Evacuation Day: A holiday of the Republic, killed by Lincoln

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When the British lowered the Grand Union flag of their 13 Colonies at Fort George in New York City, 215 years ago, General Washington proclaimed that the new flag of the United States of America be raised, to end the American Revolution. Congress in its' wisdom had retained the original 13 Red and White stripes with the British Union Jack replaced by a field of Blue containing 13 White Stars. The fighting had ended with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in Virginia, on 19 October 1781 but it took over 2+ years for the last British soldier to leave our shores. Washington had not returned to New York since his retreat in 1776. Now he would attend a Public Dinner at Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street where he would propose 13 Toasts of Hot Butter'd Rum.'


The 13 Official Toasts: To the United States of America, To His Most Christian Majesty Louis XVI of France; To the United Netherlands; To the King of Sweden; To the American Army; To the Fleet and Armies of France which have served in America; To the memory of those heroes who have fallen for our freedom; May our country be grateful to her military children; May justice support what courage has gained; To the indicators of the rights of mankind in every quarter of the globe, May America be an asylum to the persecuted of the Earth; May a close union of states guard the temple they have erected to Liberty; May the remembrances of the day be a lesson to princes.


Let all of us drink a toast to Washingtons' 13 Official Toasts. However, I do not recommend Hot Butter'd Rum unless visiting Fraunces Tavern. Amen!


link

Southern Music break: JMC "Where I'm From"

On a three hour flight from Memphis to LA
I was silently celebrating my first class upgrade
Laughing at my jeans and my boots
Beside those high dollar shoes and Armani suits
When the gentleman next to me said the drinks up here are free
So if you'd like the first one can be on me
He said i'm headin back from business in New York and Rome
Tell me son, Where do you call home


I said I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church
The courthouse clock that still dont work
Where a man's word means everything
Where moms and dads were high school flames
Gave their children grandmothers maiden name
Yes it may not sound like much
But its where I'm from


So we drank that round and then another
There wasn't a topic in this world we did not cover
He said I headed out west when I was barely 19
Just a kid chasing my dreams
I said I'm flying out here to pick up my big brother
He's been fighting the cancer they discovered
But he called last night and said I think this is the end
So come take me home to my family and my friends


Where the quarterback dates the homecoming queen
The truck's a ford and the tractor's green
And Amazing Grace is what we sing
Well there's a county fair every fall
And your friends are there no matter when you call
Yeah It may not sound like much but it's
Where I'm from


And as we stood to claim the bags we checked
He said I'll pray for your brother and did I mention that
Italian suits haven't always been my style
See I was quarterback of my high school team
We took state back in '63
And my wife, she's still my homecoming queen


Cause I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church
A courthouse clock that still don't work
Where a man's word means everything
Where moms and dads were high school flames
Gave their children grandmothers maiden name
Yes it may not sound like much
I said it may not sound like much but it's where I'm from
it's where I'm from
Where I'm from
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound......On a three hour flight from Memphis to LA
I was silently celebrating my first class upgrade
Laughing at my jeans and my boots
Beside those high dollar shoes and Armani suits
When the gentleman next to me said the drinks up here are free
So if you'd like the first one can be on me
He said i'm headin back from business in New York and Rome
Tell me son, Where do you call home


I said I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church
The courthouse clock that still dont work
Where a man's word means everything
Where moms and dads were high school flames
Gave their children grandmothers maiden name
Yes it may not sound like much
But its where I'm from


So we drank that round and then another
There wasn't a topic in this world we did not cover
He said I headed out west when I was barely 19
Just a kid chasing my dreams
I said I'm flying out here to pick up my big brother
He's been fighting the cancer they discovered
But he called last night and said I think this is the end
So come take me home to my family and my friends


Where the quarterback dates the homecoming queen
The truck's a ford and the tractor's green
And Amazing Grace is what we sing
Well there's a county fair every fall
And your friends are there no matter when you call
Yeah It may not sound like much but it's
Where I'm from


And as we stood to claim the bags we checked
He said I'll pray for your brother and did I mention that
Italian suits haven't always been my style
See I was quarterback of my high school team
We took state back in '63
And my wife, she's still my homecoming queen


Cause I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church
A courthouse clock that still don't work
Where a man's word means everything
Where moms and dads were high school flames
Gave their children grandmothers maiden name
Yes it may not sound like much
I said it may not sound like much but it's where I'm from
it's where I'm from
Where I'm from
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound......

