Category Archives: Government

CFR: Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault

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CFR Headquarters located in the former Harold Pratt House in New York City

The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin

Excellent article from the CFR below with great detail and timeline. However, a few ugly facts were glossed over or omitted. Obama is currently planning another overt attack on Syria. Obviously, Obama and team didn’t learn the first time Putin pulled their chestnuts out of the fire. US/NATO used tried and true operation Gladio techniques to destabilize Ukraine’s democratically elected government. The US gave Russia assurances –which it broke– that they would not move NATO one more inch to the east after the fall of the USSR. There is NO spreading of democracy by the USA or NATO. This is a geopolitical move to isolate and marginalize Russia according to the Brzezinski Doctrine not to spread democracy. The IMF will use the debt to asset strip Ukraine and the threat of withholding additional funds to completely control Ukraine. Also, I read from certain whistle-blowers that it was the US/NATO who provided the snipers who shot both the Ukraine authorities and the protestors killing many to foment the civil war. Kiev is currently indiscriminately bombing innocent civilian populations of mostly Russian speaking people in East Ukraine.

CFR: Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault

Additional NFO:

Asset-Stripping Ukraine

Crisis in Ukraine

Can Ukraine Escape IMF trap?

 

What are NSK and Laibach?

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | Aug 26, 2014

‘Never speak the passions of your breast unless you know the remedy.’
—The Wanderer (Old 10th Century Anglo-Saxon Viking Warrior Poem)

LAIBACH_Press_Photo_2011If you’ve never been in a major war or had your country and cities invaded and subjugated by ruthless, powerful forces, you may have a difficult time understanding the fear, anger, helplessness and hopelessness of enduring such insults to customs, icons and loved ones with no way to fight back.  Add to this the cheat of being sold on a new better government to correct the injuries of the past only to find out that the new and improved government is much, much worse; and for some in Eastern Europe, the cycle continues; yet what remains today is a distant memory of family, friends, traditions and of nationalism … and it is those memory fragments along with a deep archetype of the meaning of freedom that can be accessed through story, art and music.

Those of us familiar with the rise of totalitarian regimes will also be familiar with their use of symbolism and art to create, focus, amplify and manipulate the body politic into slavery, death and destruction. So how to fight back against the overwhelming force of the state? The state uses art for propaganda so why not use art against the state?  Laibach attempts to turn this abuse of art on its head by using the totalitarian regimes’ own art, symbolism and artifacts in avant-garde / kitsch mixtures of high production value music and art to expose the tyranny all governments hold over the people they seek to control. Maybe they hope that through art, they can warn people; or that they can rekindle the latent memories of tyranny, death and destruction people so easily forget? Maybe they seek to use the emotive forces of their art and music to bypass the critical thinking mind for more direct access to the longer lasting and powerful emotional memories stored deeply in the sinews and crevasses of the collective subconscious. Whatever the case, I think you will find their art interesting, enjoyable and perhaps disturbing.

NSK_LogoFrom Wikipedia: “Neue Slowenische Kunst (a German phrase meaning “New Slovenian Art”), a.k.a. NSK, is a controversial political art collective that announced itself in Slovenia in 1984, when Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia. NSK’s name, being German, is compatible with a theme in NSK works: the complicated relationship Slovenes have had with Germans. The name of NSK’s music wing, Laibach, is also the German name of the Slovene capital Ljubljana, creating controversy through evoking memories of the Nazi occupation of Slovenia during the Second World War and Slovenia’s previous seven centuries as part of the Austrian Empire.”

Laibach – The Whistleblowers

Laibach – Eurovision

 Laibach – Across the Universe (Official video)

Documentary on Laibach…
Laibach — Predictions of Fire [Prerokbe Ognja] [English Subtitles]

from the Q&A of Laibach…

Q: Why God does not exist ? (Frédéric)
L: Because God is God and he does not need to exist!

Q: Reason or Faith? (Rhythm, Bulgaria, 2004)
L: Reason is doubt. Faith without the doubt is a dead faith.

Additional links:

Canadian’s Version of David Letterman’s Top 10

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Canadian’s Version of David Letterman’s Top 10

Number 10 Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 per plate Obama campaign fund-raising event.

Number 9 Only in America …could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population is black 40+% of all federal entitlements goes to black Americans – 3X the rate that go to whites, 5X the rate that go to Hispanics!

Number 8 Only in America…could they have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner (the head of the Treasury Department) and Charles Rangel (who once ran the Ways and Means Committee), BOTH turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.

Number 7 Only in America…can they have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.

Number 6 Only in America…would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while they discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just ‘magically’ become American citizens (probably should be number one).

Number 5 Only in America….could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as EXTREMIST’S.

Number 4 Only in America…could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.

Number 3 Only in America…could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. Oil company(Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).

Number 2 Only in America… could you collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a Trillion dollars more than it has per year – for total spending of $7-Million PER MINUTE, and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.

And Number 1 Only in America…could the rich people- who pay 86% of all income taxes – be accused of not paying their “fair share” by people who don’t pay any income taxes at all.

AMERICA’S SECRET ESTABLISHMENT

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NOTE: This book is on the ClearNFO Reading List

Introduction for 2002 Edition

 AMERICAS SECRET ESTABLISHMENT ‘has had an unusual publishing history.

The book began with an anonymous donation to the author of an 8-inch package of documents in the early 1980s. Nothing less than the membership list and supporting documents for a truly secret society the Yale Skull and Bones.

The late Johnny Johnson, of Phoenix Arizona was the spark that moved me to write first a four-part series and later, a jumbo volume based on this material. This volume went to several editions with several publishers, even a Russian edition of 12,000 copies. Probably in the past few years, as many copies have been sold in Russia as in the United States.

America’s Secret Establishment has had little publicity, few reviews ignored by mainline distributors yet, has sold steadily for the past 16 years at a rate of several hundred copies a month.

This activity, in turn, has generated other articles and books by other authors. But my real intent, to generate an exploration of Hegelian influence in modern America, has not been fulfilled. In great part, this can be attributed to an educational system based on a statist-Hegelian philosophy, and which has already achieved the “dumbing down” of America.

This disastrous, destructive philosophy, the source of both Naziism and Marxism, has infected and corrupted our constitutional republic. Much of the blame for this corruption is with an elitist group of Yalie “Bonesmen.” Their symbol of Skull and Bones, and their Hegelian philosophy, says it all, although with typical duplicity, they would have you believe otherwise.

Hegelianism glorifies the State, the vehicle for the dissemination of statist and materialist ideas and policies in education, science, politics and economics.

Wonder why we have a “dumbed-down” society? Look no further than the Bonesman troika who imported the Prussian education system into the U.S. in the 19″ h Century. A political philosophy in direct opposition to the classical liberalism nurtured in 19″ h Century British and American history. In classical liberalism, the State is always subordinate to the individual. In Hegelian Statism, as we see in Naziism and Marxism, the State is supreme, and the individual exists only to serve the State.

Our two-parry Republican-Democrat (= one Hegelian party, no one else welcome or allowed) system is a reflection of this Hegelianism. A small group – a very small group – by using Hegel, can manipulate, and to some extent, control society for its own purposes.

More than that, reflect on their pirate flag. An emblem found on poison bottles, the symbol of the Nazi Death Head Division in World War Two. Not only did Skull and Bones become a major force in drug smuggling (the Bush and Prescott families in the 1860s), but in true Hegelian fashion, generated the antithesis, the so-called “war on drugs.” This hypocritical policy maintains the price of drugs, controls supply, and puts millions in jail while the gainers, in great part, are none other than the same “Bonesmen” who pass the laws to prohibit (Bonesman Taft, 1904).

