Sunday, September 30, 2012

Hoppe

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Quote of the Day, September 29, 2012

"For a rule to aspire to the rank of a law--a just rule--it is necessary that such a rule apply equally and universally to everyone." ~Hans-Hermann Hoppe

The Genius of Hans-Hermann Hoppe

I am currently reading The Great Fiction, by Hans-Herman Hoppe.  At the end of the first chapter I came across this gem of a thought experiment.  In my mind it is one of the most devastating and bullet proof arguments against the necessity or even the utility of the state.  Hoppe suggests that whenever one is debating a statist one present it.  I intend to do just that.  

I suggest that you always and persistently confront [statists] with the following riddle. Assume a group of people, aware of the possibility of conflicts between them. Someone then proposes, as a solution to this human problem, that he (or someone) be made the ultimate arbiter in any such case of conflict, including those conflicts in which he is involved. Is this is a deal that you would accept? I am confident that he will be considered either a joker or mentally unstable. Yet this is precisely what all statists propose.

This is intellectual Kung Fu at it's finest.

LOL

Monday, September 24, 2012

More Portents for Katie Rose

More news from Katie Rose on the alfalfa front.

more on alfalfa and grass hay

After putting the goats out to pasture I drove down the hill to the local hay dealer. I just have a gut feeling I am going to want one more ton. Folks had told me he still had hay.
What he does is grow about 2000 acres of alfalfa and then buys copious amounts from other farmers - some here, some in Montana, and some around Yakima/ Ellensburg. I usually avoid him as I'm not certain that his bale weights are accurate.
I drove in and it was eerily empty. He had no alfalfa at all. None. Then I asked him about grass hay, and he told me he had "just a little bit." He went on to tell me that he had just called his regular suppliers in Montana, asking for a few semi truckloads. He was told that the ranchers had sold all their hay "for quite a bit more" than he was used to paying. He could locate no hay, and the 2000 acres he grew has been sold to local folks like me.
Then he looked at me with this shocked, befuddled look and said, "Folks who haven't gotten their hay aren't going to get any. Come Spring..." he just shook his head, whistled and walked away.
I ran out of hay last spring, and came running to him. I wonder how many of his regular customers are planning on him having hay for them when they run out?
I have been fretting and fretting about stacking alfalfa instead of PM's this Fall. Now I am extremely grateful I chose alfalfa.
The hay really is all gone.

Minarchy vs. Anarchy

My problem with this video is the idolization of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers. People don't seem to realize that if we were to go back to the kind of limited government they think they want it would just start all over again. The following snippet from a debate between Stefan Molyneux and Michael Badnarik on the relative merits of Anarchy vs. Minarchy summarizes the issue well

This graphic, also from Molyneux, expresses the idea succinctly.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I've probably posted something like this before

But it bears repeating. Often.


When we are children we all are taught what I consider to be a pretty good set of rules:
1)Don't hit or hurt people. Violence doesn't solve anything.
2)Don't lie.
3)Don't take other people's stuff.
For the most part kids get it.
The problem is for the next twelve years or so we are taught all the exceptions:
1)Unless you are a soldier or a cop.
2)Unless is for national security, to prevent a panic or to protect someone's feelings.
3)Unless you call it taxes, asset forfeiture or eminent domain.
One set of rules for the common folk, another set for our leaders.
If morality doesn't apply to everyone it is not morality, it is ideology and propaganda.
Is it any wonder most people can be lead around by their noses?  They have no firm principle to stand on.

