tagged w/ Libertarian
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The hyphenated anarchists can be a combative bunch. I’ve done my share of arguing from an Ancap perspective, against sects of the movement I believe wish to achieve freedom- so long as it is done their way. Tired and stale as the news on it may be, the Occupy Movement lends itself well to unification behind a few vital, strategy-related principles for pushing back the state. Libertarian and anarchist circles have reacted to the Movement in a number of ways, ranging from complete dismissal to complete embrace. The implications of the current Movement, which has now spread to Europe, are too large not to take advantage of, but in a measured way. Because the Movement presents an opportuni.......
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5749/ows-an-anti-state-perspective/The hyphenated anarchists can be a combative bunch. I’ve done my share of... more
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After breaking $4 a gallon for a short time in may, the steady decline in gas prices over the last five months has come as a breath of fresh air to commuters and consumers everywhere. The current average is hovering around $3.46 a gallon.
In such times it is far too easy to look at the current price and gain false hope in a recovering market. For example in July 2008, gas prices were pushing $4.12 a gallon. In a highly unusual dip the prices fell to nearly $1.60 a gallon in less than 6 months – something that has never happened in at least over 7 years.
Why? Well, the price of light crude on the WTI at the time was at an all time high in July, and made a very sudden decline from $133/barrel monthly average to $41/barrel monthly average in less than 5 months – right before elections. While it was noticeable at the time, it was hardly used then as a political stateme
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5738/on-oil-and-gas/After breaking $4 a gallon for a short time in may, the steady decline in gas prices... more
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“I, David P Shirk, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” – August 8, 1998.
If there is one regret I have had in my lifetime, it was the utterance of those words. My intentions were good, after all, I wanted to protect people and serve them – just as so many I knew and respected who came before me. What I didn’t know at the time was my countries history (great job public school system), and the full actions taken by the government since its founding.
Before 9-11, I started seeing my job as having no real point. I was good at it to be sure, but could not see its use. We were not under attack, and the US seemed to be doing okay without using us. Then 9-11 happened, and everything changed. At first, I was eager to find the people responsible, and go earn my pay. Thank goodness my name was never called up for the task. I never would have thought at the time that the attack on the towers was the result of foreign meddling for the better part of 50 years.
Yet that one event set off a red flag in my head, and it was during that time tha.......
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5734/oathbreaker/“I, David P Shirk, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the... more
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Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, and Dennis Kucinich offer words of wisdom to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Occupy Wall Street movement has tremendous potential, but only if we can resist the wedges that the corporate/government cabal continues to try to drive between us.
Ralph Nader Hearts Ron Paul, Hails Potential Left-Libertarian Alliance
Matt Welch
Reason
September 28, 2011
Michael Tracey, who wrote about restrictive teen-driving laws in the June issue of Reason, catches up with the consumer crusader for The American Conservative:
Looking ahead to the 2012 presidential race, one might assume that Nader has little to be cheerful about.
“Libertarians like Ron Paul are on our side on civil liberties. They’re on our side against the military-industrial complex. They’re on our side against Wall Street. They’re on our side for investor rights. That’s a foundational convergence,” he exhorts. “It’s not just itty-bitty stuff.” [...]
There are nascent movements underway to bring disaffected progressives into Ron Paul’s fold. A new organization called Blue Republican, advertised on the Huffington Post and elsewhere, urges Democrats to pledge their support for Paul. While Nader isn’t willing to endorse Paul’s candidacy at this point, during our interview his praise grew increasingly effusive. “Ron Paul has always been anti-corporate, anti-Federal Reserve, anti-big banks, anti-bailouts,” Nader says. “I mean, they view him in the same way they view me on a lot of these issues. Did you see the latest poll? He’s like two points behind Obama.”
