th. (FDIC 2nd Qtr. Report) This is in line with the HSL prediction of a US bank holiday in Aug/Sept. If you live in the US, get 3 to 6 months household expense money out of banks now.

HAHAHA

The weirder you're going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person. ~ P. J. O'Rourke

MARKET TICKER ARTICLE BY KARL DENNINGER

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1294-For-Want-Of-An-Or-Else.html Wednesday, August 5. 2009 Posted by Karl Denninger in Musings at 08:22 For Want Of An "Or Else" Have you ever wondered why The Federal Reserve feels perfectly free to break the law as set forth in Sections 13 and 14, buying assets such as CDOs from Lehman and Bear Stearns, or not-really-full-faith-and-credit MBS from Fannie and Freddie, even though doing so is in fact prohibited by The Federal Reserve Act? THERE'S LOTS MORE...

What A Waste (Cash For Clunkers) by Karl Denninger

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1285-What-A-Waste-Cash-For-Clunkers.html

THE MARKET TICKER BY KARL DENNINGER

ROFL! FDIC "Tells Banks" To Quit Cooking The Books! http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1287-ROFL!-FDIC-Tells-Banks-To-Quit-Cooking-The-Books!.html

MIKE WHITNEY ARTICLE

Skip the Happy Talk This Depression Is Just Beginning By Mike Whitney How many hundreds of banks are being kept on life-support because the FDIC is down to its last few farthings and doesn't want to ignite a panic? http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23182.htm

A QUOTE TO REMEMBER

Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may: Mark Twain

YOU LIKE THE COPS? I DON'T

Go On, Admit It You Really Don't Like The Police, Either By Ted Rall Race long has been a classic predictor of attitudes toward the police. But high-profile cases of police brutality, coupled with over-the-top security measures taken since 9/11 that targeted whites as well as blacks, have helped bring the races together in their contempt for the police. In 1969, the Harris poll found that only 19 percent of whites thought cops discriminated against blacks. Now, 54 percent of whites think so. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23171.htm

FANTASTIC TWO HOUR PRESENTATION BY PETER LANCE, AUTHOR OF TRIPLE CROSS, AN EXPOSE OF THE INCOMPETENCE OF THE FBI AND OTHER AGENCIES

GO TO PETERLANCE.COM FOR ALL THE INFO. He has a two hour presentation on CSPAN's Book TV. I watched it today on cable TV, but I'm sure you can watch it on the internet. This man is a Vesuvius of info and exposes it all. He shows how all the info of the Al Queada attacks on the World Trade Center and other attacks were all known before hand and would have been easily prevented except for massive bungling and incompetence by Federal Agencies. He talks fast and the names are difficult, but you will understand if you pay attention to what he says. YOU WILL BE AMAZED!

HAVE A LAUGH, THEN CRY

http://aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf

PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ARTICLE

Statistical Deceptions By Paul Craig Roberts Last week on NPR a professor in the Sloan School of Management at MIT explained that what is really at stake in the health care bill is the US government's ability to borrow. In other words, the bill is about cutting health care costs, not about providing hard-pressed Americans with health care. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23157.htm

IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW BEFORE YOU HAVE A CONFRONTATION WITH ONE OF THESE GUV'MINT-MADE HUMAN TIME BOMBS

When Killers Come Home: Part II Warning Signs By Dave Phillips After coming home from Iraq, 21-year-old medic Bruce Bastien was driving with his Army buddy Louis Bressler, 24, when they spotted a woman walking to work on a Colorado Springs street. Bressler swerved and hit the woman with the car, according to police, then Bastien jumped out and stabbed her over and over. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23155.htm

Massive US Terrorism Simulation Involving Foreign Agencies Begins Today, Monday July 27

http://www.prisonplanet.com/massive-us-terrorism-simulation-involving-foreign-agencies-begins-today.html

COMPUTER VIRUS ALERT

HUGE VIRUS COMING ! PLEASE READ & FORWARD ! Hi All, I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus! I checked Snopes, and it is for real. Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP. PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS! You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,'regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it. If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This is the worst virus announced b y CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept. COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS. REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US

THIS RELATES TO JUPITER RECENTLY BEING HIT BY A METEOR

http://www.esa.int/esaLP/ESAYEK1VMOC_LPgoce_0.html

BE AWARE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SCIENCE WHEN YOU FIND THINGS LIKE THIS.