Right and Left – A Control Device

For Hegelians, the State is almighty, and seen as “the march of God on earth.” Indeed, a State religion.

Progress in the Hegelian State is through contrived conflict: the clash of opposites makes for progress. If you can control the opposites, you dominate the nature of the outcome.

We trace the extraordinary Skull and Bones influence in a major Hegelian conflict: Naziism vs. Communism. Skull and Bones members were in the dominant decision-making positions – Bush, Harriman, Stimson, Lovett, and so on – all Bonesmen, and instrumental in guiding the conflict through use of “right” and “left.” They financed and encouraged the growths of both philosophies and controlled the outcome to a significant extent. This was aided by the “reductionist” division in science, the opposite of historical “wholeness.” By dividing science and learning into narrower and narrower segments, it became easier to control the whole through the parts.

In education, the Dewey system was initiated and promoted by Skull and Bones members. Dewey was an ardent statist, and a believer in the Hegelian idea that the child exists to be trained to serve the State. This requires suppression of individualist tendencies and a careful spoon-feeding of approved knowledge. This “dumbing down” of American education is not easily apparent unless you have studied in both foreign and domestic U.S. universities – then the contrast becomes crystal clear.

This dumbing down is now receiving attention. Two excellent books are The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt (Conscience Press, Revenna Ohio, 2001), and The Dumbing Down of America, by John Taylor Gotta. Both books trace this process to the impact of education, and both give remarkable detail of the process. We go further, in that we trace the import of the system to three Yalies – members of Skull & Bones.

For Iserbyt, in The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, the American education system begins with Rockefeller and Gates. But in fact, this statist system is a reflection of the Hegelian ideas brought to the United States by the Skull and Bones “troika” of Oilman, White and Dwight, and then financed by Rockefeller.

People Control

Today in California, one can see in real time the use of controlled conflict to achieve a desired outcome. The debate over the energy crisis is carefully contained to a debate over price caps and price control. Republicans want no caps and no controls. Most Democrats want price controls through caps.

But look at what is NOT discussed anywhere. The entire spectrum of almost free energy, based on a decade of research is carefully kept out of the discussion. Isn’t this highly relevant to an energy crisis?

In fact, the existence of free energy systems just down the road is the reason for the controlled debate. Mills Blacklight Power now has its patents and some utilities have already bought in. Bearden’s MEG energy from space, is under discussion. Working models exist. The maligned cold fusion has hundreds of successful experiments, but so far as we know, cannot be repeated with sufficient assurance. Other systems have come into the view of government agencies, and then disappear from sight.

A knowing public would ask, Why are these not included in the discussion?” – Simple. Because the utilities know they are for real, and only a few years down the road. The problem for utilities is not the price of energy today, but how to dump their fixed assets (hydro plants, transmission lines, etc.) onto the public. These “valuable” assets will have zero value down the road, because all new systems are stand-alone units which don’t need fixed plant and transmission lines. If the public is aware of the dilemma of the utilities, the ability to dump assets onto the State is heavily reduced.

The Republican-Democrat debate over “caps” is a diversion. The relevant question carefully avoided is, how long will it take to get these new systems into production?

Another example is Monsanto Corporation development of genetic engineering and predator seed, a barely-concealed effort for world domination of agriculture.

President George Bush, Jr. , a Bonesman, appoints a Monsanto vice president, Dr. Virginia Weldon, as Director of Food and Drug Administration, which has the power to block labeling of genetically-engineered foods, and pass on other corporate control efforts.

Just before this, in New Technology, we had the 1989 dramatic announcement of “cold fusion.” When this announcement was made public, President George Bush (also a Bonesman) called establishment scientist the late physicist Seagrum into his office and gave instructions.

We don’t know what was said, but we know what happened. Cold fusion, a valid process for free energy, as was subsequently revealed, was slandered and harassed by the establishment, no doubt fearful of what free energy would do to the oil industry.

What is to be Done?

If the voting public was even vaguely aware of this rampant and concealed scenario, it could, and possibly would force change. However, this is not a likely possibility. Most people are “go-along” types, with limited personal objectives and a high threshold for official misdeeds.

What has taken over a century to establish cannot be changed in a few years. The initial question is education. To eliminate the Hegelian system that stifles individual initiative and trains children to become mindless zombies, serving the State.

We need a lot less propaganda for “education” and a more individual creative search for learning. Instead of more money for education, we need to allocate a lot less. The existing system of education is little more than a conditioning mechanism. It has little to do with education in the true sense, and a lot to do with control of the individual.

It is more likely that time, rather than the voting booth, will erode the secret power of this Yale group, Nothing this outrageous can survive forever.

Antony Sutton

Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones

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From the Reading list

America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones by Antony C. Sutton

Publisher’s Foreword:

Antony Sutton was a giant among men. His integrity cost him dearly: his vocation, his income, his family … maybe even his life.

After coming across this book in 1988, I searched out and read all that I could find of Professor Sutton’s works. One reason: his books helped me to understand what my father had told me in 1969, ten years after he had quit a high-level job at the CIA — because he wouldn’t go along with their corrupt practices. Dad had mentioned “secret societies,” drug trafficking, and that the fight-to-the-death struggle between Communism and Capitalism was a “managed” conflict. Almost twenty, I was newly married with a baby, and had no idea what my father was talking about. America’s Secret Establishment contributed greatly to my garnering a different thesis of how the world actually works, versus what was presented to me by the media and schooling.

Kris Millegan
March 3, 2009

ANTONY SUTTON was a research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, from 1968 to 1973. He is a former economics professor at California State University Los Angeles. He was born in London in 1925 and educated at the universities of London, Gottingen and California with a D.Sc. degree from University of Southampton, England.

Authors Preface:
America’s Secret Establishment

After 16 books and 25 years in basic research I thought I’d heard it all … the world was a confused mess, probably beyond understanding and certainly beyond salvation – and there was little ’1 could do about it.

Back in 1968 my Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development was published by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In three substantial volumes I detailed how the West had built the Soviet Union. However, the work generated a seemingly insoluble puzzle – why have we done this? Why did we build the Soviet Union, while we also transferred technology to Hitler’s Germany? Why does Washington want to conceal these facts? Why have we boosted Soviet military power? And simultaneously boosted our own?

In subsequent books, the Wall Street series, I added more questions – but no answers. I had more or less arrived at the conclusion that there was no rational answer that could be proven.

Then a year or so ago I received an eight-inch batch of documents – nothing less than the membership lists of an American secret society. Glancing through the sheets it was more than obvious – this was no ordinary group. The names spelled Power, with a capital P. As I probed each individual a pattern emerged … and a formerly fuzzy world became crystal clear.

The book you will read here is a combined version of a series reporting on this research. Each volume builds on the previous volume in a logical step-by-step process.

These volumes will explain why the West built the Soviets and Hitler; why we go to war, to lose; why Wall Street loves Marxists and Nazis; why the kids can’t read; why the Churches have become propaganda founts; why historical facts are suppressed, why politicians lie and a hundred other whys.

This series is infinitely more important than the original Western Technology series on technological transfers. If I have a magnum opus, this is it.

ANTONY C. SUTTON
Phoenix, Arizona
July 30, 1983

I recommend purchasing the book, but here is a full text copy that is searchable.

