Monday, September 29, 2008

Exit Tax for U.S. Expatriates to Become Law

Somehow we missed this one.

From the

Manifesto of the Communist Party 1848

II -- PROLETARIANS AND COMMUNISTS

Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property, and on the conditions of bourgeois production; by means of measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionizing the mode of production.

These measures will, of course, be different in different countries.

Nevertheless, in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.

Not anymore!!!

28 May 2008

New rules will impose tax on expatriates and withholding requirements on trustees

Giving up a U.S. passport will soon carry a steep price tag. A new law passed by the U.S. Congress and sent to the President will subject certain individuals who expatriate or give up their green cards to immediate tax on the inherent gain on all of their worldwide assets and a tax on future gifts or bequests made to a U.S. citizen or resident.

Tax practitioners had been made to feel like the boy who cried wolf in recent months as the U.S. Congress repeatedly threatened to enact legislation aimed at U.S. citizens who expatriate. Congress finally made good on those threats by unanimously passing the Heroes Earning Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act (the ‘Act'), which provides tax relief for active duty military personnel and reservists.

The new tax regime applies to certain individuals who relinquish their US citizenship[1] and certain long-term U.S. residents (i.e., green card holders) who terminate their U.S. residence (hereafter referred to as ‘expatriates').[2] The so-called ‘mark-to-market' tax will apply to the net unrealized gain on the expatriate's worldwide assets as if such property were sold (the ‘deemed sale') for its fair market value on the day before the expatriation date. Any net gain on this deemed sale in excess of US$600,000 will be taxable. MORE HERE


Sunday, September 28, 2008

Anti-Conspiracy Kooks

Larkin has it right again!

Anti-Conspiracy Kooks 

If you get up one morning, stub your toe on a table, spill your morning coffee on your shirt, get a flat tire on the way to work,
and have to fix it in the rain, that's called bad luck. The likelihood that a group of devious villains snuck into your house
and moved your table a few inches to where they knew you would kick it, and then somehow sabotaged your coffee mug so you'd drop it,
then did something to your tires to make them go flat ten minutes later, and then somehow made it rain, is pretty darn slim. And if
you think all of that happened, I'd probably agree that you're a conspiracy kook.

However, it is not only possible, but quite common, for people to be "kooks" in the other direction: to not recognize conspiracies
when they are obvious. For example, billions of dollars are spent by people conspiring to get you to buy a certain car. The car
companies spend piles of money on crafting propaganda (advertising) to manipulate your feelings and emotions, because they want your
money. Their magazine ads, TV ads, radio ads, the slogans they use, the images they choose--it's all a "conspiracy" to get your money.
It happens to be a perfectly legal and moral conspiracy, at least most of the time, but it's still a lot of people CONSPIRING to get
money for themselves.

The same is true of just about everything you buy, everything you see in the media, and everything you read. There are thousands of
groups very deliberately trying to persuade you to give them your money. There are, after all, TRILLIONS of dollars at stake, and
almost everyone would like to have lots of those dollars for themselves. So of course companies "conspire" to get you to give
your money to them. I can't imagine anyone being ignorant enough to not realize that.

Another indisputable fact is that some people are not particularly honest or nice. We've all seen the example of the used car salesman
doing his little psychological tricks and deceptions to dupe some poor guy into buying a lemon. And when two or more people cooperate
on coming up with such a scam, that is, by definition, a conspiracy. It's as natural for bad people to do it as it is for
good people to do it, if not more so. (Enron comes to mind.) When there are BILLIONS of dollars at stake, it's naive to NOT
constantly be on the lookout for conspiracy, deception, and trickery. (The Wachowski Brothers' version of "Speed Racer"
expresses this nicely.) Just about everyone has heard the saying, "Follow the money," yet people often seem to forget to do that. In
any news story, ask yourself, who got money and power as a result of this?

Right now we have a HUGE example, involving numbers almost too big to even comprehend. Almost everyone talks as if the proposed
$700,000,000,000 "bailout" is Congress irresponsibly bailing out lendors who, due to bad planning, gave out loans that couldn't be
repaid. Lots of people object to the bailout, as well they should, but in doing so, they assume that the government's version of
events is what really happened.

Suppose some very rich and powerful bankers were either buddies with those in Congress, had some blackmail leverage against them,
or came up with some other bribe or deal which would involve Congress giving them lots of money. If Congress announced, "We're
going to impose a new tax on everyone, so we can give billions of dollars to our rich banker friends," I don't think the public would
be too thrilled about it. So how would they do it?

When deciding what "conspiracy theories" might be true, I like to use this simple test: What would YOU do if you were a nasty crook?
It's a safe bet that anything I could think of, or anything you could think of, the nasty crooks already have thought of. For
example, if I was a crook and I was in Congress (but I repeat myself), and I had some slimy deal with big bankers--foreign and
domestic--that they'd do something for me if I gave them a huge pile of money, here's one thing I could do: Have them plan ahead to
give out millions of loans, including to people who can't possible repay them--in fact, ESPECIALLY to those people. Once there is a
nice big collection of people in debt that they'll never get out of, the bankers and the government can both say, "It's a crisis!"
Then, in the name of saving the country from economic catastrophe (intentionally caused by us crooks), I send BILLIONS of dollars to
my banker buddies and call it a "bailout." Where do I get the money? I take it from the people, of course, not only today, but in
the future. The "bailout" is backed by my promise to keep right on taxing the poor working slobs for years to come. So in reality the
scheme is a tax on everyone in the country, with the money going right to my rich and powerful buddies. But as long as it doesn't
LOOK like that, and as long as most people think the "crisis" was accidental, and don't think it was a conspiracy between me and my
banker buddies, they might get upset, but we'll get away with it anyway.

