"We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error, so long as reason is left free to combat it."
- Thomas Jefferson
News And Commentary
April 5, 2008 A Moment of Silence On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress met in (what we now call) Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The session began with Richard Henry Lee of the Virginia delegation reading his resolution in favor of independence from England. What transpired after the reading of Lee’s resolution became the single most significant event in American history. The unanimous vote for independence (New York abstained, but voted in favor one week later) is often something that we take for granted in our 21st century way of thinking. We tend to forget the difficult decisions that were agonized over and the compromises that were made in order to achieve such a bold act of courage by men who were just as human as we are. We tend to look back on these men—the “founding fathers” of our country—with romantic notions of valor and bravery. We tend to think that when they made their declaration of independence that they were ready with a battle plan, that the declaration was merely a formality of a foregone conclusion. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
- by Eric Rauch / The American Vision
Books I Have Recently Found Helpful There is an old adage that says, "Leaders are readers." Another one says, "You are what you read." Whatever the adage, there is no question that reading is an absolute necessity if freedom and liberty are to be maintained. It is very difficult to enslave a mind that has been quickened by the extensive reading of good books. Most great men are voracious readers.
- by Chuck Baldwin / NewsWithViews
The Forbidden Financial Topic: U.S. National Debt As we wind our way towards an election between the numerous professional liars who have been put forward as candidates for U.S. President, it seems to be a great time to remind us all about the financial issue being routinely ignored by virtually everyone (except Ron Paul, of course, who was never really embraced by the "please lie to me" mainstream public). To what financial issue am I referring? The national debt, of course.
- by Mike Adams / Natural News
Ron Paul(Foreign Policy) + Ron Paul(Economy) = The Solution
Ron Paul’s position on foreign policy is consistent with his position on economics. He preaches non-intervention overseas and the deregulation of markets. His positions are interesting in that they steadfastly refuse to contradict each other.
- by Liberty Maven
I am weary of sending people to represent me only to find them moving to the left upon their arrival in Washington. Have you noticed that “conservatives” usually move to the left (a la Orrin Hatch, et al.) but liberals never move to the right? Conservatives convert to Liberalism not because Liberals are right but because Conservatives get infected with Potomac Fever, i.e. they like the Washington Post writing how they are “flexible,” “open-minded,” and they enjoy being on the cocktail circuit lists that are closed to Conservatives.
I am weary of politicians who are so enamored with their positions that they will compromise any principle to stay in office.
- by Don Boys / The Covenant News
McCain Finance Maneuvers: Shamed Into It? Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like a post hoc justification from the McCain campaign whose federal election compliance team must have taken a peek at the law and said "ooops-a-daisy!" See what you think:
- by Christy Hardin Smith / FireDogLake.com
Who Are We? It’s really not that hard to understand who we are.
First you start with the Declaration of Independence and then proceed to the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Next, you might appreciate the sacrifice of all who believed in the greatness of this "last best hope of man on earth".
And being an American has nothing to do with: where you came from; the color of your skin; the food you eat or the boxes you check on a Census form.
Being an American has everything to do with self-determination, individual liberty and inherent fundamental individual rights that protect you from the tyranny of the majority.
There are no competing ideologies or cultures. There is only the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. And this commonality, not disparate diversity, is what truly makes you an American.
The only colors that matter in America are red, white and blue because those colors symbolize who we are.
- by Daniel Sargis / EtherZone
What Do We Stand For? Americans traditionally thought of their country as a "city upon a hill," a "light unto the world." Today only the deluded think that. Polls show that the rest of the world regards the United States and Israel as the two greatest threats to peace.
If Americans have any honor, how can they betray their Founding Fathers, who gave them liberty, by tolerating a government that claims immunity to law and the Constitution and is erecting a police state in their midst?
- by Paul Craig Roberts / LewRockwell.com
Reform leader: 'Christians for Israel' Hurt Country As 1,000 Christians tour Israel with Christians United for Israel, the head of the Union for Reform Judaism called Wednesday night on the union to reject alliances with the group, which - he said - "advances their theology at the expense of Israel's security and well-being."
- by Michal Lando, The Jerusalem Post
Funding Our Decline It is certainly time to begin debating this disbursement of our hard-earned money. It is quite possible that we have better uses for it.
To decide whether the US should continue military aid to any nation, it is essential to examine the nature and history of the recipient nation, how it has used our military aid in the past, whether these uses are in accord with our values, and whether they benefit the American taxpayers who are putting up the money.
