The Tea Party and "banning earmarks"

From today's LewRockwell.com:

Is the Ban on Earmarks a Bait and Switch?

Posted by James Ostrowski on November 16, 2010 07:45 AM

The war against earmarks is fun to watch. The newbies in the tea party movement are so excited they discovered the war against big government two years ago that they fail to realize it’s been going on for decades, even centuries. God forbid they listen to the folks who have been in the trenches for years. They apparently think that by banning earmarks, they will end pork barrel spending. No, they will, as Ron Paul has pointed out many times, simply allow the President to pick the pork projects. Of course, Congress will still be involved in this selection process but now there will be no record of it. It will all be done on a wink and a nod behind closed doors.

To believe this is a real reform, you have to believe that Mitch McConnell is a real reformer, a real man of principle. Quick, name one thing this man has reformed. How are we better off because he was in the Senate? We know there are many men dead today because he slammed anyone who urged withdrawal of troops as, in effect, cowards. All the while, he was urging Bush to do just that for the sacred cause of getting big government Republicans re-elected.

Finally, banning earmarks is a procedural reform, not a substantive change. If you think that big government can be made to work by changing how it operates, you just might be a liberal. It’s always amusing to see self-described conseravtives fighting to make big government work better.

If you want to cut spending, just cut spending. Don’t get embroiled in an arcane debate about the procedures for specifying how appropriated money is to be spent.

The way to eliminate pork is to get the federal government out of the infrastructure business, out of the economic development business and out of the research business. That would be a real change and that’s why it won’t happen while jokers like McConnell are in charge.

And don’t forget to abolish HUD now.

Hey Rand Paul!

Welcome to the Party, pal!

The Lincoln cult "jumps the shark"

Enjoy.

Quote of the day 11/16

Truth crushed to the earth is truth still and like a seed will rise again.

                                      Jefferson Davis

Western NC anyone?

Freedom Watch with the Judge on Fox Business

Now every day at 8 pm.  Fire up the DVR's and TiVo's:  Fox Business Channel

Liberty is on the march.

A strict constitutionalist and Austro libertarian now has his own show every night in prime time.  I never thought I'd see that on an MSM network...

Lew Rockwell, Ron Paul, and friends are in high cotton...thank the Lord.

Abolish the TSA!

From a blogger at Forbes magazine.  The guy is also faculty at Mises Institute in Auburn AL.

Quote of the day

I love the Union and the Constitution, but I would rather leave the Union with the Constitution than remain in the Union without it.


--Jefferson Davis

We the People are Sovereign, not the government. Be ready to Act.

We are responsible for our own destiny, and the direction of our country.  We may be too few at present to make a difference, I don't know.  

I know I feel I must keep trying to reach out to others who are willing to listen to reason, to share what I know and what I have experienced in my life.  In these blogposts I try to link to relevant current affairs stories, relevant historical vignettes, and relevant references in literature.

Some of you that read this have literally taken the Oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.  Some readers may have only heard of the Oath.  If you've taken the oath, remember what it said, and what it means to you.

When the oath refers to "enemies, foreign and domestic...", sometimes you may have to go out on a limb to decide who is an enemy and who is not, and your life and the lives of those you love may hang in the balance:

"Dagny walked straight toward the guard who stood at the door of "Project F." Her steps sounded purposeful, even and open, ringing in the silence of the path among the trees. She raised her head to a ray of moonlight, to let him recognize her face. "Let me in," she said.

"No admittance," he answered in the voice of a robot. "By order of Dr. Ferris."

"I am here by order of Mr. Thompson."

"Huh? … I … I don't know about that."

"I do."

"I mean, Dr. Ferris hasn't told me … ma'am."

"I am telling you."

"But I'm not supposed to take any orders from anyone excepting Dr. Ferris."

"Do you wish to disobey Mr. Thompson?"

“Oh, no, ma'am! But … but if Dr. Ferris said to let nobody in, that means nobody—" He added uncertainly and pleadingly, "—doesn't it?"

"Do you know that I am Dagny Taggart and that you've seen my pictures in the papers with Mr. Thompson and all the top leaders of the country?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then decide whether you wish to disobey their orders."

"Oh, no, ma'am! I don't!"

"Then let me in."

"But I can't disobey Dr. Ferris, either!"

"Then choose."

"But I can't choose, ma'am! Who am I to choose?"

