The Liberation of the Demons. Mises Daily: Ludwig von Mise

[Planned Chaos (1947)]

The history of mankind is the history of ideas. For it is ideas, theories and doctrines that guide human action, determine the ultimate ends men aim at, and the choice of the means employed for the attainment of these ends. The sensational events which stir the emotions and catch the interest of superficial observers are merely the consummation of ideological changes. There are no such things as abrupt sweeping transformations of human affairs. What is called, in rather misleading terms, a "turning point in history" is the coming on the scene of forces which were already for a long time at work behind the scene. New ideologies, which had already long since superseded the old ones, throw off their last veil and even the dullest people become aware of the changes which they did not notice before.

Freedom and Federalism

[Thomas DiLorenzo will be teaching Freedom and Federalism: The Libertarian States' Rights Tradition, a 4-week online course for the Mises Academy, February 2 – February 29.]

Americans — and much of the rest of the world — have been deprived of one of the most important means of establishing and maintaining a free society, namely, federalism or states' rights. It is not just an accident that states' rights have either been relegated to the memory hole, or denigrated as a tool of racists and other miscreants. The Jeffersonian states'-rights tradition was — and is — the key to understanding why Thomas Jefferson believed that the best government is that which governs least, and that a limited constitutional government was indeed possible.

What is capitalism?
It seems like a simple question, but many who pass as authorities in the court of public opinion are dreadfully wrong on the answer. Ludwig von Mises described capitalism as "essentially a system of mass production for the satisfaction of the needs of the masses." Friedrich Hayek called it "the system of free markets and the private ownership of the means of production," which is an "essential condition of the very survival of mankind."

Paul vs. Gingrich on Patriot Act, Liberty, and Security. by Mac Slavo

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul debate the Patriot Act and its implications for America.

Do we repeal the act, as Ron Paul would prefer, or do we strengthen it to further expand the government’s anti-terrorism capabilities?

Of Bankers and Ship Captains. by Bill Bonner

Will no one rise to the defense of Captain Francesco Schettino? No? Then we will!

The poor man is calumnied as a pusillanimous incompetent. Just because he hit a rock. Heck, anyone with a ship that big could hit a rock. And the rock wasn’t s’posed to be there!

This incompetence charge is completely baseless. He had even tested almost the exact same route under almost the exact same conditions back in August. He sailed through the straits without a scratch. It was perfectly reasonable for him to conclude that the passage was safe. Perhaps someone put the rock there, just to catch him out.

Adelson, Gingrich, and the Selling of America

by Justin Raimondo

If you want to know what’s wrong with our campaign finance laws – and our political system in a more general sense – look at the way Sheldon Adelson is buying the Republican nomination for his sock puppet, Newt Gingrich.
Right now, the anonymous donors to a political action committee, or PAC, can buy ads on behalf of – or against – a candidate, and spend unlimited amounts as long as there is no official connection between the PAC and any candidate. This degree of separation, however, is pure fiction: in reality, “former” aides to the candidate can and do operate these “Super PACs,” which are funded by one Daddy Warbucks or another: no overt coordination is necessary. What’s important here is disclosure, or the lack of it: the PACs don’t have to say who is funding these ads, only that the “Committee for Good Government” or some such semi-fictional entity is paying for it. In this way, Adelson – a casino billionaire, one of the richest people in the country – can drop a cool $10 million into the race (with more in the pipeline) and in effect buy the election, without the average voter knowing who is paying the bills. In short, Adelson can operate in the dark, as far as Joe Voter is concerned – and darkness is what the Adelsonian agenda requires above all.
So what is Adelson’s agenda?

The US Government Is Bankrupt. by Doug Casey

Everyone knows that the US government is bankrupt and has been for many years. But I thought it might be instructive to see what its current cash-flow situation actually is. At least insofar as it's possible to get a clear picture.

As you know, the so-called Super Committee recently tried to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by $1.5 trillion and failed completely. To anyone who understands the nature of the political process, the failure was, of course, as predictable as it was shameful. What's even more shameful, though, is that the sought-after $1.5 trillion cut wasn't meant to apply to the annual budget but to the total budget of the next 10 years – a fact that is rarely mentioned.

