How State Sovereignty was torpedoed by the Senate last session Posted by Talbert Black Jr

Posted 11/20/09

This is a summary from the Senate Journal from May 19th.  The link to the journal entry is below.

Bright proposed to amend S424 by replacing it with all the language of H3509.  It passed on a voice vote.

Knotts proposed an amendment to replace the entire language of the bill to include justification of the General Assembly appropriating funds from the FedGov.  Roll Call was taken,  McConnell, Knotts, Larry Martin, and Peeler voted against our boys and Knotts amendment passed 28 to 17.

Malloy proposed an amendment recognizing the 14^th amendment.  The amendment was adopted on voice vote.

Leventis proposed an amendment to remove language specifying that the FedGov is an agent of the states. Roll Call was taken.  The amendment failed 31 to 11.

Larry Martin moved to vote on the sovereignty resolution.  We only needed a simple majority to force a vote.  Roll Call was taken.  The motion failed 22 to 22.  McConnell and Knotts voted against us.  Either one of these voting with us could have forced a vote on the resolution.  These two effectively killed the resolution.  A vote against this motion was a vote against the resolution.

Hutto moved to adjourn.  The motion passed 22 to 21.  Knotts voted against us. McConnell didn't vote because he had taken up the position of president (chairman) of the Senate.

Following is the pertinent part of the Senate journal from which the above summary was taken.  Link using http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess118_2009-2010/sj09/20090519.htm (visited on 5/20/2009)

Letter to SC School District re: Spartanburg County Schools H1N1 Vaccine Administration Posted by SCButterfly

Posted 11/18/09 Last updated 11/13/09

This is my second letter to my School District Superintendent (and Governor, uS Senator, uS CongressWeasel, SC Senator, SC Congressman, Town Mayor, School Principals and School Nurses).  My first letter was filled with pleas to not begin the DHEC Vaccine Program in Spartanburg County Schools and was backed up with several pages of research and links.  I was replied to and rebuffed stating that the District HAD done their due diligence regarding H1N1 safety and evidently turning schools into a health care clinic was not a problem for them and P.S. They said I sent them malicious links (I'm sure this was mentioned due to their having to reply to Legislators as well).  So I try again....

♦

Dear Grand Poo-Bah (Not his real name) and School Staff:

Once more I will try to get you to do additional due diligence regarding the H1N1 vaccine.

I beg of you to look into the current information available around the globe.  There is something "weird" going on such as India, the entire Ukraine (supposed pneumonic plague), Serbia, Canada, Brazil, Afghanistan and on and on.  Many countries are rejecting the idea of mass vaccination particularly concerning Baxter Pharmaceuticals.  Please do the research.  I have studied this "flu" for over a year....I did not just read one article and become concerned, I've read hundreds of articles and viewed news videos which are easily found if you search.  Also consider that flu always begins east and travels west, historically.  This flu began in the west and moved east so some consider this "flu" an accidental or intentional bio-weapon...I do not want to think this is true but much evidence is available that indicates this is a possibility.  I do not know what is really happening as I'm not a doctor or scientist but am an avid researcher and political activist and there is plenty of opposition (globally) to the H1N1 vaccine, you just won't see it on main stream media.  You must research on your own.  

Not only am I upset by the issue of schools becoming health care centers (consider what you'll be asked to administer next - Gardasil?  Pneumonic Plague vaccine?  Thorazine for the "spazzy" kids?), I am also trying to warn you that the CDC, FDA, Vaccine makers and DHEC are IMMUNE to prosecution or liability in the event of resulting disease or death from H1N1 vaccination (and why is this so if the vaccine is safe?)  Do you understand this?  Do you know who that leaves to be sued?  YOU, your school board and your school administration -- on a personal level.  You are not IMMUNE from oncoming lawsuits.  Soon with Obama's rush to extend the school day, week and year (surely you know about his intentions concerning education?) you will be running a full time physical and mental health clinic.  Don't you think your attention to education will be distracted toward healthcare functions?  Think about it!!!  What is your job?  Education or healthcare?  Are you licensed to practice medicine?  Forward think and ask yourself if you qualify to run a multi-faceted governmental institution.  What will happen to your job?

While the district is hoping to be praised and patted on the back for being the front runner on vaccinating your students, you could actually be heroes and REFUSE to participate.  What else will you bow to that your government feeds you?  What's next?  I'm tiring of Americans saying "It's my job" as if this excuses the complete lack of using common sense and thinking forward.  This is a large part of what is wrong in our country today, shrugs and excuses and hardly a soul with backbone.  If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

As to the suggestion that this vaccine is not mandatory and so I should not be raising sand about it, just use your common sense:  If the socialized medicine states such as Massachusetts require mandatory vaccines, do you not think that Mass. will say "Hey NH, Hey VT: You guys need it too, you're so close" and thus the urgency will spread through the nation.  ALL IT TAKES TO MAKE THIS VACCINE MANDATORY IS FOR OUR GOVERNOR TO DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY concerning flu pandemic-- please see the attachment for our state's Emergency Health Powers Act.  While I do not believe that our Governor will kow tow to forced vaccinations, we have also witnessed Sanford's resistance to the stimulus and how he was forced by the courts to accept it.  Think about this please!!

I have also included additional current links to issues with children and H1N1 vaccines, please give them consideration.

Please be aware of what could potentially happen to our children and remember, many affects may not be seen for years (note Gulf War Syndrome).  If you are insistent on going ahead with your plan, I suggest you also shore up your special ed department as you are soon to have incoming.

I am not opposed to those who wish to have a vaccination as I do not want to control others decision making.  I simply suggest that the Spartanburg County Health Department and individual family physicians are available for the student's health care needs.  It is also a chief concern that our schools not become health care administrators and propagate governmental health care intervention, particularly in light of the current issue of the potential dangers of vaccines and oncoming health care legislation. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Tänya Littlejohn

More links to current H1N1 issues - Since your system will reject my links to legitimate sources, I have amended the links so as not to be blocked.  Please replace "(dot)" with a period.

Va. teen suffers rare illness after swine flu shot - Boy diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, but CDC says no clear link
www(dot)msnbc(dot)msn(dot)com/id/33845867/ns/health-cold_and_flu

Deputies Hold Boy Who Fled Flu Shot - Student refused; was held down for vaccination
www(dot)theintelligencer(dot)net/page/content(dot)detail/id/530805(dot)html

Parents outraged, but expert says don't worry about H1N1 double doses for kids
www(dot)google(do
t)com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iRA8hKnBOVoX086IQA6UOIo
w0FQw

Dozens of students given wrong flu shot
www(dot)nbc-2(dot)com/global/story(dot)asp?s=11477899

Health Officials Warn of H1N1 Vaccine's Link to Deadly Nerve Disease
www(dot)foxnews(dot)com/story/0,2933,539880,00(dot)html

South Carolina - Emergency Health Powers Mass Casualty Plan

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22524301/South-Carolina-Emergency-Health-Powers-Mass-Casult
y-Plan

Ayn Rand Goes Mainstream Posted by SurveyinSC

Posted 11/18/09

This interesting tidbit about Ayn Rand was in Politico today.  Brangelina does Ayn Rand???!!!  Could the tide be turning?  Is it too late?http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0911/rand_goes_mainstream.html

Ron Paul - Carolina Coliseum 11/09/09 Posted by SCButterfly

Posted 11/11/09 Last updated 11/10/09

Sorry folks that the picture quality is so bad, I was using an old digital camera to film.

Ending Remarks by Dr. Paul

A great picture of the Doc:

A special thank you to Jesse Benton and John Tate for keeping my tiny daughter from getting squashed in the crowd awaiting Dr. Paul's autograph.  She is 10 years old and insisted on going to Columbia to meet the Good Doc.  :)  Thank you Gentleman.  Thank you for all you do for Dr. Paul.

Taking on the Liberals at The College of Charleston Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 11/08/09 Last updated 11/03/09

Yesterday, my Alma Mater, The College of Charleston held its second ever "Trash Audit." So, I wrote a snarky little blog about it because it was such a disgusting, ridiculous thing. Apparently, I made some people angry, and they decided to attack me on my blog and Twitter, calling me a pig, and telling me I was brainless. However, some people actually responded with a level head and we got some good discusion going. It seems my blog has affected the College of Charleston "Alliance for Planet Earth," and they want me to come and speak about my point of view. I am a little skeptical of this seemingly polite invite.

Here's what I wrote that caused so much controversey:

Imagine walking down the sidewalk at your local college and walking past a huge pile of putrid smelling trash that stretches across a common area that thousands of students use to get from class to class. Now imagine people accosting you as you walk by saying, "This is your trash! No, this is OUR trash. This is only four days of trash."

This is the annual College of Charleston "Trash Audit." And this is quite possibly one of the most unintelligent and unsanitary things I have ever heard of, but all in the name of saving the environment. Give me a break. Stacks of used, disgusting cups with all kinds of people's saliva on them from the dining hall are stacked, heaven knows what kind of nastiness in the trash bags from the dorms left over from the wild Halloween weekend (let your imagination run wild and free), and people are taking bowls of "trash juice" (gag) and walking down the halls of Maybank and flushing it down the toilet or pouring it down the sinks in the public restrooms. Students are guilt-tripping other students to come help and sort through the trash so that it may be properly recycled. (Recycling can actually be quite harmful to the environment, actually, particularly plastics... but you don't hear that on the news.)

This kind of extreme sensitivity to how much we humans are destroying the earth is getting annoying and it's actually quite dangerous. Imagine all the germs and all kinds of infectious diseases and pathogens that those people were releasing into the atmosphere. Not to cause a scare or anything, but H1N1 has been going around campus.

This monstrous pile of trash was causing students to have to crowd into small areas to get to class because there was hardly any space to walk. For a school to allow this type of unsanitary behavior and public harassment to occur is an embarrassment for an institute of supposed higher learning. How degrading and revolting it is to ask people to stand in the middle of other people's filth and sort through it! It's not the solution to any problem, whether or not you believe that "global warming" is going to destroy us all. It's this type of extreme brainless hype and liberalism that is partially to blame for our country throwing freedom away.

I think I'm going to hold a public Freedom Audit at the College of Charleston and force all these bleeding heart liberals to see what this kind of agenda is actually costing them. These guys have got to stop drinking the Al Gore Kool-Aid and start using some good old fashioned, and yes, all natural (not harmful to the environment) common sense. I hear it's recyclable and is , in fact, a renewable resource.

(so, maybe I was a little harsh...)

*********

Later, I wrote this in response to the responses I got:

Hey, guys and gals of the College of Charleston Trash Audit!

First, I would like to thank those of you who responded to my blog with a level-headed response instead of personal attacks. I enjoy good discussions and think that they are one of the best ways to accomplish things and get along. I honestly wasn't expecting my blog to get this much attention over what I said yesterday, but if it helps address an issue that needs addressing, then I'm more than happy to oblige.

Agendas and politics aside, through at least one of your comments, I was made aware of the problem that some (or all-- it's hard to tell why some were there, at least based on a pretty harsh comment about my intestines burning one day because of global warming...anyway...) were trying to use the Trash Audit to make students aware of, and that would be the problem of the Charleston landfill, well, filling up.

While I'd like to do a little more research in the area of our local trash and waste problems myself, I am a huge fan of political activism and getting people involved in a cause. I do not believe that spending a bunch of time sifting through nasty trash is the best way to help make the changes that you believe should be made. Most likely, the only people who would be interested in helping sort through trash would be those who are already aware of the problem, and the rest were turned off by the idea. There are much better uses for your time, through educating others in ways that are far less intrusive and unsanitary, holding petition drives, and contacting local officials about your concerns. These are things that, in my experience, are the most effective and time efficient ways for accomplishing goals.

I hope you'll think about what I have to say! I'm retiring from the Trash Audit subject for a while I hope, and getting back to freedom and the Constitution. :)

*********

Who knows, maybe some people started thinking a little about what they are doing. I could sure use their zeal to help with AUDITING THE FED!!!! I may have to recruit some of them for the cause! AUDIT THE FED and NOT THE TRASH!

Kids Learn About Liberty, the Constitution, and Personal Responsibility...In Public School! Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 10/27/09 Last updated 10/20/09

Yesterday, spoke to about forty third and fourth graders in a local public school about freedom, the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and personal responsibility.

I was pretty nervous as I was preparing because even though I was only planning on sharing the history and the reason for our founding documents, the ideas of personal responsibility, freedom, and breaking away from oppressive government are quite possibly subversive ideas to some schools.

I walked into the school office, and one of the first things I saw was a framed front page of the Post and Courier. Who's in the picture? None other than our Commander in Chief. I stuffed my apprehension down and told the secretary why I was there. She knew who I was right away.

Two students were sent to escort me down the winding hall to the class where I was to speak first. Unfortunately, I misread my own planner and was about twenty minutes late. I thought I was early. I'm not sure if the teacher was cranky because of this, or because she is always cranky. This didn't help me feel any better... but I kept going anyway.

I was pleased to have a room full of kids who would answer my questions and ask their own. I told them the story of "bossy King George" and why we wanted to separate ourselves from England. I had to explain what colonies were, and also what taxation without representation is. I told them about the Constitution and what it says, including and especially the Bill of Rights. They learned that the Constitution is supposed to keep the government from getting too big and bossy like a king. They also learned what a Constitutional Republic is. We talked about the three branches of government. We talked about what freedom is and what unalienable rights are.

The best part was when I told them what freedom means for them. I looked out over a bunch of kids, and told them that because of freedom that have been given opportunity. Freedom doesn't just mean that they can do whatever they want to do. It means they have to take responsibility for their own actions. They have choices to make everyday. They have equal opportunity, but that doesn't mean equal results. Are they going to work hard to get where they want to be and do what they want to do? I said as an example that they might be free to choose to eat potato chips for every meal, but that doesn't make it a good, responsible choice, and it does have consequences. They really understood this.

That is basically what I said to both groups. I stressed so many times to these kids that they have opportunities in front of them. I told them that I had to work really hard to get where I am today, and I am still working really hard. Something else I told them was that I am wanting them to appreciate liberty and not take if for granted because sometimes, you're given something and don't realize what you have until it's gone. I want them to have a head start on appreciating this country and what our founding fathers' vision was. After all, I didn't start caring until I was around 21. Men died and never lived to see freedom so that you (the kids) and I could experience this land of opportunity everyday. These kids also heard that not everything is given to them. In fact, if they learned if they work hard to get something, they'll appreciate it even more.

I also encouraged them to know that even at their young ages their voices are important, and they can make a difference in their community. I explained that using their voice can take the form of letter writing, speaking to their parents and teachers about things that bother them, or even using art to express themselves.

One of the groups got particularly excited about rights, and started accusing their teacher of taking their "right" of playing soccer. Well, I found out that the principal of the school had taken this away from them because of behavior issues. I had the class quiet down and I told them that playing soccer is not a right. It is a privilege and they do not deserve to play soccer. They do however, have the opportunity (I love that word!) to start behaving themselves and listening to their teacher so they can deserve to play soccer. They were then dismissed back to their class.

Overall, they seemed to enjoy and understand what I was talking to them about. I'm learning so much about how to convey these ideas to different age groups. Though the kids seemed more captivated by me as a visitor and someone they could look up to, I hope this means that they really listened to what I said about freedom and their lives. Some of the kids wanted to ask me questions afterward about my writing and whether or not I used to write when I was in elementary school I said, "of course!" and told them the best thing for them to do was to start a journal. That's what I did, and I've been writing for almost as long as I can remember. One of them asked me if when I write a book, will I put his name in the dedication page. I couldn't help but think of how adorable that was. I wanted to spend more time with all of them!

As excited as I am to have made it into the public school system, my heart is heavy, as I wonder if they will truly live in freedom in the coming years. However, this just inspires me to fight even harder and educate even more people.

Tomorrow, I speak to two groups of 5th graders... I can't wait!

Bernanke engineered a 2% tax that starts TOMORROW. Posted by HonestyinMedicine

Posted 10/27/09

What crooks they are in the Federal Reserve! I just learned that starting tomorrow, anyone buying a stock of Brazilian companies will be taxed by a whopping 2% on the purchase! This was evidently a tax that Ben Bernanke dreamed up to cash in on all the investors (who are merely trying to maintain some purchasing power of their money) by investing in countries that aren't backed by the tanking dollar whose currencies are more stable.

I bet Brazil doesn't even get to keep the tax. I bet it get's funneled back to the greedy New World Order Elites and those in the Federal Reserve.  This is OUTRAGEOUS!

I called Congressman Brown's office as well as Senator Graham's office to let them know how I felt about that (and of course that they support NO version of a federal health insurance program that mandates coverage or that has a public option or will change the options currently available. I suggested that if the states in the northeast just did what most states do and established a high risk health insurance pool, we wouldn't even have a "health care crisis". I also suggested that a health insurance policy never saved a person's life but it was the providers that did that. Why aren't they focusing on a voucher program for actual care for those that don't have insurance.  That way we'd only be paying for those needing care, not for those with expensive insurance policies who aren't using them)

But back to what REALLY INCENSES me  is that Congress hasn't even been privy to this this 2% tax on Brazilian investments. I called my brokerage and they didn't even know about it. Not only that but Yahoo Finance is censoring people's posts on the EWZ (the Brazilian ETF (exchange traded fund) message board by deleting anything that is derogatory about the tax or comments about the Federal Reserve.

WHAT A COUNTRY this is becoming. GRRRRR!

We need HR 1207 passed right away and that Federal Reserve can't be audited soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

Please see the related new articles below.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/167537-brazil-chokes-off-foreign-investment?source=ya
hoo

http://seekingalpha.com/article/167536-how-bernanke-has-forced-brazil-to-slap-a-tax-o
n-outside-investors?source=yahoo

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idAFN2042983220091020?rpc=44

S 794 South Carolina Firearms Freedom Act - Get on it people!! Posted by SCButterfly

Posted 10/19/09

Time to start hounding our representatives to support this legislation.  (Talk of bringing back open carry is swirling around also.)  Please make your thoughts known to your reps!!

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess118_2009-2010/bills/794.htm

S 794

Firearms Freedom Act

TO AMEND CHAPTER 31, TITLE 23 OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO FIREARMS, BY ADDING ARTICLE 9, THE "SOUTH CAROLINA FIREARMS FREEDOM ACT", TO PROVIDE THAT A FIREARM, FIREARM ACCESSORY, OR AMMUNITION MANUFACTURED AND RETAINED IN SOUTH CAROLINA IS EXEMPT FROM FEDERAL REGULATION UNDER THE COMMERCE CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

Sponsors: Senators Bright, Bryant, Mulvaney, Davis, Shoopman, S. Martin, McConnell and Rose
Document Path: l:s-reslb26fire.kmm.lb.docx
Companion/Similar bill(s): 4022

5/13/2009 Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Knotts (ch), Massey, Coleman

CCU College Republican's Meet and Greet (Part I - Recall Question) Posted by DanielCochran

Posted 10/19/09

Old news... New news... Lt. Governor candidates speak on "Recall"

For those of you that have already seen this at C4L, sorry for the repeat. For those that have not seen the latest from Mr. "america" and his non-stop hate of everything Constitutional in America here is the report of the events that have taken place this week.

Seems that Mr. "america" was having a town hall in Greenville, South Carolina this last weekend when he started going on about the "angry white man" party he is a member of in the political world. When some of the crowd shouted out that the party has not totally lost its founding principles of Yes to the Constitution, Yes to personal Freedom, Yes to fiscally sound government, and YES to a strong sound dollar, he exclaimed that the party will not be lost to the "Ron Paul" group. Has this fellow nothing better to do with his time? Oh, he did co-author a NYT piece to support John Kerry and the Tax & Cap Act which should raise your electric bill some $1,700 to $2,500 a year depending on which study you read. But the love between the South Carolina Senator and the Senators from Mass. seems to go back for years and the last time he shared a love-fest stage with a Mass. Senator seems he stuck his foot in his mouth then too.

A question I asked every Lt. Governor candidate at last night's CCU College Republican "meet 'n greet" was, "With one of the recent Senators from South Carolina, that is in Washington, claiming to be Mr. america's Senator and not just the Senator of the citizens of South Carolina, and his recent op-ed piece with the Senator from Mass. in his support of the $2.4 million lose of personal income and some 23,500 plus jobs to South Carolina due the Tax and Cap Act - where do you stand on allowing the citizens or the folks in Columbia starting a "Recall" process to put representation back in Washington that will be for South Carolinian's interest?" (yeah it was a long winded question) (Press Release that prompted this question here).

Mr. Ken Ard was at a disadvantage being the first Lt. Governor candidate to be asked this question because he did not have the time to think of a response that the other two gentlemen had, but he answered it fairly well with a reply that expressed his desire to even get in the political realm revolved around true representation of the citizens and his continued desire to provide an environment of business development in regards to making South Carolina more employer friendly.

Mr. Bill Connor was in clear support of a "recall" process to have Washington Representatives actually representing the citizens that elected them to their positions.

Mr. Tim Scott being the last of our Lt. Governor candidates addressed my question at this end of his speech before I could ask it again (*smile*). He stated his total support of States Rights within our Federal Government, and the process of "recall rights" should be in place to remind the folks in DC that we are their employers.

The candidates for District 1 South Carolina's House of Representatives were not asked this question directly because that was really outside of their position's responsibility.

Mr. Tom Keegan (representing Mr. Henry Brown Jr.) expressed that our District 1 representation in the US House has been along conservative value lines some 91.3% with Mr. Brown. Mr. Keegan shared his views that we should not be picking apart the party from within when we have such a strongly organized opposition party in place now in Washington.

Mr. Carrol Campbell III did not directly touch on the "recall question" in his presentation; however, he did express the "insanity or repeating the same actions over and over and expecting different results" in regards to what takes place in Washington. He started his speech with the reading of the Republican Creed and then explained how our party has wandered from these principles when they get elected to positions in Washington.

Mrs. Katherine Jenerette was our final candidate to share with us last night, and she was very clear on the "recall" issue and added that the repealing of the 17th amendment would not be a bad thing for the American citizens either. She expressed that in 1913 our Federal Government took from us the right to our freedom of income and charity as well as the State's lose of control over Senators in Washington with the 17th amendment's passage.

I will add that our first candidate Ms. Kelly Payne was not asked about the "recall" issue because as State Superintendent of Education that is far removed from the realm of responsibilities of the position she is campaigning for in South Carolina.

[Originally posted at Beach Banter]

Rep. John M. Spratt now a cosponsor of H.R.1207, ‘The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009’ Posted by Kevin Smith

Posted 10/19/09

On October 13 Rep. John M. Spratt of South Carolina's 5^th Congressional District became the 302^nd member of the U.S. House of Representatives to sign on as cosponsor of 'The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009'. We commend Congressman Spratt for recognizing the will of his constituents by joining, to date, 302 other members of the House to pursue this very important and needed legislation. Hundreds of petitions were signed and delivered by his constituents. Thank you for all of your work and support to send a solid message of clarity to your elected representatives. Now that Rep. Spratt has signed onto H.R.1207 please telephone his offices and thank him for his support to this bill. It is our hope that H.R.1207 and the Senate companion bill S.604 will move forward without obstructions. Telephone Rep. John M. Spratt today and thank him. Washington office  202-225-5501, Rock Hill office 803-327-1114, Sumter office 803-773-3362 and Darlington office 843-393-3998.

Grassroots activist are born from individual passion, not party Posted by Kevin Smith

Posted 10/19/09

This is only one story duplicated thousands of times throughout our Nation's towns, cities and communities.

Joe and his wife Kris are who most would consider to be ordinary citizens, most likely to be your quite neighbor next door. Neither one of them had been politically active until a new friend, Ryan, placed an add in a local paper stating that he was fed up with this government plan for health care to push more unwanted involvement into citizens' lives and pocketbooks. His ad simply stated that he was going to show up at U.S. Rep. John Spratt's local office on a Saturday afternoon and invited anyone else sharing his concern to join him. That Saturday was August 22 and 125 citizens showed up with Ryan who quickly understood they hungered for more opportunities to be heard. Ryan told the crowd, "I've never done anything like this before!" which prompted the crowd to return a shout of "Don't stop now!" Problem was, Ryan is a city police officer whose superiors adamantly 'advised' him that this activity could threaten his employment with the city. This is when Joe and Kris decided to pick up with this newly found passion for patriotism and committed to fan the recent sparks initiated by Ryan. Of course, their attendance to the DC Rally three weeks later could only have propelled their spirited hearts to 'warp drive'. When Joe and Kris returned from Washington, the first thing Joe did was to go downtown to City Hall and lay down $50 to rent the city's outdoor amphitheater next door for an upcoming Saturday. Realizing what they had just done, Joe and Kris decided they'd better start making some plans for this secured venue. They began referring to it as The Freedom Rally. Joe reached out to a couple of other folks who knew of still others and called for a meeting to nail down details such as invited speakers, public address system, music, a couple of police officers for 'just in case', and public announcements to provide the possibility of attendance. Saturday, October 3 arrived with a showing of 300 citizens, many together as families to rally with period-dressed Patrick Henry in delivering his infamous 'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death' speech of March 23,1775, a couple of respected elected honest-to-goodness public servants, and an address of persuasions on how to become more actively engaged as citizens. Pocket sized copies of The U.S. Constitution were distributed at no charge to adults and children. Petitions were signed which call for Rep. John Spratt to sign onto HR1207, 'The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009'. (Two weeks later, Rep. Spratt signed on) Attendees were also invited to complete a survey to determine their most important issues of concern. One hundred twenty-three were completed and returned with the tabulated results displayed below. Time was even allotted for citizens to participate with an open mike to provide opportunity for questions or even just statements if preferred.

There are thousands, probably a hundred-thousand Joe's gracing our Nation. Just maybe Ryan, Joe and Kris only heard that same voice that has been calling you. That inner voice which increases intensity with every heartbeat, it's calling Liberty! Freedom! Liberty I will not surrender! My freedom I will not compromise! Maybe the voice they heard was that of Samuel Adams stating unequivocally "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." We know we must light the fire! By anyone's measure this event provided a great success as the purpose was to inform and promote citizen involvement... and the people were heard shouting, "Don't stop now!"

 Results of tabulated survey

Ten current political issues were listed and citizens attending The Freedom Rally were asked to indicate five issues they deemed the most important. One hundred twenty-three surveys were completed and returned.  

1.   Preserving the Constitution - 64%
      Taxes and Deficit Spending - 64%

2.    Health Care Reform - 54%

3.    Government Corruption - 52%

4.    Cap and Trade - 47%

5.    Individual Liberties - 40%

6.    Right to Life - 32%
       National Security - 32%

7.    Transparency - 27%

8.    Social Security - 15%

Write-in votes included:
    Term Limits
    Line Item Veto
    Ending Welfare State
    Energy Security
    Accountability
    Education
    School Choice/Vouchers

Lindsey Graham: I Won't Let Ron Paul Hijack the GOP Posted by southernavenger

Posted 10/19/09 Last updated 10/13/09

This isn't the best audio but more evidence of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's complete dismissal of Ron Paul's adherence to rigid constitutional government. Notice in the first video that instead of addressing the woman's criticism head on, Graham simply asks her who she voted for in the presidential election. When she replied "Chuck Baldwin" Graham then attempts to marginalize her based on her support for the Constitution Party, slamming Ron Paul in the process.