Southern sanity: Senator Rand Paul proposes resolution to end Iraq war

Sen. Paul Introduces Resolution to End War in Iraq


Nov 17, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Rand Paul introduced an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill to formally end the war in Iraq.


The war in Iraq cannot be considered definitively concluded if Congress does not reclaim its constitutional power to declare war by repealing the underlying authorization. Until Congress takes this action, the President would still possess the legal authority to move troops into Iraq or to conduct kinetic operations within its borders, agreements with the Iraqi government notwithstanding.


"On several occasions this year, Congress has been ignored or remained silent while the President committed our forces to combat. It is my intention to urge Congress to reclaim its constitutional authority over the decision to go to war, or to end a war - it is one of the body's most important powers," Sen. Paul said. "It is right that we wrest it back from a President who has shown he cannot be trusted to obey the Constitution or powers prescribed to Congress in it."


The President has ordered withdrawal of most forces by the end of the year, and Sen. Paul's amendment continues the spirit of that decision by formally ending the war. Sen. Paul will push for a vote on this measure during consideration of the Defense bill. Under existing laws, necessary actions to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq (such as at the embassy) will still be allowed.


"Americans should celebrate the safe return of our soldiers, thank those who served, and mourn those we lost. We should honor them by committing to a return to a more rational and constitutional foreign policy," Sen. Paul added.


Paul.senate.gov

Best way to support the troops: balance of power between Congress and Executive; clearly defined mission. Constant cost benefit analysis.


Bravo, Rand Paul, Constitutional conservative

UKIP's Nigel Farage hits the unelected heads of the European Parliament with both barrels

Wow.  This guy has a pair.  
This video's going viral for sure.

Hat tip to zerohedge.com

Watching Herman Cain implode through the eyes of Jon Stewart

This.Is.Hilarious.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Ron Paul, baby.

The US Dollar and your prosperity threatened by the European Crisis

What say you? 


Shall we sacrifice our prosperity for the people's republic of the Eurozone and the NWO?


What's that you say? Oh, I forgot, you don't have a say!


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


The global economic situation is becoming more dire every day. Approximately half of all US banks have significant exposure to the debt crisis in Europe. 


Much more dangerous for the US taxpayer is the dollar's status as reserve currency for the world, and the US Federal Reserve's status as the lender of last resort. As we've learned in recent disclosures, this has not only benefitted companies like AIG, the auto industry and various US banks, but multiple foreign central banks as they have run into trouble. Nothing has been solved, however, by offering up the productivity of Americans as a sacrificial lamb. Greece is set to be the first domino to fall in the string of European economies at risk. Rather than learning from Greece's terrible example of an over-consuming public sector and drowning private sector, what is more likely from our politicians is an eventual bailout of European investors.

The US has a relatively small exposure to overwhelmed Greek banks, but much larger economies in Europe are set to follow and that will have serious implications for US banks. Greece is technically small enough to bail out. Italy is not. Germany is not. France is not. It is estimated that US banks have over a trillion dollars tied up in at-risk German and French banks. Because the urge to paper over the debt with more credit is so strong, the collapse of the Euro is imminent. Will the Fed be held responsible if the Euro brings the US dollar down with it?

via Ron Paul's page at the House of Representatives.

