"I was in such a hurry to make my flight that, when going through security, I forgot to empty my pockets. I know, the cardinal sin, right?
I had a Blackberry, my wallet, a belt, and several Chilean coins jingling around in my pants, and the X-ray machine dinged like a winning slot machine. Instinctively, I prepared myself for a verbal battle with some neanderthal who would try and put his hand down my pants. Except… it didn’t happen.
In my haste, I had almost forgotten that this was Chile, a civilized place that doesn’t go out of its way to demean citizens and residents at every available opportunity. No fondling, no fear and intimidation tactics, no surprise searches, no cash-sniffing dogs, no ‘secondary screening’, no stasi on the jet bridge.
Instead, the solo security attendant simply asked if I had anything in my pockets. I pulled out my Blackberry and showed it to him, and he waved me through. I was on my plane 2-minutes later.
A few days ago, I was having a conversation with our Chief Investment Strategist Tim Staermose; he was telling me about a similar experience traveling recently to Macau via hydrofoil from Hong Kong.
During his trip, he checked his luggage, got his boarding pass, went through immigration control… all the typical sort of international travel stuff, except for one thing: there were no X-ray machines or radiating body scanners at all, and there certainly weren’t any surly border guards to fondle passengers.
As I travel frequently and spend time in so many different countries, it’s becoming clear to me that there are essentially two categories in the world– police states that are running towards George Orwell’s view of the world in 1984, and countries where you can still feel like a free human being."
Simon Black of Sovereign Man, guest post on Zero Hedge.
02 June 2011
Quote of the Day 6/2
"The doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind."
--New Hampshire Constitution
Do you feel safer yet?
If not, maybe we should get more cops like these ...
...harassing a hearing impaired photographer for taking pictures on a train platform.
The police officer is unthinking.
When our "protectors" are unthinking and no longer human in their interactions with a non-violent reasonable citizen like this one, they are a liability and part of the problem.
We live in a time that screams for introspection: What kind of cop/soldier/citizen are you?
...harassing a hearing impaired photographer for taking pictures on a train platform.
The police officer is unthinking.
When our "protectors" are unthinking and no longer human in their interactions with a non-violent reasonable citizen like this one, they are a liability and part of the problem.
We live in a time that screams for introspection: What kind of cop/soldier/citizen are you?
01 June 2011
Dance Party at Jefferson Memorial on 4 June; everyone invited
To help show the rest of the country what this country has become--tyrannical.
Brute collective force against individuals who commit no crime--tyranny.
Everything our soldiers fought, bled and died to prevent--tyranny.
Keep in mind Kokesh is a Marine veteran of Iraq who ran for congress in New Mexico in 2010.
Watch:
Brute collective force against individuals who commit no crime--tyranny.
Everything our soldiers fought, bled and died to prevent--tyranny.
Keep in mind Kokesh is a Marine veteran of Iraq who ran for congress in New Mexico in 2010.
Watch:
Swell. We are poorer and more pessimistic.
Tell me something I don't already know.
"...the white working-class share of the adult population slipped to just under 50 percent in the Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey. That number has since fallen below 48 percent.
The demographic eclipse of the white working class is likely an irreversible trend as the United States reconfigures itself yet again as a "world nation" reinvigorated by rising education levels and kaleidoscopic diversity. That emerging America will create opportunities (such as the links that our new immigrants will provide to emerging markets around the globe) and face challenges (including improving high school and college graduation rates for the minority young people who will provide tomorrow's workforce).
As Massachusetts Institute of Technology economists Frank Levy and Tom Kochan report in a new paper, the average high-school-educated, middle-aged man earns almost 10 percent less than his counterpart did in 1980."
So much for the American dream. Read the rest here.
"...the white working-class share of the adult population slipped to just under 50 percent in the Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey. That number has since fallen below 48 percent.
The demographic eclipse of the white working class is likely an irreversible trend as the United States reconfigures itself yet again as a "world nation" reinvigorated by rising education levels and kaleidoscopic diversity. That emerging America will create opportunities (such as the links that our new immigrants will provide to emerging markets around the globe) and face challenges (including improving high school and college graduation rates for the minority young people who will provide tomorrow's workforce).
As Massachusetts Institute of Technology economists Frank Levy and Tom Kochan report in a new paper, the average high-school-educated, middle-aged man earns almost 10 percent less than his counterpart did in 1980."