"You'll have to."

"Look," he said hastily, pulling a key from his pocket and turning to the door, "I'll ask the chief. He—"

"No," she said.

Some quality in the tone of her voice made him whirl back to her: she was holding a gun pointed levelly at his heart.

"Listen carefully," she said. "Either you let me in or I shoot you. You may try to shoot me first, if you can. You have that choice—and no other. Now decide."

His mouth fell open and the key dropped from his hand.

"Get out of my way," she said.

He shook his head frantically, pressing his back against the door. "Oh Christ, ma'am!" he gulped in the whine of a desperate plea. "I can’t shoot at you, seeing as you come from Mr. Thompson! And I can't let you in against the word of Dr. Ferris! What am I to do? I'm only a little fellow! I'm only obeying orders! It's not up to me!"

"It's your life," she said.

"If you let me ask the chief, he'll tell me, he'll—"

"I won't let you ask anyone."

"But how do I know that you really have an order from Mr. Thompson?"

"You don't. Maybe I haven't. Maybe I'm acting on my own—and you'll be punished for obeying me. Maybe I have—and you'll be thrown in jail for disobeying. Maybe Dr. Ferris and Mr. Thompson agree about this. Maybe they don't—and you have to defy one or the other. These are the things you have to decide. There is no one to ask, no one to call, no one to tell you. You will have to decide them yourself."

"But I can't decide! Why me?"

"Because it's your body that's barring my way."

"But I can't decide! I'm not supposed to decide!"

"I'll count to three," she said. "Then I'll shoot."

"Wait! Wait! I haven't said yes or no!" he cried, cringing tighter against the door, as if immobility of mind and body were his best protection.

"One—" she counted; she could see his eyes staring at her in terror—"Two—" she could see that the gun held less terror for him than the alternative she offered—"Three."

Calmly and impersonally, she, who would have hesitated to fire at an animal, pulled the trigger and fired straight at the heart of a man who had wanted to exist without the responsibility of consciousness."

                                                           --Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, 1957 

If you are current or former military or law enforcement, you have to think about what the oath means to you, and figure out what red lines you wont cross.

If you are a civilian, and never taken the oath, but believe in the concept of the oath, affirm it to yourself and determine to act according to your beliefs.

Think of this as a training session for your mind.  Military training is done so that when a real event starts to unfold, the soldier's response is instinctual and automatic.  


When events in this country make it plain that people who believe in limited servant government, individual and State sovereignty, and Natural Rights are finally ready to act to restore their rights, you don't want to waste time trying to figure out where you stand on an issue.  You will need to act.

Quote of the day

"Any society which suppresses the heritage of it's conquered minorities, prevents their history, and denies them their symbols, has sewn the seed of it's own destruction".


William Wallace, ca. 1281, Scotland

As money loses its value, the country crashes. Lesson from Rome.

"Monetary policy therefore always serves, even if it serves badly, the perceived needs of the rulers of the state. If it also happens to enhance the prosperity and progress of the masses of the people, that is a secondary benefit; but its first aim is to serve the needs of the rulers, not the ruled. And this point is central, I believe, to an understanding of the course of monetary policy in the late Roman Empire."

Read the rest of a fascinating article here.  


I never knew that you could debase gold and silver coins, but read all about how the Roman Emperors destroyed their coinage in their increasingly desperate attempts to expand and preserve the Empire.

Justifying a Revolution, then and now.

The situation in which we currently find ourselves is very similar to what led to the American Revolution against King George III of England.

#1 As a result of the Seven Years War with France, King George III of England was deeply in debt to the central bankers of England.

#2 In an attempt to raise revenue, King George tried to heavily tax the colonies inAmerica.

#3 In 1763, Benjamin Franklin was asked by the Bank of England why the colonies were so prosperous, and this was his response....

"That is simple. In the colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Script. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers.
In this manner, creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay to no one."

#4 The Currency Act of 1764 ordered the American Colonists to stop printing their own money.  Colonial script (the money the colonists were using at the time) was to be exchanged at a two-to-one ratio for "notes" from the Bank of England.

#5 Later, in his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin explained the impact that this currency change had on the colonies....

"In one year, the conditions were so reversed that the era of prosperity ended, and a depression set in, to such an extent that the streets of the Colonies were filled with unemployed."