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

“Sacrifice” does not mean the rejection of the worthless, but of the precious. “Sacrifice” does not mean the rejection of the evil for the sake of the good, but of the good for the sake of the evil. “Sacrifice” is the surrender of that which you value in favor of that which you don’t.


If you exchange a penny for a dollar, it is not a sacrifice; if you exchange a dollar for a penny, it is. If you achieve the career you wanted, after years of struggle, it is not a sacrifice; if you then renounce it for the sake of a rival, it is. If you own a bottle of milk and give it to your starving child, it is not a sacrifice; if you give it to your neighbor’s child and let your own die, it is.


If you give money to help a friend, it is not a sacrifice; if you give it to a worthless stranger, it is. If you give your friend a sum you can afford, it is not a sacrifice; if you give him money at the cost of your own discomfort, it is only a partial virtue, according to this sort of moral standard; if you give him money at the cost of disaster to yourself—that is the virtue of sacrifice in full. 


--excerpt of John Galt's speech in Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, 1957 (emphasis added)

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

It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.

--Ayn Rand

Fox guarding the henhouse: Supreme Court to hear arguments on Obamacare mandate

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide the fate of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, with an election-year ruling due by July on the U.S. healthcare system's biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years.


The decision had been widely expected since late September, when the Obama administration asked the nation's highest court to uphold the centerpiece insurance provision and 26 states and a business group separately asked that the entire law be struck down.


The justices in a brief order agreed to hear the appeals.


At the heart of the legal battle is whether Congress overstepped its powers by requiring that all Americans buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, a provision known as the individual mandate.


The law, aiming to provide more than 30 million uninsured Americans with medical coverage, has wide ramifications for company costs and for the health sector, affecting health insurers, drugmakers, device companies and hospitals.


No matter what they rule, why do I keep feeling that we will all lose?

Congressmen allowed to make millions through LEGAL insider trading

Public servants, my Aunt Fannie!


Legal for them, and not for any of us mundanes:




via Zerohedge.com

Update: we have learned that the current iteration of HR 682 is HR 1148, it's purpose is "To prohibit commodities and securities trading based on nonpublic information relating to Congress, to require additional reporting by Members and employees of Congress of securities transactions, and for other purposes" sponsored by Tim Waltz, and as of June 1 was... referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution.


Following yesterday's 60 Minutes grotesque special which finally exposed to the general public what most experts in the industry have known for many years, namely that the bulk of "profits" for Congressmen (at a fixed $174,000 salary for the current year) and Senators are made courtesy of perfectly legal insider trading, it is time to ask the logical next question: how is it possible that the US system of checks and balances has failed so spectacularly, as to allow a glaringly illegal activity for everyone else to proceed and to generate multi-million dollar windfalls for congressional and senatorial critters?


After careful thought, my solution to this issue would include the use of tar, feathers, torches, pitchforks, and a fence rail with lots of splinters.


Anyone disagree?

Electoral bloodbath for Democrats in Virginia State elections

Then, 2008:

Mr. Obama was the first Democrat to win Virginia since 1964; he beat John McCain by seven percentage points; and he did so on the strength of his appeal to Northern Virginia's many white-collar independents. Along with victories in North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada, the Obama Old Dominion win in 2008 inspired a flurry of stories about how Democrats had forever altered the political map.

Now, 2011:

Every Republican incumbent—52 in the House, 15 in the Senate—won. The state GOP is looking at unified control over government for only the second time since the Civil War.

and:

Elected state Democrats—who form the backbone of grass-roots movements—couldn't distance themselves far enough from Mr. Obama in this race. Most refused to mention the president, to defend his policies, or to appear with him. The more Republicans sought to nationalize the Virginia campaign, the more Democrats stressed local issues.

and:

Virginia Democrats were happy to identify with one top official: Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who is providing a lesson in the benefits of smart GOP governance in battleground states. Criticized as being too socially conservative for Virginia when he was elected in 2009, Mr. McDonnell has won over voters by focusing on the economy and jobs. His approval ratings are in the 60s, and he helped raise some $5 million for local candidates. He's popular enough that Democrats took to including pictures of him in their campaign literature, and bragging that they'd worked with him.

