Saturday, April 20, 2013

In Lew Rockwell 4/20/13

Japan Steps Into the Void

by Peter Schiff

Recently by Peter Schiff: Gold in the Crosshairs

In the years following the global financial crisis, economists and investors have gotten very comfortable with very high, and seemingly persistent, government debt. The nonchalance may be underpinned by the assumption that globally significant countries that can print their own currencies can't get trapped in a sovereign debt crisis. However, it now appears that Japan is preparing to put this confidence to the ultimate stress test.

For the better part of 20 years, successive Japanese governments and central bankers have been trying, unsuccessfully, to use quantitative easing strategies to pump up a deflated asset bubble. The economy has by and large not responded. The sustained and impressive growth that Japan delivered during the 45 years following the Second World War (which had made the country one of the most successful economic stories in world history), has never returned. For the last 20 years Japan has offered a "zombie" economy characterized by low growth, stagnation, and exploding government debt. The Japanese government now owes approximately $12 trillion, a figure representing more than 200% of GDP. The IMF expects that this figure will reach 245% by the end of this year. This gives Japan the unenviable title of having the world's highest government debt-to-GDP ratio. But Shinzo Abe, the newly elected Prime Minister of Japan, and Haruhiko Kuroda, his newly-appointed Governor of the Bank of Japan, feel much, much more debt needs to be issued to turn the economy around.

The hope that Abe would be a new kind of prime minister with a bold economic formula helped revive the long dead Japanese stock market. Between May and November of 2012, the Nikkei traded within a range of 8200-9400. As Abe's victory began to be expected, the Nikkei started moving up, reaching 10,000 by the time he was sworn in on December 26 of last year. The euphoria continued throughout the spring and by April 2 the Nikkei stood at 12,003 points. Then on April 4, BOJ Governor Kuroda made good on Abe's dovish rhetoric and announced a plan to end years of mildly declining prices by doing whatever necessary to create 2% inflation (in reality these price declines have been one of the few consolations to Japanese consumers). To achieve its goals, the government is prepared to double the amount of Yen in circulation. Stocks immediately rallied, and in less than a week the Nikkei had breached 13,000 points, taking the index to a 4 1/2-year high. It is rare that any major stock market can achieve a 50% rally in less than a year. But the rally will be costly.

The Japanese government already spends 25% of tax revenue to service outstanding debt (compared to 6% in the US). These costs become even more astonishing when one considers the extremely low rates Japan pays. Ten-year Japanese government bonds now pay less than 0.6%, and five-year yields are now a little more than 0.20%. How much will debt service costs increase if Abe succeeds in pushing inflation to 2.0%? Two percent rates would triple long term borrowing costs. Given the size of its debts, increases of such magnitude could hit Japan with the force of 10 Godzillas.

Japan has an aging demographic and as more time goes by, the pool of potential bond buyers continues to shrink. Unlike the United States, where individual savers are mostly irrelevant in the sovereign debt market, Japanese investors have largely set the market in their own country. There is evidence to suggest that Japanese savers are increasingly considering overseas sources of yield for protection from the inflation that Abe is so determined to create.

As the Nikkei has moved upward, the Japanese Yen has taken the opposite trajectory, falling more than 20% against the U.S. Dollar since the beginning of 2012, and nearly 12% since the beginning of this year (the decline has been even greater in terms of several other currencies). This steep drop, which has taken a huge bite out of the nominal gains in Japanese stocks is unusual in the foreign exchange markets, and has threatened to destabilize an already weak global financial system.

Earlier this year the falling yen issue sparked a full-fledged headline war. On February 16th, participating members of the G20 issued a statement, clearly aimed at Japan, warning against competitive devaluations and currency wars. A day later, Japan's Finance Minister stated flatly that Japan was not attempting to manipulate its currency. After some hesitation, the G20 seemed to accept this statement. For now it seems the international powers have fallen in behind Japan. Both IMF Chief Christine Lagarde and Ben Bernanke have praised Abe's policies. The prevailing opinion seems to be that weakening a currency should not be considered manipulation as long as it's done to revive a domestic economy, not specifically to harm competitors. Such an opinion qualifies as a great moment in rhetorical shamelessness.

In addition to his plans for inflationary monetary policy, Abe is also attempting to wage war from the fiscal side as well. His Liberal Democratic Party has called for over $2.4 trillion USD worth of public works stimulus over the next 10 years. This spending represents approximately 40% of Japan's current GDP and, adjusted for population, would be the equivalent of nearly $600 billion USD annually in the United States.