READ THE PART ABOUT HR 3200, O'BOMBA'S HEALTH BILL

USE THIS URL TO ACCESS THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE SO YOU CAN CLICK ON THE LINKS WITHIN IT. http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1256.htm VERY SCAREY STUFF: "And to those dictatorial powers Obama is set to use against the American people, he, and his socialist allies, are preparing one of the most insidious series of new laws meant to totally enslave these peoples without their even knowing what is about to hit them through what is being called H.R. 3200, and is titled “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes”. But to the truth of this massive 1,107 page new series of US laws, it is to the “other purposes” that should chill these American people to their very core as these “other purposes” include: All American citizens being ordered to have a National ID Card (page 58) US government to have immediate access to every American citizens bank accounts (page 59) All property owned by Doctors in the US to be determined by government (page 317) All American citizens ordered to give the US government power of attorney over their living wills (page 425) The US government given a new power to determine who and how their citizens die (page 427) End of Life plan for each American citizen ordered by the government (page 429) US government to decide on who, and who can’t be married (page 489)" CLICK ON THE LINK WITHIN THE ARTICLE 'H.R.3200' TO ACCESS THE 1107 PAGE PDF OF THE BILL

24 TRILLION DOLLARS?

http://market-ticker.org/archives/1240-TWENTY-FOUR-TRILLION-DOLLARS!.html

BAILOUT 'TRANSPARENCY'...HAHAHA!

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/watchdog-treasury-has-failed-to-adopt-bailout-safeguards-2009-07-20.html IG: Treasury 'failed' to adopt bailout safeguards By Silla Brush Posted: 07/20/09 10:47 AM [ET] The government’s top watchdog over the $700 billion financial rescue package said the Treasury Department has "repeatedly failed" to adopt his recommendations that would make the program more transparent and accountable to taxpayers.

BIKE DESIGNED BY ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON, CREDIT TO GOLDMELTER FOR PICS

If you see this coming up behind you, either speed up like hell, or pull over and weep

SWINE FLU ARTICLE...A MUST READ

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1252.htm BE SURE TO READ ALL THE LINKS WITHIN THE ARTICLE

Hundreds of Thousands of Workers Will Lose Unemployment Benefits Soon

Workers laid off early in the downturn are soon to be left without the basic sustenance of an unemployment check. http://snipurl.com/n3w73

“The Great American Bubble: How Goldman Sachs Has Engineered Every Major Market Manipulation Since The Great Depression”.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine/print

YOU BETTER PAY ATTENTION TO THIS FOLKS, IT'S ALL ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO CONTROL THOSE OF US WHO SURVIVE THE 'INTENTIONAL' PANDEMIC

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/17/743564/-Henry-Waxmans-betrayal-of-our-existenceHR-2749 BE SURE TO WATCH THE VIDEOS, BOTH IN THE ARTICLES, AND FURTHER DOWN IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. ALSO, TAKE SOME TIME TO CLICK ON OTHER RELATED VIDEOS THAT SHOW UP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE VIDEOS POSTED WHEN THEY ARE THROUGH PLAYING.

READ THIS CAREFULLY AND UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE ALL ABOUT TO DIE!

If this is unchallenged, billions of people on the planet will DIE! BE SURE TO CLICK ON ALL THE LINKS IN THE ARTICLE! http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/prepared.htm

GT LOSES ANOTHER PRECIOUS PET

TUFFY just disappeared around Monday July 6th. No sign of him. He will be missed. He lived free and was loved and treated well. This is the price of freedom.

Preparing for civil unrest

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/wolfe118.html

Do Police Always Lie, Or Does It Just Seem That Way?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/028833.html FOR THE VIDEO: GUILTY OF 'DRIVING WHILE BLACK' IN MARYLAND http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/27/AR2009062702306.html?hpid=moreheadlines OR CLICK ON THE LINKS IN THE FIRST ARTICLE ABOVE

American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-05/ff_guidestones?currentPage=all# The strangest monument in America looms over a barren knoll in northeastern Georgia. Five massive slabs of polished granite rise out of the earth in a star pattern. The rocks are each 16 feet tall, with four of them weighing more than 20 tons apiece. Together they support a 25,000-pound capstone.