So is that what the "bailout" really is? It's hard to know what all happens behind closed doors, but if you ask me, the above scenario
is a lot MORE likely than the banks and congress, with all their experts and advisors, going along for years having no idea that the
lendors had made $700,000,000,000 in loans that would never be repaid, and then suddenly realizing it all at once. Now THAT is a
kooky theory, but it is what the media presents as indisputable fact. This is no bailout, nor is it any emergency solution for some
unforeseen crisis. It is a calculated, premeditated and preplanned way for a bunch of control freaks, in this country and elsewhere
(don't forget the Saudi and Chinese bankers) to get lots more money out of the peasants. And they're sure that all of you will just put
up with it. Yeah, you'll complain, and you might even whine to your congressman, but they couldn't care less about that. They get your
money anyway. And the best part is that, if you suggest that any of the above is what really happened, most of your fellow fraud
VICTIMS will ridicule YOU for it, because they're too gullible, or just too stupid, to use simple logic, taking into account human
nature, to figure out what is really going on around them.



Larken Rose
http://www.larkenrose.com

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Presidential Debate Drinking Game

Assuming John McCain decides to show up for the presidential debate, it will take place tomorrow night at the University of Mississippi. (For the record, we think there are people out there who deserve to use delay tactics way more than McCain does. This guy, for example.)

But whenever the debate takes place, you're gonna need some sort of drinking game. The key to this one is to take a shot of Everclear and then do each of the following:

* Everytime a candidate mentions September 11th, prank-call Rudy Giuliani.

* Every time a candidate mentions the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, plunge a turkey baster into your ice cube tray.

* Every time a candidate promises to bring back blue collar jobs, call your customer service rep in Bangalore.

* Every time a candidate says "folks," threaten to foreclose on an Iowa farm unless the farmer's daughter "cooperates."

* Every time Barack Obama mentions his tax cuts for the middle class, gift-wrap a box of poo for your rich uncle.

* Every time McCain says "friends," call Lindsey Graham and say "I think he's talking about you!"

* Every time Obama pauses before the predicate of a sentence, go watch Star Trek: The Original Series to see how a pro does it.

* Every time Jim Lehrer says something boring, send yourself a "Celtic Thunder" tote bag.

* Every time McCain mentions "the Surge," drink a Red Bull. Every time he mentions "Red Bull," drink a Surge.

* Every time Obama strings together at least three fuzzy, liberal platitudes, cue up the episode of The West Wing where Mrs. Landingham dies.

* Every time McCain refers to his running mate, stand up, face Russia and finish whatever bottle is in front of you.

Police State Identification for Dummies

By Larken Rose

Every time I think the current fascist regime in this country has been as ridiculous as it can be, it
does something worse. The news is now spreading that the federal tyrants' mercenaries, whose
misconduct and oppression abroad I have been criticizing recently, are about to bring their jackboot
show to a city near you! The Army Times reports that a group of mercenaries, having been killing
people in Iraq for a while, may be called upon "to help with civil unrest and crowd control" right
here at home. Well, that's comforting.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

In case you're one of those too dense to grasp the bleeding obvious, the literal translation of that is
that they may be called on to EXTERMINATE YOU if you ever decide to disobey or resist your
masters in Washington. And these are people who have recently had experience in killing other
people.

(Being exposed to mortal combat, and especially being engaged in mortal combat, psychologically
messes up a LOT of people. Vietnam is a glaring example, but the conflict in Iraq--the parts the
government and media routinely cover up--shows the same thing. The suicides, mental problems,
war crimes, etc., all show that putting someone into hell ("war") tends to mess them up. I don't
know why that would surprise anyone. But my question is this: If average Americans shouldn't
be allowed to have machine guns, why is it a good idea to put some of those Americans through
emotionally and psychologically scarring hell, and THEN give them machine guns, and let them
walk the streets of America with them?)*

So exactly what has to happen before the American public recognizes that the U.S. is a police state
? Well, how about this?: Soon airports might make you walk through a magic machine that can
decide whether you're a good guy or a bad guy. (I wish I could make this stuff up.)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,426485,00.html

If you ask me, this is absolute bullpoop. Notice that they CLAIM impressive results, but won't say
what they are. Much like the "lie detector," this new intrusion/harassment device is scientifically
worthless, but gives people the false impression that "the powers that be" know everything. All
they have to do is claim that the machine showed something, pretend they can read your thoughts
and motives, and then they will try to scare and/or torture you into giving a confession.
(If you think I'm being paranoid, read "Tremors in the Blood," by a real expert on the misnamed
"lie detector," to see how it is REALLY used.)

