Ron Paul Gives Paul Krugman a Smackdown

Two interesting things Krugman says:

1) US dollars "are not just green pieces of paper with the faces of dead presidents on them." (2:20)

- Who is he trying to fool? That's exactly what money by fiat means! It's money because a law says it is, not because it became money as the result of market evolution.

2) He's unaware of the fact that the US government has jailed people for floating private currency. (9:00)

Bernard von NotHaus was convicted last month in federal court on conspiracy and counterfeiting charges for his development of silver "Liberty Dollars." He faces up to 25 years in prison. Earlier this week the feds moved to seize about $7 million of precious metals from the operation as well.

Besides the government's dubious legal maneuvers, its broader message here is clear: "Don't try to provide Americans with any alternative to the fiat dollar, or we will come after you." For those who have always wondered why free-market monies haven't supplanted various state's fiat currencies, we have yet another illustration of the answer. (The "Crime" of Private Money)

Krugman really swung for the rafters when he suggested that people are free to barter! The hypocrisy of this guy: he blasts hard money types for being backward, yet he takes this prehistoric position.

For an Ivy League economics professor, you'd think he's more up-to-date on this stuff.

 

Sinking West

 And now something completely different. A song in the making of which I took part:

Habeas Corpus Laid to Rest

By Petar Petrovski

Last December the Niagara Regional Police raided a home for a suspected marijuana grow-op. The raid was spearheaded by an NRP detective who jumped to a conclusion that a Brock University professor was running a grow-op from his home based on incorrect information from Hydro One. Unsurprisingly, the raid took place when the accused was away from his home.

As is the case in British common law—the foundation to the Canadian Charter of Rights—the search was a clear violation of the writ of habeus corpus. That is, the professor's rights against an unreasonable search were violated due to incorrect information and unconfirmed evidence. The NRP’s action was completely arbitrary, as the premise, under which it was executed, failed to materialize. 

Furthermore, and more importantly, the reason under which the search warrant was issued was deduced wrongly, as it was based on overgeneralizations rather than careful examination of the specific case at hand. What a misfortune to happen to us ordinary mortals: the police responded to a cry that there is a wolf, but when the search didn't show up the wolf, it is us the taxpayers that need to pay the bill.

As we witness similar raids and actions by the police we see the heavy handiness within the police ranks—a clear sign to a lack of discipline.  We bear witness to R.I.D.E. programs, and other operations which we are told are designed to improve the safety of residents, yet as Dušan has already written, often do little to actually prevent injury. Last December’s raid is a clear display of low professionalism which could harm the relationship between the community and the local police, which in and of itself, may turn out not to be such a tragedy, if this is where our police forces are heading.

In addition to the Brock professor, the other victim of the mentioned raid was the Charter of Rights and Freedom, as the way the search was conducted and the information obtained amounted to a little more than paying lip service to our supreme law. Canadians who wish to live in a society where the rule of law reigns should be very worried about our law enforcement’s approach to conducting their business. For, as Ludwig von Mises opined in Bureaucracy,

[p]rimacy of the law means that no judge or officeholder has the right to interfere with any individual's affairs or conditions unless a valid law requires or empowers him to do so. Nulla poena sine lege, no punishment unless ordered by a law. It is precisely the inability of the Nazis to understand the importance of this fundamental principle that qualifies them as antidemocratic. In the totalitarian system of Hitler Germany the judge has to come to his decision according to das gesunde Volksempfinden, i.e., in accordance with the sound feelings of the people. As the judge himself has to decide what the sound feelings of the people are, he is sovereign on his bench like the chieftain of a primitive tribe. (p. 42)

The law prescribes actions quite different to those take by the NRP. The search should have been executed when the owner of the house was present with his lawyer so there wouldn't be mistrust later if the intelligence proved correct and marijuana plants were indeed being grown. If guilty of the “crime” the professor would not be able later to claim that the evidence was planted by the police. During the raid NRP officers should have been careful so as not to damage certain private belongings. Instead, as a result of the NRP’s damage to the private property of an innocent man, “Joe Taxpayer” needs to cover a sum of $2mil that the Brock professor claims as damage in his lawsuit.

According to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, every citizen of Canada has his home as his safe heaven. Police searches are allowed, but only with a court order where a judge considers the specific evidence provided in a narrow fashion. In this particular case, as with many others, the sanctity of an individual residence was been trampled on.

To add insult to injury, the NRP’s disciplinary board has cleared the detective from any wrongdoing. This action will further erode public confidence. True enough, many people will side with the police at the beginning; many will support the detective, though, not for long. The news of the Windsor policeman beating a legally blind doctor and the conduct of Toronto police during the G20 summit in 2010, to name two instances, are sure to speed up the process of cops losing the public’s favour.

The professor's home, person and reputation suffered injury at the hands of those he pays to protect them. What recourse is left for the innocent, if a member of a reputable profession is not given the basic presumption of innocent till proven guilty? What recourse is left for the innocent when those who he pays to protect him vandalize him home and walk away, without even having the common courtesy to apologize and repair what they have damaged?  

