Economic Recovery?

If many of you dear readers, like this writer, have been paying attention to the "mainstream" media recently you have heard that the US economy is in a slow but steady "recovery" from the financial crisis of 2007-2009. This drumbeat includes the recent data proving that the housing market has begun to rebound as evidenced by an increase in the prices of existing single family dwellings.

Our own experience here in west Georgia seems to refute such an assertion. Vacant homes in many residential neighborhoods in this area approaches 1 in 5 (20%). Two strip malls consisting of a dozen retail shops each which were completed in late 2009 and early 2010 remain completely vacant to this day with a recent sign at one of them announcing "free rent". (click on above image to enlarge)

Members of our family who have recently fled California with cash in hand have attempted to purchase at least a dozen properties listed "for sale" only to be advised by the agents that the properties are "under contract". Investigation has revealed that all of the properties are in the process of being transferred to the ownership of this or that limited liability corporation (L.L.C.).

...[W]hat’s fuelling the soft rebound in the U.S. housing market and home prices is something that’s never happened in our history. It’s not individuals buying houses who are moving prices and demand higher; it’s institutions. Yes, big institutional investors are buying houses—and in a big way!
The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE/BX) bought $2.5 billion worth of U.S. homes—that’s 16,000 units in total so far, with cash! In October of 2012, the company owned $1.5 billion worth of homes and was spending $100 million a week to purchase more! (Source: Bloomberg, January 9, 2013.)
Other companies like the Colony Capital LLC and Waypoint Homes are taking similar courses of action as the home prices increase. Colony Capital has already purchased 5,500 homes since April of 2012 and expects its investments to increase to $1.5 billion by the end of this year. Waypoint Homes has bought 2,500 home and plans to have a total of 10,000 homes by the end of 2013.

Indeed, a neighboring single family residence selling for $210,000 in 2007 and which stood vacant for 3 years after being abandoned by its resident owner was occupied a year ago by a "minority" single mother of three minor children whose rent is subsidized by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development under Section 8.

As soon as the emerging glut in rental properties results in a lack of return to these corporate investors and the federal subsidies end as a result of the "Great Default", the fecal matter will definitely encounter the rotating ventilating device. I suggest that you gentle readers refuse to surrender your "personal defense" weapons. You may need them.


ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!!

The New Lexicon

Since the unpleasantness last month in Newtown, Connecticut, our rulers and their myrmidons in the media, never wanting to allow a crisis to be "wasted" are all atwitter over the possibility of further voiding the second amendment to the Constitution by outlawing "assault" weapons. Indeed, the Vampire state in an apparent trifecta race with Kalifornia and Illinois has won first place by enacting a comprehensive attack on the ownership by mere mundanes of so called "assault" rifles including the AR 15 and all weapons of the Kilashnakov design. These scary appearing rifles, while having no functional distinction from ordinary semiautomatic weaponry are considered by our "Progressive" bettors to be evil by virtue of their "military style" and are therefore officially designated as "assault" weapons.

On the other-hand, the Department of Homeland Security via the General Services Administration has issued a solicitation for bids to supply 7000 "Personal Defense Weapons" for members of the Immigration & Customs Enforcement bureau. The weapons to be delivered are described as AR-15 platform rifles but containing the option of a selector switch enabling them to fire as either semiautomatic or full automatic as in machine gun.

Please note, gentle reader, that our government defines these items as "Personal Defense Weapons" whereas the version of this rifle sans the full automatic capability in the possession of an ordinary citizen is defined by the same government as an "assault weapon".

You simply can't make this shit up.

HT/ Steve McGough

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Piers Morgan, Call Your Office!

A Third Opinion

Most of our "leaders" clamoring for more "gun control" in the wake of the recent outrage in Connecticut are doing so for the cynical advancement of a political agenda i.e. the disarmament of the law abiding citizenry.  For those useful idiots who are joining in the blood dance this humble writer would hasten to direct attention to an essay by Carl Denninger excerpted briefly here:

 [W]e have intentionally removed from our consciousness all of the ugly that inherently comes with killing.  And at the same time we have removed our understanding and respect for the fierce desire of that which is alive to remain alive.

We are now so depraved that we have calls in the media and political offices to cower in the corner and die when under lethal assault rather than assert our right to life and do whatever we're able, with whatever tools we can muster, to stop that assault.  We nod our heads instead of erecting the middle finger at all who suggest such rabid stupidity.

We talk about "gun control" as if that will stop killing.  It will not.  It will simply allow more killing to take place. Consider that if deer knew how to use rifles we would probably not hunt them.  They know their piece of forest better than we do.  We go into the forest for a few weeks to scout and then to shoot.  They live there all year.  Who's going to ambush who if they had rifles as well?...The coyote does not attack the lion, no matter how hungry he is, because he knows he will lose.  He instead looks for something without those sharp teeth and claws, even if he is ravenously hungry.