It should be obvious to anyone with even half a brain that Japan's prior experiments with ever larger doses of quantitative easing have failed. Leaders in both Japan and the United States, however, are following this path with reckless abandon. According to Abe, the entirety of Japan's economic problems can be blamed on the fact that consumer prices have been declining by one tenth of one percent per year. If only Japanese consumers were forced to pay two percent more per year for the things they need or desire, all would be well.

Abe's wish may already be coming true. McDonald's announced this morning that, for the first time in 5 years, the price of hamburgers and cheeseburgers in Japan will be rising by 20% and 25% respectively. No doubt the Japanese will be so excited by this development that they'll rush to the stores to consume all the burgers they were planning on eating in 2014 before prices go up again. Of course there is no official concern that low-income Japanese will now have to pay more for low cost food.

The idea that informs Abe's plan, that rising prices entice consumers to buy before the prices go up, is clearly suspect as economic law dictates that demand increases when prices fall. Any store owner will tell you that cutting prices is the best way to move merchandise. Apart from this problem, how does Abe expect consumers to buy more when their currency is losing purchasing power and more of their incomes will be needed to pay interest on the national debt?

The boldness of Abe's plans should provide the rest of the world with a crash course in the ability of debt accumulation to jumpstart an economy. The good news is that the effects should not take too long to be seen. I believe that we will be treated with a stark lesson on the limitations of inflation as an economic panacea.

Hopefully, failure of this latest Japanese experiment will help convince leaders in the U.S. and Japan that the only true path to prosperity is free market capitalism. Rather than trying to reflate busted bubbles and micro-manage Keynesian style recoveries, politicians and central bankers should recognize their respective roles in creating the problems and get out of the way.