Read full articleRalph Nader, Ron Paul, and Dennis Kucinich offer words of wisdom to the Occupy Wall... more
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Do you love liberty and freedom? If so, you better watch your back. The control freaks that run our society are stripping away our liberties and freedoms a little bit more each day, and lately they seem to be particularly focused on coming after those that are not "integrating" into the system. Just like the rest of the western world, America is being transformed into a "Big Brother" police state control grid. Nearly everything that you do is being watched and monitored. A whole host of organizations know that you are on this website right now. If you want to go to an NFL game next weekend, there is a good chance that you will be on the receiving end of an "enhanced pat-down" and if you are producing raw milk on your farm there is a good chance that the feds will show up for a pre-dawn raid on your property. In many areas of the country, the government forces us to shoot our kids full of vaccines and implant dangerous microchips in our pets. Virtually wherever we go there is a camera that is watching us or there are other Americans that are evaluating whether or not we are engaged in "suspicious activity" that needs to be reported to the government. Once upon a time, America was all about liberty and freedom, but today our nation is undergoing a radical cultural shift. America is being "locked down", and those who love liberty and freedom should watch their backs.Do you love liberty and freedom? If so, you better watch your back. The control... more
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Millions upon millions of young Americans have completely lost faith in the U.S. economy and are mad as hell that their economic futures have been destroyed. The recent economic downturn has hit those under the age of 30 the hardest. Today, there are hordes of young people that should be entering their most productive years that are sitting home with nothing to do. Many of them have worked incredibly hard throughout high school and college. Many of them have stayed out of trouble and have done everything that "the system" asked them to do. But once they got finished with school, the promised "rewards" simply were not there. Instead, millions of young Americans are faced with crushing student loan debt loads in an economy where they can't find good jobs. When you are in your twenties, it can be absolutely soul-crushing to send out hundreds (or even thousands) of resumes and not get a single interview. Most of us grew up believing that we would "be something" when we got older, and millions of young Americans are having those dreams brutally crushed right now. Americans under the age of 30 voted for Barack Obama in droves back in 2008 because they believed that he would make things better. Instead, Barack Obama has made things even worse. Significant numbers of young Americans are starting to wake up and realize that neither political party is providing any real answers, and they are starting to get mad as hell about it.Millions upon millions of young Americans have completely lost faith in the U.S.... more
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Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that logical cohesion need be the ultimate determinant for how convincing a system of moral beliefs is. In fact, the number one problem I have with objectivism is that it’s a one-size-fits-all system that doesn’t have any malleability to suit differing circumstances. I’m merely saying from an Occam’s Razor/simplicity standpoint, it does have some merit and is more useful, from a day-to-day standpoint, than many other philosophers, who are not treated with nearly the same degree of scorn (I’m looking at you, Descartes).Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that logical cohesion need be the... more
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October 7th 2011 will mark the 10 year anniversary of the war in the Middle East. This 10 years of war, has gone on for far too long.
War has a heavy cost, a heavy cost that we don’t think about in our daily busy lives. That cost is your children or your grandchildren dying before their time, being severely injured or mentally scarred for life.
War is your brothers and sisters being taught to kill other people — and to hate people who are just like themselves and who don’t want to kill anyone either.
War is your children seeing their friends killed before their very eyes or seeing their limbs blown off their bodies.
War is genocide; it is hundreds of thousands of human beings dying years before their time.
War is millions of people separated forever from their loved ones.
War is the destruction of homes which people worked for.
War is the end of careers that meant as much to others as your career means to you.
You cannot put a cost on a human life, but the financial cost on war is now running into the trillions of dollars. As illustrated by Cost Of War Dot Com.
War is the imposition of heavy taxes on you, other Americans, and on people in other countries — taxes that remain long after the war is over.
War is the suppression of free speech and the jailing of people who criticize the government.
War is the imposition of slavery when young men and women serve in the military.
War is goading the public to hate foreign people and races.
It is time to end the war and bring the troops home.
If you like the majority of Americans want to end the bombing and occupation of the Middle East.
Visit http://www.AntiWar.com, or Call Angela at: 1-323-512-7095
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5719/10-years-in-the-middle-east-is-far-too-long-antiwar/October 7th 2011 will mark the 10 year anniversary of the war in the Middle East.... more
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If you do not have a right to infringe on others, then you cannot give a right that you do not have, the right to infringe on others, to someone else.If you do not have a right to infringe on others, then you cannot give a right that... more
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Methodology – a set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating a given discipline; the underlying principles and rules of organization of a philosophical system or inquiry procedure; a branch of pedagogics dealing with analysis and evaluation of subjects to be taught and of the methods of teaching them.