July 4th In Bizarro World

July 4th In Bizarro World by Manuel Lora From colorful hot dog stands and front-porch grilling to car dealerships and fireworks – once again the people celebrate July 4th. The media will join the festivities and will air documentaries about the founding of the country, its struggles during the revolutionary war, the adoption of the Constitution and the various leaders that inspired a country to fight for its freedom. Journalists and pundits shall hold hands and sing their praises to the gods state. The mainstream, hailing from its intellectually void ivory tower will no doubt offer hosannas to our overlords. In the meantime, the message of freedom is nowhere to be seen. Indeed, quite the opposite tends to happen. What follows are just a few of the July 4th lies and errors that we are supposed to blindly accept: The military is glorious, its heroes heroic, and our support is patriotic Freedom is about authority The police keep us safe and have a duty to protect us We are better off now than when the war on drugs started decades ago Continually increasing prices is a product of the market and thus the central bank must control credit and the money supply With proper reform, government can become efficient, especially if we elect the right leaders The Constitution gives people rights The government has been formed by the consent of the governed Without the state regulating/subsidizing/taxing/prohibiting activity or industry X, said industry or activity would be produced in quantities and/or qualities that are too high or too low; or would run rampant, cartelize and monopolize the market; or would not survive in a predatory competitive environment The more politically democratic things are, the better for everyone No matter what the cost to the public, protecting the children/our veterans/our senior citizens/our teachers is always the number one priority The free movement of goods and people destroys jobs and threatens our standard of living Businesses have no incentives to keep their customers safe; licenses ensure fair practices The law may occasionally be wrong, but it should nonetheless be followed always We must forever give up essential liberties to guarantee safety: it’s for your own good The list can go on forever but you get the clue. What’s really telling about the so-called Independence Day is that most the reminders about July 4th are related to the state! You will see, almost without fail, photos of past tyrants, video of the various monuments magnanimously erected in their memory, and audio of their speeches. News segments and even commercials that use the Fourth of July as a theme will invariable feature the military, the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Washington monument or a close-up of the Constitution – usually the part that says "We the People." If July 4th is really about freedom, why is the District of Criminals the center of attention? You see, we live in a bizarro world where might makes right and government aggression is the apotheosis of liberty. Our rights are relative and whatever freedoms we have left are a vote and a signature away from being eradicated. I ask: What rights? What freedoms? Today we celebrate nothing. Get over your patriotism-inspired nationalistic jingoism already. Instead, celebrate the market, not the politicians and their bureaucratic-regulatory army of destruction. July 4, 2008 Manuel Lora [send him mail] works at Cornell University as a TV and multimedia producer.