Just War

Good Stuff From Chris Duane

100 Things That Disappear First

1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy...target of thieves; maintenance etc.)
2. Water Filters/Purifiers
3. Portable Toilets
4. Seasoned Firewood. Wood takes about 6 - 12 months to become dried, for home uses.
5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First Choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce, stockpile ANY!)
6. Coleman Fuel. Impossible to stockpile too much.
7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots.
8. Hand-can openers, & hand egg beaters, whisks.
9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugar
10. Rice - Beans - Wheat
11. Vegetable Oil (for cooking) Without it food burns/must be boiled etc.,)
12. Charcoal, Lighter Fluid (Will become scarce suddenly)
13. Water Containers (Urgent Item to obtain.) Any size. Small: HARD CLEAR PLASTIC ONLY - note - food grade if for drinking.
14. Mini Heater head (Propane) (Without this item, propane won't heat a room.)
15. Grain Grinder (Non-electric)
16. Propane Cylinders (Urgent: Definite shortages will occur.
17. Survival Guide Book.
18. Mantles: Aladdin, Coleman, etc. (Without this item, longer-term lighting is difficult.)
19. Baby Supplies: Diapers/formula. ointments/aspirin, etc.
20. Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
21. Cookstoves (Propane, Coleman & Kerosene)
22. Vitamins
23. Propane Cylinder Handle-Holder (Urgent: Small canister use is dangerous without this item)
24. Feminine Hygiene/Haircare/Skin products.
25. Thermal underwear (Tops & Bottoms)
26. Bow saws, axes and hatchets, Wedges (also, honing oil)
27. Aluminum Foil Reg. & Heavy Duty (Great Cooking and Barter Item)
28. Gasoline Containers (Plastic & Metal)
29. Garbage Bags (Impossible To Have Too Many).
30. Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Paper Towels
31. Milk - Powdered & Condensed (Shake Liquid every 3 to 4 months)
32. Garden Seeds (Non-Hybrid) (A MUST)
33. Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
34. Coleman's Pump Repair Kit
35. Tuna Fish (in oil)
36. Fire Extinguishers (or..large box of Baking Soda in every room)
37. First aid kits
38. Batteries (all sizes...buy furthest-out for Expiration Dates)
39. Garlic, spices & vinegar, baking supplies
40. Big Dogs (and plenty of dog food)
41. Flour, yeast & salt
42. Matches. {"Strike Anywhere" preferred.) Boxed, wooden matches will go first
43. Writing paper/pads/pencils, solar calculators
44. Insulated ice chests (good for keeping items from freezing in Wintertime.)
45. Workboots, belts, Levis & durable shirts
46. Flashlights/LIGHTSTICKS & torches, "No. 76 Dietz" Lanterns
47. Journals, Diaries & Scrapbooks (jot down ideas, feelings, experience; Historic Times)
48. Garbage cans Plastic (great for storage, water, transporting - if with wheels)
49. Men's Hygiene: Shampoo, Toothbrush/paste, Mouthwash/floss, nail clippers, etc
50. Cast iron cookware (sturdy, efficient)
51. Fishing supplies/tools
52. Mosquito coils/repellent, sprays/creams
53. Duct Tape
54. Tarps/stakes/twine/nails/rope/spikes
55. Candles
56. Laundry Detergent (liquid)
57. Backpacks, Duffel Bags
58. Garden tools & supplies
59. Scissors, fabrics & sewing supplies
60. Canned Fruits, Veggies, Soups, stews, etc.
61. Bleach (plain, NOT scented: 4 to 6% sodium hypochlorite)
62. Canning supplies, (Jars/lids/wax)
63. Knives & Sharpening tools: files, stones, steel
64. Bicycles...Tires/tubes/pumps/chains, etc
65. Sleeping Bags & blankets/pillows/mats
66. Carbon Monoxide Alarm (battery powered)
67. Board Games, Cards, Dice
68. d-con Rat poison, MOUSE PRUFE II, Roach Killer
69. Mousetraps, Ant traps & cockroach magnets
70. Paper plates/cups/utensils (stock up, folks)
71. Baby wipes, oils, waterless & Antibacterial soap (saves a lot of water)
72. Rain gear, rubberized boots, etc.
73. Shaving supplies (razors & creams, talc, after shave)
74. Hand pumps & siphons (for water and for fuels)
75. Soysauce, vinegar, bullions/gravy/soupbase
76. Reading glasses
77. Chocolate/Cocoa/Tang/Punch (water enhancers)
78. "Survival-in-a-Can"
79. Woolen clothing, scarves/ear-muffs/mittens
80. Boy Scout Handbook, / also Leaders Catalog
81. Roll-on Window Insulation Kit (MANCO)
82. Graham crackers, saltines, pretzels, Trail mix/Jerky
83. Popcorn, Peanut Butter, Nuts
84. Socks, Underwear, T-shirts, etc. (extras)
85. Lumber (all types)
86. Wagons & carts (for transport to and from)
87. Cots & Inflatable mattress's
88. Gloves: Work/warming/gardening, etc.
89. Lantern Hangers
90. Screen Patches, glue, nails, screws,, nuts & bolts
91. Teas
92. Coffee
93. Cigarettes
94. Wine/Liquors (for bribes, medicinal, etc,)
95. Paraffin wax
96. Glue, nails, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.
97. Chewing gum/candies
98. Atomizers (for cooling/bathing)
99. Hats & cotton neckerchiefs
100. Goats/chickens

From a Sarajevo War Survivor:
Experiencing horrible things that can happen in a war - death of parents and
friends, hunger and malnutrition, endless freezing cold, fear, sniper attacks.

