Tuesday, March 22, 2011
US Justice Department logic: Bernanke is a domestic terrorist
US Justice Department logic: Bernanke is a domestic terrorist
by Simon Black
March 21, 2011
Denver, Colorado, USA
The United States Department of Justice delivered a very clear and unfortunate message on Friday:
"Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism. While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country."
These remarks were released by the US Attorney's office in the western district of North Carolina following the conviction of one Bernard von NotHaus, the creator of the ill-fated Liberty Dollar.
As you likely recall from a few years ago, Liberty Dollars were privately minted gold and silver rounds. Paper certificates, akin to warehouse receipts were also issued, effectively giving the bearer a right to claim a certain amount of gold or silver at the group's warehouse in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
This is traditionally how the system of money used to function– precious metals would be stored in private, secure storage facilities, and paper certificates were issued as a medium of exchange that entitled the bearer to redeem metal from the vault. Liberty Dollars represented a return to that system.
Clearly, the Justice Department feels otherwise… instead viewing these silver rounds as an attempt by terrorists to undermine the US dollar.
Interesting choice of words. Undermine? "verb [transitive]. to erode the base or foundation of something. to damage or weaken, especially gradually. "
Funny, this sounds a lot more like quantitative easing than anything else. Ben Bernanke, in creating trillions of new dollars and debasing the value thereof, is guilty of the same insidious acts, and similarly, he represents a clear and present danger to the economic stability of the United States.
Somehow, though, I doubt that Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano or Attorney General Eric Holder will end up labeling Mr. Bernanke as a domestic terrorist.
Von NotHaus faces up to 15 years in prison on one count and 5 years on two others. Punitively, this is more serious than engaging in female genital mutilation (5-years, section 116 of Title 18, US Code), certain types of assault (as little as six months, section 113), or, ironically, bank robbery (10-years, section 2113b).
The US government obviously has its priorities straight.
As for the total amount of Von NotHaus' gold and silver booty? A whopping $7 million, roughly .000083% of Bernanke's $8.4 trillion money supply. Von NotHaus was so insignificant he wasn't even in the ballpark of a rounding error. By definition, this couldn't possibly constitute a danger to the economy.
Realistically, the government's 6-year effort to bring him down had one single purpose: to send a message. Uncle Sam is telling us very clearly, "You WILL use our rapidly depreciating dollars… and anything we don't like in our sole discretion, we will label as domestic terrorism."
If safeguarding the purchasing power of savings is considered domestic terrorism, what else is considered terrorism? I think this also begs the question of whether gold and silver confiscation is on the table… I'd love to hear your thoughts.
http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/bernanke-terrorist
A Challenge to Representative William Lacy Clay
Monday, March 21, 2011
A Challenge to Representative William Lacy Clay
by Bob Wenzel
When Congressman Ron Paul, as chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on Monetary Policy, held the first hearing on the Federal Reserve, Congressman William Lacy Clay, who is heavy on the payroll of the banksters, made wild statements about Thomas DiLorenzo, absurdly implying that DiLorenzo, who is a libertarian and who has exposed President Lincoln's racist views, was somehow anti-black, and that therefore he did not want to hear anything DiLorenzo had to say about the Fed.
Well, if that's what was really Representative Clay's reason for not wanting to listen to DiLorenzo, then let's find someone to testify, who is clearly not anti-black and has a studied understanding of the Federal Reserve. I challenge Representative Clay to call Louis Farrakhan as a witness to the next hearing of the Monetary Policy subcommittee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pVq7BZj3aU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/03/challenge-to-representative-william.html
Couple good comments by Jim Miller on Politics re corruption in states in the Midwest
Meanwhile, Back In Barack Obama's Illinois (6): A reformer, a real reformer, is giving up. Here's a little about his long fight againstcorruption.
When Roger and Tina Keats drive away from their Sheridan Road home in Wilmette for the last time in a few weeks and head for their new home in Texas, they will be leaving behind a formidable political legacy.And here's the letter he sent to explain why he is leaving
Keats, who served as the Republican state senator for much of the North Shore from 1978 to 1992, worked closely with Harold Washington to enact legislation that adopt judicial sub-circuits for Cook County and cleared the way for minorities and Republicans to hold judgeships.