Lessons from the Fourth of July

Friday, July 3, 2009 by Jacob G. Hornberger The true revolutionary aspect of the Fourth of July was not the military battles that the English colonists waged against the British Empire. Instead, it was the notion that was expressed in the Declaration of Independence: man’s rights do not come from government but rather from nature and God. Throughout history, people have been taught to believe that their government is the source of their rights. The consequence of that mindset is logical — people express gratitude to their public officials for their freedom. Along came the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, and that notion of people’s rights was upended by a truth that would forever send shivers of fear through every statist official throughout the world. Since man’s rights are inherent, fundamental, natural, and God-given, there’s no need for people to ever be grateful to public officials for such rights. More important, since such rights are God-given and natural, public officials have no business interfering with them, manipulating them, and infringing upon them. In fact, as the Declaration of Independence indicates, people call government into existence to protect the exercise of such rights, not to regulate or interfere with them. Contrary to popular misconception, the American Revolution was not fought by Americans against some foreign government. Instead, it was fought by Englishmen against their own government. The signers of the Declaration were as much English citizens as you and I are American citizens. Those Englishmen understood an important point, one that all too many modern-day Americans unfortunately have forgotten: that the biggest threat to the freedom and well-being of a citizenry lie not with foreign regimes or foreign citizens (including terrorists). Instead, it lies with one’s very own government. As the Declaration of Independence points out, whenever any government becomes destructive of the rights and liberties of the people, it is the right of the people to alter and abolish such government and to institute new government that is limited to its proper role of protecting, not destroying, the rights of the people. That’s in fact what the Constitution is all about, which must be construed in the context of the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution called into existence a new government whose powers would be expressly limited to those enumerated in the document itself. But even that wasn’t sufficient for our American ancestors, who held grave reservations about calling into existence a federal government, again because of the threat it posed to their fundamental rights and freedoms. That’s why they insisted on the Bill of Rights as a condition for approving the Constitution. The First Amendment expressly acknowledges that the biggest threat to such fundamental rights as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and peaceable assembly is the U.S. Congress and, by implication, the rest of the federal government. One of the primary purposes of the First Amendment is to ensure that the citizenry can bring peaceful change in government policies through the exposition of truth and the dissemination of ideas. When people are free to criticize government actions, then there is the potential for change in a positive direction. Even totalitarian regimes — those with total power and all the guns — understand this principle well, given their propensity to shut down articles, speeches, and peaceful demonstrations. Obviously the First Amendment is insufficient if the government has the power to seize people, lock them up without a trial, and torture them into falsely confessing their guilt to bogus crimes. That’s what the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments are all about. Again, those amendments were an express acknowledgement by our American ancestors that Americans faced a constant threat on the part of their own government to do these types of things to the citizenry. And of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the Second Amendment, which actually should have been made the First Amendment, given its supreme importance. For when the citizens are free to keep and bear arms, would-be tyrants, for obvious reasons, think twice about depriving well-armed citizens of their fundamental, God-given rights. On the Fourth of July, let us celebrate the courage and wisdom of our American ancestors, who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in the defense of the most radical exposition of rights and liberties in history. Let us also pledge to do all we can to build on what they began, with the aim of taking America to the highest reaches of freedom ever seen by mankind. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

THE LESSON IS TO KEEP YOUR ASSETS IN YOUR PERSONAL POSSESSION

Swiss Banks Shun Americans as U.S. Compels Disclosure: UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG, the country's biggest banks, have told Americans to move their money into specially created units registered in the U.S., or lose their accounts. Smaller private banks such as Geneva-based Mirabaud & Cie. are closing all accounts held by U.S. taxpayers. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a_8VwpO5m0WQ

READ THIS ONE CAREFULLY AND THOROUGHLY

THESE FOLKS HAVE NEVER BEEN WRONG YET The U.S. and the U.K. Will Both Default on Their Debt by the End of Summer 2009? : This evolution is likely to catch large numbers of economic and financial players on the wrong foot who decided to believe in today's mainstream media operation of "euphorisation". http://snipurl.com/l7b3w

VERY IMPORTANT FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WHAT OUR GUV'MINT IS DOING WITH OUR MONEY

Deadly Reasons to Oust Incumbents in 2010 By Ed Ciaccio All those of us who claim to care about others both here and abroad, about justice, and about peace, must become relentless in our efforts to fundamentally change the current pro-corporate, anti-human system of our country, starting with the current members of Congress. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22913.htm

WE ARE NOW A NATION OF LAWBREAKERS THANKS TO OUR GUV'MINT'S CRIMINALS/LIARS FROM LBJ FORWARD

"The government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that the end justifies the means -- to declare that the government may commit crimes -- would bring terrible retribution": Justice Louis D. Brandeis

WELL PUT

"19 terrorists in 6 weeks have been able to command 300 million North Americans to do away with the entirety of their civil liberties that took 700 years to advance from the Magna Carta onward. The terrorists have already won the political and ideological war with one terrorist act. It is mindboggling that we are that weak as a society": Rocco Galati

U.S. TO TRADE GOLD, FOR CASH, AT CASH4GOLD TV AD WEBSITE

FROM 'THE ONION'... a short video THIS IS ABOUT THE LEVEL OF THINKING IN OUR GUV'MINT. http://www.theonion.com/content/video/us_to_trade_gold_reserves_for?utm_source=videoembed

THE SAGA OF THE BEARER BONDS

FROM KARL DENNINGER http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1119-The-Saga-Of-The-Bearer-Bonds.html AND THIS MORE RECENT COMMENT: http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1142-The-Bond-Saga-It-Gets-More-Odd.html THIS ONE IS GOING TO BLOW UP SOON AND EXPOSE SOME BIGGIES TO PROSECUTION.