1. Stockpiling helps. but you never no how long trouble will last, so locate
    near renewable food sources.
2. Living near a well with a manual pump is like being in Eden.
3. After awhile, even gold can lose its luster. But there is no luxury in war
   quite like toilet paper. Its surplus value is greater than gold's.
4. If you had to go without one utility, lose electricity - it's the easiest to
   do without (unless you're in a very nice climate with no need for heat.)
5. Canned foods are awesome, especially if their contents are tasty without
    heating. One of the best things to stockpile is canned gravy - it makes a lot of
    the dry unappetizing things you find to eat in war somewhat edible. Only needs
    enough heat to "warm", not to cook. It's cheap too, especially if you buy it in
    bulk.
6. Bring some books - escapist ones like romance or mysteries become more
    valuable as the war continues. Sure, it's great to have a lot of survival
    guides, but you'll figure most of that out on your own anyway - trust me, you'll
    have a lot of time on your hands.
7. The feeling that you're human can fade pretty fast. I can't tell you how many
    people I knew who would have traded a much needed meal for just a little bit of
    toothpaste, rouge, soap or cologne. Not much point in fighting if you have to
    lose your humanity. These things are morale-builders like nothing else.
8. Slow burning candles and matches, matches, matches

Source

Monday, September 17, 2012

Yeah, it's like that.

Katie Rose is not the only wise person posting in "Turdville." I'd like to offer the following from a fellow who goes by the name of California Lawyer.

Yeah, It's Like That

By California Lawyer
As seen on tfmetalsreport.com
September 17, 2012

One of my favorite movies, Training Day, has that line. The scene is where Jake and Alonzo have their fight and confrontation at the end of the movie. In a split second, the power shifts. Alonzo asks the neighborhood leader, Bone: "It's like that, Bone?" Bone says "yeah, it's like that."

It is mesmerizing, and fantastically powerful, watching the power ebb from the once untouchable Alonzo, to the rookie cop and the neighborhood leader who announces to Jake "go on and bounce up out of here homie, we got your back." The now powerless Alonzo, realizes he just lost EVERYTHING, gets petulant, while the neighborhood citizens, realizing what just happened, walk away understanding that everything just changed.

We in turdville, are at that moment. Bernanke is Alonzo, doing the bidding of TPTB. Us turdites are like the neighborhood citizens, watching, realizing what just happened, with QE to infinity, MOPE, rumors of war, uprisings in the middle east, sabre rattling over Iran, drones, Hillary the warmonger, all of it. Who is Jake? Turd? Anyhow, that is how I see it. Now for the analysis.

Let's all operate from the same macro understanding.

(1) There is a system of global governance, banking, military, what not.

(2) That system is controlled, as opposed to being random.

(3) Those in charge of the system desire to keep the system in place, that is, to perpetuate the system, rather than see it collapse. This desire to perpetuate the system includes recognition of the ending of the current paradigm, to be replaced by another permutation of the system, allowing those in charge to remain in charge.

(4) As a result, those in charge, understand that there are but three methods to maintain system stability, that is, to keep the system from uncontrolled collapse, which collapse WILL occur from the accumulation of DEBT which cannot ever be repaid:

a-dilution of the existing fiat currency to prop up the system, that is, repaying debt by devaluing the currency and stealing from savers by inflation;

b-default on sovereign debt to prop up the system, that is, forgiveness of debt by creditors, or insolvency; or

c-war.

Choose one.

We are there now, clearly.

Fiat devaluation has been ongoing for years, and has grown exponential, including since 2008. There is a race to the bottom, says Jim Rickards, proven correct time and time again.

Default or forgiveness is not an option, since the entire system in intertwined by massive derivatives. That is, each unit of debt translates to trillions of derivatives, each of which to be viable requires that the underlying debt NOT default, or else the derivative explodes into worthlessness.

That leaves WAR.

Look backwards in time.