April 20, 2013

In Lew Rockwell 4/20/13

Freedom in Name Only: Statists Want To Control Our Children’s Names

by Lucie Strachonova Wisco

In the year 2002, a baby girl was born into this world and her parents intended to name her Lucía. A classic Latin name meaning ‘light’, the parents decided on the name to honor the mother's deceased grandmother. A beautiful name and a respectable homage to tradition.
Much to the couple's surprise though, the name was refused by government authorities. The response from the state was that "Lucía" was "legally unrecordable" and therefore not acceptable as a name. The parents were given the recommendation to name the girl Lucia, without the accented í, in order to be deemed acceptable by the government gatekeepers. Unfortunately, that would have altered the pronunciation significantly. Taking the absolute freedom of naming a child for granted, one would think this story took place in China, Russia, or another country run by a totalitarian regime and infamous for government impositions on people’s liberties. Maybe one of the European Union countries would come to mind, where government routinely curbs people’s freedom in order to provide ‘general welfare’, or so they say. In either case, my fellow Americans, the guess would be wrong. The story originates in the United States of America – the cradle of freedom and independence, where the majority of population mistakenly believes that their constitutional liberties are still intact (or at least when it comes to raising their own children).
Governments all around the world believe that they have the right to interfere in people’s private decisions. Usually though, these encroachments on personal liberty can be attributed to the self-preserving interests of state power and influence. Although I vehemently disagree with gun censorship, I understand why that serves the interest of power-hungry officials seeking to inflict their will amongst free people. States love to protect their interests and gain wealth at the expense of their people's rights. But why a baby's name? I wouldn't have assumed this personal decision had great appeal to a statist bureaucrat. On what constitutional grounds does government have the right to regulate the parents’ freedom to name their child at all? The Founding Fathers didn’t claim it, why would it be a requisite now? The reality is that these restrictions are practically universal around the world. It's not just the case of countries such as China, where one would not expect even the most basic human rights to be respected, so the reality of having to choose from 13,000 Chinese characters, approved by the Chinese government, as opposed to 70,000 existing characters, is really just the final nail in the coffin. Most of the government restrictions on baby naming come from countries that are otherwise considered democratic.
In Germany for example, the gender must be evident from the name, and using names of objects and products is prohibited. Similarly in Portugal, the sex of the child must be recognizable beyond doubt (sorry Ashley and Pat). In Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and New Zealand, a child cannot be named anything that might result "offensive or causing discomfort to the child", which, of course, is on the official authorities to determine. In France and Spain, the name cannot be "inappropriate or out of the ordinary"; the vagueness of these adjectives is more than obvious. According to a former Norwegian law, a surname was not allowed to be used as a given name and foreign religious names such as Jesus were prohibited. Argentina doesn't even allow names that could be considered "politically tendentious" (how convenient for the powers that be).
This leads us back to the introduction of this article and the problem of Lucía. According to the California Office of Vital Records, a parent can only choose from the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language and diacritical marks are not permissible, with the exception of hyphens, dashes and apostrophes. Not only is this a severe violation of the fundamental right of parents to name their child but it is also utterly nonsensical. The State of California officially uses diacritical marks already, as can be seen in the examples of El Capitán State Beach Park or La Purísima Mission State Historic Park, both of which the official names of California State Parks stated by the California Department of Parks and Recreation on their official parks.ca.gov website. The fact that the state officials can use the diacritics as they please but they would disallow the law-abiding citizens to use them in their names or surnames is another example of government's priviledged hypocrisy. Just as theft is appropriately punishable between citizens , while the government has carte blanche to steal with impunity in the form of taxes. Similar logic applies to the current gun control debate. Statists demand law-abiding citizens can't own assault rifles, but the enforcing employees of the state certainly can.
What's worse is that these countries offer little in the way of discourse for parents to petition these laws. The process usually follows the same pattern: there is a list of given names, published by the government or accessible on the Internet. Should you choose one of these names, there will be no further obstructions in the naming process (considering that the gender recognition is maintained, etc.). If on the other hand you do wish to name your child differently, it can be, and commonly is, denied by the official authorities, in which case you do have the right to appeal to court. As long as you pay all the fees, naturally, along with hiring an attorney, requesting time off work, etc. Ultimately, the courts have their own ‘naming experts’ who cast the final judgment. No jury of peers, just the determination of one employee of the State. And if it’s not in your favor, there is de facto nothing to be done about it as the verdict is irrevocable.
Returning to the key questions above, what constitutional authority does government have to regulate baby names at all?
According to Carlton F.W. Larson and his research paper from January 2011 Naming Baby: The Constitutional Dimensions of Parental Naming Rights parents have a fundamental constitutional right to name their children by virtue of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. And because these rights are fundamental, restrictions on these rights have to pass strict scrutiny, i.e. they must be justified by a compelling governmental interest, they must be narrowly tailored and they must be the least restrictive means to achieve governmental interest. The conclusions of Larson’s analysis suggest that some of the laws and restrictions currently employed are unconstitutional and the state has no right to invoke them.
The birth certificates were first introduced in the late 19^th century and naming restrictions followed soon after. The state of Massachusetts was the first to require birth registration and government control over parental naming permeated immensely thereafter. As it stands today, consider the following a very brief summary of existing naming laws applied, to various extents, throughout the US (by no means exhaustive from state to state):

Certain surname restrictions
Requirement of at least two names
Prohibition of numbers
Prohibition of pictograms and ideograms
Prohibition of diacritic
Restrictions of length
Prohibition of obscenity and vulgarisms

The current state of parental naming laws could be summarized as a sphere of absolute chaos. In the tangles of inconsistent state laws, regulations and public notices, it is difficult not only to find a specific rule, but also identify the corresponding authority.
Naming one’s child is one of the most personal intimate decisions most people make in their lives. And let’s face it, some of the names might be considered ‘stupid’ or ‘absurd’ by majority of outsiders. Despite this notion, though, there is no ground for the government to get involved. The role of the authorities is not to judge people’s intelligence or sense of reality, despite what they might think. They’re not the saviors of individual integrity and protectors of all the well-being, but they certainly are acting that way. In the ocean of Recoveries, Reliefs, Creations and Affordable Acts, it is easy to neglect minor topics as naming rights might seem. But if you think you can still take absolute American freedom for granted, think again next time you want to do something as seemingly routine as to name your baby with an accent.

April 20, 2013

Lucie Strachonova Wisco [send her mail] was born and raised in the small town of Slavkov within the eastern region of the Czech Republic. She holds Masters Degrees in Education and Psychology, & English Language and Literature from Masaryk University, and is currently the Editor of the etymology website BabyNames.net. She immigrated to U.S. in 2008 where she lives happily with her husband, and pursues her writing passions.