Introducing the Biggest Petrovski

Before there were Mises, Hayek and Rothbard, there was "Lil' Pete." He was the guy who I looked up to, tried to emulate and measure against. Yearning for a philosophy that made sense to me, Pete, having curiously and unengagingly dabbled into any and every political thought, introduced me to Jeffersonianism, which led me down the natural path to Austrolibertarianism.

Standing at 6'2", 280lbs, he's easily the biggest (of our clan of) Petrovski to ever walk the Earth. Yet, Petar's gigantic stature is matched by his intellect. Now the tables have turned, and I have begun to influence my older brother into studying Austrian Economics and Rothbardian morality.

He's new at this, but, nonetheless I hope you will enjoy his input.

Audio Version of the Speech Heard About Around the World

Robert Wenzel's speech at the New York Federal Reserve has set the economics world abuzz this week. Autsro-libertarians around the globe have been rejoicing and toasting the talk that ended with an invitation to the two-legged rats occupying the "most important of the Federal Reserve banks in the Fed system" to quit their economy rigging schemes and walk out. 

Central planners are not known to appreciate dissent, and hearing Wenzel's scathing criticism of them in their own lair was as empowering as much as it was worrying that he might not make it out alive. 

EPJ reader Jeff Rowberg has been kind enough to produce an audio version of the speech, available at: http://www.sectorfej.net/files/audio/2012-04-25%20Robert%20Wenzel%20NY%20Fed%20Speech.mp3 

Video: Cronyism in America

Wow! I can't believe these educators actually tell it like it is:

The Big Petrovski Reports in on NeoCon Bolton's Fear of Ron Paul

Thanks again to Robert Wenzel. The two-legged rats may not have followed him out of the Fed, but then again, he propagates a philosophy that rats cannot comprehend, only humans can:

Friday, April 27, 2012

The Big Petrovski Reports in on NeoCon Bolton's Fear of Ron Paul

The Big Petrovski emails:

Hi Bob, 

I just caught former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton on Toronto's AM 640 newstalk, a "conservative" station. It appears to me that the Establishment is trying to quell the impact Ron Paul is having north of the border. When Bolton was  asked "what is Ron Paul thinking staying in the race?" by host John Oakley, the Bushiete was quick to note that the good doctor is probably at the end of his money, therefore about to fold. I almost drove into a ditch laughing, as it is widely known that Ron Paul has over $10mil in his account. 

In any case, Bolton went on to further diminish Paul's impact on American politics, by saying that the Congressman just "is probably hoping to get a speaking spot at the convention." 

Peace,
Dušan Petrovski
TheBigPetrovski.blogspot.com

Bolton is making totally outrageous statements here. Ron Paul is not going to leave the race, he is not out of money and, if the cards fall correctly, he is going to want a lot more than just a speaking spot at the convention. Dušan is absolutely correct here, the Establishment is trying to down play the Ron Paul impact, but as huge crowds continue to turnout for Dr. Paul across the country and on student campuses, the Ron Paul impact is very real, huge an can easily be seen by anyone with an internet connection.

I went to my first Mises Canada (Toronto) meet up last night, and am very happy to report that there is a very enthused and knowledgeable group of Austro-libertatians up here. As the group was very diversified--though not a single pitch-fork carrying toothless redneck, as the mainstream likes to portray libertarians up here--I'm totally convinced that my message was on target.

Reminder: Mises Toronto Meet Up Tonight!

Mises Toronto Meet Up Tonight! 

Details:

The Toronto meet is being held at Paupers Pub – this time we have booked the space! Join us Thursday, April 26, 2012

At Paupers Pub

539 Bloor St. West, Toronto, ON M5S 1Y6

Thursday, April 26, 2012 7:00pm until 11:00pm Mises meet Toronto!

Second Floor, at the back.

Speakers include STEFAN MOLYNEUX of Freedomain Radio

Chris Horlacher of  Maple Leaf Metals and Dan Simon of Euro Pacific Canada

Books will be on sale.

 

Be there!!... or not. You're at liberty to choose.

Canada Denies Entry to UDBa Man

 From the Toronto Sun:

Alleged spy wants Canada entry

By Tom Godfrey ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Saturday, April 21, 2012

TORONTO - An attache at the former Yugoslavia Embassy in Ottawa is being banned from entering Canada on suspicion of belonging to his country’s secret police whose agents spied on local emigres.

