Stop SOPA Now

The end of free speech on the internet is the dream of every tyrannical government on earth, including ours.

Right now, there are two pieces of legislation in Congress that would change the Internet forever if they are enacted. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) would give the federal government the ability to potentially shut down millions of websites. 

SOPA (the version being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives) is the more dangerous of the two. It would essentially be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb being dropped on the Internet. It would give government officials unlimited power to very rapidly shut down any website that is found to "engage in, enable or facilitate" copyright infringement. That language is very broad and very vague. Many fear that it will be used to shut down any websites that even inadvertently link to "infringing material". 

Can you imagine a world where there is no more Facebook, Twitter or YouTube? Sites like those would be forced to hire thousands of Internet censors to make sure that no "infringing material" is posted, and many prominent websites may simply decide that allowing users to post content is no longer profitable and is just not worth the hassle. 

Are you starting to get the picture? That is why we must stop SOPA. If SOPA is enacted, it could be the death of the free Internet

If Money Talks, Ron Paul Walks (Uh-oh)

If Money Talks, Ron Paul Walks (Uh-oh)

Guess who the Banksters' favorite Republican candidate is? (Big "surprise," by the way.) While the donations for both candidates reflect all individual donations in the corporations and the armed services (i.e., not necessarily the corporation owners and the top military brass), this is still a very telling comparison.

The American War-Machine, A Lesson in Blowback

The Ten Principles of a Free Society, by Ron Paul

1. Rights belong to individuals, not groups; they derive from our nature and can neither be granted nor taken away by government.

2. All peaceful, voluntary economic and social associations are permitted; consent is the basis of the social and economic order.

3. Justly acquired property is privately owned by individuals and voluntary groups, and this ownership cannot be arbitrarily voided by governments.

4. Government may not redistribute private wealth or grant special privileges to any individual or group.

5. Individuals are responsible for their own actions; government cannot and should not protect us from ourselves.

6. Government may not claim the monopoly over a people's money and governments must never engage in official counterfeiting, even in the name of macroeconomic stability.

7. Aggressive wars, even when called preventative, and even when they pertain only to trade relations, are forbidden.

8. Jury nullification, that is, the right of jurors to judge the law as well as the facts, is a right of the people and the courtroom norm.

9. All forms of involuntary servitude are prohibited, not only slavery but also conscription, forced association, and forced welfare distribution.

10. Government must obey the law that it expects other people to obey and thereby must never use force to mold behavior, manipulate social outcomes, manage the economy, or tell other countries how to behave.

The War Propaganda Party

Butler Shaffer shows why Ron Paul alone refuses to join The War Propaganda Party.

Ron Paul is one candidate for the presidency who need not fear having to defend himself as a propagandist for war. Each of the others will have to decide whether their ambitions for that office are such that they are willing to be promoters of the war system as a prerequisite for the establishment selecting them. Those who answer "yes" to that question – along with those members of the lockstep media who play their part in war-mongering – might also consider the costs of constructing a bunker to which they can retreat should there be a turn in the fortunes of war.

The Coming Break-Up of the Nation-State by Gary North

Gary North writes:

There are signs that the social and intellectual world created by the Renaissance and extended by the Enlightenment – right wing and left wing – is nearing its own final days. This is marked by the crisis of the democratic nation-state. It faces these crises:

1. The bankruptcy of its welfare programs for the aged

2. Rising rates of violent crime

3. The failure in the United States of tax-funded education, K-12

4. The bankruptcy of the American empire

5. The loss of legitimacy of the democratic nation-state

6. The break-up of the European federation and euro

7. The failure of the United Nations Organization

8. The rapid extension of Islam in Western Europe

9. Falling white birthrates in the West: below replacement rate

10. The decline of historical knowledge among the West's elite

11. Loss of faith in the idea of progress

12. No replacements for the church and the nation-state 

13. Boredom

Gary continues: 

Chapter 9 of [Robert Nisbet's] book, Progress at Bay, discusses the evidence for the loss of faith in the West regarding the future. He writes:

Behind this spreading atmosphere of guilt and loss of meaning or purpose in the West and its heritage lies a constant erosion of faith in Western institutions; not just political but social, cultural, and religious institutions. Hardly a week passes without some fresh poll or survey indicating still greater loss of respect by Americans and Europeans for government, church, school, profession, industry, the media, and other once respected institutions – and, naturally, those who in one or other degree preside over or represent that these institutions (p. 332).

If there was a single source of this loss of faith it was Charles Darwin. His concept of unplanned biological change rested on his denial of any purpose in the universe prior to man.

The issue of progress is intimately tied to the idea of morality. 

We cannot separate the doctrine of the idea of progress from morality, which in turn is established through faith in God, who provides both purpose and meaning for the universe. 

The heart of Darwin's theory is that nature has no autonomous purpose... not structured to benefit man, and man must struggle against the forces of nature in order to retain his dominance in nature.  There is nothing outside of man that gives support to man... that guarantees man's success in extending his rule over nature in history.   