- by Alison Weir / Information Clearing House
New Study Shows US Lawmakers Have as Much as $196 Million Invested in Defense Companies Members of the U.S.Congress have as much as $196 million (€126.2 million) collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the start of the Iraq war, according to a new study by a nonpartisan research group.
The review of lawmakers' 2006 financial disclosure statements, by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, suggests that members' holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members who earned the most from defense contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt.
- by The Associated Press / International Herald Tribune
Video: Christianity and War Laurence Vance discusses his updated book Christianity and War at the Austrian Scholars Conference.
- by Laurence M. Vance / Mises.org
Was WWII 'The Good War'? "Yes, it was a good war," writes Richard Cohen in his column challenging the thesis of pacifist Nicholson Baker in his new book, "Human Smoke," that World War II produced more evil than good.
Baker's compelling work, which uses press clips and quotes of Axis and Allied leaders as they plunged into the great cataclysm, is a virtual diary of the days leading up to World War II.
- by Patrick J. Buchanan / WorldNetDaily
How to Fix the Executive Branch President George W. Bush's successor should renounce his monarchy. It betters the instruction of King George III, which provoked the Declaration of Independence. Among other things, the 44th president of the United States should do the following promptly upon taking office: Transfer the impending trials of six "high-value" al-Qaida detainees before Spanish Inquisition-like military commissions to civilian courts; repudiate President Bush's kidnappings, secret imprisonments, and maltreatments of suspected al-Qaida supporters abroad on his say-so alone—a page from Hobbes' state of nature; denounce signing statements that declare the president's intent to disregard provisions of bills he has signed into law because he disputes their constitutionality; and end the snobbish custom of former government Brahmins preening in their honorifics after leaving office. The Founding Fathers prohibited titles of nobility to encourage a nonhierarchical culture that honors equality before the law.
- by Bruce Fein / Slate
Ron Paul on Executive Power A Discussion on Executive Power with Dr. Ron Paul, Presented by the Federalist Society Chapter of Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH, 12/19/07
Hands Off Internet Gambling Mr. Chairman, I stand opposed to the regulations being discussed today because I opposed the underlying bill upon which these regulations are based. The ban on Internet gambling infringes upon two freedoms that are important to many Americans: the ability to do with their money as they see fit, and the freedom from government interference with the Internet.
The proper role of the federal government is not that of a nanny, protecting citizens from any and every potential negative consequence of their actions. Although I personally believe gambling to be a dumb waste of money, American citizens should be just as free to spend their money playing online poker as they should be able to buy a used car, enter into a mortgage, or invest in a hedge fund. Risk is inherent in any economic activity, and it is not for the government to determine which risky behaviors Americans may or may not engage in.
- by Ron Paul / LewRockwell.com
81 Percent of Americans Think Country on "Wrong Track" Four out of five Americans believe things are "on the wrong track" in the United States, the gloomiest outlook in about 20 years, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Thursday.
The poll found that 81 percent of respondents felt "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track." That was up from 69 percent last year and 35 percent in early 2003.
- by Reuters
Workers’ pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. Job losses are nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three months.
For the third month in a row total U.S. employment rolls shrank — often a telltale sign that the economy has jolted dangerously into reverse.
- by The Associated Press / MSNBC.com
There Is No Gas Shortage One wonders if verifiable facts ever get in the way of this administration's statements on issues that are critical to the average American's wellbeing. After all, last time I checked, when politicians are elected to public office, or appointed, as is Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman, they must take an oath to the American people before assuming their new positions. How can they forget a sacred oath so quickly? Were they daydreaming when they took it, so it never meant anything to begin with? Maybe it's just another promise you have to make to get into office: When you're securely incumbent you can ignore even solemn oaths you took
- by Ed Wallace / BusinessWeek
NPR Interview - Our Confusing Economy, Explained Perplexed by the U.S. economy? You're not alone. Law professor Michael Greenberger joins Fresh Air to explain the sub-prime mortgage crisis, credit defaults, the shaky future of other types of loans and what we can expect from the U.S. financial markets.
Greenberger is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and the director of the University's Center for Health and Homeland Security.
- by NPR
Ron Paul’s Health Ideas Make Economic Sense In this final look at health care costs and politics we’re going to check out Ron Paul’s plan. Ron who? Is he running for President? Ron Paul is running for president as a Republican. If you have missed that it is because the media has very pointedly ignored him.
During these endless and mostly mindless debates Paul has showed himself to be the only original thinker in the whole stable of Presidential wannabes. For whatever reason – and all the conspiracy theories not withstanding – the media has just cut him out of the process which makes me think that there is no longer such a thing as reporting the news. What remains is only propaganda and promotion of corporate agendas.
