Israeli Soldiers Speak About Gaza Human Rights Abuses

When I first found this story, it included a video of a Palestinian man in Gaza talking about how he was used as a human shield – held at gunpoint and made to enter Palestinian homes ahead of Israeli soldiers.

That video is gone. Now there’s a video of an Israeli spokeswoman denying the allegations and promising investigations.

“A group of soldiers who took part in Israel’s assault in Gaza say widespread abuses were committed against civilians under “permissive” rules of engagement.

The troops said they had been urged to fire on any building or person that seemed suspicious and said Palestinians were sometimes used as human shields.

Breaking the Silence, a campaign group made up of Israeli soldiers, gathered anonymous accounts from 26 soldiers.” (Read more from news.bbc.co.uk)

Are you f@cking kidding me??? AP Praises Goldman

I suspect the masters of the universe didn’t like all the Goldman hate and made some phone calls to friends in the media.

Goldman Sachs’ $2.7B profit shows firm’s prowess
“Goldman Sachs is emerging as the king of post-meltdown Wall Street. The New York-based banking giant took advantage of improving markets to widen the gap between itself and its competitors, earning more than $2.7 billion during the second quarter.” (from news.yahoo.com)

How the hell can these guys be praised for their prowess after taking BILLIONS of dollars from people like me and you???

That’s it, I’m adding www.goldmansachs666.com to my blogroll. That’ll show them!

Goldman to Manipulate Cap and Trade

“Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street leviathan that is heavily invested in the cap-and-trade carbon market scam, has admitted it has developed and used software that can manipulate such financial markets.

The revelation came during proceedings in a legal case with enough plot twists to make even John Grisham proud; it was made, not by Goldman, but by an assistant U.S. Attorney.” (Read more from goldmansachs666.com)

US destroyer anchors off Georgia for exercises

As much as I sympathize with former Soviet states, this is none of our damn business.

“(AP) – A U.S. guided missile destroyer dropped anchor Tuesday in Georgia’s Black Sea waters ahead of joint naval exercises seen as a show of American support for the former Soviet nation crushed in last year’s war with Russia.” (Read more from google.com)

Dear Government,

Please find ways to keep yourselves entertained that don’t involve taking my money and jeopardizing my safety. I recommended getting hammered for the length of your terms in office. I’ll even chip in to buy the booze.

Respectfully,
LostRepublic

Economics 101: Say’s Law

I wanted to share an excerpt from an email I sent to a friend:

. . . but what you allude to later is a version of what we Austrians call Say’s Law, Supply = Demand, or at least their tendency toward equilibrium. It contradicts Marx’s claim of capitalism always overproducing. It also contradicts the super-popular Keynesian notion that all problems can be solved by creating artificial demand with money from a printing press, i.e. money that isn’t backed by production. (See Paul Krugman, or just about any other main-stream voice in economics.)

In contrast with the Keynesian notion that demand can be manipulated, Austrians believe demand can only increase if supplies of goods and services increase.

Another was to look at Say’s law is that you produce in proportion to your desire for other goods and service. You produce legal services, I (hopefully) will produce books, a farmer produces corn – then we use our production to create demand for other goods and services. Indirect exchange.

So don’t believe people who tell you that government, which produces nothing besides a very inefficient postal service (Hidden History: Post Office sues Cub Scouts to maintain monopoly), can “create demand” by spending money that’s either printed from thin air, or forcibly taken from the actual producers.

Gerald Celente: A false dawn for the Dollar

“The US administration has been saying it sees the first green shoots of economic recovery. However consumer spending remains low in America, and some experts argue the signs are misleading.

What can you get for a dollar? Not much these days.

Its value dropped considerably at the end of June – and this is despite the Obama administration announcing signs of an economic rebound.

Experts think these are false claims of hope. They see a gloomy future for the dollar and say the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year is only making things worse.” (Read more from geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com)

High Infidelity

(Yes, I’m still bitter about Mark Sanford’s fall from grace)

Favorite Line (3:05): If continuing his affair with Monica Lewinski would have caused Clinton to change his position on any of these issues, I would have rented the hotel room, ordered the champagne, and told Hillary he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Competing Currencies

I’ve long been interested in legal tender laws and the notion of competing currencies. Ron Paul gave a great overview before the US House of Representatives, February 13, 2008:

“At this country’s founding, there was no government-controlled national currency. While the Constitution established the Congressional power of minting coins, it was not until 1792 that the US Mint was formally established. In the meantime, Americans made do with foreign silver and gold coins. Even after the Mint’s operations got underway, foreign coins continued to circulate within the United States, and did so for several decades.

On the desk in my office I have a sign that says: �Don’t steal � the government hates competition.� Indeed, any power a government arrogates to itself, it is loathe to give back to the people. Just as we have gone from a constitutionally instituted national defense consisting of a limited army and navy bolstered by militias and letters of marque and reprisal, we have moved from a system of competing currencies to a government-instituted banking cartel that monopolizes the issuance of currency. In order to introduce a system of competing currencies, there are three steps that must be taken to produce a legal climate favorable to competition.

The first step consists of eliminating legal tender laws. Article I Section 10 of the Constitution forbids the States from making anything but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts. States are not required to enact legal tender laws, but should they choose to, the only acceptable legal tender is gold and silver, the two precious metals that individuals throughout history and across cultures have used as currency. However, there is nothing in the Constitution that grants the Congress the power to enact legal tender laws. We, the Congress, have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, but not to declare a legal tender. Yet, there is a section of US Code, 31 USC 5103, that purports to establish US coins and currency, including Federal Reserve notes, as legal tender.

Historically, legal tender laws have been used by governments to force their citizens to accept debased and devalued currency. . . . If people are free to reject debased currency, and instead demand sound money, sound money will gradually return to use in society. . . .

The second step to reestablishing competing currencies is to eliminate laws that prohibit the operation of private mints. One private enterprise which attempted to popularize the use of precious metal coins was Liberty Services, the creators of the Liberty Dollar. Evidently the government felt threatened, as Liberty Dollars had all their precious metal coins seized by the FBI and Secret Service this past November.

. . . .

The final step to ensuring competing currencies is to eliminate capital gains and sales taxes on gold and silver coins. Under current federal law, coins are considered collectibles, and are liable for capital gains taxes. Short-term capital gains rates are at income tax levels, up to 35 percent, while long-term capital gains taxes are assessed at the collectibles rate of 28 percent. Furthermore, these taxes actually tax monetary debasement. As the dollar weakens, the nominal dollar value of gold increases. The purchasing power of gold may remain relatively constant, but as the nominal dollar value increases, the federal government considers this an increase in wealth, and taxes accordingly.” (Read the whole speech at dailypaul.com)

Senator Schiff?

From LewRockwell.com:

Peter Schiff has set up an exploratory committee for a run against Sen. Chris “the Crook” Dodd. Writes Peter:

As you know, I have been seriously considering running for U.S. Senate against Chris Dodd.

Everywhere you turn there is evidence of just how bad our economy is getting. Growing unemployment, families that are struggling to put food on the table, and retirees that are having to make the choice between doing without or joining the millions of others that are looking for a job. Unfortunately, many of our economic woes have been created by government intervention and politicians who believe themselves to be economic “experts.”

I believe that my experience and qualifications would make me well-suited to serve Connecticut, especially during a time when Washington needs fewer career politicians and more people with real-world financial experience that can be a voice of reason and help prevent the continued intrusion of government into our lives, jobs, and pocketbooks.

See the handsome Schiff site here, and thanks to Michael Woods.

I’m a big fan of Peter Schiff.