Read the rest at the Wall Street Journal

Update/Repost: Bonnie Blue Flag Bracelet/Wristband

Show your pride and politics!!

I revised the wristband design, and made two versions:

Version One:

Front: Star, Bonnie Blue Flag
Back: States' Rights

Version Two:
Front: Star, Bonnie Blue Flag
Back: Blank

They are made out of silicone, with ink injected debossed letters and star.

I am not seeking donations to run my blog;  it is my passion.  I did it because I couldn't find a similar product on google, ebay, or any of the online Confederate stores.


If you want one or more, send an email to honourablemeans@gmail.com


I decided to make and provide these for free to you, only asking that you make a donation to a charity dealing with Southern tornado relief, southern heritage, or southern nationalist organization, you commit verbally to meon your honor.  

Suggestions:
Sons of Confederate Veterans
United Daughters of the Confederacy
League of the South

Cheers.



Both versions have this as the front, version two has nothing on back.



New Version One has "States' Rights" on the back, correcting the punctuation



Re-post. 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.

Operation Gunwalker/Fast and Furious update: Sarah Palin calls for Holder's resignation

And chooses facebook for the medium:

Why would any government official with an ounce of common sense think it’s a good idea to facilitate the smuggling of thousands of guns into the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels? That’s what Operation Fast and Furious did.

You might think Eric Holder’s Department of Justice was setting up a sting operation in which our federal agents would swoop down and arrest the bad guys the minute the guns traded hands. But that’s not what happened. Eric Holder’s DOJ had American gun dealers sell weapons to “straw purchasers” tied to drug cartels without actually following the movement of the guns as they were then sold to Mexican drug lords. They apparently thought this so-called “gun-walking” operation would help them chart the path of gun smuggling, but they didn’t have a plan to actually control the weapons’ movements as the guns were allowed to “walk” into Mexico. All Holder’s DOJ did was arm violent criminals. What manner of fools do we have working in this administration? What’s next? Supplying nuclear weapons components to the Iranians so we can track their activities?

Fast and Furious isn’t just your typical government incompetence. This is a deadly tragedy. U.S. border agent Brian Terry was gunned down with weapons connected to Holder’s debacle. At least 200 Mexican citizens were also killed by criminals using Fast and Furious weapons. We can only imagine how many more people will be murdered by criminals our government armed.

TSA claims they find 4 to 5 guns in carry-ons every day

LMFAO. As. if.


WASHINGTON -- Government screeners every day confiscate four to five guns -- some of them loaded -- packed in carry-on luggage at the nation's airports, a sign that travelers "are not focused on the security protocols," the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday at a Senate hearing.

Hey, look, another loaded gun!

TSA Administrator John PIstole testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the state of aviation security 10 years after the TSA's creation in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. He confirmed the daily weapons haul in response to a point raised by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the ranking Republican on the committee, who noted a loaded gun was found Tuesday on a passenger at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn. "We face a determined foe," she said.


TSA officers have prevented more than 940 guns from getting on board planes at checkpoints nationwide this year alone. Pistole did not specify whether people caught trying to bring guns aboard aircraft did so with ill intent, were unaware that guns were prohibited, or had forgotten they had packed them.


"Your people are finding four or five weapons a day, and not in checked bags," said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who chairs the committee. "Just think about what could be done to the other passengers. So what the TSA officers are doing is for the protection of the general public."


Emphasis added. Read the rest.


Ok. Joe Lieberman is a disgusting fearmonger and statist, but I knew that before I read this article.


"We face a determined foe"
Note how there are no specifics. The first paragraph actually only references travellers, not terrorists.
How many were legally owned by permit holders? How many were known criminals with no intent?
How many were terrorists? What background does each have?