DAN NORCINI EXPLAINS WHAT'S HAPPENING 6/15/09

Gold and Dollar Market Summary Posted: Jun 15 2009 By: Dan Norcini Post Edited: June 15, 2009 at 5:36 pm Filed under: Trader Dan Norcini Dear CIGAs, The raging Dollar provided the impetus for a wholesale algorithm-generated disposal sale across the entire commodity complex in today’s session. One of the concerns I have voiced as recently as last week has been the fact that price is no longer being set for many commodities in the arena between end users and producers but rather from the trading desks of the hedge funds. Of course speculators always have a role to play when considering the price discovery mechanism, but not to the point where they come to dominate even the commercial entities who actually create the true market in any particular good. I know I will get emails on this from the economics degree holders but I am one who simply happens to believe that hedge funds have way too much money to throw into and out of the commodity markets, based on their size, and that their buying and selling is producing distorted price signals in more than a few markets. Simply put – they are too large. That being said, back when I began trading, those who were the best traders were the ones who studied supply/demand situation for the markets that they operated in and had a sense of where “value” was to be found in regards to price. Technical analysis was then used as a guide to direct them into and out of their trades based on their overall analysis of any particular market. Today’s markets, in my opinion, no longer operate in the same fashion as they did back when this sort of strategy was the way used to approach them if you wanted to be successful. With the big funds relying completely on chart patterns, oscillators, retracement levels, momentum breakouts and failures, etc. fundamental analysis is pretty much passé these days. Still, I still prefer to “dance with the one that brung ya” to quote an old aphorism around here and that implies having a general understanding of the fundamentals affecting the market in which you prefer to operate. Without that, you are in direct competition with quant funds and other large players whose entire operation will be moved down the street if it means that their computer can generate its buy or sell order and get it into the exchange in 1/10 of a second faster. In other words, you are in a race in which you cannot win unless you have the knowledge and experience to recognize when these players have pushed price way out of any reasonable boundary or region of “value”. That is what gives you the confidence to buy or to sell in the face of wild and violent price moves created by this plague of wild-eyed gamblers. It is amazing to me to see so many traders sending various chart patterns with lines and diagonals and scribbles marked all over them who, for example, do not even know how corn pollinates, at what temps wheat freezes, or what a soybean looks like, and yet they are absolutely confident of their view of the market based on what the mysterious lines have told them. Please do not misunderstand, I am a firm believer in TA, but not without a fundamental knowledge of the market in which you trade. That sort of things take years, and I do mean years, of exposure to an individual market whereas a couple of books on TA and everyone is now an expert ready to take on the hedge funds with their newfound wisdom. It is my opinion that such a thing is a recipe for certain ruin as a trader. Why is that – because it provides you without the least bit of conviction and without conviction, you simply become tossed about by every wind of price direction change. Learn to use Technical Analysis (TA) (trend lines, fibonacci retracement lines, etc)to assist you in cutting losses or taking profits but do not allow it to formulate your understanding of the true supply and demand situation in a market. It no longer functions in such a manner in today’s hedge fund dominated market. Those guys create price, not the true demand/supply of the market. That is the reason why whenever we see a pop in the US Dollar, all hell breaks loose in the commodity markets. They get sold off no matter what is taking place in regards to their various supply/demand picture. That’s because NO ONE has the foggiest idea of what the “value” of that individual commodity should be. Fear or Greed then takes hold and will form your opinion! Hedge fund selling overwhelms everything in front of them because no one is willing to stand in front of those guys to buy if the market is falling or sell if the market is rising as the Dollar moves lower, out of fear of getting their trading accounts wiped out. Used to be that the commercial entities would step in front of the funds and sell scale up or buy scale down – even the commercials are no longer able to do this in the same degree that they once did, mainly because they run the risk of having their legitimate hedges blow up in their face, saddling their companies with untold losses and breaking their firms financially. That is why we see such violent moves up and down – this fear of the funds creates huge air pockets both above and below the market and price drops off an abyss before a decent sized bid can be discovered or a decent sized offer at other times. ( I might add here the one exception to this is in the gold market where the friends of the federal government, the bullion banks, step in front of and in large size of any and all buying originating from the funds). I have written all this just to warn you to be very careful out there when attempting to trade these markets. They are becoming extremely dangerous. If you must, then trade much smaller in size. If not, you will be wiped out if you make a mistake and happen to get on the wrong side of these mindless hedge funds. “When in doubt – Get Out” is still a wise adage to trade by. When it comes to gold, it will reverse course when the Dollar runs out of upside steam. Keep an eye on crude oil for some sort of hint when that will occur. Crude is trading more as a currency than a commodity