The reform, fought by many Democrats, was an integral part of the cleanup of corruption in the Cook County court system that was uncovered by Operations Greylord and Gambat.
As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and wish all of you well. I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of it. After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart. BUT enough is enough! The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can't continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here. I remember when Illinois had 25 congressmen. In 2012 we will have 18. Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4rd of our population. Don't blame the weather, because I love 4 seasons.Barack Obama could have worked with people like Roger and Tina Keats to bring about much-needed reforms in Illinois — but chose not to.
. . .
We live in the most corrupt big city, in the most corrupt big county in the most corrupt state in America. I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks. A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence. Chicago even got caught rigging the tests to hire police and fire! Our Crook County CORPORATE property tax system is intentionally corrupt. The Democrat State Chairman who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House and the most senior alderman in Chicago each make well over a million dollars a year putting the fix in for their client's tax assessments.
(By way of the Washington Examiner. Unfortunately, there are a couple of errors in their piece; Roger Keats was not elected Cook County Board President, though he ran for the office, and Illinois's population is declining relative to the rest of the United States, not absolutely.)
- 7:56 AM, 22 March 2011 [link]
Senator McCaskill Will Be Paying Some Back Taxes: After making a couple of completely understandable mistakes.
McCaskill is a Democrat so her mistakes have gotten surprisingly favorable coverage. Or, perhaps I should say, unsurprisingly favorable coverage. (For example.)
At best, the mistakes show incompetence. And surprising incompetence in someone who served as Missouri's state auditor.
(There may be another scandal or two to investigate in her family finances. Her husband, Joe Shepard, owns "dozens" of "affordable-housing" companies. Typically, that kind of housing is heavily subsidized, and there are many opportunities for abuse, as Obama's former friend and ally, Tony Rezko, could tell you.)
Ah Senators, they're just like you and me! Who among us hasn't forgotten to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes on our private aircraft, after billing the government to use it 88 times? But because McCaskill is getting folksy with her admission of wrongdoing -- she said the word 'damn,' so clearly she takes this matter very seriously -- all is forgiven, right?This all came out because McCaskill, accidentally I am sure, billed the federal government for a political trip. (She's already reimbursed the taxpayers for that little $88,000 mistake.)
McCaskill is a Democrat so her mistakes have gotten surprisingly favorable coverage. Or, perhaps I should say, unsurprisingly favorable coverage. (For example.)
At best, the mistakes show incompetence. And surprising incompetence in someone who served as Missouri's state auditor.
(There may be another scandal or two to investigate in her family finances. Her husband, Joe Shepard, owns "dozens" of "affordable-housing" companies. Typically, that kind of housing is heavily subsidized, and there are many opportunities for abuse, as Obama's former friend and ally, Tony Rezko, could tell you.)
- 6:58 PM, 22 March 2011 [link]
A Brief History of the United States -- From Beginning to End
The following is from: http://fredoneverything.net/AmericanHistory.shtml
A Brief History of the United States
From Beginning to End
March 21, 2011
In 1492 Columbus rediscovered America, and the settlers, destructively exploiting its vast resources, achieved a success which they attributed to their own near-miraculous virtues, some of which they actually had: courage, rude vigor, industry, and an independent spirit. Shortly after, they emerged from WWII unscathed due to the military genius embodied in two oceans while competitors—Europe, Russia, China, and Japan—lay prostrate. America’s intact military and an economy up and running allowed the establishment of a fairly benign empire and an astonishing commercial dominance, both being attributed to near-miraculous virtues and regarded as permanent.
They didn’t see it coming.
Japan revived and began producing something it called a Toyota while Detroit, sure of its market, manufactured lousy cars that arrived falling apart, final assembly by owner. Germany revived. Communism still protected America from China, and no one foresaw that this would change. Airbus Industries appeared, but no one believed that it could compete with American know-how and engineering. It did. One by one American manufacturers of airliners took shelter in the military market until only Boeing was left, more or less equal to Airbus. But Americans knew that Europe was socialist and had no work ethic.