The great depression, societal collapse, and a changing paradigm, from agrarian to production in factories, cities. Collapse was ongoing, and FDR radically altered the landscape. When FDR's fixes proved unable to solve the problems, including confiscation and devaluing the currency, the only solution left was WAR. Debts were thus defaulted/forgiven/repaid in blood and treasure. The world changed.

Economic prosperity ensued, because the US was the world's economic engine. That paradigm lasted for a while, then it changed, of course.

Currently, we have a basic world structure:

(1) Producers of size with regard to goods, China, BRICs, rest of the third world;

(2) Consumers of size with regard to goods and energy, USA, Europe, Japan, China;

(3) Producers of size with regard to resources, Africa, China, Russia;

(4) Producers of size with regard to energy, OPEC, Russia, etc.

EACH needs the other in this global world. NONE individually can go it alone any more.

The producers of goods need resources, energy and consumers. If there is a fall off in ONE of the three, chaos ensues, and those in charge face revolution and death.

The consumers need cheap goods, cheap energy, and the means to consume; hence, fiat devaluation and credit, since labor prices have fallen off the cliff, the unproductive outnumber the productive, and those in charge use bread and circuses to control the masses by propaganda and distraction and MOPE. Without consumers, the producers collapse. The producers holding the fiat, face ruin, revolution, and societal upheaval, including death to those in charge.

Producers of energy need producers of goods and consumers, or else the energy produced falls in price due to collapsing demand. Revolution likely ensues, see Venezuela. Shifting alliances of political and tribal factions are on balance, insignificant, but are useful as distractions.

Putting it all together reveals:

(1) The USA is the consumer part of the puzzle. Those in charge will keep it this way, for now.

(2) China produces goods, and will keep it this way for now, with India the other third world countries with their cheap labor continuing to produce at rates the USA cannot match.

(3) Energy and resources continue to be the shifting targets, with each pillar of the system dependent upon cheap energy.

(4) In balance, all players mutually benefit the others. Out of balance, there is chaos.

(5) The US military is the enforcer. So long as the US military engages and keeps the order, the other countries will accept and hold our worthless fiat. If the USA reneges, then the fiat system collapses. If the holders of fiat try to dump them, the USA will not support those in charge, and revolutions and coups will result.

See, simple?

What then, when there is too much fiat sloshing all around? Food prices get too high, citizenry goes hungry, risk of revolution and death of leaders. Cannot have that, no sir.

So, the world needs a distraction, and a reset.

WAR IS COMING, as certain as I sit here and type this.

Please, please prepare...

Are you listening?

More wisdom from Katie Rose

When I read this earlier today it made me weep.

We are headed for war.

This time it will be different. We have lost our factories and steel mills. We have lost our shoe manufacturers. We have no manufacturing base anymore.

Things are so different than they were during WWI and WWII.

Our borders are nonexistent. There have been many reports of ME men entering our land via the southern border disguised as Mexican and South Americans.

The men in WWI and II were primarily raised on farms. They were used to hardship. They were used to discipline and hardwork.

This time I believe it will be fought here on our turf. We have brought it to others. They will bring it to us.

Listen to what my 86 year old Mother says. She lived through the Great Depression and WWI. She cries nearly every day as she watches the news. She knows what is coming.

She has asked me to ask all you parents to please buy underwear, socks and shoes in incrementally larger sizes for your growing children. She says people forget that children grow, and there are no shoes, no new underwear, no new socks available during war. If your child wears size 6 shoe, get a size 7, 8, 9, 10, etc for them now. If you are a grandparent and you know your children won't listen to you about this, buy the clothing for your grandchildren yourself. And buy it now.

My Mother also said that there was no or very little sugar available. Sugar is necessary for canning fruit. Yesterday we canned 4 dozen pints of crabapple jelly. We used 25 lbs of sugar. (Crabapples are sour) I will be replacing that sugar ASAP.

There also was no oil for cooking. She has us buying lard from Wally World. She insists that it will outlast cooking oil and not grow rancid.

There are other things we need to be stacking besides silver and gold right now.

The handwriting is on the wall.

Prepare Accordingly.

Are you listening?

Money

Sometime I feel like a stick in the mud, but every time I see someone reference The Money Masters, The American Dream or Money as Debt, I feel obligated to point out that while all three do a excellent job of pointing out the problem, i.e., fractional reserve, fiat central banking, the solution they offer is no solution at all. All three are suggesting that the Treasury take over the issuance of currency. They talk about "spending money into existence" via the Treasury issuing "interest free" money that would essentially be backed by whatever it was spent on. I haven't grasped the exact detail of their plan and I might not be describing it exactly right because frankly I had already taken the economic red pill before I was exposed to them. I didn't waste a lot of time figuring out how something I knew would never work would work.

