America Is a Great Country, but Its Attitude Overseas Needs Work
by Ivan Eland
Since World War II, America has conducted an interventionist foreign policy that is atypical historically. Most Americans are oblivious to data that clearly show that the United States has been the most aggressive nation in the world during the postwar period — in fact, it was the most aggressive even during the Cold War when its arch-nemesis, the Soviet Union, was still around.
Corruption and the Citizen, American-Style
by Philip Giraldi,
I have long nurtured this thoroughly depressing conviction that the United States, far from being a shining city on the hill, has become one of the most corrupt of nations. Why does America have more lawyers than the rest of the world combined? It is because the corruption has been institutionalized at every level of political life and is protected by laws and procedures created precisely to enable elites to maintain dominance over the rest of us. I appreciate that my viewpoint may be regarded as somewhat simplistic as I am neither a judge nor a lawyer, and I do concede that many of those in the legal profession are both honest and dedicated to the Constitution. Still, the bad taste of the past 11 years continues to remind me that there is something seriously wrong with how our political system and rule of law operate.
Lobbying for War
There has been considerable discussion of the meaning, or lack thereof, of the apparent difference of opinion between the United States and Israel over both the desirability and the possible timing of going to war with Iran. Those Americans who still revere the Constitution and the advice of the Founding Fathers should rightly be appalled that a war is even being considered on behalf of a small client state with which the United States has no treaty obliging such intervention. War with Iran would undoubtedly follow the usual pattern, being authorized by the White House without the constitutionally mandated declaration of war by Congress and likely developing out of an evolving situation in which Israel is being given a free pass to initiate the conflict.
That the United States is in such a parlous condition is directly due to the effective work of Israel’s principal lobby in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has just completed its annual convention. Consider what AIPAC and its friends in Congress and the media have accomplished:
George Packer and the Unfathomable
Why did an American soldier murder Afghan children in their beds?
We’ve heard all about staff sergeant Robert Bales, who murdered 16 Afghan civilians – most of them children – and is now being held by the US military, although he has yet to be formally charged. We’ve heard about his alleged PTSD, his marital problems, his “good deeds,” the shock and surprise of his friends and neighbors who thought he was a wonderful guy. But what about the victims? Who are they? What about their families? Why haven’t we heard much of anything about them?
Santorum: 'Issue in This Race Is Not the Economy'
Santorum: 'Issue in This Race Is Not the Economy'
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says the issue in the presidential race is not the economy but an oppressive government that's taking away people's freedom.
Russia Ships 'Anti-Terror' Troops to Syria
Russia Ships 'Anti-Terror' Troops to Syria
by Dan Riehl
Russia has reportedly sent military reinforcements to aid Syria's crackdown on opposition forces, ending any pretense of neutrality in the country's conflict.
Watch Tom Hanks Joke Around With White Guy In Blackface
by John Nolte
Our friends at the Daily Caller have obtained video of what Congress of Racial Equality national spokesperson Niger Innis has rightly called “an orchestrated, heinous, and racist ‘Stepin Fetchit’ routine that Mr. Hanks was a part of.”
France shooting suspect found, claims link to Al-Qaeda
France shooting suspect found, claims link to Al-Qaeda
Associated Press
TOULOUSE, France
France's interior minister says a gunman suspected in a wave of killings has stopped talking to police, and that authorities have been monitoring him for years.
Obama's Re-election Bid Fuels Flap over Hamas at UN Human Rights Council
Obama's Re-election Bid Fuels Flap over Hamas at UN Human Rights Council
An argument over whether an anti-Israel terrorist group had been scheduled to address the UN Human Rights Council this week may have been motivated by concerns about the political implications for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
Attacks kill 46 across Iraq ahead of Arab summit
Attacks kill 46 across Iraq ahead of Arab summit
Associated Press
BAGHDAD
Insurgents plotting to derail next week's Arab League meeting in Baghdad unleashed bloody attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, killing 46 people. The government vowed not to be scared off from hosting the summit _ the first in the country in a generation and a chance to prove it is moving toward normalcy after years of war.
Romney Breezes to Illinois Primary Win
Romney Breezes to Illinois Primary Win
Associated Press
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.
Front-runner Mitt Romney won the Illinois primary with ease Tuesday night, routing Rick Santorum in yet another industrial state showdown and padding his already-formidable delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Oscar-Winning Producer of 'Schindler's List' Slams Obama, Salutes Breitbart
Gerald R. Molen is an Oscar-winning film producer whose credits include "Rain Man," "Minority Report," "Twister," "Schindler's List" and "Jurassic Park."
My fellow patriots,As we sit in our comfort-laden abodes, sipping our lattes or pink lemonades and either wishing the snow would be gone for another year or baseball season would start so there was something interesting to do, the world continues to move forward. But as we seek other interests, we are not listening to the sounds emanating from the world around us. If you would listen carefully you would recognize the woeful sounds of America gasping for its very breath of life and its inner soul.