THE ROLE OF THE DEPT OF DEFENSE DURING A FLU PANDEMIC

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40619.pdf AN 18 PAGE PDF FILE THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) RECENTLY UPPED THE LEVEL OF SERIOUSNESS OF THE SWINE FLU INFECTION TO A LEVEL 6, WHICH ALLOWS MARTIAL LAW TO BE PUT INTO EFFECT. ACTUALLY, GUV'MINT CAN INSTITUTE MARTIAL LAW ANY DAMN TIME IT WANTS, JUST LIKE IT APPEARS TO BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING ELSE IT WANTS TO DO, AS THE PUBLIC DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT'S BEING DONE TO US. BE ADVISED...THERE WAS A TIME WHEN OUR GUV'MINT 'CARED' ABOUT OUR WELFARE. DON'T MAKE THAT MISTAKE FROM NOW ON. YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN AN INCONVENIENCE, OR A SPREADER OF DISEASE TO BE ELIMINATED. YOUR WHIMPERING FOR THEIR CONSIDERATION WILL ONLY SPEED UP YOUR DEMISE.

A BRILLIANT ARTICLE BY ANTHONY GREGORY...A MUST READ

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=28 Peaceful Dissent and Government Witch Hunts By Anthony Gregory Published 03/18/09 This is a valuable synopsis of how our past administrations and political parties have slanted and distorted information to sway the public mind to support tactics that diminish personal freedom in this Constitutional Republic. And it continues in the present....

OH, YOU JUST HAVE TO READ THIS ONE, FOLKS!

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1240.htm

BE SURE TO CLICK ON ALL THE LINKS IN THIS ONE. YOU ARE GOING TO REALLY GET EDUCATED!

GOOD ONE FROM THE MW THREADS TODAY

ajironworks4us A Stimulus Success Story It is the month of April, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one. The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher. The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower. The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel. The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her "services" on credit. The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there. The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter. At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government under President BHO is doing business today. At least the hooker and the hogs made out okay.

QUOTE TO THINK ABOUT

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." Albert Einstein

What if Osama Calls Obama's Bluff?

What if Osama Calls Obama's Bluff? By Michael Scheuer As is the custom of American interventionists, President Obama spoke in Cairo as if our Islamist enemies have no vote in how their conflict with the United States will henceforth proceed. The adolescent geniuses who wrote Obama's speech apparently spent no time at all perusing what Osama bin Laden and other Islamists have said or written over the past 13 years, and especially since 2001. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22794.htm

O'BOMB'A IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY

Afghan Taliban Responds To Obama`s Cairo Speech By Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Barack Obama claims good-will and tolerance towards Muslims at a time when their occupation forces are committing mass murder and disturbing and imprisoning Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. They violate their legal rights and mercilessly martyr them to defend their rights. They put them in the most hateful prisons of the world. Given these wild and illegal actions by Americans, Obama`s baseless speech has no importance. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22795.htm

Credit card delinquency on the rise

Credit card delinquency on the rise: Credit card delinquency rates jumped 11% in the first quarter, possibly indicating that consumers are using tax refunds to pay day-to-day expenses, according to a credit reporting agency report released Monday. http://snipurl.com/jsf1k