- by Rick Coddington / Small Town Papers
Best Office Pranks As long as there have been offices, there have been office pranks. There is just something about spending 8 hours behind a desk or inside a cubicle that awakens the prankster inside us all. And whether it's filling cars with golf balls, turning a cubicle into a miniature house, or making people fall out of their chairs, office pranks are some of the best pranks around! Here are 12 of the funniest office pranks you're likely to see (in no particular order).
- by Video Clips Review / Freedom's Phoenix
April 3, 2008 Unbrainwash Yourself Again and again in these columns I have respectfully reminded you that the main reason this country is now on its knees is the communist government schools. We could not have arrived at the end of the plank had not those schools cooked our brains from the beginning. The communist media left and right – from the Communist Broadcasting System and the Communist News Network to Loopy Laura and Limbag – would not be enough. It could not have been done without the communist schools.
- by Alan Stang / NewsWithViews
Battle of Hastings - The Battle for America When William the Conqueror's spokesman laid down the terms of surrender before the English court those English nobles realized that they only had two choices. They could on one hand die fighting to defend their liberties as Saxons or on the other hand they could surrender and willingly consign themselves and their descendants to Norman slavery for generations. They decided to fight — and fight they did like men realizing that defeat meant not only personal loss but the loss of all that their fathers had handed them as well as the loss of all that they could ever bequeath to their descendants.
- by Bret McAtee / The Backwater Report
Ron Paul Radio Interview KDKA Pittsburgh 04/02/2008 Ron Paul was interviewed for almost 30 minutes on KDKA Pittsburgh tonight. Many topics were covered: fiscal policy, foreign policy, taxes, staying in the race, global warming, and more.
Statement before the Joint Economic Committee Hearing on "The Economic Outlook"
Back in the 1970s, government-caused inflation reached levels high enough that the Nixon administration decided to implement wage and price controls. Placing blame on greedy speculators, unscrupulous mortgage originators, or panicky investors, is a common reaction on the part of government.
The solution called for, despite the numerous documented failures of government regulation, is always more regulation, more government involvement in and control over the economy, and less free enterprise. Never is the blame placed squarely where it belongs, which is on the shoulders of legislators and regulators whose actions distort the market, prohibiting legitimate market activities and encouraging the development of labyrinthine and opaque financial schemes.
- by Ron Paul / Statement before the Joint Economic Committee
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Predicts Recession A wide majority of Americans view the economy as the number one issue of the Presidential campaign. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified today before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and from his remarks, the voters are right and the economy is indeed in need of a great deal of help
- by PoliticalLore.com
The Fed on Steroids
So the Treasury Department wants Congress to gift the Federal Reserve with broad new authority and power to ride rough shod over financial market stability (or lack thereof). The New York Times described it as “allowing it to send SWAT teams into any corner of the industry or any institution that might pose a risk to the overall system.”
Giving the Fed more power is like giving crack cocaine to jihadists…it’s NOT a good idea.
- by Geoff Metcalf / EtherZone
Gold in Hoards versus Gold on the Go Many readers of my column have asked me how much gold I think there is in Fort Knox, and how much gold I think is being hoarded by Americans that may be available for coinage in case the U.S. Mint is re-opened to gold.
I don't have the figures or estimates. From my perspective these figures do not matter any more. What matters is whether confidence can be restored to the extent that gold will start flowing to the Mint. Here the situation is definitely sad, as shown by the treatment of presidential candidate Ron Paul by the establishment, his own party, the media, the investing public, and the electorate. He has been given the cold shoulder by all in these extraordinary times, just when the financial world started crumbling all around us. He might be God’s messenger, but he has been treated no better than any other before him who was sent out to be prophet in his own land. Even a debate on gold as money, let alone the realization of it, is strenuously opposed by everybody, including the people themselves who are going to suffer for their denseness and put-on deafness as the dollar is ignominiously removed from the stage.
- by Antal E. Fekete / GoldSeek.com
The Dollar Falls, The Predators Awaken Not terribly long ago, it was common to hear of people "taking money out" of their homes. It was as if those houses were equipped with magic ATM consoles through which some portion of their inflated market value could be transmuted into cash.
Many houses of that sort have since been repossessed and are the property of banks. (That is to say, they are now the acknowledged property of banks, since an occupant with an unpaid mortgage doesn't really own the house in which he lives.)
And now an increasing number of foreclosed houses aren't fit for resale because thieves have literally been taking money out of them by cannibalizing their copper plumbing and wiring, as well as any other metals that can be bundled together and sold to scrap metal dealers.