Zoran Vukic, who has returned to Belgrade, was a communications attache at the Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro) Embassy in Ottawa between 1998 and 2002, court documents show.
The federal government claims he belonged to Yugoslavia’s dreaded secret security service and was responsible for receiving and transmitting encrypted communications between Ottawa and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade.
Vukic was refused entry into Canada last month in an appeal to the Federal Court of Canada by his wife Zorica, who has a temporary visa and is living in Ottawa. She applied to bring him here.
Court heard Vukic is, or was a member, of the Sluzba za istrazavanje dokumentacije (SID), an organization that conducted espionage against Western governments and institutions during the Communist era.
It is reported that SID was responsible for the ‘elimination’ of dozens of enemies of the state within Yugoslavia and internationally. Some officials estimate more than 200 Yugoslavs were either “eliminated” or kidnapped.
Judge Anne Mactavish ruled there were reasonable grounds to believe that Vukic was inadmissible to Canada for having links to SID.
Court heard all secure and sensitive information was handled by Vukic who sent the secrets to Belgrade by diplomatic bag or courier.
“The officer did not find that Vukic was himself personally involved in any acts that constituted espionage,” the ruling said. “There were reasonable grounds to believe that Vukic was a member of, or worked in close collaboration with, the SID.”
Ottawa lawyer Zarko Tatomirovic-Manula said Vukic hasn’t been able to return to Canada to attend his daughter’s wedding or birth of his granddaughter.
“The family is devastated,” Tatomirovic-Manula said. “They (the government) are accusing someone (Vukic) of something that he didn’t do.”
He said Zorica won’t be able to stay in Canada if her husband is not granted a visa.
Officers said Vukic failed to provide information about SID when questioned by Canadian authorities.
“The officer did not accept Vukic’s statement that he did not know how the SID operated at the embassy in Ottawa,” court was told. “The officer found it was difficult to believe Vukic would have no knowledge of the presence and activities of the SID at the embassy.”
Court heard Vukic admitted that some of the messages he sent may have been destined for SID, whose agents provided political and economic intelligence about Yugoslav émigrés.
The former Yugoslav embassy in Canada has been a flash-point for dissent and violence in the past.
Croatian nationalists were accused in Nov. 1965 of bombing the Yugoslav consulate in Toronto and in Jan. 1967 both the country’s embassy and consulate in Toronto were among six Yugoslav offices bombed in North America.

 This stuff is connected to my work in progress A Report on the Work and Methodology of the Macedonian Secret Police. The State Security Agency--popularly known as UDBa--of the now defunct Yugoslavian federation is fully intact and operating. A translation of my dad's full dossier is now available at http://thepetrovskifile.blogspot.ca.  I have reason to suspect that my father was recently a target of an assassination attempt by the Macedonian branch through a sabotage of his work truck which could have resulted in a highway pile up.

UBAa's network in the West is extremely well spread. All Macedonian and most Serbian churches in Canada for example, are awash with informants and more importantly executors of orders. Nowadays these orders mostly include propagandist manipulation of émigré opinion, so that no critical mass diaspora could ever form to challenge the system at home. 

This is a video describing some of the most sinister work of the UDBa abroad:

Obama as Ferus

Isn't this the peak of media hypocrisy? Just in case his policies of paying off the youth don't quite get him their vote, Obama, with his frequent and degrading singalongs aiming at attracting the kiddie vote has totally taken the dignity out of dignitary. In Macedonian vernacular he has brought down the office of President of the US to the level of tavern Gypsy panhandler. In Macedonia, he'd be earning a $20 bill on his forehead for this performance, like maystor Ferus to the left here. In all fairness to the Preezee-deezee (sp? Jimmy Fallon, help me out here) of the United Sleazy, he is all about spreading the wealth around, which in and of itself can only be achieved by bringing everybody down to the lowest common denominator. To make matters worse, at a time when the office of the US President has power to reach in to every pore of life everywhere in the world, this is how people decide who to trust with all that authority:

Don't worry, he might order you killed because the hooker lovers manning the security apparatus adjudge you a "threat to American freedoms," but at least he's super-fly! At this rate, by 2016 Americans will be electing their god-complex infected, all powerful dictators through FOX's appropriately titled American Idol.

Yet does one hear any criticism of this in the media? Not at all. In fact the only person in the American presidential campaign to keep himself dignified, keep strictly to the issues, and act appropriate to the supposed air of the job his running for, and not stoop to the Obama/Romney antics, Ron Paul, is the one represented as the quack!

RE: Jon Stewart

Posted by Travis Holte on April 26, 2012 05:03 AM

Butler, shame on Jon Stewart again, as here he mocks Ron Paul as the only source of material left in the presidential race.

Only in a dystpoian reality could the one honest, true messenger of the people be regarded as comedic fodder and two Bankster puppets aspiring to wield an iron fist over the American people be considered slim pickings. But what can expect from someone as ingrained in the Establishment as Stewart?

Reblog: Audio of the Mises Lecture That Inspired Ron Paul

This is too important to me, not to make a special note of. From Economic Policy Journal:
 

Audio of the Mises Lecture That Inspired Ron Paul

Danny Sanchez of the Mises Institute emails me and points to this great news:

In End the Fed, Ron Paul writes:

Early on, I had heard Ludwig von Mises lecture at the University of Houston.  This was probably in 1972, a year before his death.  At that time I was extremely busy with my medical practice but saw a very small newspaper notice that Mises would be lecturing at the university on a weekday.  I knew there was only one other physician in the town of Lake Jackson, Dr. Henry May, who would care about such an unusual event.  I called him to see if he cared to travel the fifty miles to hear Mises.  We arranged our office schedules and made the trip.

Mises, at the time, was elderly but sharp. His subject was socialism, and his lecture explained why socialism always fails due to the absence of a free market pricing structure for capital goods.  He was on his last lecture tour of the United States, and Houston may well have been his last stop.  (Mises died on October 10, 1973, at ninety-two years of age.)