#6 In fact, Benjamin Franklin stated unequivocally in his autobiography that the power to issue currency was the primary reason for the Revolutionary War....

"The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the colonies their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction. The inability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III and the international bankers was the prime reason for the Revolutionary War."

#7 Gouverneur Morris, one of the authors of the U.S. Constitution, solemnly warned us in 1787 that we must not allow the bankers to enslave us....

"The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest. They always did. They always will... They will have the same effect here as elsewhere, if we do not, by (the power of) government, keep them in their proper spheres."

The parallels to our current situation are clear:


Various progressive Republican and Democratic administrations have expanded the Welfare-Warfare state since the time of Lincoln and Clay's "Internal Improvements" at the point of a bayonet. 

The State has burgeoned since then, growing at a gathering pace over the past 100 years until it is a Leviathan, destructive of the prosperity and liberty of the productive majority of the nation.


The State has grown fat on taxes, then increasing debt, then on currency debasement.


The boom bust cycle of business that is created by the market interventions of the Federal Reserve has led to increasing unemployment, decreasing value of what we call our "money", and inevitable voter discontent.


So we all know we are pissed off.  


Constitutionalists are pissed off about how individual liberty has been lost, and the constitution ignored by those who swore an oath to preserve protect and defend.  


The progressives and overt Marxists are pissed off because they were all charged up about their "mandate" in '08, and are bitterly disappointed by any moderation by Obama on the one hand, and the rejection of their agenda by the electorate earlier this month.


Anyone on welfare in this country is scared to death that the gravy train is over.


Left, right, or independent, everyone is scared to death about the state of the economy.  Unemployment and underemployment is very high, and we all know that any positive monthly announcements by the government about jobs created or manufacturer's orders or inventory moves or the like is just so much window dressing.


My question is:  What event is going to set off the powderkeg?  Will we creep along in doldrums for years, or are we going to take to protests like in London, France, or Greece?  Do we have to wait until we have nothing left to lose?

Pass it on...

"TSA"

"From now on I'm going to refer to it as the Testicle Squeezing Authority."

Quote of the day

And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? After all, you knew ahead of time that those bluecaps were out at night for no good purpose. And you could be sure ahead of time that you'd be cracking the skull of a cutthroat. Or what about the Black Maria sitting out there on the street with one lonely chauffeur--what if it had been driven off or its tires spikes?

The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if... We didn't love freedom enough...

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago (1973). Excerpt from Footnote 5, Chapter 1.

Do you feel the heat of Bernanke's fire? You may not until it's too late...

 Two great articles about what the moves of the Federal Reserve will mean for you and your family.


One is written by Gonzalo Lira, entitled "The Boiling Frog:  The effects of QE2 on the bottom 80% of the US population."  Here is a sample:


"The first claim I would venture to make—and one that I don’t think will be particularly controversial—is this: Any household spending more than two-thirds of their after-tax income on food, housing, clothing and transportation will suffer an immediate, negative impact from the Fed’s efforts at induced inflation.


That covers pretty much the bottom three quintiles of American households. So 60% of the U.S. population will suffer an immediate effect of rising prices—the stated policy goal of Ben Bernanke’s QE2."

The second article is a guest post on zerohedge.com by Simon Black, writing about all the little things businesses are doing to decrease value of a product in order to save money, but not yet raising prices.  He calls this "value deflation".  This means you get less for the same money.


Any way you see it, we make the same or less money at work, and the money will go less and less far.


If you get a chance, thank Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors yourself.

Militia, original intent, here today.

Read about it here.

We are the government.  We have to be responsible.  Those of us that took oaths to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution need to remember and reiterate the words.


In the coming months and years, we will re-learn, the hard way, that:


"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." --Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4,1777 

November 10th. Anniversary of a Travesty of Justice.

On November 10, 1865 Captain Henry Wirz, CSA,  guarded by four companies of soldiers, was led to the gallows in the Old Capital Prison yard before some 250 spectators who had government issued tickets. The spectators chanted "remember Andersonville" as Wirz ascended the stairway of the gallows. A hood was placed over Wirz's head and the rope around his neck. Wirz last words reportedly were that he was being hanged for following orders. The trap door was sprung open at 10:32 a.m. stretching the rope as it suddenly bore Wirz's weight. Wirz's neck was not broken by the fall and he writhed about as he slowly died of stangulation.
     The crowd openly displayed satisfaction that Wirz was dead. The public had been made aware of the deaths caused by autrocious conditions at Andersonville; the press had printed photographs of the worst of the surviving prisoners; those prisoners who had survived despised Wirz; the public had cried out for vengeance and all had waited through a trial lasting sixty-three days for retribution to be had. Forgiveness was not possible as reflected by Walt Whitman regarding Andersonville when he wrote, " There are deeds, crimes that may be forgiven but this is not among them. It steeps its perpetrators in blackest, escapless, endless damnation."