- by William N. Grigg / Pro Libertate
Okay Obama, Let's Talk Issues And, speaking of the oil companies, execs are being grilled by the do-nothings in Congress. Some are demanding the oil companies be punished with all kinds of taxes or government controls, Fascism in its purest form. I am not sticking up for the oil companies because there is plenty of blame to go around. However, these are private organizations, not government agencies. Will Congress go after beer companies or manufacturers of aspirin because they raise their cost to the consumer? Yes, the oil company profits are obscene, but in a free market, it's competition that keeps prices competitive and that means keeping the government out as well as getting rid of the million regulations crushing so many sectors of private enterprise. It also means opening up available drilling within in the U.S. in a responsible way which can work for everyone. Continuing to tax private corporations for the failures of Congress will not solve the problem because Congress created the problem decades ago, right along with corrupt scoundrels serving in YOUR state legislature and signed off by special interest driven governors.
- by Devvy Kidd / NewsWithViews
A Submarine to Fight al-Qaida’s Navy A trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there, and soon you’re talking real money. But when it comes to reporting on what the Bush war legacy has cost American taxpayers, the media have been shockingly indifferent to the highest run-up in military spending since World War II. Even the devastating defense spending audit released Monday by the Government Accountability Office documenting the enormous waste in every single U.S. advanced weapons system failed to provoke the outrage it, and five equally scathing previous annual audits, deserved.
- by Robert Scheer / TruthDig
General William Odom Testimony before Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. It is an honor to appear before you again. The last occasion was in January 2007, when the topic was the troop surge. Today you are asking if it has worked. Last year I rejected the claim that it was a new strategy. Rather, I said, it is a new tactic used to achieve the same old strategic aim, political stability. And I foresaw no serious prospects for success.
I see no reason to change my judgment now. The surge is prolonging instability, not creating the conditions for unity as the president claims.
- by William E. Odom / Information Clearing House
NATO Backs Bush's Missile Defense System President Bush won NATO's endorsement Thursday for his plan to build a missile defense system in Europe over Russian objections. The proposal also advanced with Czech officials announcing an agreement to install a missile tracking site for the system in their country.
Bush also was undaunted in his drive to see the military alliance expanded further eastward, despite facing an immediate setback.
- by Matthew Lee, Associated Press / My Way News
Nato Denies Georgia and UkraineNato has confirmed it will not yet offer membership to Georgia or Ukraine after the 26-member alliance was split amid strong objections from Russia.
Moscow said Nato's promise at a summit in Romania that the nations would join one day was a "huge strategic mistake".
- by BBC News
Poll: Israel isn't top priority for US voters, including Jews Israel figures low on the totem pole for likely American voters, who are chiefly concerned with the economy and jobs followed by the situation in Iraq, affordable health care, terrorism and national security.
These are the findings of a poll conducted among 800 respondents representing America's broad demographic range in terms of age, affluence, gender, ethnic background and religion.
- by Greer Fay Cashman / The Jerusalem Post
Quarter Of Americans Now Think Iran is The Biggest Enemy A quarter of Americans believe that Iran now poses the biggest threat to the United States, confirming that a sustained neocon propaganda campaign to demonize Iran and its leaders for their own strategic benefit is having a significant impact.
According to a new poll by Gallup, Iran is top of the enemy list, with 25 percent, followed by Iraq at 22 percent, then China with 14 percent, and North Korea with 9 percent.
- by Steve Watson / GlobalResearch.ca
All Power to the President Though little discussed on the campaign trail, a crucial issue to be decided in November is whether the United States will return to its traditions as a constitutional Republic respecting “unalienable” human rights or whether it will finish a transformation into a frightened nation governed by an all-powerful President who can do whatever he wants during the open-ended “war on terror.”
- by Robert Parry / Consortium News
Maine Gets Real ID Extension; ID Card Issue Punted to Next Administration Citizens of all 50 states are now free to board airplanes using their driver's licenses -- at least unitl 2010, after the final renegade anti-Real ID state -- Maine -- won a time extension Wednesday from deadlines attached to new federal identification rules. That means that Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff can now say more secure identification is on the way, while independence-minded states can honestly say they stuck a thumb in the eye of the federal bureaucracy
- by Ryan Singel / Wired
9/11 Conspiracy Theories 'Ridiculous,' Al Qaeda Says Author of 9/11 book claims the federal government was behind the 9/11 attacks. al-Qaeda denounces book and presents documentation they were behind the attack.
- by Onion News Network
April 2, 2008 Confessions of a Missional Greek Prof Not long ago I took the wholly unthinkable step of deciding to publish a book on politics, which, while it didn’t excite the general public terribly, rubbed many Christians the wrong way. However, I make no apology for questioning the unconditional loyalty that American evangelicals pay to the god-state, especially in its GOP manifestation.