Below is the transcript of Ron Paul’s farewell address to Congress:

Congressman Ron Paul’s Farewell Speech to Congress:

Below is the transcript of Ron Paul’s farewell address to Congress:

November 18, 2012 at 9:30am

 

Farewell to Congress

 

This may well be the last time I speak on the House Floor.  At the end of the year I’ll leave Congress after 23 years in office over a 36 year period.  My goals in 1976 were the same as they are today:  promote peace and prosperity by a strict adherence to the principles of individual liberty.

It was my opinion, that the course the U.S. embarked on in the latter part of the 20th Century would bring us a major financial crisis and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend us and undermine our national security.

To achieve the goals I sought, government would have had to shrink in size and scope, reduce spending, change the monetary system, and reject the unsustainable costs of policing the world and expanding the American Empire.

The problems seemed to be overwhelming and impossible to solve, yet from my view point, just following the constraints placed on the federal government by the Constitution would have been a good place to start.

 

How Much Did I Accomplish?

In many ways, according to conventional wisdom, my off-and-on career in Congress, from 1976 to 2012, accomplished very little.  No named legislation, no named federal buildings or highways—thank goodness.  In spite of my efforts, the government has grown exponentially, taxes remain excessive, and the prolific increase of incomprehensible regulations continues.  Wars are constant and pursued without Congressional declaration, deficits rise to the sky, poverty is rampant and dependency on the federal government is now worse than any time in our history.

All this with minimal concerns for the deficits and unfunded liabilities that common sense tells us cannot go on much longer.  A grand, but never mentioned, bipartisan agreement allows for the well-kept secret that keeps the spending going.  One side doesn’t give up one penny on military spending, the other side doesn’t give up one penny on welfare spending, while both sides support the bailouts and subsidies for the banking and  corporate elite.  And the spending continues as the economy weakens and the downward spiral continues.   As the government continues fiddling around, our liberties and our wealth burn in the flames of a foreign policy that makes us less safe.

The major stumbling block to real change in Washington is the total resistance to admitting that the country is broke. This has made compromising, just to agree to increase spending, inevitable since neither side has any intention of cutting spending.

The country and the Congress will remain divisive since there’s no “loot left to divvy up.”

Without this recognition the spenders in Washington will continue the march toward a fiscal cliff much bigger than the one anticipated this coming January.

I have thought a lot about why those of us who believe in liberty, as a solution, have done so poorly in convincing others of its benefits.  If liberty is what we claim it is- the principle that protects all personal, social and economic decisions necessary for maximum prosperity and the best chance for peace- it should be an easy sell.  Yet, history has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of authoritarians which are rarely if ever fulfilled.

 

Authoritarianism vs. Liberty

If authoritarianism leads to poverty and war and less freedom for all individuals and is controlled by rich special interests, the people should be begging for liberty.  There certainly was a strong enough sentiment for more freedom at the time of our founding that motivated those who were willing to fight in the revolution against the powerful British government.

During my time in Congress the appetite for liberty has been quite weak; the understanding of its significance negligible.  Yet the good news is that compared to 1976 when I first came to Congress, the desire for more freedom and less government in 2012 is much greater and growing, especially in grassroots America. Tens of thousands of teenagers and college age students are, with great enthusiasm, welcoming the message of liberty.

I have a few thoughts as to why the people of a country like ours, once the freest and most prosperous, allowed the conditions to deteriorate to the degree that they have.

Freedom, private property, and enforceable voluntary contracts, generate wealth.  In our early history we were very much aware of this.  But in the early part of the 20th century our politicians promoted the notion that the tax and monetary systems had to change if we were to involve ourselves in excessive domestic and military spending. That is why Congress gave us the Federal Reserve and the income tax.  The majority of Americans and many government officials agreed that sacrificing some liberty was necessary to carry out what some claimed to be “progressive” ideas. Pure democracy became acceptable.

They failed to recognized that what they were doing was exactly opposite of what the colonists were seeking when they broke away from the British.

Some complain that my arguments makes no sense, since great wealth and the standard of living improved  for many Americans over the last 100 years, even with these new policies.

But the damage to the market economy, and the currency, has been insidious and steady.  It took a long time to consume our wealth, destroy the currency and undermine productivity and get our financial obligations to a point of no return. Confidence sometimes lasts longer than deserved. Most of our wealth today depends on debt.

The wealth that we enjoyed and seemed to be endless, allowed concern for the principle of a free society to be neglected.  As long as most people believed the material abundance would last forever, worrying about protecting a competitive productive economy and individual liberty seemed unnecessary.

 

The Age of Redistribution

This neglect ushered in an age of redistribution of wealth by government kowtowing to any and all special interests, except for those who just wanted to left alone.  That is why today money in politics far surpasses money currently going into research and development and productive entrepreneurial efforts.

The material benefits became more important than the understanding and promoting the principles of liberty and a free market.  It is good that material abundance is a result of liberty but if materialism is all that we care about, problems are guaranteed.

The crisis arrived because the illusion that wealth and prosperity would last forever has ended. Since it was based on debt and a pretense that debt can be papered over by an out-of-control fiat monetary system, it was doomed to fail.  We have ended up with a system that doesn’t produce enough even to finance the debt and no fundamental understanding of why a free society is crucial to reversing these trends.

If this is not recognized, the recovery will linger for a long time.  Bigger government, more spending, more debt, more poverty for the middle class, and a more intense scramble by the elite special interests will continue.

 

We Need an Intellectual Awakening

Without an intellectual awakening, the turning point will be driven by economic law.  A dollar crisis will bring the current out-of-control system to its knees.

If it’s not accepted that big government, fiat money, ignoring liberty, central economic planning, welfarism, and warfarism caused our crisis we can expect a continuous and dangerous march toward corporatism and even fascism with even more loss of our liberties.  Prosperity for a large middle class though will become an abstract dream.

This continuous move is no different than what we have seen in how our financial crisis of 2008 was handled.  Congress first directed, with bipartisan support, bailouts for the wealthy.  Then it was the Federal Reserve with its endless quantitative easing. If at first it doesn’t succeed try again; QE1, QE2, and QE3 and with no results we try QE indefinitely—that is until it too fails.  There’s a cost to all of this and let me assure you delaying the payment is no longer an option.  The rules of the market will extract its pound of flesh and it won’t be pretty.

The current crisis elicits a lot of pessimism.  And the pessimism adds to less confidence in the future.  The two feed on themselves, making our situation worse.

If the underlying cause of the crisis is not understood we cannot solve our problems. The issues of warfare, welfare, deficits, inflationism, corporatism, bailouts and authoritarianism cannot be ignored.  By only expanding these policies we cannot expect good results.

Everyone claims support for freedom.  But too often it’s for one’s own freedom and not for others.  Too many believe that there must be limits on freedom. They argue that freedom must be directed and managed to achieve fairness and equality thus making it acceptable to curtail, through force, certain liberties.

Some decide what and whose freedoms are to be limited.  These are the politicians whose goal in life is power. Their success depends on gaining support from special interests.

 

No More ‘isms’

The great news is the answer is not to be found in more “isms.”  The answers are to be found in more liberty which cost so much less.  Under these circumstances spending goes down, wealth production goes up, and the quality of life improves.

Just this recognition—especially if we move in this direction—increases optimism which in itself is beneficial.  The follow through with sound policies are required which must be understood and supported by the people.

But there is good evidence that the generation coming of age at the present time is supportive of moving in the direction of more liberty and self-reliance. The more this change in direction and the solutions become known, the quicker will be the return of optimism.

Our job, for those of us who believe that a different system than the  one that we have  had for the  last 100 years, has driven us to this unsustainable crisis, is to be more convincing that there is a wonderful, uncomplicated, and moral system that provides the answers.  We had a taste of it in our early history. We need not give up on the notion of advancing this cause.