Before long Japan had completely devoured the market for consumer electronics, cameras, and suchlike. Ship-building went, except for builders catering to the captive military market. The steel industry left for foreign shores. Few noticed. Americans knew that their prosperity sprang from their near-miraculous virtues, which foreigners could never achieve.
Eventually China gave up on communism and became 1.3 billion smart, hard-working people who saw nothing wrong with the idea of becoming the world’s dominant power. Brazil began making airliners and American airlines began buying them. Even India showed signs of life. Americans didn’t worry because they knew that these funny countries couldn’t compete with America’s democratic values.
Manufacturing jobs began flowing to Asia, first a trickle and then a torrent. Americans didn’t pay attention, not knowing exactly where Asia was. Anyway, those foreigners were comic little people with squinty eyes and ate with sticks. Who could take them seriously? Then design work and programming began emigrating eastward. American had invented the Internet and now would pay the price. Intellectual capital had broken free from physical capital. Oops.
American industry largely ceased to exist, or at least ceased to be American. The big companies became free-floating international entities, adventitiously putting down roots wherever taxes were low and labor cheap, which wasn’t America. An HP laptop now consisted of a CPU from Intel but made perhaps in Ireland, the motherboard, hard drive, power supply and case made in Taiwan, RAM and screen from Samsung, assembled in Taiwan or China, but the label said HP, so it was American.
The trade balance went sour, and then very sour. The country had long since become captive to consumerism both national and individual, “He who dies with the most toys wins” being a bumper-sticker anthem. At every level America began living on credit, but America’s credit was good, which American’s attributed to near-miraculous virtues which they no longer had, if they had ever had them.
As the economy invisibly declined, the military’s budget grew and grew. The country could no longer afford it, but the Pentagon was so deeply embedded in the economy and Congress that the country couldn’t stop affording it. The five-sided money hole spent on, an aging kept woman with no obvious purpose since, with the fall of the Soviet Union, America had no military enemies.
Consequences sometimes arrive tardily. After WWII, Zionists had conquered Palestine and begun mistreating its people in the manner of white South Africans at their worst. Moslems, of whom it later turned out there were quite a few, came to hate Zionists and, by extension, all Jews. Since America supplied the bombs that Israel used to kill Moslems, these came to hate the US. Thus 9/11. This was used as a pretext for war by hawkish wimps, now called Neocons. The conflicts were embraced by the Pentagon, which needed a raison d’etre in the face of the lack of enemies. The ensuing wars were enthusiastically supported by evangelicals, more Zionists, confused patriots, imperialists, military industry, and those who just wanted to kill some Arabs, any Arabs. President W. Bush with his eternal martial priapism and yokel grasp was just the man. The military budget now was about a trillion a year in a country that owed more money than it could ever repay.
Many things had changed since the arrival of Columbus and smallpox. Americans still imagined themselves as Marlboro Man, rugged individualists, though many had never actually seen a live horse. In fact the country had become a society of mass conformist consumerism with its tastes designed at corporate. America was still a land of opportunity, if you were an Ivy techy with an IQ in excess of 180, but everybody else was pretty much screwed. Most people lived in velvet serfdom, afraid of the boss and imprisoned by the retirement system. Few young males could any longer meet the physical requirements for induction. The Army softened training so they could appear to get through. So much for Davy Crockett.
Americans had become the Frightened People, afraid of terror, of Moslems, of an outside world they couldn’t find or, in many cases, spell. The government used this bounty from heaven to justify rapid elimination of civil liberties, telling the public that it was to protect them. They still prided themselves on their democracy, without any longer having one, and on being a light to the world, which hated them. “The whole world hates us. What is wrong with the whole world ?” they asked, deeply puzzled.
The looters came. In the past there had been an element of noblesse oblige, of concern for the nation, a sense among the upper classes that they ought to pay some slight attention to keeping the country alive while picking its bones. This changed. The country was now ruled by the tightly interlocking directorates of Wall Street, Congress, the upper reaches of the executive branch, and the big corporations, none of whose members had ever worked a night shift at Walmart while living in a rented trailer. The worst and brightest went to Harvard and then into i-banking. Thus the sub-prime adventure. This catastrophe was regarded as a cyclical correction instead of as the first notes of the knell.