Policy – a definite course of action adopted for the sake of expediency, facility, etc; a course of action adopted and pursued by a government, ruler, political party, etc.; action or procedure conforming to or considered with reference to prudence or expediency.
In the army, training doctrine is drawn and taught with a methodology that is set forth as a policy. On the most basic of levels, it is slimmed down and simple. This is not because it assumes a new recruit is stupid. It is done because in order for a large body of people to act in a coordinated and efficient manner, the more synchronized they have to be. The only way to do this, is to teach all recruits the basics, and grind them so far in that what is learned becomes almost as natural as breathing. You are taught to obey, not to question. This is on the premise that th....
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5642/the-failed-policy-called-government/Methodology – a set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating a... more
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Whoever would have thought in the 1980’s that a free market capitalist and a KGB agent would have arrived at the same conclusion being from opposite views and backgrounds? When I was pinging emails back and forth with Igor Panarin, I was attempting to find out more details on how he predicted the collapse of the U.S. Empire in 2012 – a stance he took as a KGB agent in the 80’s. What I found most interesting was that his claim was based largely on our economic policy combined with our foreign policy.
He mentioned that it was during the 80’s that the loss of economic power in Russia was realized due to the centralized monetary policy, and foreign policy of Russia. While Panarin is definitely no fan of free market capitalism (a fact he makes plain in his writings and speeches), he at the very least made it clear that a nation that employs a centralized monetary policy in the hands of private banks, will always carry negative impact to the host nation. And for the record, the free market capitalist was a much younger Ron Paul (and yes, they laughed at him then to).
One primary reason for this is that the banks that control the economic policies of the host nation have no real loyalty to that nation – their one goal will only be to bleed it dry before moving onto the next up and coming nation.
It always starts the same way. The banking board will assume control of the nation’s money policy claiming that they will both provide stability to its currency, and maintain a stable market atmosphere. Typically the nation that allows this has a good supply of gold. The banking board (in our case the Federal Reserve), will start out by basing the value of the nation’s currency off of the supply of gold it has (being that gold is the most highly valued of all common commodities). This is the beginning of what is known as a specie backed currency.
Over the following decade(s) of its implementation, the central banks realize that they will not be able to make much more profit should the fiat currency remain based on a set amount of specie. After all, specie itself is rare, and not easy to come by. So they tout to the host nation that for its lending to expand (and thus produce growth) to a meaningful extent, that a new economic policy must be adopted. The only way for the central board to maintain its hard valued income, is to use fractional reserve banking. This means that it no longer lends out only the money it has, but adds more money to the books, and only requires that the branch banks have 10% in reserve. Put even more simply, it means that for a branch bank to get 10,000 dollars to lend, it only needs 1,000 in its reserves.
Most people never even bother to think about this, and then wonder why this technique faces so much opposition. After all, they are told that the central banks allow for lending needed for economic growth. They are told that with this system, companies and individuals alike may borrow money, and use it to invest in a potential increase in productivity. Indeed having such available credit with little money down seems like a dream come true. Increasing the false feeling of prosperity is the rapid expansion that follows – usually due to a new technology or booming market sector. Thus people accept it as being the perfect system that allows a people to live civilly and comfortably at the same time. When this mindset is adopted, the damage starts and never ceases – here’s why.
People overlook the fact that in such an economic scenario, that the money lent out does not physically exist – and is nothing more than some entries on a ledger. These entries are not available for public view, and are only able to be tracked on the website as to the money supply in general. It is important to note that the amount of currency printed differs greatly from the money supply on the books. Our Federal Reserve is the perfect example of this full scenario.
Over this time, the host nations gold supply dwindles to a fraction of what it once was. War expenditures, payments to the private central bank for its services etc, have all contributed to this. Thus the next problem is realized for the red flag it should have been all along – that is the host nation now only has paper to pay its debts. Being that the gold supply is now insufficient to payoff these debts, the government of the host nation makes the blunder of taking the last remnants of its wealth off of the table completely, and bases its currencies value off of the nations productivity in general. It then crosses its fingers and hopes that the productive capacity of the nation stays high and maintains growth in line with the inflation of its paper currency. This is where things grow from bad to worse.