Doug Casey on the Collapse of the Euro and the EU Interviewed. by Louis James

L: So Doug, a lot of readers are concerned about what's going on in Europe. Is this the beginning of the proverbial "it?" Or can the Eurozone be saved?

Doug: In brief, the answers are "yes," then "no" – and a "good riddance" to both the Eurozone and the euro. But most people think the old order should be maintained at almost any cost. That would include George Soros, who recently penned an article called Does the Euro Have a Future?

Now, I don't normally look to Soros for economic commentary, despite the fact that he's one of the shrewdest and most successful speculators in the world. He does, however, represent the way the Davos people, Eurocrats, and the ruling classes in general think. But just because he's made a lot of money doesn't make him an expert in economics, any more than financial success is proof that Ted Turner, Bill Gates or Warren Buffett know anything about economics. They're all idiot savants, a bit like Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man. But that's another subject.

– by Tibor Machan

Dr. Tibor Machan

On the BBC website an interview was featured recently with the famous orthodox Marxist, Eric Hobsbawm, who promptly denounced capitalism as if he had established definitively its inferiority as a political economic system. Is the BBC such an irresponsible news organization that it will feature Mr. Hobsbawm's characterization of capitalism with no one who champions that system featured responding to him? (If you search, no such balanced presentation can be found on the BBC website.) Or is this happening because, after all, BBC is a state broadcast endeavor and has a big stake in discrediting a system that relies on private initiative?

– by Staff Report

What happens if Ron Paul wins Iowa? ... Paul seems to have a natural ceiling among GOP voters: A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that nearly half of Republican voters feel Paul's foreign policy views are a major reason not to vote for him. Indeed, the primary reason Paul has an opening to win in Iowa is that no consensus candidate has emerged among social conservatives, which dominate the GOP electorate here – a situation that allows Paul to potentially win with less than 30 percent of the vote. Still, a Paul win in Iowa would have significant ramifications. It would go a long way toward pushing his Libertarian views, long dismissed as outside of Republican mainstream, to the center of the conversation. The resultant media coverage would allow Paul to further spread his message – and potentially win a host of new supporters. And if Paul can do well in New Hampshire on January 10, where he is currently tied for second place with Gingrich, Paul could even move to shared front-runner status with Romney, who is now ahead by more than 20 points in New Hampshire. – CBSNews

– by Ron Paul

Dr. Ron Paul

Although Congress was back in session for scarcely more than a day last week, private citizens across the country managed to cause an uproar felt across Capitol Hill. The uproar took the form of hundreds of thousands of phone calls to both Senators and Representatives, urging them to oppose two draconian new bills that threaten the free and unbridled flow of information on the internet.

– by Tibor Machan

Dr. Tibor Machan

Why does the TSA annoy so many of us? Not having the resources to do a survey, I resort here to what might be called educated speculation. I suspect it is because free men and women consider it invasive for government agents to order them around, pat them down, make them endure electronic surveillance, etc. − unless they have given their permission.

– by Anthony Wile

Anthony Wile

Hockey is a game I know – rather well, actually. As a young person I excelled at the sport and even left home when I was 14 to live and play in a city that offered better coaching and a brighter road to the NHL. Yes, like many other young people growing up in Canada, I was highly infected with a burning desire to don my skates whenever possible and hit the ice ... preferably outdoors.

Megaupload's Planned Music Locker - Example of Private Justice?

MegaUpload Is Now Launching a Music Service Called MegaBox ...There's another gigantic wrinkle in the MegaUpload drama. Not only is MegaUpload fighting tooth-and-nail against Universal Music Group, but they're now planning the launch of a cloud-based music locker, download store, and do-it-yourself artist service. It's called MegaBox, and it's already up in beta with listed partners 7digital, Gracenote, Rovi, and Amazon MP3. Actually, this is technically a relaunch of an earlier concept, and a perfect re-stab at major label opponents. "UMG knows that we are going to compete with them via our own music venture called Megabox.com, a site that will soon allow artists to sell their creations directly to consumers while allowing artists to keep 90 percent of earnings," MegaUpload founder Kim 'Dotcom' Schmitz told Torrentfreak this week. – Digital Musical Upload

The Three Biggest Lies the Government Is Telling You. by Charles Goyette

Government lies are legion.