The crowd chanted while he slowly strangled.  

By far the most damaging testimony against Wirz was that of Felix de la Baume. De la Baume was the only witness who identified a victim by name who was alleged to have been directly killed by Wirz.
     De la Baume, who claimed to be a Frenchman and descendant of Lafayette, was discovered after the trial, to actually be Felix Oeser. Oeser was born in Saxony, Prussia and lied in order to help conceal that he was a former member of the 7th New York Volunteers who had deserted during the war. He was a skilled orator and so impressed the commission that he was given a written commendation signed by all of the members regarding his testimony. He was also appointed to a position in the Department of the Interior before Wirz's trial ended. Once his true identify and status was discovered, only eleven days after Wirz had been hung, he admitted being Oeser and to having perjured himself in the testimony at Wirz's trial. Oeser subequently vanished into obscurity. 

Union Army Lt. James Madison:
(During the Summer of 1864)
          " July brought unusual suffering to the prisoners on account of the hot weather."

The suffering caused the initiation of a petition by the prisoners for reinstatement of prisoner exchanges. Four were paroled to go to Washington and three returned to report their request had been refused.

(Following the return of the paroled emissaries to Washington).

           "When we heard [Secretary of War] Stanton's reply in regard to exchange [reinstatement], we felt we were forsaken by our Government. The War Office at Washington preferred us to die rather than exchange us." "Many of the prisoners, being but human, raised their clenched, trembling hands towards heaven and with fearful oaths cursed the authorities at Washington, and the day they were born. Oh what hatred was engendered for our Secretary of War."

(On meeting Henry Wirz).

          "I met Wirz while on one of his visits to the hospital. He stopped his horse, and I explained briefly the situation and the condition of my comrades. Said I, 'If something is not done for them at once, in a few days death will be the result,' and this is the substance of his reply: 'I am doing all I can. I am handicapped and pressed for rations. I am exceeding my authority now in issuing supplies. I am blamed by the soldiers for all this suffering. They do not realize I am a subordinate, governed by orders of my commanding officer. Why, sir, my own men are on short rations. The best that I can do is to see that your sick comrades are removed to the hospital. God help you, I cannot.,' and his eyes were filled with tears. I was crying myself. I saw how deeply he felt. He was pale and emaciated. His wounded arm was troubling him - he said nothing about the fact that gangrene had set in. I said to myself, 'Here is a man obliged to endure the odium resulting from the sins of others.'"

(While Wirz was on sick leave during the month of August).

          "Scurvy is now fearfully prevalent. Hundreds are dying daily. It is caused by not having proper food - a change of food is absolutely necessary to relieve scurvy.
          Captain Wirz was absent on sick leave for the month of August. Lieutenant Davis was in command and he did all that he could to alleviate the suffering. From all sides could be heard from men who had said derogatory things of Wirz, 'I wish the Captain was back.'"

---These excerpts are taken from a law school website which published original source material.  A heartfelt letter from Capt. Wirz's defense lawyer written after the execution is here, if you wish to read further.

I am convinced that Wirz was scapegoated, and used as a pawn to try to implicate President Jefferson Davis as a Lincoln assassination conspirator.

Poor Wirz!  What a wretched fate!  What happened to him could have, and probably would have happened to anyone assigned at that post. 

 The federal government should be held to blame for their part in refusing prisoner exchange while at the same time enacting the scorched earth policy that afflicted the Georgia countryside. Both of those issues contributed needlessly to the death and suffering at Andersonville.  In addition, the trial was full of perjury and unsubstantiated claims.  Walt Whitman should have thought about the Federal authorities in charge of this Travesty when he wrote:
  

" There are deeds, crimes that may be forgiven but this is not among them. It steeps its perpetrators in blackest, escapless, endless damnation."

May Gd comfort the soul of Captain Wirz.