What the fascists want this new hocus-pocus, mind-reading machine for is not to DETECT actual
bad intent, but to have a trick which lets them PRETEND to have probable cause to stop you,
interrogate you, detain you, etc. It is a cheap psychological trick designed to make you think that
random, unjustified and unconstitutional searches and detainments are really justified. And, as
usual, whenever they stress that it WON'T be used for something--they claim it won't keep a
record of individual readings--you can bet that that is exactly what they INTEND to use it for.

Hilariously, Those pushing for the Orwellian scheme say they hope it "restore[s] a sense of
freedom." Notice, the goal is not to restore freedom, but a SENSE of freedom. That about sums it
up. They might as well just say: "We want to monitor and control everything, while giving you the
SENSE that you are free." Welcome to 1984, just a couple decades late.

Incidentally, this gives me one more reason to never fly a commercial airliner again. You see,
unlike many sheep who seem quite content being herded, maltreated and sheered, I don't like
being treated like a slave. I'm sure if the magical hocus-pocus machine reads anything, I would
set it off in a heartbeat, because I would want to strangle every fascist moron administering the
thing, and the people who decided to subject me to it. "Golly gee, this machine says you're angry
and wish us harm." Damn right I do, you fascist bastards.

Larken Rose
http://www.larkenrose.com
(* Just to be clear, especially for the combat vets on my list--and there are a bunch--I'm not
saying that being in combat makes someone evil. But being exposed to the horrors of war,
especially for a long time, would mess up ANYONE'S head. Plenty of people have managed to
return to relatively normal lives after seeing gruesome combat, but statistically speaking, cops
and combat vets have a far higher rate of violent psychoses than average folk. My only point is
that letting THEM have tanks, bombs, machine-guns, etc., while depriving the general public of
them, is a really bad idea.)



Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Congress, Treasury & Federal Reserve

Whither Which Iron Fist?

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

A SKEPTICAL VIEW OF SECRETARY PAULSON'S PROPOSAL

Treasury Secretary Paulson has proposed that Congress advance $700 Billions to be directed to purchase mortgage backed assets intending to reactivate and prop up its frozen market.

There appears to me a fundamental problem with the sense of that proposal. Since the market is presently inactive – indeed "frozen" – and since the US firms active in trading mortgage backed assets are failing, the real possibility exist to simply take over and assume control of operations in exchange for infusion of equity for these firms which will make available the illiquid MBA's for control and disposition by Paulson under the plan now being created. The cost of that plan should be far inferior to the plan being proposed and will place a much lighter burden on the American Taxpayer and the National finances while achieving the same results.

Now this idea is hardly novel. A "take over" was engineered very recently for Bear-Stearns costing some $29 Billions. And the same "take over" was implemented respecting Fanny May and Freddy Mac at a published cost of $100 Billions each. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve retained a significant control over asset derived from Bear Stearns management. And at the same time, the Secretary and Federal Reserve retained a significant control over Fanny and Freddy. Why could not a similar operation be made for each of the US firms which are under stress from an illiquid MBA market.

The result will be a far greater degree of control and at a much lower total cost to the taxpayer and the US Treasury.

There is in this observation the implication that the real purpose of the $700 Billions is not the outright purchase of illiquid assets from US Firms under stress but rather the re-purchase of fraudulent assets purchased and now held by foreign banks who are demanding to be made whole after being defrauded in their purchase of American backed securities which turn out to be worthless having no collateral mortgage assets whatsoever to back up the investment made in good faith. If that is the case, and it appears likely, then in that event, the $700 Billions is merely a down payment for the problem which will buy enough time for George Bush to vacate the office of Presidency on 20 January 09 leaving the mess for the next president to clean up.

Supporting this macabre perception is the fact that the proposal submitted by Paulson and the Bush Administration calls for a complete autonomy in terms of expenditure without review by any source including the courts. This kind of sweeping authority was previously employed by the Bush Administration in the run up to invasion of Iraq which after 6 years of costly warfare and more than 4200 American deaths plus over 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths, we now know was a fraud on the American People. Additionally, and without recitation here, the Bush Administration's habit in this regard is well known to be repeated in several other examples. Thus confidence in this matter should be replaced with a considerable skepticism as to motive and use of the funds and the hurry up conditions under which the proposal had been submitted. Further, the timing of Paulson's proposal coincides with the coming Congressional recess scheduled for this Friday. All of these circumstances carry the clear implication that the sweeping proposal, the timing of its submission and the hurry up attitude carried with the proposal leads one to conclude a contrivance and a ruse to obtain extraordinary amount of Public Funds under conditions which are untoward and outrightly dangerous to the Nation.

Alternatively, could it be that the worlds Central Banks and/or nations have formed a coalition which have collectively delivered an ultimatum to Paulson and Bush to be made whole on the fraud which has been heaped upon them by Wall Street while the administration turned a blind eye to regulatory oversight of the financial and securities markets. Extreme skepticism therefore is in order.

--
Fred Smart

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Awaiting Your Correspondence - Important Business Matter

Best "Nigerian Bank" letter you'll see all day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greetings Brother & Sister American:

I hope that this correspondence finds you in good health.
Circumstances beyond our wildest expectations have necessitated my contacting you directly.

First, I must solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction .This by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and 'top secret'.

I have it upon very good authority that you are a trusting, banal good citizen who supports your country, flag and troops. I have been assured in confidence of your ability and reliability to prosecute a transaction of great magnitude involving a pending business transaction requiring maximum confidence.

