". . . a republic, if you can keep it."
Judge for yourself.
Personally, I’m much more scared of government than of anti-government groups.
Chris Matthews attacks oath keepers. He does a pretty good hatchet job. The oathkeeper guy was on his heels:
See also:
Foreign Cops Take Part in “Domestic Terrorism” Drill in California
If this had happened in Tehran, it’d be all over ABCNNBBCBS, and these guys would be heralded as heroes. Sadly, it happened right here in the U.S.S.A..
I’m always skeptical that the only people “helped” by these grand government vaccination programs are the medical industrialists who produce the vaccine.
Freedom Lovers, Free State Project participants and Pro-Marijuana advocates have been gathering daily for the past week [written Sept. 27], each day at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana (and peppermint cloves to confuse the police, lol) in protest of the war on drugs. So far only two arrests have been made, despite hundreds of people smoking marijuana.
(Read more from dailypaul.com)
Had this happened in Tehran, it’d receive 24/7 coverage for weeks, but sadly, it happened right here in the U.S.S.A..
Frightening arrest:
Cops pose with arrested protester – like trophy hunting:
Find more videos like this on 12.160Mhz
Police dressed as anarchist:
The parents of slain American activist Rachel Corrie were denied entry into the Gaza Strip Tuesday, following day-long efforts to secure their entry and cheer on teams at the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament.
The Corries and a delegation accompanying them continue to wait at the Rafah border at Egypt, but have thus far been denied entry. Egyptian crossing authorities have given various reasons for the delegation’s delay, despite the group having previously coordinated with Egyptian authorities, who said they informed crossings officials that the delegation had been cleared for passage.
. . . .
Rachel Corrie was run over by an armored Israeli caterpillar bulldozer as she tried to protect the home of Rafah resident Samir Nasrallah from demolition on 16 March 2003. Corrie went to Gaza as part of the International Solidarity Movement, and was standing alongside six other international activists when the incident occurred. (Read more from aljazeerah.info)
I will avoid a crowd estimate but a friend of mine who was there today described it as enormous.
Here’s my take on the tea party movement so far. It’s been a successful coalition of conservatives and libertarians so far united by opposition to Obama and all his works. The sentiment in the nation right now is clearly anti-Obama.
The key point is, what is the tea party movement for? On that, there is no agreement and probably won’t be. If conservatives will repudiate eight years of Bushian big government, the coalition might persist. If not, the libertarians should very quickly go their own way lest they unwittingly lend their support to a restoration. (Read more from lewrockwell.com)
My dear liberal friends,
These wars are Obama’s now. If you hated Bush for bringing us these wars, what do you say now about Obama?
Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war protester who used to set up camp outside George Bush’s Crawford Ranch, is at it again. This time she’s on Martha’s Vineyard, and the war that’s got her all riled up has a new Commander In Chief.
“The reason I am here is because … even though the facade has changed in Washington D.C., the policies are still the same,” Sheehan said. (Read more from therobalution.com)
I’ve been disgusted by what little I’ve seen of big media’s healthcare opposition coverage. As usual, the media is trying to squeeze a people vs. government issue into a left vs. right paradigm. So long as we are fighting each other, government is free to run rampant.
God bless the internet, lest I might think myself un-American for opposing Obamacare. I’m please to see strong criticism of the coverage from my usual sources.
Great commentary by Southern Avenger:
Some guy reacts to MSNBC host equating cries of “socialism” to using the N-word:
Fox “news” has been a checkered ally of the liberty movement. They seem like party hacks. When Republicans propose war, tyrannical government powers, and endless spending, Fox “news” becomes their #1 cheerleader, but when Democrats propose war, tyrannical government powers, and endless spending, Fox works to expose the threat to our liberty. Here, Fox interviews a Michigan man who confronted his congressman:
In the above interview, the man who confronted his congressman referenced this NY Post article, in which two of Obama’s advisers, including Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, discuss healthcare rationing. I actually think they offer very level-headed thoughts on how socialized healthcare would work. You can’t provide unlimited use of finite (and expensive) goods and services. Of course, most of the socialists behind Obamacare like to pretend you can.
As Tyler Durden wrote in this essay: “There is no system that provides for unlimited wants with limited resources. Our choice is whether it should be rationed by free people making their own economic calculations or by a bureaucracy run by Congressional committee (whose members, like the Russian commissars, will, I guarantee you, still get the best health care the gulag hospitaligo can provide).”
Lastly, hear Peter Schiff discuss bringing free market forces back to healthcare. I think the example of cosmetic surgeries provided at the end is spectacular:
More on demonizing healthcare opposition.
“They’re all tears and pity for average Americans, while at the same time demonizing people who think there might be something a teensy weensy bit non-progressive about creating trillions of dollars and throwing it at the financial elite.” ~Thomas Woods
“Israel continues to ratchet up diplomatic pressure against European Union funding of a group that exposed what it described as war crimes perpetrated by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza.
The deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Rafi Barak, expressed ‘concern’ last week over Britain’s financial contributions to ‘Breaking the Silence,’ an organization founded by IDF veterans which collects testimonies from soldiers serving in the Palestinian territories.” (Read more from haaretz.com)
This turns into a great speech. It dispels the death by association much of the media preach – associating the tea parties with the Republican Party.
My favorite part comes at 4:30 – “The Republican Party does not represent you anymore. . . . President Obama is spending our children’s future. He’s selling us into slavery and serfdom. But don’t forget that before Obama’s stimulus was George W. Bush’s banker bailout that both McCain and Obama supported. They want you to think that you have a choice in this country between Republican and Democrat, between right and left, but when the governments boot is stamping upon your face – and I can speak from experience – it doesn’t matter whether it’s the left boot or the right boot. Big government is the enemy.”
Happy 4th or July. Today is a good day to recognize some heroes – the Institute for Justice. These guys are like super heroes to me.
From their website: “We challenge the government when it stands in the way of people trying to earn an honest living, when it unconstitutionally takes away individuals’ property, when bureaucrats instead of parents dictate the education of children, and when government stifles speech. We seek a rule of law under which individuals can control their destinies as free and responsible members of society.”
Minnesota’s eminent domain abuses
“Following stiff opposition from the nearly 50-year-old company, its employees, unions and the Institute for Justice – a public interest law firm that battles eminent domain abuse nationwide – the Port Authority decided not to use eminent domain to take the company’s property. . . .
For the past 50 years, Advance has built its equipment-leasing business without government subsidies. Its 43 employees, 20 of whom are members of Local 120 of the Teamsters and Local 49 of the Operating Engineers, provide cranes, scaffolding and shoring equipment to construction projects. Advance has played an instrumental role in constructing and restoring of landmarks in the Twin Cities, including the Xcel Energy Center, the Cathedral of St. Paul and Regions Hospital. ‘You cannot look at St. Paul’s skyline without seeing the contribution that our family business has made,’ Haug added.
Last September, the Port Authority stated its intention to acquire by eminent domain 10 acres of Advance’s property near Interstate 35E and Maryland Avenue in the Arlington-Jackson section of St. Paul. In October and November, Advance’s owners and allies asked the City Council not to authorize the Port Authority’s plan to destroy this successful business for a yet-to-be-identified business and an unspecific use requiring more than $10 million in government subsidies.” (Read more at ij.org)
Banned in Boston: Erroll Tyler’s Fight for Economic Liberty as Boston protects tourism cartel
(Read more at ij.org)
Developer colludes with state for eminent domain abuses. Anyone who fights back is guilty of defamation:
“Dallas, Texas – The author and publisher of Bulldozed: ‘Kelo,’ Eminent Domain, and the American Lust for Land today asked a Dallas state court to dismiss the defamation lawsuit filed against them by Dallas developer H. Walker Royall. Published in 2007, Bulldozed chronicles events in Freeport, Texas, where Royall signed a development agreement to have the city take land owned by Western Seafood – a generations-old shrimping business – and give that land to Royall’s development company for a luxury yacht marina. Royall sued the book’s author, Carla Main, and its publisher, Encounter Books, in October 2008, seeking monetary damages and a permanent prohibition on further printing or distribution of the book.
Royall’s lawsuit is part of a national trend. Similar suits have been filed in Tennessee, Missouri, Washington and elsewhere by developers and government officials looking to silence critics of eminent domain for private gain. Earlier, when the Gore family – owners of Western Seafood and the original victims of Royall’s eminent domain abuse effort in Freeport – complained against Royall’s actions, he sued them for defamation.” (Read more at ij.org)
Free to Design: Florida Entrepreneurs Take On the Interior Design Cartel
(Read more at ij.org)
Predictions from seekingalpha.com:
Prediction one. The twenty-five-year equities bubble pops in 2009. U.S. and foreign equities markets will stop treading water and realign with economic reality. Stock prices will cease to reflect the “greater fool” mentality and will return to being a function of dividend yields, which have long been miserable. The S&P 500 will sink below 500. In a bid to stem the panic, the government will enforce periodic “stock market holidays”, and will vastly expand the scope of its short-selling prohibitions—eventually banning short-selling altogether.
Prediction two. With public pension systems and tens of millions of 401k holders virtually wiped out—and with the Baby Boomers retiring en masse—there will be tremendous pressure on the government to get into the stock market in order to bid up prices.
Therefore, sometime in 2010, the Federal Reserve will create and loan out hundreds of billions of fresh dollars to the usual well-connected suspects, instructing them to buy up stocks on the public’s behalf. This scheme will have a fancy but meaningless name—something like the “Taxpayer Assurance Equities Facility”. It will have no effect other than to serve as buyer of last resort for capitulating smart-money types who want to get out of stocks entirely.