The following took place 10/12/09 at a town hall meeting in Greenville, SC:

UPDATE: CNN has picked up this story.

www.theFreshmen50.com Posted by phantomjet

Posted 10/12/09

I have spoken with the founder of theFreshmen50, Brian Miller. His ideas and mine (The Patriot Party) that I passed out on the bus on our way to the 9-12 March are nearly identical. He is running for Congress as an independent and the concept is to get 50 solid citizens around the country where there is a strong possibility to win against the 2 political parties that everyone is fed up with and to take those seats as independents. My concept was a third party doing basically the same thing (going after 10 Senate seats and 60 House seats) and forming a voting bloc that either major Party must go through to get legislation passed. At the very least it can filter out obvious pork and help mold the legislation to something the people want rather than another force feeding. At best it can stop legislation that is out of control.

Please go to www.thefreshmen50.com and see what I am talking about. I already contributed to the PAC. If you agree, please help me spread the word. Contact Brian and let him know you are available to help. This is something that can really work if we get behind it. I am going to post this information on as many blogs as I can to help spread the word. The more we talk about it and write about it - the better the chances to grab a good number of Congressional seats as independents.

Sincerely,

George McMurtry
Lady's Island
cell: 843-521-7301

To the Congress: Posted by phantomjet

Posted 10/12/09

To the Congress:

The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 - you have had 234 years to get it right; it is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935 - you have had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - you have had 71 years to get it right; it is broke.

The "War on Poverty" started in 1964 - you have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked and our entire country is broke.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - you've had 44 years to get it right; they are broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - you have had 39 years to get it right; it is broke.

Trillions of dollars were spent in the massive political payoffs called TARP, the "Stimulus", the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009, PPIP... none show any signs of working, although ACORN appears to have found a new b***h: the American taxpayer.

And finally, to set a new record:

"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009! It took cars (that were the best some people could afford) and replaced them with high-priced and less-affordable cars, mostly Japanese. A good percentage of the profits went out of the country. And the American taxpayers take the hit for Congress' generosity in burning three billion more of our dollars on failed experiments.

So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that "services" you shove down our throats are failing faster and faster, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system - 20% of our entire economy?

With all due respect,

Are you crazy?

Real Hope for the Future! Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 10/07/09

Today, I was given the opportunity to speak to an assembly of kids at a private school. The kids' ages ranged from kindergarten all the way to seniors in high school. This was quite a challenge.

As I was talking with the principal of the school this morning, I was excited to find out that he is a huge supporter of the Constitution and freedom. He gave me the liberty to speak a little more freely about current events to the older grades once he dismissed the lower grades to class. I was planning on strictly talking about the ideas of freedom. I was very excited about this.

I was told that there were a lot of Obama supporters among the children. There was also a high percentage of African American students, so I was warned to be careful about "Obama bashing." That's not why I wanted to speak to the kids, so this wasn't hard.

I had written an outline, which I sort of followed...Well, you know how that goes...

I started talking to the youngest kids who really were too young to have a discussion that was very deep. I tried, and we ended up talking about snow, rainbows, and rain. I had to improvise with them. I just told them that America is a very special country where we are free to be whatever we want to be when we grow up, and we just have to work hard. I talked with them about what each one of them wanted to be when they grew up. We talked about what the word freedom means, and they were dismissed to their classes.

I then turned my attention to the 3rd-12th graders, still a huge age range... I made them laugh when I said, "Now let's get down to the nitty-gritty." I asked them what are some of their favorite freedoms, and wrote those on my "freedom board." I talked about the history of our founding and read some quotes. I talked about the Declaration of Independence, and the blood that was shed so that those kids could be in that assembly in that church this morning. I told them about the Constitution and why we needed one. I talked about what its job is. I told them that the Government CANNOT give them anything, that they have rights that are God-given and unalienable. (We discussed the meaning of unalienable)I told them that the Constitution protects our rights from the government. We talked about the Bill of Rights. We talked about how they are enjoying the vision that our founding fathers had when they risked their very lives to fight for a principle as precious as freedom. I told them that they could use their voices, and that their voices mattered. I told them they could write letters, and express their concern, even at their young age. I told them that with freedom comes responsibility, that all men are created equal and have equal rights to work hard, but that not everyone would get the same results. I also gave specific examples of ways that the Constitution is being violated today.

I was excited because they were a very interactive group of kids who paid attention and answered my questions. Some of them came up with some impressive questions for me, which I answered carefully and honestly. A third grader asked me, "Do you think Obama is spending too much money?" Another student in high school asked me if the health care bill is a smoke screen for something else. (That was a tough one to answer without getting too political on them...)

Possibly the best part of this "talk" was when the principal's wife got very excited and came up and kept talking to the kids. We went well over the allotted time for the event. She told the kids that they have a responsibility to understand and protect freedom. She gave examples of the government infringing on rights through taxes. She explained what redistribution of wealth meant, and I think the kids really understood. They didn't like the idea at all.

Perhaps most inspiring was when she asked the African American children to stand up. She talked to them about the people who fought for them to have the opportunities that they have now that some of their ancestors were kept from. She talked about their heritage and challenged them to know that they have a responsibility to live out the opportunities because of the things people like Martin Luther King did to establish their freedom in America.

She also encouraged the children to understand that they are the ones who are in charge in America, not the government. She made sure that they understood that they have the responsibility of choice in whether or not they let the government take over. She challenged them that they are the generation that must pick up the mantle and run with it. She also made sure that they understood that it is about liberty, not Democrats, Republicans, Obama, or anyone else, and that this was not a government bashing political rally. The kids just need to understand how important freedom is in their lives.

I finished up with the famous Edmond Burke quote, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing," as well as the Ben Franklin quote about giving up freedom for security. I told them that now is the time to speak up. I explained that there are those in government who come as a wolf in sheep's clothing, promising all kinds of nice things, but are only stealing away their liberty. I expressed that the reason that I want to educate kids is because I care about their future. I want to them to have a head start, and to really know what their rights are.

I loved getting the teachers excited! Spreading the passion for liberty is my pleasure, and I hope I helped influence even just a few kids today. They seemed to genuinely care and understand what I was talking about.

I believe we were making history today, and I was thankful to have been able to encourage and inspire both students and teachers. It's hard to describe just how amazing it was to be in that room today where truth and liberty were revived in the hearts and minds of young people. It was awesome!

Stay tuned, because in a few weeks, I get to speak to a public school crowd. I'm a bit more nervous about that one, but I am encouraged to know that I have been allowed in the public school system in Charleston.

10 Things You Should Know About Iran Posted by southernavenger

Posted 10/05/09

The following is why guys like William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, who were wrong about everything in the lead up to war in Iraq, are considered solid foreign policy analysts worthy of television time, and Juan Cole (the author of this list) is not: 

Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US.

Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war in modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of "no first strike." This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.

Belief: Iran is a militarized society bristling with dangerous weapons and a growing threat to world peace.

Reality: Iran's military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Moreover, Iran is a country of 70 million, so that its per capita spending on defense is tiny compared to these others, since they are much smaller countries with regard to population. Iran spends less per capita on its military than any other country in the Persian Gulf region with the exception of the United Arab Emirates.

Belief: Iran has threatened to attack Israel militarily and to "wipe it off the map."

Reality: No Iranian leader in the executive has threatened an aggressive act of war on Israel, since this would contradict the doctrine of 'no first strike' to which the country has adhered. The Iranian president has explicitly said that Iran is not a threat to any country, including Israel.

Belief: But didn't President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threaten to 'wipe Israel off the map?'

Reality: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did quote Ayatollah Khomeini to the effect that "this Occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" (in rezhim-e eshghalgar-i Qods bayad as safheh-e ruzgar mahv shavad). This was not a pledge to roll tanks and invade or to launch missiles, however. It is the expression of a hope that the regime will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did. It is not a threat to kill anyone at all.

Belief: But aren't Iranians Holocaust deniers?

Actuality: Some are, some aren't. Former president Mohammad Khatami has castigated Ahmadinejad for questioning the full extent of the Holocaust, which he called "the crime of Nazism." Many educated Iranians in the regime are perfectly aware of the horrors of the Holocaust. In any case, despite what propagandists imply, neither Holocaust denial (as wicked as that is) nor calling Israel names is the same thing as pledging to attack it militarily.

Belief: Iran is like North Korea in having an active nuclear weapons program, and is the same sort of threat to the world.

Actuality: Iran has a nuclear enrichment site at Natanz near Isfahan where it says it is trying to produce fuel for future civilian nuclear reactors to generate electricity. All Iranian leaders deny that this site is for weapons production, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly inspected it and found no weapons program. Iran is not being completely transparent, generating some doubts, but all the evidence the IAEA and the CIA can gather points to there not being a weapons program. The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate by 16 US intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency, assessed with fair confidence that Iran has no nuclear weapons research program. This assessment was based on debriefings of defecting nuclear scientists, as well as on the documents they brought out, in addition to US signals intelligence from Iran. While Germany, Israel and recently the UK intelligence is more suspicious of Iranian intentions, all of them were badly wrong about Iraq's alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction and Germany in particular was taken in by Curveball, a drunk Iraqi braggart.

Belief: The West recently discovered a secret Iranian nuclear weapons plant in a mountain near Qom.

Actuality: Iran announced Monday a week ago to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it had begun work on a second, civilian nuclear enrichment facility near Qom. There are no nuclear materials at the site and it has not gone hot, so technically Iran is not in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, though it did break its word to the IAEA that it would immediately inform the UN of any work on a new facility. Iran has pledged to allow the site to be inspected regularly by the IAEA, and if it honors the pledge, as it largely has at the Natanz plant, then Iran cannot produce nuclear weapons at the site, since that would be detected by the inspectors. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted on Sunday that Iran could not produce nuclear weapons at Natanz precisely because it is being inspected. Yet American hawks have repeatedly demanded a strike on Natanz.

Belief: The world should sanction Iran not only because of its nuclear enrichment research program but also because the current regime stole June's presidential election and brutally repressed the subsequent demonstrations.

Actuality: Iran's reform movement is dead set against increased sanctions on Iran, which likely would not affect the regime, and would harm ordinary Iranians.

Belief: Isn't the Iranian regime irrational and crazed, so that a doctrine of mutally assured destruction just would not work with them?

Actuality: Iranian politicians are rational actors. If they were madmen, why haven't they invaded any of their neighbors? Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded both Iran and Kuwait. Israel invaded its neighbors more than once. In contrast, Iran has not started any wars. Demonizing people by calling them unbalanced is an old propaganda trick. The US elite was once unalterably opposed to China having nuclear science because they believed the Chinese are intrinsically irrational. This kind of talk is a form of racism.

Belief: The international community would not have put sanctions on Iran, and would not be so worried, if it were not a gathering nuclear threat.

Actuality: The centrifuge technology that Iran is using to enrich uranium is open-ended. In the old days, you could tell which countries might want a nuclear bomb by whether they were building light water reactors (unsuitable for bomb-making) or heavy-water reactors (could be used to make a bomb). But with centrifuges, once you can enrich to 5% to fuel a civilian reactor, you could theoretically feed the material back through many times and enrich to 90% for a bomb. However, as long as centrifuge plants are being actively inspected, they cannot be used to make a bomb. The two danger signals would be if Iran threw out the inspectors or if it found a way to create a secret facility. The latter task would be extremely difficult, however, as demonstrated by the CIA's discovery of the Qom facility construction in 2006 from satellite photos. Nuclear installations, especially centrifuge ones, consume a great deal of water, construction materiel, and so forth, so that constructing one in secret is a tall order. In any case, you can't attack and destroy a country because you have an intuition that they might be doing something illegal. You need some kind of proof. Moreover, Israel, Pakistan and India are all much worse citizens of the globe than Iran, since they refused to sign the NPT and then went for broke to get a bomb; and nothing at all has been done to any of them by the UNSC."

Link

$99 TRILLION Posted by phantomjet

Posted 10/05/09

According to Robert W. Fisher, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, $99 TRILLION is the unfunded debt for just Social Security and Medicare. This amounts to every man, woman and child in the US currently owing $330,000 EACH for just these two programs. This makes our budgetary (funded) debt of $12 trillion (it gets there on November 22) look like pocket change. As a nation we owe more than we are worth.
WAKE UP people. This is the real problem, not Cap & Trade, not Health Care Reform. Congress has to stop the bleeding - NO MORE SPENDING MORE THAN REVENUES. We are literally 24 hours away from a financial Apocalypse if China decides to sell our dollars and if Congress gets us there it will be too late to say "I told you so". The Chinese own about $750 billion in Treasury notes, the Japanese about $350B and the EU about $250B. If the Chinese (who completely control our fate - think about that), or the Japanese who are headed into another recession and may have to sell, choose to cash in a few hundred billion, it will tip this economy into a double dip recession at the least and most likely a deep depression. We have been building to this, particularly over the last two decades, and Congress is responsible for taking us to this precipice but we are responsible for not stopping them. Everyone who reads this must contact Congress and tell all of them to stop spending. No new programs until we know exactly how they will be paid for - within budget. The days of our children getting to live a better life than we have had are over forever. We must stop this madness before there is no life worth living at all in the throes of a great depression.

One Year Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 10/05/09 Last updated 10/01/09

I officially joined the C4L organization as we know it now a year ago today, and what a year it has been! I just want to thank everyone at C4L HQ for all you have done. With your help, we all have accomplished so much, and have and will continue to make a huge impact on this country. It's been a pleasure to make history with all of the amazing members of Campaign for Liberty. I know my life has been changed because of this organization. I can't wait to see what else we are going to do!

Thanks, everybody! :)

Student Loans are the problem. Posted by annarlutz

Posted 10/01/09

As the bearer of about 16k worth of student loans, I know first hand the underhanded tactics used to get students to take on debt before they have the means to pay it. I am of the opinion that student loans actually contribute signifcantly to rising college costs and they also contribute to the declining value of the education many people receive.

As with so many things these days, our government as created a program that goes against the natural order and creates more problems than it solves. I found this flow chart that illustrates this point, thought I share.

September C4L in Columbia Posted by DanielCochran

Posted 09/28/09 Last updated 09/27/09

C4L Monthly Meeting

South Carolina Campaign For Liberty September Meeting
Columbia, South Carolina

The new venue for the meeting took a bit to find after we arrived at USC (University of South Carolina not the other USC), but the bread-crumbs (signs) helped us find it without much trouble.

Ashley and I had gotten off to a behind schedule departure from Conway and Florence's traffic was horrid; therefore, we arrived about twenty minutes late to the 1pm start time.

Bill Connor - Lt. Governor Candidate

When we entered the room Col. Bill Connor was addressing the crowd with his question and answer portion of this presentation.

Bill Connor @ C4L Sept '09

Mr. Connor was addressing a question about schools in South Carolina as we took our seats. Mr. Connor mentioned that only $.42 of every dollar in taxes actually makes it way to the classroom, and we need to get more of those tax dollars into the classroom instead of where it is currently being spent. As Lt. Governor, he would work with South Carolina Congress and the Governor to allow for more of the money to actually follow the student into the classroom. A question from one of the members in attendance asked about Charter schools, and he mentioned he was favorable of these programs. ((Note: I should have taped it, but it slipped my mind. Therefore, I have no direct quotes here, just my notes.))

When asked if Mr. Connor would be supportive of the Governor and our State Congress taking a stance via the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution against the adherence of HR 3200 if passed, he was favorable towards the fact that the 10th amendment does give States the rights to correct mistakes being made in Washington thus would be supportive of Congress and the Governor in this point. ((Note: Here again, just my notes not a direct quote.))

When asked about the current shape of the economy in South Carolina, what action items could he as Lt. Governor promote and spearhead to fix it? Mr. Connor was clear on the point that we need to provide a "business-friendly" relationship with companies and provide and environment that will attract new companies while retaining present companies in our State. The companies need to be here (small and large) that allow for revenue basis to provide for employees' benefits (i.e. jobs, opportunities, etc.) as well as the companies benefits to retain these businesses for the near and foreseeable future if we ever hope to reduce our unemployment numbers in the State.

In closing, Mr. Connor thanked C4L for the invite and opportunity to come speak to us. He underscored that he wants to have the chance as Lt. Governor to work with Senate leaders to cut wasteful spending, keep tax increases ruled as out of order, and work to get every vote in Columbia on the record.

Kelly Payne - State Superintendent of Education Candidate

Kelly Payne @ C4L Sept '09

Mrs. Payne's opening remarks explained that as concerned parent and educator it bothers her on the current direction our Nation is heading. Mrs. Payne believes the classroom is a place where we should be teaching our children about loving their country and about the basic principles that made our country the greatest nation on earth. Mrs. Payne shared with us present, that advanced math and sciences are very important to making our childrens' future have more oppurtunities; however, we need to be providing our children with a solid grasp of the fundimental basics in education - vocabulary, spelling, grammer, reading , writing, and making change at a cash register. ((The cash register remark drew a few snickers and nods of heads.))

Mrs. Payne stated that more of the tax dollars could make their way into the much needed classroom instead of the administration of our schools if wasteful spending were cut from the current status-quo in South Carolina. Mrs. Payne gave an example of the "Reading Recovery Program" which the State invested time and monies into training a formulating the program and action items only to at the implementation stage, pull the plug because someone decided it was to "labor intensive" on the teachers. ((Note: These are not direct quotes, just my notes.))

One of the more interesting points (for me) which Mrs. Payne touched on was the fact that we have 85 school districts to the 46 counties in South Carolina. I explained that as a child attending public school in South Carolina/North Carolina we had numerous districts too, but during the 1980's in North Carolina the State moved to County level districts only and the cost savings were substantial at the time; therefore, since I am unfamiliar with the responsibility of the State Superintendent of Education, if she won and became Superintendent, what actions could she take to get county level districts? Mrs. Payne said that she would work as a liaison to the State Congress and the local school districts to work together to consolidate to county level districts because that was not within the power of the office to redraw districts.

Multiple times during the question and answer section, Mrs. Payne returned back to the fact we need to allow and provide for more parental involvement in our classrooms. She has seen over the years that students that have parents that are active in their child's education those children are much more likely to excel. Mrs. Payne fills that more parental participation leads to better school discipline which leads to much more effective learning environment for the future of our children in South Carolina.

In closing, Mrs. Payne thanked C4L for the invite and opportunity to come speak to us. She looked forward to our support as the candidate in both the primaries and general election for State Superintendent of Education. Mrs. Payne requested our support so that she may be allowed to provide our children with the education they need for life, and provide a more cost effect educational institute that our tax dollars pay for in South Carolina.

Talbert Black @ C4L Sept '09

Announcements
Mark your calendars for November 14 and 15 to attend the next Patriot Expo of South Carolina.
If you missed the first one, then you need to make plans to attend this one. One of the confirmed Special Guest is G. Edward Griffin author and documentary film producer with many successful titles to his credit. You may be familiar with The Creature from Jekyll Island one of Mr. Griffin's books.

For further details, updates, registration, and resort information follow this link (here).

BTW: This one will be in Myrtle Beach! ((Hot damn, I will not have to drive to Columbia!))

* * * * *

There are plans in the work for March on Columbia in the January 2010 timeframe to gather all the TEA Party groups, 9.12 groups, resistnet groups, A.B.A.T.E. groups, and other liberty-minded folks as a show of (voting) force to the folks in Columbia as they start their new session. So stay tuned as more information comes available it will make its way to the Beach Banter.

Action Items

• Grow our membership - We have 38 local coordinators, 500+ paid members, and 2000+ "sideline" members which is a good start but we need more folks that are willing to actually work for liberty.
• We prioritized the upcoming involvement in the 2010 State legislative session. Now that was a fun debate *smirk*.
• Keep contacting Spratt and Clyburn about HR 1207, and remember to thank the other four Representatives for their co-sponsorship - thank both Senators for co-sponsoring S. 604 - Audit the Federal Reserve Act(s) We can make real Change in Washington!

Cut 'n Pasted from Beach Banter

September SC C4L Conference Report Posted by Talbert Black Jr

Posted 09/26/09 Last updated 09/26/09

Thanks to all who braved the bad weather to attend our conference!

We had two guest speakers today.  Bill Connor, who is running for Lt. Governor and Kelly Payne, who is running for Superintendent of Education.  Both were well prepared to answer our questions.

We did not record the speeches this time.  We need a volunteer to step forward who is willing to record them so we can post them up for those who couldn't attend.

After our quest speakers, we spent the remainder of our time discussing what we can do in our state to promote liberty and freedom.  The bulk of the discussion was considering different legislation.  After much discussion, it seemed that most of those present were willing to spend their time and effort supporting the following things:

 

Sovereignty Resolution - S424 and H3509 already introduced in the house and senate.  These resolutions will affirm that our state is sovereign under the 9^th and 10^th amendments.  The House passed their bill but the Senate is blocking theirs.

 

On the Record Voting (Roll Call) - H3047 and S11 already introduced in the house and senate.  These bills will require the legislators, by law, to record their votes.  Today, only very few are recorded.  Last legislative session only 1% of the senate votes were recorded and 8% of the house votes.

 

Paper Ballots - Not yet introduced.  Our S.C Constitution requires that all ballots be counted in public.  No one sees the counting of electronic ballots.  Additionally, there is overwhelming evidence that the electronic voting system is subject to fraud and deception.  We need to return to paper ballots counted in public.

 

Legal Money - Our U.S. Constitution only authorizes Congress to "coin" money.  It bars everyone from printing money not backed in gold and silver.  It also declares that "No state shall make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts"  It is time to hold our state to this mandate. 

This bill will set up a system whereby the state and its agencies will be required to make all their payments in gold and silver electronic currency.  No one will need to carry gold and silver in their pocket to the stores, but the electronic currency can be exchanged for actual metals if one wanted.  Legal money will not replace the Federal Reserve Notes that are currently used. It will be a competing currency system.

We are looking forward to the January session and making moving these items forward.  We have teams for each item.  Anyone who is willing to add themselves to one or more of the teams for any of these items, please send me a note.

Great News! Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 09/24/09

Today I was scheduled as a guest speaker at a local (PUBLIC!!!) elementary school for 3 fifth grade classes. Guess what I get to speak about? Yep, freedom, personal responsibilty, and the Constitution. I am so excited! This is a major breakthrough to get into the public school system! All I did was send my resume and a letter to the principal of the school through a teacher friend of mine, and then spoke with him over the phone. :) I'll get about 45 minutes with each class. Since I spent a year  teaching 5th and 6th grade already, I am very comfortable with this age range, and have already taught my own class last year all about freedom and the constitution. It's going to be great, and it is just the beginning... Freedom is going to ring!

Why I Support Joe Wilson Posted by AriseAndFight

Posted 09/21/09 Last updated 09/17/09

I support Joe Wilson. This may be viewed by some as inappropriate and I can understand that. I don't support Joe Wilson's interruption of President Obama's healthcare speech. It is clear that yelling at the president during his speech was inappropriate. Most civilized people would agree that we must maintain order during any formal speaking engagement if the person is going to be able to speak. It also demonstrated disrespect for the Office of the President of the United States.

So to be clear, I do not support Joe Wilson because of his error. It was a mistake and he clearly stated this during his apology to both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Both men forgave him without question because his apology was sincere. Both Joe Biden and later Senator Lindsay Graham stated publicly that they know him personally and that this was not typical behavior for him. Lindsay Graham even stated that it was altogether unusual behavior for him because is usually a reserved kind of guy.

Having said all that, here's why I do support him... Joe Wilson has been involved in trying to solve our immigration problems. President Obama, in his combative speech to congress, stated that his healthcare bill would not provide coverage for illegal immigrants. Congressman Wilson knew this to be a lie. He knew that the plan would not openly state that they were covered, but that there was no provision in Obama's plan to verify that anyone applying was not an illegal immigrant. Since illegal immigrants never, ever, reveal that they are applying for a job or for anything else illegally, obviously they would have no problem signing up for and receiving government healthcare.
So at this point in the speech, Joe Wilson passionately cried out, "You Lie!" I support Joe Wilson because he's not just another suit in congress collecting a paycheck. He demonstrated that he is passionate about solving problems and preventing the creation of new ones. His bold cry was a tribute much more to his passion than to his error of inappropriate behavior.
President Obama was lying about his healthcare plan. The blatant lies coming from this administration are unprecidented. It was about time somebody in congress stood up and said something about it. Joe was the first (and won't be th last). I applaud him for that.

Growing Up in Political Confusion (1955 - 1980) Posted by AriseAndFight

Posted 09/21/09 Last updated 09/19/09

This is about my growing up as an intelligent but stupid person. Seriously, I had no idea what was going on in the world for the longest time. Everything about politics was so confusing and I felt so stupid. I was always ready to be embarrassed when the subject of politics would come up. Please comment if you you've had a similar experience.

I was born in 1955 so I started becoming aware of the world around me in the time of TV shows like The Lone Ranger and Leave it to Beaver. One day, at the young age of eight, my teacher came into the classroom and told us about how John F. Kennedy had just been shot and killed - and that we were all going home early because of it. I think that was the introduction of my trying to figure out politics. Mostly I remember JFK, Jr. at the funeral because he was closer to my age than anyone else there. I was very sad for him because he lost his father. That was the only thing important to me.

When I started high school it was 1969, the year of Woodstock. I was surrounded by hippies who were both students and faculty who all seemed to know so much more about what was going on in the world than I did. They were always ready to talk at length about the latest issues, as if they all had graduate degrees in each subject. I continued to feel stupid and wondered why I didn't understand politics better. I just couldn't figure it out. It didn't bother me too much though. My biggest concern was Vietnam and the draft. I was hoping the war would end before I turned eighteen. I had no desire to go fight and die in those gloomy fields and jungles I had seen so many times in magazines. I couldn't understand why I would have to go fight on the other side of the world, but I knew that might be my future. Some people told me it was important to fight for my country. That sounded right. Others told me the war was wrong and we shouldn't support it. That sounded right too.

It just so happened that Nixon ended the war in the year I turned eighteen. I was able to go off to college. During my freshman year at the University South Carolina, I got interested in a weekly conservative newspaper called, "Human Events." I started reading it because I thought it might explain some things to me about politics. Besides, my father read it and I thought he was a smart man because he always seemed to know what was going on. It made some sense to me, but certainly didn't answer all my questions. While on campus one day, I saw there was a new student organization call "Young Americans for Freedom." They had a table set up in the student center and they had several one-page articles about different political issues. Each one had the title of the issue and an article explaining what it was all about. I picked one up and started reading it. It made sense to me. There were many more of them. I picked up another. It made sense too. I was so excited!! I found something I'd been wondering about for years. I took one of each and read them all with great interest. Everything started clicking and the whole world of politics started to make sense. I learned that I was a conservative and we were in a battle with people called liberal democrats. I joined the group and started seeing what I could do to fight this battle because some of these issues were important to me. I finally stopped feeling stupid about politics.

As a side note, one day, much later in my life, I started thinking back to my days in high school and what all those people were saying. No wonder I was so confused. They were all liberal democrats!!

So I have a question, what does it take to confuse young people about politics? It's easy and automatic. You let them listen to the news that makes no sense and then let them try to figure it out by talking to other young people who are confused. You also send them to liberal public schools where they will be either more confused or become liberal democrats. I think most people become liberal democrats because it feels right and nothing else makes sense.

I'm very thankful for the Young Americans for Freedom volunteers who provided those materials for me. I had no idea at the time that I was the exact type of person they were handing them out for. In fact, I might have been the only one on that campus who picked up the torch and ran with it. I went on to get very involved in promoting Ronald Regan's campaign for president. Although not full-time, I went on to support many other conservative candidates for many years.

The same thing is going on today, only worse. Tens of thousands of young people are starving for information that will satisfy their desire to better understand the world around them. They are like sponges waiting for water. That's why I'm writing this first blog. I hope it will help someone to better understand what is going on in our country right now. I will continue to write as time allows and try to make things a little clearer. Things are so much worse now, and so many years have gone by, I imagine there are many who, like myself, longed for information, but still don't have it. I hope I can help.