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@... so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

God Bless You.

In God we trust!

Yours Faithfully,

Minister of Treasury Paulson

Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson Jr. is the United States Treasury Secretary and member of the International Monetary Fund Board of Governors. He previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Who Is To BLAME??

545 PEOPLE

By Charlie Reese

- Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why,
if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why,
if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, CONGRESS does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy,
CONGRESS does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices -
545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.
In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 mill ion dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common "con" regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the CONGRESS to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair,
it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red,
it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ,
it 's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people,
it's because they want it that way. There are no insoluble government problems.

DO NOT let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They and they alone, have the “legal” power.

They and they alone, should be
held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOW the question is, "How do you hold them accountable?"

What can anyone do actually?

In the coming weeks we will explore this question. What actual leverage you have. What leverage is. How to use your leverage.

Stay Tuned.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Vote For Change?

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

WTP Brings Federal Lawsuit to Stop AIG Bailout

www.GiveMeLiberty.orgwww.GiveMeLiberty.org
September 18, 2008
WTP Brings Federal Lawsuit to Stop AIG Bailout

U.S. Lacks Constitutional Authority for Loan


On the day following the 221st anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, WTP Chairman and constitutional activist Robert Schulz today filed a federal lawsuit in United States District Court in Albany seeking to halt the execution of the emergency bailout of American International Group, Inc. (AIG) by the United States Government and the Federal Reserve.

The lawsuit asserts that the commitment of public funds and credit for the direct benefit of privately owned AIG is an ultra vires action by the United States Government and Federal Reserve, i.e., beyond the limited legal authority granted by the Constitution. The lawsuit asks for a "show cause" hearing demanding that the Government produce evidence of its legal authority to commit public funds for such a purpose, as well as emergency and permanent injunctions halting the bailout transaction.

Beyond the Constitutional deficiencies, the bailout establishes a dangerous precedent enabling the Fed and/or Government to nationalize virtually any business or property within the United States without legal authority or congressional approval.

The defendants include the Federal Reserve System, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the U.S. Treasury, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson Jr. and the United States Government.

The WTP Foundation today issued a press release citing Schulz:

"Beyond the moral hazard and dangerous precedent established by this action, it is of vital importance that the American people recognize that the present financial crisis is a direct and predictable result of decades of constitutional violations by the Federal Government. Through a long-standing policy of disinformation and collusion with the Federal Reserve and Wall Street financial elite, the United States Federal Government has denied public access to information about the secretive operations of the privately owned and operated Federal Reserve and its monopoly control of America's money system.

"This monopoly control of our currency by a private banking cartel has resulted in increasing distortion, volatility and cyclical (boom and bust) economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad. America's fiat currency (produced from thin air) is manipulated by the Federal Reserve for the benefit of its owners, major Wall Street financial institutions and the Federal Government and is not unaccountable to the taxpayers. These abuses of the Constitution have taken our financial system to edge of the abyss. The chickens have come home to roost."

Click here to read the Complaint, the Memorandum of Law supporting the TRO, and Schulz's Declaration which includes several recent articles from the New York Times.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Democracy, the god that Failed!

I got this note from Bryan Morton yesterday. I think that he has hit the proverbial "nail on the head!"

Bryan also asked if I have read
'Democracy, the god that Failed' by Hans Hermann Hoppe? The answer is YES! So should all of you!

INFO HERE Bryan went on to say,

"Sheep love their democracy. They love being able to decide how and when they'll get slaughtered. I wrote a blog post a while back on democracy. In it I compiled a list of things some famous and infamous people have said in regard to it. I copied the list and pasted it below for your enjoyment.
My definition of democracy is the oppression of the minority by the majority. It is a fraudulently legitimized method for government to give privilege to some by violating the rights of all the others.
Is democracy in the Bible? Not specifically by name, but definitely in action."

Peace, freedom, justice and prosperity,
Bryan Morton


"Democracy is the road to socialism." Karl Marx

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
" Thomas Jefferson

"More socialism means more democracy, openness and collectivism in everyday life." "Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life."
Mikhail Gorbachev

"Democracy is indispensable to socialism." Vladimir Lenin

"Democracy without morality is impossible." Jack Kemp

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." "I confess I enjoy democracy immensely. It is incomparably idiotic, and hence incomparably amusing." H. L. Mencken

"Socialist democracy is not a luxury but an absolute, essential necessity for overthrowing capitalism and building socialism." Ernest Mandel

"A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined." Norman Mailer

"Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms." Aristotle

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." John Adams

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner." Benjamin Franklin

"And for well over a hundred years our politicians, statesmen, and people remembered that this was a republic, not a democracy, and knew what they meant when they made that distinction." Robert Welch

"The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections." Lord Acton

"Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty." "Democracy passes into despotism." Plato

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." Winston Churchill

"Our country's founders cherished liberty, not democracy." Ron Paul


NOTICE: George W. Bush has issued Executive Orders
allowing the National Security Agency to read this message
and all other e-mail you receive or send without any warning,
warrant or notice. Bush has ordered this to be done without
any legislative or judicial oversight.