In short, we would not hunt deer if they could use a rifle to defend themselves from us.

And sickos would not hunt us if they believed we were armed -- whether we actually are or not.

Now you have something new to think about.

I suggest you read the whole thing.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Excellent Geezer "Gun Control"

A Second Opinion

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Random Thoughts on "Veterans Day"

Happily, the last Monday faux "holiday" of 2012 is behind us. Faux in the sense that regardless of the actual date of the event we are memorializing, the day will be artificially moved to the most proximate Monday in order that the boobiose can be paid for sleeping in on 3 succeeding days.

In the local supermarket the other day this old geezer conducted an unscientific poll of several random shoppers and clerks. None of these adult individuals could cite the original event being celebrated. The talking heads in the mass media were all atwitter over the government offices being closed on what is now officially designated as "Veteran's" day in order to "honor the heroes" who have served in the military in order to "protect our freedoms." There was scant mention of an Armistice i.e. ceasefire, commencing on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year of our Lord 1918. In other words, "peace" descended on the Western front as act I of the 20th century's greatest government sponsored slaughter ended to "preserve our freedoms and make the world safe for democracy."

Recent veterans are viewed by Ms Napolitano's Fusion Centers' bureaucrats as potential terrorists, and as a Korean era vet,  I must now be groped and scanned in order to board a plane. I must obtain permission from the government to use my own property in any meaningful way or engage in honest and lawful business. I am viewed and interrogated as a possible terrorist if I exercise my right to free speech by criticizing the lawlessness of my rulers who regulate every facet of my life from the flushing capacity of my toilet to the type of light bulbs I use. I am stopped at checkpoints while driving lawfully on a highway and required to produce my "papers" to prove to the "authorities" that I have the proper permissions to go about my lawful business.

A "free" country? Not so much anymore.

We have just recently experienced a national "election" assuring the continuation of our descent further into tyranny.

A Confession

This hapless blogger has a confession to make: He voted today. The extenuating circumstance of course was the peripheral issues and local candidates on the ballot e.g. the opportunity to affirm his support for allowing alcohol to be sold on Sundays (during restricted hours, natch) and to write in his favorite Disney character to replace the socialist Democrat incumbent running unopposed for the state legislature. A bonus was to hopefully contribute in small measure toward the end of Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton's sinecures in the Imperial Cabinet.

When handed the quaint little lapel sticker stating "I Voted", I politely refused and murmured: I'm really ashamed.

Ping-Pong Politics

With the election around the corner, you can’t miss the escalating sense of urgency from many voices, bordering on panic, that this is the most important election ever – ever. Such hyperbole exposes the truth of our supposed two-party system.

The rhetoric states that Party A wants it hot while Party B wants it cold. But if that is true, why is the result always lukewarm mush, election after election?

Party A and its supporters cry that Candidate B will undo all the good Candidate A has done during the last four years. In turn, Party B and its supporters cry that, if elected, Candidate B will rollback everything foisted on the country during Candidate A’s soon-to-conclude term. From this, one would assume the structure of government is akin to a Ping-Pong ball, bouncing between the separate and distinct agendas and platforms of the two parties. However, as history has shown, that conclusion is false.

Not only is it false, but even the most ardent supports of the parties know it is. And that is why they are in a panic.

For sake of argument, let’s assume for a moment the assumption is true – politics is a Ping-Pong ball. Another four years of Obama would mean the continuation of his current agenda, plus some new programs of liberal nonsense. At some point, the marginal voter would switch allegiance, or simply grow board [sic] with the current state of affairs, and a Republican candidate would be elected president.

With a Republican in the White House, all the so-called left-leaning changes initiated since the last Republican was in power would be wiped from the books. Shelves of regulations would be cast into dumpsters and the country would once again be conservative and free (or so the rhetoric goes).

Then, after some time, the marginal voter would once again switch sides and the Democrats would have a go at their four-year or eight-year socialist paradise.

As parties moved in and out of the Oval Office, one group of citizens would be inconvenienced for some multiple of four years, only to see the country returned to its previous course. Things would be tough at times, depending on whether the party in power conformed to your political views. But knowing that, in the near term, political life reversed would limit the “most important election” rhetoric to just a few on the far wings of the parties.

You object: What about the legislative elections?

The office of the president is becoming more imperial with every election. The “most important election” rhetoric is around the president because of the obvious supremacy of the executive branch. So the president is our immediate concern.

However, the only things Ping-Ponging are the issues each party champions. Those issues switch in a subtle, Nineteen Eighty-Four-ish way. Today’s conservative issues were last year’s liberal issues.
Bush’s wars are now Obama’s wars, justified by the Democrats as proper intrusions in the business of other countries. Bush’s assault on our freedoms is now a centerpiece of left ideology. Hegel (er, Fichte) would be proud of both parties.