- by David Alan Black / DaveBlackOnline
Seeing is Believing If you were one of the lucky recipients of the London Telegraph’s flying penguins story sent to you by some mischievous friend or family member on April 1st, showing a flock of them flapping thousands of miles across the frigid Antarctic to the Amazon rainforest, you know all too well what it’s like to be played for a fool – even if only for a humorous moment.
Today’s computer graphics capabilities make illusion almost effortless for those who would deceive us – innocently or otherwise – especially in a world where "seeing is believing." It’s funny how easily we can be turned into enchanted children when confronted with the impossible made possible by illusion.
- by Paul Proctor / NewsWithViews
The Myth of the Just Price It is my desire in this talk not only to break the myth of the just price, but to present the biblical case for laissez-faire. But why the biblical case? Truth is truth, is it not? "Two plus two equals four" is true whether written by an apostle on a parchment or a teacher on a chalkboard. Agreed. But because the concept of the just price has religious overtones, it is essential that the biblical case be made.
- by Laurence M. Vance / Mises.org
Ron Paul on Glenn Beck 4-1-08 Ron Paul on Glenn Beck 4-1-08 discusses the federal reserve and the economy
Charles Goyette Interviews Lew Rockwell Charles, a talkshow star who is also a principled libertarian, was ostracized by Clear Channel for refusing to take the DC line on Bush's war. (It's interesting to watch the proposed CC-Romney sales deal go down the drain, thanks to the Fed's depression.) But he triumphed none the less. Thanks to Charles's producer, Dave Lucas, for this MP3 of my appearance this morning.
- by Lew Rockwell / LewRockwell.com Blog
Ron Paul Questions Ben Bernanke 04/02/08 Ron Paul Questions Ben Bernanke during the Joint Economic Committee hearings on April 2nd 2008
Oil execs: We're not to Blame for High Gasoline Prices The nation's top oil executives on Tuesday refused to take the blame for skyrocketing oil prices and instead urged Congress to open up previously off-limits areas such as Aractic National Wilflife Refuge for exploration. Five executives spent three hours fielding questions from a House select committee probing gasoline prices and oil company strategies for investing in alternative fuel technologies.
- by Erika Bolstad / McClatchy Newspapers
Bad Times Coming The Federal Reserve is pumping so much paper money into the system to avoid bankruptcies and deflation, I don't see how it's going to avoid inflation. At the same time, our own beloved federal government has run its debt up beyond all reason and enacted so many entitlement programs, they alone will soon be sucking up every penny of tax revenue.
- by Charley Reese / LewRockwell.com
GAO Blasts Weapons Budget Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
The Government Accountability Office found that 95 major systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295 billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion, and are delivered almost two years late on average. In addition, none of the systems that the GAO looked at had met all of the standards for best management practices during their development stage
- by Dana Hedgpeth / The Washington Post
Leave Russia Alone Before the US House of Representatives, April 1, 2008: Statement on H Con Res 154 Expressing concern over Russian involvement in Alexander Litvinenko’s murder
Mr. Speaker: I rise in strong opposition to this ill-conceived resolution. The US House of Representatives has no business speculating on guilt or innocence in a crime that may have been committed thousands of miles outside US territory. It is arrogant, to say the least, that we presume to pass judgment on crimes committed overseas about which we have seen no evidence.
- by Ron Paul / LewRockwell.com
Statement on H Res 997 Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution calling for the further expansion of NATO to the borders of Russia. NATO is an organization whose purpose ended with the end of its Warsaw Pact adversary. When NATO struggled to define its future after the Cold War, it settled on attacking a sovereign state, Yugoslavia , which had neither invaded nor threatened any NATO member state. Mr. Speaker, NATO should be disbanded, not expanded
- by Ron Paul, M.D. Before The US House of Representatives
Key Pakistani Official Says U.S. Must End Attacks on Militants The new top official in Pakistan's terrorism-racked northwest frontier has demanded that the United States end missile strikes in the country and called for negotiations with militants — an approach that would dramatically alter the American-inspired war on terror there. Amir Haider Hoti, who took the oath of office Tuesday as chief minister of the North West Frontier Province, said in an interview with McClatchy that military action should now be used only as a "last resort."
- by Saeed Shah / McClatchy Newspapers
The Transcendent Challenge of Our Time Come next November, Diebold and the Supreme Court notwithstanding, we will get to choose between Tyranny and Despotism with Lies, and Liberty with Truth.