Finally! My Little Conversation with Senator Lindsey Graham Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 09/21/09 Last updated 09/24/09

If you can't hear what is being said, just refer to my last post.

Height of Hypocrisy! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 09/21/09 Last updated 09/16/09

The House Dems are working overtime to keep the issue of Joe Wilson on the front burner, and gain as much political mileage as possible, but they are really overplaying this one. Yesterday, they beat this dead horse beyond all reason! They all trotted to the microphone to express their "outrage" at Rep. Wilson's remark to the President, and the leader of the pack was, of all people... SC Rep. James Clyburn (D). He said how important it was to make an example of this incident in order to teach our "children" about unacceptable behavior. The fact that Joe Wilson apologized to the President wasn't enough to appease the upstanding members of the House...not when you can make him grovel before his colleagues, and humiliate the minority party! They wasted hours on this resolution, but it was  well worth it for them to spew their feigned "shock", and appear to be the sanctimonious party incapable of such a breech of decorum!

In all my years (40) of political experience, I have never seen the likes of the disrespect that was heaped upon President George W. Bush...so much for respecting the office of the President! The unrelenting assault by every left- wing group was out in force to discredit, de-rail, and destroy Mr. Bush's presidency...he was actually burned in effigy! The Leftist media was totally complicit, and misled the public that was, and continues to be criminally negligent. 

As the countdown to Nov. 3, 2010 continues, (412 days) we all must triple our efforts to not only remove all those in Congress who are destroying our Republic, but also eliminate those who aid and abett them. The power of the press...a professional and un-biased press, is fundamental to the preservation of a free society. We, the people must demand accountability from our elected officials, and the media, who all come out of the same liberal colleges that have indoctrinated them so well with the socialist ideology. 

Let's not be distracted by nonsense, but focus on the real issues confronting and threatening everything we hold dear. The Left is moving at warp speed to ram through as much of their agenda, and counting on us to be overwhelmed, and accept it all! I, for one am doing all I can to research and support the opposing candidates across the country...to insure the removal of those who are systematically destroying what our Founding Fathers crafted, and became a beacon to the entire World. We must not let this happen on our watch!!

 LibertyLover747

Racist? Really? Posted by annarlutz

Posted 09/16/09 Last updated 09/16/09

Joe Wilson hasn't ever been, and still is not someone I admire--but he's getting there. He is my representative and has heard from me quite a bit on a number of issues. Until recently, his actions have proven him to be another Strom Thurmond sycophant (in the style of Lindsey Graham), with little capability of independent thought.

It seems that now, he may have grasped reality and grown a backbone.

Joe Wilson's outburst during the President's address about healthcare has democrats and many others foaming at the mouth. I've read several articles hinting or outright calling racism.

I agree that Wilson's outburst was probably rude. However, it is essentially correct. The president asserted that illegal immigrants would not be able to receive health care under the proposed reform. I have read HR 3200, the language of the bill makes it pretty clear that illegal immigrants WILL be able to get healthcare. So that means that the President either hasn't read the bill that he is so eager to get passed, or that he deliberately misrepresented it. 

Why isn't that being addressed? So it's rude to call someone a liar, but is it still rude when the person actually spoke an untruth?

In addition, what about Joe Wilson's remark makes him a racist? Is it because it was spoken to a partially black man? I don't believe that Democrats actually believe Joe Wilson to be a racist. I believe that it is convenient that he represents a state in the deep south and that he directed his comment towards a black man. Calling Joe Wilson a racist is a nice little piece of misdirection. Democrats can use it to bury the fact that Wilson's statement was correct.

Town Hall with Senators Graham and McCain-- My Experience Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 09/16/09 Last updated 09/17/09

Yesterday morning, I was determined to get an answer from my U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. That I was sure of. I left my house at exactly 7:01 am for the 9:00 town hall meeting at the McAlister Field House on the campus of the Citadel, a military college. I wanted to be there bright and early.

I have been wanting to meet with the senator for a while now, but it seems almost impossible to get an audience with him. I have been practically dying to confront him on his disregard of the Constitution. However, I think yesterday's experience was better than any meeting that I could have possibly scheduled with the senator.

The first question asked was posed by one of the cadets, and I was so proud of him. He questioned where the federal government gets the power to even become involved in the health care industry, as it is unconstitutional. Lindsey Graham responded with a mealy mouth answer and basically said that there are times when it is a good thing if the government helps, even if it's not in the Constitution. I almost lost it at that moment, but determined not to be part of an angry mob, I kept my hands folded in my lap and patiently waited until I got the chance to hold the microphone.

It was hard not to stand up and yell at Senator Graham for his treatment of his constituents. He rudely interrupted almost everyone who asked a question. I decided that there was no way I was letting him cut me off once I got that microphone.

Finally, after locking eyes with the man who was in charge of the microphone, I secured my chance. However, as I stood up to speak, an older lady stood up in the middle of the crowd and started yelling her question out of turn. So I stood there and waited for her to finish, and finally, finally, I was able to speak. And this is what I said:

First, I introduced myself and said that I do not represent the Democrat Party, I do not represent the Republican Party. I represent We the People as outlined in the United States Constitution, and I am an advocate of Liberty. Then I turned and faced the audience ( I was on the floor with the senators) and said I just want to clear something up for everybody. People keep referring to America as a democracy (McCain), but America is a Constitutional Republic. Then I turned and faced the senators, and told them my question was for both, but I wanted to hear an answer from Senator Graham. I reminded them that they serve We the People, "just in case you need a reminder." Senator Graham was about to cut me off, but I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Wait. I am going to ask a question, I promise, just give me a minute." Senator Graham backed down.

I talked about how the health care bill is not the most important thing at stake. The most important thing is the freedom of the American people and the bill is just one of many ways that the government is trying to steal our liberty away.

I reminded the McCain and Graham that they both took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, twice. Once when they agreed to serve this country as military officers, and a second time when they became U.S. Senators. I talked about how the constitution is being disregarded and trampled, and then I finally asked, I want to know what you can do to make sure that the Constitution is being upheld and defended, because right now, it's not.

Well, Lindsey Graham went on and said some wishy washy thing that did not answer my question. In fact he pretty much threw it back at "We the People" as voters. But I wasn't leaving that auditorium until Lindsey Graham answered me. So as soon as the meeting was over, I practically ran over to the swarm of people surrounding the senators, elbowed my way through, and as he grabbed my hand to shake it and give a fake smile, I stopped him and said, "Senator Graham, you did not answer my question." He stopped, looked at me, and said, "Are you a Ron Paul supporter?" to which I replied, "I am, but you still didn't answer my question from earlier." He wagged his finger at me, and said that he just fundamentally disagrees with my interpretation of the Constitution. I kept pressing him and saying you still didn't answer me. And he kept cutting me off and trying to get away, and wouldn't even let me finish talking just because he disagreed with me. 

That was basically my experience at the town hall. I am so glad I brought my friend with me, who had the presence of mind to capture Lindsey Graham's true colors on camera! They won't show that on the MSM. Fox News did show part of my question on Greta Van Susteren last night, though, which was pretty neat. I wish they had shown my interview with Fox News, in which I talked about how the government can never be a fair competitor in the market and discussed my interaction with Senator Graham.

Oh, and by the way, this was in today's edition of The Post and Courier:

GRAHAM ON THE U.S. CONSTITUTION: "The Constitution is the guiding document for this country. What can I do? I can be honest with you, and you can go vote. That's the way this works. Me and you might not agree on the different interpretations of the Constitution. That's fine. That's great. That's why you can vote."

Senator Graham, the last time I checked, the Constitution is the law, not guidelines. It's black and white. The government has no business intervening where it clearly cannot lawfully go. And you still haven't answered my question. I didn't ask about interpretation. I asked about an oath. Besides, who takes an oath to uphold and defend guidelines?

The 9-12 March on Washington Posted by phantomjet

Posted 09/16/09 Last updated 09/17/09

I participated in the 9-12 March and it was very special. The best attendance estimates made by outside sources were 1.5 million. We filled up the Mall from the steps of the Capital bldg. to the Washington Monument with all but the grassy areas filled (our permit did not allow this). But, the overflow down the side streets and Penn Ave that would easily fill up the grassy areas. Filling up the Mall alone takes 1,048,000 according to published government sources. My best guess, having personally inspected the entire crowd, is 1.1 to 1.2 million. The common reason for attending was corruption in government, both parties being out of control and completely out of touch with us. Secondary reasons were the health care package in it's current known form and not wanting it to be run by the government that has done such a good job on just two programs, Social Security and Medicare with "off-the-books" debt of $56 trillion which amounts to every family in the US owing $483,000 and it is growing geometrically. We now owe more than we are worth as a nation.
We are going to have to do it again because DC still does not get it - and we have to vote EVERY incumbent out of office.
If you need a reason to get fired up to help make that happen, remember this: as we were marching down Pennsylvania Ave toward the Capital bldg and Mall, several of us vocalized that there were no trash bins along the parade route so I walked over to a DC policeman who was standing on the curb and asked where I could find a trash can to get rid of empty water bottles and other trash and he told me that all the trash cans had been picked up the night before and that the DC police were told to hand out as many littering tickets as possible to the March attendees. Apparently I got lucky talking to one cop who was also fed up with "politics-as-usual". I memorized his badge number so I can hopefully look him up some day and thank him for his candor. I will not release it to anyone as I know he would suffer the consequences of his frankness.
By the way, there was not one scrap of paper or empty water bottle on the Mall when we left. It took the Park Services 3 full days to clean up after the million man march (that was only about 300,000) and after the Obama inauguration.
Also, Parks Services had "graciously" set up 40 porta-potties to handle 1.5 million people. The waiting lines were well over one hour. Any group of people (the Democratic Party in this particular case) who are that petty, that small, do not deserve to be our leaders.
I hope this news makes you mad as hell and gets you as active as possible in removing the real "trash" from DC.

No Shame Posted by Hal Grogan

Posted 09/15/09 Last updated 09/13/09

Over the last few days I've received my share of emails, as I'm sure you have, supporting Joe Wilson's actions during President Obama's speech before Congress this past week. I even received a solicitation today from Rep. Wilson asking for my help to fight back against attacks from "Washington Democrats and their liberal allies..."

I think it's important for everyone to be remember that Rep. Wilson voted in favor of the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003 that, among other things, created the Medicare Part D prescription benefit. Section 1011 of the act also provided funding from FY 2005 to 2008 for health care services for undocumented aliens. This funding has been extended through 2009 and H.R. 1386 seeks to make it permanent. Gresham Barrett also voted for this boondoggle. The only SC Republican representative to vote against it? Jim DeMint.

It's difficult to characterize Rep. Wilson's current position as anything other than hypocrisy. Lest we forget, Wilson, Barrett, and other SC Republicans were all part of the congressional "amen chorus" that gave us the constitutional and fiscal abuses of the Bush administration and who now want to be held up as champions of responsible government.

These guys truly have no shame.

Predicting 9/11? Posted by southernavenger

Posted 09/15/09

I read this on the air this morning and thought it worth passing around. I thought of it on September 11, 2001 and still think of it every anniversary.

This is Pat Buchanan describing a hypothetical terrorist attack that could take place in the future as a result of U.S. interventionist foreign policy. From page 44 of his 1999 book "A Republic, Not an Empire:"

It is in February of 2005 that the explosion occurs in the port of Seattle. It is a low-yield crude atomic device, but the devastation is incredible. Thousands are dead; thousands more are injured or wounded, many burned horribly. The device was smuggled in the cargo hold of a ship and detonated only hours after the ship had docked. No one knows for certain who put the device there. Iran condemns the act as an inhuman atrocity and an affront to Islam, but notes that America was the first to use such weapons. North Korea is also suspect. But intense speculation focuses on a group associated with the financier of terror Osama Bin Laden, whom U.S. special forces ran down and killed years earlier. Bin Laden's agents reportedly acquired nuclear weapons from rogue army elements is Russia or Kazakhstan in the 1990's, or got one from a Pakistan now controlled by allies of the Afghan Taliban.

Reflection for the Journey (I know, I'm getting all mushy again...) Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 09/15/09 Last updated 09/11/09

Sometimes people tell you to retrace your steps if you forget something.

I guess that’s kind of what happened to me the other day, except with moments in my life. I didn’t think I had forgotten anything, but I had. I had begun to forsake passion for drudgery, which makes anyone’s journey anywhere ten times harder.

To get where you are going, you need to know where you have been. It’s a trite phrase, which is unfortunate because it’s so true.

I spent some time this week walking around the College of Charleston and the surrounding areas of Downtown Charleston. I wasn’t expecting it, but it was like walking into past scenes from my life.

As I walked past St. Matthews Lutheran Church, its bell was tolling. It was 8:45 am, and as I ran my fingers along the wrought iron fence making my own rhythm, I remembered violin lessons held in the classrooms in that very church. Perhaps people passing me on the sidewalk wondered why I smiled so.

Later, I walked forward a few years, down the Physicians Promenade, just outside Physician’s Auditorium, and I could almost reach out and touch the tables that had been set up there at such a pivotal point in my life; It was when Ron Paul came to our campus. I picked up some of his campaign material back then that was on those tables, and now, I am pursuing the freedom of our nation everyday.

I passed through a gate into the Cistern. Just last May I descended the stairs of beautiful, historic Randolph Hall in a white dress, carrying an armful of red roses, wearing my honor cords and medal, and donned a big white southern belle hat to top it all off. I took my seat on the Cistern with the College of Charleston Class of 2008, received my diploma, and walked out through the gates of Porter’s Lodge, to the tune of “The Charleston”, onto George Street, into the real world, the supportive arms of family members, and the calling the God has on my life. Little did I know then, and I confess, little do I know now, other than the passion that He has given me to help rescue America.

So, it seemed to me that day, seeing where I have been, retracing my steps, and finding something lost, only solidified and strengthened me for the rest of the journey for where I am going. I am reminded to never let the hard work that it takes to realize a dream, steal the joy away from achieving it. And so I trek onward, living the American dream that I am fighting so hard to protect.

Liberty and Education Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 09/15/09

Hey Everyone!

I have a question for y'all. If you had the opportunity to speak to a group of school kids about liberty, what would you say? (Not partisan, not political, just pure, wonderful, foundational, liberty.)

An email from Congressman John Spratt on HR1207 Posted by JBell

Posted 09/15/09 Last updated 09/19/09

Dear Mr. Bell:

Thank you for contacting me to express support for HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009.

If passed, HR 1207 would direct the Comptroller General "to complete, before the end of 2010, an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of the federal reserve banks" and follow with a detailed report to Congress.

The current financial crisis has heightened interest in the role of the Federal Reserve (Fed). Besides its traditional role of controlling the monetary supply, the Fed has taken unprecedented actions as a "lender of last resort" to the nation's financial system. First, the Fed has expanded its direct lending programs to non-member banks, purchased financial securities, and intervened to support certain financial instruments, like commercial paper. Second, the Fed has provided assistance to keep financial institutions from failing, particularly those considered "too big to fail." As Congress considers proposals to strengthen financial regulation, the debate has centered on whether the Fed's powers should be expanded or reduced. An accounting of the Fed's assets and liabilities would be helpful as this debate continues in Congress.

HR 1207 would vest the Comptroller General with major new powers. The Comptroller General heads the Government Accountability Office, which is considered an arm of the Congress; and while the GAO does a lot of audit work throughout the government, its expertise is not financial institutions or financial regulatory agencies. If the GAO is granted significant oversight jurisdiction of the Fed, the rest of the world, which looks to the Fed for independence and strict stewardship over the dollar, may conclude that the Fed is now beholden to Congress and cannot be trusted to control the monetary supply and avoid inflation. We have to be wary of sending such signals to the world's financial markets. We do not want to give anyone a reason to dump the dollar.

The Fed is already subject to audit, and I would readily vote to expand that audit, if needed. For example, I have no problem with expanding the audit to cover Open Market Committee transactions. The entire financial regulatory system is currently under study, and recommendations to increase the accountability of the Fed are likely to emerge from that study. The chairman of the Financial Services Committee has recently indicated that he will bring this or a similar bill to the floor for a vote, and I am waiting to see what form that bill will take. I doubt that HR 1207 will be considered separately from other regulatory proposals, but I understand your concerns about the Fed, and share them, and expect to vote for whatever bill eventually emerges from committee. My only concern is that I would prefer auditors other than the GAO for this purpose.

Thank you again for contacting me and please continue to stay in touch on issues of importance to you that come before Congress.

Respectfully,
John M. Spratt, Jr.
Member of Congress

Its Time to Target Them Posted by WWR 3

Posted 09/10/09

Last night at a meeting of the Lexington County Council, five council members voted to take away the rights of Lexington County residents and business owners.  The remaining four council members voted to maintain your freedoms. Ordinance 09-06 (anti-smoking) was given its third and final reading.  This despicable ordinance violates the rights of business owners.  Only those who own the property should decide if they wish to allow or disallow a particular lawful activity (smoking) on their premesis.

It is now time to target the five "anti-freedom" county council members for political defeat in their next bids for election, no matter what office they might seek.  The citizens of Lexington County - even the anti-smokers - MUST choose.  Will you be on the side of FREEDOM, or will you be freedom's enemy?  Its that simple.  No excuses.

The five who council members who voted for the ban are chairman Debbie Summers, council members Bill Banning, John Carrigg, Smokey Davis and Johnny Jeffcoat.  Freedom loving citizens should not only be gearing up to defeat these five enemies of Liberty in the next election.

More than that, freedom loving people should boycott the businesses of Summers, Banning, Carrigg, Davis and Jeffcoat.  One might even consider a campaign to inform any companies who do business with Summers, Banning, Carrigg, Davis and Jeffcoat, of your displeasure.  These five council members need to feel a great deal of heat for their unbending opposition to Liberty.

Al Franken...what a comedian! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 09/08/09 Last updated 09/07/09

Back in the day, Al Franken was great on Saturday Night lIve, and I rarely missed any of his skits. That was then...now he is a Senator from Minnesota, and I caught his act on YouTube the other day when he spoke to his constituents at the State Fair. He managed to calm the crowd down, as they surrounded his booth, and went on to explain about HR 3200, and the merits of reforming the system. He was patient, listened carefully to the folks, as all politicians who attain public office are obliged to do.

Senator Franken, when asked about the Public Option, he said: "Let's not look at Canada or the U.K., let's look at say Switzerland". Yes, they have universal Healthcare...but to cite that country as an example was really ludicrous, and here's why: A) Switzerland has a total population of 7.8 million people, not 330 million as the U.S. does. B) The median income is a whopping $81,000. C) Switzerland is considered one of the most competitive CAPITALIST countries on the planet! D) Switzerland has been a neutral country since 1815, and has not fought in a war for centuries! E) The unemployment rate is 3.4%, which is considered very high compared to the usual rate of 1.8%. F) They don't have the burden of crushing welfare entitlements. G) The Swiss banks hold  tremendous percentage of the World's wealth, and are exempt from scrutiny.  The list goes on, but you get the picture!

Another point to consider, is that the healthcare in Switzerland is provided by the private sector, but is highly regulated by the government. I suggest Senator Franken google Switzerland, and get the facts before he brings the Swiss into the debate! I am tired of hearing how wonderful these European countries are, and my response is...As one of the richest in the World, with a tiny population, practically no defense budget to deal with, and one of the best countries to do business in; without job killing regulations...WHY NOT?!  Perhaps one more reason for their high standard of living, could be the fact that they protect their sovereignty, and control immigration. I doubt they have millions of illegals streaming into their country!

So, when you hear these talking heads make comparisons to countries like Canada, who by the way has a population of 33 million (tops)...and they are going bankrupt from their healthcare system, and Switzerland with all of 7.8 million people, you will be armed with the rest of the story!

LibertyLover747

P.S. My next post will be from Zurich, Switzerland!

Military Brass has George Will's Back Posted by southernavenger

Posted 09/08/09

On ABC's "This Week" this morning, George Will's retort to Robert Gates, Fred Kagan and everyone else criticizing his call for troop withdrawal in Afghanistan, was to note support for his position from former Marine Commandant Gen. Chuck Krulak and other military brass. From the Politico:

George Will, whose column last week calling for the U.S. to pull its troops out of Afghanistan brought a smackdown from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, is sticking to his guns.

The conservative columnist told ABC's "This Week" Sunday that there's almost no way to add troops to the fight without coming off as an occupying force.

Then he pulled out a letter from former Marine Commandant Gen. Chuck Krulak in support of his position.

"We're going to have a debate, and there will be plenty of brass on my side," Will said.

An actual debate in the conservative mainstream about U.S. foreign policy? Bring it on.

Link

One Czar down... 36 to go! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 09/08/09

To any right-thinking, liberty loving American, the revelations of the past few days concerning the latest atrocious decision...in a series of disastrous moves, shouldn't come as a surprise.  The new "Green Jobs" Czar, Van Jones has effectively self-destructed before our very eyes! The self-avowed Communist, and rabid racist, spewed his political philosophy, and ultimate end-game to the World with an arrogance, and certainty very unbecoming to any appointee to the President's cadre of advisors. He proves the rule that no matter what the advantage of the Democrat majority, they just don't have the intelligence to know when to back-off, and moderate their liberal agenda. Emotions always destroy any gains, and they are booted from office.

One has to wonder, in this era of dozens of "Czars" that now occupy the West Wing of the White House, if any of them were investigated at all, or were they just rubber stamped through by the President? The FBI has always been the agency responsible for this process, and my guess is they were not consulted on any of these appointments. I suppose since they have totally circumvented the process of Senate confirmation, why bother with the FBI? This is, after all, the "Transformational" new era of "Hope and Change".

The consensus is that Mr. Jones will be among the 9.7%  in the unemployment line by next Tuesday...and that's a prediction from the Left! He will quietly exit the stage for now, and Mr. Obama will be spared any embarrassment, of course...but he will continue to be a player in the fight for "Social Justice".  Stay tuned...

Liberty Poll - Answers from Dean Allen candidate for SC Adjutant General Posted by Talbert Black Jr

Posted 09/04/09

I sent out this questionnaire out last night to what I term "Liberty Leaders" in SC.  These are the folks who have a proven propensity to lead folks toward liberty.  One of these leaders got this poll in the hands of Dean Allen.  By this morning, he had answered the questions.  They follow.  I will post the answers of any candidate who takes the time to write them and send them to me.  Click for a link (html, pdf) to the questions.  Following are his answers:

 

Talbert,

 

Kris Langville forwarded your e-mail to me that contains the questionnaire on gun rights and other things. Your letter says you want candidates to hear these questions from patriots as they travel around the state campaigning.

 

Please allow me to be the first state wide candidate in SC to voluntarily answer the 15 questions on "The Liberty Poll" from attorney Michael P. Anthony. Since you have the questions, I will just give numbered answers:

 

1. My position will not be legislative, as Adjutant General. Therefore I cannot repeal laws or close agencies. What I will do is work to recruit, train, and equip more members into the SC State Guard. These unpaid volunteers will save the taxpayers millions of dollars because they augment law enforcement and National Guard troops without having to be paid salaries, retirement benefits & etc. Therefore, I am protecting the people better, without requiring any tax increase to do it.

 

2. Restricting the government to defined powers DOES matter greatly. The federal government is limited to the enumerated powers in Article I Section 8 of the federal constitution, and nothing else.

 

3. Yes and yes.

 

4. Impeachment is limited to "high crimes and misdemeanors" which has never clearly been defined. As a practical matter, we the people, get to remove them in every election. That remedy only works if we the people get active in the political process.

 

5. Far too many to mention. I learn of new ones every day. A friend just told me tonight that High School principals are requiring students in public schools to pay $30 "dues" to cover a student handbook. The South Carolina constitution says only elected officials may impose taxes and fees on our citizens. Teachers and principals are not elected officials.

 

6. I read the federal constitution regularly, have large sections comitted to memory. I give away a lot of copies. It's been about a year on the state constitution.

 

7. South Carolina can adopt the 10th Amendment resolution you and I lobbied so hard for in the last session of the General Assembly. The state Senate should invoke cloture, tell the "Honorable" C. Bradly Hutto to sit down and shut his yap, so they can call the roll and get about the people's business! I also favor a bill that has been proposed to have South Carolina's share of federal taxes paid to the state ,and the state hold them in escrow, and dole them out to the feds, but only if the feds are in compliance with the constitution. This puts the states back in the superior position as the founding fathers intended.

 

8. Yes. The US Supreme court actually ruled this way in US v. Hylton back around 1796. (I am doing this from memory at 1 AM in the morning, after driving 250 miles to two events in Greenwood and Aiken tonight, so I don't have the citation handy.)

 

9. I believe that any defendant, either himself, or through his attorney, should be allowed to present ANYTHING he or she wants in their defense. The jury can then consider how reasonable, or unreasonable they think the defendant's belief is; and, whether the defendant is sincere or not. I should be able to tell a jury the moon is made of blue cheese; whether or not they are persuanded 1.) that it may be true, and 2.) that I sincerely believe it to be true, is a matter for them to deliberate upon, and decide for themselves.

 

10. There are two huge changes needed in the war on drugs. 1.) We need to close our borders tight as a drum and insure that not a single person or an ounce of contraband can get into this country. That alone would dry up 90% of the supply. 2.) Law enforcement efforts need to focus on the major distributors and the banks and lawyers that serve and facilitate them. Currently we incarcerate large numbers of users and low level distributors but the big folks at the top are never pursued. If you want to get rid of a tree you do not curse at it and pull off leaves in the fall of the year, while making noise. Instead, you cut down the tree and burn the stump. Our "war on drugs" is as phony as a $3 bill and as mismanaged as our fiasco in Afghanistan.

 

11. Everyone has a right of self defense, whether citizen or law enforcement. That right is absolute and unfettered. Law enforcement officers have the extra burden of being required to protect the lives of others as well. Certainly there are times where deadly force is justified and even necessary.

 

12. I am not going to disarm anyone at any time. "Shall not be infringed" is about as plain as any statement can be. There really is NOT any wiggle room whatsoever in those four words. Laws to the contrary are null and void, see Marlbury v. Madison. When I ran for office in 1994 I had the endorsement of the NRA and I certainly expect to earn it again.

 

13.  We don't need any federal ID; and the constitution does not authorize it. I am deeply concerned that the Social Security account number has became a de facto national ID and this poses a serious threat to privacy, facilitates ID theft, and raises a whole host of constitutional questions.

 

14. In many cases there are rights that the states inherently possessed under the common law that have been usurped by the federal government without any "authority." This encompasses not only asset forfitures but most of the federal criminal laws (prosecution of common law crimes was reserved to the states). My office as Adjutant General is not legislative in nature, therefore, I personally will not be able to "do anything" about it. I answer the question merely to demonstrate my understanding of constitutional law, delegated powers, separation of powers, and checks and balances.

 

15. My office is not legislative. That said, I am the author of two books and have a 3rd being published within the next few days. I do not favor any restriction on writers or gun owners, other than personal responsibility for conduct and for any libel. I actually went out and bought a copy of Salmon Rushdie's terrible and boring book, The Satanic Verses many years ago just to show solidarity with him after the Ayotollah Khomeini put out a Fatwa to have him killed. The book was so dull, boring, and convoluted, I never read it all, but I had it prominently displayed in my office for years.

 

Feel free to distribute my answers as you please and to ask my views on any other matter as well. Even though the Adjutant General is not a legislative office, the voters have the right to know that I understand constitutional law, which I do, and to know that my oath of office will be taken seriously, and upheld. Many of my views are on my website www.VoteDeaqnAllen.net.