Battle flag flying in Poland...Ideals of the Cause begin to proliferate

November 8, 2010

Polish Stars and Bars

Posted by Thomas DiLorenzo on November 8, 2010 04:40 PM

When I traveled to Krakow, Poland a couple of weeks ago to attend an economics conference sponsored by Polish libertarians, the young man who picked me up at the airport had a Confederate flag magnet on the dashboard of his car.  He told me that he got it when visiting Richmond, Virginia, where he also purchased a Confederate flag.

Politically-Correct Interpretation:  Obviously, this young libertarian, whose parents were slaves of socialism,  is a racist who reveres nineteenth-century American slave owners and would probably like to introduce slavery to Poland.

More Realistic Interpretation:  This young Polish libertarian, who has not been brainwashed by American government schools, and who has never attended a Claremont Institute seminar, naturally thought of the Confederate flag as a symbol of opposition to a hated centralized governmental tyranny.

--From yesterday afternoon post on Lewrockwell.com/blog



"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come."

- Victor Hugo

Smokey Mountain Break

Sigh.

New York vs. America. Perfect example of why Secession is a good idea.

I don't know how many of you have visited New York City, or spent any length of time there (so as to get to know the culture and attitudes of those born and raised there), but New York isn't America.

Southern culture is the true heart of what most people (Americans and foreigners) consider "America", whether or not they realize it.  Question to anyone who has served (or currently is serving) in the melting pot of the US military: Do you agree or disagree?  Feel free to comment.

I know New York City very well, unfortunately.  The City and the people who were born and continue to live  within commuting distance of Manhattan have always felt foreign to me.  I am referring to native born New Yorkers, not the immigrant population.  Manhattan is comprised of a very rich elite who are (collectively) liberal to a fault, and a mass of much poorer people who live on the handouts of Big Government (I generalize, of course).

You have to go about 90 to 120 minutes up the Hudson River or out Long Island or West and South into eastern Pennsylvania or New Jersey before you start to meet people that you recognize as more culturally "American".

Take it from someone who knows personally:  New York is the heart, the black heart, of Yankee Land.  It houses the corporate wing and finances the power in DC.  New York City is the spawn of Hamilton, twisted in later days by various socialist Democrat and RINO administrations;  it is the Repudiation to Jefferson and original intent of the Constitution.

This jerk wants to be president?

First off he's a whiney Republican in name only.
Second, he's rabidly anti 2nd amendment.
Third, after running for his first term supporting term limits, he approved the city council increasing term limits from two terms of four years each to three terms of four years.

Now he comes out with this brilliant complement to the incoming congressional freshmen:

On second thought, he'd be a perfect president for the upcoming peoples republic of New England after the coming breakup of the overstreched and bankrupt US empire.

I am an x-voter until I have a restored representative constitutional republic in which to vote

If you choose not to vote because you do not to consent to “the system as it is,” and if you’re willing to say so, you’re an Ⓧ Voter.

Yes, it’s really that simple.

www.x2012.us

--------------------

Preferably in the South...

--honourablemeans

We were robbed, again, on Wednesday.

from zerohedge.com yesterday:

Let Them Eat Mud Pie

The monetary and financial system that we are enslaved under at the current moment in human history has recently transformed itself into one of the most immoral and destructive forces the world has ever seen.  The reason many citizens in America cannot see the extent of it at this time is because the Federal Reserve in coordination with Washington D.C. and the money center banks are doing everything in their power to keep you blind and complacent while they rob you blind.  Many of the people in these institutions are not cognizant of the theft they are engaging in as they are either useful idiots or so wrapped up in their ego and false belief that they are making the paycheck they are based on some useful skill rather than simply working at the institutions that are instrumental in carrying out the ponzi scheme.  You see, at the highest levels the elite must understand that the U.S. is flat broke; however, an admission of this would mean loss of power and possibly criminal prosecution.  As a result, they have zero, I mean ZERO interest in the outcome for the general public and will do “whatever it takes” to quote Ben Bernanke to cover up their economically fatal mistakes and keep the mirage alive.  As I mentioned above, there are two main segments that are crucial to keeping the ponzi scheme going, Washington D.C. and the big money center banks.   This is why the Federal Reserve is quite purposefully directing all of the new money they are creating out of thin air into these two already bloated and corrupt cancers on the American landscape. 