It worked, but we allowed our leaders to concentrate on the material abundance that freedom generates, while ignoring freedom itself.  Now we have neither, but the door is open, out of necessity, for an answer.  The answer available is based on the Constitution, individual liberty and prohibiting the use of government force to provide privileges and benefits to all special interests.

After over 100 years we face a society quite different from the one that was intended by the Founders.  In many ways their efforts to protect future generations with the Constitution from this danger has failed.  Skeptics, at the time the Constitution was written in 1787, warned us of today’s possible outcome.  The insidious nature of the erosion of our liberties and the reassurance our great abundance gave us, allowed the process to evolve into the dangerous period in which we now live.

 

Dependency on Government Largesse

Today we face a dependency on government largesse for almost every need.  Our liberties are restricted and government operates outside the rule of law, protecting and rewarding those who buy or coerce government into satisfying their demands. Here are a few examples:

  • Undeclared wars are commonplace.
  • Welfare for the rich and poor is considered an entitlement.
  • The economy is overregulated, overtaxed and grossly distorted by a deeply flawed monetary system.
  • Debt is growing exponentially.
  • The Patriot Act and FISA legislation passed without much debate have resulted in a steady erosion of our 4th Amendment rights.
  • Tragically our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
  • The drone warfare we are pursuing worldwide is destined to end badly for us as the hatred builds for innocent lives lost and the international laws flaunted. Once we are financially weakened and militarily challenged, there will be a lot resentment thrown our way.
  • It’s now the law of the land that the military can arrest American citizens, hold them indefinitely, without charges or a trial.
  • Rampant hostility toward free trade is supported by a large number in Washington.
  • Supporters of sanctions, currency manipulation and WTO trade retaliation, call the true free traders “isolationists.”
  • Sanctions are used to punish countries that don’t follow our orders.
  • Bailouts and guarantees for all kinds of misbehavior are routine.
  • Central economic planning through monetary policy, regulations and legislative mandates has been an acceptable policy.

 

Questions

Excessive government has created such a mess it prompts many questions:

  • Why are sick people who use medical marijuana put in prison?
  • Why does the federal government restrict the drinking of raw milk?
  • Why can’t Americans manufacture rope and other products from hemp?
  • Why are Americans not allowed to use gold and silver as legal tender as mandated by the Constitution?
  • Why is Germany concerned enough to consider repatriating their gold held by the FED for her in New York?  Is it that the trust in the U.S. and dollar supremacy beginning to wane?
  • Why do our political leaders believe it’s unnecessary to thoroughly audit our own gold?
  • Why can’t Americans decide which type of light bulbs they can buy?
  • Why is the TSA permitted to abuse the rights of any American traveling by air?
  • Why should there be mandatory sentences—even up to life for crimes without victims—as our drug laws require?
  • Why have we allowed the federal government to regulate commodes in our homes?
  • Why is it political suicide for anyone to criticize AIPAC ?
  • Why haven’t we given up on the drug war since it’s an obvious failure and violates the people’s rights? Has nobody noticed that the authorities can’t even keep drugs out of the prisons? How can making our entire society a prison solve the problem?
  • Why do we sacrifice so much getting needlessly involved in border disputes and civil strife around the world and ignore the root cause of the most deadly border in the world-the one between Mexico and the US?
  • Why does Congress willingly give up its prerogatives to the Executive Branch?
  • Why does changing the party in power never change policy? Could it be that the views of both parties are essentially the same?
  • Why did the big banks, the large corporations, and foreign banks and foreign central banks get bailed out in 2008 and the middle class lost their jobs and their homes?
  • Why do so many in the government and the federal officials believe that creating money out of thin air creates wealth?
  • Why do so many accept the deeply flawed principle that government bureaucrats and politicians can protect us from ourselves without totally destroying the principle of liberty?
  • Why can’t people understand that war always destroys wealth and liberty?
  • Why is there so little concern for the Executive Order that gives the President authority to establish a “kill list,” including American citizens, of those targeted for assassination?
  • Why is patriotism thought to be blind loyalty to the government and the politicians who run it, rather than loyalty to the principles of liberty and support for the people? Real patriotism is a willingness to challenge the government when it’s wrong.
  • Why is it is claimed that if people won’t  or can’t take care of their own needs, that people in government can do it for them?
  • Why did we ever give the government a safe haven for initiating violence against the people?
  • Why do some members defend free markets, but not civil liberties?
  • Why do some members defend civil liberties but not free markets? Aren’t they the same?
  • Why don’t more defend both economic liberty and personal liberty?
  • Why are there not more individuals who seek to intellectually influence others to bring about positive changes than those who seek power to force others to obey their commands?
  • Why does the use of religion to support a social gospel and preemptive wars, both of which requires authoritarians to use violence, or the threat of violence, go unchallenged? Aggression and forced redistribution of wealth has nothing to do with the teachings of the world great religions.
  • Why do we allow the government and the Federal Reserve to disseminate false information dealing with both economic and  foreign policy?
  • Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority?
  • Why should anyone be surprised that Congress has no credibility, since there’s such a disconnect between what politicians say and what they do?
  • Is there any explanation for all the deception, the unhappiness, the fear of the future, the loss of confidence in our leaders, the distrust, the anger and frustration?   Yes there is, and there’s a way to reverse these attitudes.  The negative perceptions are logical and a consequence of bad policies bringing about our problems.  Identification of the problems and recognizing the cause allow the proper changes to come easy.

 

Trust Yourself, Not the Government

Too many people have for too long placed too much confidence and trust in government and not enough in themselves.  Fortunately, many are now becoming aware of the seriousness of the gross mistakes of the past several decades.  The blame is shared by both political parties.  Many Americans now are demanding to hear the plain truth of things and want the demagoguing to stop.  Without this first step, solutions are impossible.

Seeking the truth and finding the answers in liberty and self-reliance promotes the optimism necessary for restoring prosperity.  The task is not that difficult if politics doesn’t get in the way.

We have allowed ourselves to get into such a mess for various reasons.

Politicians deceive themselves as to how wealth is produced.  Excessive confidence is placed in the judgment of politicians and bureaucrats.  This replaces the confidence in a free society.  Too many in high places of authority became convinced that only they,   armed with arbitrary government power, can bring about fairness, while facilitating wealth production.  This always proves to be a utopian dream and destroys wealth and liberty.  It impoverishes the people and rewards the special interests who end up controlling both political parties.

It’s no surprise then that much of what goes on in Washington is driven by aggressive partisanship and power seeking, with philosophic differences being minor.

 

Economic Ignorance

Economic ignorance is commonplace.  Keynesianism continues to thrive, although today it is facing healthy and enthusiastic rebuttals.  Believers in military Keynesianism and domestic Keynesianism continue to desperately promote their failed policies, as the economy languishes in a deep slumber.

Supporters of all government edicts use humanitarian arguments to justify them.

Humanitarian arguments are always used to justify government mandates related to the economy, monetary policy, foreign policy, and personal liberty.  This is on purpose to make it more difficult to challenge.  But, initiating violence for humanitarian reasons is still violence.  Good intentions are no excuse and are just as harmful as when people use force with bad intentions.  The results are always negative.

The immoral use of force is the source of man’s political problems.  Sadly, many religious groups, secular organizations, and psychopathic authoritarians endorse government initiated force to change the world.  Even when the desired goals are well-intentioned—or especially when well-intentioned—the results are dismal.  The good results sought never materialize.  The new problems created require even more government force as a solution.  The net result is institutionalizing government initiated violence and morally justifying it on humanitarian grounds.