 

 

Warmest Personal Regards,

 

Dean Allen

GOP candidate for

Adjutant General of South Carolina

 

Politicizing Our Schools Posted by christinajeffrey

Posted 09/03/09

Friends, here's something you need to know about:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301/President-Obama's-Address-to-Students-Acro
ss-America-September-8-2009

The word about this has been out a while and some state superintendents have given in and are allowing individual districts to decide whether or not the schools will
participate in turning children into lobbyists for Obama.

If you do not want the classroom politicized in this way, tell both your local school superintendent and the state superintendent. In SC, that's Jim Rex. They need to know what you think about having children forced to watch Obama (grades K-6) or otherwise propagandized.

If you are as concerned as I am, then please hurry, we only have a week to stop this.

Contact information for the SC State Superintendent's Office: 803-734-8492

Another video is already being shown in some schools - be sure to watch the end--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqcPA1ysSbw

Article about Parents reaction: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13249171?_requestid=5883011     You can discuss this on facebook, if you like: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=10335&uid=84461674422

Mark Levin Not Happy with George Will Posted by southernavenger

Posted 09/03/09

Talk radio host and best-selling author (and no friend to Ron Paul) Mark Levin is not happy with George Will's call to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Writes Levin at National Review Online's The Corner: "An Afghanistan left to its own devices clearly is a danger to our nation, as was demonstrated on 9/11. If we leave, then what?"

Yes, he really said that. A glimpse into the imperial, war-mongering workings of the neocon mind:

Mark Steyn asks a good question: What is our strategy in Afghanistan? But I suppose this question can be asked of those, such as George Will, who urge our departure: What is our strategy after we leave? I think we can agree that the fig-leaf Will urges, special forces on the border, etc., would be less useful than the force structure we currently have inside Afghanistan.

After we helped force the Soviets out of Afghanistan a few decades ago, we did indeed leave the country. I don't need to relate what occurred thereafter, do I? The problem is that Obama is cutting the defense budget, he is undermining our intelligence system, and he is pulling troops from Iraq without reconsidering the pace of that action; and now some encourage him to pull out of Afghanistan because the administration lacks a policy there? Shouldn't we be arguing against the defense cuts, against the assault on our intelligence apparatus, and for a more aggressive and effective use of economic and military resources in Afghanistan? I am unclear what prudential course Will and others would have us take. An Afghanistan left to its own devices clearly is a danger to our nation, as was demonstrated on 9/11. If we leave, then what?

As for nation-building, there are times to be for it and times to be against it. The Marshall Plan was all about nation-building, but not in the abstract. If it serves American national-security interests, and can be coherently justified as such, then it's prudent. Nation-building in, say, Haiti, would be ridiculous. The general test is whether doing so helps protect our country. To have a doctrinaire objection to it under all circumstances would be imprudent.

 Link

Organizing for America shows us how to have a TownHall Meeting Posted by christinajeffrey

Posted 08/30/09

I attended the Organizing for America (OFA) Town Hall Meeting on August 18 at the Chapman Cultural Center in downtown Spartanburg. While Tea Party Organizers have to search for genuine grass on which to hold their rallies, ACORN and its allies can pay the rent for fancy digs. There was room for 500 people, but only about 150 showed up. (See the WSPA video link below.) Last Spring, when she got an email inviting her to join the list of people getting information from OFA, Maria Brady, publisher of Boiling Springs Today Magazine, seized it. That was how she learned of the meeting. It was not advertised to non-members. It was not a real townhall meeting. Maria also publicized the meeting and many curious Boiling Springs Tea Partiers also came.

After I stood up to endorse a free market approach, one lady said most people in the room were for the public option and not for a market-based approach. So I asked the audience how many people were in favor of the free market and 1/3 raised their hands. Not all of them were from our group. Considering this ACORN sponsored town hall was not announced publicly, I was delighted to learn I had so much support. It emboldened me to actually engage in a mini-debate with this lady (Lucy).

Most of the people who spoke to me after wards were really perplexed. They do not seem to know how the free market works and thus trust the government over the private sector. "Don't you trust the government?", asked some. I explained that I don't trust either the government or the private sector to take care of me. I am a free American and a sovereign citizen and if my fellow citizens will assume their rightful authority, we can insure an orderly and sound market in health care or anything else. When we compared notes, I learned that Maria was telling others the same thing!

No sensible person wants health care to be nationalized. It is disingenuous for Democrats to insist on competition for the private sector when the government already controls nearly half of the health care market. (And what about competition for the public sector in education--hmmm, they aren't so keen on that!) "Government competition" is no competition at all. It's like the people in the audience bragging on their peaceful townhall meeting when they aren't having a real townhall meeting. The legislators who conducted the meeting did not represent the people there--one was from Columbia and there were very few of Harold Mitchell's South-side constituents--most were white Democrats from the East-side of Spartanburg--my neighbors.

Instead of the government soaking up even more of the private sector, we need less government medicine and more private. We need deregulation. If insurance companies want to operate completely inside a state, then they would not be subject to interstate commerce rules, but those that want to compete nationally, across state lines like other industries do, should do so since that would actually create more competition and more choice for consumers.

Instead of limiting medical savings accounts, these should be encouraged as well as more use of catastrophic insurance products (real insurance). Instead of encouraging a Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) with Canada and Mexico(the latter has the gross national product of Hartford, Connecticut), we should remind voters that the states comprise what is potentially the world's most effective economic community or common market. To realize its full potential we should remove the barriers that states and the federal government have imposed.

If the Federal government gets out of the way, states can pass reforms that are appropriate for the people in that state. These reforms could allow insurance to be sold across state lines. Legislators just have to be willing to stand up to the interests and do the right thing for the people. We the people have to keep replacing legislators until we get guys and gals who will look out for us.

Link:

http://www2.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article/dnc_led_health_insurance_reform_town_hall
_tuesday_night/25296/#fragment-1

The Government Can! Posted by Sarabeth Rudd

Posted 08/30/09

This made me laugh! Enjoy. :)

A conspiracy of silence about swine flu natural remedies Posted by tstarkey

Posted 08/28/09

A conspiracy of silence about swine flu natural remedies

Setting the people up to die: A conspiracy of silence about swine flu
natural remedies
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) It's emblazoned across the front page of USA Today, just
underneath a subhead declaring Michael Jackson was, indeed, killed by a drug
overdose: "Flu could infect half of USA." The article goes on to describe
the predicted number of deaths expected in the U.S. (30,000 - 90,000
Americans) as well as the actions being taken by the government to protect
Americans from the coming swine flu pandemic.

That advice reads sort of like a comic book of health care advice for
kindergarteners: Wash your hands, cover your mouth if you cough and let "the
grownups" take care of the rest by injecting you with a vaccine. Curiously
absent from all the health advice being handed out on the swine flu by the
White House, the CDC, the WHO and even the FDA is any mention of Vitamin D
or other natural remedies that offer enormous protections from influenza
infections.

The absence of this information from virtually all the advice being handed
out to the American public is increasingly suspicious. If a pandemic flu is,
indeed, threatening to infect half the U.S. population, and if most of the
population is deficient in a nutrient known to strongly prevent influenza
infections, wouldn't it make good sense to make a few announcements
encouraging Americans to raise their vitamin D levels throughout the coming
winter?

It is a well-known medical fact, of course, that influenza always gets worse
during the winter months North of the equator and the summer months South of
the equator (which are really called their "winter" months). This is because
as sunlight hours lessen during the winter, the people living there become
vitamin D deficient and are susceptible to influenza infections of all
kinds.

The information resources backing this are easy to find. Even our own
NaturalPedia.com website reveals a large amount of information on natural
defenses against influenza (http://www.naturalpedia.com/influen...).
NaturalNews.com, of course, offers a wealth of articles on Vitamin D (
http://www.naturalnews.com/vitamin_...).

In the realm of peer-reviewed medical literature, searching Google Scholar
for "influenza" and "vitamin D" returns tens of thousands of results (
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q...). In particular, one study appearing
in these search results is entitled Epidemic influenza and vitamin D. It was
published in 2006 in the journal Epidemiology and Infection (2006,
134:6:1129-1140 Cambridge University Press) and its abstract reads as
follows:

In 1981, R. Edgar Hope-Simpson proposed that a 'seasonal stimulus'
intimately associated with solar radiation explained the remarkable
seasonality of epidemic influenza. Solar radiation triggers robust seasonal
vitamin D production in the skin; vitamin D deficiency is common in the
winter, and activated vitamin D, 1,25(OH)2D, a steroid hormone, has profound
effects on human immunity. 1,25(OH)2D acts as an immune system modulator,
preventing excessive expression of inflammatory cytokines and increasing the
'oxidative burst' potential of macrophages. Perhaps most importantly, it
dramatically stimulates the expression of potent anti-microbial peptides,
which exist in neutrophils, monocytes, natural killer cells, and in
epithelial cells lining the respiratory tract where they play a major role
in protecting the lung from infection. Volunteers inoculated with live
attenuated influenza virus are more likely to develop fever and serological
evidence of an immune response in the winter. Vitamin D deficiency
predisposes children to respiratory infections. Ultraviolet radiation
(either from artificial sources or from sunlight) reduces the incidence of
viral respiratory infections, as does cod liver oil (which contains vitamin
D). An interventional study showed that vitamin D reduces the incidence of
respiratory infections in children. We conclude that vitamin D, or lack of
it, may be Hope-Simpson's 'seasonal stimulus'.

Source: http://journals.cambridge.org/actio...

Why the silence?
Vitamin D is perhaps the single most powerful nutrient in the known universe
for preventing influenza, and yet the Obama White House won't dare utter a
word about it to the American people, even in the face of a potentially
devastating global pandemic that could be largely halted by vitamin D.

It begs the question: Why the silence?

There are really only three possible explanations for why the White House
and U.S. health authorities would refuse to tell the public about vitamin D
as a smart defense against the influenza pandemic:

Reason #1) They don't know about vitamin D. This, of course, is impossible.
The medical literature is saturated with respectable studies demonstrating
the anti-viral and immune modulating effects of vitamin D. For someone in
the field of infectious disease to be unaware of vitamin D's protective
benefits would be downright laughable. It would be like a car mechanic not
knowing what a fuel filter was.

Reason #2) They do know about vitamin D, and they want to tell people, but
they don't know how or don't have the money. This explanation, too, is
ridiculous. Telling the people the truth about vitamin D is as simple (and
as free) as just calling a White House press conference, inviting a vitamin
D expert like Dr. Michael Holick to say a few words, and putting the message
out to the mainstream media. In 24 hours, all the newspaper headlines across
the country could print headlines like, "White House urges Americans to
boost vitamin D before swine flu strikes." The whole nation could be
properly informed about vitamin D in less than 72 hours.

But that will never happen. And why? Because of reason #3...

Reason #3) They know about vitamin D but they are intentionally withholding
information from the American people In essence, they want to keep the
American people nutritionally illiterate so that they remain "victims" in
the coming influenza crisis. Because of who's involved in this (the White
House, FDA, CDC, WHO and many others), it cannot be called anything other
than a conspiracy of silence about influenza and vitamin D.

What could be the purpose behind such a conspiracy of silence? Clearly its
only purpose is to maximize profits to the drug companies and / or maximize
the number of deaths that occur when the swine flu strikes North America
this coming winter.

But why, you might ask, would these so-called authorities wish to see more
Americans die?

Health care reform via a viral pandemic
To answer that, just look at who is most likely to die from swine flu
infections: The obese... the people who, generally speaking, are placing the
greatest financial burden on the government-funded health care system. The
coming swine flu pandemic has the potential to do what no politician could
ever get away with: Slash health care spending virtually overnight by simply
killing off those who burden the system the most.

Call it Health Care Darwinism if you like. Survival of the fittest married
with an evil plot. Let the most costly health care consumers die in a
(planned?) pandemic, and suddenly your nation is pulled back from the brink
of total financial collapse.

The White House just revised its budget numbers this week, by the way.
Government deficit spending for this year is up over 300 percent from last
year, reaching an eye-popping, mind-boggling $1.9 trillion in new debt in
just a single year! This runaway debt spending is, by any honest
calculation, simply unsustainable. It will destroy America's future, leaving
the nation penniless. To save America, something drastic must be done.
Something as drastic as, say, killing off those who place the greatest cost
burdens on the U.S. health care system (which represents roughly twenty
percent of all U.S. government spending).

So how do you really cut costs in America? Recognize that roughly one-fifth
of U.S. government spending goes to support the "disease industry." And the
vast majority of that money is spent taking care of chronically ill
individuals who are typically obese and nutrient deficient. Releasing a
bio-engineered influenza virus into the wild is a sure way to cut health
care spending in the long run by killing those who place the highest burdens
on the health care system. While it costs a fortune to take care of a
chronically ill patient for two decades, it costs a mere pittance to see
them die in a hospital emergency room while they succumb to H1N1 influenza.

Swine flu, it might be said from a cold-hearted evil government point of
view, is a cost-effective and quick way to slash health care spending
without needing to take any responsibility for making such cuts yourself.
Let the virus do the dirty work, killing off the most vulnerable in society
and leaving more money behind for Big Government to get even bigger. Think
governments couldn't do this? Then you don't know governments well enough.

Now, in defense of the Obama administration, I very much doubt that
President Barack Obama himself would be capable of masterminding such an
evil plot to kill off the American people in a planned influenza pandemic.
This is the kind of thing that usually takes place behind the scenes, where
powerful men (far more powerful than Obama) meet in dark places to plan and
plot the future of the world. If it is in their interests to see the
population suffer through a pandemic, they will make sure one appears at the
appropriate time.

It could also be a joint arrangement between powerful corporations and Big
Government. The corporate drug companies want to make money off the vaccine
sales. The government wants to save money by killing off the top recipients
of expensive health care services (who also wouldn't burden Medicare down
the road, either). By working together, they can both get what they want.
One pandemic serves both masters, and it's all funded by taxpayer dollars to
boot!

This is still a theory, not proof
I can't prove that such a plot is actually under way, by the way. When
discussing conspiracy theories, I'm always careful to point out that I have
no specific proof that such a nefarious plot actually exists. There is,
however, quite a lot of supporting circumstantial evidence that should raise
the eyebrows of anyone paying attention. For example, there is this training
brochure that recently surfaced (http://www.new-fields.com/ISFC/broc...)
which describes procedures for "conducting morgue operations" and
"activating fatality management operations."

This same document also describes training points that cover:

• Breakdown of public services
• Medical supplies shortages
• Unwillingness to follow government orders

... among other fascinating things. The conference this advertises was held
August 19 - 20 in Washington D.C. by a company called New-Fields that holds,
among other things, an "Iraq Aviation & Defense Summit" (
http://www.new-fields.com/iraq_avia...) featuring senior U.S. military
personnel and touting "one to one meetings with Iraqi officials."

This isn't the first time a company with ties to the U.S. military has been
found to be involved in the swine flu pandemic. My previous article on
NaturalNews exposed the DynCorp / NIH patent link, revealing that a key
influenza vaccine patent was jointly owned by the National Institutes of
Health and a high-level private U.S. military contractor named DynCorp. You
can read that article here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/026779_s...

So what does it all mean? Like a lot of things, it just depends what you
choose to believe.

I don't know if I believe the evil, nefarious conspiracy theory described as
a possibility in this article. But neither do I trust my government (and I
sure don't trust public health officials). So I'm doing exactly what I
recommend everybody else do: Take charge of your own swine flu defenses by
boosting your nutrition and sunlight exposure. Store some food, water and
other basic preparedness supplies just in case. Be prepared to survive and
thrive during the coming pandemic, regardless of what happens around you.

Just because everybody else is planning on becoming a victim of circumstance
doesn't mean you have to. With a little basic planning and some medical
common sense, you can see yourself through this pandemic with ease. No
sweat.

Read my pandemic preparedness report (if you haven't already) to learn what
top five anti-viral products I currently recommend for boosting your
defenses against the swine flu: http://www.naturalnews.com/RR-FiveB...

It's a report that could literally help save your life.

http://www.naturalnews.com/026921_Vitamin_D_influenza_swine_flu.html

STOP FORCED SWINE FLU VACCINATIONS Posted by HonestyinMedicine

Posted 08/25/09 Last updated 08/25/09

Hoepfully no one is buying into the absolute hype the media is creating about the dangers of the  Swine flu.  The few honest reports say that the flu itself is nothing worse than a cold.

Luckily vaccinations during a health emergency are not mandatory in South Carolina according to Chapter 44-4-520-B which says:

B) Vaccinations or treatment, or both, must be provided only to those individuals who agree to the vaccinations or treatment, or both.

However, does this also protect us from FEDERAL emergencies? According to the  Constitution the State law take precedence over federal laws but with President Obama giving everyone Omamaties (lobotomies) making them unable to think or care about their rights,  I want to make SURE we are really protected from this nasty vaccine.

 In fact I'm so worried I contacted my state rep with resources he could use to get his colleagues in the state legislature to strengthen the sovereignty bill to include protection from forced vaccinations by the federal government. 
Most people aren't aware of the nasty ingredients that go into all vaccinations including things like aluminum and anti-freeze among others.

According to the Patriot Act, refusing the vaccination during a "pandemic" is a Federal offense with fines of up to $250,000 . Those that refuse I've heard will be taken in a bus without windows to an internment camp. The federal government can then go in and seize your private property.

Is history repeating it self? Didn't this happen in Nazi Germany? Didn't Hitler use "health" issues to get people to want to be "protected" and give up their rights just like President Obama and the New  World Order elites are trying to do to us through the media?????

GUESS WHAT FOLKS? WE BETTER MAKE SURE WE ARE  PROTECTED FROM THIS TO SAVE OUR LIVES and it is up to us to make sure we will be. If we can'teasily obtain an exemption we should be able to at least self-quarentine in our own homes. But we need to let our state reps know we demand this protection!

Here's a letter I wrote including links with compelling evidence that vaccinations and
especially this vaccine because the ingredients are listed, are in now way chape or form beneficial. Help yourself and use it as a template to contact your state officials and IMPLORE them to DO SOMETHING to make obtaining an exemption easy for those that don't want to take the vaccination:

Dear [Insert your elected official's name here]:

It is IMPERATIVE that there be a way people can opt out of the flu vaccination the federal government wants to force everyone to take if they decides to call this flu a "pandemic" (yet only hundreds have died, far fewer than the usual 34,000 annual deaths from the flu). According to the scare tactics used in the news reporting that millions of Americans are likely to become infected, more than hospitals can accomodate -- that was just reported today, they certainly seem determined to frighten Americans into taking this awful vaccine.

We should be able to self quarantine as an alternative to being taken to an internment camp which is what they say they'll do if we refuse the vaccination which has been made into a Federal offence according to the Patriot Act if we can't get an exemption.

 LOOK AT THIS FRIGHTENING REPORT: "Force Vaccines: Ready for yours?" http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107228

 Here is Andrew Moulden's , M.D., PhD,  video observation  showing that the medical establishment is ignoring proof  of the dangers of vaccinations that has been available for decades. Included are before and after pictures of children showing neurological damage such as signs of stroke as a result of the vaccinations. SEE FOR YOURSELF.  He says ALL vaccinations interrupt the blood flow  to the brain and each time you get vaccinated it is like getting KICKED IN THE HEAD:

http://massflo2.com/news_letter/news_letter1.html

An injunction has already been brought against the Federal government to stop the vaccinations. Link to the details here: http://educate-yourself.org/vcd/forcedvaccinationinjunctionsought22jul09.shtml

Another recent article:

On World Net Daily "Will Americans Follow Orders to take Flu shots?"

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106654

Just a look at the ingredients of the vaccine should be enough information for any American to want to opt out.

List Of Components Of Glaxo H1N1 Vaccine
July 19 2009

http://www.rense.com/general86/list.htm

BIOLOGICAL INDEX

chicken embryos (eggs)
influenza virus, H5N1
virus culture

CHEMICAL INDEX

alpha-tocopherol
aluminum adjuvant
AS03 adjuvant
Daronrix
disodium phosphate
formaldehyde
magnesium chloride
octoxynol 10
polysorbate 80 (Tween 80
potassium chloride
potassium dihydrogen phosphate
sodium chloride
sodium deoxycholate
squalene
thiomersal (thimerosol) (MERCURY)
vitamin E


The rest of the story...

http://birdflu666.wordpress.com:80/2009/07/18/glaxos-vaccine-characterised-by
-regulators-eu-and-usas-biodefense-stockpile-drug/

There is much more  that I could send. Dr Moulden's website www.brainguardmd.com is a good resource. He links to other websites under a "vaccine truths" section on his website.

You shouldn't need much more proof than what I've provided to  produce some emergency legislation or protection for South Carolinians from this downright evil scam that the Federal Government is trying to pull on Americans. Contact me if I can be of help.

Thanks in advance for your efforts.

Sincerely,

Your name

Address

Here's what

I'm the President and I'm Okay Posted by janejumbomargarita

Posted 08/24/09 Last updated 08/23/09

Please sing the following song using the catchy little tune from Monty Python!

You'll remember the music no doubt once you've read through the lyrics a time or two!

To the tune of "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm Okay" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clPYfaTvHT0

I'm the president and I'm okay

I talk all night and I strut all day

+++++I read the prompt, I raise my voice

I talk in front of crowds

When I don't get my way

I point and rant and pout

++++++++I fall in polls, I won't shut up

I'm not up to the task

I spam email the voters

To help get health care passed

+++++++I stimulate and save GM

And the deficit shrank (not)

I wish I were the Fed chief

Just like ol Ben Benank

(c) copyright by Sally Eastman 2009

The original lyrics are:

I'm a lumberjack and I'm
okay             &nb
sp;        

I sleep all night and I work all day

     He's a lumberjack and he's okay

     He sleeps all night and he works all day

 I cut down trees, I eat my lunch

I go to the lavat'ry

On Wednesdays I go shopping

And have buttered scones for tea

     He cuts down trees...

     He's a lumberjack...

 I cut down trees, I skip and jump

I love to press wild flow'rs

I put on women's clothing

And hang around in bars

     He cuts down trees...

     He's a lumberjack...

 I cut down trees, I wear high heels

Suspendies and a bra

I wish I'd been a girlie

Just like my dear papa

     He cuts down trees...

     He's a lumberjack...

438 Days...No Time To Waste! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 08/24/09 Last updated 08/26/09

Yes, it may be a long, hot August, and most are thinking of vacations, and staying cool in the dogs days of summer...but the time is short between now, and the first Tuesday in November, 2010! Yes, November 2nd is election day... perhaps, the most crucial, and defining in my lifetime, which includes ten Presidential elections.  I believe the 2010 mid-term election will determine if we, as a country, continue to prosper as a free people, or descend into the ranks of the mediocre, third-world countries, that have surrendered their sovereignty to become members of the failed "Global" mentality that embraces underachievement, as a badge of honor!

America is at a crossroads in our long, and illustrious history...unparralled by any nation in the World for it's ability to succeed in providing the highest standard of living, promoting democracy throughout the World, and defending any, and all that seek self-determination, and freedom from oppression.  

The message that must be sent to those that would have us accept this defeatist course, will ring LOUDLY, and CLEARLY, throughout our great nation, and leave no doubt, as to our resolve to reaffirm our faith  and allegiance to the principles put forth by our founding fathers, who anticipated...so long ago, the forces of tyranny.

Recently, I wrote about term limits, and what must be done to ensure we are not subjected to the political machinations of "Career" politicians, whose only priority is to be re-elected, and promote whatever left-wing agenda is on the table. Well, there are many who fall under this category, as we have seen in recents months, as evidenced in the Congress with the runaway spending, and advancement of "entitlement" programs that border on the absurd! One such Senator, Arlen Specter(D-PA) who has recently defected to the other side of the aisle... is a perfect example of what happens when the constituents in his state would never re-elect him, based on his dismal record, and was nearly defeated by his opponent, Pat Toomey (R-PA) in the last election. Specter, who was elected in 1980, and is serving his 5th term (30 years) made the astute decision to run on the Dem. ticket, as he thinks he can ride in on the wave of a Democratic majority.  I suppose the voters will overlook this lack of character and conviction in 2010!

Senator Specter is nearly 80 years old, and if re-elected in 2010, will be 87 by the end of his term...isn't it time he exited the political stage, and gave way to a younger, more vigorous man, one who stands for the ideals of our country, and is not driven by the need to hold onto power at any cost? I, for one, will be supporting Pat Toomey, as I believe he respresents the future of America...not politics, as usual.

As patriots, we must make our vote count...SUPPORT ANY CANDIDATE that truly defends our lives and liberty!

Note: Check out realclearpolitics.com to watch the video: Flashback: Specter opposed to Gov. Healthcare in 1994.

Government, your stuff does stink! Posted by annarlutz

Posted 08/24/09

I keep hearing attacks on big health insurance corporations, but I never hear the Government acknowledge its own part in their success. Why is it that employers get tax deductions for health insurance costs, but individuals do not? This type of tax favoritism is what has caused the current problems.

However, in truth, the problems don't seem to be as great as the Government says they are. According to a Rasmussen poll, 80% of Americans are satisfied with their current health insurance. In addition, many of the figures the government gives includes individuals that are self-employed and choose not to purchase insurance, individuals that can afford individual insurance but choose not to purchase, individuals who are eligible or will be eligible for employer-provided benefits, etc. When taking into account all these factors, it becomes clear that the government is taking us for another ride.

Aside from the actual language of the bill, the simple fact that the government feels it must use emotional appeals and smear campaigns in order to gain support for it's proposal, tells me that something is not right about their intentions. Perhaps there could be some benefit to health care reform, but I strongly doubt any benefit will come from the current proposals. This current campaign seems to be more about expanding government control over individuals.

The dreaded Personal Income Tax Posted by AubreyTed

Posted 08/24/09 Last updated 08/18/09

     If Congress deposits government securities in the Fed and the Fed loans the Federal de facto Government Fed notes, the Congress bonds the loan with the securities.  If our banking system operates on a 10% fractional reserve meaning that for every 100FRN deposited, said bank can now make loans in the amount of 900FRN;  what then bonds this fractional lending? 

     I get paid in United States Dollars, says so right on my paycheck.  If I cash my check, why do I then receive Fed notes?  What happens between receiving my paycheck and walking away with my cash?   The answer is that I endorsed the thing.  Do I have to endorse it?  No, the authorizing signature is on the front of the negotiable instrument, all I have to do is prove I am the recipient of the intended pay by showing some I.D. What then, am I endorsing?  All I can think of is that I am endorsing the fractional lending of the funds from my paycheck.  Whether they are deposited at my bank or another bank, FRNs are negotiable instruments and that is why they enjoy the status of elastic currency.  Lawful money is non-negotiable in that it is in-elastic....and somewhat constitutional in that Congress directly determines the amount in circulation.

    Well no one seems to know what this "lawful money" means.  People tend to look at you weird when you talk about weird things like lawful money because they always assume you mean gold or silver coin.  Even the IRS and this is listed as officially frivolous on their site here. Here's a definition of lawful money I found on-line that explains that lawful moneys issuing authority is the United States Treasury and not the Federal Reserve System.  What did Fed founder Paul M. Warburg think lawful money meant?  Would he know what it meant, or would he open a bank and deal with a government and not know the terms of the deal?  Hardly.  I found Paul's definition of lawful money here.  He states in the year that the Fed was birthed that the definition of lawful money is: "gold dollars, silver dollars (not silver certificates) and Greenbacks".  Notice the issuing authority for all these is the United States Treasury.  OK so Greenbacks are lawful money.  Greenbacks were defined as united states notes and US notes are still defined by our government today and a supply of $300,000,000 is stored somewhere and MUST be maintained according to law and according to the US Treasury's website FAQ concerning US notes here.