Part 4: America Focused on Boston Bombing While They Strip Us of Rights and Prepare for War by Daisy Luther

4.) And finally, don’t forget CISPA, the vote on which was scheduled to be held today but has been postponed until tomorrow. Perhaps to muffle the cries of outrage from internet users across the country, a bomber will be duly produced. Since Washington has been unable to pass SOPA or PIPA, their desire to troll the internet and rummage through your email is back with CISPA. ”CISPA will allow private sector firms to search personal and sensitive user data of ordinary U.S. residents to identify this so-called “threat information”, and to then share that information with each other and the US government – without the need for a court-ordered warrant.” (source) Today, amendments to CISPA that would have protected the privacy of internet users were defeated, and the bill, in all it’s nosy, Big Brother glory, will go before the House for a vote tomorrow.
So, as they said in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”
Don’t be distracted by the theatrics. Don’t be manipulated by fear. Don’t let the media tell you how to think or who is scary. If your attention is directed to one place, be sure to pay attention to everything else. Watch carefully how this proceeds, because this is a blueprint used by manipulative governments around the world – and you can learn from it. After you see the truth you will never watch the mainstream news the same way again.
Reprinted with permission from The Organic Prepper.

April 20, 2013

Daisy Luther [send her mail] is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter.

Part 3: Washington Perfects The Art of Illusion: Keep Part 3: America Focused on Boston Bombing While They Strip Us of Rights and Prepare for War by Daisy Luther

3.) Add to this a crucial vote on the “Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013“, an innocuous sounding bill that was narrowly defeated in Congress today by a mere 6 votes. This was “a bill to ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the national instant criminal background check system and require a background check for every firearm sale, and for other purposes.”
An irate Obama made a statement amidst tearful families of the Sandy Hook shooting, calling this a “shameful day for Washington.”

“Do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don’t have a right to weigh in on this issue? Do we think their – their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate?” Obama asked.
The president vowed “this effort is not over” and urged Americans to voice their opposition to inaction.
“I see this as just round one,” he said. “I believe we’re going to be able to get this one. Sooner or later we are going to get this right. The memories of these children demand it, and so do the American people.” (source)

Part 2: Washington Perfects The Art of Illusion: Keep America Focused on Boston Bombing While They Strip Us of Rights and Prepare for War by Daisy Luther

2. ) Today, just about the time it was announced that a suspect was in custody – but then it was announced that there was not a suspect in custody – but then it was announced that there were photos of a suspect -in the midst of the confusion, while people were busily googling whether or not there was actually even a suspect…
…shhh…the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee very quietly and with little ado, adopted “Senate Resolution 65,” by “which the US will support Israel in case it is compelled to take military action and actualize its right to self defense in the face of an Iranian threat…The resolution stipulates that Israel will enjoy Washington’s diplomatic, economic and military aid.” (source)

Washington Perfects The Art of Illusion: Keep America Focused on Boston Bombing While They Strip Us of Rights and Prepare for War by Daisy Luther

1.) For example, did you know that late Monday, incidentally, the day of the Marathon, Obama signed into law that makes it easier for members of Congress and their staffers to engage in insider trading? There’s a reason that most politicians are rich, and it’s not generally because they’re just lucky. According to “On the Money“, The Hill’s economy and finance blog:

President Obama quietly signed legislation Monday that rolled back a provision of the STOCK Act that required high-ranking federal employees to disclose their financial information online.
The White House announced Monday that the president had signed S. 716, which repealed a requirement of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act requiring the disclosure, which had previously been delayed several times by Congress.
That provision, added to the bipartisan bill aimed at halting insider trading by members of Congress, would have required roughly 28,000 senior government officials to post their financial information online, and had come under harsh criticism from federal government employee unions.
Both chambers of Congress quickly – and near silently – approved the repeal legislation at the end of last week by unanimous consent, just before heading home to their districts.

A George Miller blog post for us.

CISPA Sneaked through While You Were Distracted

While the blather about stealing the Second Amendment was going on, Obama and the Fascists passed CISPA Internet regulation, joining NDAA, "Patriot" Act, HR 347 and other repressive, UNCONSTITUTIONAL "laws" (if they're unconstitutional, they're not actually laws).
read:
http://rt.com/usa/congress-house-bill-cispa-031/
http://endthelie.com/2013/04/18/us-house-of-representatives-passes-...

"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." - Niccolo Machiavelli

“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” - "Obama", 2008

"A gun is like a parachute. If you need one, and don't have one, you'll probably never need one again."