This is the same fundamental reason our government  uses force  for invading other countries at will, central economic planning at home, and the regulation of personal liberty and habits of our citizens.

It is rather strange, that unless one has a criminal mind and no respect for other people and their property, no one claims it’s permissible to go into one’s neighbor’s house and tell them how to behave, what they can eat, smoke and drink or how to spend their money.

Yet, rarely is it asked why it is morally acceptable that a stranger with a badge and a gun can do the same thing in the name of law and order.  Any resistance is met with brute force, fines, taxes, arrests, and even imprisonment. This is done more frequently every day without a proper search warrant.

 

No Government Monopoly over Initiating Violence

Restraining aggressive behavior is one thing, but legalizing a government monopoly for initiating aggression can only lead to exhausting liberty associated with chaos, anger and the breakdown of civil society.  Permitting such authority and expecting saintly behavior from the bureaucrats and the politicians is a pipe dream.  We now have a standing army of armed bureaucrats in the TSA, CIA, FBI, Fish and Wildlife, FEMA, IRS, Corp of Engineers, etc. numbering over 100,000.  Citizens are guilty until proven innocent in the unconstitutional administrative courts.

Government in a free society should have no authority to meddle in social activities or the economic transactions of individuals. Nor should government meddle in the affairs of other nations. All things peaceful, even when controversial, should be permitted.

We must reject the notion of prior restraint in economic activity just we do in the area of free speech and religious liberty. But even in these areas government is starting to use a backdoor approach of political correctness to regulate speech-a dangerous trend. Since 9/11 monitoring speech on the internet is now a problem since warrants are no longer required.

 

The Proliferation of Federal Crimes

The Constitution established four federal crimes.  Today the experts can’t even agree on how many federal crimes are now on the books—they number into the thousands.  No one person can comprehend the enormity of the legal system—especially the tax code.  Due to the ill-advised drug war and the endless federal expansion of the criminal code we have over 6 million people under correctional suspension, more than the Soviets ever had, and more than any other nation today, including China.  I don’t understand the complacency of the Congress and the willingness to continue their obsession with passing more Federal laws.  Mandatory sentencing laws associated with drug laws have compounded our prison problems.

The federal register is now 75,000 pages long and the tax code has 72,000 pages, and expands every year.  When will the people start shouting, “enough is enough,” and demand Congress cease and desist.

 

Achieving Liberty

Liberty can only be achieved when government is denied the aggressive use of force.  If one seeks liberty, a precise type of government is needed.  To achieve it, more than lip service is required.

Two choices are available.

  1. A government designed to protect liberty—a natural right—as its sole objective.  The people are expected to care for themselves and reject the use of any force for interfering with another person’s liberty.  Government is given a strictly limited authority to enforce contracts, property ownership, settle disputes, and defend against foreign aggression.
  2. A government that pretends to protect liberty but is granted power to arbitrarily use force over the people and foreign nations.  Though the grant of power many times is meant to be small and limited, it inevitably metastasizes into an omnipotent political cancer.  This is the problem for which the world has suffered throughout the ages.  Though meant to be limited it nevertheless is a 100% sacrifice of a principle that would-be-tyrants find irresistible.  It is used vigorously—though incrementally and insidiously.  Granting power to government officials always proves the adage that:  “power corrupts.”

Once government gets a limited concession for the use of force to mold people habits and plan the economy, it causes a steady move toward tyrannical government.  Only a revolutionary spirit can reverse the process and deny to the government this arbitrary use of aggression.  There’s no in-between.  Sacrificing a little liberty for imaginary safety always ends badly.

Today’s mess is a result of Americans accepting option #2, even though the Founders attempted to give us Option #1.

The results are not good.  As our liberties have been eroded our wealth has been consumed.  The wealth we see today is based on debt and a foolish willingness on the part of foreigners to take our dollars for goods and services. They then loan them back to us to perpetuate our debt system.  It’s amazing that it has worked for this long but the impasse in Washington, in solving our problems indicate that many are starting to understand the seriousness of the world -wide debt crisis and the dangers we face. The longer this process continues the harsher the outcome will be.

 

The Financial Crisis Is a Moral Crisis

Many are now acknowledging that a financial crisis looms but few understand it’s, in reality, a moral crisis.  It’s the moral crisis that has allowed our liberties to be undermined and permits the exponential growth of illegal government power.  Without a clear understanding of the nature of the crisis it will be difficult to prevent a steady march toward tyranny and the poverty that will accompany it.

Ultimately, the people have to decide which form of government they want; option #1 or option #2.  There is no other choice.  Claiming there is a choice of a “little” tyranny is like describing pregnancy as a “touch of pregnancy.”  It is a myth to believe that a mixture of free markets and government central economic planning is a worthy compromise.  What we see today is a result of that type of thinking.  And the results speak for themselves.

 

A Culture of Violence

American now suffers from a culture of violence.  It’s easy to reject the initiation of violence against one’s neighbor but it’s ironic that the people arbitrarily and freely anoint government officials with monopoly power to initiate violence against the American people—practically at will.

Because it’s the government that initiates force, most people accept it as being legitimate.  Those who exert the force have no sense of guilt.  It is believed by too many that governments are morally justified in initiating force supposedly to “do good.”  They incorrectly believe that this authority has come from the “consent of the people.”  The minority, or victims of government violence never consented to suffer the abuse of government mandates, even when dictated by the majority.  Victims of TSA excesses never consented to this abuse.

This attitude has given us a policy of initiating war to “do good,” as well. It is claimed that war, to prevent war for noble purposes, is justified.  This is similar to what we were once told that:  “destroying a village to save a village” was justified.  It was said by a US Secretary of State that the loss of 500,000 Iraqis, mostly children, in the 1990s, as a result of American bombs and sanctions, was “worth it” to achieve the “good” we brought to the Iraqi people.  And look at the mess that Iraq is in today.

Government use of force to mold social and economic behavior at home and abroad has justified individuals using force on their own terms.  The fact that violence by government is seen as morally justified, is the reason why violence will increase when the big financial crisis hits and becomes a political crisis as well.

First, we recognize that individuals shouldn’t initiate violence, then we give the authority to government.   Eventually, the immoral use of government violence, when things goes badly, will be used to justify an individual’s “right” to do the same thing. Neither the government nor individuals have the moral right to initiate violence against another yet we are moving toward the day when both will claim this authority.  If this cycle is not reversed society will break down.

When needs are pressing, conditions deteriorate and rights become relative to the demands and the whims of the majority.  It’s then not a great leap for individuals to take it upon themselves to use violence to get what they claim is theirs.  As the economy deteriorates and the wealth discrepancies increase—as are already occurring— violence increases as those in need take it in their own hands to get what they believe is theirs.  They will not wait for a government rescue program.

When government officials wield power over others to bail out the special interests, even with disastrous results to the average citizen, they feel no guilt for the harm they do. Those who take us into undeclared wars with many casualties resulting, never lose sleep over the death and destruction their bad decisions caused. They are convinced that what they do is morally justified, and the fact that many suffer   just can’t be helped.

When the street criminals do the same thing, they too have no remorse, believing they are only taking what is rightfully theirs.  All moral standards become relative.  Whether it’s bailouts, privileges, government subsidies or benefits for some from inflating a currency, it’s all part of a process justified by a philosophy of forced redistribution of wealth.  Violence, or a threat of such, is the instrument required and unfortunately is of little concern of most members of Congress.