     We know that a Fed note is not a dollar.  We know that a bank note is a paper representation of what is deposited at the bank.  We know we can spend bank notes as if they were the actual deposits because the notes represent the deposits and the obligation of the bank to the note transfers to the new note holder....just like if someone bought your mortgage note right? 

     We know that Fed notes are redeemable in lawful money as you read this, as stated in 12 USC 411.  We know Fed notes are taxable as income and many a patriot has attempted to confront the IRS by saying their Fed notes aren't constitutional because they aren't redeemable in precious metal.  Court always affirms that Fed notes aren't redeemable in gold or silver....but they are still redeemable.  After all, who would the Court be to argue with Congress (think: us, you and me) who has a constitutional duty to regulate money and the value thereof?  No-one that's who for all three branches of government are EQUAL and should be respectful of each's duties and authority.

     We know that 12 USC 411 applies to the note holder, which is us, because a section of this code is printed on the FRNs...although it has gotten shorter over the years and doesn't reflect the redemption anymore, just the legal tender status.  Good thing for us that Congress codifies this stuff so it is preserved huh?  We know that the act of redemption is to take away the debt associated with what is being redeemed.......we did know that didn't we?  We know that Fed notes are debt instruments.  That's why I like C4L, because we know all kinds of things!

     We know that if we demand redemption of a Fed note, that we get a Fed note, because if we have a Fed note then we have endorsed the fact that we accept the Fed notes and their obligations of debt and interest by exchanging our negotiable paychecks for these negotiable Fed notes.  Does your paycheck say you got paid in US dollars?  Do I sound like a broken record yet?  Are you old enough to know what a record is?  We know it is quite rude to demand things from folks, especially strangers at the banks or on the phone with the Treasury or the IRS even.  We know we must have a record of our demand as an accounting entry as proof of our assertion.  Why not record that demand on the back of your check?  Is there really a better place for this demand than on the instrument that represents the heart and soul of our country's prosperity and true wealth that is the hard work of our honest, kind hearted working class that do so much to contribute to "the cause"?  Why not endorse the fact that your pay is being "Redeemed in lawful money pursuant to Title 12 USC Section 411"?

     Does your bank not deal with the Fed somehow, somewhere, someway?  Are FRNs not obligations of the Fed and the banks that deal with them so they have to deal with the accounting and the redemption because it is the things that are on deposit at the Fed from the Government that are to be released back to the Government upon redemption?  When an amount of FRNs is redeemed thus forcing that amount of the Feds security deposits to be released back to Uncle Sam, the Federal Debt is decreased by that amount. 

     We know that US notes may not be held as bank reserves as described here.    We know that means that they still can be, and must be accepted by law as, deposits.  We know that reserves are what banks can loan out...fractionally or exponentially (depending on your point of view because Led Zeppelin taught us that everything is a state of mind).  This makes sense because how can you loan something that is a demand deposit, when the depositor can claim it at any time and it must be there for them.  Money is starting to make a lot of sense to me.  We know that US notes can not be used to pay interest on the public debt or be used for duties on imports by looking closely at the wording on one here.  We know there is probably a Statute for this statement just like the similar legal tender statements on FRNs and later issued USNs.

     We know what the constitution allows government to tax, collect, and do with lawful, inelastic money of the constitution.  We know the constitution allows the government to borrow on the credit of the united states for America.  What does the constitution say they can do with their private credit money?  Hmmmmm.  Could that be why all the things they're doing are unconstitutional  because they figure they aren't bound to abide by the constitution by operating outside its bounds with funny money?  I think it's high time we asked them that question.

  We know that taxes are collected as payments toward federal debt, national deficit whatever they call it today, with interest.  We know that debt is without a doubt FRNs because that's what was borrowed, was it not?  So we can conclude that the IRS is a collection agency for the Fed since the debt was incurred when Congress borrowed from the Fed.  We know the IRS wants all of us "taxpayers" to pay our "fair share" towards paying off this debt that was used for all of our "own good" or whatever. 

     So here's my questions to the IRS that I can't find answers to on their "frivolous" section:  If I, in good faith, have redeemed every red cent of money I earned all year, the only way I know how to do so, by making an accounting entry on the back of my check thus turning my check and my funds into non-negotiable (in-elastic) instruments that banks must account for separately or face financial penalties; and if this redemption process reduced the national debt by the entire amount of my pay all year long, does that not mean that I made a principal payment in the amount of my net income for this tax year?  Is that not more than my fair share?   Are your withholdings NOT IMPEDING MY PROGRESS TO HELP OUR NATIONAL ECONOMIC PROBLEMS?

The Way Going Forward By Bill Connor Posted by AmandaMoore

Posted 08/20/09

By Bill Connor

From May 2007 to May 2008, I served in the Southern Region of Afghanistan, eventually leading the US advisory effort for Helmand Province. The primary forces operating in the south are from NATO partner nations.

While I served in Afghanistan, 60% of the nationwide violence occurred in the Southern Region. The Southern Region was the birthplace of the Taliban, and is also the "breadbasket" of the poppy trade. A primary route of Taliban and Al Qaeda infiltration was up the Helmand River into the rest of the Southern Region and the rest of the country.

A critical problem for the Southern Region has been in the lack of Unity of Command, a critical component to winning a counter-insurgency, as the military and humanitarian efforts must fit together in a comprehensive strategy under the vision of a single commander. Each of the primary NATO nations controls a different province, and maintains certain caveats on the use of their respective national forces based on political considerations, further hindering a coordinated effort. Respective national interests in provinces sometimes trump regional and national directives.

On top of these problems, the advisory effort is not under the regional commander, but receives direction from a separate US command. As the senior American advisor in Helmand, I worked "with" the British forces, yet received orders from the US chain of command working under Central Command and not NATO. The British forces provided advisors, but they were quite stretched for the mission in Helmand.

Helmand recently became the spear point of the surge in Afghanistan when a Marine Expeditionary Brigade from Camp LeJeune was deployed there. I was asked to brief their commanders back in March before they deployed and have followed their operations with interest.

It appears the US commanders have begun to correct the problems within the Southern Region. Over 5000 Marines were deployed to Helmand and have made a substantial effort to take back huge chunks of the Helmand River "Green Zone". Marines have pushed south, seizing ground, and are working to "hold" and "build" these areas to prevent the Taliban from returning. It appears that the Taliban has faded back into the civilian population or back to Pakistan to prevent destruction. This is why the "hold and build" phases of counter-insurgency become so important. The Marines must help encourage the civilian population of Helmand to support the Afghan National Government and the Afghan National Security Forces.

The long-term key to Afghanistan will come in three areas. First, we fix the unity of command problem. It may hurt feelings, but the Southern Region should be a primarily US region under an American General.

Second, we must develop a comprehensive but clear plan of "success" from the strategic level to the tactical level. In the past, there has been a lack of vision and guidance about the "end state". What were we really trying to achieve? In speaking with fellow Lt. Colonels deploying to and from Afghanistan, the lack of "end state" guidance is still a problem. Our mission should be to develop enough stability so that another attack on the US cannot be planned and organized from Afghanistan. However, we will not develop a first-world democracy and that should not be our goal - the Afghans will have to work out the development of their country after we leave. Additionally, it appears Al Qaeda and Taliban leadership has moved to the areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. We must put much more effort into ending the sanctuary in Pakistan.

The last key to success will be with putting far greater emphasis on the advisory effort. We must more quickly transition the Afghan National Security Forces to take charge of their own country. This means greatly expanding the size of Afghan Forces and advisors and accepting that they will make have to make mistakes and learn.

The surge of Marines in Helmand is a critically important operation in the short-term. It will expand control of the most violent province of Afghanistan. However, the Obama Administration must develop a better vision of the long-term plan for Afghanistan. The surge in Iraq has succeeded and we can no longer make excuses for lack of planning on the other front. It is time to develop a solid and realistic vision of success and give our military the proper guidance and tools. Those who have sacrificed so much deserve nothing less.

Bill Connor is an attorney residing in Orangeburg. He recently announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for South Carolina Lieutenant Governor.

The Original article was published on Fitz News

Term Limits...Long overdue! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 08/16/09

Truth, really is stranger than fiction! The August recess is in full swing, and Senators and Congressmen are back in their districts conducting Health Care Town Halls...some rather reluctantly, and others, who have taken cover completely, to avoid the "unpleasantness" of being confronted by those angry "mobs", who might ask them to account for their dismal voting records, on all the outrageous spending bills that have assaulted the American taxpayer in the last seven months!

One such Congressman, who had the guts to hold a Town Hall is John Dingell (MI), who happens to be the longest serving Congressman in history. He took office on December 13, 1955 (28 Terms)...yes that's almost 54 years ago! He inherited the office from his father, John Dingell, Sr.  Mr. Dingell is now 83 years of age, and is Chairman Emeritus of the House of Representatives, and, as such, is shown great deference by his colleagues in the House.

Earlier this week, Congressman Dingell,  when asked if he had ever seen citizens displaying such anger at a Town Hall before, said to reporters: " yes, back when we were voting for the Civil Rights Amendment (1965), we had Ku Klux Klan, and folks in white sheets, trying to make trouble."  

Next on the list of longest serving Congressmen is John Conyers, Jr., (MI) weighing in at a mere 44 years, (23rd term) who is the Chairman of the  Senate Judiciary Committee...one of the most powerful  committees in the Congress. (Yes, his wife is the same Conyers who has been in the headlines.)

Charles Rangel, (NY) is a relative "newcomer" to Congress with only 38 years of service (20 terms) and is Chairman of several powerful committees., and also under investigation by the Ethics Committee, regarding a matter of real estate purchases, and apartments in New York.

Moving on to Henry Waxman, (Ca) now serving his 18th term (34 years) and Edward Markey, (MA) serving 33 years, so far...both are the architects of the infamous "Waxman/Markey" Health Care Bill, which recently went through the markup, and was passed through committee in a lockstep vote by the Democrats! Mr. Waxman is also the Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which passed the H.E.L.P.  Health Care Bill through, ealrier in July. (two for two!) His constituents in Hollywood can be very proud of their Congressman.

Skipping ahead, let's move on to the Majority Leader of the House, Steny Hoyer(MD), serving his state for 28 years (15th term), and last... but certainly, not least, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (CA) is now in her 12th term, ending in 2010...yes, 22 years... and counting! 

In the interest of time, I won't list all the Senators who have had careers that spanned  many decades...excepting Robert Byrd (WV), 50 years, and Strom Thurmond (SC), nearly 48 years!  Call me radical... but doesn't this beg the question:  why do we re-elect these people, decade, after decade? Is it tradition, indifference, apathy, or are they working for you, and what benefits their state? I submit, whatever may have been the motive in years past, today  we must look at their record, and hold them accountable to uphold their oath of office.  They are entrusted to carry out the will of the people...not to curry favor, and become lifelong political players!   

Let's make our vote count...only those who are truly dedicated to preserving our American way of life, and the defense of our liberties, should be given the honor and tust, to represent us, as our voice in Washington.   

So you want a post office for your health care system? Posted by janejumbomargarita

Posted 08/16/09 Last updated 08/11/09

"They do it all the time," he (Obama) said. "UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. ... It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32372611/ns/politics-white_house/

MSNBC.com by AP from Obama's live town hall meeting in Portsmouth, NH, 8-11-09

In this one sentence Barack Obama has demonstrated once and for all that he is a socialist to the core. Moreover, he has demonstrated clearly that he has not the first clue what he is doing in terms of forcing the health care reform he wants. President Obama wants to create a government run health care system that begs for subsidies so it can compete with viable private sector alternatives. The only thing he fails to comprehend is that he has perfectly made his opponents' best argument for not having a government run health care system at all.

Our Constitution specifically says in black and white that the national government is empowered to set up a post office. Thus, the USPS, run on the grace of tax subsidies, enjoys a monoploy on first class delivery of letters. FedEX and United Parcel on the other hand are corporations that arguably, and in the President's own words, do a much better job at delivering parcels and packages than the USPS. They need no taxpayer subsidies. We can deduce, from the experience with the private sector very strongly outcompeting government-run enterprises, that if the monopoly on first-class mail were lifted, FedEx, UPS and a host of others would jump into the fray providing better and more efficient letter service than the USPS ever could. To be sure, some libertarians have been calling for the end of the USPS's first class mail delivery monopoly for years.

So why in the world would Barack Obama, in trying to build a rationale and justification for a government-run health care service a la the UK or Canada, utilize an analogy which includes the post office, when using that analogy shows that he doesn't know what he is talking about. This answer is quite simple. The president is so engrained and immersed in his socialistic orientation and governmental mindset that to him, in thinking about ways to justify governmental programs however dubious in practicality, the best argument he can come up with is one that is so obviously and blatantly ironic and skewed, and is in other words, no argument at all.

I once had a date with a young man who was working on his masters degree in social work. One day we were driving through an area of Cincinnati called Columbia-Tusculum, an area of great potential, but one that at that time had more run-down Victorian houses than refurbished and gentrified ones. I happened to live down the street from the eastern edge of this neighborhood, and as we drove through one of the more gentrified streets I commented about how pretty the newly painted houses were.

My friend innocently but quite tellingly asked, "But where do they get the funding?" To which I replied, now put off by his obvious mindset, one that he had revealed  quite inadvertantly, "You know, not everyone gets handouts from the government. People put their own money into projects. There's private money, you know." We had only one date after that one, as I recall. Poor man, I think in retrospect.

And poor America, I think now. We have a president who truly cannot see the great enormous benificent forest of the free market for all of the publicly financed trees. And we may just get stuck with a health care system that in our president's opinion is deserving of massive taxpayer subsidies just because he and his cronies thought it up.

Say "adios" to your vote! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 08/16/09

As the country is caught up in the furor over the health care debate, and trying their best to put out yet another "fire" that the Left has set, another major conflagration is about to beset the nation...Immigration Reform. The ramifications of this legislation will be, in effect, the reformation of our electoral system...forever!

You may recall, back in February, shortly after the new administration was on board; one of the first executive orders was to remove the taking of the Census from the Dept of Commerce, which has historically been responsible for this task, and putting it under the control of the White House. Why, you ask, is this important? (a) One of the purposes of the Census (every 10 years) is to determine the number of Congressional districts, based on the size of the population...the greater the number, the more representatives from that state. In states such as California and Texas, there are many more reps., of course. (b) Next year the Census will be taken, and instead of counting the American citizens who reside in the country, it will now include "all persons", regardless of their status. (c) By most estimates, many agree there are approx. 12-15 million illegal immigrants now residing in the USA.

The immigration Bill was on the agenda for this fall, but may now have to wait until early next year, due to the unforseen push-back from the millions of Americans who are saying, "No way" to socialized health care. When the dust settles, and Congress reconvenes next month, the next strategic move will be to pass an Immigration Bill that will not only give those who are here illegally, access to health care, education, and welfare benefits, but also...access to the ballot box!  The huge influx of aliens that will ensue, naturally will result in an "uneven" playing field, and essentially will ensure one party domination... making it virtually impossible to vote them out.

Let's not be distracted by one issue, and be blindsided by another...equally as important to our lives and liberty!

Pointing out Media Bias in the Free Times Posted by annarlutz

Posted 08/16/09 Last updated 08/10/09

There is clear and egregious media bias everywhere. We're all aware of this.

I found an example of this in my own city and state. I found this article in The Free Times, a publication from Columbia, SC. I decided to point out the misleading information by sending an email to the news editor. His response has revealed to me that The Free Times is biased, as I suspected and that The Free Times can be expected to provide news articles that represent the personal politcal opinions of its writers, not the full picture in facts.

Here is my original email:

Your article entitled, "Demint Tries to Censor TV Ad Critical of Him" was misleading. The article made it seem as if the DNC commercial's statement that Demint has no plan was true. Jim Demint has proposed and supported alternative measures to Obama's health care proposals. In addition to his proposal of what he calls "The Health Care Freedom Plan," he also has sponsored S.1875, S.2477, S. Res 238, S 45, and many other pieces of legislation that would protect individual's ability to obtain health care and enable them to do it at reasonable costs.
Your article's use of supporting quotes was very one-sided and did not present a clear, unbiased picture to readers of what is actually happening between proponents of Obama's proposed health care reform and the opposition. If the Free Times supports the proposed health care reform by Obama and this article suggests that that is the case, your paper should state its preference clearly. People who read the Free Times and use the articles to form their opinions would not be well-served by your biased and misleading approach.

Here is the news editor's reply:

Hi Anna,

Thank you for writing.

I disagree completely with your assessment of the story, but do appreciate you getting in touch and offering your perspective.

The article was in fact about DeMint's obvious attempt to censor an ad critical of him. In a democratic society, that kind of bullying by a United States senator in an attempt to squelch criticism is unacceptable, regardless of his or her party affiliation. It also amounts to rank duplicity.

The article was not about the larger health care reform debate, nor the veracity of the DNC ad. Concerning the latter, I would have to look at when DeMint started touting his proposals and when he introduced them. I think that's pretty relevant. I don't remember him ever uttering a word about health care reform prior to the president putting it at the top of his agenda.

In any case, it is certainly your right to perceive the article as misleading and one-sided if that's how you see it. But I stand by it.

I looked at some of your posts on campaignforliberty.com and I think we could have a healthy debate about one-sidedness and misleading statements.

Thanks again for emailing. If you would like your comments published as a letter to the editor, which I would encourage, please email them to:

editor@free-times.com

Eric Ward

Of course, I responded back with this:

Hello Eric,

I completely understand what the article was said to be about. However, the quotes used bring in the larger debate over health care reform and in particular the plan to create a government funded program. I took issue with the article because these quotes as I said, make it seem as if the DNC ad is accurate in its statements. This is important to the message of your article because it might be a partial explanation as to why his staff tried to have it blocked from airing. I happen to agree that this kind of behavior is unacceptable from a government official, but I've seen a lot of what I'd call unacceptable behavior from all sides of the government recently. I hope you'll report on other examples regardless of party affiliation.

In addition, you may not remember any health care bills sponsored by Jim DeMint prior to the President's proposal, but if you check out Thomas.gov you'll find several from before the President was elected.

As far as my blog on Campaign for Liberty, you are welcomed to agree or disagree as you see fit. I would point out, however, that Campaign for Liberty clearly states it's preferences and goals. In addition, my comments are presented as solely that, my personal comments. Anyone reading the materials available on that site would be well aware that they could be from a single point of view. I haven't noticed any such statement from your publication. The Free Times may have any preference it likes, but I still believe that if that is case, it should be made clear to readers.

Raping Us "For Our Own Good" Posted by annarlutz

Posted 08/10/09 Last updated 08/11/09

This Article is upsetting because it says that Obama and many Democrats now say they will push through an overhaul of healthcare with or without Republican support. Admittedly, most of the Republicans are probably not oppossing this legislation for the right reasons. However, they represent a large and growing segment of the United States. What concerns me about this statement from the President, is that it shows a complete lack of regard for those Americans who disagree with his proposed method of overhauling healthcare.

This attitude seems indicative of a larger push from the Federal Government to push the public out of participation at all. After all, if the President can so blithely ignore and dispense the input of significant portion of Congress and therefore the people, then what's the point of allowing them an opinion at all?

While Obama's position doesn't surprise me, his public announcement of it does. So far, I have not liked any of the President's policies or positions while in office. Despite that, I still believe that he could be a reasonable and thoughtful person. This most recent announcement blows that out of the water. A reasonable leader might step back when met with such vehement opposition and reconsider his position. A reasonable leader, if still very committed to a goal, might change the strategy for acheiving that goal. Obama, however, is acting like the tyrant many people believe him to be. I feel violated--raped.  I can only hope that this new annoucement will galvanize a few more fence-sitters into the realization that our leaders are not acting in our best interests.

So you want free health care? Posted by janejumbomargarita

Posted 08/10/09 Last updated 08/04/09

Anyone who says they want free health care should take the following steps:

1. After you have deposited (or have had auto-deposited) your monthly pay into your checking account, open your checkbook and check the account balance.

2. Remove one check and write IRS in the blank space for recipient.

3. Sign check and provide date.

4. Complete filling out the check by writing in the account balance from your checking account.

5. Mail check to IRS in Washington DC.

6. If you utilize an online checkbook service such as paypal or other bank service, check your account balance and then send the entire account balance to IRS electronically.

7. Repeat steps 1-6 every month for the rest of your life.

8. Complete a will and last testament that provides zero for your heirs, but leaves everything to the US government.

Defendant asserts tax beliefs Posted by JANET

Posted 08/10/09

Aug. 03, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Defendant asserts tax beliefs

Prosecutors contend LV businessman merely concocting cover story

By JOAN WHITELY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Las Vegas businessman Robert Kahre, who is on trial on charges of evading federal income taxes, this past week spent three days telling the jury his side of the story.

He gave several reasons why he did not pay taxes, including his belief that the Internal Revenue Service is run by foreign agents and that some of the money it collects goes to foreign powers.

Kahre, 48, thinks the treasury secretary, who has oversight of the IRS, is a foreign agent because he plays a role in several international organizations that are not controlled by Congress, namely, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

"The IRS, and who they're collecting for," he testified, "doesn't have anything to do with the people of this country, the common defense and general welfare." The last phrase echoes wording that appears in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

Kahre, a 1980 Rancho High graduate, has a folder of letters he solicited for a fee from accountants and lawyers who seem to endorse his theories about government and taxation.

He said he started gathering them while doing research after suffering a corporate bankruptcy in 1992, which he says was precipitated by business partners who cheated him and then disappeared, leaving him holding the bag for past-due federal taxes and other bills. Since then he has structured all his construction-related businesses as sole proprietorships.

But federal prosecutors, when questioning Kahre, suggested that he collected the letters to create the appearance of a genuine belief, which would then provide legal "cover" to avoid indictment and prosecution.

For a tax crime, a jury must establish the defendant's intent to break the law to convict. A mistaken belief about tax law, held in good faith, can be grounds for acquittal.

Kahre, his sister and a former business assistant are charged with tax evasion, conspiring to defraud the government and attempting to interfere with the IRS in connection with a coin-based payroll system Kahre devised.

Judge David Ezra is presiding at the trial of Kahre and three other defendants. Even if acquitted, defendants might still owe taxes, which will not be determined by this trial.

In a session outside the jury's presence, after the judge had heard and denied several motions to dismiss several counts midtrial, the judge said the government's evidence as to Kahre's sincerity is open to interpretation.

Defendants, Ezra said, interpret the evidence to say, "This was simply a businessman who believed in a particular system and was acting on that belief. ... On the other hand, if you look at it through the government prism, the same actions can be viewed as efforts to thwart the tax system."

Prosecutor J. Gregory Damm, while cross-examining Kahre, pointed out an inconsistency in his "foreign agent" belief.

"You kind of pick and choose when you'll deal with the secretary of the Treasury, don't you?" Damm asked.

Then he compared Kahre's refusal to pay income taxes to the IRS against Kahre's choice to deal in gold and silver coins issued by the U.S. Mint, which also falls under the secretary's oversight.

"Mr. Damm, I still have to make a living," is how Kahre justified his decision not to boycott the Mint.

"If you want to take that away from me, too, I don't know what to say."

At the trial's opening, Kahre's attorney, William Cohan, told jurors Kahre is a hero for boycotting the U.S. system of paper money, which is no longer backed by gold reserves.

Kahre buttressed his belief in foreign control of the IRS with another belief, that his workers could be paid in gold and silver coin based on the coins' investment value, but then go by the coins' face value when deciding whether their incomes fell below the threshold that triggers the need to file a tax return.

Kahre considers his workers to be independent contractors, responsible for handling their own taxes. He said that he asked the IRS several times how to handle circulating gold and silver coins for tax purposes but never received an answer.

Kahre used the coins to pay his own workers and those of 35 other local businesses who joined his payroll service.

On payday, workers were free to immediately trade their coins for the cash equivalent to the coins' investment value.

Damm also drew from Kahre that he uses the coins selectively in his personal life, rather than for every payment, which would be a losing proposition in the long term, as a 1-ounce silver dollar is worth about $8 in paper money.

On occasion, Kahre testified, he uses gold and silver coins, at face value, to pay restaurant tips or court fees. But his family does not spend the coins to pay daily expenses such as utility bills or groceries.

Kahre and his attorneys have contended -- ever since his first trial on similar charges in 2007, which ended in a hung jury on his counts -- that Congress created a dual monetary system in 1985 by authorizing the minting of precious-metal coins stamped with dollar values, which are allowed to circulate with paper currency.

Prosecutors last week also ran through a series of legal cases in both Nevada and federal courts since the mid-1990s in which Kahre -- sometimes as defendant, sometimes as plaintiff -- questioned the lawfulness of taxation, his own tax liability and related topics.

Over the years, Kahre has been sanctioned and enjoined from filing what several courts have termed "frivolous" litigation.

Damm asked Kahre on Tuesday, "Did that ever make you question your beliefs, when now for about the fifth or sixth time, a judge ... is telling you your case is meritless?"

No, Kahre answered. Since the lawsuits he filed were shot down before trial, "these issues have never been ruled on," he told Damm.

The present indictment alleges that Kahre's untaxed payroll amounted to at least $25 million over the years in question and that the untaxed payroll of his client companies amounted to at least $95 million.

This week the defense expects to call as witness Wayne Paul, a Texas accountant who provided an opinion to Kahre. Wayne is the brother of Ron Paul, the Texas congressman and one-time presidential candidate.

The defense is also likely to rest its case this week, after which both sides will make closing arguments.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/52347257.html

K.I.S.S. Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 08/10/09

Stupidity is alive, and well...and in full gallop in Washington! As the Health Care debate continues in the Energy and Commerce committee, Chairman Waxman, and his band of "Progressives", that's code for: VERY Liberal, (but sounds less frightening to the folks back home) go through the motions of conducting a bipartisan hearing, it is apparent that the "fix" is in, and there will be no compromise in adopting any of the common sense amendments that are offerred by the Republicans. The prevailing theme seems to be, "we won, and we can defeat anything you propose".  The "Blue Dog" democrats, who professed to be "fiscally" conservative, and caused Speaker Pelosi to waste precious time "convincing" these naughty children to see the error of their ways, have now fallen back into line, and are back in the fold...Now should be called the "Yellow Dog" coalition, having lost all credibility as watchdogs over spending, by voting for this ill-conceived, and outrageous assault on America's purse!

The phrase, "Keep it Simple, Stupid" (K.I.S.S.) is a concept the liberal mind is incapable of understanding, and we have witnessed this for the last six months, as they go about piling layer, after layer of bureaucracy on the backs of the taxpayers, whose only real function in their minds is to shut-up, and pony up the cash! The contempt for the "little" people is evident every day, as we view the proceedings in the House of Representatives with anger and disbelief, as they earmark billions for their cronies, and special interest groups. A few vigilant Congressman, i.e., Jeff Flake (R-AZ) takes to the floor to protest, and details hundreds of these earmarks, only to be voted down every single time, as the majority "owns" the House.

If the Left really wanted to reform the health care system in America, they would adopt the "simple" common sense suggestions that would solve the problems, and accomplish the goal of insuring the entire population, without bankrupting the country, or inflicting this mess on the vast majority of Americans who DO NOT want this massive intrusion into the most important aspect of our private lives. The agenda that drives this issue, and every issue, has nothing to do with "looking out" for the folks, and everything to do with controlling the people...from the womb to the tomb! 

We, who choose not to be sheep, and take control of our own destiny, know with unerring certainty that socialized health care will lead us away from liberty, and self-determination, and onto the road to rationing, denial of services, and mediocre care. Why would the greatest country on Earth subject itself to Third World health care? Let the liberals go to Zimbabwe for treatment...they'll change their tune!! 