Not to our surprise, the university did not give him a prestigious reception.  The lecture was held in a modest-sized classroom, but the place was overflowing.  Popularizing Austrian economics at the time was in its very early stages, but it was obvious even then that there was a starvation for truth in economics. The early 1970s were truly hectic, and since gold prices were soaring and the dollar was dropping more and more, people were searching for solutions.  Today, of course, the problems are so much worse and the need for answers even more urgent.

To say the least, my trip to Houston to hear Mises in person was an inspiration. I suspect that when the definitive history of the twentieth century is written, Mises will be considered one of the greatest economists, if not the greatest, of the century.

This very 1972 Houston lecture on socialism  has been rediscovered at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.  The recording was generously donated by Professor Jeffrey Calvert, who also attended.

This one may require headphones; the audio is not ideal.  But it is definitely worth the effort it may take to listen to what really is a historical gem: a recording of the last knight of liberalism, at the end of his “intellectual lion in winter” phase, inspiring the man who has inspired a movement for liberty.

The audio is here. 

A note on the accent of Mises. Ludwig von Mises learned his English while he was still in Austria and he learned it mostly from reading English. Thus, he did not get much verbal feedback on his English, by the time he arrived in America, he pretty much had ingrained in his head a pronunciation of English words, based on how he pronounced the words when reading to himself.

But he sure knew how to pick a wife with an ability to speak English with incredible eloquence. Margit von Mises was a stage actress in Vienna and her English voice is clear and powerful. In this clip, she discusses her husband.

FEDspeak

Ever wonder why you don't understand what economists and central bankers are talking about? It's not you, it's them. No, really:

 

They Raised Taxes to Pay for WWII?!

This is amazing! The CNBC hosts are supposed to be economic experts, yet at around 8:10 the hostess expresses her befuddlement that taxes of all sorts went up in the US as it entered World War II:

Most likely she was taught economics in the Keynesian tradition, as she seems to have expected all the war requisites simply to be payed out by fiat (a.k.a. worthless) money!

Gold vs. A Sultan

Ron Paul takes on fiat money and Keynesian Yale professor Stephen Roach in the video below. My focus is on what Roach says at around 4:00 in defense of central banking:

According to Roach, Dr. Paul is "overstating" the superiority of hard money over fiat money. His proof: the responsible regime of Paul Volker, Federal Reserve Chairman in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, this is precisely what is wrong with a fiat monetary system compared to a commodity based currency such as a pure gold standard, as the fiat currency depends on the whims of one person--a Sultan, or a handful of people at the most; whereas a commodity based currency depends on the entire market.

If we have to wait around for 30 or 40 years for a fiscally responsible Fed Chairman to come along, those odds are not very good for us, folks. I'd much rather take my chances with an inanimate object, like a piece of metal.

This means--contrary to what popular opinion says--that a commodity based currency is inherently more immune to manipulation, since it would be necessary to involve great numbers of people to do so.

By the way, in support of Dr. Paul's argument about the inherent weakness of paper money--it ought to be noted that every fiat currency ever issued in the history of mankind has ended up being destroyed, whereas an ounce of gold from Roman times, is still an ounce of gold, and in fact has many times the purchasing power today relative to its purchasing power 2,000 years ago.

Finally, if the ideology that Roach is propagating is correct--that gold is in no way a better and sounder currency than paper--why is it then that governments outlaw competing and private currencies?

Carney "Stops Short" of Admitting Real Estate Bubble

This morning BoC Governor Mark Carney (pic. below) was guest to the radio station that earlier in the week dubbed him a "banking superstar"--the publicly owned CBC Radio 1. It was no surprise that the he was not pressed particularly hard when he said that the greatest danger to Canada's economy is the ongoing situation in the European Union. I would have though that Mr. Carney's targeted robbery of my chequing account at 2% per year would have been it!

Carney danced around the issue of the developing real estate bubble that even statist propaganda machine CBC is beginning to mention--so it must be pretty bad. While he patted himself on the back for "steering the economy" in safe waters during the previous meltdown, the Governor made sure to absolve himself of the upcoming meltdown by reminding us that he does not make our decisions for us... with the minor exception of the whole money supply thing.

As CBC's Evan Solomon put it, Carney "stopped short" of admitting the presence of the bubble. However, CBC has already been running segments about Toronto's record setting condo construction, as well as the similar scenario developing in Vancouver. It seems that these to centers are most vulnerable with entire building floors being bough sight unseen, as Carney's money printing extravaganza is being supplemented by money pouring in from the Middle and Far East. I am hearing gossip of $200-500bil. being injected into Canadian banks through such sources alone. The reason for this influx is, apparently, the stability Canada's banking and real estate sectors showed in the 2008 Wall Street collapse.

Of course, we will be feeling the pain ourselves not too far down the road, as Canada has done everything wrong that the US did before it went tits up.

The lesson from this episode: central planning cannot work because there is no omniscient being. Had Mark Carney known beforehand of the Eastern money that is pouring in now, he would probably not have printed as much money, say 3, 6 or 9 months ago. Yet, he could not have know this, as every actor on the market makes his own decisions based on the ever changing information available to him.

Keep praying Mark, we'll all need you to.