Some argue it’s only a matter of “fairness” that those in need are cared for. There are two problems with this. First, the principle is used to provide a greater amount of benefits to the rich than the poor. Second, no one seems to be concerned about whether or not it’s fair to those who end up paying for the benefits. The costs are usually placed on the backs of the middle class and are hidden from the public eye. Too many people believe government handouts are free, like printing money out of thin air, and there is no cost. That deception is coming to an end. The bills are coming due and that’s what the economic slowdown is all about.

Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government.  It is the tool for telling the people how to live, what to eat and drink, what to read and how to spend their money.

To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected.  Granting to government even a small amount of force is a dangerous concession.

 

Limiting Government Excesses vs. a Virtuous Moral People

Our Constitution, which was intended to limit government power and abuse, has failed.  The Founders warned that a free society depends on a virtuous and moral people.  The current crisis reflects that their concerns were justified.

Most politicians and pundits are aware of the problems we face but spend all their time in trying to reform government.  The sad part is that the suggested reforms almost always lead to less freedom and the importance of a virtuous and moral people is either ignored, or not understood. The new reforms serve only to further undermine liberty.  The compounding effect has given us this steady erosion of liberty and the massive expansion of debt.  The real question is: if it is liberty we seek, should most of the emphasis be placed on government reform or trying to understand what “a virtuous and moral people” means and how to promote it. The Constitution has not prevented the people from demanding handouts for both rich and poor in their efforts to reform the government, while ignoring the principles of a free society. All branches of our government today are controlled by individuals who use their power to undermine liberty and enhance the welfare/warfare state-and frequently their own wealth and power.

If the people are unhappy with the government performance it must be recognized that government is merely a reflection of an immoral society that rejected a moral government of constitutional limitations of power and love of freedom.

If this is the problem all the tinkering with thousands of pages of new laws and regulations will do nothing to solve the problem.

It is self-evident that our freedoms have been severely limited and the apparent prosperity we still have, is nothing more than leftover wealth from a previous time.  This fictitious wealth based on debt and benefits from a false trust in our currency and credit, will play havoc with our society when the bills come due.  This means that the full consequence of our lost liberties is yet to be felt.

But that illusion is now ending.  Reversing a downward spiral depends on accepting a new approach.

Expect the rapidly expanding homeschooling movement to play a significant role in the revolutionary reforms needed to build a free society with Constitutional protections. We cannot expect a Federal government controlled school system to provide the intellectual ammunition to combat the dangerous growth of government that threatens our liberties.

The internet will provide the alternative to the government/media complex that controls the news and most political propaganda. This is why it’s essential that the internet remains free of government regulation.

Many of our religious institutions and secular organizations support greater dependency on the state by supporting war, welfare and corporatism and ignore the need for a virtuous people.

I never believed that the world or our country could be made more free by politicians, if the people had no desire for freedom.

Under the current circumstances the most we can hope to achieve in the political process is to use it as a podium to reach the people to alert them of the nature of the crisis and the importance of their need to assume responsibility for themselves, if it is liberty that they truly seek.  Without this, a constitutionally protected free society is impossible.

If this is true, our individual goal in life ought to be for us to seek virtue and excellence and recognize that self-esteem and happiness only comes from using one’s natural ability, in the most productive manner possible, according to one’s own talents.

Productivity and creativity are the true source of personal satisfaction. Freedom, and not dependency, provides the environment needed to achieve these goals. Government cannot do this for us; it only gets in the way. When the government gets involved, the goal becomes a bailout or a subsidy and these cannot provide a sense of  personal achievement.

Achieving legislative power and political influence should not be our goal. Most of the change, if it is to come, will not come from the politicians, but rather from individuals, family, friends, intellectual leaders and our religious institutions.  The solution can only come from rejecting the use of coercion, compulsion, government commands, and aggressive force, to mold social and economic behavior.  Without accepting these restraints, inevitably the consensus will be to allow the government to mandate economic equality and obedience to the politicians who gain power and promote an environment that smothers the freedoms of everyone. It is then that the responsible individuals who seek excellence and self-esteem by being self-reliance and productive, become the true victims.

 

Conclusion                                                                                                                                                    

What are the greatest dangers that the American people face today and impede the goal of a free society? There are five.

1. The continuous attack on our civil liberties which threatens the rule of law and our ability to resist the onrush of tyranny.               

2. Violent anti-Americanism that has engulfed the world. Because the phenomenon of “blow-back” is not understood or denied, our foreign policy is destined to keep us involved in many wars that we have no business being in. National bankruptcy and a greater threat to our national security will result.                                                         

3. The ease in which we go to war, without a declaration by Congress, but accepting international authority from the UN or NATO even for preemptive wars, otherwise known as aggression.                                        

4. A financial political crisis as a consequence of excessive debt, unfunded liabilities, spending, bailouts, and gross discrepancy in wealth distribution going from the middle class to the rich. The danger of central economic planning, by the Federal Reserve must be understood.                                               

 

 5. World government taking over  local and US sovereignty by getting involved in the issues of war, welfare, trade, banking,  a world currency, taxes, property ownership, and private ownership of guns.

 

Happily, there is an answer for these very dangerous trends.                                                     

What a wonderful world it would be if everyone accepted the simple moral premise of rejecting all acts of aggression.  The retort to such a suggestion is always:  it’s too simplistic, too idealistic, impractical, naïve, utopian, dangerous, and unrealistic to strive for such an ideal.

The answer to that is that for thousands of years the acceptance of government force, to rule over the people, at the sacrifice of liberty, was considered moral and the only available option for achieving peace and prosperity.

What could be more utopian than that myth—considering the results especially looking at the state sponsored killing, by nearly every government during the 20th Century, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.  It’s time to reconsider this grant of authority to the state.

No good has ever come from granting monopoly power to the state to use aggression against the people to arbitrarily mold human behavior.  Such power, when left unchecked, becomes the seed of an ugly tyranny.  This method of governance has been adequately tested, and the results are in: reality dictates we try liberty.

The idealism of non-aggression and rejecting all offensive use of force should be tried.  The idealism of government sanctioned violence has been abused throughout history and is the primary source of poverty and war.  The theory of a society being based on individual freedom has been around for a long time.  It’s time to take a bold step and actually permit it by advancing this cause, rather than taking a step backwards as some would like us to do.

Today the principle of habeas corpus, established when King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, is under attack. There’s every reason to believe that a renewed effort with the use of the internet that we can instead advance the cause of liberty by spreading an uncensored message that will serve to rein in government authority and challenge the obsession with war and welfare.

What I’m talking about is a system of government guided by the moral principles of peace and tolerance.

The Founders were convinced that a free society could not exist without a moral people.  Just writing rules won’t work if the people choose to ignore them.  Today the rule of law written in the Constitution has little meaning for most Americans, especially those who work in Washington DC.

Benjamin Franklin claimed “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”  John Adams concurred:  “Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

A moral people must reject all violence in an effort to mold people’s beliefs or habits.

A society that boos or ridicules the Golden Rule is not a moral society.  All great religions endorse the Golden Rule.  The same moral standards that individuals are required to follow should apply to all government officials.  They cannot be exempt.

The ultimate solution is not in the hands of the government.

The solution falls on each and every individual, with guidance from family, friends and community.

The #1 responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow.  This is of greater importance than working on changing the government; that is secondary to promoting a virtuous society.  If we can achieve this, then the government will change.

It doesn’t mean that political action or holding office has no value. At times it does nudge policy in the right direction. But what is true is that when seeking office is done for personal aggrandizement, money or power, it becomes useless if not harmful. When political action is taken for the right reasons it’s easy to understand why compromise should be avoided. It also becomes clear why progress is best achieved by working with coalitions, which bring people together, without anyone sacrificing his principles.