There is also no sovereign God who oversees the affairs of men, which has been the belief of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from the beginning.  Man is cut off from any source of positive or negative sanctions in response to a transcendent system of morals.  

If God is not dead, he is ebbing away, and has been since the early part of the century. We have, in Jonathan Swift's coruscating words, "just enough religion to make us hate but not enough to make us love one another" – or, enough to make us see the flaws and cankers of the society around us but not enough to generate hope for the future. 

Ron Paul Ad - Washington Machine

American Wealth Eroding by Bill Sardi

Bill Sardi states that:

In dollar terms, what does Presidential Candidate Ron Paul mean when he says: "The standard of living is going down for a lot of people on fixed incomes." What does Mr. Paul mean when he says this is what happens when "a country destroys its money" and "destroys or eliminates the middle class." What does that mean in dollars and cents? 

It means the American people are aggregately losing the value of their banked money at the rate of $16,881 per second, $970,904 per minute, $58,254,253 per hour, $1.398 billion per day, or $510,304,260,000 per year (that’s $510 billion!). That is the most conservative figure, based upon a 7% rate of inflation. The erosion of American wealth could be as high as $780 billion/year if a higher 10% inflation rate is employed.

Whether Or Not We Are Believers

All Americans have a huge stake in Christianity and Christmas, says Paul Craig Roberts

All Americans have a huge stake in Christianity. Whether or not we are individually believers in Christ, we are beneficiaries of the moral doctrine that has curbed power and protected the weak.

Be we religious or be we not, our celebration of Christ's birthday celebrates a religion that made us masters of our souls and of our political life on Earth. Such a religion as this is worth holding on to even by atheists.

RealClearMarkets - Exactly What Is Crony Capitalism, Anyway?

Bill Frezza explains...

Some defenders of capitalism draw a sharp distinction between those who obtained their wealth through government favors and those who created their wealth by satisfying willing customers through free exchange. The former are called Crony Capitalists. The latter, interestingly enough, don't have a name. Let's call them Market Capitalists. 

All capitalism is driven by... the desire to not only achieve economic security, but to amass pools of capital beyond one's basic needs. This capital can fuel the kind of conspicuous consumption that offends egalitarians. But it also finances investments in new products and businesses, without which the economy cannot grow. More on that later. 

What makes Crony Capitalists different is their willingness to use the coercive powers of government to gain an advantage they could not earn in the market. This can come in the form of regulations that favor them while hindering competitors, laws that restrict entry into their markets, and government-sponsored cartels that fix prices, grant monopolies, or both. 

Crony Capitalists are also more than happy to help themselves to money from the public treasury. This can come from wasteful or unnecessary spending programs that turn government into a captive customer, subsidies that flow directly into their coffers, or mandates that force consumers to buy their products.

If China Attacks America (JUST IMAGINE)

Activist Post: The Phases of an Empire

David Redick states that:

"All empires and "Imperial Style" governments have failed throughout history, and... our Empire-USA faces the same fate. The only question is whether the people and government of the USA have the wisdom and will to engage in a "Managed Decline" by terminating the empire and imperial conduct on their own schedule, rather than by chaotic crash of the US Dollar, economy, and lifestyle." 

You Like Ron Paul, Except on Foreign Policy

The American Answer to Tyranny

Ron Holland on the role of the states:

Just following Congress, the 2012 presidential campaign and the inability of citizens to influence government policy makes it clear to every American how broken the US political system has become. A few powerful interests run the entire show and the American people are being forced down a dark road to economic destruction. History shows us that Washington is immune to conventional national political action under the present system. Therefore what can freedom loving Americans do?

• We can’t change Washington because Congress is owned and controlled by special interests.

• Neither can we take over the establishment control of either political party as the media elites can break, sideline or ignore any candidate that threatens the elite interests.

• Third party efforts at the national level are doomed to failure and an ineffective tool for promoting freedom principles when compared to the successful Ron Paul campaign effort inside the GOP.

• Finally education although important is not a fast enough solution to save our nation when more than 50% of the electorate lives off the looting of taxpayers through government benefits or make work jobs.

So do freedom advocates just give up or wait for the eventual collapse of the economy and the US political system? While this is a prevalent view in freedom circles, hyperinflation and economic collapse even if you are invested to financially benefit from this outcome is certainly not a recipe for restoring limited government and liberty to our country. Fascism and wealth confiscation are the probable result, just look at what followed the failed German Weimar Republic in the 1930’s. 

There is only one effective, democratic and peaceful tool left for Americans to defend their liberties and restore the original republic of our founding fathers. It is the right of state sovereignty and nullification so effectively explained by Tom Woods in his book Nullification: How To Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21^st Century.

Lew Rockwell: Welcome to Unlimited Military Detention.

In this article by Gary Barnett, he states that...

The natural rights... come from no piece of parchment. For if men can give rights by constitution, then those rights can legally be taken away. That is much of the problem, for when we look to a political document to see what we are allowed to do, then we have already lost our sovereignty.