Uh, that knife I had to throw out in Fort Lauderdale airport, because I had no time to mail it home, late for the flight...I forgot it was in my pocket....


Am I in the statistics as someone stopped at security with a knife?


On critical analysis, this testimony is typical fed.gov obfuscation to keep up the illusion that Das Blauen Hemden, er, I mean, the Blue Shirts are necessary, doing a bang-up job, and most importantly, deserve their budget.

Interesting social experiment: Bikers in the Cinema

...I woulda won. My wife woulda lost...

Remains of war dead dumped in landfill

I'm speechless.


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

From the Statist Progressive mouthpiece, the Washington Post:



The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of some dead troops’ body parts by burning them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burying the remains at sea.


The Dover mortuary, which is the main point of entry for America’s war dead, sent remains to the landfill from 2003 until 2008, according to Air Force officials. The manner of disposal was typically withheld from the relatives of fallen service members. The disclosure comes in the aftermath of several federal investigations into mishandling of remains at the mortuary.

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


Well, I guess that's cheaper than treating the remains like they were your kin.


Whaddya know? I've just reached a new level of disgust with the US gubmint...didn't think it was possible. 


But contrast this story with the Israelis:






Link to wikipedia; Zaka is the abbreviation for the hebrew meaning "Disaster Victim Identification."

In 2010, ZAKA volunteers numbered 1,500.[3] These volunteers work in coordination with Israeli government agencies on any unnatural death including vehicle accidents, terrorist bombing, murder or suicide. Trained as paramedics and in first aid, the volunteers, who are on call 24/7, attempt to revive the victims and, if unsuccessful, respectfully attend to the dead.[3]


ZAKA also has two units made up of Bedouin, Muslim, and Druze volunteers to serve Israel’s non-Jewish communities, primarily Bedouin in the Negev and Druze in the Galilee. According to both Jewish and Muslim religious law, it is important to treat the dead respectfully, whether it be covering the bodies so that others cannot see them or collecting every last body part for burial, including blood.



Link to Wikipedia; Zaka stands for Disaster Victim Identification in Hebrew.


I personally have seen members of Zaka, down on the ground on their hands and knees (after a terrorist attack in Jerusalem in 2003), scraping small bits of flesh, and scraping blood off the street, for a proper burial.


So I say to whomever decided to chuck out bits of US Servicemen (i.e. the best of us, who sacrificed all) in a dump: For shame! Disgusting!


The government golden rule: Treat others however it suits you, after you take their ____ (fill in blank).

Jim Demint of SC: Crony Capitalism, Christmas Trees, and the Stupidest Tax of All Time

Verbatim post via Zerohedge.com

Direct link.

You really can't make this up

Crony Capitalism, Christmas Trees, and the Stupidest Tax

 of All Time

No, it’s not a joke.  President Obama really is imposing a

 special new tax on Christmas trees.

And while the policy seems a ludicrous political misstep – 

and possibly an unconstitutional one at that – in truth, the

 Obama Christmas Tree Tax is much worse than that.

The $2 million the Obama Administration expects the tax to

 raise will not reduce the deficit or cover needed

 government services.  Instead, it will serve as a marketing

 slush fund for the Christmas tree industry.

The money will set up a brand new government agency

 called (no, seriously) the Christmas Tree Promotion Board.

  The CTPB will use the $2 million to hire a staff – most

 likely the industry lobbyists who cooked up this scheme – 

 and then run advertisements to “enhance the image of

 Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry of the

 United States.”

Don’t the Christmas tree growers and retailers already do

 that?  Yes.  Isn’t marketing something that all companies

 should do with their profits, to grow their business and 

attract new customers?  Yes.

And while we’re asking questions, does anyone in America –

 anyone? – believe that Christmas trees have a bad image

 that needs taxpayer-subsidized improvement?

So why should the government-funded Christmas Tree

 Promotion Board tax us to fund a marketing campaign?  So

 the Christmas tree industry can pocket the $2 million they 

now won’t have to spend marketing their trees.