Andrea Horwath's Perverted Ideas

It's budget time in our fair Province. A minority government means that there are deals to be made with one or both of the two opposition parties in order to avoid a second election in six months. The self contradictory Progressive-Conservatives have opted to sit this one out as some polls indicate a swing of public opinion in their favor. Tim Hudak, though, shouldn't forget that his party squandered early leads in their last two attempts at dethroning Dear Premier McGuinty (otherwise known as Norman Bates). That's beside the point, however.

Important to us right now is the fact that someone with an even more perverted view of the world--and obviously even less economic acumen--has taken up the task to prop up the minority Liberals in exchange for a bag of goodies: Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath (left).

Just how perverted of a sociopath is this fair lady? Well, one of her demands to the Premier is an inclusion of the "Buffet Rule" in this year's budget: an increase in the marginal tax rates of people earning over $500,000 per year. Her justification: "fairness." According to the NPD leader it is only "fair" that those "more fortunate" in these economically difficult times pay against their will for other people's children's daycare, healthcare and public schooling, public transit, etc.

That's right, according to Horwath it is "fair" to take from "more fortunate" ones (as if their "fortune" had nothing to do with these people's hard work, agility or sacrifice) at the threat of imprisonment (that is to say violence), in order to support those who made less prudent choices. That's right, Mrs. Howarth believes that highway robbery is perfectly fair, despite the fact that the honestly earned property of individuals is forcefully expropriated.

Of course, it is not entirely the fault of the "less fortunate" ones that they are in such peril. After all, they work, as slaves, for the Federal and Provincial governments for about six months every year.

At the bottom of the Ontario budget racketeering negotiating is the inherent flaw in democracy as "democracy" is perceived today: the absolute rule of an arbitrary majority. An ignoramus can get voted in a position of power that requires infinite knowledge, simply because s/he appealed to some public sentiment. In such circumstances of absolutist "democracy" what is popular is confused for what is right.

Horwath's "Buffet Rule" may be popular, since the number of people making over $500,000 per year is undoubtedly small relative to the rest of the population of Ontario. However, to say that it is right to gouge these folks on others' behalf just because a "majority" of people say it is "fair" is just as justifiable as murdering 49% of the population because 51% of the population voted so.

In their current posturing both Horwath and Premier McGuinty claim to be speaking on behalf of the "people of Ontario," which somehow is supposed to include me. Yet, I want nothing to do with their Statist, populist, thieving schemes--but, I have no recourse, except the extreme options of moving out or ceasing to live.

Progressive Taxation and the Proletariat

One of the most popular tools of the politics of envy is progressive income taxation. The Proletariat love it, since ostensibly this sort of tax scheme gouges those better off than them, and brings the well off down to the Proletariat's level. The reality of progressive taxation, however is quite different from the story often sold to the unwitting public.

A hint that we ought to be suspicious of the standard line is the fact that many extremely rich people support the progressive income tax, and call for increases to the marginal rates. In the video bellow Ludwig von Mises Institute founder and Chairman, Lew Rockwell, explains why billionaire Warren Buffet is calling for higher income taxes on high income earners.

Since it does not tax wealth already accumulated, progressive income taxation works to maintain the status quo . Thus, by being deprived of a large chunk of their earnings, up-and-comers are unable to accrue wealth; while those who have already amassed their riches, say Warren Buffet for example, don't need to earn as much income any more to maintain their level of wealth.

Besides, the Warren Buffets of the world--the present day Aristocracy--can use the coercive power of the State to expand their earnings beyond what the free market would have allowed for them.

Yet, making this truth clear to Proletarians only works to redouble their infatuation with the progressive income tax scheme. For, more than anything, what Proletarians hate is to see someone they, rightly or wrongly, consider their equal end up better off then them. They don't mind that their "fellow" is unjustly robbed of what he honestly earns; they don't even mind that this practice creates a static class society; they don't even mind the fact that a static society means that their lives will not improve, so long as all Comrades remain equals in misery.

The Deadbeat Occupiers Just Don't Get It!

The latest from Soros is a new spinoff of the OWS, which is to call itself the "I Don't Pay" movement. A closer look at what these guys are about will tell us that they are nothing more than deadbeats, as they simply refuse to pay for services rendered:

Jammers explained that the fare strike was done to show the connection between the de-funding of public transportation and the financial takeover of democracy: "Instead of using our tax money to properly fund transit, Albany and City Hall have intentionally starved transit of public funds for over twenty years; the MTA must resort to bonds (loans from Wall Street) to pay for projects and costs ... more than $2 billion a year goes to debt service ... by 2018 more than one out of every five dollars of MTA revenue will head to a banker’s pockets." Union leadership agreed. (Source)

What do these Deadbeat Occupiers not get? The fact that just as it is theft to force people who have no business with, say JP Morgan Chase, to bail it out for its incompetent management; so it is theft to force people who live in, say Albany or Rochester, to pay for people in NYC to ride the subway for free.

The ideology of the "greatest good for the greatest numbers" invariably means that those in the "least numbers" get the shaft.

The Establishment's Fear of the Ron Paul r3VOLution

So this little comment and EJP post have been quite the traffic generator for me for the past two days:

Is Fear of Ron Paul Behind the Crazed Fed Speaking Binge?