Improving Upon the Occupy Movement « LewRockwell.com Blog

This was Posted by Butler Shaffer on December 13, 2011 11:19 AM

The OWS movement is fated to be ineffective because it lacks focus. Large numbers of people show up to complain about such a wide variety of matters that no message really comes through. 

What if institutionalism — the belief that political, corporate, religious, educational, and other established systems that presume the priority of their interests over those of individuals — were to be seen as the threat to human well-being? Instead of complaining about isolated government programs or agencies, the Occupiers could voice opposition to the entire institutional order! 

And instead of standing in streets and parks for days at a time, they might consider employing "flash mobs" as peaceful means of communication. What if, in one city after another, and at times likely to get the most attention, large numbers of people were to instantly gather in front of a federal building, corporate office, university, or other institution and emulate the practice seen on a number of YouTube videos: peacefully dancing and singing an orchestrated, liberating message — perhaps "We Shall Overcome" could be resurrected. After 4 or 5 minutes of such a performance, the "flash mob" would disperse, its participants returning from whence they had come. By the time the institutional enforcement bullies found out about and descended upon the scene, the entire ceremony would be over; SWAT teams would find nothing but empty streets to gas, pepper-spray, and barricade!

The Essence of Crony 'Capitalism'

The Free Market versus Crony "Capitalism," by Mario Rizzo

NEWT GINGRICH IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE

Part 1: Newt Supports Big Government

Part 2: Gingrich Explains His Support for Individual Health Mandate (aka ObamaCare)

Part 3: Gingrich Supported Rockefeller Over Goldwater

Part 4: Newt Gingrich a “Wilsonian”

Part 5: Columnist George Will explains why Newt Gingrich is not conservative from an intellectual and temperamental perspective

Part 6:  Newt Supports Gun Control

Part 7:  "Principled Leadership" of Newt

Part 8:  Newt Co-Sponsored 418 Bills with Nancy Pelosi

Jon Stewart on the Coming Imprisonment of American Dissidents Terrorists

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Lew Rockwell: Banks, Wars, Nightsticks

Banks, Wars, Nightsticks
Lawrence Lepard on what's happening, and what we can do about it.

If you are worried about the direction of this Country you are not alone. As Gallup reports, "a record-high 81% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed, adding to negativity that has been building over the past 10 years."

Lew Rockwell: The Obama Regime Has No Scruples

The Obama Regime Has No Scruples
Constitutional or otherwise. Article by Paul Craig Roberts.

"During an interview with RT on December 1, I said that the US Constitution had been shredded by the failure of the US Senate to protect American citizens from the detainee amendment sponsored by Republican John McCain and Democrat Carl Levin to the Defense Authorization Bill. The amendment permits indefinite detention of US citizens by the US military. I also gave my opinion that the fact that all but two Republican members of the Senate had voted to strip American citizens of their constitutional protections and of the protection of the Posse Comitatus Act indicated that the Republican Party had degenerated into a Gestapo Party.These conclusions are self-evident, and I stand by them.
It is clear that the Obama regime objects to military detention, and I mistook this objection for constitutional scruples.
However, on further reflection I conclude that the Obama regime’s objection to military detention is not rooted in concern for the constitutional rights of American citizens. The regime objects to military detention because the implication of military detention is that detainees are prisoners of war.  

Detainees treated according to the laws of war have the protections of the Geneva Conventions. They cannot be tortured.The Obama regime opposes military detention, because detainees would have some rights.  

These rights would interfere with the regime’s ability to send detainees to CIA torture prisons overseas. This is what the Obama regime means when it says that the requirement of military detention denies the regime "flexibility."
The Bush/Obama regimes have evaded the Geneva Conventions by declaring that detainees are not POWs, but "enemy combatants," "terrorists," or some other designation that removes all accountability from the US government for their treatment. 

By requiring military detention of the captured, Congress is undoing all the maneuvering that two regimes have accomplished in removing POW status from detainees.
A careful reading of the Obama regime’s objections to military detention supports this conclusion.

In other words, the regime is saying that under AUMF the executive branch has total discretion as to who it detains and how it treats detainees. Moreover, as the executive branch has total discretion, no one can find out what the executive branch is doing, who detainees are, or what is being done to them. Codification brings accountability, and the executive branch does not want accountability."

The NDAA bill was eventually passed by the Senate on December 15th, 2011.

Lew Rockwell: The 1st Step to Mass Murder

The 1st Step to Mass Murder
Ron Paul on the most vicious violation of free trade, US sanctions.

We should be clear about this: sanctions against Iran are definite steps toward a US attack. Already we see US warships approaching the region, moving dangerously close to Syrian waters. The tougher sanctions currently under consideration would disrupt global trade and undermine the US economy, which in turn harms our national security. Foreign companies or foreign subsidiaries of US companies would be severely punished if they did not submit to the US trade embargo on Iran. We must change our foreign policy to one of economic freedom and diplomacy. That is the only way to promote peace and prosperity. This race to war against Iran and Syria is both foolhardy and dangerous.

Newt Gingrich: Serial Hypocrisy