The Resistance Rises: Reinstating the "Castle Doctrine"
As the lower house of the Indiana State Legislature approved Senate Bill 1 on March 1, Representative Linda Lawson lamented that if it were passed the measure would signal that it’s “open season on law enforcement.”
“You have men and women in your community who are willing to die for you, willing to die for your family,” insisted Lawson, who – as a former police officer herself –spoke on behalf of 15,000 members of the police union. The only suitable way to display proper gratitude to the heroic paladins of public order, according to Lawson, is to protect their purported authority to invade your home and kill you with impunity – a privilege that would be undermined by SB 1.
The Death-Dealing 'Divinity' in the White House. by William Norman Grigg
"I
could be well moved, if I were as you
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks;
They are all fire, and every one doth shine.
But there's one in all doth hold his place.
So in the world: 'tis furnished well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive.
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds onto his rank,
Unshaked of motion; and that I am he...."
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks;
They are all fire, and every one doth shine.
But there's one in all doth hold his place.
So in the world: 'tis furnished well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive.
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds onto his rank,
Unshaked of motion; and that I am he...."
Shakespeare
placed those words in the mouth of Julius Caesar as the dictator
arrogantly dismissed a plea to pardon Publius Cimber, who had been
exiled from Rome. The merits of that request mattered not at all;
the only issue, where Caesar was concerned, was his primacy and
the need to display resolution in all things, to "show it,
even in this: That I was constant Cimber should be banished, and
constant do remain to keep him so."
America Mortgaged at an Adjustable Rate. by Peter Schiff
The Federal
Reserve ran another "stress test" on major financial institutions
and has determined that 15 of the 19 tested are safe, even in the
most extreme circumstances: an unemployment rate of 13%, a 50% decline
in stock prices, and a further 21% decline in housing prices. The
problem is that the most important factor that will determine these
banks' long-term viability was purposefully overlooked – interest
rates.
In the wake
of the Credit Crunch, the Fed solved the problem of resetting adjustable-rate
mortgages by essentially putting the entire country on an teaser
rate. Just like those homeowners who really couldn't afford their
houses, our balance sheet looks fine unless you factor in higher
rates. The recent stress tests assume market interest rates stay
low, the federal funds rate remains near-zero, and 10-year Treasuries
keep below 2%. Why are those safe assumptions? Historic rates have
averaged around 6%, a level that would cause every major US bank
to fail!
Syria Gets Complicated
by Srdja Trifkovic
A three-member “Independent International Commission of Inquiry” appointed by the United Nations concluded on February 23 that “gross human rights violations” had been ordered by the Syrian authorities as state policy at “the highest levels of the armed forces and the government,” amounting to “crimes against humanity.” The 72-page document thus provides the potential basis for Bashar al-Assad’s indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The
panel presented the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights with a
sealed envelope containing the names of Syrian officials who should be
“investigated,” but those names remain secret. The U.N. did not specify
who these investigating authorities might be, but that we know: on June
27th—three months into NATO’s air war on the side of rebel forces—the ICC presented intervening powers with a veneer of legitimacy by issuing a warrant for Muammar Qaddafy’s arrest.
The latest U.N. report seems deliberately crafted to provide a future
ad-hoc “coalition” with an upfront justification for a military
intervention in Syria, also based on “the responsibility to protect”
doctrine which was invoked in the Libyan case. In view of the Russian
and Chinese veto, a regional coalition may cite this principle in order
to attack Syria without the U.N. Security Council mandate.The Evil Party Rides Again
by Tom Piatak
There are many reasons to criticize the the Republicans as the
Stupid Party, and I have often done so. But we need to remember that,
in Sam Francis' dichotomy, the other major party is the Evil Party. And
some of what the leader of the Evil Party is doing has no real
precedent in American history.
On January 11, 2012, the Supreme Court
ruled unanimously against the Obama Administration, which had argued
that the government had the right to sue the Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod for violating anti-discrimination law in terminating one of its
ministers. At oral argument, the Obama Administration lawyer told the
justices that it should make no difference for purposes of
anti-discrimination law whether an employer is religious or secular.
Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination in
employment, the Obama Administration's argument was consistent with a
claim that churches that refuse to ordain women violate
anti-discrimination law.
Ron Paul’s Hour of Decision
by Justin Raimondo,
Is Ron Paul running for president in the wrong party?