So many are its lies, that narrowing them down to three of the most important is a demanding task. But our current crisis has been chiefly enabled by monetary policy, fiscal policy, and the global military empire. So I have chosen to focus on lies about each: the Federal Reserve, the orchestrator of monetary policy; the U.S. budget, the accounting of government fiscal policy; and a few of the Empire’s war lies. I am sharing just a smattering of this astonishing record of duplicity in these areas, for life is short, or at least far too short to recount all of the state’s lies about each.

Mitt Keeps Missing the Message

If Romney wins Florida, it won't be because he's becoming a more effective candidate.

By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

Newt Gingrich's South Carolina bump is fading, and polls show Mitt Romney again leading in Florida. A Romney victory in the Sunshine State could sew this up.
It won't be because Mr. Romney has become a better or more effective candidate. Primaries exist to help with that process, to let contenders read signals from the political landscape, to adapt, become stronger. Successful politicians absorb the signals and change up. Not Mr. Romney. If politics were evolution, the governor would still be swimming in the primordial soup.

By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ

It became clear two minutes after Newt Gingrich won in South Carolina that citizens were about to be treated to a non-stop effort to portray his smashing win as the result of his attack on the media. A victory, we were informed by cable and network commentators, which Mr. Gingrich owed to his cleverness in finding ways to give the press-hating right-wingers in South Carolina the red meat they craved.
He'd won, we heard repeatedly, by insulting a fine reporter, CNN's John King -- pronouncements accompanied by no little handwringing and defense of Mr. King who had only done what any good reporter-moderator would have done in raising the question about the public accusations made by Mr. Gingrich's second wife. Mr. King, it turned out, was far more serene about events than the chorus of commentators mourning his alleged victimization by Mr. Gingrich.
The image of the speaker as a man who owes his current strength mainly to attacks on the press is now a standard tool of his opponents -- a caricature meant to offset certain realities about his rise. The sort of realities recognizable to considerable numbers of people in Iowa where polls had begun running heavily in favor of Mr. Gingrich from late November on in the wake of his debate performance there and elsewhere. Iowans heard, from Mr. Gingrich, not media attacks but bracing expressions of American values electric in their effect. That was why he kept rising in the polls.

Enlarge Image

Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich

By NOUR MALAS and BILL SPINDLE

DAMASCUS—In a country roiled by protests and violence, Syria's capital remains an island of determination to go about life as always. But the country's 11-month old uprising now is lapping up against Syria's biggest and most-important city.
Armed clashes in the eastern suburbs of Damascus have jolted many in the capital into acknowledging a conflict that—until last week—had swept through suburbs but otherwise remained as much a YouTube phenomenon for them as for outside observers.

Photos: Conflict Approaches Capital

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Reuters

Syrian soldiers who defected to join the Free Syrian Army posed in Douma Wednesday.

On Thursday, defected troops in two suburbs of eastern Damascus—no farther than four miles from the old city—held their ground for hours after fighting government forces. Activists said the military stormed Douma, another close suburb, after the armed opposition temporarily took over the town last week.
In a hotel lobby, businessmen fielded phone calls appearing to describe a government counteroffensive in Douma after the military had lost control. "Empty words," one of them said, brushing his hand in the air and dismissing the news as a myth.

Obama’s Rules for Revolution: The Alinsky Model

Posted by Frontpagemag.com

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich recently made news by referring to Barack Obama as a “Saul Alinsky radical” whose philosophy is destructive of traditional American values. Who was Saul Alinsky? What was his message? How has his radical vision, a key element of the 1960s leftist assault on America, influenced Obama?

Why Are Jews So Powerful?

Why Are Jews So Powerful?

Dr Farrukh Saleem

There are only 14 million Jews in the world; seven million in the Americas , five million in Asia, two million in Europe and 100,000 in Africa . For every single Jew in the world there are 100 Muslims. Yet, Jews are more than a hundred times more powerful than all the Muslims put together. Ever wondered why?

Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish. Albert Einstein, the most influential scientist of all time and TIME magazine's 'Person of the Century', was a Jew. Sigmund Freud -- id, ego, superego -- the father of psychoanalysis was a Jew. So were Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman.