This coalescing of agendas is obvious. Most conservatives have already embraced the policies of Obama – with a few exceptions, of course – and cannot even imagine a world without, among other things, socialized healthcare.

Again you object. However, socialized healthcare is a conservative issue – not Obamacare, of course.

But the Republicans declare that a system run by government regulations and programs is efficient and a right for all – and their so-called conservative base cheers.

It’s tough to keep things straight at times, since we are never certain which party favors which program.
Look, Ryan proclaims that if it wasn’t for the government his mother could not have gone back to college, and he would not be a candidate for vice president. Ryan says that he has no intent of reducing such liberal programs of wealth redistribution, and conservatives rang a loud applause.

With Romney, the country will not return to what is now considered the halcyon days of the Bush or Reagan. Voters on both sides know the claims of undoing the policies of the previous administration are false. They know Romney’s claims about repealing Obamacare are hallow [sic], just as they know Obama insinuation regarding less wars are as equally without merit.

In fact, both candidates previously gave what appeared to be heartfelt arguments against the agendas they now support. But no hypocrisy was committed. Each candidate simply seeks power, and changing agendas based on the latest poll reveals no hypocrisy relative to that end.

Romney will not lead the repeal of anything. He may modify the edges, but the core will remain. And no one should expect him to change the core – the Obama core is his core. Just as Obama’s core is Bush’s core. On and on.

Voting for president is a delusion. Both parties and their candidates champion the ever-growing state. Neither has any intent on reducing government. And they all share the same core platform and agenda – the end is the same, just the order of initiatives is different. And this will continue until the majority in this country finally says, “Enough!” and withdraws support from the current political system.

If this is the most important election ever, it is because it is the most important election to skip.

Additionally,  the only presidential candidate on my ballot who was not a committed warmista and gun grabber was Gary Johnson. Go figure!

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

Thermopylae Revisited

A Guest Post By Mat Bracken:

  Did Obama Withhold Cross-Border Authority?

 Please help me. I am trying as hard as I can to get out the word about cross-border authority (CBA).

 I just can’t believe reporters don’t know enough to ask the right questions! It’s infuriating.

 Libya, as far as standing down the rescue, is 100% Obama’s show, and nobody else’s. Only he can grant CBA, not Biden, not Panetta, not Dempsey, not Hillary, and certainly not Ham in Germany.

 The entire episode is explained perfectly inside the context of not granting CBA. The CIA QRF in Tripoli? No problem, send them on the local Tripoli station chief’s say-so. He merely informs up COC that he has done so. CCs them so to speak. “This is what I am doing.” Ditto if Predators were in country, no problem using them.

 But the big rescue air armada streaming toward Libya right away after the alarm got to Stuttgart and Africom? That has to stop. I believe at the 5pm meeting with Panetta and Biden in the Oval Office, he said, “No outside military intervention,” on the basis that the last report was the “lull” from the consulate, at about 1030 p.m. in Benghazi, when the attack appeared to be over and the situation stabilizing.

 (As a soft exception, Obama may have authorized sending an unarmed Predator from outside of Libya, but I am thinking the two Predators were already in-country, and hence available to use within “no CBA granted” rules.)

 “No outside military intervention” equals “no cross-border authority” and that constitutes “standing orders” until POTUS changes them. Nobody else can “un-decide” the POTUS decree. The rescue air-armada of C-17s, C-130s and SOF helos like MH-47 Chinooks and Pavehawks cannot proceed directly to Libya without CBA being granted, so instead they are all staged at Sigonella, Sicily.

 USN ships are in position to “lilypad” helos for long over-water flights. Airborne tankers are coming into position. SOF forces in Sigonella are going over their gear for different contingencies. Fuming all night as officers keep checking in with operational commanders. “Hold in place, no rescue yet. We can’t find the President, it sounds like,” say the colonels to the majors and captains. 100s of military must know about this. I keep waiting for the conclusive whistle-blowers to come forward BEFORE the election. After won’t matter, it will be for the historians.

 Panetta is falling on his sword for Obama with his absurd-on-its-face, “The military doesn’t do risky things” defense of no rescue. Panetta is destroying his future reputation entirely, to save Obama. The question is why? Loyalty?

 Petreaus was probably “used” in some way early, about the supposed CIA intel link to the Mohammed video, and now he feels burned. So he conclusively said via his PAO, “The stand-down order did not come from CIA.”

 Well, what is higher than CIA? Only White House. Obama, nobody else. Petreaus is naming Obama without naming him.

 Now, as far as Obama / Huma Abedin / Valerie Jarrett etc actually wanting Ambassador Stevens dead, to terminate the end of the very dirty Libyan arms to Syrian AQ programs, I can’t speculate. Obama is not competent enough, I’m thinking.