Monday, September 15, 2008

WTP Appeals Again to U.S. Supreme Court

www.GiveMeLiberty.orgwww.GiveMeLiberty.org
September 14, 2008
WTP Appeals Again to U.S. Supreme Court

DC Constitution Day Event Canceled


It's been three weeks since our last update. We apologize for that, but it was unavoidable as we needed to focus our efforts on researching, writing and timely filing two important legal briefs.

On September 5, 2008, we filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States in Robert L. Schulz, et al v. United States (Docket No. 08-317). This is the so-called "6700" case regarding the constitutionality of forced withholding of pay from the paychecks of workers, and the legality of a District Court's summary judgment order issued to stop Schulz and WTP from distributing Petitions for Redress of Grievances regarding the subject.

On September 11, 2008, we filed a Reply Brief in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York in Robert L. Schulz, et al v. State of New York, et al. (Case No. 07-943). This is the so-called "N-CEL" case (National Clean Election Lawsuit), regarding the constitutionality of counting votes by machines and computers (i.e., in secret) and the need for paper ballots, hand marked and hand counted.

Click here for a copy of our "6700" Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court and its Appendix.

Click here for our Plaintiffs' Reply Brief Supporting Summary Judgment in the National Clean Elections lawsuit, in response to the Government's Brief opposing Summary Judgment and the Government's Statement of Facts


D.C. Constitution Day Event Canceled

Due to numerous factors, including a substantial lack of participation, WTP has canceled the Constitution Day event planned for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

As Constitution Day passes this Wednesday, WTP Chairman Bob Schulz asks that everyone take a moment quietly to reflect on the current state of our Constitution and the extent that they are personally committed to defending it as the cornerstone of our form of righteous and limited governance.

Fundraiser!

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

!!Breaking!! Lehman Bros Insolvent by Monday

!!Breaking!! Lehman Bros Insolvent by Monday, Financial Collapse to Follow.

Is this the start of events that RP eluded to? Seems like the big banks are bricking it...

http://digg.com/business_...

http://www.youtube.com/wa...

Preparations are being made in case the US investment bank Lehman Brothers has to file for bankruptcy protection.

The firm was pushed to the brink on Sunday after UK bank Barclays pulled out of talks to buy most of Lehman.

If no new financing is found before Wall Street opens on Monday, Lehman will have to seek so-called Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In the UK, accountancy firm PWC has been lined up to run the British operations of Lehman.

BBC business editor Robert Peston says Barclays' decision to walk away from a Lehman deal was a huge setback for the effort to rescue the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States.

A source close to the talks told the BBC that Barclays was unlikely to change its mind.

Barclays terminated the negotiations because it was unable to obtain guarantees in relation to financial commitments faced by Lehman when markets open on Monday.

Bad bank, good bank

The rescue effort for Lehman is being coordinated by the US Treasury and the New York Federal Reserve.

The US government had hoped to arrange a bailout under which other US investments banks - such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs - would finance a "bad bank" that would hold the most "toxic" investments of Lehman in the property and mortgage market.

The "good bank" or rest of the firm, including its investment and wealth management arms, would then be sold to another financial institution, for example Bank of America or the UK's Barclays.

Although such a deal would have cost the other investment banks millions, it might have restored confidence in the sector and avoided a sharp drop in the share price of all banks.

However, it appears that this plan is falling apart.

"The only thing that can prevent Lehman collapsing would be a huge injection of taxpayers' money," a banker close to the talks told the BBC.

"In the light of the credit crunch and the parlous state of financial markets, Barclays feels it would be running a crazy risk if it took on [Lehman's obligations] without any protection right now," says our business editor.

Bank of America, meanwhile, is said to be unconvinced that buying Lehman would be in the interest of its shareholders.

'Too difficult to value'

"No other large firm should buy Lehman whole - its toxic real estate and securities are too difficult to value," said Professor Peter Morici of the business school of the University of Maryland.

"Only a fool would think he could fairly assess their value, unless those are assigned them a value of zero," he added.

Lehman is up for sale after it reported a $3.9bn (£2.2bn) quarterly loss last week amid concerns over its long term financial viability.

The firm's share price has plummeted as fears over its future have mounted.

Uncertainty

Unless a bailout deal can be arranged and another large bank steps up to buy the good bits of Lehman, the US firm will have to file for bankruptcy protection.

MORE HERE

If You Vote, You Have No Right To Complain

The Kaptain's Log
by Kaptain Kanada a.k.a. Manuel Miles
manuel_miles -+at+- shaw.ca

Proudly From The Libertarian Enterprise

If You Vote, You Have No Right To Complain

Yes, you read it correctly: if you vote you have no right to complain. I know that the old statist saw is that you haven't the right to complain (or have an anti-statist opinion, etc.) unless you take part in the election farce, but it's time to put that one to rest permanently. And with Barry Obomber and Insane McCain competing to claim the mantle of Harbinger of Change, only the most thoroughly brainwashed idiots have a right to pretend to believe in dumbocracy and its various specious claims.

If there's one thing we know for sure, it's that neither wing of the ruling DemRep Party is for changing anything but faces. Voting only endorses four more years of the same violation of the U.S. Constitution, theft of property and earnings, meddling in the private lives of citizens, police statism at the airports and the borders of the imperial State, and war, war, war.