WE NEVER LEARN

What Geithner, Bernanke and All the Smart Bankers Forget Long-Term Economic Memory Loss By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS http://www.counterpunch.org:80/roberts06082009.html If a person lives long enough, he can watch everyone forget everything they learned. Everyone includes Federal Reserve Chairmen, economists, Bank of America “strategists,” and even Bloomberg.com. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke thinks he can hold down US long-term interest rates by purchasing mortgage bonds and US Treasuries. Sixty years ago the Federal Reserve understood that this was an impossible feat. After an acrimonious public dispute with the US Treasury, in 1951 the Federal Reserve forced an “Accord” on the government that eliminated the Fed’s obligation to monetize Treasury debt in order to hold down long term interest rates. President Truman and Treasury Secretary John Snyder wanted to protect World War II bond purchasers by preventing any rise in interest rates, which would mean a decline in the price of the bonds. The Fed understood that monetizing the debt to hold down interest rates meant loss of control over the money supply. The policy of suppressing interest rates could only work until the financial markets anticipated rising inflation and bid down the bond prices. If the Fed responded by buying more Treasuries, the money supply and inflation would rise faster. Since Fed Chairman Bernanke announced his plan to purchase $1 trillion in mortgage and Treasury bonds in order to help the housing market with low interest rates, interest rates have risen. When will the Fed remember that printing money does not lower long-term interest rates? According to Bloomberg (June 3), Bank of America strategists are recommending that investors buy Fannie Mae bonds because the rise in interest rates means the Fed will ramp up its purchases in order to prevent rising interest rates from adversely impacting the struggling housing market. When will financial gurus remember that printing money does not lower interest rates? Treasury Secretary Geithner is another economic incompetent. He told China that he stood for a “strong dollar,” but that China should let its currency appreciate relative to the dollar, which, of course, would mean a weaker dollar. He simultaneously told China that their investments in US Treasury bonds were safe. His Chinese university audience, being economically literate, laughed at Geithner. It apparently did not dawn on the US Treasury Secretary that if Chinese money is rising in value relative to the US dollar, the value of Chinese investments in dollar-denominated US Treasury bonds is falling. Congressional Democrats are proving themselves to be as stupid as the Republicans. According to the Associated Press, the Democrats have reached agreement to appropriate another $100 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of the year. What are the Democrats thinking? The federal budget for this year is already 50 per cent in the red. Why add another $100 billion to the red ink, which has to be monetized, thus causing inflation, higher interest rates, and a weaker dollar. The red ink that Washington is generating is a far greater threat to Americans than any foreign “enemies.” The hubris is extraordinary. A bankrupt government that has to send its Treasury Secretary begging to China thinks it can spend limitless amounts in a futile effort to control the culture, mores, and political system of distant Afghanistan.

WHY WE HAVE A BILL OF RIGHTS...SO OUR 'LEADERS' DON'T DO THIS...

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 Boumediene Confirms the Wisdom of Our Ancestors by Jacob G. Hornberger In the debates leading up to the enactment of the U.S. Constitution, our American ancestors made a demand. If we accept the Constitution and the federal government it is calling into existence, they said, then we demand passage of a Bill of Rights immediately after the Constitution is adopted. The reason they made that demand was twofold. First, they didn’t think the Constitution, as written, adequately protected them from potential abuses of power at the hands of federal officials. Second, they were certain that in the absence of express protections of rights and guarantees, federal officials would do very bad things to people, including innocent people. They were right on both counts. Just ask Lakhdar Boumediene. For 8 years we’ve been told by federal officials, including the president, the vice president, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the CIA, that the prison camp they established in Cuba housed dangerous and evil terrorists. Trust us, they claimed. There are no innocent people here at Guantanamo Bay. But of course the critical question was: How do you know? How do you know that these people are really guilty of terrorism? And whenever some asked that question, the answer always has been: Trust us. We’re federal officials. We know a terrorist when we see one. Yet, the Pentagon has now released to France a man named Lakhdar Boumediene, who has been imprisoned and tortured at Guantanamo Bay for almost 8 years. Why did the Pentagon release Boumediene, a man they held and treated as a dangerous and evil terrorist for almost 8 years? One reason: he was innocent. Yes, innocent. Completely innocent. The president of the United States, the vice president, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the CIA imprisoned and tortured an innocent man for almost 8 years, and then simply released him without even the hint of an apology. Perhaps I should mention that Boumediene has a wife and two small daughters, ages 13 and 9. He’s missed the last 8 years watching his daughters grow from toddlers into young girls. In the post-9/11 paranoia that gripped U.S. officials, Boumediene was arrested in Bosnia on suspicion of having bombed the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo. Bosnian courts dismissed the charges for lack of evidence. U.S. officials didn’t like that. Despite the lack of evidence, they were sure that Boumediene was guilty. So, they simply kidnapped him in Bosnia and whisked him away to their torture and sex abuse prison camp in Cuba. Boumediene’s name might be familiar. It is his name that appears in a major Supreme Court decision entitled Boumediene v. Bush, which established that the Gitmo prisoners could challenge their imprisonment in U.S. federal courts through habeas corpus. You’ll recall that the Pentagon’s position was that its power should be omnipotent — beyond the principles of the Constitution and the control of the federal courts. The case of Lakhdar Boumediene reminds us why our American ancestors demanded passage of the Bill of Rights. They weren’t too excited about the idea of calling a federal government into existence. They were certain that federal officials would start doing things like imprisoning and abusing innocent people. That’s why the Bill of Rights requires a speedy trial — to ensure that people aren’t imprisoned indefinitely or for 7 1/2 years. That’s why it includes a prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments — to ensure that federal officials wouldn’t torture and abuse people. That’s why it includes a right of trial by jury — to provide an independent process by which it can be determined whether a person is guilty or not. That’s why it includes a guarantee against self-incrimination — to ensure that federal officials couldn’t torture or otherwise coerce confessions out of people, including the innocent. If you would like to read a recent interview with Lakhdar Boumediene after he arrived in France, (http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=7778310&page=2). For a recent video interview with him, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO6vcsTyfqg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Esalon%2Ecom%2Fopinion%2Fgreenwald%2F2009%2F06%2F08%2Fboumediene%2Findex%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedde. Thank goodness for the wisdom, foresight, and courage of our American ancestors for demanding passage of the Bill of Rights. It’s their wisdom, foresight, and courage that are so desperately needed today. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