This country does not need to have a conversation about how many bullets should go in a clip. It does need to have a conversation about how many parents should go in a family. It needs to talk about the ghettos of Obamerica and have a serious conversation about broken families and generational dependency. It needs to have a conversation about funneling new immigrants from broken parts of the world into areas already suffering from high levels of unemployment and street violence.- Daniel Greenfield

Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants and debt is the money of slaves.- Traditional

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

A federal government which does not derive its lawful and limited authority from the Constitution of the United States is by definition an occupation government and criminal regime. It’s authority is null and void and no one is bound by any rule of law to obey it. --Donald L. Cline

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson

“Disarmament of the populace is always the first step to depriving them of their civil rights and human rights…many African-Americans and women are actively assaulting the very document that first secured their own freedom... if you do not believe in the Bill of Rights, then you are not, at heart, an American.” – Mike Adams

Only in America could liberals talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000 a plate campaign fund raising event.

We need to demythologize guns before the liberal attempt to create a totemic fear of them succeeds. If the gun control mentality promoting fear of guns themselves becomes our national mentality, we would turn the clock back to the days when a warrior class ruled over the people because only they had the confidence and expertise to deploy the means of defense and coercion. The gun control agenda will turn us into a people too timid to defend themselves from our would-be masters. – Alan Keyes

So now that there is a new tragedy the president wants to have a “national conversation on guns”. Here’s the thing. Until this national conversation is willing to entertain allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons, then it isn’t a conversation at all, it is a lecture. – Larry Correia'

During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Adlai Stevenson: Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person! Stevenson called back: That's not enough, madam, we need a majority.

The economy is so bad, MSNBC had to lay off 300 Obama spokesmen. - Jay Leno

'Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman

“What we’re watching here today is the equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein helping Nixon cover up Watergate,” he said. “The mainstream media is Woodward and Bernstein. Watergate is Benghazi. Except this time, Woodward and Bernstein are helping Nixon cover it up.”-- Russ Limbaugh

Lets see if I have this straight...Former President Bill Clinton ... who lied to his own wife... was convicted of perjury ... disbarred from practicing law in his home state... an admitted philanderer ... who "Never had sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" ... Impeached by the US House of Representatives ... is giving testimonials for Barrack Obama's character and intentions!!!??? Is this a great country or what!?

"Thanking Obama for killing Bin Laden is like going into McDonalds and thanking Ronald McDonald for the hamburger. It's the guy cooking the burger that should get the credit, not the clown."

referring to 10-3-12 debate: "Obama made a lot of good points tonight. Unfortunately, most of them were for Romney." - Bill Maher, million dollar Obama donor

How can we stand up to someone that creates a 100 dollar Federal Reserve (FR) note for 2 cents and uses the face value of the note of 100 dollars to buy a 100 dollar U.S. Security where the government has to pay them 4% in interest at the end of the year? A yearly cost of 4 FR notes where it only cost the FR 2 cents to print.

This is the biggest Conspiracy you may ever encounter and this started sometime around 1913. Yes, your parents and their parents had so much of their time stolen from them at a cost of 2 pennies. And the National Debt is one big fraud. And this is not just in the United States but the whole world.- Steven Pattison

“Can you imagine a nation founded on the principles of God is being taken over by a party that despises God, denies God’s existence and wants to stab Israel in the back in order to support the Islamists who would kill the Jews and drive them out of the Middle East?”- - Michael Savage

"WE own this country, and when someone doesn't do the job "we have to let them go."- Clint Eastwood at RNC

"If you've got a business -- you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen”- Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro

“Capital must protect itself in every possible way, both by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through the process of law, the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. These truths are well known among our principal men who are now engaged in forming an imperialism to govern the world. By dividing the voter through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance. It is thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves that which has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished.”
- President American Bankers Association, 1924

"I think it is wonderful that Eric holder is making sure that Mexicans' second amendment rights are preserved!" - Bobby Florenz

“My father was a hardcore conservative and a straight line Republican voter before he died. Now he votes Democrat.” (-Unknown)

Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule.' Obama is under the mistaken impression that America's symbol is the bald ego." --The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto

‘In years to come there is going to be information that will come out that Obama was not the man who made the call. He can say he did and the people who really know what happened are inside the Pentagon, are in the military and the military isn’t allowed to speak out against the commander- in-chief so his secret is safe.’—Chris Kyle, former SEAL sniper

Remember just a few years ago when...

...the official unemployed was at 8.4 million instead of 12.4 million?

...the U.S. debt was at 9.5 trillion instead of 15.5 trillion?

...gas was $1.89 a gallon?

...the U.S. was friends with Isreal?

...food Stamp Recipients was at 29 million instead of 46 million?

...U.S. Astronauts didn't have to travel with Russians to go into space?