Earlier today I posted about the incredible number of speeches Fed officials are making this week.

The Big  Petrovski comments, with plenty of justification:

I'm going to be wildly optimistic and say that all these speaking engagements for the Bernanck are a response to the Ron Paul Revolution.

While I originally commented that I was going to be "wildly optimistic," the more I think about it, the more I realize that my statement was not that outlandish. After all I should know better, since I've dealt with a fidgety establishment supported by a scaffolding of lies for the better part of my life.

When a messenger of truth comes along, such as Ron Paul, these sort of establishments panic. Though it seems to me, judging on experience I've had with Eastern European power elites, that the American Establishment grossly underestimated the power of Ron Paul's message. Furthermore, America has not had the same sort of destruction of its best and brightest as had been done in the Communist world upon the regime change.

This, combined with the spirit of Liberty continually flowing through American culture has meant that the US is still fertile ground for a return to Freedom.

The libertarian r3VOLution is a profound one, carried on by the Intelligentsia of tomorrow. The Establishment did not think it necessary to squash it, say in 2008, when it was still just in its infancy, since it seemed as something that could be ridiculed and used in its favor. 

Today, I believe that they have "missed the boat." Young men and women are turning to the ideology of Liberty and Peace because of its solid base in Reason.

Summer of Soros?

Economic Policy Journal reports:

The Coming "I Don't Pay" Movement

Adbusters, the outfit that launched "Occupy Wall Street" is calling for an "I Don't Pay" Movement to be launched in May. It is completely unclear what Adbusters thinks this movement should be about, although it references the chaining open of subway entrances. Adbusters seems to be calling for some kind of complete grabfest, since it is calling for a "consumer revolt" in May. (Get the rest here.)

Back some time ago NPR ran a segment about OWS. It seems that the masterminds of this movement are people involved in the so called Summer of Love of 1968 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_protests) This was a global Marxist push. That is why Hollywood and the mainstream press romanticize about the "Summer of Love" so much.

"Oddly enough" many of the '68ers have been ranking pretty high in Soros' Open Societies Foundation. "Oddly enough" again, Soros seems to be financing much of OWS:

Soros Organization to Host Training for Occupy Movement

George Soros-funded MoveOn.org is hosting the online event registration for the Occupy movement's "99% Spring training" and appears to be a prime mover behind the event.

Supporters of the 99% Spring include a slew of organizations that would like to use government to grab a piece of the pie created by the producing sector of the economy. The following organizations have all called for a 99% Spring.

...
What's the training going to entail? According to a web site set up by MoveOn.org:

Inspired by Occupy Wall Street and the fight for workers in Madison, Wisconsin, the 99% will rise up this spring. In the span of just one week, from April 9-15, 100,000 people will be trained to tell the story of what happened to our economy, learn the history of non-violent direct action, and use that knowledge to take action on our own campaigns to win change.

I wrote about the Sorosites in former Yugoslavia working their dandiest to preserve the Communist Regime: Soros’ “Open Society Foundations” Top Man in Macedonia Revealed as a Collaborator of the Communist Party Secret Police.

CIA, FBI, NSA Keep Expanding Their Reach

The Independent reports:

CIA wins fight to keep MPs in dark on rendition
Court keeps UK role secret – as No 10 calls for police to question Labour ministers
Cahal Milmo , Nigel Morris  Wednesday 11 April 201

American intelligence agencies including the CIA and the FBI have won a court ruling allowing them to withhold evidence from British MPs about suspected UK involvement in "extraordinary rendition" – the secret arrests and alleged torture of terror suspects.


A judge in Washington DC granted permission for key US intelligence bodies, including the highly sensitive National Security Agency, to exploit a loophole in US freedom of information legislation which bars the release of documentation to any body representing a foreign government.

This is extremely important because it means these clandestine agencies--which for the better part of the time answer to no one--have been given card blanche legitimacy for their work outside their jurisdiction. It's difficult not to see this as an intimidation tool to be used against journalists and bloggers--and at some point even hostile politicians--the world over.

To be sure, the American judiciary seems to have been extremely accommodating to the CIA, FBI and NSA. Rather than taking the reasonable broad approach to the issue and acknowledging the violation to the sovereignty of the injured country, the court chose to turn a blind eye to this gigantic point: 

The US agencies were trying to avoid official embarrassment on both sides of the Atlantic by using a narrow legal exemption to prevent the disclosure of critical papers, said Tony Lloyd, a Labour MP and the vice-chairman of the group. He called the judgment "disappointing". (Emphasis added)

No surprise there either, as the judicial branch in the US has long ago ceased to serve the taxpaying citizen, and instead is no more than a rubber stamp for the State, which it serves. 

However, if we were to blame someone for the massive intrusion of the State into every pore of life, it certainly must be those among us who believe that governments can be limited by the voting public. I'm the first to admit that I was one of these saps until not too long ago.

Governments will always tend toward expansion, due to the fact that those sucking on its tit continually seek to prolong their "employment" and increase their income and inevitably, their influence on shaping society as they see it fit.