The recent "Republican" party convention and the attendant fascist raids on St Paul citizens' homes and theft of property from all suspected of opposing the McCain circus is a good lesson in dumbocracy. Even legitimate delegates to the farcical convention were robbed of copies of Ron Paul's books. leaflets, lapel pins and other things feared by the thugs who run the Ghoulish Old Party.

The "Democratic" side of the counterfeit statist coin is just as evil; Barry Obomber has led the charge to slaughter even more Afghans and Pakistanis—although, like all good statist warmongers, he "leads from the rear". A tour of Kandahar is out of the question for as long as there are live Afghans there. And don't even question the intention of this wing of the vulture party to keep raising taxes—they're actually proud of it!

The Reagan/Bush Sr/Clinton/Baby Bush/ [place any statist stooge's name here: ________] Dynasty will never be ended by playing the elections shell game. The same oligarchs who pull the strings on the political puppets also own the MainSewerMedia and control the government schools. If you think this will lead to any kind of honest debate of real issues or even fair coverage of the candidacy of the occasional maverick like Ron Paul, then you have not been paying attention lately.

Besides, in our glorious western dumbocracies, every illiterate who is capable of swilling beer and marking an "X" has the same ballot "power" as you do. With the average I.Q. being a mere 100, and with the average man not making much use of what little potential intelligence he has, any demagogue can manipulate the broad masses, comrade.

Now those few American people capable of analytical thinking have to decide whether they want to continue choosing Statist A or Statist B, or if they wish to oppose the increasingly fascistic imperial socialist state which brutalises the world with their sons and their confiscated wealth. At least the Ron Paul Revolution showed them that there is an alternative to statism.

I hope that the American people finally learn the election lesson. I hope that a serious opposition movement grows up in the USA. I hope that it exposes and opposes every move made by the State at all levels. I hope that the American people boycott the phony elections, home school their children, and read the books and websites that the MSM don't want them to even know exist. I hope that a new generation of MeetUp groups arises; one for the purpose of promoting and participating in a new American Revolution—a revolution unlike any the world has seen before.

It's possible. If the Ron Pauistas and others don't become discouraged and/or intimidated, they could plant the seed of that Revolution. It starts with learning the lessons of the Ron Paul candidacy. It could end with an era of...

Peace and Liberty.


Manuel Miles is a Libertarian Christian and an inveterate iconoclast. He challenges authorities, experts and conventional "wisdom". He is a writer and itinerant pedagogue from Edmonton, Canada whose professed ambition is "...to trample everyone's sensitivities, regardless of their race, creed, colour, political persuasion, or what-have-you." His few friends describe him as "a nasty bit of baggage," and they are understating the case.

If you like Bar-B-Q and pork, this show is dedicated to you and George Bush.

Republican Bar-B-Q
See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Thursday, September 11, 2008

An American tragedy made into a political commodity

Obermann has his faults and shortsightedness. He is a believer in the "official" story of 9/11. However he is RIGHT ON THE MARK with this analysis.



SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
MSNBC

As promised, a Special Comment about our sad anniversary tomorrow.

Or, more correctly, what our sad anniversary tomorrow has been turned into by the presidential administration, and the current Republican candidates for President and Vice President.

This is supposed to be a day of remembrance. Remembrance of the attack, remembrance of the national unity which followed it.

Most important of all, remembrance of the dead.

But 9/11 has become a brand name. A Republican campaign slogan. Propaganda of the lowest form. 9/11 has become 9/11 with a trademark logo.

9/11 (TM) has sustained a president who long ago should have been dismissed, or impeached. It has kept him and his gang of financial and constitutional crooks in office without — literally — any visible means of support.

9/11 (TM) has made possible the greatest sleight-of-hand in our nation’s history.

The political party in office at the time of the attacks, at the local, state and national levels, the party which uniformly ignored the warnings and the presidential administration already through twenty percent of its first term and no longer wet behind the ears, have not only thus far escaped any blame for the malfeasance and criminal neglect that allowed the attacks to occur, but that presidency and that party, have managed to make it seem as if the other political party would be solely and irredeemably responsible for any similar catastrophe in the future.

Thus, Sen. McCain, were you able to accomplish a further inversion of reality at your party’s nominating convention last week.

There was the former Mayor of the City of New York, the one who took no counter-terrorism measure in his seven years in office between the first attack on the World Trade Center, and the second attack.

Nothing, except to insist, despite all advice and warning, that his Emergency Command Center be moved directly into the World Trade Center.

Yet there was this man, Sir, Rudolph Giuliani, quite succinctly dismissed as “A Noun, a Verb, and 9/11,” and repudiated even by Republican voters, transformed into the keynote speaker, Sen. McCain at your convention.

And his childish, squealing, braying, Tourette’s-like repetition of 9/11 (TM), was greeted not as conclusive evidence that he is consumed by massive guilt - hard-earned guilt, in fact but rather as some kind of political tour-de-force, an endorsement of your Vice Presidential nominee, a rookie governor , a facile and slick con artist.

The blind endorsing the bland, to a chorus of 9/11 (TM), 9/11 (TM), 9/11 (TM.)

Your ringing mindless cheer of “We’ve Kept You Safe Since Then.”While nobody asks “doesn’t then count?”