By this time the country was acquiring the attributes of the Third World. Impunity: financiers did not go to jail for financial crimes, nor generals for war crimes, nor congressmen for anything. National incapacity: The government handled natural disasters with the adroitness one might expect of Burundi. Intractable slums festered in the cores of its great cities. Over its age America had achieved greatly, done much that was admirable and much that wasn’t, and now, overreaching, still convinced of its miraculous virtues, was perilously close to falling on its face.
Never, ever interact with a government official without having a recorder running.
A Brief History of the United States
From Beginning to End
March 21, 2011
In 1492 Columbus rediscovered America, and the settlers, destructively exploiting its vast resources, achieved a success which they attributed to their own near-miraculous virtues, some of which they actually had: courage, rude vigor, industry, and an independent spirit. Shortly after, they emerged from WWII unscathed due to the military genius embodied in two oceans while competitors—Europe, Russia, China, and Japan—lay prostrate. America’s intact military and an economy up and running allowed the establishment of a fairly benign empire and an astonishing commercial dominance, both being attributed to near-miraculous virtues and regarded as permanent.
They didn’t see it coming.
Japan revived and began producing something it called a Toyota while Detroit, sure of its market, manufactured lousy cars that arrived falling apart, final assembly by owner. Germany revived. Communism still protected America from China, and no one foresaw that this would change. Airbus Industries appeared, but no one believed that it could compete with American know-how and engineering. It did. One by one American manufacturers of airliners took shelter in the military market until only Boeing was left, more or less equal to Airbus. But Americans knew that Europe was socialist and had no work ethic.
Before long Japan had completely devoured the market for consumer electronics, cameras, and suchlike. Ship-building went, except for builders catering to the captive military market. The steel industry left for foreign shores. Few noticed. Americans knew that their prosperity sprang from their near-miraculous virtues, which foreigners could never achieve.
Eventually China gave up on communism and became 1.3 billion smart, hard-working people who saw nothing wrong with the idea of becoming the world’s dominant power. Brazil began making airliners and American airlines began buying them. Even India showed signs of life. Americans didn’t worry because they knew that these funny countries couldn’t compete with America’s democratic values.
Manufacturing jobs began flowing to Asia, first a trickle and then a torrent. Americans didn’t pay attention, not knowing exactly where Asia was. Anyway, those foreigners were comic little people with squinty eyes and ate with sticks. Who could take them seriously? Then design work and programming began emigrating eastward. American had invented the Internet and now would pay the price. Intellectual capital had broken free from physical capital. Oops.
American industry largely ceased to exist, or at least ceased to be American. The big companies became free-floating international entities, adventitiously putting down roots wherever taxes were low and labor cheap, which wasn’t America. An HP laptop now consisted of a CPU from Intel but made perhaps in Ireland, the motherboard, hard drive, power supply and case made in Taiwan, RAM and screen from Samsung, assembled in Taiwan or China, but the label said HP, so it was American.
The trade balance went sour, and then very sour. The country had long since become captive to consumerism both national and individual, “He who dies with the most toys wins” being a bumper-sticker anthem. At every level America began living on credit, but America’s credit was good, which American’s attributed to near-miraculous virtues which they no longer had, if they had ever had them.
As the economy invisibly declined, the military’s budget grew and grew. The country could no longer afford it, but the Pentagon was so deeply embedded in the economy and Congress that the country couldn’t stop affording it. The five-sided money hole spent on, an aging kept woman with no obvious purpose since, with the fall of the Soviet Union, America had no military enemies.
Consequences sometimes arrive tardily. After WWII, Zionists had conquered Palestine and begun mistreating its people in the manner of white South Africans at their worst. Moslems, of whom it later turned out there were quite a few, came to hate Zionists and, by extension, all Jews. Since America supplied the bombs that Israel used to kill Moslems, these came to hate the US. Thus 9/11. This was used as a pretext for war by hawkish wimps, now called Neocons. The conflicts were embraced by the Pentagon, which needed a raison d’etre in the face of the lack of enemies. The ensuing wars were enthusiastically supported by evangelicals, more Zionists, confused patriots, imperialists, military industry, and those who just wanted to kill some Arabs, any Arabs. President W. Bush with his eternal martial priapism and yokel grasp was just the man. The military budget now was about a trillion a year in a country that owed more money than it could ever repay.