 But for sure, the ambassador going to unsecure Benghazi on 9-11 of all days stinks to me of a setup. You can bet Stevens would have told the Turks, “No, 9-11 is not a good day for us,” and stayed in Tripoli behind many high and thick walls. For him to go to dangerous Benghazi on 9-11 means the Turks totally insisted, but why would they care about the meeting date, unless they were in on a “hit” as the Judas goat?

 Alternatively, ordering Stevens to meet the Turks in Benghazi on 9-11 may have come from down OUR chain of command. Stevens seems to have been wearing two hats as ambassador and CIA arms shipper. Moving between more-secure Tripoli, the Benghazi “consulate,” and the CIA “annex.” So orders to him might come down the State or the CIA commo channels, or both. I am unclear on his job title and true position, but either the CIA or State sends him final instructions. How this works with “dual-hatted” ambassadors, I haven’t a clue.

 But Stevens meeting the Turks at the unsecure Benghazi “consulate” on 9-11 stinks to me of a deliberate setup. The Turks left the meeting and probably flashed their headlights to the attack team commanders lurking in shadows. A coded text, a word on a phone, meaning, “The ambassador is there, with minimal security: proceed with the attack plan.”

 That is all pure speculation. What I know FOR SURE is that the big “stand down order” issue revolves around granting or withholding cross-border authority.

 Every SOF officer and ops officer all the way up has this drummed into his head. We can make Obama respond to this question, even if reporters must shout it at him while he’s doing storm cleanup photo ops. If the reporters KNOW enough to ask the quesion.

 That’s why I am shouting all over the internet about CBA.

 I can’t believe cross-border authority permission is not one of the top discussion points about Benghazi.

 That, and who “set him up” by sending him to Beghazi to meet the Turks on 9-11, with them leaving after dark.

 And of course, down the road, was the military rescue-in-progress turned back because Obama actually wanted to make sure the consulate was wiped out? Is that why the spooks at the annex were refused permission to travel the under one mile to intervene? That would connect it all together, but for now, the best focus is on Obama either granting or withholding cross-border authority for the rescue.

 Feel free to repost these musings of a long-ago SOF officer anywhere you please.

DONE

More Outrage HERE 

Who is the Ephialtes?


ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!!

Say Goodbye to The American Eagle

Stolen from: Lew Rockwell via Karen De Coster and Travis Holte

The New Paradigm

The President’s 2013 Budget is out and it should be stated that there is no forecasting ability incorporated in this report. The projections  are based on the assumption that what is in motion stays in motion. So the increase in interest expenditures that they freely show here will exceed all nondefense spending in the next decade. This is based on the idea that interest rates will remain the same. There is no anticipation that the economy would decline and tax revenues with it the higher the tax rates rise. Virtually every assumption is effectively just false. There are already plans to raise the age limit on the entitlements. The government employee pension funds are way out of control.
The statement of the President shows how he accepts no blame for anything and shifts it to the effect that somehow the crisis is the offspring of the fact that the rich made more money. How this has anything to do with failed government spending or the fact that if you eliminate ALL government spending except interest and entitlements, you cannot balance the budget. His solution will be to raise taxes by 50%. However, by the time we reach 2020, that same solution will be needed again and we will have completely destroyed the economy for there will be no private wealth left for anyone to argue over. The President’s statement makes it very clear:

“We now face a make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to reach it. After decades of eroding middle-class security as those at the very top saw their incomes rise as never before and after a historic recession that plunged our economy into a crisis from which we are still fighting to recover, it is time to construct an economy that is built to last.”

This demonstrates that there is ABSOLUTELY no solution to the Sovereign Debt Crisis. They just plan on continued borrowing and project the National Debt will reach $26 trillion by the end of the next 10 year period. There is no accountability. There is no plan other than to blame anyone with money as the reason the politicians have failed. This statement makes it crystal clear that there is no acceptance of responsibility and the only thing intended is to raise taxes and secretly reduce entitlements, but there is no practical solution that is long-term nor is there any realization that there has to be a debt default on those very entitlements just as we see in Greece whose bonds are now with the lowest rating and presumed to be junk. The amount of wealth destruction on the horizon is off the charts. We are looking at massive STAGFLATION, rising costs (including taxes) and declining (an end to?) economic growth.
Both Presidential Candidates rant and rave about social issues from abortion to gay rights while failing to mention that all rights will be gone by following this course of brain-dead actions. The elections are nothing more than a marketing battle between Coke and Pepsi. Slightly different flavor, but the same color, and effectively the same thing.

In China, the number one T-Shirt being sold portrays Obama as Mao claiming he is the Savior of America. Unfortunately, no politician in this race is even willing to look at what the hell is going on. You wouldn’t hire any of these people to even balance your own checking account. They are totally oblivious to everything and assume it will always be as it is – they will borrow forever, diminish the real value of everything as they retain power so they can live high on the hog at everyone else’s expense. The citizens in Western society deserve what they get. They will not open their eyes to a manipulated press that supports government nonsense, the banks, and special interests.