Prediction three. Millions of new retirees—including white-collar people with high expectations for a Golden Retirement—will be left virtually penniless. Thousands will starve or freeze to death in their own homes. Hundreds of thousands will find themselves evicted and homeless, or will have to move in with their less-than-enthusiastic children. Already strained by the rising tide of the working-age unemployed, state and local welfare services will be overwhelmed, and by 2012 will have largely collapsed and ceased to function in many parts of the country.
Prediction four. “Quantitative easing” will fail to restart previous patterns of lending and consumption. As the government sends out additional “rebate” checks and takes ever-more drastic measures to force banks to lend, hyperinflation could take hold. However, comprehensive debt relief via a devaluation of the dollar is even more likely. This would entail the government issuing one “new” dollar for some greater number of “old” dollars—thus reducing both debts and savings simultaneously. This would make for a clean slate a la Fight Club.
As there are many more debtors than savers in the U.S., the vast majority would support devaluation. The Chinese and other foreign holders of our bonds would be screaming mad, but unable to do anything. Every country that has not found a way out of dollar-denominated reserve assets by 2012 will see its reserves eliminated.
Prediction five. The government will stop pretending that it can finance continuous multi-trillion-dollar deficits on the private market. By late 2010, the sole buyers of new U.S. Treasury and agency bonds will be the Federal Reserve and a few derelict financial institutions under government control. This may or may not lead to hyperinflation. (See prediction four).
Prediction six. As the need for financial industry paper-pushers declines and people have less money to spend on lawyers and Starbucks (SBUX), unemployment will rise until the private sector has eliminated all of its excess capacity and superfluous or socially needless jobs. The government’s narrow unemployment figure (U3) will rise into the high teens by late 2010. The government’s broader unemployment figure (U6) will cease to be reported when it reaches 25 percent—it will simply be too embarrassing. Ultimately, one in three work-eligible Americans will be unemployed, underemployed, or never-employed (e.g. college grads permanently unable to find suitable work).
Prediction seven. With their pension dreams squashed, and their salaries frozen or cut, police and other local government workers will turn to wholesale corruption in order to survive. America’s ideal of honest, courteous, and impartial cops, teachers, and small-time local functionaries will have come to an end.
Prediction eight. Commercial overcapacity will strike with a vengeance. By 2012, thousands of enclosed malls, strip malls, unfinished residential developments, motels, truck stops, distribution centers, middle-of-nowhere resorts and casinos, and small-city airports across America will turn into dilapidated, unwanted, and dangerous ghost towns. With no economic incentive for their maintenance or repair, they will crumble into overgrown, plywood-and-sheet-rock ruins.
Prediction nine. By the end of 2010, tens of millions of households will have fallen behind on their mortgages or stopped paying altogether. Many banks will be unable to process the massive volume of foreclosure paperwork, much less actually seize and resell the homes.
Devaluation (as mentioned in prediction four) could ease the situation for those mortgage holders still afloat, but it would also eliminate any incentive for most banks to stay in the mortgage business. In any case, the housing market in many parts of the country will lock up completely—nothing bought or sold.
With virtually no loans being made, even the government will finally acknowledge that most banks are fundamentally insolvent. A general bank run will only be averted through a roughly one trillion-dollar recapitalization of the FDIC, courtesy of new money from the Federal Reserve.
Prediction ten. As an economy is never independent of the society within which it functions, the next few paragraphs will focus on social and political factors. These factors will have as much of an impact on market and consumer confidence as any developments in the financial sector.
Whether rightly or not, President Obama, having come to power at the dawn of this crisis, will be blamed for it by over 50 percent of the population. He will be a one-term president. In response to his perceived socialization of America, there will be a swarm of secessionist and extremist activity, much of it violent. Militias and armed sects will be more prominent than in the early 1990s. Stand-off dramas, violent score-settlings, and going-out-with-a-bang attacks by laid-off workers and bankrupted investors—already a national plague—will become an everyday occurrence.
For both economic and social reasons, millions of immigrants and guest workers will return to their home countries, taking their assets and skills with them. The flow of skilled immigrants will slow to a trickle. Birth rates will plummet as families struggle with uncertainty and reduced (or no) income.
Property crime will explode as citizens bitter over their own shattered dreams attempt to comfort themselves by taking what is not theirs. Mutinies and desertions will proliferate in an increasingly demoralized, over-stretched military, especially when states can no longer provide the educational and other benefits promised to their National Guard troops.
There will be widespread tax collection issues, and a huge backlash against Federal and state bureaucrats who demand three-percent annual pay raises while private sector wages remain frozen or worse. In short, the “Tea Parties” of tomorrow will likely not be so restrained.