Many things had changed since the arrival of Columbus and smallpox. Americans still imagined themselves as Marlboro Man, rugged individualists, though many had never actually seen a live horse. In fact the country had become a society of mass conformist consumerism with its tastes designed at corporate. America was still a land of opportunity, if you were an Ivy techy with an IQ in excess of 180, but everybody else was pretty much screwed. Most people lived in velvet serfdom, afraid of the boss and imprisoned by the retirement system. Few young males could any longer meet the physical requirements for induction. The Army softened training so they could appear to get through. So much for Davy Crockett.
Americans had become the Frightened People, afraid of terror, of Moslems, of an outside world they couldn’t find or, in many cases, spell. The government used this bounty from heaven to justify rapid elimination of civil liberties, telling the public that it was to protect them. They still prided themselves on their democracy, without any longer having one, and on being a light to the world, which hated them. “The whole world hates us. What is wrong with the whole world ?” they asked, deeply puzzled.
The looters came. In the past there had been an element of noblesse oblige, of concern for the nation, a sense among the upper classes that they ought to pay some slight attention to keeping the country alive while picking its bones. This changed. The country was now ruled by the tightly interlocking directorates of Wall Street, Congress, the upper reaches of the executive branch, and the big corporations, none of whose members had ever worked a night shift at Walmart while living in a rented trailer. The worst and brightest went to Harvard and then into i-banking. Thus the sub-prime adventure. This catastrophe was regarded as a cyclical correction instead of as the first notes of the knell.
By this time the country was acquiring the attributes of the Third World. Impunity: financiers did not go to jail for financial crimes, nor generals for war crimes, nor congressmen for anything. National incapacity: The government handled natural disasters with the adroitness one might expect of Burundi. Intractable slums festered in the cores of its great cities. Over its age America had achieved greatly, done much that was admirable and much that wasn’t, and now, overreaching, still convinced of its miraculous virtues, was perilously close to falling on its face.
Never, ever interact with a government official without having a recorder running.
Trouble in ObamaLand: Democrats are saying Obama launched attack on Libya...for Oil!!!
 | Trouble in ObamaLand: Democrats are saying Obama launched attack on Libya...for Oil!!!Scotty Starnes | March 22, 2011 at 11:30 AM | Tags: cap and trade, Libya, oil, President Obama, renewable energy, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) | Categories: Political Issues | URL: http://wp.me/pvnFC-4Ox |
He's breaking constitutional law. He's doing it for oil. Most would think his was being shouted by Republicans. However, these shouts are coming from Obama's own party. Trouble in ObamaLand.
The Hill reports:
The United States military action against Libya is motivated by a desire for affordable and accessible oil, a top Democrat on environmental issues said Monday.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said that he agreed with President Obama's decision to launch, along with allies, attacks against Libya and its leader, Moammar Gadhafi. But Markey said the attacks were primarily motivated by oil.
"We are in Libya because of oil," Markey said on MSNBC. "It all goes back to the 5 million barrels of oil we import from OPEC on a daily basis."
"I think all Americans know why the president made this strike," he said. "As long as no American soldiers are on the ground ... then I think it's a good decision for the president."
Markey is the same Democrat trying to push the cap-and-trade scheme. Basically he is trying to say that if the U.S. had 'renewable energy,' Obama wouldn't have attacked Libya. However, being a dumb Democrats, Markey doesn't know that the U.S. doesn't import any oil from Libya.
Political unrest in Libya and other Middle Eastern nations with high oil production contributed to higher prices per barrel of crude oil, which translates to higher energy costs — particularly in gasoline. (Oil was up to above $102/barrel as of midday trading on Monday.)
The increased energy prices led Obama to hold a press conference earlier this month in which he renewed calls for more production of renewable energy, and said he would consider opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserves if oil prices continued to rise.
Just don't ask him to allow U.S. companies to drill for our own oil. That would be common sense and go against his plans to make energy prices skyrocket.
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