The President’s Budget even shows TARP continuing indefinitely. Once a program is passed, there is never any end. The lobbying efforts to keep agencies in place is unbelievable. They should have merged the SEC & CFTC long ago. Because they refused to do so, they forced fund managements offshore, giving birth to the Hedge Fund Industry. Even when they created the mortgaged backed CDOs, there were 7 agencies that had to approve. When no one was doing their job, another was added another on top of everything else. The Federal Reserve was born in 1913 to effectively manage the regional capital flows with each of the 12 branches maintaining its own interest rates and “stimulating” the economy was direct, for it was to ONLY by buying corporate paper. Then WWI came, the politicians insisted the Fed had to support their debt by ending the buying of corporate paper. With socialism, Roosevelt usurped the independence of the 12 branches making it one rate for all defeating the purpose of its design. WWII came and they directed the Fed to support US government bonds at par ending that in 1951. Then 1998 came & the Fed bailed out a hedge fund to save the banks. With 2007, they emerged with this "Too Big To Fail" power where they have now taken control of corporations, not only banks. They are politically driven, just as QE3 has shown to the world, and it is no longer even a central bank; but some rogue entity empowered to do whatever it damn well pleases without any accountability and of course it is an unelected nondemocratic institution as is most everything else that runs the government. We vote only for Pepsi or Coke and have no say over anything else whatsoever. So hang on to your socks/wallets. We will by no means make it to 2022!!!!

The United States is attacking its own citizens and capital. Where will capital go to next? When Europe did it, mankind fled to America. Where are we to go now? We are facing a truly catastrophic collapse of our entire economic system in the years ahead. You will be given the guide posts. You will have to tick them off as we pass each one by. Our politicians are like the idiot who is pushed off the tallest building in the world. As he passes the 4th floor, he remarks: " Well so far – So good!"  This is our future they have screwed with just for personal gain to get re-elected by the art of bribery: "Vote for me & I will give you this."


Source: Armstrong Economics

"Democracy" as practiced by GOP UPDATED

Some brave soul with a cell phone camera captured this disgusting Teleprompter scripting of  a "vote" choreographed by the Republican party establishment at its recent Romneyfest convention in Tampa and posted it on YouTube.

UPDATE!

The Teleprompter scripting caper is not even the "tip of the iceberg". For a more inclusive exposition of political thuggery read this.
Do you understand yet?

"To Save the Planet " NOT!

There is old cliche which goes something like this: "No fool like an old fool." Perhaps those words should be modified to: "No hypocritical fool like an environmentalist fool."

The following is an advertisement on Ebay for a:

1965 MercedesBenz 230 SL Electric vehicle, finished in white exterior with a dark blue interior, both tops, 4 speed transmission, the motor is a ADC 9.1 inch,FB1-4001, the car has 19 6 volt PBV flooded sealed battery system , the voltage is 114 and this car can be charged with any 110 outlet and has a 60 mile range, this set up is very reliable , the batteries are very long lasting and top speed on the car is 60 MPH, runs and drives great and was designed by the creator of the EV cars GM produced in the early 90's.

The vehicle is pictured below.

The curb weight of the original 230 SL was 2750 lbs. After the modifications, this electric car now weighs approximately 2 tons (3965+ lbs).

This writer, though not an engineer or mathematician can justly claim a degree of knowledge regarding both the vehicle and its power source due to owning an unmodified 230 SL of the same vintage (see below) and having spent 10 years living off-grid utilizing these batteries to power the family residence.

Each of these golf cart batteries sell for +- $185.00 and weigh 85 lbs. The car contains 19 such items and they consist of mostly lead and sulfuric acid. Both of these substances are highly toxic and require energy intensive mining/manufacturing processes. In such an application the batteries with normal care and use will need to be replaced  in 7 years or less.

You, gentle reader, will doubtless note that this classic car displays New York license # ZERO-CO2 and is offered for sale in Malibu, California. These locations are separated by a distance of 3000 miles. In the highly unlikely event that it was driven that distance, the journey would have required +-50 days. This figure is arrived at by computing thusly: range of 1 charge of the batteries =60 mi. @ speed max 60 mph., recharge time for the battery pac =16 hrs+-.

Let us discount that recharging the batteries requires a 120v electrical outlet drawing 30 Amperes for 16 hours fed by an "evil" coal or gas fired power plant spewing noxious pollution into the atmosphere. This hypothetical road trip would of necessity need to be undertaken by no more than two people in a vehicle whose luggage compartment is now fully occupied by batteries. Those batteries have an energy efficiency recovery rate of < 20% .