Note: NOT ONE DEMOCRAT IN THE HOUSE WOULD SIGN A PETITION, REQUIRING THEM TO GIVE UP THEIR "PLATINUM" FEDERAL HEALTH PLAN, AND SIGN ON TO THE PUBLIC OPTION. YESTERDAY, THEY VOTED "NO" UNANIMOUSLY TO DEFEAT THE SAME AMENDMENT THAT WAS OFFERRED BY THE REPUBLICANS IN THE ENERGY & COMMERCE COMMITTEE.

As they head home to their states for the recess, let us all greet them, and ask the question: "why is this good enough for us, and not for you and your family?" That's a no-brainer!

An Open Letter to President Obama Posted by SouthernPatriot

Posted 08/09/09

Dear Mr. President,
Actually, I shouldn't include the term "dear" because I do not wish to greet you in such a manner, but I am rather following custom. But I digress.
I would like to inform you that I have been telling the truth, or as you consider it "dis-information". With that being said, please feel free to add my name to your list of "opponents", I should already have a file at the White House that dates back to President Clinton. It is worth noting, since you claim anyone who disagrees with you is part of a "Republican mob", that I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Republican Party. I am a Lifetime member of the Libertarian Party as well as an At-Large Representative to the Boston Tea Party National Committee. Please make that notation on my file, I would hate for you to be looking for the wrong person. But, again, I digress.
You have made the claim that, "if you (meaning me or any other American) like your insurance provider, you can keep them." That is not true, Mr. President. I, like many other American's with Health Insurance, do not choose which company provides my insurance. I participate in a company provided health insurance package, meaning, my employer chooses the company that provides my health insurance. If my employer decides to go with the "public option", because they have a bigger tax burden otherwise, I'm not making that decision. You, sir, are the one spreading "dis-information", but I guess you live by the motto "tell a lie a million times and it becomes the truth."
You claim that medical costs will decrease, however, fom the time government first involved itself in the business of health-care with Medicaid, medical costs have continued to increase. How do you come to the conclusion that further involving the government in health-care will decrease costs, when history shows the opposite affect?
You do not deny the fact that you would like to see a "single-payer" system, and even campaigned on that point. You do no deny that you want to tax hard-working people on the medical benefits provided by their employer, which would indirectly force companies to choose the "public option" for their employees, because that would create a "tax-break". However, what you haven't told anyone is where in the Constitution Congress is given the authority to provide health insurance coverage.
Luckily, the First Amendment to the Constitution provides me the guaranteed right, nay FREEDOM of both speech, and the Press. Meaning I can say or print anything, no matter how you try to intimidate me, or anyone else; and whether you like what is said, or not.
Mr. President, know that I will continue exposing the lies of the government. I will continue to stand up for my rights and my freedom. I will not be shut-up by you, or anyone else.
I ask that you hold a Press Conference and admit to the people that you are a fascist, and every President since Woodrow Wilson has been a fascist. Mr. President, please for once, tell the truth and stop hiding behind your version of the truth, which is nothing more than a lie.
Dr. Ron Paul once said, "in an empire of lies, truth becomes treason." I will repeat the words of our Founding Fathers who said, "if this be treason, make the most of it" and "I regret that I have only one life to give for my country."

Sincerely and in Freedom,
Darryl W. Perry
2090 Cross Gate Blvd #105
Surfside Beach, SC 29575

http://dwp2016.org
http://BostonTea.us
http://FreePatriot-Press.com

Richard Eckstrom, real or real big hypocrite? Posted by annarlutz

Posted 08/09/09

State Comptroller Richard Eckstrom spoke about the stimulus money at the Lexington County GOP meeting last night and his statements seemed right on the money. He used the budget numbers and Obama's own statements to illustrate why the stimulus isn't working. That's nothing special, since most GOP politicians will tell you that. However, I was pleasantly surprised by his statements on inflation and the Federal Reserve. He seemed to not only get it, but also to be just as disturbed as most C4Ler's are about these economic issues. I've written him an email to try to further ascertain his positions on things like sound money. I was wondering if any of you have any experience with Eckstrom. Is he saying all the right things because he knows what we want to hear? He seemed very genuine to me. As most in attendance are not C4L type Republicans, it seems unlikely he would say those things just to garner favor.

Will "Blue Dogs" turn yellow? Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 07/31/09

The "Blue Dogs" managed to delay the passage of the "Nightmare" health plan for a few days, as they refused to go along with the program...unless it could be modified...and a lot less costly. The hearings were postponed, and the seven members who are on the committee to markup the Bill have been in closed-door meetings with all the powers that be in the White House. Today, they emerged, and announced: "progress has been difficult and will continue to be difficult, but getting it right is more important than  getting it done right away". Also, "many Blue Dogs remain concerned with various aspects of the bill draft". The Health Care Markup is tomorrow, at 10:00 A.M., on C-SPAN 3, and I, for one, will be watching to see if they "walk the walk", and not cave-in! There are 52 members of the "Blue Dogs", and without their votes, the Bill would be defeated!

I urge everyone to check out this website: http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/ for the complete list of members. Let's try to persuade these so-called, fiscally conservative democrats to do the right thing...and remind them that the mid-term elections are not too far off! 

Torn between two upcoming events. Posted by DanielCochran

Posted 07/31/09

We have two rather important events that are upcoming to choose from:

1. R3volution March II 9.12 in Washington DC

2. C4L Northeast Regional Conference 9.17-19

Now which one to pick from is the problem.

If we pick the March event, then we can get part of the voice, a face in the crowd to show the folks in DC we mean business in regards to safeguarding our Constitution. Plus, I was really strong on taking our TEA Party leadership and envolvement folks to the next step with promoting this event. I posted a calendar event that is the result of folks coming together in the Horry County area to make the trip.

However, in the last two weeks we get the announcement of the Regional Conference in PA the following weekend from the March. This event is a must goto event for the education and contacts that can be made to help move forward with C4L.

I/we just can not afford both events back to back much less the time off from work. So which one?

Censorship Imposed on House Republicans! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 07/28/09 Last updated 07/27/09

The Democrat Leadership in the House is trying to prevent the American public from seeing the schematic of the Democrat Health Plan, released last week by Republican Kevin Brady (Tx), which is in full color, and details the many agencies, bureaucracies, and departments, (31) that will come between the patient and their Doctor! I received my copy, via email from Republican Leader John Boehner's office, and have been trying to figure it out, ever since...It's a TOTAL MESS!  

The Franking Committee, which decides what House members are allowed to print at the Gov. Printing Office, and distribute to their constituents, has decided this could not be sent to thier districts, or could they refer to the plan as "The Democratic Plan", but could call it the "Majority Plan". They also dictated that the words "Government Health Plan" was not acceptable, and to call it the "Public Option"...code for: Government controlled health care!  Once again, they show their contempt for our intelligence, and try to control every aspect of what OUR elected representatives can...and cannot tell us!

The House Republicans took to the floor tonight, and made it very clear what is happening , as they are able to display this chart only when they are in session. I urge everyone to watch C-SPAN, as it televises all the House and Senate proceedings, everyday.  We all are very concerned by the out-of-control spending that has taken place these last six months, but now there is a much more important concern...the loss of our First Amendment rights. If our representatives are being denied their freedom of speech, how long will it be, before we lose ours?

Fortunately, this chart has been widely circulated, via the Internet... before it was "banned". I am considering renting a billboard on I-26, so many thousands of commuters can view it... but I fear it would cause too many traffic accidents! 

We, the People, must stop this massive intrusion into the most important aspect of our lives, and not allow our health, and well-being to be jeopardized by faceless bureaucrats!

Remedy Posted by AubreyTed

Posted 07/28/09

David Merrill presents some very interesting concepts here.

Abolish the Fed circa 1984....what is lawful money? Posted by AubreyTed

Posted 07/28/09

from: http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/convincing.html

Convincing Congress to Abolish the Fed
Freedom League, Sept/Oct 1984

When Congress borrows money on the credit of the United States, bonds are thus legislated into existence and deposited as credit entries in Federal Reserve banks. United States bonds, bills and notes constitute money as affirmed by the Supreme Court (Legal Tender Cases, 110 U.S. 421), and this money when deposited with the Fed becomes collateral from whence the Treasury may write checks against the credit thus created in its account (12 USC 391). For example, suppose Congress appropriates an expenditure of $1 billion. To finance the appropriation Congress creates the $1 billion worth of bonds out of thin air and deposits it with the privately owned Federal Reserve System. Upon receiving the bonds, the Fed credits $1 billion to the Treasury's checking account, holding the deposited bonds as collateral. When the United States deposits its bonds with the Federal Reserve System, private credit is extended to the Treasury by the Fed. Under its power to borrow money, Congress is authorized by the Constitution to contract debt, and whenever something is borrowed it must be returned. When Congress spends the contracted private credit, each use of credit is debt which must be returned to the lender or Fed. Since Congress authorizes the expenditure of this private credit, the United States incurs the primary obligation to return the borrowed credit, creating a National Debt which results when credit is not returned.

However, if anyone else accepts this private credit and uses it to purchase goods and services, the user voluntarily incurs the obligation requiring him to make a return of income whereby a portion of the income is collected by the IRS and delivered to the Federal Reserve banksters. Actually the federal income tax imparts two separate obligations: the obligation to file a return and the obligation to abide by the Internal Revenue Code. The obligation to make a return of income for using private credit is recognized in law as an irrecusable obligation, which according to 'Bouvier's Law Dictionary' (1914 ed.), is "a term used to indicate a certain class of contractual obligations recognized by the law which are imposed upon a person without his consent and without regard to any act of his own." This is distinguished from a recusable obligation which, according to Bouvier, arises from a voluntary act by which one incurs the obligation imposed by the operation of law. The voluntary use of private credit is the condition precedent which imposes the irrecusable obligation to file a tax return. If private credit is not used or rejected, then the operation of law which imposes the irrecusable obligation lies dormant and cannot apply.

In 'Brushaber v. Union Pacific RR Co.' 240 U.S. 1 (1916) the Supreme Court affirmed that the federal income tax is in the class of indirect taxes, which include duties and excises. The personal income tax arises from a duty -- i.e., charge or fee -- which is voluntarily incurred and subject to the rule of uniformity. A charge is a duty or obligation, binding upon him who enters into it, which may be removed or taken away by a discharge (performance): 'Bouvier', p. 459. Our federal personal income tax is not really a tax in the ordinary sense of the word but rather a burden or obligation which the taxpayer voluntarily assumes, and the burden of the tax falls upon those who voluntarily use private credit. Simply stated the tax imposed is a charge or fee upon the use of private credit where the amount of private credit used measures the pecuniary obligation. The personal income tax provision of the Internal Revenue Code is private law rather than public law. "A private law is one which is confined to particular individuals, associations, or corporations": 50 Am.Jur. 12, p.28. In the instant case the revenue code pertains to taxpayers. A private law can be enforced by a court of competent jurisdiction when statutes for its enforcement are enacted: 20 Am.Jur. 33, pgs. 58, 59. The distinction between public and private acts is not always sharply defined when published statutes are printed in their final form: Case v. Kelly, 133 U.S. 21 (1890). Statutes creating corporations are private acts: 20 Am.Jur. 35, p. 60. In this connection, the Federal Reserve Act is private law. Federal Reserve banks derive their existence and corporate power from the Federal Reserve Act: Armano v. Federal Reserve Bank, 468 F.Supp. 674 (1979). A private act may be published as a public law when the general public is afforded the opportunity of participating in the operation of the private law. The Internal Revenue Code is an example of private law which does not exclude the voluntary participation of the general public. Had the Internal Revenue Code been written as substantive public law, the code would be repugnant to the Constitution, since no one could be compelled to file a return and thereby become a witness against himself. Under the fifty titles listed on the preface page of the United States Code, the Internal Revenue Code (26 USC) is listed as having not been enacted as substantive public law, conceding that the Internal Revenue Code is private law. Bouvier declares that private law "relates to private matters which do not concern the public at large." It is the voluntary use of private credit which imposes upon the user the quasi contractual or implied obligation to make a return of income. In 'Pollock v. Farmer's Loan & Trust Co.' 158 U.S. 601 (1895) the Supreme Court had declared the income tax of 1894 to be repugnant to the Constitution, holding that taxation of rents, wages and salaries must conform to the rule of apportionment. However, when this decision was rendered, there was no privately owned central bank issuing private credit and currency but rather public money in the form of legal tender notes and coins of the United States circulated. Public money is the lawful money of the United States which the Constitution authorizes Congress to issue, conferring a property right, whereas the private credit issued by the Fed is neither money nor property, permitting the user an equitable interest but denying allodial title.

Today, we have two competing monetary systems. The Federal Reserve System with its private credit and currency, and the public money system consisting of legal tender United States notes and coins. One could use the public money system, paying all bills with coins and United States notes (if the notes can be obtained), or one could voluntarily use the private credit system and thereby incur the obligation to make a return of income. Under 26 USC 7609 the IRS has carte blanche authority to summon and investigate bank records for the purpose of determining tax liabilities or discovering unknown taxpayers: 'United States v. Berg' 636 F.2d 203 (1980). If an investigation of bank records discloses an excess of $1000 in deposits in a single year, the IRS may accept this as prima facie evidence that the account holder uses private credit and is therefore a person obligated to make a return of income. Anyone who uses private credit -- e.g., bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, etc. -- voluntarily plugs himself into the system and obligates himself to file. A taxpayer is allowed to claim a $1000 personal deduction when filing his return. The average taxpayer in the course of a year uses United States coins in vending machines, parking meters, small change, etc., and this public money must be deducted when computing the charge for using private credit.

On June 5, 1933, the day of infamy arrived. Congress on that date enacted House Joint Resolution 192, which provided that the people convert or turn in their gold coins in exchange for Federal Reserve notes. Through the operation of law, H.J.R. 192 took us off the gold standard and placed us on the dollar standard where the dollar could be manipulated by private interests for their self-serving benefit. By this single act the people and their wealth were delivered to the bankers. When gold coinage was thus pulled out of circulation, large denomination Federal Reserve notes were issued to fill the void. As a consequence the public money supply in circulation was greatly diminished, and the debt-laden private credit of the Fed gained supremacy. This action made private individuals who had been previously exempt from federal income taxes now liable for them, since the general public began consuming and using large amounts of private credit. Notice all the case law prior to 1933 which affirms that income is a profit or gain which arises from a government granted privilege. After 1933, however, the case law no longer emphatically declares that income is exclusively corporate profit or that it arises from a privilege. So, what changed? Two years after H.J.R. 192, Congress passed the Social Security Act, which the Supreme Court upheld as a valid act imposing a valid income tax: 'Charles C. Steward Mach. Co. v, Davis' 301 U.S. 548 (1937).

It is no accident that the United States is without a dollar unit coin. In recent years the Eisenhower dollar coin received widespread acceptance, but the Treasury minted them in limited number which encouraged hoarding. This same fate befell the Kennedy half dollars, which circulated as silver sandwiched clads between 1965-1969 and were hoarded for their intrinsic value and not spent. Next came the Susan B. Anthony dollar, an awkward coin which was instantly rejected as planned. The remaining unit is the privately issued Federal Reserve note unit dollar with no viable competitors. Back in 1935 the Fed had persuaded the Treasury to discontinue minting silver dollars because the public preferred them over dollar bills. That the public money system has become awkward, discouraging its use, is no accident. It was planned that way.

A major purpose behind the 16th Amendment was to give Congress authority to enforce private law collections of revenue. Congress had the plenary power to collect income taxes arising from government granted privileges long before the 16th Amendment was ratified, and the amendment was unnecessary, except to give Congress the added power to enforce collections under private law: i.e., income from whatever source. So, the Fed got its amendment and its private income tax, which is a banker's dream but a nightmare for everyone else. Through the combined operation of the Fed and H.J.R. 192, the United States pays exorbitant interest whenever it uses its own money deposited with the Fed, and the people pay outrageous income taxes for the privilege of living and working in their own country, robbed of their wealth and separated from their rights, laboring under a tax system written by a cabal of loan shark bankers and rubber stamped by a spineless Congress.

Congress has the power to abolish the Federal Reserve System and thus destroy the private credit system. However, the people have it within their power to strip the Fed of its powers, rescind private credit and get the bankers to pay off the National Debt should Congress fail to act. The key to all this is 12 USC 411, which declares that Federal Reserve notes shall be redeemed in lawful money at any Federal Reserve bank. Lawful money is defined as all the coins, notes, bills, bonds and securities of the United States: 'Julliard v. Greenman' 110 U.S. 421, 448 (1884); whereas public money is the lawful money declared by Congress as a legal tender for debts (31 USC 5103); 524 F.2d 629 (1974). Anyone can present Federal Reserve notes to any Federal Reserve bank and demand redemption in public money -- i.e., legal tender United States notes and coins. A Federal Reserve note is a fixed obligation or evidence of indebtedness which pledges redemption (12 USC 411) in public money to the note holder. The Fed maintains a ready supply of United States notes in hundred dollar denominations for redemption purposes should it be required, and coins are available to satisfy claims for smaller amounts. However, should the general public decide to redeem large amounts of private credit for public money, a financial melt-down within the Fed would quickly occur. The process works like this. Suppose $1000 in Federal Reserve notes are presented for redemption in public money. To raise $1000 in public money the Fed must surrender U.S. Bonds in that amount to the Treasury in exchange for the public money demanded (assuming that the Fed had no public money on hand). In so doing $1000 of the National Debt would be paid off by the Fed and thus canceled. Can you imagine the result if large amounts of Federal Reserve notes were redeemed on a regular, ongoing basis? Private credit would be withdrawn from circulation and replaced with public money, and with each turning of the screw the Fed would be obliged to pay off more of the National Debt. Should the Fed refuse to redeem its notes in public money, then the fiction that private credit is used voluntarily would become unsustainable. If the use of private credit becomes compulsory, then the obligation to make a return of income is voided. If the Fed is under no obligation to redeem its notes, then no one has an obligation to make a return of income. It is that simple! Federal Reserve notes are not money and cannot be tendered when money is demanded: 105 So. 305 (1925). Moreover, the Ninth Circuit rejected the argument that a $50 Federal Reserve note be redeemed in gold or silver coin after specie coinage had been rescinded but upheld the right of the note holder to redeem his note in current public money (31 USC 392; rev., 5103): 524 F.2d 629 (1974); 12 USC 411.

It would be advantageous to close out all bank accounts, acquire a home safe, settle all debts in cash with public money and use U.S. postal money orders for remittances. Whenever a check is received, present it to the bank of issue and demand cash in public money. This will place banks in a vulnerable position, forcing them to draw off their assets. Through their insatiable greed, bankers have over extended, making banks quite illiquid. Should the people suddenly demand public money for their deposits and for checks received, many banks will collapse and be foreclosed by those demanding public money. Banks by their very nature are citadels of usury and sin, and the most patriotic service one could perform is to obligate bankers to redeem private credit. When the first Federal Reserve note is presented to the Fed for redemption, the process of ousting the private credit system will commence and will not end until the Fed and the banking system nurtured by it collapse. Coins comprise less than five percent of the currency, and current law limits the amount of United States notes in circulation to $300 million (31 USC 5115). The private credit system is exceedingly over extended compared with the supply of public money, and a small minority working in concert can easily collapse the private credit system and oust the Fed by demanding redemption of private credit. If the Fed disappeared tomorrow, income taxes on wages and salaries would vanish with it. Moreover, the States are precluded from taxing United States notes: 4 Wheat. 316. According to Bouvier, public money is the money which Congress can tax for public purposes mandated by the Constitution. Private credit when collected in revenue can fund programs and be spent for purposes not cognizable by the Constitution. We have in effect two competing governments: the United States Government and the Federal Government. The first is the government of the people, whereas the Federal Government is founded upon private law and funded by private credit. What we really have is private government. Federal agencies and activities funded by the private credit system include Social Security, bail out loans to bankers via the IMF, bail out loans to Chrysler, loans to students, FDIC, FBI, supporting the U.N., foreign aid, funding undeclared wars, etc., all of which would be unsustainable if funded by taxes raised pursuant to the Constitution. The personal income tax is not a true tax but rather an obligation or burden which is voluntarily assumed, since revenue is raised through voluntary contributions and can be spent for purposes unknown to the Constitution. Notice how the IRS declares in its publications that everyone is expected to contribute his fair share. True taxes must be spent for public purposes which the Constitution recognizes. Taxation for the purpose of giving or loaning money to private business enterprises and individuals is illegal: 15 Am.Rep. 39; Cooley, 'Prin. Const. Law', ch. IV. Revenue derived from the federal income tax goes into a private slush fund raised from voluntary contributions, and Congress is not restricted by the Constitution when spending or disbursing the proceeds from this private fund. It is incorrect to say that the personal federal income tax is unconstitutional, since the tax code is private law and resides outside the Constitution. The Internal Revenue Code is non-constitutional because it enforces an obligation which is voluntarily incurred through an act of the individual who binds himself. Fighting the Internal Revenue Code on constitutional grounds is wasted energy. The way to bring it all down is to attack the Federal Reserve System and its banking cohorts by demanding that private credit be redeemed, or by convincing Congress to abolish the Fed. Never forget that private credit is funding the destruction of our country. [Reprinted from `Freedom League', Sept/Oct 1984]

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What is lawful money and what is legal tender? 

I think of it like this: All lawful money is legal tender, but all legal tender is not lawful money much the same as a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square.  What is legal tender but not lawful money?  A FRN.

This seems to be confusing even now to most of us (surley not any of us on here:))that actually think a FRN is a dollar. It is a promise to pay a dollar from a private bank.  Many will argue that 'lawful money' has never been clearly defined by Congress.  There was even a little confusion in 1908 during the Hearings With Reference To Currency Legislation. (Public Domain + Google Books = thumbs up) The Supreme Court has upheld the right of the FRN holder to redeem according to Tiltle 12 United States Code Section 411, but just not in specie.....gold or silver.  But if you really wanted to press the issue, the very definition of a US dollar is in the US Constitution.....one Troy Ounce of silver.  Can anyone really dispute this?

Are you endorsing your use of private credit when you sign the back of your paycheck?

Don't "spread my wealth" Posted by

Posted 07/27/09

Spread my work ethic and my financial discipline - not my wealth!

County Meetings Posted by Casey Anderson

Posted 07/25/09

There is no better way to grow the organization in your county than to have county meetings in your area.  It is important to have a meeting every month to continue to grow the base of support.  Encourage people to bring somebody (new) with them each time.  If your meetings are productive then it will be no time before you have 50+ members attending your monthly meetings and you are able to have political respect and thus can make political progress.  Until you have the numbers, you will not get any political respect. 

Scheduling:

It is important to not try to work around other people's schedules.  Everybody has a different schedule and as such you will rarely ever get a consensus on a good date and time and as such end up wasting a week just to come to this realization.  Pick a date and time that is good for you and go with it.  Invite everybody you know including: C4L members, family, friends, strangers and ask them to bring somebody else with them.  I started my first meeting on the first Saturday of the month at 3:00 pm and have kept to that for each one thereafter.  People like consistency.  If you are always changing the day or time then people will forget and won't show up, but if it becomes habit for attendees, then you will be able to limit the amount of time you spend getting the word out.  I also hold additional meetings (depending on timing) if needed for events such as conventions, conferences, traveling, etc. 

Attendence:

Your attendence will always fluctuate depending on various factors.  It is important to not quit if you have low attendence one week.  What is important is to get 1 new person to each meeting.  So always invite as many people as you can.  My first meeting, two people showed up, since then I've never had less than 10 and the high was 20+.  That's a pretty good number for a small town.  I made several good contacts and enlightened people that here in Utah we are able to make a huge difference because of the caucus-convention system.  Now they get involved on their own and there is less work from my end. 

Agenda:

Keep your agenda focused and on topic.  I like to write the agenda on a board so I can refer back to it if things start to stray off topic.  Because the precinct caucus is so important in Utah, I start with that every meeting after brief introductions.  I go over a timeline of the entire 2 year system so people can obtain a visual representation of what is needed and how to do it.  I also go over the numbers - numbers win.  If you show people that there is only 3500 state delegates then they are able to come to the realization on their own that we can make a difference and their apathy folds like a bad poker hand.  Also, include any special events that may be coming up such as elections or conventions, people enjoy hearing about these sorts of topics.  People do NOT like debating issues - it is a waste of time to 99% of Americans.  People for the most part are already set in their ways and even at C4L meetings some discussions will arise over trivial minor differences.  It is imperative that you redirect back to the agenda or people will get discouraged and not come back.  Attendees want to feel like their time was well spent and they contributed to something progressive.  Attendees do not want to listen to other people war story and debate who has been screwed over by the establishment the most.  I dont even like doing this, I'm buying a home, applying for a PhD program, and running for Congress.   I do not have time or want to have time to listen to people complain.  The meetings have got to stay on task with how and when we are going to take back the county, state, country.  I used to have people come up to me after meetings and complain about the people who started to talk about issues.  DO NOT TALK ABOUT ISSUES unless it is specific to a cause such as getting HR1207 passed.  Now, I have people come up to me afterwards and thank me for staying on task and being focused.  If your meeting lasts for more than 45 minutes or 1 hour - then you did not stay on task well enough and you need to work on it.  People will not attend future meetings if they end up being there for hours on end debating issues.  People will attend future meetings if they get in - learn some valuable information - and get out.  Time is money.

I have come to the conclusion that it is imperative that people hold monthly county meetings.  You do not have to be a county coordinator to do this, you dont even have to be a member of C4L to do this.  I held my first county meeting before I was assigned the role of county coordinator.  To set up a county meeting simply call your local public library and reserve a room for 2-3 weeks out and start inviting everybody ahead of time, then remind them the day before or else THEY WILL FORGET I PROMISE YOU  =))

Good luck and please get back to me with results!!!

Glimmer of Hope! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 07/25/09

Every day, we are assaulted with so much disturbing news, it's hard to keep the "chins" up, and stay focused on the end game. The overwhelming of our system is precisely what is taking place, and the frustration can be paralyzing at times...however, there is some great news to report! In the all important 2010 mid-term elections, there has come forth a challenger for the Senate seat of Barbara(woof,woof) Boxer! State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is mounting a campaign, and has gained impressive support, thus far. Please check out his site: chuckdevore.com, and do what you can to support his campaign. This will be a tough race, as Barbara, "don't call me madam" Boxer, has called out her Hollywood "La,la land" liberals to stop any threat to her title of "Senator".

The mid-term elections are only 466 days, 11 hours, and 30 minutes away...let's look forward to that day, and work to ensure that Senator Boxer, will once again, become...Madam Boxer!   

LibertyLover747

Journalism at its finest... Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 07/21/09

One of the greatest journalists that ever lived, and I was fortunate enough to listen to, was the one, and only Edward R. Murrow. I, at the young age of seven or eight years old, knew, even then...that this was a man of integrity, and a level of professionalism, that few others could match. In those days, we were also blessed by others who warranted respect for their unbiased reporting of events, and at the top of the list was the beloved Walter Cronkite. His passing is felt by millions of Americans, who were privileged to hear the news reported, as it was meant to be, and not distorted by special interests, political bias, and the "feelings" of the so-called journalists that occupy the once well-respected, major news organizations, i.e., CBS, NBC, and ABC. It's sad to see how these, once great, network giants of the industry, have become not much more than panderers to the basest of the human character. To witness the "infotainment" spew forth from the mouths of the heavily lacquered, blonde clones, is truly pathetic.