In a nation where people are comfortable in the idea that the government is comprised of worthy leaders, and looks to them to solve every problem under the sun from poverty to obesity to regulating entertainment, this gets very bad very quickly. As the host nations money is worth less, foreign goods that the people have come to value so much goes up in price. Ditto with energy as the nation relies on foreign oil etc. The people of said nation love their environment and equality regardless of merit, so they refuse to drastically cut taxes on businesses, as well as regulations on energy production here at home. After all, without all that funding, how on earth could their government continue to be benevolent to the poor and oppressed by the greedy capitalists here at home and the evil warlords overseas? Also the environment is in great danger, so we cannot possible allow for private entities to see to our energy needs on our own soil. So people do as they believe is right, and turn to their elected ‘leaders’ to help.
The leaders help alright. They cannot tax people enough to meet their current demand (let along future expenditures) without inciting a full blown revolution and wide spread riots, so they increase their amount of debt. Because the central bank has its false wealth tied up with the governing bodies, the lending in the private sector continues to lag – which is not usuall.....
.........Funny how we have claimed a free market system for nearly the last hundred years, but have actually had a de facto nationalized banking system at its core.....
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5562/ecomomic-suicide-why-easy-money-ends-up-being-worthless-money/Whoever would have thought in the 1980’s that a free market capitalist and a KGB... more
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Are you ready for another war? Now that Barack Obama and most of the other major leaders of the western world are publicly calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, we are getting dangerously close to war with Syria. It is not going to happen next week, and it is almost certainly not going to happen next month. But right now the U.S. government is going down the exact same road that it went down with Libya.Are you ready for another war? Now that Barack Obama and most of the other major... more
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Though many still like to scoff at the idea of a complete economic collapse, it does not change the reality that it will happen as no one in congress, the senate, or presidency will ever admit to the people that they messed up, and will have to drastically cut their payouts. In their eyes, it is the knowledge that it is either a major economic collapse, or a severe civil uprising. In the case of the prior, the blame game option is still on the table and more plausible. In the latter, it will have to admitted that it was the cause of the whole mess – a political mass suicide that none of them will ever want to go through.
First of all, we need to be honest with ourselves as a nation, and admit that what we are going through now is the general sum of failure in all systems; failure in economic, foreign, military, educational and domestic policies. If this can happen, the even more important question can be addressed – what now?
Well it’s actually pretty simple, and we can start with the idea of centralization. People tend to gravitate toward a centralized entity as it as seen as being the calm in the storm so to speak. This holds true in small meetings just as it does in presidential elections (as far as group thought anyway). In small arenas there is nothing wrong with centralizations as the collective is small and interests limited. This means that you have simplicity which makes any policy emitted as being understandable and thus easy to follow.
Expansion of either the size of the collective or its interest is where things start getting complicated. People can only have a reasonable understanding of so many various topics before they run out of room so to speak. For instance a laborer will understand labor, but would not be suited well towards building a communications network. Likewise a network engineer will have little understanding of how to lay a solid concreted foundation. Hence the more items or services you have used for the ‘good of the collective’, the less understanding the collective will have as to how things work. The one and only solution to this is by committing to expansion very slowly, so that the individuals that make the collective have time to develop an understanding of the new interest or social group.
In the interest of the above two points, there is nothing small minded or unenlightened about bending ones focus upon their locality. In actuality, it is the globalists who think themselves wise to the world that continue to overlook the obvious sink holes in their own backyard. The fact of the matter is that I cannot think of a single locality that is not only self sustaining but more than capable of establishing itself and prospering. The reasoning here is simple as well. In most localities you can have farmers markets, a local sewage treatment plant, etc. What one locality may lack in terms of natural fuels or other resources, they could easily trade to another locality for something else. It really is not hard at all.
As to money, it would take some time to adapt to a new system, but it is still easily possible. Everyone complains about the big evil banks, so why have them? Seriously, why have them? If local banks were in place, and you could use any currency you wanted to (or not all for those gifted in trading), then their failures would not have to translate into a tool of fear that can be used against you. In addition it..................