Again, this is only a natural tendency, which those of us who are to suffer from it must seek to limit and prevent. Yet, too often we leave it to someone else to do it for us!

Santorum's Out, No Surprise There!

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has announced he is withdrawing from the race for the Republican presidential nomination:  

Santorum drops out, clearing the way for Romney

By KASIE HUNT, Associated Press – 57 minutes ago 

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Rick Santorum cleared the way for Mitt Romney to claim victory in the long and hard-fought battle for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, giving up his "against all odds" campaign as Romney's tenacious conservative rival.
Santorum's withdrawal sets up what is sure to be an acrimonious seven-month fight for the presidency between Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Democratic President Barack Obama, with the certain focus on the still-troubled economy.
"This has been a good day for me," a smiling Romney told supporters in Wilmington, Del., saying he believes Santorum "will continue to have a major role" in the Republican Party.
In a preview of the personal attacks that lie ahead, Obama's campaign manager declared that Americans neither like nor trust Romney, and the Romney camp said the fight had always been about defeating Obama, not GOP rivals.
"This game is a long, long, long way from over," Santorum said as he bowed out of the contest with Romney. "We are going to continue to go out there and fight to make sure that we defeat President Barack Obama." (The rest of the story here.)

I must say I anticipated this back in January.

The mainstream press gave life to this influence peddler's nomination run at all cost, just so the debate that really ought to be had--the one whether we keep going down the path of fascist collectivism and or move toward liberty--gets avoided. With Newt "Nepotism" Gingrich already deposited in the bin of oblivion, perhaps there will be no other choice but for the media to give Ron Paul some more coverage now. 

The likelier scenario is that Santorum's withdrawal is a strategic one, as the Republican Establishment may have decided that they've had enough of the "hard-hitting fight" in their party; and that the press will crown Mitt "The Inevitable One" Romney, the nominee.

It's just painful to watch how much the Republicans are trying to make this year's campaign go "by the book." This year is anything but a template year in American politics. I for one believe that Lew Rockwell (see video below) is right when he says that Ron Paul has already won, and that means that the political system in the United States and elsewhere is going to undergo a severe change in the coming years.

It's Coming Folks, the KGB's Sister is Taking Over the World

From the Daily Mail Online:

Robbed and ruined by a British court on the orders of the CIA... and we couldn't tell a soul: The chilling story of how secret justice cost a couple their £5m home - and £700m business

By David Rose

PUBLISHED: 22:43 GMT, 7 April 2012 | UPDATED: 17:14 GMT, 8 April 2012

Silent ordeal: Margaret Bentham and her husband Stuart lost their £5m home - but could not tell their friends why

Despite the years of cruel reality, Margaret Bentham still seemed incredulous as she told her story, a story she once thought she could never share.

But with quiet dignity she summed up the ordeal she and her businessman husband Stuart, a former British Army officer, have endured at the hands of the CIA.

‘We were robbed of a business worth millions,’ she said. ‘We were plunged into financial ruin. But the worst thing was, not only were we deprived of justice, we couldn’t tell a soul.’

In an exclusive interview, Mrs Bentham told The Mail on Sunday how the CIA decided a civil court case about the Afghan mobile phone company he had helped to establish was too ‘sensitive’ to air in public.

It used draconian legal powers to shut down the case – so destroying not only the Benthams’ livelihood, but any prospect of redress after Mr Bentham alleged the company had been stolen from him.

‘We lost our £5 million flat in Belgravia,’ said Mrs Bentham, 50. ‘We’d had a thriving telecoms business in London employing 23 people, and we lost that too.

The gagging order imposed by a US court meant I couldn’t even tell our friends what was wrong or Stuart could have gone to prison. It was  absolutely Kafkaesque.’ Even now, Mr Bentham could be extradited and jailed if he gave an interview.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2126696/Margaret-Stuart-Bentham-Robbed-British-court-orders-CIA.html#ixzz1rU6uNqNK

Civilians: The Second Class Citizens

I can't say that I have dabbled into pacifism seriously up until the present. Having become a student of the Austrian School over the past year-and-a-half I have come to realize the utter and complete nonsense of militarism of any sort. Those that have known me for a long time, though, have been aware of my distaste for "our men and women in uniform"--and that goes for any uniform. 

Firefighters in particular. Their post 9/11 gouging of the taxpayer while tugging the public's emotional strings sometimes has me wondering if the Firefighters' Union wasn't the actual mastermind of the infamous event.

However, until recently I had not paid attention to the way the media lionizes and justifies anything and everything that has to do with the Military-Industrial Complex. For one reason or another, such instances have been burning my eyes of late: be it PBS's series WWII in Color HD or Discovery and History Channel's multitudes of death-machine extravaganzas.

Yesterday's headline from Yahoo (below), though seems to escalate the warmongering indoctrination to a new level:

Navy F-18 jet crashes into building in Va.

TV footage shows black smoke billowing from an apartment building where the craft went down. Pilots ejected

I believe it's not hard to miss the fact that even though the story concerns a jet crashing into an apartment building, the headline and accompanying blurb make no mention of the possible civilian casualties--rather they rush to calm our fears by informing us that the pilots were safe!