So much for the American dream. Read the rest here.
Latest Anonymous Operations: Target IMF over Greece "Bailout"
Anonymous' goals are pro Greek sovereignty, so they get a viewing on these pages.
via ZeroHedge this morning:
"Anonymous" Hackers Target IMF Over Greece "Bailout"
The hacker collective Anonymous Operations may not be the most organized but they sure are passionate. Following the latest disinformation campaign of a Greek bailout, the hackers, which had previously expressed their solidarity with the Greek people (see below) have no made it clear that the latest target of their wrath (which a few months ago was the Federal Reserve) is now the IMF. Or at least its website. As of a few minutes ago, "Anonymous" tweeted that the target of its imminent DDOS attack will be www.imf.org. Alas, since the IMF has always been merely a figurehead for global bailout efforts, in this particular case spearheaded by various banking interests, we give Anonymous a few days before they realize that the target of their "anti oppression" move has a website with a .com suffix, not .org. And regardless of how (in)effective this action is, at least it sends the message that someone is willing to do something to at least protests against the rape that will soon occur in Greece, hidden by the very polite word: "privatization."
Dear World Citizens and Members of the Media
This is a message from Anonymous Operation Want in solidarity with our brothers and sisters with Anonymous Greece Moneyback. Operation Want are Anonymous researchers, writers and others that use the proven method of Follow the Money to seek out and expose the people and politicians that are corrupt. Operation Want brings the Truth to light in support of Whistleblowers, Freedom of Information, Freedom of Speech and Internet Freedom. Anonymous Greece wants the banksters to give the People their Moneyback.
Information is Free. Please Distribute Globally. The Greek government and media are censoring the people of the world from viewing the massive protests and r-evolution occurring in the streets.
The People of Greece have united and taken to the street once again today, in opposition to the corrupt Austerity Plans of the Greek Government leaders and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Without allowing the Greek citizens to vote, government leaders have accepted approximately $157 billion dollars (€110 billion) from 2010 - 2013 In "rescue loans" from European Union countries (EU) and the IMF. Such Austerity Plans have been met by the successful opposition of the people of Iceland who have insisted on their right to vote. Currently the people of Spain have taken up the banner of the Iceland protests and Anonymous united. Greece must also uphold their constitution and let the people vote.
The people of Greece are faced with prolonged poverty and a dramatic decrease in their standards of living, as their corrupt government attempts to push through further austerity measures of debts. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that those elites in control of the IMF continue to profit from the misery of the Greek people. The overreaching powers of the European Union (EU) and the IMF will not go unnoticed or unopposed by the global community who stand in solidarity with their brothers and sisters of Greece.
Thus, the people of Greece have been left with no other option than to take to the streets in a peaceful revolution against the economic tyrants that are the IMF. The good Greek People have been beaten by the police that are supposed to be protecting them. The Greek government is using the police, allowing the brutality that had even caused death of citizens, to protect the greedy international banking industry led by the elitists of the IMF.
Anonymous demands the following;
- The Greek governments allow their people to vote and decide their own future.
- The Greek government must uphold their constitution and not allow the EU and IMF dictate and rule the People of Greece.
- The Greek government and corporate media must immediately stop their censorship of coverage of the protests. Let there be transparency so the world can watch the power of the People and hear their voices.
- That the Greek government support non-violence against the People by immediately calling off the police and state sponsored terrorism which the citizens of Greece have been subjected unfairly to for simply exercising their human right to peaceful assembly.
Anonymous wants the economic noose of the IMF is removed from around the necks of the Greek citizens immediately and that the citizens of Greece are granted the right to vote on the outcome of their future.
Aristotle has proclaimed that "Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime!"
The hand of the Greek people has been forced. Their voice will be heard!
We Are Anonymous,
Anonymous is everyone.
We are everywhere.
We Do Not Forget.
We Do Not Forgive.
Anonymous is Legion.
Expect Us!
(Emphasis added)
31 May 2011
We are Jose Guerena
For those that claim that it is unreasonable or unlawful for a citizen to resist a no knock warrant with deadly force, I disagree to the depth of my soul.
I would prefer to go down like Jose Guerena than to submit to this kind of violation, and live with the guilt of not resisting to my utmost.
If you aren't willing to die defending yourelf, your property, your wife and kids, what are you willing to fight for?