...our country's credit rating was a Triple AAA rating?
"Apparently, I'm supposed to be more angry about what Mitt Romney does with his money than what Barack Obama does with mine."- David Burge
Rep. Randy Neugebauer put the burden into perspective: “It will take over 24 million man hours to comply with Dodd-Frank rules per year. It took only 20 million to build the Panama Canal.”
"Sixty-one percent of debt issued by the Treasury is bought by the Federal Reserve -- which is to say the left hand of the U.S. Government is lending money to the right hand of the US Government. ... Nonetheless, in a land where every mewling babe in the American nursery is born with a debt burden of just under $200,000, the president brags that only his party is 'compassionate' to have no plan whatsoever even to attempt to do anything about this, no way, no how, not now, not ever." --columnist Mark Steyn
Isn't it amazing how every facet of Sergeant Bales life, high school, college, employment, why he left his employment, his brother’s employment, his wife’s employment, real estate holdings, a missed house payment , a missed promotion etc., is exposed within a week and the same fact finders can't find comparable info on the most powerful man in the world in three plus years ?

"We do not have a single document that proves Mr. Obama's birth in Hawaii or anywhere in the United States for that matter. The document is fake, the representation is fake.—Mike Zullo, Arpaio Posse Chief Investigator

" If they (SCOTUS destroy the Constitution, they will have destroyed that which created their positions." - Stewart Rhodes.

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, NOT to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Quick, name something that government does better than the private sector that doesn't involve detention, killing, or eliminating freedom." ----Bobby Florentz

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."---- Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President

“The election of President Obama by the presidential electors, confirmed by Congress, makes the documents and testimony sought by plaintiff irrelevant,” Obama’s lawyer Jablonski said.

“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”--Author Tom Clancy

But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace. "

- Thomas Paine.

"Look, the Taliban, per se, is not our enemy.”

- VP Joe Biden
December 2011

"The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and for people, equally in war and peace, and it covers with its shield of protection all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances. No doctrine involving more pernicious consequences was ever invented by the wit of men that any of its great provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government."

– Ex Parte Milligan (1866)

Permit me to hint whether it would not be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of foreigners into the administration of our national government ; and to declare expressly that the command in chief of the American army shall not be given to, nor devolve on any but a natural born citizen.
I remain, dear sir,
Your faithful friend and servant,

John Jay.

Calling Ron Paul "out of the mainstream" is a double-edged sword, because it also means he can’t possibly be responsible for the condition of the country today.

- - Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

A guy named Reggie Love leaving the White House to get a degree at the Wharton School of Business. I guess he realized you can't learn anything about economics in the Obama White House.
- Jay Leno
Laws and regulations which violate the Constitution are not obligatory upon any free man.
(believed to be from George Washington.)

“We’re at that awkward stage where it’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.”

- Claire Wolf

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its "basic source".

- The Telegraph (good job Barack!)

^{Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable}^- ^{Robert F. Kennedy}

^{"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the
people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything
about it." -- Albert Einstein}

^{The four boxes of LIBERTY:}^{1. soap

2. ballot

3. jury

4. ammo

.....in that order!}

^{"The actual need for a service, its relevance and value is
always subordinate to the bureaucracy. This is the difference from the
private sector: you go into a shop, and the sales assistant asks, 'Can I
be of assistance to you, sir?' You go into a government agency: 'Get to
the back of the queue and wait until you are called!”'}
^{- Alistair Mcleod}

^{"Only Malcolm X’s autobiography seemed to offer something
different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me. The blunt
poetry of his words. His unadorned insistence on respect. He promised a
new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline."}
^{– Barack Hussein Obama}

^{“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”}
^{-Oscar Wilde}

^{“Anyone with an Obama 2012 Bumper Sticker is a Threat to the Gene Pool”}
^{- Congressman Allen West}

^{“The Only People Who Don’t Want to Disclose the Truth are Those with Something to Hide."}
^{- Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro}

^{"If it takes a village to raise your kid, you’re in the wrong country."}
^{- Seen by Tim Clack II}

^{"The President does not have power under the Constitution to
unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not
involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."}
^-^{Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Soebarkah Bounel}

^{"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to
strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively
debate within that spectrum. "}
^{- Noam Chomsky}

^{"Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself." -}
^{- Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro (we are, Barry)}

^{"…whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force…"}
^{Thomas Jefferson, Federal v. Consolidated Government}

^{“Better to be paralyzed from the neck down than the neck up”}
^- ^{Charles Krauthammer.}

^{"Sublata causa, tollitur effectus" (Remove the cause and the effect will cease)}
^{"Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apar}^t"
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