I'm always of two minds in referencing Gary North because his theology is terrifying. He is a follower of the late Rousas John Rushdoony. In fact he married Rushdoony's daughter. If you are not familiar with Rushdoony I would suggest you do a google search for "Dominionism" and "Christian Reconstructionism." If they don't scare the bejeezus out of you, you either don't grasp what they are getting at or else you think they are good ideas, in which case you are dangerous. Forgive the digression, but I had to get that out.

North, however, is an outstanding economist and he has addressed the ideas in those documentaries far better than anyone. What they are talking about has a name: Greenbacking. Greenbacking is being pushed hard by a woman named Ellen Brown. Gary North has written a masterful series of rebuttals of Brown and the whole idea of greenbacking. I highly recommend anyone who is tempted by Bill Sill or Ellen Brown to read them.

More generally I recommend everyone who views this blog read What Has Government Done To Our Money? by Murray Rothbard. In my opinion, after Ludwig von Mises, Rothbard was the greatest economic and political thinker of the 20th Century. I actually think he is better in some way because his presentation is far more accessible to people without an extensive economics background. If anyone here has found my ramblings on economic and political issues to be of any value understand I am just presenting Rothbard's thinking as best I understand it. Other than a semester of basic economics I took in college many, many years ago, I have no specialized economics training. I have to credit Rothbard for enlightening me. If you have any respect for Ron Paul and his ideas know this: if it were not for Rothbard there would have been no Ron Paul. Rothbard was Ron Paul's mentor.

The bottom line is this: money is a purely a free market phenomenon. It has always emerged from market interactions and every time government has attempted to take it over it has always been a disaster. As I said above, The Money Masters and the other two films I mentioned are absolutely right on the problem and absolutely wrong on the answer.

Creepy Flashback


For some reason I just flashed on the feeling I had many years ago when my best buddy and I were on the flight line sitting on our mobility bags while the C-130s had their engines idling and the loading doors open.  It was the height of Yom Kippur War.  The Soviets had been supplying Syria and Egypt.  The Israelis had already sunk a Soviet transport ship.  Soviet destroyers were in the Mediterranean off the coast of Syria and the Soviet Air Force was on alert.  The DoD had just gone to DEFCON 3.

It was a beautiful autumn day in Arkansas.  There was very little talking among the people sitting with us.  It felt very unreal.  I kept telling myself I was just an avionics specialist, I wasn't going to be going anywhere near the shooting if it started.  Deep inside, though, I knew if it came to that, the shooting would involve nukes.

Fortunately, the Soviets finally stood down.

It's is a sad commentary on our day that I can look back at Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev and realize, compared to today, those men were great statesmen.  Sad, sad, sad.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Even More Portents from Katie Rose


Mitt Romney, Monsanto Man

I became interested in Monsanto because of the hideous birthing season I had last Spring with my dairy goats.
One died in my arms. Another nearly did. I have never been so traumatized as I was by these births. I didn't know animals could cry. Mine did. I sobbed along with them.
So I went looking for answers. And that is when I found out that all the terrible happenings were listed in one article or another as being caused by the GMO laced feed I was feeding my animals.
What good does it do to BTFD's and Prepare Accordingly if the very ones we are preparing for (our children/grand children) are potentially/slowly being poisoned by GMO foods?
Farm animals reproduce quickly. One of my four year old goats is a grand mother. We can see the generational GMO side effects much sooner in animals.
Reading about Mitt Romney's ties to Monsanto makes me want to throw up. 
It appears that Monsanto owns both major candidates.
We are soooooooooooo screwed. 