What red line are we waiting for them to cross?
So many violations of our natural and Constitutional rights. So few all at once, or concentrated against a large population, only in dribs and drabs.
More important question is similar to the one the government faces with al-Qaida--how do you fight an enemy that you cannot see? How do you fight an enemy that fights you with legal plunder, or legally legitimized (that's redundant, I know) violations of our rights?
At the moment, I have no idea, but I think about it all the time.
Read recent posts from Arctic Patriot, American Mercenary, Alvie D. Zane, and be prepared for anything, and in the meanwhile, resist.
I would prefer to go down like Jose Guerena than to submit to this kind of violation, and live with the guilt of not resisting to my utmost.
If you aren't willing to die defending yourelf, your property, your wife and kids, what are you willing to fight for?
What red line are we waiting for them to cross?
So many violations of our natural and Constitutional rights. So few all at once, or concentrated against a large population, only in dribs and drabs.
More important question is similar to the one the government faces with al-Qaida--how do you fight an enemy that you cannot see? How do you fight an enemy that fights you with legal plunder, or legally legitimized (that's redundant, I know) violations of our rights?
At the moment, I have no idea, but I think about it all the time.
Read recent posts from Arctic Patriot, American Mercenary, Alvie D. Zane, and be prepared for anything, and in the meanwhile, resist.
In opposition to UN resolution, Western boots on the ground in Libya
via zerohedge.com:
In a TV slip caught by Al Jazeera, yet another Zero Hedge prediction has been confirmed: namely that it was only a matter of time before NATO "boots on the ground" would promptly replace the CIA's "sandals on the ground" in a fully Western-backed land invastion of Libya. Since it is too early to predict the nationality of the armed invaders, we will assume they are British as Al Jazeera speculates, because otherwise Congress is about to find itself in an unprecedented scandal for completely ignoring its duty to impose the War Powers Act, which in turn would mean that the President now has a unilateral right to enforce the invasion of any country he so chooses. We will leave the bitter implications of what this could mean, as America celebrates, and remembers the lives of so many who died for this once great country, to others.
Also note:
It seems (if you watch the video) the main battle rifle of choice, at least on the rebel side, is the FN FAL, my favorite .308.
A nice accurate rifle for an insurgency, at least in the hands of a rifleman.
Got FAL, anyone?
In a TV slip caught by Al Jazeera, yet another Zero Hedge prediction has been confirmed: namely that it was only a matter of time before NATO "boots on the ground" would promptly replace the CIA's "sandals on the ground" in a fully Western-backed land invastion of Libya. Since it is too early to predict the nationality of the armed invaders, we will assume they are British as Al Jazeera speculates, because otherwise Congress is about to find itself in an unprecedented scandal for completely ignoring its duty to impose the War Powers Act, which in turn would mean that the President now has a unilateral right to enforce the invasion of any country he so chooses. We will leave the bitter implications of what this could mean, as America celebrates, and remembers the lives of so many who died for this once great country, to others.
Also note:
It seems (if you watch the video) the main battle rifle of choice, at least on the rebel side, is the FN FAL, my favorite .308.
A nice accurate rifle for an insurgency, at least in the hands of a rifleman.
Got FAL, anyone?
30 May 2011
The Pledge of Allegiance: Say it and come get your ritalin and prozac
Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). Born and raised in western NY, same as me. What we have in common ends there.
Bellamy was a Christian utopian socialist, who believed in redistribution of wealth to accomplish justice. A Marxist who hadn't lost religion. He was one who believed that to accomplish a utopian United States, it would have to begin with the children. The Pledge he wrote as part of the 400th anniversary of Colombus' arrival in the Americas, was also coincident with the movement to have an American flag in every American school.
This happened 27 years after Appomattox; the memory of disunion was fresh in the Collective memory of the Nation.
Taken from Wikipedia:
His original Pledge read as follows:
The recital was accompanied with a salute to the flag known as the Bellamy salute, described in detail by Bellamy. During World War II, the salute was replaced with a hand-over-heart gesture because the original form involved stretching the arm out towards the flag in a manner that resembled the later Nazi salute. (For a history of the pledge, see Pledge of Allegiance).