The two coordinate branches of the War Party can only thrive based on fightings and fears within and without. There is no history on their side. Evil Empires must be taken down. They always have been. The war money called Federal Reserve Notes will either be set aside, phased out, or inflated until it isn’t worth the cost of paper or digital zeros. American foreign policy will be humbled sooner or later.
We cannot spend our way to prosperity and global dominance by inflating inherently worthless fiat money.
- by Bill Huff / LewRockwell.com
Delusionary, Dancing Bush At the American Enterprise Institute, war-cheerleaders – dressed as academicians – were delivering a panegyric on how peaceful and stable the situation in Iraq had become. The “surge,” they announced, had nipped a civil war in the bud.
- by Ray McGovern / Consortium News
The Abandonment of the Rule of Law Ahmed Khalfan Ghailana, a citizen of Tanzania, is learning first-hand what it’s like to be the victim of the U.S. government’s post-9/11 regime of the “rule of men,” as compared to the “rule of law.”
Some people believe, incorrectly, that the term “rule of law” means that people are expected to obey the law. What it actually means is that people should have to answer to a well-defined law for their conduct rather than the arbitrary whims of government officials.
Thus, the “rule of law” is contrary to what is often called “the rule of men.”
- by Jacob G. Hornberger, Future of Freedom Foundation / Freedom's Phoenix
Corruption Fueling Canada's Merge Into U.S. Multinational Big Business interests linked to the U.S. political-military-industrial complex, are now coordinating the elites of the Conservative and Liberal Parties, as "One Big Party". This is being done through the prism of the Security and Prosperity and Partnership North American Union (SPP-NAU) agenda. This SPP-NAU agenda, was orchestrated directly and in violation of Canadian sovereignty, through the Office of U.S. President George W. Bush, as corroborated by the official SPP.gov website.
- by Yvette Lafleur / The Canadian
Those who Control Oil and Water will Control the World History may not repeat itself, but, as Mark Twain observed, it can sometimes rhyme. The crises and conflicts of the past recur, recognisably similar even when altered by new conditions. At present, a race for the world's resources is underway that resembles the Great Game that was played in the decades leading up to the First World War. Now, as then, the most coveted prize is oil and the risk is that as the contest heats up it will not always be peaceful. But this is no simple rerun of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, there are powerful new players and it is not only oil that is at stake.
- by John Gray, The Observer / Guardian UK
Thirty-Six U.S. States to Face Water Shortages in the Next Five Years At least 36 states are expected to face water shortages within the next five years, according to U.S. government estimates. Available freshwater supplies are dwindling across the country due to rising temperatures and droughts, while increasing sprawl, population and inefficient resource usage are leading to rising demand.
"Is it a crisis? If we don't do some decent water planning, it could be," said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the American Water Works Association. Rising temperatures due to global warming have increased evaporation rates across the country and reduced the availability of important water sources.
- by David Gutierrez / Natural News
DHS Issues Maine Ultimatum on Real ID Maine has until Wednesday to agree to driver's licenses changes demanded by the federal government or face the consequences of having Maine driver's licenses rejected as valid identification at the nation's airports come May 11. DHS all but told the state Monday that it was the country's "weakest link" and that the state needed to change its licensing ways or face the fed's wrath.
- by Ryan Singel / Wired
There Stands Schweitzer Like a Stone Wall The pernicious and blatantly unconstitutional REAL ID Act has met with strenuous objections from many state officials, and, to their credit, some states have actually taken legislative action to forestall the program’s implementation. Even so, as the Associated Press reported on March 21, 2008, only Maine, Montana and South Carolina have not "sought extensions to comply, or already started toward compliance with Real ID." Enter Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
- by Robert F. Hawes Jr. / LewRockwell.com
Mobile Phones 'More Dangerous Than Smoking' Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.
- by Geoffrey Lean / Independent UK
Daddy Issues, War Lust in Oliver Stone's 'W' It's a classic American story: In the prime of his life, a man who parties too much and lives in the shadow of his esteemed father turns his life around. He gives up alcohol, embraces religion and finds a new purpose.
But will his desire to impress his dad and purge his personal demons put the world in danger?
- by Marcus Baram / ABC News
Only 1 of 2 Graduate High School in US In a report on graduation rates around the country, the EPE Research Center and the America Promise Alliance showed that the high school graduation rate -- finishing 12 grades of school -- in big cities falls to as low as just 34.6 percent in Baltimore, Maryland, and barely over 40 percent for the troubled Ohio cities of Columbus and Cleveland. And it said that black and native American student's have effectively a one-in-two chance of getting a high school diploma. "Our analysis finds that graduating from high school in America's largest cities amounts, essentially, to a coin toss," the study said. "Only about one-half (52 percent) of students in the principal school systems of the 50 largest cities complete high school with a diploma."