More Portents From Katie Rose

More On Alfalfa
By Katie Rose

We are one of the few places in the nation that was able to grow and harvest alfalfa this year. We were not able to get a third cutting due to lack of rain and a late first harvest, but our fields were green and lush. We are extremely fortunate.
I don't know how the hay dealers in the rest of the country found us, but they surely did. And farmer, after farmer, after farmer sold their entire crop before harvest. I have never scrambled like I had to this Fall in order to secure food for my animals. I am 1/2 ton short, but feel extremely blessed to have enough to squeak through till Spring. I would like another ton, but have no idea where to get it. Oh, there are unethical folks who are saying their 60 lb. bales weigh 90-95 lbs., but I am not interested in doing business with them. They still have a few bales of hay left. No Thank You!
I am hearing that many were not so lucky. The alfalfa is gone, sold right out of the field. Usually there are hay barns stacked to the brim waiting for buyers, with farmers hoping that it will all sell. Not this year! It is all gone.
One of the local feed stores has begun to sell Timothy Pellets by the pallet (half ton) to those not fortunate enough to find any hay. Unbelievable! This is Fall and people are going to be buying pellets all Winter long!?!?
Last month I ordered a half ton of barley for my Redneck Fodder Experiment. I ordered it directly from a local farmer. He pre-sold it to me at the going rate, 12 cents a pound, $120.00 a half ton. When I went to pick it up this week I could tell I would need more, as I had no clue how much volume a half ton of barley was. So I asked if I could purchase another half ton. He smiled sweetly and said, "I haven't any. Since we spoke last month, the price I receive for barley went up to 18 cents a pound. I sold my entire crop. It's gone."
That is the word around here. GONE! Sold! GONE!
No full hay barns. No bales languishing in the fields waiting for buyers. No barley for sale. No wheat for sale. No oats for sale. It's all gone.
I will be driving over 200 miles round trip to pick up 80 lb bags of oats, wheat, and barley for my fodder experiment. There is none available locally. Every time I speak with the mill, it has gone up in price.
People who come to TF Metals are usually a cut above average. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from my personal experiences.
One thing I have learned from all this. Having personal relationships with local farmers has really paid off. And having been ethical with the farmers in the past, having kept my word when I have ordered from them, has made it possible for me to feed my animals this winter.
I hope you are filling your pantries right now. With QE III, a terrible Midwest harvest, and saber rattling everywhere, it is only a matter of time before the food shortages lead to food riots.
I truly do not see any other outcome.

War clouds gathering

I spent Saturday afternoon at the Values Voters Summit in DC. Normally I would not go to such a thing because I am no longer a Christian and the treatment Ron Paul got from his own party in both 2007-8 and 2011-12 makes me want to have nothing to do with the Religious Right. However, a friend and colleague of mine paid my way and there was an pretty good breakout session on "Surviving the Coming Economic Earthquake" which we both wanted to attend. Also I just wanted to hang out with my friend cause we don't see each other enough.

At any rate, there was another breakout session called "Radical Islam 101" which I also wanted to attend at least partially because of all the folderol over that video. I'm not one to ignore the position of others just because I have some disagreements with them so I wanted to let them present their case. I definitely learned a few things. I have never been soft on Islam. I am an atheist. I think all religions--particularly the monotheistic ones--are irrational and they stunt the advancement of civilization, but I do have to admit that of the Big Three Islam is the worst. The presentation today definitely reinforced that opinion.

But the big takeaway I got from that seminar was this: we are headed for a war that's going to make Afghanistan and Iraq look like a picnic. As Bob Dylan once said "The line it is draw, the curse it is cast." There are intractable factions on both sides--fueled by the aforementioned irrationality--that will not quit until the blood is flowing as deep as a horse's bridle. This is what they want. They will not be happy until they have destroyed everything.

Fuck Islam, fuck Judaism, fuck Christianity. You lunatics are going to get us all killed for a fairy tale. I know each group thinks God is going to save them because they are his special little jewel, but I've got news for you: when the shooting starts your invisible friend will be nowhere to be found and if anyone survives what's coming they are going to piss on your moldering corpses for the miserable ruin of a world you've left them.

G. Edward Griffin on the war on terror.

This interview from 2009 actually covers a wide range of topics, but this part is germane to the current situation in the Middle East.

Daily Bell: From our point of view, the Middle Eastern wars are intended to spread Western-style collectivist democracy to the Islamic world. Has the West stumbled in its war against the Muslim religion (failure in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, etc.)?

Griffin: Have they stumbled? In my view, the conflict between the Western world and Islam is largely manufactured. There is no question that there are extreme groups within Islam, but my own research leads me to the conclusion that those are the very groups that have been fronted, aided and abetted by forces within America because they wanted to create an enemy – a dreaded foe to justify all the other schemes.

Daily Bell: The BBC, in a program last year came to a similar conclusion.

Griffin: Without an enemy, they cannot fight a war. Without a war, they cannot justify being in the Middle East. If they are not in the Middle East, they can't control the oil and on and on you go.