(emphasis added -- Honourablemeans)

read the rest here

The Real American Revolution

In this, the third American War for Independence, the war needs to be fought for the minds of the rational Americans who are interested in what true Liberty and Freedom mean.  

Freedom is not freedom from want or freedom from deprivation;  that is the meaning of the term "Freedom" when applied by an agent of the Socialist Left.   

Freedom is not freedom from fear of a foreign enemy.  That "freedom" is that which is promised by the Neoconservative.  His method for securing the freedom from fear is through net loss of personal freedom to gain personal security (not to mention constantly reminding you of what you should fear, sometimes actual, sometimes manufactured by them).  Now we have the TSA pornoscanners and gropers, 4th amendment violations.  We have warrantless searches and wiretaps.  We have executive orders to jail American citizens, any American citizens, that he deems an "enemy combatant."  The president can also order the death of an American citizen without due process.

Freedom is the right of an individual to succeed or fail without government help or hinderance.  A person is free when he is unhindered by government;  when his wealth is not confiscated in the form of taxes or through government sanctioned counterfeiting (Quantitative Easing by the Federal Reserve).

If you are free you will not be forced under threat of imprisonment to give up hard earned money to help support a pet special interest project in another city, state, or country as so often happens now in this country.  Your tax money is taken from your earnings and given to support someone else's idea of what is important, whether it is to help the poor, build a bridge to nowhere, or allow the government of a foreign country to buy two dozen F-16's.    If you are free, your tax money will not be confiscated for an unconstitutional undeclared war.

------------------------------------

 The American Revolution was not a common event. Its effects and consequences have already been awful over a great part of the globe. And when and where are they to cease?

But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. While the king, and all in authority under him, were believed to govern in justice and mercy, according to the laws and constitution derived to them from the God of nature and transmitted to them by their ancestors, they thought themselves bound to pray for the king and queen and all the royal family, and all in authority under them, as ministers ordained of God for their good; but when they saw those powers renouncing all the principles of authority, and bent upon the destruction of all the securities of their lives, liberties, and properties, they thought it their duty to pray for the continental congress and all the thirteen State congresses.

There might be, and there were others who thought less about religion and conscience, but had certain habitual sentiments of allegiance and loyalty derived from their education; but believing allegiance and protection to be reciprocal, when protection was withdrawn, they thought allegiance was dissolved.

Another alteration was common to all. The people of America had been educated in an habitual affection for England, as their mother country; and while they thought her a kind and tender parent, (erroneously enough, however, for she never was such a mother,) no affection could be more sincere. But when they found her a cruel beldam, willing like Lady Macbeth, to “dash their brains out,” it is no wonder if their filial affections ceased, and were changed into indignation and horror.

This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.

John Adams, February 1818.  Letter to H. Niles

inspired by www.improvedclinch.com -- Honourablemeans

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLD3Z6sJWA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot

Third war for American independence, Revolutionists' Guide

Y'all'll know that we have begun the Third War for American Independence.  The first being concluded successfully, and the second fought valiantly, to the bitter end, without success.  

Here's a tradition that would be nice to see revived, say, here:

Tarring and feathering practices of the American Revolution:

Victims were often partly or completely stripped. If the tar applied was hot, the victim’s skin would blister. But few reports indicate that the tar was heated before being applied. Also, in some cases, the tar was painted on over the victim’s clothes. Sometimes the victim was even permitted to wear a sheet or frock to protect his clothes. Hot or not, tar applied directly to the skin and allowed to dry would be difficult to get off. Sometimes, strips of skin would come off in the process of removing the tar.

The feathers from two pillows were about enough to cover a victim. In one incident, a feather mattress was cut open and dumped on a victim. In another case, members of a crowd repeatedly hurled a goose at their victim. In still another incident the feathers on the victim were set on fire.

Five-Hour Ordeal in Boston

In one of the cruelest tar-and-feather incidents, a man in Boston had his arm dislocated as he was stripped naked on one of the coldest nights of the year. Then over the course of five hours, he was not only tarred and feathered, but also carried through the town on a cart, beaten with clubs, whipped, forced to stand at the town gallows with a rope around his neck, and then forced to drink tea until he vomited.

In Charleston, South Carolina, one tarring and feathering apparently ended with a lynching. A mob there seized a minister suspected of being an enemy. After tarring and feathering the man, they erected a gibbet, and then hanged the man.