- by Agence France-Presse / The Straits Times
April 1, 2008 The Complete Biblical Picture From March 28–30 I was speaking at the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention. I was amazed to hear how so many people in attendance have been influenced by the work of American Vision. It was humbling to learn that our work has changed so many lives, especially in the area of a comprehensive worldview. Their previous fragmented worldview came into sharp focus once their eschatology changed. There is a growing worldview shift taking place. How do I know this? First, by the number of people who are abandoning dispensationalism and its dead-end theology. Second, by the refusal of most dispensationalists to defend their position publicly unless they get to control the debate. Third, Christians are beginning to see the connection between personal salvation and a broader transformation and how eschatology is a factor.
- by Gary DeMar / American Vision
Apathetic Pastors and Christians Killing America America's most celebrated jurist, Daniel Webster (himself a dedicated Christian man), said, "God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." Obviously, Christian men down through our history have personally and collectively shown themselves more than willing to "guard and defend" our liberties. From Bunker Hill to the Alamo, Christian men stood tall in the defense of America's freedom. So, it is more than a little disconcerting to realize that there is a sizeable percentage of today's Christians who seem completely unwilling to "guard and defend" liberty in these United States of America.
- by Chuck Baldwin / The Covenant News
Ron Paul Supporters vs. Real Conspiracy Theorists Political discourse in America is a washing machine spinning without any clothes inside. It’s all about the power and money grab to get elected. In Ron Paul many see something different. A candidate of integrity, honesty, and principle. Those that latched on to his campaign were quick to point out that once you actually listened to the man, ignored the media marginalization, and researched his positions, he was hard not to support.
In a perfect America we would all be tuned in to the rhetoric of our leaders and potential leaders. In a perfect America our leaders and potential leaders would stay true to their principles once in office. In a perfect America we would not dismiss a candidate because of his perceived “zero” chance at winning. In a perfect America we would vote for the candidate who we believe would best uphold the Constitution. After all that is their ultimate oath and supposed obligation.
- by Liberty Maven
Ron Paul: The Day Before Super Tuesday
April Fools: The Fox To Guard The Banking Henhouse The Federal Reserve, which has been credited with creating the current housing bubble and bust just as it created the credit bubble of the Roaring Twenties and the bust of 1929, is now to be given vast new powers to oversee regulation of the banking industry and promote "financial market stability." At least, that is the gist of a Treasury Department proposal to be presented to Congress on Monday, March 31, 2008. Adrian Douglas wrote on LeMetropoleCafe.com, "I would like to think that this is some sort of sick April Fools joke, but, alas, they are serious! What happened to free markets?"1
- by Ellen Brown / GlobalResearch.ca
Truck Drivers Threaten to Strike April 3 Rising gas prices are something we're all dealing with, but if you think filling your gas tank is hard, try paying more around $4 a gallon to a fill a 100-plus gallon tank.
That's what many truck drivers are shelling out for diesel fuel. They said it's too much and it's time they take a stand. Some drivers say they'll park their trucks on April 3. They want lawmakers to temporarily remove the federal and state taxes on diesel fuel until shipping rates can catch up to the cost of fuel.
- by Liz Flynn / WTOC
USA 2008: The Great Depression We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.
Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.
- by David Usborne / The Independent UK
Quick Vote Poll Should the Federal Reserve be given more power to regulate mortgages and the stock market?
- by CNN Money
Let the Housing Chips Fall The economic crisis enters a new and more dangerous phase daily, and Americans of all levels of economic sophistication are scrambling to make sense of the myriad remedies and proposals that are springing from Washington.
- by Peter Schiff / The Los Angeles Times
BerkShares Local Currency on CBS (2007)
FDR's Dream Comes True as Nightmare Seventy-five years ago this month, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States. Within days after swearing to uphold the US constitution, through a Presidential Proclamation, he closed the US Mint to gold. Recall that the Mint had been established by the constitution to protect the people's right to sound money.
Roosevelt had been elected on a platform of sound money. Barely in office, he reversed himself. He grabbed the gold of the people, marked up its value, leaving Federal Reserve notes in the hands of the people that were to lose 95% of their value during subsequent years. They stand poised to lose their remaining value before long
- by Antal E Fekete / Asia Times
Silver, Gold & the Last American Hero JFK Like everything in our past, the late American president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, exists as a memory. Struck down by an assassin in a decade where bullets - democracy’s deadly equalizer - quieted those brave enough to champion change, e.g. JFK, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a true American hero; and heroes, while a champion to many are, by definition, a threat to some.