Daily Bell: So ... it's at least partially manufactured?

Griffin: The war against Islam is manufactured and is actually a war that need not be. Did they fumble the war? No they created it! They created it and it is just a meme. They don't want to win the war! They want to fight the war for ten years, twenty years, thirty years. They are not fumbling it. It is exactly what they want. It is not a question of winning or losing, it's a question of just having it, prolonging it and using it as a means of scaring the daylights out of the American people and conditioning them to accept the loss of their freedom at home.

I almost hate to say it...

...but I have considered these guys to be populist hucksters. I'm listening now.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Quote of the day, September 13, 2012

"However, everyone reading this must realize that today is the first day of new paradigm."~Turd Furguson

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

This guy makes great videos

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Another good day

Another good day



Roger Williams

From Wikipedia

In the spring of 1636 Williams and a number of his followers from Salem began a settlement on land that Williams had bought from Massasoit, only to be told by Plymouth that he was still within their land grant. They warned that they might be forced to extradite him to Massachusetts and invited him to cross the Seekonk River to territory beyond any charter. The outcasts rowed over to Narragansett territory, and having secured land from Canonicus and Miantonomi, chief sachems of the Narragansetts, Williams established a settlement with twelve "loving friends". He called it "Providence" because he felt that God's Providence had brought him there. (He would later name his third child, the first born in his new settlement, "Providence" as well.) He said that his settlement was to be a haven for those "distressed of conscience", and it soon attracted quite a collection of dissenters and otherwise-minded individuals.

From the beginning, the settlement was governed by a majority vote of the heads of households, but "only in civil things", and newcomers could be admitted to full citizenship by a majority vote. In August 1637 they drew up a town agreement, which again restricted the government to "civil things". In 1640, another agreement was signed by thirty-nine "freemen", (men who had full citizenship and voting rights) which declared their determination "still to hold forth liberty of conscience". Thus, Williams had founded the first place in modern history where citizenship and religion were separated, a place where there was religious liberty and separation of church and state.

In November 1637, the General Court of Massachusetts disarmed, disenfranchised, and forced into exile the Antinomians, the followers of Anne Hutchinson. One of them, John Clarke, learned from Williams that Aquidneck Island might be purchased from the Narragansetts. Williams facilitated the purchase by William Coddington and others, and in the spring of 1638 the Antinomians began settling at a place called Pocasset, which is now the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Some of the Antinomians, especially those described by Governor John Winthrop as "Anabaptists", settled in Providence.

In the meantime, the Pequot War had broken out, and it was a great irony that Massachusetts Bay was forced to ask for Roger Williams' help. He not only became the Bay colony's eyes and ears, he used his relationship with the Narragansetts to dissuade them from joining with the Pequots. Instead, the Narragansetts allied themselves with the English and helped to crush the Pequots in 1637-1638. When the war was over, the Narragansetts were clearly the most powerful Indian nation in southern New England, and quite soon the other New England colonies began to fear and mistrust the Narragansetts. They came to regard Roger Williams' colony and the Narragansetts as a common enemy. In the next three decades Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth exerted pressure to destroy both Rhode Island and the Narragansetts.

The Puritans

17. The Religious Factor
Murray N. Rothbard
Conceived in Liberty: Vol. I - A New Land, A New People: The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century


18. The Founding of Plymouth Colony
Murray N. Rothbard
Conceived in Liberty: Vol. I - A New Land, A New People: The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century


19. The Founding of Massachusetts Bay
Murray N. Rothbard
Conceived in Liberty: Vol. I - A New Land, A New People: The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century


20. The Puritans "Purify": Theocracy in Massachusetts
Murray N. Rothbard
Conceived in Liberty: Vol. I - A New Land, A New People: The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century


21. Suppressing Heresy: The Flight of Roger Williams
Murray N. Rothbard
Conceived in Liberty: Vol. I - A New Land, A New People: The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century


22. Suppressing Heresy: The Flight of Anne Hutchinson
Murray N. Rothbard
Conceived in Liberty: Vol. I - A New Land, A New People: The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Quote of the day September 4, 2012

"Leadership and morality are indivisible. Good leaders are the custodians of morality.

"If it is acceptable for leaders to take drastic action on the basis of a lie, without an acknowledgement or an apology when they are found out, what should we teach our children?" ~Desmond Tutu

Saturday, September 1, 2012