In 1954, in response to the perceived threat of secular Communism, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge that is recited today.[3]
Bellamy commented on his thoughts as he created the pledge, and his reasons for choosing the careful wording:
Hat tip to humblelibertarian.com
Bellamy was a Christian utopian socialist, who believed in redistribution of wealth to accomplish justice. A Marxist who hadn't lost religion. He was one who believed that to accomplish a utopian United States, it would have to begin with the children. The Pledge he wrote as part of the 400th anniversary of Colombus' arrival in the Americas, was also coincident with the movement to have an American flag in every American school.
This happened 27 years after Appomattox; the memory of disunion was fresh in the Collective memory of the Nation.
Taken from Wikipedia:
His original Pledge read as follows:
- "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to* the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"
- (* 'to' added in October 1892).
 |
| Pre-war Bellamy salute during the Pledge. Feel warm and fuzzy? |
The recital was accompanied with a salute to the flag known as the Bellamy salute, described in detail by Bellamy. During World War II, the salute was replaced with a hand-over-heart gesture because the original form involved stretching the arm out towards the flag in a manner that resembled the later Nazi salute. (For a history of the pledge, see Pledge of Allegiance).
In 1954, in response to the perceived threat of secular Communism, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge that is recited today.[3]
Bellamy commented on his thoughts as he created the pledge, and his reasons for choosing the careful wording:
- "It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution... with the meaning [ha!] of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...
- "The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic (sic) which it stands'. ...And what does that last thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation (Sorry, Bellamy, old man, but involuntary "Nation" post 1865, and voluntary 1776 "Republic" [when the Bill of Rights still meant something] are antithetical) - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove (prove with a bayonet, you mean. Oh, I see the point of your argument. You must be right. My bad.). To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches (no comment...Bellamy was 10 years old in 1865. He knew no other religion than post War Lincoln cultism). And its future?
- "Just here arose the temptation of the historic slogan of the French Revolution which meant so much to Jefferson and his friends, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity'. No, that would be too fanciful, too many thousands of years off in realization. But we as a nation do stand square on the doctrine of liberty and justice for all..." (and now we all know how that ended up--liberty for none, leniency for the well connected)
Hat tip to humblelibertarian.com
29 May 2011
Denninger puts Memorial Day in perspective
Our honored dead: They died for what freedom exactly?
Our forefathers primarily went to war with Britain over two issues: Taxation Without Representation and Writs of Assistance. While we're at it we'll add Equal Protection Under The Law.
The former everyone understands: The extraction of taxes from the people without any right to direct where the funds go.
How are we doing today?
Some half of the population pays no Federal Tax. They receive funds, net-net. Since it is now quite possible to "vote for a living", that's exactly what has happened. But this means that for each and every person who pays taxes on net, you no longer have representation.
How about the latter?
Well, we have the following:
Read the rest of a great post from market-ticker.org.
Our forefathers primarily went to war with Britain over two issues: Taxation Without Representation and Writs of Assistance. While we're at it we'll add Equal Protection Under The Law.
The former everyone understands: The extraction of taxes from the people without any right to direct where the funds go.
How are we doing today?
Some half of the population pays no Federal Tax. They receive funds, net-net. Since it is now quite possible to "vote for a living", that's exactly what has happened. But this means that for each and every person who pays taxes on net, you no longer have representation.
How about the latter?
Well, we have the following:
- Searches on I-40 in Tennessee; these have been clearly identified (and admitted!) through media investigation to be effectively stopping drivers for profit. Where's the probable cause to search a traffic stop's vehicle for money and then declare it "drug proceeds" simply due to which direction the vehicle is traveling on I-40? In this case the police aren't even bothering with the formality of getting the Writ of Assistance - they're simply stealing the funds.
- Kicking down doors in Kentucky. Yes, the cops were chasing a person who allegedly sold crack cocaine. But we're then supposed to believe that seconds after this person ran into one of two apartments - being actively chased by the police - the suspect lit up a joint? (The rationale for the cops kicking down the door was that they smelled marijuana, and upon knocking heard "movement" and believed the occupants might be "destroying evidence.") That conviction was upheld in the United States Supreme Court - even though the person they were looking for wasn't in the apartment.
Read the rest of a great post from market-ticker.org.
The Last Nail is being driven into the coffin of the American Republic
He's preaching. We are already his choir.
Anyone else in America listening?
via thedailypaul.com
******UPDATE. The basis for every statement in the speech is documented via hyperlink at new LewRockwell.com blogpost *********
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