JACOB HORNBERGER ...FFF.ORG

Monday, June 8, 2009 Obama Needs to Pull the Beam Out by Jacob G. Hornberger Mainstream commentators are both surprised and impressed over an admission that President Obama made in his speech in Cairo. Obama publicly acknowledged what no U.S. president has ever dared to state — the U.S. government’s overthrow of the democratically elected prime minister of Iran in 1953. Obama’s exact words were: “In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government.” “Played a role?” That’s one way to put it but it’s a bit disingenuous. In actuality, the U.S. government didn’t just “play a role” in the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh. It was the U.S. government, operating through its CIA, that planned, initiated, and brought about Mossadegh’s overthrow. Moreover, what Obama failed to mention was what the U.S. government did in the aftermath of the overthrow. It reinstalled the brutal Shah of Iran into power because he was loyal to the U.S. government. For the next 25 years, the Shah proceeded to terrorize the Iranian people, including with torture chambers, with the full support of the U.S. government. Obama is also being disingenuous when he implies that the CIA’s regime-change operation was part of some Cold War project. The main motivation for the operation had come as a result of Mossadegh’s nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which had been run for decades by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Since Iranian officials had foiled British attempts at regime change in Iran, the British government persuaded the CIA to do the dirty deed on its behalf. What was missing from Obama’s speech was any indication of apology or remorse or even just an acknowledgement that what the U.S. government did was morally wrong. Stating an historical fact is not the same thing as saying, “We’re deeply sorry for what we did to your country and we promise we’ll never do it again.” Obama’s inability to express a sincere apology for what the U.S. government did to the Iranian people goes to the heart of the problem facing our nation. It reflects not only a refusal to own up to the wrongdoing of one’s government, it also reflects an intention to continue carrying regime change as part of the arsenal of U.S. foreign policy tools. In his speech in Cairo, Obama should have issued a genuine apology to the Iranian people and, for that matter, to the American people. Even better, he should have apologized to the people of every country which has been the target of a U.S. regime-change operation. A good place to start would have been Iran. Then, Iraq, where U.S. regime-change operations have killed, maimed, and exiled millions of people, including the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children who died as a result of the more than 10 years of brutal sanctions imposed by the U.S. government and the UN. Then, onto to Guatemala, where the CIA’s regime-change operation precipitated a civil war that last decades and killed hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans. Then, Cuba, Chile, Indonesia, Panama, and other countries, where U.S. regime-change operations have wreaked assassination, death, injury, torture, and destruction. A few days after Obama’s Cairo speech, he was in Germany, where he pointed out the crimes of the Nazi regime with respect to the Holocaust. But it’s always easy to point out the sins of others and condemn them. It’s much more difficult to look at one’s own self — or one’s own government — and confess and repent one’s own sins. Or to put it another way, it’s easier to pull the speck out of someone else’s eye than it is to pull the beam out of one’s own eye. Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.