That’s it.  That’s the whole purpose of the Obama Christmas

 Tree Tax: to take money from hard-working families

 celebrating Christmas and give it to clever lobbyists and

 businessmen running a crony-capitalist subsidy scam.

And while this policy will, by design, help one group of

 people, it will hurt others: businesses that sell artificial

 Christmas trees, people who work at your local stores that

 sell them, and, don’t forget, the consumers who are out 15

 cents a tree.

Business groups using government connections to enrich 

themselves by hurting everyone else.  Makes you just want

 to break into “O Holy Night,” doesn’t it?

Hopefully, the Crony Capitalists in the Obama 

Administration have gone too far this time, and public 

backlash will force Congress to shut down the Christmas 

Tree Promotion Board and repeal the single stupidest tax of 

all time. I will soon offer an amendment on the Senate floor 

to do just that.

All I want for Christmas is a free market.

Amen, brother.

Nullification of DC: Ohio nullifies Obamacare mandate

For Immediate Release – (November 8, 2011) – On the eve of the 213^th anniversary of the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, laying the intellectual groundwork of nullification, the people of Ohio exercised their power and nullified the insurance mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Ohioans passed Issue Three, a constitutional amendment to preserve their right to choose their own health care and health care coverage. Preliminary returns indicated a wide margin of victory, with more than 60 percent approving the amendment. The amendment makes it illegal for any local, state or federal law to require Ohio residents to purchase health insurance, effectively nullifying a key component of the PPACA.

Tenth Amendment Center news release

Fox news link.

Ballad of a Southern Man

New Video from Whiskey Myers for Country Music Television.


I love the song, the glimpses of the battle flag in the video, and the defiant ending.

Northern California Sheriffs stand up to DC

The spirit of local and individual sovereignty lives!
800 patriots and uniformed LEO's gather to condemn DC policy.


Via the Tenth Amendment Center Blog:

System D: The $10 trillion black market. Or, what people do when they ignore the government

System D is a slang phrase pirated from French-speaking Africa and the Caribbean. The French have a word that they often use to describe particularly effective and motivated people. They call themdébrouillards. To say a man is a débrouillard is to tell people how resourceful and ingenious he is. The former French colonies have sculpted this word to their own social and economic reality. They say that inventive, self-starting, entrepreneurial merchants who are doing business on their own, without registering or being regulated by the bureaucracy and, for the most part, without paying taxes, are part of "l'economie de la débrouillardise." Or, sweetened for street use, "Systeme D." This essentially translates as the ingenuity economy, the economy of improvisation and self-reliance, the do-it-yourself, or DIY, economy. 


 In 2009, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a think tank sponsored by the governments of 30 of the most powerful capitalist countries and dedicated to promoting free-market institutions, concluded that half the workers of the world -- close to 1.8 billion people -- were working in System D: off the books, in jobs that were neither registered nor regulated, getting paid in cash, and, most often, avoiding income taxes.


A 2009 study by Deutsche Bank, the huge German commercial lender, suggested that people in the European countries with the largest portions of their economies that were unlicensed and unregulated -- in other words, citizens of the countries with the most robust System D -- fared better in the economic meltdown of 2008 than folks living in centrally planned and tightly regulated nations.


"I'm totally off the grid," one unlicensed jewelry designer told me. "It was never an option to do it any other way. It never even crossed my mind. It was financially absolutely impossible." The growth of System D opens the market to those who have traditionally been shut out.


Read the rest at Foreign Policy: Link


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The black market has been around for as long as governments have been around. 


Before governments, the black market was just called "the Market".  ;-)


You know, the market where you keep what you earn, and not half of what you earn.  


It is comforting to know that if the Sovereign Debt Crisis were to bring down the government,  motivated people would keep on working...


That is, work and keep what they earn, for a change. 

Vive l'systeme D.