Sometimes, crowds applied tar and feathers to houses of those who violated patriotic demands. On one occasion, a merchant found his horse tarred and feathered. In Monmouth County, New Jersey, a pamphlet critical of the Continental Congress was given a “suit of tar and turkey-buzzard's feathers” and nailed to a pillory post.

People on the other side of the quarrel also employed the tactic. British soldiers, annoyed with constant harassment on the eve of the war, tarred and feathered a Massachusetts man who illegally attempted to buy a gun from a soldier. They also forced him to wear a placard that read "American Liberty: a Speciment of Democrasy" and carted him around to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

Records indicate that crowds of patriotic women also applied tar and feathers. In Stamford, Connecticut, women got word that a local mother had named her newborn after a former British commander. About 170 women gathered, marched to the mother’s house, and presented the mother “with a suit of tar and feathers.”

For Speaking Against Continental Congress

According to a contemporary newspaper report, women in Kinderhook, New York, who had gathered for a quilting bee, “tarred and feathered” a man for speaking against the Continental Congress. The “tar” they used was molasses. The “feathers” were the “downy tops of flags”—probably cattails—from a nearby meadow.

Modern equivalent materials:  Gorilla glue, Super glue, JB Weld, goose down available in bulk...

New kindred blogger

Check out http://thedixiediarist.blogspot.com/

Like me, he's just starting out, give him some support! :-)

Deo Vindice!

Why the Federal Reserve and government economists deserve the condemnation of all the American people.

Inflation, which robs each of us of the buying power of our money, in dribs and drabs, is planned by the Federal Reserve and the government.  They have a target rate of inflation that they consider "desirable."  This is so the government can pay off a debt made at one time with money that is worth less at a later time.   Meanwhile, our salaries, even with raises, tracks behind the inflation rate, so that "real wages" weaken.

Here is a personal example/lesson that I learned to my surprise about two years ago:

  Sometime just after the crash of the stock market, my mother in law returned to us a mislaid US Savings bond with a face value of $500 that someone had given us for our wedding about 15 years before.  It was purchased for $250.  It would take 30 years to mature to $500.  I found out that, if I were to cash it in at that time, before its maturity date, it would bring $414.  Then, out of curiosity, I looked into what would've happened if the person had spent the $250 on gold instead of the Savings Bond.  I looked up the historical price of gold, and found that the $250 would've bought about 2/3 oz. of gold.  At the time that I was doing these calculations in 2008, the 2/3 oz of gold was worth about $650.  Now 2/3 oz. of gold is worth $900.  (BTW, That $250 at the time of our wedding would have bought 50 oz. of silver, now worth $1200!!!)

Has the gold become more valuable?  It hasn't.  The gold still buys nearly the same list of commodities or items that it would have purchased in previous years:  the same expensive suit would have cost 1/2 to 1 oz of gold in the 1800's, 1900's, 1920's, 1970's, and today.  The gold stays the same in value over time;  the dollar decreases in value over time.

So I am liquidating a 401k that I have.  I no longer trust holding that wealth as Federal Reserve notes or stocks.  Whatever taxes I pay now aren't going to go down in the future unless there are Revolutionary changes in our government and economy.  I cannot rely on that for my kid's sake.  So I will pay my taxes to the current government, and turn the rest of the proceeds into precious metals and find a way to store it safely.  That way I know that a portion of the wealth I've accumulated is preserved.  This stored wealth may not then appreciate like an equity (stock), but if we have hyperinflation, the gold or silver can be used to purchase the ever worthless paper money at intervals when needed.  

There are troubling signs that we might have hyperinflation in the next couple of years because of the government and Federal Reserve actions which followed the stock market crash in 2008 and whatever they've done to follow up since then;  they are running out of tricks.  If the Fed tries to reverse the quantitative easing, and/or the foreign governments holding US treasuries (which you need to think of as the money in US dollars that we borrowed from them) start to dump the debt because they sense the dollar is losing its value, our market will be flooded with ever more and more dollars.  This causes each one dollar to be worth that much less.  People will try to dump the money becoming less valuable by buying, which causes demand to skyrocket, and prices to skyrocket.

This is our future.  Probably near future.  We are robbed of our wealth, placed into debt by our government, and the bill is coming due.

Leaders of the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and their various cronies deserve tar, feathers, and being run out of town tied straddling a log rail.