All of this, sadistically disrespecting the dead of New York, and Washington, and Shanksville. Endorsed, Sen. McCain. Exploited, Sen. McCain. Trademarked, Sen. McCain by you.

And yet of course the exact moment in which Sen. McCain’s Republicans showed the nation exactly how far they have fallen from the Better Angels of Mr. Lincoln’s Nature, came the next night.

The television networks were told that the Convention would pause, early in the evening, when children could still be watching, for a 9/11 Tribute, and they were encouraged to broadcast it.

What we got was not a tribute to the dead of 9/11, nor even a tribute to the responders, or the singularity of purpose we all felt. The Republicans gave us sociological pornography, a virtual snuff film.

Years ago, responsible television networks, to the applause of the nation, and the relief of its mental health authorities, voluntarily stopped showing the most graphic of the images of the World Trade Center, except with the strongest of warnings.

And yet, the Republicans, at their convention, having virtually seized control of the cable news operations, showed the worst of it.

This is all anyone with a conscience can show you of what the Republicans showed you. The actual collapse of the smoking towers.

A fleeting image of what might have been a victim leaping to his death from a thousand feet up. And something new. From this angle, ground-level, perfectly framed, images, of the fireball created when the second plane hit the second tower.

It was terrifying. After all its object was to terrify. Not to commemorate, not to call for unity, not to remember the dead. But to terrify.

To open again the horrible wounds, to brand the skin of this nation with the message — as hateful as the terrorists’ own, that you must vote Republican or this will happen again and you will die.

And just in case that was not enough, to also dishonestly and profanely conflate 9/11 with the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, to stoke the flames of paranoia about another Middle Eastern Nation.

This was a 9/11 Tribute. Not to the dead, nor to the unity. But a tribute to how valuable 9/11 has been as a political tool for the Republican Party. 9/11... (TM.)

Sen. McCain, you had promised us a clean campaign. You could be Snow-White the rest of the way, Sir, yet that manipulative videotape from your convention should tar you always in the minds of decent Americans.

And still, as this seventh 9/11 (TM) approaches that, Sir, is not the worst of your contributions to the utter politicizing of a day that should be sacrosanct to all of us.

Hard to believe, but the Senator has done worse with 9/11 and the evil behind it.

We heard it last week in Minnesota, we’ve heard it off and on since January but Senator McCain said it most concisely in June.

“Look,” he said. “I know the area, I’ve been there, I know wars, I know how to win wars, and I know how to improve our capabilities so that we will capture Osama bin Laden — or put it this way, bring him to justice. We will do it. I know how to do it.”

Sen. McCain seems to be quite serious, that he and he alone, not the CIA, nor the U.S. Military, nor the current President can capture bin Laden.

Thus we must take him at his word, that this is no mere ludicrous campaign boast.

We must assume Sen. McCain truly believes he is capable of doing this, and has been capable of doing this, since last January. “We will capture Osama bin Laden… we will do it. I know how to do it.”

Well then, Senator, you’d better go and do it hadn’t you?

Because, Sir, if a man or woman in this nation, Democrat or Republican, had a clear and effective means of capturing or killing Osama bin Laden…

If that person had been advertising his claim, Senator for eight months.

But if that person not only refused to go to responsible authorities in government and advise them of this plan to catch bin Laden, but further announced he would not even begin to enact this secret plan to corral the world’s most hated man until the end of next January.

What would be your description of such an individual, Senator? Charlatan? Do-nothing? Opportunist? Sen. McCain, if you have, if you have had a means of capturing Osama bin Laden, and you do not immediately inform some responsible authority of the full scope of that plan, you are to some degree great or small aiding and abetting Osama bin Laden.

If you could assist in capturing him now, Sen. McCain, but you have chosen not to you, Sir, have helped Osama bin Laden stay free.

Free to inspire and supervise the terrorists. Free to plan or execute attacks here.

You, Sir, are blackmailing some portion of the American electorate into voting for your party, by promising to help in the capture of bin Laden only if you are made president!

I’d rather win an election than catch bin Laden! No more cynical calculation has ever been made in this nation’s history, Sir. If you lose the election, Senator, are you not going to tell the President-Elect?

Are you intending to keep this a secret until the next election and your party’s next nominee? Senator, as you and your Republicans shed your phony, crocodile, opportunistic tears tomorrow on 9/11 TM, in front of the utterly disingenuous banner “Country First,” the fact is, you have shown that it is John McCain first, and the country last.

The fact is, Sir, by holding out on your secret plan to catch bin Laden by searing those images into our collective wounded American psyche at your nomination last week, terrorists are not what you, John McCain, fight. Terrorists are what you, John McCain, use.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Never-Ending War on American Freedom

by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

From the beginning of the American Republic there has been a group of influential people who have devoted their lives and careers to putting more Power In Government (PIGs). As soon as the American Revolution ended Alexander Hamilton schemed to overthrow the first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, and replace it with a document that would legitimize a permanent president who would appoint all the governors and have veto power over all state legislation. He wanted a king, in other words, who could force British-style mercantilism and an imperialistic foreign policy on America without any significant resistance by the citizens of the states. He failed during his lifetime, but that is essentially the system Americans live under today. We now live in "Hamilton’s republic," as his idolaters gleefully remind us.