Only after clicking on the headline do we find out that 9 civilians were taken to hospital:

• Nine people taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries; all but one have been released

• Search for victims is about halfway complete

• Pilots reportedly safe and conscious

And of course we are told of the heroism of the pilots who "kept their cool in a time of despair":

Virginia Beach EMS division chief Bruce Nedelka said several witnesses saw the pilots dumping fuel from the jet before ejecting, which likely avoided a massive fireball and fire.

Is Yahoo implicitly putting the civilian in "his place" as a second class citizen? It certainly feels that way to me.

P.S.
This isn't the first time I've been infuriated by the collectivist fervor of Yahoo. As this thrashing of Lululemon due to an Ayn Rand inspired bag shows, this online outfit is solidly in the fascist camp.

Stop Signs and Liberty

By Jefferey A. Tucker

 And then one day the stop sign was gone. It was the very stop sign one block from my house that was oddly stationed at a low-traffic, three-way intersection, tempting every driver to slow down but not come to a complete stop.

How the city cleaned up on that one! I have personally coughed up in excess of $1,000 for tickets there, one time receiving two tickets in as many days. This sign was even the reason that I spent a day in jail for failing to fork over when the judge said I should.

I’m not alone: 93% of the drivers failed to come to a complete stop. Even so, I’m routinely lectured that my job as a citizen is to do precisely as I’m told. I’ve learned to habitually stop completely, even when the place looks like a ghost town, with no cars anywhere in view.

Then one day the stop sign vanished.

What happened here? Did the cops finally get all the citizens trained to stop and thereby dissipate their opportunity for rents? Was there just no more money to be made from the disobedient?

Do I get a refund? How about compensation for the day I spent in jail? What about everyone else?

The local government must have extracted tens of thousands of dollars before good sense overcame our overlords and they decided to relent to reality. But no, there will not be compensation. The law changed its mind, and we are supposed to just deal with it. Now I must rehabituate myself to breaking—I mean keeping—the law.

One day, I’m jailed for failing to stop. Presumably, I could now get a ticket for stopping, since surely there is a law against suddenly stopping on a public road for no reason other than some vague memory than one had to in the past.

What is evil one day is mandatory the next.

Now, I know what some readers are thinking: here we go with the libertarian wacko complaining about the “coercion” of stop signs. For decades, conservatives have been poking fun, caricaturing libertarians as people who rail against stop signs and thereby reveal their personal problem with authority—even such obviously justified authority as government stop signs.

Don’t we understand that these keep us safe, and so surely we should be willing to give up just a bit of license to speed around with abandon in the interest of the common good?

Even now, a quick google of “libertarians” and “stop signs” reveals many people on the Left and the Right who think it is just stupidly hilarious that libertarians talk about these issues.

As a matter of fact, the management of the roads is a hugely important issue, given that tens of thousands of people die on government roads every year. Private ownership would in fact lead to greater liability for the road owner—and also more rational rules of the road. The private road would be devoted to serving the customers, not looting them at the point of a gun. And not only are private roads viable; there is a long history and a present practice to draw on.

Walter Block’s new book on road privatization makes the case that this is not an issue to ignore but one to solve through free enterprise.

In some ways, then, it is true that the stop sign—as with every regulation by the state—embodies all that is wrong with the public sector. The rules are made to benefit the state. You are on the hot seat if any policeman says that you have done wrong. The pretense of a fair trial is a complete farce, as you have to tangle with judges who hate you, waste several days of work, and throw yourself on the mercy of the court. Once you are entangled in the web, you can’t really get out.

And who makes the rules? The central planners make the rules, and the public be damned. The rules are there to serve the state, not us, and the stop sign that is oddly placed in order to extract revenue makes the point very well.

When you are stopped, you become aware that the imbalance between the citizens and the state couldn’t be more obvious. Deliver an insult and you are arrested. Try to run and you are gunned down. Fail to pay and you end up in the slammer. And maybe the cop will find something else about your life to be suspicious of. Whatever they want to know, you must tell them.

Government is not reason; it is force. What was the actual social rationale for that stop sign in the first place? You dare not ask, for then you are questioning the elites who are in charge of your life. And why was it removed? It’s not for you to question why; it is for you to do or die. It was there and now it is gone. All “law-abiding citizens” must change with the arbitrary dictate of the traffic masters.

Now, I’m not saying that we don’t need rules in society. But the question of who makes the rules and on what basis becomes supremely important. Will the rule-making flow from the matrix of voluntary exchange based on the ethic of serving others through private enterprise? Or will the rules be made and enforced by people wearing guns and bulletproof vests with a license to shock or kill based on minor annoyances?

Something as seemingly innocuous as a stop sign can become the occasion for the use of terrible violence and terrible oppression. And think about it: we are talking about local government which is especially sensitive to public opinion. If we see corruption here, what about at the national level, where the citizens are nothing but an abstraction?

So, no, I have no problem with making the stop sign a symbol of the fight. It shows that even the least objectionable aspects of the state can mask despotism and that we should think hard—very hard—before ever ceding control of even the smallest parts of life to the state.

Ultimately, the state is in control or we are.

There is nothing in between.

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Republished with the author's permission.
Originally published on July 14, 2009.