I will leave you, gentle reader to draw your own conclusions as to the net environmental impact of this exercise in intellectual gymnastics. Meanwhile, the auction on ebay of this  kinetic sculpture vehicle will have ended by the time you have completed reading this screed.

"SECURITY ALERT"!!!

This humble and oft times laconic blogster is at a loss as to what category to file this gem under. It has to be either "you can't make this s**t up" or at the least, "we have finally arrived".

Ron,[and] Carol [Paul], and one of their granddaughters left the GOP snake pit [convention in Tampa] yesterday afternoon, but the State was not yet through with them. At the little airport in Clearwater, 8 TSA agents descended on them and ordered them not to board their private plane. First, the pilots, the airplane, and the passengers would have to be screened in great detail, because Romney might be nearby. After a long examination of the pilots and their credentials, the agents said they had to check the plane for explosives. One of the pilots noted that the plane, full of gas, was already a bomb. Then Carol Paul, who has a heart pacemaker, refused to be screened, and an aide started taking video of the whole rotten proceeding. At that point, the TSA backed down and let them through.

 Having been a delegate to the local county GOP convention I was able to observe first hand the tactics used by the party establishment in order to maintain control . The chairman routinly violated both party rules and Roberts Rules of Order by ignoring lawful motions from the floor as well as calls for a division on votes while at the same time ruling on motions contrary to obvious voice votes. These tactics have also been in evidence at the Tampa Romneyfest.

Will these tyrants be sent down the path the Whigs took in the 1850s?
This old Greek certainly hopes so.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

So You Think You Own Some Gold?

Think again!! Many "investors" who believe they have purchased "gold" and hold it in the form of certificates issued by bullion banks around the world will find that delivery of the physical precious metal is impossible. This is due to what amounts to a "fractional reserve" situation similar to the currency system engaged in by all commercial banks. When such "investors" demand physical delivery of the actual metal to their vault outside the banking system the bullion bank will substitute paper banknotes or electronic digits equal to the manipulated market price of the gold. The reason for this is that there is insufficient metal in existence to equal the number of ounces for which certificates have been issued.

The "Evolution" of a Radical Politician

Q: How insentient does he believe the voting public is?

A: Apparently, rocklike

H/T: Joshuapundit

Then and Now

As a student of history, your humble blogster is occasionally struck by parallels between current events and epochs of history. As an example, I call your attention to the similarity of war fever being fanned by the governing elite here in the US against Iran and Syria to the similar policies of the German government during the decade of the 1930s.

In both instances we find a ruling elite presiding over crippling economic conditions. For reasons of political  survival  that elite must divert its citizens' attention from declining living standards as well as a concomitant disappearance of formerly existing liberty.

In the case of Germany, the population was propagandized to view its cultural brethren in neighboring nations as victimized and oppressed by evil tyrants and in need of "liberation".

Those were the purported conditions obtaining in the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia, the Rhineland and Poland.  After remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1936, seizing the Sudetenland and the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1938-9, a false flag incident at Gleiwitz on the German side of its border with Poland was staged as the pretext for invading that hapless nation. We all know how that turned out. In the present instance think: Straits of Hormuz.

Fast forward to recent history and we observe the mass media/government spokespersons (a redundancy) obsessing over human rights violations committed by the Syrian dictator as well as the supposed efforts of a bellicose nutcase Iranian regime to develop nuclear weapons. Couple this with the administration's failed efforts to convince US citizens of the existence of an economic "recovery" and there exists the possible perfect storm of conditions necessary for the commencement of another "military action" in order to enable the current US regime to remain in power.

Given the likely choice of protagonists in the upcoming contest for the US imperial throne, this writer can envision a serious debate over which candidate can most effectively lead the nation during wartime.

May Random Chance*  guide and deliver us through these trying times.

*Hopefully you, dear reader, will forgive this somewhat esoteric allusion to God. No blasphemy is intended.

Our "Brave New World"

As Frantz Fanon said, “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.” From "Matrix" the film.
Paul Craig Roberts

That is Mr Roberts dollar's worth of input. I say dollar, due to the fact that since the introduction of the Federal Reserve in 1913 it is now worth just over 2 cents.

The US now has an acknowledged national debt approaching 16 trillion dollars  which exceeds the GDP and congress will be raising the legal limit on it later THIS year at the behest of the teleprompter jesus. The taxpayers will not tolerate a substantial increase in taxes to fund all of the idiotic bullshit we have come to demand from Mordor on the Potomac and thus 40% of all annual  government spending is borrowed on the bond market requiring payment of interest kept artificially manageable by Mr. Bernanke. As of March, 2012 61% of these US Treasury bonds are purchased by the Federal Reserve. Where does the Federal Reserve obtain the funds to purchase those bonds? It PRINTS them!