The results of the GOP primaries, so far, would certainly seem to suggest that. Paul’s support draws heavily from two constituencies one doesn’t normally associate with the Republican party: young voters, who are overwhelmingly independents, and antiwar voters, who tend to be Democrats. He has carried the youth vote and garnered a significant proportion of independents in virtually every contest: more significantly, polls show him beating President Obama in the general election by winning a huge portion of the independent and youth votes. Combined with the anybody-but-Obama vote, Paul’s potential base of support in a two-way race defines the contours of a winning electoral coalition, one that could win him the White House, bring about a major political realignment – and upend the political Establishment in this country.
The problem, for Paul, is that the GOP leadership is implacably opposed to his candidacy: never mind all that nonsense about a Romney-Paul “alliance,” which was just an invention of the “mainstream” media pushed by the Santorum campaign. After all, the Romneyites stole the Maine caucuses right out from under the Paul campaign, and are doing their best to repeat the same fraud in the rest of the caucus states. Some “alliance”!
Three factors have kept Paul from being a real contender: not only the hostility
of the leadership and the age demographics of the average Republican primary
voter – which is well
over 40 – but also the ideological factor. After a
decade and
more of neoconservative domination, not only of the party but of the conservative
movement, the GOP is
the War Party. For the Paul campaign, this is fatal. Ron has made his
anti-interventionist views the linchpin of his campaign: he never
fails to bring up the issue of war and peace, even when discussing some
economic or social topic. That’s because he realizes – unlike some “libertarians”
– the issue is central to
the question of rolling back the power of government to rule our lives.A Few Words About Abortion. by Andrew P. Napolitano
Last week marked
the 39th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision
that permitted abortions. Prior to that case, abortion was regulated
by each state, and most of them prohibited it unless two physicians
could certify that the baby growing in the mother's womb would likely
result in the death of the mother. Even the states that permitted
abortions when the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, an extremely
rare occurrence, did not permit it after the sixth month of pregnancy.
Can the Secret Service Tell You To Shut Up?. by Andrew P. Napolitano
The First Amendment
to the Constitution prohibits the government from infringing upon
the freedom of speech, the freedom of association and the freedom
to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Speech is
language and other forms of expression; and association and petition
connote physical presence in reasonable proximity to those of like
mind and to government officials, so as to make your opinions known
to them.
The Declaration
of Independence recognizes all three freedoms as stemming from our
humanity. So, what happens if you can speak freely, but the government
officials at whom your speech is aimed refuse to hear you? And what
happens if your right to associate and to petition the government
is confined to areas where those of like mind and the government
are not present? This is coming to a street corner near you.
The Government and the Currency
by Ludwig von Mises
[Human Action (1949)]
Media of exchange and money are market phenomena. What makes a thing a
medium of exchange or money is the conduct of parties to market
transactions. An occasion for dealing with monetary problems appears to
the authorities in the same way in which they concern themselves with
all other objects exchanged, namely, when they are called upon to decide
whether or not the failure of one of the parties to an act of exchange
to comply with his contractual obligations justifies compulsion on the
part of the government apparatus of violent oppression. If both parties
discharge their mutual obligations instantly and synchronously, as a
rule no conflicts arise which would induce one of the parties to apply
to the judiciary. But if one or both parties' obligations are temporally
deferred, it may happen that the courts are called to decide how the
terms of the contract are to be complied with. If payment of a sum of
money is involved, this implies the task of determining what meaning is
to be attached to the monetary terms used in the contract.The Objectives of Currency Devaluation
by Ludwig von Mises
[Human Action (1949)]
In the boom period that ended in 1929, labor unions had succeeded in
almost all countries in enforcing wage rates higher than those which the
market, if manipulated only by migration barriers, would have
determined. These wage rates already produced in many countries
institutional unemployment of a considerable amount while credit
expansion was still going on at an accelerated pace.Seventeen Years of Boom and Bust
by Clyde W. Richey
Money and the State
by Ludwig von Mises
[The Theory of Money and Credit (1912)]
The position of the state in the market differs in no way from that
of any other parties to commercial transactions. Like these others, the
state exchanges commodities and money on terms which are governed by the
laws of price. It exercises its sovereign rights over its subjects to
levy compulsory contributions from them; but in all other respects it
adapts itself like everybody else to the commercial organization of
society.Overlegislation
by Herbert Spencer
[The Man versus the State (1892)]
Officialism is habitually slow. When nongovernmental agencies are
dilatory, the public has its remedy: it ceases to employ them and soon
finds quicker ones. Under this discipline all private bodies are taught
promptness. But for delays in state departments there is no such easy
cure. Lifelong Chancery suits must be patiently borne; museum catalogs
must be wearily waited for.Chamber of Corporatism
by Ryan McMaken
US Chamber of Commerce building
The chamber was a major supporter of SOPA, which gives governments the ability to seize private property without any due process whatsoever, and it supported the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which stole about a trillion dollars from the taxpayers so that the US government could buy up huge portions of the financial sector.
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