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5479/s-p-downgrades-us-treasuries-dow-gets-pummeled-solution/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHe4OQ4bY4o
http://www.revleft.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=210&pictureid=4877Though many still like to scoff at the idea of a complete economic collapse, it does... more
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This post, the problem... next post, the solution.
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5474/s-p-downgrades-us-treasuries-dow-gets-pummeled-problem/
Last week was a bad one for Wall Street. The DOW got pummeled by over 500 points, Standard and Poor’s downgraded the rating on US treasuries, and now no one is quite sure what will happen. Now this is only the tip of the iceberg that many of us have been talking about for almost a year now, but I highly doubt most people even seem to understand the implications involved. Not being satisfied with third hand reports, I downloaded Standard and Poor’s report, and began to see just how messed up things really are.
First of all, the report often makes three assumptions to prevent further downgrading of debt. The first is that the bush tax cuts are removed (or rather allowed to lapse) in 2013. The second is that government spending slows down even more then the new so called budget deal. The third is that the fed raises interest rates. Unfortunately the main body of the report focuses on these things happening to bring forward a ‘best case scenario’. Unfortunately, neither can happen at this point.
To start with, congress didn’t have the backbone to cut spending before. Sure they slowed down the amount of spending taking a savings off of the proposed deal, but it was not nearly enough to meet the bond rating agencies wishes. This happened for two reasons. The first was that the immediate effect of a meaningful cut in deficit spending would mean that many people would not get the government hand outs they were promised – something no one wants to do on a good day – let alone so close to an election. The second was an equal method of political suicide – decreasing tax cuts to increase revenue enough to meet the promised expenditures. This will not change in the future either, so S&P’s idea that it is possible is naïve at best.
As to raising the interest rate, the SP report is very skewed within itself. It states that a plus would be to have the fed incur a loose money policy in a time of monetary tightening (their words not mine). This is foolish because by enacting another round of QEx, the easy money allowed to maintain what the SP sees as a good monetary policy during tight times, will mean an insane amount of money being injected into the bank balance books – on top of the QE2 which has still yet to take full effect as the bankers keep raking it in. Contrary to popular belief, the banks are not only tying up more money than all of the private corporations combined, but and even worse is that government has even more money tied up in promised payouts. This is something Standard and Poor’s did not address in their report.
What I take issue with the most is Standard and Poor’s inferences. It takes into account the slower than expected GDP growth and the increased debt burden. However instead of urging the government to reign in its spending, it encourages it, and follows through with a hint that we need to raise taxes. This is their biggest mistake of all.
What the SP either is forgetting or deliberately leaving out, is that many of our economic woes are from taxes – both corporate and private alike. If these taxes where ever raised to meet government expenditures, then the rate would be far higher than it is now – almost double; and that still would not cover everything. In addition, many businesses have moved their bases of operations overseas just to make it affordable to operate. Should taxes be raised yet again, then even more will go overseas – this creating an even bigger drop in job loss. Less jobs here is less tax revenue, thus making the idea of raising taxes undoable right out of the gate.
However damaging this news is to our bond holders (especially in the future when it gets downgraded again, which will happens as democrats will promise more spending as republicans sign off on it without allowing taxes to go up), it is still pretty petty compared to the much larger issues that will be adding fuel to this fire.
You see as government is able to fund less and less through bond sales, it will need money to cover the difference. QE1 and 2 have already aided in this effort, but still fell drastically short. In addition, the money has not gone to any productive source, but rather into government and big bank balance sheets so that they can keep the toxic assets on their books in an effort to maintain their high prices. This of course is very foolish, and has already allowed money to leak into the private sector allowing the prices to rise across the board. Once QE2 begins to finish piddling out over the next 3-4 months, QE3 will be enacted, and it.................
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5474/s-p-downgrades-us-treasuries-dow-gets-pummeled-problem/This post, the problem... next post, the solution.... more
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Washington's chronic overspending is just like a junkie's addiction to drugs. Unless the cycle of addiction is broken, our economic and unemployment situation will continue to suffer. Washington is out of time. To avoid hitting rock bottom, Washington must cut spending today. To spread this message, Washington Could Learn a Lot has created this video. Learn more at washingtoncouldlearnalot.com.Washington's chronic overspending is just like a junkie's addiction to... more
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