tagged w/ Individual Rights
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In yet another attempt to ‘ensure our liberties’, congress is currently debating Stop Online Piracy Act – aka SOPA. The very fact that their current laws are unenforceable due to a lack of personnel and funding, congress apparently feels that more laws are the answer…again. In their twisted heads, they seem to believe that by denying a dns (domain name service) entry onto the web via its ISP (Internet Service Provider), they can somehow save money. Just a few minor holes into this thing that I would like to shoot down right now.
1 – Smaller ISP’s are to be more impacted by this than the larger ones – small wonder as to why the big dogs in the major Companies support this nonsense (for a list of supporting companies, go t......
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/6151/12-reasons-why-sopa-is-worse-than-you-think/In yet another attempt to ‘ensure our liberties’, congress is currently... more
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When people cannot for some reason govern themselves – they turn to a small group of people to do it for them. They lack the belief in their own abilities to fix something, so they turn to an outside force to level the playing field. The irony here is that the playing field itself was never tilted to begin with. As such, it is the idea that everyon
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5785/the-plight-of-mariestown/When people cannot for some reason govern themselves – they turn to a small... more
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Anarchist Artist Victor Pross takes on a few common objections to the idea of a stateless society, philosophical anarchism. Those objections remain the same, forever spinning out on a hamster wheel, repeatedly and persistently: “What about the roads? What about the poor? What about violent crimes? What about theft?”
Listen to this video for a different perspective to the nature of the issue.
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5782/objections-to-the-freedom-movement/Anarchist Artist Victor Pross takes on a few common objections to the idea of a... more
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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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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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Avior
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9 months ago
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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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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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In a society where property rights are undermined by legal plunder in the name of equality and safety, it is of no small wonder why people have taken leave of their senses. For freedom to work, people must be entitled to use what they have rightfully earned as they see fit. This is an idea that is highly misunderstood, and even demonized as society continues to allow itself to be governed by fear and ignorance for some misplaced sense of security and prosperity.
First of all, freedom to earn is needed for the individual themselves to prosper. If an individual is failing in a certain area, they receive no meaningful benefit by having their resulting downturn subsidized. Doing so only encourages them to continue failing instead of trying another route, and dependency is not a measure of success. Subsidizing failure grants the false sense of success where none exists. However if an individual is succeeding, then it means that they have figured out something that they can do that is appreciated by enough people to grant them a better means of living. It also means that they need no subsidies.
Second, if an individual who succeeds is forced to give a portion of their earnings to pay for a failure, then they have less means to help those who they know will truly benefit from it. In the middle class, success is not measured by mansions or boats, but rather a steady flow of income, a roof over their heads, food on the table, and the occasional splurge. Yet they have succeeded nonetheless. It then stands to reason that though they have made enough to get by fairly comfortably; they have little means to support the failures of anyone else. If forced to do so, they are then made poor as their ability to maintain what they worked so hard to obtain is taken from them. Therefore in order to maintain freedom (keeping in mind the previous point), a person must be allowed to keep what they earn to use as they see fit.
Finally you have the property aspect. Property is nothing more than a measure of success in a particular arena. If someone is a janitor their whole lives, then chances are they will live a humble existence with little property. If a person is an engineer of sorts, then chances are they will live a fairly middle class existence – their property increasing over time as their experience and ideas bring more value to the companies they choose to work for. If you are a financial wizard who is sensible and maintains a good relationship with your clients, then you can live far more comfortably, however you also have more to lose as you have far less room for error. In the end you have a choice of what path to take, and therefore your own ability to bring enough value to society to obtain the level of property you want. This is the very essence of merit which is the pillar of any free society. The more value you bring to society, the more you earn, and the more property you may acquire.
The essence of a good investment then comes in terms of time, money, and effort. You can give two people a million dollars. One may blow it in under a year and find themselves poor again, and at the expense of your million. The other will save, come up with a good business idea, and use the funds to start a successful business. A wise investor uses money that they earned to benefit society by granting x amount to produce something that society will value. This does come with risk which is why investments are never made lightly. However if their investment was sound, then they reap the rewards by getting their money back with either interest or a portion of the new business.
Unfortunately we live in a society that sees things a different way. Let’s start with the legal side.
The law recognizes natural rights only in terms of living, breathing, and eating. It views property as an acquired item which I can find no fault with. However it then goes on to claim the right to your acquired property by saying that it is a privilege the state grants you to use your acquired property as it is not something you were born into this world with. In some cases the state does not bother to regulate your acquired property as an item it grants you the privilege to use. This is both hypocritical and misguiding to the individuals understanding of both property, and the regulation thereof.
The state does not regulate the jewelry you own, nor does it regulate the books you buy – yet. Therefore most people think of privileged property as only being the things not necessary for life in general. This is why the ones dependant on government handouts and subsidies (even if only as a perceived benefit ) feel that the rich should have to give more to them, and why it is the states job to make it happen. After all, it is perceived that the rich have all this money and property that is not regulated (as are other items understood by the common man), therefore they must be cheating the poor and have no real right to the ‘ill-gotten’ gains.
This of course of nonsense, and here is why it is also hypocritical.
Let’s start with something that even many poor people have on some level – cars. The state considers a car to be acquired property, and therefore sees itself as having control over it. Because the state has the overall control over the car, you are privileged to use it as long as you meet the mandates placed upon its use by the state. Failure to meet these mandates results in the state revoking your rights to use your own property, and all too often lead to its confiscation or neglect. Oh, and this is not because you are driving on the ‘state owned roads’. You pay for gas and its taxes, so you paid for the roads making them yours – not the states.
Because these mandates are made on the poor and rich alike, it is seen as a social norm, and therefore rarely an object of inequality in reference to cars. But by failing to apply the same legal controls on jewelry, fine clothes, and other luxury items, there is a both a disconnect and a contradiction in the freedom to ones justly acquired property. This problem is created because of two reasons.
The first is that the state believes its number one duty is to control it subjects…err, I mean citizens. Cars are needed to get one from point a to point b in the most expedient manner. Guns are needed to ensure one’s own defense. Electricity and running water is needed to provide some comfort enjoyed by all classes of people, rich and poor. Food is needed just to live. By controlling these most basic of things, the state effectively controls everyone. As always the states reasoning for this is that people cannot be trusted to uses these most basic of things in a non destructive manner, and certainly not in a fair manner. We will cover the prior first.
In the name of safety, we have the DHS, DMV, DoD, NSA, CIA, FBI, DOT, DOA, DOJ, SEC, a host of local law enforcement agencies, and over 20 other entities to make sure the subjects behave themselves. To fund all of these protective measures that everyone swears is necessary to the survival of a civilized society, costs a boatload of money. Money that is paid for by the government issuance of debt, and taxes. I am no fan of Ben Franklin, but boy did he call this one...............(continued below)...
http://peacefreedomprosperity.com/5459/freedom-property-and-capitol-why-is-the-law-stealing-them/In a society where property rights are undermined by legal plunder in the name of... more
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Guantanamo Bay continues to wreck lives, despite President Obama's pledge to shut the notorious prison. RT spoke to one former prisoner, Murat Kurnaz, who says the US has not issued even a simple apology for his years of torment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYxtm1jfatoGuantanamo Bay continues to wreck lives, despite President Obama's pledge to shut... more
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