As Americans bear witness to the reformation of all our institutions, and the unrelenting takeover of business, energy, and most importantly, our very health, and well being is in jeopardy, as the Congress proceeds to gain total control of our lives. Make no mistake...the Left has been working tirelessly to acheive their goals for decades, and now with the majority in both houses of Congress, and the "gagging" of the opposition, they are about to accomplish, what no enemy from without has ever been able to do, in all our history...SOCIALISM. Over 50 years ago, Nikita Kruschev, Premier of Russia said:  "America will not be destroyed from without, but from within."

Edward R. Murrow said it best, and I quote: "A nation of sheep, will beget a government of wolves."  

LibertyLover747 

The Declaration of Restoration Posted by Liberty1Now

Posted 07/21/09

The Declaration of Restoration

July 4th 2009

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with a governing body they have created, which has turned tyrannical and detrimental to the peace and safety, and the very existence of the nation of the People who established the governing body, and to return to a previously established form of self governing under the Laws of Nature and Natures God as entitled therein, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to alter and or abolish the destructive form of government.

From the inception of this nation, We the People have held the self-evident truth of the creation of the universe, this world, and the Peoples upon it. It has been our unwavering belief that our Creator has endowed all People with certain unalienable rights, including, but not limited to, life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Our forefathers attempted to establish this fact and create a governing body to ensure these rights in this nation. However, as time progressed we became neglectful in overseeing this governing body, and it has abused and extended powers to itself never intended. Our governing body has now taken upon itself the position of rulers rather than servants, and is usurping authority beyond control. We now deem this political body to be tyrannical at every level and completely devoid of control or correction. This fact is evidenced by the following documented proof;

Whereas, known and recorded in history and beyond denial, the governing body, now a corporation known as the United States Government, has deceived the People of this nation in ways that can only be described as treasonous. Bribery, lies and deceit have become the norm. Politicians take offices for the purpose of fulfilling self-interests of money and power rather than servitude.

Whereas, our voices are not able to be heard in the voting process as the governing body has elected for themselves to use controllable electronic voting systems which disallow the voters to know with any certainty of the correct count of their votes.

Whereas, the governing body has caused to be placed as candidate for President, a man not qualified under the clearly set forth Constitutional guidelines for that Office, and has, through major media manipulation and voting count manipulation of the electronic voting machines, caused this person to appear to have been elected for the Office of President of the United States of America, thereby usurping the Office for their own personal gain and control of the nation.

Whereas, the governing body has defrauded the People of their labor and property in so many ways that it is impossible to define all these schemes in less than a written volume containing a minimum of millions of pages.

However, the following list describes a few of the major treacherous actions taken against the People and this nation;

1. The creation of the Federal Reserve Bank and the granting of power to it to control the monetary system thereby allowing a foreign banking cartel to manipulate commerce, trade, and general business in any and every way they deem profitable to themselves, and to the detriment of the People.

2. The creation of the Internal Revenue Service which is used to defraud the People through unconstitutional taxation, forcibly imposed on them at gunpoint, stripping the People of monetary and physical property at will without proper trial in accordance with the laws set forth in the Constitution.

3. The creation of laws, legislation, judgments, powers, and unauthorized Constitutional amendments designed to benefit the governing body, without consent of the People, in direct violation of the Constitution and the principles set forth within it.

4. The concealment of financial records reflecting the true status of the budgets of the many divisions of the government. Specifically, the People are shown a "Budget Report" reflecting expenditures and revenues derived from taxation, but information about other income sources and investments is not divulged. This to deceive the People into believing there is a financial shortage so greater taxation can be imposed, while the unknown funds are confiscated.

5. The enactment of laws to favor corporations that bribe the governing body which enforces known health and environmental safety violations for the purpose of creating profit for the corporation without regard for the People, causing illness and even death, and grave harm to the planet.

6. The creation of debt of such magnitude as to cause this nation to be driven to insolvency, bankruptcy, and the complete destruction of the monetary system.

7. The creation and enactment of laws designed to restrict and or eliminate rights of the People as endowed by the Creator, thereby forcing the People into slavery to pay for their greed.

8. The engagement of wars in various places and the unconstitutional declaration of those wars, which serve no purpose other than a means to deprive the People of more and more property and rights.

Any one of these despicable acts are treason against this nation and its People to anyone who has sworn an oath to hold an office of servitude and uphold the rights of the People and the Law of the Land as established in the Constitution of the United States of America as originally written.

Whereas, in consideration of these facts as well as the many more innumerable instances of deploying despotism and tyranny upon the People of this nation, We The People do hereby declare the governing body, known as the Government of the United States, dissolved and disbanded and removed from any authoritative power whatsoever, and withdraw all authority previously granted to it.

Be it known from this moment forward, that any action the corporation, known as the Government of the United States, takes or does is not authorized by the People of America, and any actions taken by said corporation are taken without consent or support of the People. All members of the corporation, at every level of government and in every division, section, or subdivision, whether at the Federal level or State level, are responsible for their own actions and words and agreements. Any loans made and based on the good faith and promise of the People of America to repay are null and void. We promise nothing to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

We promise only to each other, to stand against the tyranny and despotism of the previous governing body, and to do all that is within our power and ability to do to bring this corrupt force under control and eliminate it.

We the People of America do hereby declare our restoration to self-governance, under the laws as set forth by the Creator and natures law, and deny any responsibility for any actions taken by any organization claiming to speak for us or act on our behalf.

We are a free People. Any property we acquire through our labor we claim as our own and give no authority to anyone or any organization to take any portion of our property for any reason unless we freely give it.

We do not support or condone the actions or promises of any other person, or organization. We stand by our word, and our word only.

Be it known that we make this declaration in peace. However, any attempt at forcing any other so called law(s) upon us will be met with whatever force is required to keep our peace and prosperity.

Written for the People of America by:

James Madison

July 4th, in the year of Our Lord, 2009

War on Drugs Compromises National Security Posted by bidusan

Posted 07/21/09 Last updated 07/21/09

What if you had a disease and went to the doctor for treatment. Imagine that the doctor told you the treatment would be very expensive and invasive but wouldn't do much to treat the disease. Actually, the treatment would leave you in worse condition than the disease itself. Would you go for it? What if he told you that, even though this treatment would leave you worse off, at least you'd know that you're doing something and that's something to feel good about, right? Wouldn't you most likely say

"Hell no! That's ridiculous! I'd rather just live with the problem and deal with it."

That would be the common sense response from most people yet, when it comes to the War on Drugs, America not only accepts the above described metaphor, it demands it! When you ask most people what benefits we receive from the drug war, they are hard pressed to give good examples. Yet the extreme and varied costs are widely acknowledged (ie. financial and social costs, corruption, collateral damage to innocent citizens, etc.). Even the majority, who don't have anything to do with drugs, are forced to bear the burden of a policy that spends massive resources for little or no benefit yet makes society more dangerous for everyone. Accepting a cost - benefit trade off like this just doesn't make sense. Not only that, it's dangerous and leads to peril for all Americans.

"What's that? How so?"

Laws against drugs are what creates the black market for drugs. Whether we like it or not, there is a demand for illegal drugs. As long as that demand exists, black market drug businesses will attempt to satisfy that demand. The black market drug business runs on violence. Law enforcement is not a resource available for settling disputes; no one can go to the cops and say "Help! Someobody stole my drugs!"    As a result, drug dealers have to devise their own tactics for enforcement and those tactics are brutal. The people who are successful in this environment are some of the most ruthless, criminally minded people in society. They have to be; it's survival of the "fittest ". The rewards for success, however, are vast profits and all the power that money brings. In this way, the black market drug business, caused by laws against drugs, is enriching and empowering some of the most dangerous people in society.

Now, what are rich, powerful criminals likely to use their wealth for? Well, for starters, violent, criminal activity and the best weapons money can buy to carry that out. We're seeing this now in Mexico where, in the past 18 months, over 10,000 people have been killed in drug related power struggles and the government has been unable to stop it; they are out-gunned and out-resourced; corruption is rampant. Innocent civilians who are caught in the middle, but have nothing to do with drugs, are at the mercy of the drug lords because even the police can't protect them. This is happening right at our border and is starting to spill into our country.

Another of the many examples of how illegal drugs make the world more dangerous for everyone would be Afghanistan, where the poppy trade supports terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and the Taliban....and we are the enablers!

"Whoa, wait a minute. We're enabling terrorists?! How do you figure?

Chain of logic: We support severe laws against drugs and vigorous enforcement of those laws; we demand it! Because of this. there is a huge risk premium available for those willing to violate those laws and be subject to enforcement. The more severe the laws and level of enforcement, the greater the premium and therefore the greater the profit potential. The greater the profits, the greater the amounts of money that flow to drug dealers and terrorists and therefore the more resources these folks have to carry out their designs against us.

This illustrates also, that escalation of the intensity of the drug war is a fools errand and just serves to increase the risk premium which further enriches the drug traffickers. Besides, we've been escalating for a half a century and where is it getting us? America, "land of the free", already has more people in prison per capita than any other country in the world, the majority are in for drugs; 1 million more citizens in prison than the police state of China which has 4 times our population; we have more people locked up for non-violent drug offenses than all of Europe has for ALL offenses. What are we trying to do, turn America into a prison nation? And for what? Are we enjoying success?

Drug use rates fluctuate within a range but have remained fairly consistent over time. Availability has actually increased and prices have gone down. While the drug war has done little to impact demand or availability, we're still unwilling to accept that it's not working. Why is that?

Oh yeah, it's "for the children", right?

It's actually easier for a school kid to access illegal drugs than it is for them to get alcohol because drugs are illegal and unregulated, alcohol is not.

If you think about it, any argument that can be made against illegal drugs can be made against alcohol, yet I don't know many people who would advocate making alcohol illegal. We already tried that during Prohibition and it didn't work. This isn't theory, it's historical fact. We got the same spike in organized crime, corruption and violence at the hands of gangsters like Al Capone with little benefit or success in controlling alcohol. Why, then, are we willing to stick to a strategy that has already been proven not to work? Is it just to make ourselves feel better because "at least, we're doing something"? If we are so addicted to a policy that doesn't work just so we can feel better, maybe that's an addiction more dangerous and destructive than any illegal drug ever will be.

Do we have some problems in society with alcohol? Yes, we do. However, the problems are much less than they would otherwise be if alcohol were illegal and we are able to deal with them in a more constructive and compassionate way. Most proponents for the legalization of drugs don't hold that position because they think that drugs are good and everyone should take them. Proponents of legalization understand that drug abuse is bad...but the drug war is much, much worse. We would be better served by a policy that legalized drugs and invested it's resources in trying to help those that are foolish enough to make a mess of their lives through drug abuse. This would dramatically reduce the overall cost to society and be a much more constructive approach than criminalization has been.

It's also gravely important that we stop giving terrorists and gangsters this way of enriching and empowering themselves against us. We need to deprive them of this vehicle for furthering their gains against civil society. We should uphold the value of a civil society by engaging a civilized solution to this problem that can produce positive results. Ending the War on Drugs would provide these outcomes.

"Do you mean legalizing all drugs? That seems so extreme."

Legalizing drugs is the only way to eliminate the black market for drugs. This is by definition. If drugs are legal, they move from the black market to the open market where they can be taxed and regulated just like alcohol. This would remove the profits to the criminal underground and they would be deprived of their most lucrative source of funding. Furthermore, we would save the hundreds of billions of dollars that are currently diverted to enforcement, legal process and imprisonment. These resources could be conserved or put to use in areas where they can make a positive difference. Especially with our current fiscal situation, we really can't afford to keep wasting money on bad ideas that don't produce benefits.

If legalizing drugs seems extreme, lets take a look at the blowback, collateral damage, unintended consequences and the huge financial and social costs of the drug war; now that's extreme...especially when there's little or no success in producing desired outcomes.

"Yeah, but if drugs are legal won't everyone run out and start abusing them?."

I don't know, you tell me. Would you, or your family and friends run out and start abusing drugs?

No!...but there are a lot of crazy people out there.

I would submit that, if drugs were legalized, most of the people who would run out to abuse drugs already are. Even if that assumption turned out to be wrong and we got a spike in drug abuse, that set of problems would be so much smaller and more manageable than the problems related to drug prohibition. Not to mention, there are some people who manage to use drugs without abusing them, just like there are some people who manage to use alcohol without abusing it. Alcohol can be a very dangerous and destructive drug if it's abused, yet it's legal. Instead of laws against alcohol, we have laws against behaviors that are associated with alcohol abuse. It should be the same for drugs.

Why are we so committed to "reinventing the wheel"? Prohibition has been shown not to work and causes more problems than it solves. In the case of the War on Drugs, we are contributing to a National Security threat by continuing our support for it.

It's been said that one definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome. Are we happy with the outcomes that are being produced by laws against drugs? We've been at this drug war for over 50 years and where is it getting us? It's getting us into a heap of trouble and we better wake up before it's too late.

BB

Republic Impossible Posted by mitheralhammer

Posted 07/20/09

I am an avid reader of many things, and I am particularly fond of history, economics, and personal liberty. In my readings I have found over and over again references to redress of grievances, peaceful resistance, and political activism at the grassroots level. Unfortunately, I am left unconvinced that this will ever attain the goals sought. It is exceedingly clear that the government or rather it's agents have no intention of following the constitution or even their own statutory law when it stands in the way of their self proclaimed "progress". If this precept is true then all of the discussion, demands, and protests that can ever be will have zero impact on reality. Take for example the current efforts to audit the Fed. While the vast majority of the informed American populace is in support of transparency, and many congress members "support" this legislation...nothing is happening. In matter of fact it cannot even be brought to the floor in either house of congress, and why is that? It is because the entrenched leadership of this country has no interest in exposing the processes used to steal from the public in order to continue their "progress". While I am in complete support of auditing the Fed and exposing the truth, I have come to the conclusion that it will never happen because it would be too destructive to the powers that be. I am also a complete and total supporter of the Constitutional Republic, but again I realize that the worst fears of many men from the Revolutionary Era have come to fruition. We have effectively traded one tyrant 3000 miles away for 3000 tyrants one mile away. It has also been shown that what was true for the Roman republic may also be true for our own...the very idea of it is so fragile that it cannot exist without the support of an angry, armed populace ready to fight at every infringement of freedom. The Founding Fathers of this Union were some of the most intelligent and articulate men that the world had to offer at that time, and even they were unable to effect fundamental change in governance without the use of armed resistance. While I do not purpose that we all sally forth to revolt (mainly because I believe that the vast majority of the lazy, intoxicated, American Idol watching population would not follow) I do understand that it will take nothing less than that very action to effect real change in governance. While I will continue to attempt to make meaningful changes through the current system I hold little hope that any will actually occur. I do however believe very matter of factly that the day is coming when the death bell of this governement will occur, much like the former Soviet Union the agents of our government are spending our Union into oblivion, and total collapse is most assuredly the end result. My suggestion to all freedom lovers would be to thoroughly and systematically prepare for this eventuality. Stock up on precious metals, sundries, seeds, and the traditional equipment needed to prepare food for the family. Prepare weapons stock piles and tatical plans of defense and movement, but above all pray to God that I am totally wrong about all of this. I do hope most of all that this will bring about a very interesting converasation in the comments section so please feel free to leave one, because most of all I am interested in what others think in these troubling times. Thank you for reading and posting.

C4L ~ July 2009 - Meet the Candidates Posted by DanielCochran

Posted 07/20/09

http://www.danielscochran.com/?p=1326

C4L ~ July 2009 - Meet the Candidates

By Daniel Cochran, on July 18th, 2009

We had a great turn out and a wonderful meeting of the candidates in Columbia today for the South Carolina Campaign for Liberty (C4L).

Our guest today were Nikki Haley - running for Governor 2010, Karan Floyd the RNC State Chairwoman, and Larry Grooms - running for Governor 2010.

Web sites for monitoring legislation and spending Posted by

Posted 07/20/09

www.congress.org

www.sunlightfoundation.com

www.recovery.gov

www.cagw.org

www.pogo.org

www.cop.senate.gov

www.consumerfed.org

Horse Welfare Bill Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 07/18/09

Yesterday, the House passed HR 1018, and it slid through the process like a greased pig! Among the many earmarks attached to the bill was a provision for the purchase of 19 million acres of Federal land, to be set aside for wild horses and burros. The price tag: $700 million. (Gee, anything under a billion these days is considered pocket change!) We all love animals, no argument there, and a provision in the bill would prevent the purchase of the horses from being sold for commercial products. However, the herds must be controlled, as they have decimated the grazing lands of ranch owners, and caused damage to property.

The substitute bill offerred by the Republicans, by Congressman Hastings (WA), was introduced, as well. In this alternate plan, the horses and burros would be protected, and allowed ample land to roam and graze, and would not be subject to slaughter for commercial products. Basically, this bill would acheive the same result as the Democrat bill HR 1018...with one very significant difference...the cost! The price tag: $500,000. (No, I didn't forget a few zeros.) The savings to the taxpayer would be $699,500,000.00. Well, this was defeated in short order, and the special interests, namely the Humane Society lobbyists were well taken care of by those elected officials they help send back to Congress, year after year!

This is just one of the many bills that fly through the Congress each day, and a comparative drop-in-the-bucket for the big spenders in the 111th Congress. They know that the general public is not watching the non-stop hemoraghing of the country's treasure, and when they go home to their states, they just say, "I didn't vote for that bill!" The voting records for all members of Congress are available, of course at: www.senate.gov/legislative/roll_call, and I for one have printed the voting results for many major pieces of legislation. It's a real eye-opener, and gives you all the facts in black and white! Also, C-SPAN broadcasts all the House and Senate proceedings, and is an excellent source of information. 

I urge all citizens to access these records, and track the votes cast by all those responsible for this unprecedented "orgy" of spending! Now, more than ever, as we are confronted with major legislation to reform health care, energy, and social programs, we all must pay close attention to what they are voting for, and not to what they say! The mid-term elections next year will be the time to voice our disgust with many who are taking full advantage of their office to promote the socialist agenda... which will lead to the bankruptcy and destruction of our great country.

Like death and taxes, the one thing we can be sure of, is that what matters most to them is their re-election, and they fear the wrath of the voters more than anything.  We, the people have the power to change the grim course we are now on, and take back America!

LibertyLover747

Ron Paul and Jim DeMint Take on the Fed Posted by southernavenger

Posted 07/18/09

Needless to say, I'm very proud of South Carolina's junior Senator right now:

"While Bush and McCain were "abandoning free-market principles to save the free-market system" by signing off on an $800 billion Wall Street Bailout, the Republican establishment still treated the truly free-market Ron Paul as some sort of crazy, irrelevant money crank.

It's amazing the difference a year makes.

As of this writing, every single Republican in the House and over 60 Democrats have co-sponsored Paul's H.R. 1207 Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which calls for an audit of the Federal Reserve. Given the current economic crisis, it turns out that many legislators are eager to see just how the Fed is able to print new money out of thin air. In the 1980's, Paul introduced similar legislation with virtually no help from his fellow Republicans. In 2009, the entire party has lined up behind Ron Paul.

And big kudos are in order for one Republican who has gone out of his way to help form that line - Senator Jim DeMint."

Watch "Ron Paul and Jim DeMint Take on the Fed"

Speaker "gagging" Minority Debate! Posted by LibertyLover747

Posted 07/17/09

Our right to be heard is being blocked by the Rules Committee in the House of Representatives every day! Our Congressmen are being barred from introducing their amendments, and resonable debate on the issues is effectively stopped or limited by the onerous new rules put in place by the majority party. The Speaker of the House has "locked down" any opposition from the minority, and has enabled countless bills to be rammed through the process that contain hundreds of pork barrel earmarks for special interests. 

I urge everyone to watch the House and Senate proceedings on CSPAN, and see how our legislative process has been hijacked.The heavy-handed disregard for the process is unprecented in all of our 233 year history!

LibertyLover747

The Revolving Door of Federal Reserve Bank Independence Apologists---a List and a Woman named Piazzesi Posted by janejumbomargarita

Posted 07/17/09 Last updated 07/15/09

My 11 year old son recently informed me that he had learned how to spell the word "independent" by listening to the hiphop song on the radio by Webbie Ft. Lil Boosie and Lil Phat. Nearly incomprehensible, the lyrics first spell the word and then go something like, "Do you know what that means? She got her own car, she got her own house...work hard she a bad broad..." It's a very catchy song with its great thumping drums and vocals. I find myself humming it sometimes. I like it. And I'm glad that my son now can spell "independent." Good for him.

We could apply that catchy tune to the raison d'etre for, the very subject of, the new movement afoot in American politics today in which ordinary citizens are rising up to demand an audit of the Federal Reserve Bank. ( HR 1207, S 604) With a few substitutions we can come up with "I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T do you know what that means? They got their own tricks. They got their own stash...Scam too hard they a bad bunch." And so on. Point being: an independent Fed means a very secretive central banking system, whereby the bankers utilize the US government as their very own cash generator, as they flush trillions of valueless paper dollars into a monetary and economic system which is disguised  and designed to appear as if it could stretch indefinitely into the future, all the while the bankers and their friends get rich off of the continuous generation of interest owed and paid to themselves by the US government. Al Capone could not have devised a more stealthy system of theft, giving the people exactly what they want, and apparently endless supply of credit for use by government in satisfying the people's demands for never-ending pork.

But the movement to audit the Fed has generated some enemies, as one might expect. While some 280 or more congresspersons have signed on to the idea that the Fed must finally be held accountable for its profligate monetary spending patterns as of late, while some ginormously insane number such as 3 mega-watt-zillion dollars is being magically created out of thin air, a new list of anti-audit economists and Fed well-wishers has emerged and found a place on the net. The list of pro-INDEPENDENCE (aka pro-Fed secrecy) personages is published at http://www.zerohedge.com/article/these-are-people-who-do-not-want-feds-veil-lifted. The author of the article accompanying the list, Tyler Durden, is someone unknown to me. Nevertheless I have a feeling that Durden likes hip-hop even a teensy-weensy bit and probably has tapped his foot a few times to the song "Independent" when crusing in his Lincoln Town car, or whatever, around Manhattan, or wherever. Durden teases his reader by boldfacing the names of those signers to the pro-secrecy petition who are directly inviolved in the revolving door as in working for a hedge fund or a bailed-out bank or what have you. The list that Durden created and placed online is as follows:

"Fed Independence" Petition Signatories:

Ricardo Caballero MIT

Kenneth French Dartmouth College

Robert Hall Stanford

Anil Kashyap Chicago Booth

Pete Klenow Stanford

Frederic Mishkin Columbia

Thomas Sargent NYU

Michael Woodford Columbia

Andrew Abel Wharton School,University of Pennsylvania

Daron Acemoglu MIT

Michael Adler Columiba University

Yacine Ait-Sahalia Princeton University

Fernando Alvarez University of Chicago

Scott Anderson Wells Fargo & Co.

Cliff Asness Managing and Founding Principal, AQR Capital Management LLC

Paul Asquith Massachusetts Institute of Technology

David Backus NYU

Dean Baim Pepperdine University/UCLA

Ravi Bansal Duke University

David Bates University of Iowa

Andrew Bernard Dartmouth College

Richard Berner Morgan Stanley

George Borts Brown University

Scott Brown Raymond James & Associates

Markus K. Brunnermeier Princeton University

Ralph C. Bryant Brookings Institution

Michael Carey Calyon Securities (USA) Inc. Credit Agricole Group

Christopher Carroll Johns Hopkins University

Martin Cherkes Columbia University

Diego Comin Harvard University

Jernej Copic UCLA

Dora Costa UCLA

Steven Davis University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Angus Deaton Princeton University

Davide Debortoli University of California, San Diego

Eddie Dekel Northwestern University

Harold Demsetz UCLA

Scott Desposato University of California, San Diego

Douglas Diamond University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Peter Diamond MIT

Francis X. Diebold University of Pennsylvania

Avinash Dixit Princeton University

Matthias Doepke Northwestern University

Darrell Duffie Stanford

Pierre Collin Dufresne Columbia

Martin Eichenbaum Northwestern University

Andrea Eisfeldt Northwestern UniversityKellogg School of Management

Jeffrey Ely Northwestern University

Eduardo Engel Yale University

Eugene Fama University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Henry Farber Princeton University

Roger Farmer UCLA

Jon Faust Center for Financial Economics, Johns Hopkins U.

Michael Feroli J.P.Morgan

Wayne Ferson U.S.C.

Kristin Forbes MIT-Sloan School of Management

Mark Gertler New York Univiersity

Marc Giannoni Columbia University

Simon Gilchrist Boston University

Robert J. Gordon Northwestern University

Roger Gordon UCSD

David Greenlaw Morgan Stanley

Gene Grossman Princeton University

Steffen Habermalz Northwestern University

James Hamilton University of California, San Diego

Gary Hansen UCLA

Robert Hansen Tuck School, Dartmouth College

Gordon Hanson UC San Diego

Milton Harris University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Tarek Hassan University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Zhiguo He Chicago Booth

John Heaton University of Chicago

D. Lee Heavner Analysis Group, Inc.

Christian Hellwig UCLA

Gailen Hite Columbia Business School

Yael Hochberg Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Stuart Hoffman PNC Financial ServicesGroup

Bengt Holmstrom MIT

Bo Honore Princeton University

Peter Hooper Deutsche Bank

Takeo Hoshi University of California, San Diego

Christopher House University of Michigan

Peter Howitt Brown University

Chang-tai Hsieh University of Chicago

Ellen Hughes-Cromwick Chief Economist, Ford Motor Company

John Huizinga University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Erik Hurst University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Ravi Jagannathan Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Dana Johnson Comerica Bank

Karen Johnson Federal Reserve Board of Governors (retired)

Charles I. Jones Stanford University, Graduate School of Business

Paul Joskow MIT

Matthew Kahn UCLA

Juno Kang The Bank of Korea

Steven Kaplan University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Bruce Kasman J.P. Morgan Chase

Peter Kenen Princeton Uniiversity

Ralph Koijen University of Chicago Booth School of Business

David Kotok Chariman, Central Banking Series, Global Interdependence Center, Philadelphia, PA.

Arvind Krishnamurthy Northwestern University

Rafael La Porta Dartmouth College

David Lake University of California, San Diego

Bruce Lehman UCSD

Nan Li Ohio State University

Hilarie Lieb Northwestern University

John Liew AQR Capital Management

Juhani Linnainmaa University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Andrew Lo MIT

Kevin Logan Dresdner Kleinwort

Guido Lorenzoni MIT

Hanno Lustig UCLA Anderson

Louis Maccini Johns Hopkins University

Burton Malkiel Princeton University

Eric Maskin The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University

Robert McDonald Kellogg School, Northwestern University

Daniel McFadden University of California, Berkeley

Doug McMillin Louisiana State University

Rajnish Mehra UC Santa Barbara

Robert Mellman J.P. Morgan

Robert Merton Harvard University

Laurence Meyer Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC

Atif Mian University of Chicago

Gregory Miller Suntrust Banks, Inc.