Political action, to be truly beneficial, must be directed toward changing the hearts and minds of the people, recognizing that it’s the virtue and morality of the people that allow liberty to flourish.

The Constitution or more laws per se, have no value if the people’s attitudes aren’t changed.

To achieve liberty and peace, two powerful human emotions have to be overcome.  Number one is “envy” which leads to hate and class warfare.  Number two is “intolerance” which leads to bigoted and judgmental policies.  These emotions must be replaced with a much better understanding of love, compassion, tolerance and free market economics. Freedom, when understood, brings people together. When tried, freedom is popular.

The problem we have faced over the years has been that economic interventionists are swayed by envy, whereas social interventionists are swayed by intolerance of habits and lifestyles. The misunderstanding that tolerance is an endorsement of certain activities, motivates many to legislate moral standards which should only be set by individuals making their own choices. Both sides use force to deal with these misplaced emotions. Both are authoritarians. Neither endorses voluntarism.  Both views ought to be rejected.

I have come to one firm conviction after these many years of trying to figure out “the plain truth of things.”  The best chance for achieving peace and prosperity, for the maximum number of people world-wide, is to pursue the cause of LIBERTY.

If you find this to be a worthwhile message, spread it throughout the land.

How the Permanent Political Class Rip You Off

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money-bag-400301_150by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | MARCH 21, 2012

Just a few examples…

On February 21, 2003, Rahm Emanuel suddenly sold off all of his Freddie Mac stock (~$250,000 worth) just days before a 10% drop in share price.  It wasn’t until late spring until the rest of the public realized that there was a criminal investigation of its senior executives and its earnings had been inflated and would need to be restated in billions of dollars.  This Freddie Mack accounting scandal was much larger than Enron but most never knew about it thanks to our Government Media.

TARP Bailout 2008:  Senator John Kerry started buying lots of troubled bank stocks: $550,000 in Citigroup in early and mid-October,  $350,000 in Bank of America shares.  Days later on October 28, it was announced that Citigroup was getting $25 Billion from TARP and $35 Billion from the Targeted Investment Program.  On November 4th, it was announced that Citi would get loan guarantees that could total $277 billion from the Treasury, Fed and FDIC.

Big Pharma:  Senator John Kerry was on the committee overseeing the prescription drug plan. In all John Kerry and his wife made 111 transactions for their own personal benefit in pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies in 2003…all of which were great stock picks netting the couple millions in profit.

On March 18, 2008, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul made the first of three purchases of Visa stock totaling between $1 million and $5 million.  Why don’t we know the exact amount?  Because congress is only obligated to give ranges.  This was no ordinary stock purchase.  This was the most popular and lucrative IPO in American history.  Prior to this Visa had been privately held by a group of banks.  Everyone else had to wait until March 19 when the stock would be available to the public but not Nancy.  Even after the 19th getting access was virtually impossible for the average citizen.   Almost all the stocks were going to institutional investors and were oversubscribed –too many buyers—only special, hand-picked customers got these coveted shares at the opening price of $44. Two days later, after public trading began, the stock price jumped to $65 a share.  In short, Pelosi made a 50% profit on their investment in a matter of two days.  On June4, 2008, Visa stock closed at $85 a share.

Somehow the Speaker of the House and her husband happened to get these IPO share barely two weeks after a threatening piece of legislation against Visa from the House of Representatives.

 

Opus 017: The Reality of our criminal ‘Justice’ System

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justice-147214_150
by DAVID BROWN | ClearNFO.com | March 6, 2010

On the nature of Criminal Justice in America:

The real problem is not with the laws but with our justice system. It is not what it appears to the outsider looking in. In fact many on the inside may not be aware of all the deals that are constantly being made. Many news pundits blame judges but this really misses the point. Let me give you an example of how 90% of the cases are handled and why.

Who are the players?

·        Judge (The editor of the story)
·        Police, Detective, etc. (prosecutor)
·        District Attorney (prosecutor)
·        The Plaintiff (prosecutor)
·        The Accused (defense)
·        The Accused attorney (defense)
·        The Jury if there is one (the ones in the dark listening to a story that is usually heavily edited by the judge)

What are their motives?

·        Judge – wants to clear his docket and get on to the next case. Has a god complex
·        Police…want a conviction but not willing to do all the real work necessary to prove up the evidence.
·        DA: Wants to fluff his resume and run for office again with a 95%+ conviction rate
·        Accused: Terrified and willing to make a deal

Given the above motives, this is what happens in 90% of all criminal cases: Plea Bargain. A plea bargain is where the accused pleas to a lesser crime for lesser time if he will agree to plead guilty. This is usually a lie because the plea may be for some crime that was not even committed.

What does everyone get out of this grand deception aka lie?

·        Judge: Gets a conviction and gets one more case off his docket
·        Police: don’t have to spend a lot of time investigating
·        DA: gets a conviction which makes his resume look good
·        Accused: may or may not be guilty. No one cares except him or her but he gets a lesser penalty and a lesser charge so he is relieved and may wonder if he did the right thing if innocent.
·        The Defense attorney gets paid and on to his next case. Can show his value by getting the crime/sentence reduced.

The cake is baked and everybody is happy!

This lie is sealed when the judge asks the accused if he was given any enticement for pleading guilty. The accused swears in court that he was not. All the players in this charade know this is a lie, but this is the real world. This is not CSI, or any other made for TV hoax on the gullible American public.

So…where is justice in all this? No one cares. Sorry.

If the accused was guilty, then he gets off with a lesser charge. If the accused was innocent then an innocent person was coerced into pleading guilty. Truth and justice have no play here.

Part 2:

If you care to explore a bit deeper here are some more considerations.

1) There is little to no consideration for finding the truth or for providing justice. This system runs on the participant’s resumes, ascendancy, money and politics. Truth, justice and the American way have no room here.

Most of the accused have little to no money and thus are totally at the mercy of the judge, DA, police and his own defense attorney Just to get a decent attorney interested you must have $10,000 in cash laying around that you don’t need. After the $10K is spent the bills usually accelerate and the judge, DA and everyone else is fully aware of your ability to fight. If they sense weakness then all bets are off and you become the cause of their effect and everyone knows this.

What this means is that our justice system is generally up for sale and you can get the amount of justice you can afford.

2) One of the great powers of the judge is the ability to edit the story. As most people know, if you can determine what is told and what is left out you can make a story say almost anything. So the Judge is the storyteller here for the jury. The jury is clueless and usually has no idea that they have been denied all the facts to make a good judgment.

3) Politics also come into play here. If the accused or the plaintiff has friendly, financial or political connections with important people, this will determine how the story is edited.

3) Polygraph tests: Polygraphs are extremely accurate if you ask most people in the polygraph industry but are at best 70% accurate according to research I’ve seen. Polygraphs are also very easy to beat if you do a little research prior to taking a test. Polygraphs are not admissible in court simply because they are NOT accurate– but are routinely used to coerce a confession or used as leverage under the false promise that the accused (person of interest) will not face indictment. This is a ruse to gain more true or false incriminating information that will ultimately lead to a conviction. The person and company doing the polygraph are usually under contract with the county which represents: the Judge, the DA, the Sheriff, Police, etc.  The polygraph company is at risk of losing this contract if they don’t please their pay masters and so it is never a good idea to take a polygraph provided by the prosecution.