There is however, an increasingly utilized "tool" which the Federal government has had in its bag since enactment of the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 . Fail to report to the Federal government on form #8300 a cash transaction of $10,000.00 or more or even deposit in your bank account a sum less than you received in income and you may expect a visit from Federal agents  as well as the account being seized. Of course in these cases you must prove your innocence instead of vice versa as required by our increasingly irrelevant Constitution and meanwhile you have no financial resources to hire legal counsel.

Welcome to the "Brave New World" of the USSA.

The More Things "Change"...

For those who have had a modicum of exposure to writings of the classical historians it becomes obvious that although history does not repeat itself there are similarities and parallels to present day events which are unfolding even as this screed is being composed. Although many scholars have an acquaintance with the works of  Edward Gibbon and his 6 volume magnum opus "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" published between 1776 and 1788, Gibbon was forced to make use of centuries old primary sources and was not the first to opine on the causes of the disintegration of the first and greatest of the western hegemonic empires. A more contemporary historian and witness to the events attending the disintegration of the western Roman Empire was the pagan Greek Zosimus  who resided in Constantinople during the last decade of the 5th and the first decade of the 6th centuries.

By the 4th century, the Roman economy and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in order to receive public entitlements.
At this point, the imperial government was spending the majority of the funds it collected on either the military or public entitlements. For a time, according to historian Joseph Tainter, “those who lived off the treasury were more numerous than those paying into it.”
Sound familiar?
In the 5th century, tax riots and all-out rebellion were commonplace in the countryside among the few farmers who remained. The Roman government routinely had to dispatch its legions to stamp out peasant tax revolts.
But this did not stop their taxes from rising.
Valentinian III, who remarked in 444 AD that new taxes on landowners and merchants [the "wealthy"] would be catastrophic, still imposed an additional 4% sales tax… and further decreed that all transactions be conducted in the presence of a tax collector.

Citizens of the opinion that in 2012 governments do not concern themselves with such low level economic activity as yard sales, had better think again.  After all; "it's for the children" and the benefit of the local treasury.
Indeed, many citizens of the empire in lieu of abandoning their free holdings for flight to the cities sought protection from the imperial tax collectors by joining the cause of the invading Visigoths.

"Many Roman peasants even fought alongside their invaders, as was the case when Balkan miners defected to the Visigoths en mass in 378  and destroyed an imperial army sent to suppress them. Others simply vacated the Empire altogether."

In the later stages of the Roman Empire, emperors clipped the edges from circulated gold coins and used the shavings diluted with cheap base metals to strike new coins of the same nominal value. This occurred as the emperor decreed that taxes were to be paid with only unclipped coins. Compare this practice with the central bank printing up new banknotes backed by nothing and being the first to spend them before the economy has suffered price inflation caused by the increase in the money supply.
 
If you, dear reader see a similarity to the events described above and western civilization in this year of our Lord 2012, welcome to the party.

Not a Warmista?...We Can Fix That!

Oregon University professor Kari Norgaard has made headlines with a controversial paper claiming that global warming skeptics are plagued by an "aberrant sociological behavior." From the Daily Mail:

Sociology and environmental studies professor Kari Norgaard wrote a paper criticising non-believers, suggesting that doubters have a ‘sickness’.

The professor, who holds a B.S. in biology and a master’s and PhD in sociology, argued that ‘cultural resistance’ to accepting humans as being responsible for climate change ‘must be recognised and treated’ as an aberrant sociological behaviour.

Resolving skepticism about climate change alarmists, she added, is a challenge equitable to overcoming ‘racism or slavery in the U.S. South’.

Norgaard added that effective international action on climate change is being hampered by ‘weak’ responses to the crisis by both individuals and societies.

This is becoming a typical trend in an ever-centralizing world. Governments grow on the backs of excuses to expand their own authority. The best demonstration of this spectacle is the current judicial debate involving the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care overhaul otherwise known as Obamacare. Proponents of Obamacare argue that because hospitals are forced to give care to those who would not normally be able to afford it, the controversial individual mandate portion of the bill is necessary to eliminate free loading. What isn’t acknowledged is the simple economics which dictate that subsidizing anything, in this case free hospital visits, has the effect of encouraging more of it. It is precisely because of the mandate for hospitals, along with a myriad of regulation at the state and federal level, that the health care industry is cartelized to the point where costs continue to rise without the necessary counteracting supply that would arise in an unfettered market. Put simply, government intervention created the mess yet further intervention is opted for. Influential libertarian writer Albert Jay Nock summed up this all-too-often occurrence in his wonderful book Our Enemy, the State. In referencing the 19th century classical liberal Herbert Spencer, Nock writes:

He points to the anomaly which we have all noticed as so regularly presented by newspapers. Take up one, says Spencer, and you will probably find a leading editorial "exposing the corruption, negligence or mismanagement of some State department. Cast your eye down the next column, and it is not unlikely that you will read proposals for an extension of State supervision.