- by Darryl Robert Schoon / Kitco.com
According to a political website, Fitsnews.com, former Georgia Representative Bob Barr is reported about to announce his presidential candidacy for the Libertarian Party.
- by Andrew Malcolm / Los Angeles Times
Obama's UN Sanctioned Global Tax Plan The Global Poverty Act (S.2433) is expected to come up for a vote in the US Senate any time before the November presidential elections, according to conservatives who fear it is a giant step towards handing over US sovereignty to the United Nations and foreign governments.
This is the newest liberal-inspired plan to allow a United Nations style tax on American citizens, according to officials at the American Conservative Union.
- by Jim Kouri / NewsWithViews
John McCain, Campaign Finance Criminal on CNN
Will McCain Wield the Big Stick? McCain tried to sound moderate and statesmanlike in his speech. So did President George Bush when he first came into office, decrying "nation building" and foreign entanglements. But a genuine moderate statesman does not sing "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" in public and call for perpetual war in Iraq.
- by Eric Margolis / LewRockwell.com
Going Fishing? Pack Your Passport Rick Ungar's charter fishing service promises a great time on Lake Erie. But there's a catch — and it's not freshwater fish. It's the Homeland Security Department's new anti-terrorism rules.
When the 2008 charter season begins next month, U.S. citizens paying to fish on Lake Erie will have to bring either a passport or two other IDs if they plan to cross the northern border's invisible watery line.
- by Mimi Hall / USA Today
UN Could Lead New 9/11 Investigation, Says Japanese MP Japanese member of Parliament Yukihisa Fujita told the Alex Jones Show yesterday that a potential new investigation of the 9/11 cover-up could be led by global parliamentarians he has been in contact with, or even by the United Nations itself.
- by Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet
Mukasey Admits Government Knew Of Call About 9/11, Before 9/11 During a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Thursday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey tacitly admitted that the U.S. government intercepted a call about 9/11 - before 9/11.
Before the 2001 terrorist attacks, he said, "we knew that there had been a call from someplace that was known to be a safe house in Afghanistan and we knew that it came to the United States. We didn't know precisely where it went," reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
- by Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet
Mile-High Tower of Babel? On a clear day, the view from the top will take in the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian Ocean - providing you've a head for heights.
Plans for a mile-high tower in the Saudi Arabian desert have been unveiled by the billionaire owner of London's Savoy Hotel.
At 5,250ft, the £5billion project, masterminded by two British engineering consultancies, will be twice as high as its nearest rivals, skyscrapers under construction in Dubai and Kuwait, and almost seven times as high as the Canary Wharf tower in London's Docklands.
- by Barry Wigmore / DailyMail UK
The Coolest Christian Movie Ever I’ve been meaning to see the "Zombie movie" that many people, especially kids, had been telling me about. I had seen the trailers and it looked rather typically apocalyptic. New York looked intact but no one was there. Will Smith was wandering around trying to find someone, and the plot line seemed obvious. Some bugaboo would emerge that he would fight and blah blah blah.
No thanks.
Well, I watched it anyway, and found it impossible not to watch.
- by Jeffrey A. Tucker / LewRockwell.com
Elephant Paints Self Portrait
Later May Be Too Late In many ways it is easy to empathize if not identify with our forefathers because like them we are increasingly subjected to government oversight, regulation, taxation, and continual loss of our privacy.
Now, with the Supreme Court "looking into" the question of the Second Amendment, Americans are once again faced with the real problem of what response will be appropriate to any threat of being disarmed by a government out of control.
The very idea that there is a question, as to the meaning of the Second Amendment or how it should be applied, now being "debated" by the Supreme Court is absurd. It only accentuates the mental illness and moral vacuum that exists at the highest levels of government while exposing our humanoid politicians as pusillanimous imitators of Fidel Castro.
- by Tim Case / LewRockwell.com
Born-Again Americans and That Old-Time (Civil) Religion Over the centuries, the results of this effort congealed into what sociologist Robert Bellah called out in 1967 as "the American civil religion," and de Tocqueville described much earlier as the "transcendant universal religion of the nation." The core of this canon was a collected (and often contrived) set of stories about who we were, what our mission and place should be in the world, and what it meant to be American. Though they were deeply rooted in Protestant theology and often invoked a special relationship with God, these stories were neither overtly political nor specifically religious. Instead, they spoke to the spiritual and moral core of the shared American identity, and gave us a language we could use to express our common values and dreams.
- by Sara Robinson / OurFuture.org
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