4) If you are innocent, never talk to the police and never give any information to anyone without competent legal representation. The reason for this is that the prevailing motive of the justice system is to convict and close cases. You will be under great pressure and feel obligated to absolve your self and prove your innocence but if you violate this fundamental rule, you will be very sorry. You don’t want to become another statistic on their resume. Always be pleasant and respectful and just explain that you want to protect your rights and you therefore require an attorney.

I have mixed thoughts about the ACLU because I disagree with most of what they do. However, with the deck stacked against anyone who finds themselves caught up on this assembly line of easy and convenient convictions it is nice to see the ACLU protecting the rights of those who don’t have the financial means to put up a just defense.

If you have ever observed what happens to a weak chicken who has been pecked to death in a chicken coup you will get a good idea what the accused face here in the USA if you don’t have the financial means to hire and pay for a good attorney, not to mention the deposition and court costs.

This, my friends is the current state of our fine justice system here in the good old USA. So, the next time you see someone do a perp-walk in an orange jump suit, just realize that most of these poor slobs had a court appointed attorney and were used to fluff several resumes.

For additional reading on this topic please see Paul Craig Roberts’ excellent book entitled ‘The Tyranny of Good Intentions’.

Opus 016: Do we have a democracy or a republic?

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by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | October 17, 2009

Democracy VS Republic

What form of government do we have in the USA anyway?

We can always debate the finer points but to put it simply, a democracy is “rule by the majority” and a republic is a “rule by law”. The distinction here is more important than most US citizens realize. Let’s take a look at the difference.

Let’s say Mr. Smith had worked hard as a young man and bought a plot of land 10 miles out side of his home town of Pleasantville. Over many years, he had worked hard and paid for the land in full and had been able to work the land through careful planning and irrigation to build a rather fine grape vineyard producing some of the best grapes, wine, raisins, grape juice and jelly in all the land.

A Democracy (rule by mob):
Seeing how fine the vineyard was and how Mr. Smith had prospered, the town councilmen took a look at their overworked budget and proposed a vote to the citizens that Mr. Smith’s land should rightfully become the property of the town and therefore be divided up amongst the good citizens of Pleasantville. By majority vote, this proposal was passed overwhelmingly and the land became the property of the town. Everyone was delighted and very happy except Mr. Smith. There could be no consoling Mr. Smith and so he had raised such a fuss about all of this the town folk voted to put Mr. Smith in prison for unbecoming behavior which was very unpleasant to the erudite and sophisticated sensibilities of the refined citizens of Pleasantville. Everyone was horrified at Mr. Smith’s words and angry outburst in public and couldn’t tolerate such behavior.

A Republic (rule by law):
If Mr. Smith in the story above lived under the protection of the rule of law or a republic, a simple majority vote couldn’t have deprived him of his property or freedom. The city councilmen would have had their powers limited by the rule of law. Mr. Smith would have been provided certain rights and been protected by the rule of law, due process and the rights guaranteed to him by a constitution and bill of rights.

The US founding fathers were keenly aware of this distinction and that is why the Constitution and The Bill of rights limit the power of the government. These documents are your shield and are there to protect you. When our educators, politicians and news media continually preach about the democracy please remember that this is a representative REPUBLIC and not a democracy.

Do you pledge allegiance to the Democracy or the Republic?

From the American View…

http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=11

As the story goes, at the close of the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what type of government the Constitution was bringing into existence. Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

It has been baldly asserted that in a Democracy, majority rules, whereas in a Republic, Law rules. Consider, in a Democracy, there is no need for a Constitution, since the majority can simply change Law at a whim. In a Republic, there is a Law above the government, and in our case there is a written Constitution.

Definitions from Wikipedia…

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government to the states, to citizens, and to all people within the United States.

In the United States, the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known.

Opus 009: The Financial Rabbit-Hole…

by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com |Original date: December 27, 2012

Debbie Downer (Debbie Reynolds)

Debbie Downer (Debbie Reynolds)

Not trying to be Debbie Downer here but a friend is someone who will tell you if your house is on fire and it is.  The question is do you want the red pill or the blue pill?

“You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.  You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember — all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.”

If you took the red pill, here’s your updated Joe Friday moment…”Just the facts ma’am…”

The US National debt is what is usually reported in the news media but this is just the tip of the financial iceberg that lurks beneath the churning financial sea upon which 313 million Americans bet their futures.  Everyone has an uneasy feeling about an impending financial Armageddon rather than facing fact and reality we choose to believe in magic…that someone has a magic bullet or a solution that will save the day.  But there is no magic.  We are on uncharted waters and unfortunately the news is much worse than is reported.  Let’s take a look beneath the churning waters to take measure of what awaits us and why.

First a few sobering facts the news media are hesitant to report:

Balance Sheet (11/26/13):

  • -US National Debt:  $17 trillion
  • -US Unfunded Liabilities: $127 trillion
  • -Total Liabilities: $144 trillion
  • -Total National Assets: $106 trillion

Net Worth: Negative $38 Trillion

Income Statement (11/26/13):

  • -US Federal Tax Revenue: $2.8 Trillion
  • -US Federal Spending: $3.5 Trillion

Annual Net Income (deficit): Negative $ 0.7 Trillion

Insolvency is the inability of a debtor to pay their debt…

  1. Cash flow insolvency involves a lack of liquidity to pay debts as they fall due.
  2. Balance sheet insolvency involves having negative net assets—where liabilities exceed assets. Insolvency is not a synonym for bankruptcy, which is a determination of insolvency made by a court of law with resulting legal orders intended to resolve the insolvency.

The Net Worth of the US is actually much worse than the figures above when the debt of the state, local, personal, banks are added into the mix.  To fund all the excessive spending and promising, the Federal Reserve continues to create more debt to keep this financial fantasy going just a few days more having no real solution at hand.  In the meantime, the US Dollar is losing its place as the world’s reserve currency which is estimated to reduce the living standard of the US by 40% once this trend completes.

At this point, you might say that things can’t get much worse but they do.  The World-Wide derivatives bubble is currently sitting at an estimated $1.5 Quadrillion or $1,500 Trillion and 80% of these are interest rate swaps.  World-wide GDP is only about $70 trillion.  Why is the interest rate swap so important?  Because as the interest rates go up the bonds go down and most of the major banks would be insolvent if the bonds they hold lost value.  This is the real reason that the Fed is keeping the interest rates low.

In the economy of the 60s – 80s we would have let troubled banks go bust but we have allowed them to get “too big to fail”.  They are too big to fail because if they did fail, it would bring down the entire world economy.   How did they get so big?  It is a direct result of the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act in 1999.  The Glass-Steagall Act was enacted in 1933 to limit commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms.  In short it was a wall of separation between commercial and investment banking.  The 1999 repeal permitted Wall Street investment banking firms to gamble with their depositors’ money that was held in affiliated commercial banks.

And it gets worse.  The recent Libor interest rate rigging scandal is being called the biggest financial fraud in history and will have major ramifications to the world economy.   This scandal impacted an estimated $800 trillion in transactions and is just getting started.  Karl Denninger of Market-ticker.org calls this, “the largest organized theft ever committed in human history.”

If the banks are responsible for just 1/10 of one percent of the $800 trillion in Libor transactions, it would represent $800 billion in liability to the banks.  The total cost will be much higher, and some banks will go under as a result of litigation and loss of reputation.  Ron Hera of Hera Research  said “Truth is, if you take back more than 1% of what the banks have stolen, they’re busted.”

Then we have the sovereign bond market bubble sitting at a 300 year high, just waiting to burst.

So you can see that it is not a question of if but when one of these bubbles will burst and the whole house of cards come tumbling down.