. . . Thus while every day chronicles a failure, there every day appears the belief that it needs but an Act of Parliament and a staff of officers to effect any end desired. Nowhere is the perennial·£aith of mankind better seen."

The science on global warming is still muddled (though the data has not panned out in a way reflective of the "pro warming" scientist’s models), but supposing man-made global warming is a reality and the world on a whole is now on a crash course with disaster, the very last thing to do is put the government, or a number of governments, in charge of hashing out a solution. Any mandatory decree will only emerge after years of "forums" and "meetings" hosted at the most pristine resorts around the globe; all with catered meals to boot. Taxpayers will be stuck with the bill and with living in whatever brave new world is levied upon them. After taking human civilization back a few pegs for the sake of cutting greenhouse emissions, there is little doubt the same leaders will grant themselves exceptions as to continue their lavish lifestyles of motorcades and private flights. It will be socialism for the poor and the gifts of capitalism for the rich and connected.
The true solution to global warming, assuming it’s problem to begin with, is not for government dictation but to unleash the power of the market to develop alternatives energy sources. Consumer demand, which affects prices signals as a means to clue entrepreneurs and investors on the desires of the market, will inevitably increase for "green" energy as the need arises. Driving up the cost of production and discovery by taxing carbon emissions or placing barriers on owning land from which to extract natural resources doesn’t speed up develop[ment] but places another costly barrier on the market process. It is the opposite of technological advancement. Energy, namely oil, is a capital good in most production processes. Allowing its price to be unperverted through government measures is a must if efficiency in energy usage is to be obtained. And efficiency is really what is needed. If the "green revolution" could be sparked with inefficient sources of energy, there would be a Chevy Volt on every block in America. Instead, it was another highway-to-nowhere vote buyer involuntarily paid for by Joe Taxpayer.
Trusting the government to run the economy is like trusting a group of thieves to run a business. The end result is invariably bankruptcy along with the copper wire being gutted out of rented office space. Keep in mind, this is the same institution that can’t even run the postal service correctly in just one country. And these people are to be trusted in launching a global initiative that will affect the lives of 7 billion Earth inhabitants?
Governments are antithetical to industrial progress. As investor and author Doug Casey points out, "we’d already be living with the technology of Star Trek if it wasn’t for the state slowing things down."
Besides a total lack of familiarity with basic economic concepts, Norgaard’s assertions are revealing of the dominant mindset held by of those within the state’s sphere of influence. She treats dissenting opinions as not only wrong but in dire need of some alluded form of reprogramming. First is the notion that racism is an immoral and dangerous mindset.
Racism in itself is only a variation of discrimination. At its heart is essentially one’s right to congregate and interact with those of his choosing. Dispelling anyone who is black, Latino, Muslim, etc., from your place of business may be dense from a marketable perspective but such a decision is justified in respect to private property. It is by no means a medical condition to "be recognized and treated."
The real mental disease at hand is the sociopathic nature of state worshipers like Ms. Norgaard. Those who buddy up with and infuse themselves with the political class have a real disgust for mankind. They regard humanity as naive and unfit for actual freedom. That is why it must be molded and directed like a herd to slaughter. By the same token, these central planners completely overestimate the extent of their own knowledge and perceptions on how society "should run." They picture themselves as the deserving class to have a seat at the throne by virtue of their own intelligence; not the unthinking cogs in the machine like truck drivers, fast food workers, or bartenders.
It is cognitive dissonance en masse.
To further illustrate this profound rejection of humanity and life, take a look at the crew Norgaard rolls with:

Norgaard last week attended the annual four-day ‘Planet Under Pressure’ international conference in London, where she presented her controversial paper to delegates on Wednesday.

The scientists behind the event recently put out a statement calling for humans to be packed into denser cities so that the rest of the planet can be surrendered to mother nature.

And fellow attendee Yale University professor Karen Seto told MSNBC: ‘We certainly don’t want them (humans) strolling about the entire countryside. We want them to save land for nature by living closely [together].’

The only way to achieve such a dystopian result is authoritarianism. This is the green movement’s end goal; societal planning on a grand scale, forced indoctrination of submission to the state, and total domination of the Earth’s resources by the few. It’s therefore not surprising that the first state-centered attempt to negate global warming dates back to Stalin’s Russia. Fascist environmentalists are simply watermelons – green in appearance but red on the inside.
Norgaard’s paper is further evidence of the statist formula that has remained identical through history; question the state and be labeled as a crackpot. Believe the government is filled not by angels but men acting in their self interest? Perhaps a mental asylum is a better place of residence for you.
Sound economics has no place in the fantasy land engineered in the halls of Congress and Parliaments around the world. Scarcity is not their cup of tea; control is. 

James E. Miller

Reprinted with permission