Obama’s crony capitalism. Friends of the president are given billions in government largesse

President Obama said in his State of the Union address that one of the American values that must be reclaimed is “an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.” For three years, he and his political allies have been undermining this vision. They see government as a means of rewarding their friends and punishing their enemies. For the Obama circle, rules apply only to other people.
Obamacare is a growing burden to American businesses, but not if you have friends in high places. Mr. Obama’s signature and highly unpopular legislative achievement was sold as a measure that would require shared sacrifice but bring lasting benefits to all Americans. Yet as soon as the law was implemented, hundreds of waivers were issued that allowed the recipients to duck under Obamacare requirements. The vast majority of recipients were labor-union chapters, large corporations, financial firms and local governments with strong Democratic connections. One in 5 waivers issued in April 2011 went to upscale nightclubs, bars and hotels in Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district. Mr. Obama is not even covered by his own law.

Romney, Gingrich clash over immigration in Florida debate. By Seth McLaughlin

Moderator Wolf Blitzer had to remind the ex-governor that, contrary to his memory, he was running a radio commercial here — which includes in the script “I’m Mitt Romney and I approved this ad” — that highlights how Mr. Gingrich previously called Spanish “the language of the ghetto.”
Mr. Romney stood by the ad, though, asking Mr. Gingrich whether he had said that, and when Mr. Gingrich said it was taken out of context, Mr. Romney responded, “So, you did say it.”
Mr. Romney also came under fire from former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who took him to task for the universal health care plan that he signed into law in Massachusetts.
“Folks, we can’t give this issue away in this election. It is about fundamental freedom, whether the United States government or even a state government” can mandate the purchase of health insurance, Mr. Santorum said, telling Mr. Romney at one point that “your mandate is no different than Barack Obama’s mandate.”
But Mr. Gingrich had the biggest bull’s-eye on his back, putting him on his heels throughout much of the evening.

Posted By Clyde Prestowitz

As it always does this time of year, my inbox is filling up with messages of a certain kind. They all begin with: "I'm here in Davos" and then, in an intellectual form of name dropping, proceed to mention key words and phrases such as Geopolitical Risk, G-Zero World, and Rise of Regions. This, of course, sounds really heavyweight and important. But I am not fooled. Nobody knows what those words mean. The only purpose is inform me that the sender is among the elect glitterati who get invited to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.

Kazakhstan may not be ripe for revolution, but the West is making the same mistakes it made in the Arab world.

BY JOANNA LILLIS

Nursultan Nazarbayev, leader of the oil-rich Central Asian state of Kazakhstan, just did precisely that, while the West -- mindful of Kazakhstan's oil and gas wealth and position astride a supply route to Afghanistan -- barely batted an eyelid.
To add insult to injury for Kazakhstan's beleaguered opposition, Nazarbayev's ruling Nur Otan (Light Fatherland) party's landslide in a micromanaged election came a month after security forces fired on protesters in the energy hub of Zhanaozen in western Kazakhstan, killing 17. This was the worst unrest in 20 years of independence in Kazakhstan, a country that has always prided itself on political and social stability as factors that win the hearts and minds of its own population -- and woo the foreign investors who have sunk millions into its energy sector.

Socialism = Bribery = Welfare State [Reader Post]

By: Warren Beatty

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), better known as Otto von Bismarck, is credited with being the father of socialism, the modern-day welfare state. He said, “My idea was to bribe the working classes, or shall I say, to win them over, to regard the state as a social institution existing for their sake and interested in their welfare.” Politicians were quick to see the power and simplicity of Bismarck’s concept. Convincing the public that government existed for their sake and their welfare enabled politicians to expand into areas previously considered off-limits. The US, constrained by its Constitution and a predisposition toward liberty, held out longer than Europe, but tradition and law were eventually brushed aside and/or ignored.

Friday, January 27, 2012

– by Tibor Machan

– by Staff Report

– by Ron Paul

– by Tibor Machan

– by Anthony Wile

Megaupload's Planned Music Locker - Example of Private Justice?

Mitt Keeps Missing the Message

If Romney wins Florida, it won't be because he's becoming a more effective candidate.

By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ

By NOUR MALAS and BILL SPINDLE

Photos: Conflict Approaches Capital

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Obama’s Rules for Revolution: The Alinsky Model

Posted By Clyde Prestowitz

Kazakhstan may not be ripe for revolution, but the West is making the same mistakes it made in the Arab world.

BY JOANNA LILLIS

Socialism = Bribery = Welfare State [Reader Post]

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

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