As soon as Hamilton’s party, the Federalists, gained power, one of the first things they did was to rescind the First Amendment to the new Constitution with the Sedition Act during the presidency of John Adams. Hamilton authored several long-winded reports as Treasury Secretary in which he invented the insidious notions of "implied" powers in the Constitution along with such an expansive interpretation of the General Welfare and Commerce Clauses that the Constitution would become useless as a restraint on governmental tyranny.

Hamilton’s political compatriot, Chief Justice John Marshall, turned Hamilton’s legalistic mysticism into legal precedent during his long tenure on the Court, with many other PIG lawyers following suit over the succeeding generations. And of course Abraham Lincoln established a French Revolutionary/Stalinist-style regime that imprisoned tens of thousands of Northern political dissenters, employed an army of spies and informers (on Northern citizens), shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers, illegally suspended habeas corpus, deported an outspoken member of the opposition party, confiscated firearms, illegally created the state of West Virginia, censored all telegraph communication, and myriad other assaults on the Constitution, including waging war on his own country after promising to defend the lives and liberties of the very people he was waging war on.

MORE HERE

The PoLice Racket

Officer Kanapsky, is it?

By

It's a suburban neighborhood, on Sunday morning. There is a three-way stop at which hardly anyone ever goes the other direction than the main one. But you often see a police car in the nearby parking lot, keeping his sharp eye out for evil lawbreakers. These are the dangerous criminals who slow down almost to a full stop that causes the car to shift back the other direction, but don't quite do this. Instead they do what is sometimes called a "rolling stop" which stops short of full immobilization.The policeman in the car regards this as "running a stop sign," as if you paid no attention to it at all, and he'll give you a ticket whenever he catches you doing it.

From the policeman's point of view, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. One recent empirical accounting at this intersection (I dragooned some neighborhood kids into keeping count) observed that more than 9 in 10 people do not come to what the law regards as a "full stop."

I should know about this because, try as I might to be a law-abiding citizen, I have now received my fifth ticket this year at this very intersection one block from my house. That's not a typo. Five! I know it sounds crazy — why the heck can't I obey those who are ordained to keep me safe? — but when you consider that I go through this intersection several times per day, I'm actually doing rather well.

It goes without saying that this is a racket. The city is many hundreds of dollars richer because of my penchant for law breaking alone, and probably hundreds of thousands richer if you include everyone else's.

But it wasn't until someone drew my attention to this link that I understood the full extent of what this whole racket is about. Yes, it's about money. But there is more to it than that. You see, it turns out that I'm an archetype, a person who rolls through stop signs in my safe neighborhood and then gets outraged when the ticket is issued and attempts to "fight authority" rather than pay up. So, fool that I am, I actually believe in "challenging the system." I take seriously the claim that I'm innocent until proven guilty. Can you believe the naïveté? MORE HERE

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Freedom Shenanigan #31 - The On Line Freedom Academy

Freedom Shenanigan #31
Graduate From The On Line Freedom Academy

This the best compact immersion course in freedom philosophy on the net. If you are serious about freedom in your lifetime then you MUST graduate from this course. It is easy to do but challenging. YOU CAN DO IT!

Welcome! TOLFA offers what everyone values most: FREEDOM.

It's free of charge - but not free of cost. You'll have to work at it; there may be some brain-strain. You'll learn things they never taught you in government school - you may even need to do some UN-learning. To help, the person who led you here will be your "mentor" (or if you arrived by yourself be sure to request one here) and when you've graduated to full Membership in the Academy, you'll want to help a few friends you bring to it (suggested: one or more a year.) That's TOLFA's "mentor" system and it will lead quickly to explosive growth.

You'll gain a deep sense of freedom, as you discover things never seen before. That benefit will come at once. Its larger benefit will come when most of society - scores of millions - has graduated, by some time in the 2020s. Then, the whole country will be free. TOLFA's aim is nothing less.

So: ready to start? - then let's go! Click here to see your Study Plan.

Freedom Shenanigan #30 - Learn the Patriot War College

Freedom Shenanigan # 30
Learn the Patriot War College

Welcome patriots, constitutionalists, "conspiracy wackos," "Right-Wing extremists," "Religious Right nut cases," doom sayers, doomsday, survivalists, ethical anarchists (is there such a thing? If so, I lean that direction on bad days), revolutionaries, rebels, resisters (notice I did NOT say racists) and plain ol' hard-headed, red-blooded Americans! If you've been described as one (or more) of the above, by yourself or others, you'll probably find something of interest on this site. You might even meet somebody almost as crazy as you are. Maybe twice as crazy, if you actually meet the author! Oh yeah--the opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily shared by anyone, anywhere; and almost certainly don't reflect those of the management or staff of any profit-motivated organization. Blah, blah, blah.

Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered.
- Daniel 11:33
"The true importance of the Second Amendment will not be fully understood until they begin to usurp its power."
- Thomas Jefferson
"They that would give up essential liberty, to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams
No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.
- 16th American Jurisprudence
All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.
- Marbury vs. Madison
Article I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Article II: A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
- Bill of Rights (Constitution of the United States of America)
The claim and exercise of a constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime.
- Miller v. U.S.
Where rights as secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which will abrogate them.
- Miranda v. Arizona
He (Jesus) said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.
- Luke 22:36
MORE HERE