Robert Moffitt Johns Hopkins University

Stephen Morris Princeton University

Dale Mortensen Northwestern University

Giuseppe Moscarini Yale University

Tobias Moskowitz University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

Stefan Nagel Stanford

Maurice Obstfeld University of California,

Berkeley Lee Ohanian UCLA

Maureen O'Hara Cornell University

Stavros Panageas University of Chicago BoothSchool of Business

Dimitris Papanikolaou Northwestern University

Robert Parry President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Retired

Lubos Pastor University of Chicago BoothSchool of Business

Lasse H. Pedersen NYU

Monika Piazzesi Stanford

Keith Poole University of California, San Diego

Giorgio Primiceri Northwestern University

Valerie Ramey University of California, San Diego

Enrichetta Ravina Columbia University

Esteban Rossi-Hansberg Princeton University

Michael Rothschild Princeton University

Tano Santos Columbia Business

School Ulrike Schaede University of California, San Diego

Richard Schmalensee MIT

Martin Schneider Stanford

Kermit Schoenholtz NYU Stern School of Business

Jay Shanken Emory

Robert Shiller Yale University

Hyun Shin Princeton University

Stephen Shore Johns Hopkins University

Costis Skiadas Northwestern University

Matthew Slaughter Dartmouth College

James F. Smith Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC-Chapel Hill

Chester Spatt Carnegie Mellon University

James H. Stock Harvard

Rene Stulz The Ohio State University

Amir Sufi University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Joseph Swanson Northwestern University

Vefa Tarhan Loyola University Chicago

Edwin M. Truman Peterson Institute for International Economics

Harald Uhlig University of Chicago

Andrey Ukhov Northwestern University

Sergio Urzua Northwestern University

Chris Varvares Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC

Pietro Veronesi University of Chicago

Paul Wachtel New York University, Stern School of Business

Richard Walker Northwestern University

Mark Watson Princeton

Shang-jin Wei Columbia

David Weil Brown University

Pierre-Olivier Weill UCLA Economics

Burton Weisbrod Northwestern University

William Wheaton MIT

Michael Whinston Northwestern University

Mirko Wiederholt Northwestern University

Mark Witte Northwestern University

Tiemen Wouteren Johns Hopkins University

Jonathan Wright Johns Hopkins University

Wei Xiong Princeton University

Stanley Zin New York University

The letter they endorsed reads as follows:

Open Letter to Congress and the Executive Branch

Amidst the debate over systemic regulation, the independence of U.S. monetary policy is at risk. We urge Congress and the Executive Branch to reaffirm their support for and defend the independence of the Federal Reserve System as a foundation of U.S. economic stability. There are three specific risks that must be contained.

First, central bank independence has been shown to be essential for controlling inflation. Sooner or later, the Fed will have to scale back its current unprecedented monetary accommodation. When the Federal Reserve judges it time to begin tightening monetary conditions, it must be allowed to do so without interference. Second, lender of last resort decisions should not be politicized.

Finally, calls to alter the structure or personnel selection of the Federal Reserve System easily could backfire by raising inflation expectations and borrowing costs and dimming prospects for recovery. The democratic legitimacy of the Federal Reserve System is well established by its legal mandate and by the existing appointments process. Frequent communication with the public and testimony before Congress ensure Fed accountability.

If the Federal Reserve is given new responsibilities every effort must be made to avoid compromising its ability to manage monetary policy as it sees fit.

The reader of this Janejumbomargarita blog can easily see that the Audit the Fed campaign needs to overcome the Monika Piazzesi's of the world in order to be successful in our pursuit of a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve Bank. So just what does Dr. Monika Piazzesi have against auditing the Fed, you may ask. Well, let's have a look at Dr. Piazzesi's CV for a peek at the possible origiins of her pro-Fed biases. Let's just venture a guess at the start of our inquiry that Piazzesi is no Austrian economist.

First, as one sees that Piazzesi holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford, one might assume that Dr. Piazzesi is a liberal, although we cannot decode that as a certainty from the CV itself. For all I know she is a flaming libertarian, but I truly doubt it. She hails from Europe, not exactly a hotbed of the free market, if you catch my drift.

Second, The CV shows that Dr. Piazzesi was employed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 2007 to 2008 as an economic advisor. Further, Dr. Piazzesi was the recipient of the prize/fellowship called the Houblon-Norman Fund Fellow, from the Bank of England in 2001. One might conclude from the prize that the economist is no enemy of  central banking. Additionally, Piazzesi was a research visitor at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco in May 2007, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in December 2002 and again in May 2004, and (her words) a "Regular Visitor", whatever that means, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2003 to 2005. Seminars listed in the CV inlcude a 2007 stint at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and a 2005 seminar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The CV identifies several further conferences and seminars at which Piazzesi was either a participant or a guest speaker, including a 2003 Federal Reserve Board meeting, a 2002 Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis conference, a 2001 Bank of International Settlements meeting and a Federal Reserve Bank of New York conference, a keynote speech at a 2008 Bank of Canada Conference on Fixed Income, a 2008 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco meeting, a 2007 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta meetng, a 2006 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland meeting, a 2005 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago "Inflation"Conference, and lastly a 2003 Conference about "The Term Structure of Interest Rates and the Macroeconomy" organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis. Given all of the wine and cheese or cookies and lemonaide or rubber chicken that Dr. Piazzesi consumed at the central bank's various functions, one can readily conclude that Dr. Monika Piazzesi is quite likely a buddy of the Fed, or at the very least an eager student of its policies. Thus, one is compelled to ask, does she have her own car, her own house, does she work hard, is she a bad broad? Is she I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T, do you know what I mean?

Finally, we must ask whether given an analysis so steeped in web-surfing alacrity that the CVs of all the various signatories to the Anti-Audit The Fed letter are all as Fed-friendly as that of Monika Piazzesi?  No. Not necessarily. But Janejumbomargarita would like to invite all readers to do a little web-based research of their own. Pop up the CV of any of the listed economists and financial advisors on Tyler Durden's list. I just bet that those CVs are as Fed-friendly as Piazzesi's! 

(To the reader, I apologize in advance of clicking the publish button for any glaring typos in this piece. Editing has never been a forte of Janejumbomargarita. I quite loathe to have to reread things I've written. Please forgive me. To Dr. Piazzesi, please accept my heartfelt apologies for giving you your shot at fifteen minutes of airtime. Your name is simply too sonorous to pass by.)

After Sanford: Now What? Posted by janejumbomargarita

Posted 07/14/09 Last updated 07/10/09

       GOP libertarians across the country need to get over the loss of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford as potential presidential candidate and national standard bearer. Forthwith. Yesterday. Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out kind of alacrity. Oh well. Deep sigh. We also need to get over the idea of Sarah Palin, soon to be ex-gov of Alaska, as some manner of national leader. She is so toast, and so unmistakably inept, that to attempt to rehabilitate her and to redirect her unspent energies into some sort of a substantive makeover would be wholly vacuous and plainly ridiculous. You only get one chance to make a solid first impression. She blew her one chance. For real. Imagine her at a libertarian or conservative think tank waxing eloquently on national policy. Imagine her in a national talk show arena articulating intelligently on international relations or civil liberties. You get my drift. Not gonna happen. That leaves a couple of posibilities on the national radar screen as blips of libertarianism or something at least close to that for our consideration. (Please note that by omission I discount several possibilities entirely.....tossers, as the Brits say.)

     The GOP and the LP have already placed on the presidential ballot the name of the person whom I consider to be the frontrunner for the presidential candidacy nod: Congressman Ron Paul. Consistently freedom-loving and hard-working, Congressman Paul suffers no twenty-first century Vichy Collaborator (aka any contemporary modern fascist statist pol or their Dem or Rino ilk). Paul would be an ideal presidential candidate for the GOP if not for his age, which may not bother everyone but is likely to create in some a bit of pause when preparing to press the icon, punch the chad or pull the lever. On the other hand, in US Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina we find a freedom-loving and hard-working pol who also suffers no Vichy Collaborator, and who is not likely at all to create hestiation in voters due to his age (although some of us pro-choice GOPers may find his stance on abortion a bit tough to stomach). If I were voting today I would pluck the chad for Jim DeMint without a moment's hestiation. I believe that DeMint is ready for the battle of his political life. Round up the resistance, boys and girls. Put on the gas masks and gear. Vichy Collaborators had better get ready to fight for their very existence. It isn't going to be pretty.

Fed Under Fire Posted by janejumbomargarita

Posted 07/14/09 Last updated 07/10/09

This youtube mini-documentary is a political masterpiece. Watch it now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpbW64vRrMc You will be very glad that you spent the short 7 minutes to take in a very effective film. At the time of this blog the video has only 300 watches, but I believe that in a matter of weeks it will be watched by thousands as the word gets around that the video is out there in webland. Make Fed Under Fire part of you day right now. And then email your senator and congress person to insist upon an audit of the fed once and for all. Thanks to Ron Paul as always for spearheding the effort!

Two party system like a gang turf war Posted by Talbert Black Jr

Posted 07/06/09

Following is the speech I gave at the Columbia, SC TEA party on Saturday the 4th of July and Wake UP Rally on Friday the 3rd.

July 3^rd - Come together, right now!

False paradigm of left vs.right

This battle between the Democrats and the Republicans makes me think of a poor family living in an inner city neighborhood watching a turf war between two rival gangs.  The gangs don't care about the family or the neighbor hood.  All the gang cares about is the power of the gang.  If we want to win this battle for liberty and freedom, we must stop participating in this turf war by supporting one gang or the other.

The parties are two wings on the same bird of prey that feeds on your liberty and your freedom.  Stop feeding the bird.  Lets clip its wings!

Reality of freedom vs. slavery

The fight between democrats and republicans is a distraction from the real fight between liberty and oppression.  Are we still defending one of the gangs in Columbia, or are we  committed to fight against any gangster who won't defend our neighborhood?

Let me give you a specific example from my home town of Lexington.  Senator Jake Knotts is my Senator.  Earlier this year, he waddled down these steps at a "Give us the money" stimulus rally and encouraged the notion that SC must take the money.  Later, he used two procedural votes to kill the SC Sovereignty Resolution even though he is a cosponsor of the bill.  Again, when I asked him to support the "2009 Spending Accountability Act', which will give you your right to know how each legislator votes on every major piece of legislation, he looked me in the eye and said that he would make sure it never came up for a vote.  Jake the Snake is a republican.  I guarantee you that I'd vote for a communist to replace him if that were the only one running against him.  And you better be ready to do the same with your gangster.

I bet some of you are saying, "But we don't want a democrat in office".  And I say WHY NOT?  If the RINO is not standing up for your liberty, give the Democrat a try, or the Libertarian, or whomever.  But, if the Democrat doesn't pass muster in two years time, throw him out and give some one else a try.  It won't take but a couple of election cycles before these gangsters and tyrants learn that we mean business.  They better tow the line. Or they are done. 

There are always those who crave power

From the beginning of time, there have always been those who crave power and influence over others.  From Cain, who wanted to take the flocks of Abel, to Caesar, who wanted to control all the world. Nebuchadnezzar, who wanted to do the same.  Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Genghis Kahn, King George III, Lincoln, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Wilhelm, Stalin, Lenin, Hirohito, Chiang Kai Shek, Kim Jong Il, Pol Pot, 

For those who understand the Federal Reserve, we can add the names of Aldrich, Warburg, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Chase.

Here in our own general assembly is Knotts, McConnell, Harrell, and Hutto.

I could go on, but you get the picture.  This kind of people are always with us and always grasping for more power, more influence, and more stuff. So what stands between them and our liberty?  Liberty only exists when there are enough people with the will, education, power, and organization to prevent them from getting what they want.  G Edward Griffin recently said, "You cannot defend liberty without power!"  Where do we get power do defend liberty?   First

Personal integrity

Take personal responsibility for what you have control of.  Be good.  Be moral.  Be generous.  Be thankful.  Be kind.  Our society, based on individual liberty, cannot survive if we cannot control ourselves.  If we cannot control ourselves, then people will look to government to control us.  People who will not discipline themselves invite the intrusive control of government.  Personal Character is ultimately the most important thing we can have to protect liberty and freedom. Who in their right mind would want to live in a world without it?

Before we get concerned about the rascals in Washington and Columbia, lets get control of the rascal in the mirror.

Grass roots group is a tool, not an end

Next, find a group that fights for your passion and join it.  Get on their list.  Communication is vital to our freedom.  You must be kept in the communications loop.  Sign up and get active.  Go back to Patricia Wheat and give her your e-mail address.  E-mail communication is critical to an effective movement.

Next, keep your organization focused on the goal of liberty.  Be the watch dog for your group.  The goal is not building your group.  That is only a way to the goal. 

Stop the turf wars between groups

I have noticed something in the last few months that really worries me.  I am seeing the beginnings of turf wars springing up between the grass roots groups.  This can not happen.  We cannot become like the Republicans and Democrats, so busy fighting our turf wars that we forget the battle with liberty; so divided that we are easily conquered, or just plan ignored.

Don't let turf wars start between your organization and another.  Look for ways you can work together with others.  Overlook differences and build on common interests. 

I'm not talking about merging together under one group.  We don't need that.  One group is much easier for those who fight against us to discredit and marginalize.  We don't need one group.  We do need for all the various groups to communicate with each other and start working together in concert for liberty.

The longer your work with people in your organization, the more differences you will see.  Over look them.  What we are doing is vitally important.  We cannot, we must not let personal differences get in the way of liberty.  Our founders had many differences.  The fought tremendously against each other once our independence was won.  But against the common enemy of the King of England, they united and won liberty and freedom for themselves and for us. The enemy wishes to divide and break down, to build walls and separate.  We must unite and build up and lift and support each other.

1. Be ready to vote for anyone running against a scoundrel in office who won't take a stand for liberty, regardless of party.
2. Insist on personal character for yourself and elected officials.
3. Join a grass roots group and get active.
4. Don't participate in turf wars, stay focused on the real fight for liberty.
5. Foster cooperation between groups and individuals.

There is power in numbers and I'm sure there are more of us than there are of them.  Ben Franklin is reported as saying, "We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately"  Separately, we can do nothing!  Together, we have the power to do anything!

WSJ gets it right, Central Planning is Bad. Posted by annarlutz

Posted 07/06/09

This opinion article in the Wall Street Journal backs up what Ron Paul and supporters have been saying all along, the free market can and will fix itself if allowed. It discusses the housing market bubble, derivatives in particular. It places the blame where it is due, on Government intervention that favors one group at the expense of another for the "national good." At the root of all our nation's problems is the belief that the government's job is to "level the playing field" by doing away with natural competition and replacing it with favoritism.The problem with this balancing act, as we all know, is that it is impossible to artificially balance the interests of one group against others.

I appreciated the clarity and strength of this article's message. I love finding these pearls of truth in the mainstream media.

Declaration of Independence Posted by gandrewfry

Posted 07/06/09

This document is far more important than the Constitution for several reasons:

1. Without The Declaration there would be no need for the Constitution because we would still be governed by the British crown and the Magna Carta.

2. The Declaration is not "reinterpreted" every so often depending on the whims of current society and whoever happens to sit on the Supreme Court on the day that a critical case comes before it.

3. The Declaration provides the basis for any group of people to "dissolve the political bands which have connected them to another..". It does not advocate that this be done lightly but it does allow that it is sometimes necessary.

4. Finally, our government seems to find new and creative ways to ignore the Constitution so, what is its value?

G. Andrew Fry

Interesting article about Ron Paul converts in the GOP Posted by WWR 3

Posted 07/03/09

http://washingtonindependent.com/41786/ron-pauls-economic-theories-winning-gop-conver
ts

Doing The Quick Math: The Debt, Social Security and Medicare Posted by Dominguezg

Posted 06/29/09 Last updated 06/27/09

Doing The Quick Math: The Debt, Social Security and Medicare

The National Debt is about $11 Trillion.....or just under $40,000 for every American Citizen...
In today's dollars, Social Security is "underfunded" by about $14 trillion, which is about $45,000 for every American Citizen, and Medicare is "underfunded" by about $34 trillion, or about $120,000 per citizen....
That's about $200,000 for every single American....
I'm no accountant, and am myself only starting the understand the enormity of this problem...long, detailed analysis and literature is fine, but let's be realistic: most Americans don't have or are not going to invest the time to read "Atlas Shrugged"...so in my view, in order to grow, we need to reach out to the average citizen in simple, succint, and easy to understand terms that are a bit deeper than T-Shirt slogans and signifcantly simpler than in-depth manifestos....

Do The Quick Math & Spread The Word: WWW.LP.ORG

Sick of hearing Sanford and Clinton compared Posted by brmccarty

Posted 06/29/09

I'm already sick of hearing about Sanfords affair and having it compared to what Clinton did!!!
It is comparing apples and oranges. Clinton engaged in sex acts with a young woman who happened to be a subordinate. He did it in the Oval Office. He lied about it under oath (that is called perjury) and that is a crime.

Sanford had an affair. Let's seeeeee. Oh yea he didn't lie about it UNDER OATH!!!!!!!!!!! So go crawl back under a rock or get a life. I do not condone what Sanford did in fact I am disappointed in him for this. But the fact is as long as he hasn't broken the law it is a matter to be settled by him, his family, and God! I felt the same way about the Clinton ordeal, but Clinton DID break the law! And let us not forget Paula and Kathleen. Sexual harassment is also a crime.

Calling for Sanford to resign is absurd and calling for impeachment is ludicrous. People work though far more debilitating circumstances all the time. In resent history we had a state elect a dead man to the US Senate and sent his widow to take his place. Does anyone think that she wasn't distracted from her job? Life is full of problems and obsticles. We must overcome them and continue to live our lives and yes we must do our jobs. I know of no perfect person in this world we have all made mistakes and done things that we should not have. It's how we handle these things that define who we are.

My heart and prayers go out to the Sanford family. This family needs our prayers not continued badgering.

Billy McCarty

Since when is a politician's sex life my business? Posted by annarlutz

Posted 06/29/09

I suppose Governor Sanford has disappointed many people and damaged his integrity with his philandering. I'm disappointed that someone who has defended our rights and stood for liberty is now discredited.

While I cannot defend what he did, I do not feel that his sex life or his marriage is my business. I'm so tired of the malicious speculation and seeming joy in his downfall. If anything, his position is pitiable as is that of his wife and sons. However, no one can know the circumstances and feelings that led to his betrayal, and nor should we.

His affair doesn't affect his job, he did nothing illegal. People are calling for his resignation and impeachment. Personally, I hope that he does not resign. I do not think he will take such a cowardly option. Despite his indiscretion, I believe he is not the type of man to back away from an office in which he has invested so much, simply because he cannot face the nastiness on the part of a few other politicians. He showed this when he admitted to the affair publicly and apologized profusely, rather than making the usual excuses. 

I believe that Jake Knotts and many other politicians knew before Monday about Governor Sanford's affair. His wife already knew. I believe that Knotts raised concern over the Governor's absence in order to reveal the affair and discredit the Governor. I spoke to Jake Knotts and Kenny Bingham on Monday night and they both said of the Governor's disappearance, "Oh, there's much more to it, you will find out soon." To me, this kind of malicious plotting is very unbecoming of an official. I am not so naive as to think that it doesn't occur regularly, but it's reprehesible just the same. Personally, I hope Jake Knotts resigns or is voted out of office, never to return.

This drama has shown Jake Knotts to be the scoundrel he is, it has shown that Andre Bauer is easily manipulated by people like Knotts, and it has shown that Mark Sanford is a man of courage.

Very disappointed in Sanford and so many others Posted by

Posted 06/29/09

"The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

Too Easy? Posted by paulmolive

Posted 06/29/09 Last updated 06/24/09

It has been an unsettling day in my home state. The governor has announced his resignation due to his inability to be a trustworthy leader. This all seems shocking and sad, as well as another crushing blow to a state mired in controversy anytime it is in the national news. But was it too easy? I am here to admit my first thought is where is the proof? How can a man who presents himself with such intelligence and dignity sink to the levels of other states politicians we have seen caught in this shameful act? I wonder, and to my surprise already others around me do as well, was this an act of something else? Was our governor forced out of his position? Was his stance on the reckless legislation passed by the federal government too much for the current administration? Or some of the far far right republicans even? I have a hard time believing the confession that is being put on full blast by the AP as I type this. There does not seem to be much concern or worry in his demeanor or voice about his family and marriage. He is quite calm for someone whose world is completely turned upside down and quite possibly gone from him forever. There does not seem to be much logic in a man doing this, with current events being what they are, thinking that he wouldn't be caught. I may seem skeptical, or a proud constituent of Sanford, but it all just seems entirely too easy and fast for this to unfold the way it did. This reeks of a force out to me.

Iranian Neocons? Posted by southernavenger

Posted 06/22/09 Last updated 06/21/09

In his statement on the House floor last week opposing the resolution condemning Iran, Ron Paul said "I have admired President Obama's cautious approach to the situation in Iran and I would have preferred that we in the House had acted similarly."

I agree. Obama's cautious and dare I say "conservative" approach on the recent developments in Iran, is one of the few good things I can say about our president.

Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski agreed on CNN's GPS with Fareed Zakaria today, and in an interesting analysis, put Obama's critics on this issue in the same boat with Iranian regime hardliners, who he refers to as "Iranian neocons:"

Brzezinski: "those who are supporting the regime, who in many respects are like our neocons, they are very similar to our neocons. They're Manichean. They look at the world as divided into good and evil and many of them see America as the personification of evil."

Zakaria: "Has Obama struck the right tone?"

Brzezinski: "Obama's offering moral sympathy. He's identifying himself morally, historically with what is happening in Iran. But he's not engaging himself politically. He's not interfering, because that could turn badly and it could be exploited by the neocons in Iran to crush the revolution, to wipe it out.

I don't know if the revolution will prevail, it may take time. The longer it lasts, the better are its chances. But we don't want to escalate into a total showdown, because if there's a total showdown now, the chances are the worst elements - the Iranian neocons - will prevail."

Sanford's cover letter on the app for (non)stimulus Posted by SCPatriotBlogs

Posted 06/17/09

I love his strong language in this cover letter, including that he is being made to do this under duress and that this is indeed "taxation without representation" that ignited the fuel for the birth of our great country to start with!  The app and cover letter are on his website at http://www.scgovernor.com/news/releases/6-8-09.htm

Link to directly go to the Governor's pdf of the Cover Letter and Application

USURP! USURP! USURP! Even at the local level! Sheesh! Posted by SCPatriotBlogs

Posted 06/17/09

Charleston.Net Logo
Vetoes tossed in special session

Lawmakers preserve laws on ports, payday lending
By Yvonne Wenger
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, June 17, 2009

COLUMBIA — Gov. Mark Sanford's concerns about 10 new laws were summarily dismissed Tuesday when the Legislature breezed through a special one-day session to overturn his vetoes, including one that will put new regulations on the payday lending industry.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford

After years of fights over how to regulate the payday lending practices that charge high interest rates on short-term loans, South Carolina borrowers will be limited to one $550 loan at a time and be subject to a cooling-off period between loans. Advocates consider the legislation consumer protection from a predatory industry, but Sanford argued in his veto that the service is needed and using it responsibly is up to the borrower.

Others, including Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville, say the legislation falls short of protecting the state's poor and vulnerable but ultimately see it as a start.

To uphold Sanford's veto would have been to endorse the industry as it is, Malloy said.

Lenders charge high interest on small, short-term loans that people borrow against future paychecks. The loans aren't available at banks for people with bad credit.

Borrowers can get stuck in a cycle that forces them to take out new loans to repay old ones.

The bill originally passed the Legislature by a large margin, so House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said he wasn't surprised to see the veto overridden.

"I thought that regulating the industry was the right thing to do, that attempts to regulate the industry out of existence would be a mistake," Harrell said. "I think this bill is good regulation of the industry."
Politics
Covering the Lowcountry, South Carolina and the Nation.


Sanford press secretary Joel Sawyer said the governor is disappointed but not surprised at the Legislature's overrides. Sanford was most disappointed with the votes to overturn his veto on a bill that restructures the State Ports Authority and another that deals with regulations and penalties for sex offenders.

Sex offenders who fail to tell the state where they are living will now face a 30-day jail sentence for a first offense, instead of 90 days. The change was made last year, at the request of state solicitors, to help get the cases before a magistrate judge and out of the backlogged circuit court. This year's bill makes the change immediate, rather than waiting for about nine more months.
Previous story

Sanford urges lawmakers to uphold veto, published 06/16/09

Sawyer said it is "unbelievable" that the Legislature would agree to lessen the penalties for sexual predators.

"They refused to fix their mistake," Sawyer said.

Senate leader Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said he did not think that Sanford's arguments stuck. He also said that the governor's standing with many legislators diminished this year as the fight over Sanford's opposition to federal stimulus cash grew ugly and dragged on. The state Supreme Court earlier this month forced Sanford to take the $700 million that he had opposed because the Legislature didn't apply an equal amount of state dollars toward debt.

"With the stimulus question out of the way, it was refreshing for us to be back, dealing with the merits of some bills," McConnell said.

The Legislature is not expected to return until January.


Veto overrides

The House and Senate overrode each of Gov. Mark Sanford's vetoes. The governor had vetoed 10 bills since the Legislature adjourned last month. To read more about the bills, use the bill number to use the Quick Search tool on www.scstatehouse.gov.

Bill no. 3919: Creates the S.C. House Commission to study housing affordability and accessibility. House voted 81-24, Senate 33-11.

3301: Regulates payday lending by limiting loans per customer and establishing a cooling off period between loans. House voted 105-4, Senate 39-3

116: Gives S.C. products and services preference in government contracts. House voted 88-15, Senate 33-10.

351: Restructures the State Ports Authority. House votes 102-2, Senate 35-9.

3087: Allows prosecutors to immediately begin trying sex offenders who fail to register their addresses with the state in magistrate's court and prohibits local governments from making rules about where sex offenders can live by deferring to state law. House voted 77-38, Senate 29-14.

3018: Gives builders a break on paying property taxes for new homes that have not been sold. House voted 111-1, Senate 42-2.

3762: Creates three new specialty license plates. House voted 91-15, Senate 34-8.

364: Continues a grant program for firefighters. House voted 106-0, Senate 41-1.

453: Limits appeals for livestock and poultry facilities to property owners and residents within a two-mile radius; requires state law, not local regulations, to govern the care and handling of livestock and poultry; addresses fees for runoff and requires pharmacists to sign off on performance-enhancing cocktails for polo horses. House voted 95-10, Senate 36-8.

758: Allows Clarendon County schools to use money from a 1-cent sales tax for academic and art instruction. The local bill only required a vote by the county delegation. House vote 1-0, Senate 1-0.

Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-799-9051 or ywenger@postandcourier.com.

President outlines proposals for reordering how financial sector is regulated - includes plan for new consumer protection agency. Posted by NuclearNate14

Posted 06/17/09

In short:

" President Obama wants to expand the powers of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department."

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/17/news/economy/regulatory_reform/

We have alot of work ahead of us my friends. Please read the article and prepare yourselves.

Unconstitutional? Who Cares? Posted by Rob Watts

Posted 06/17/09

Certainly not the government, especially not representatives Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Steve Israel (D-NY), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and Eleanor Norton (D-DC). Eleanor Norton's seat in the House is unconstitutional in it's own right, but that is not the issue at hand. Rep. McCarthy has introduced H.R. 2401 the "No Fly, No Buy Act of 2009. This bill would prohibit anyone on the Transportation Security Administration's "no-fly" list from purchasing, selling, transferring, and possessing a firearm or ammunition. It would require that anyone's name that is on the "no-fly" list be automatically added to the "no buy" list in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Sounds good, right?

Not really considering that we have heard many stories of people being held for being on the list that obviously do not belong on the list. Not to mention that not too long ago Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said that veterans should be considered dangerous, or even as terrorist? Also, back in the spring there was the leaked report out of Missouri about "right-wing extremist" including people that generally opposed federal authority in favor of state sovereignty and members of such groups as the Campaign for Liberty. Supporters of Congressman Ron Paul or third party candidates for president such as Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin were also listed.

CBS news reported in a 2007 story that the list was roughly 44,000 people long. I am not saying that the "no-fly" list does not serve a purpose but do we really want to use it to automatically disqualify someone from there second amendment rights? Contact you congressmen and ask them to oppose H.R. 2401.

(CBS story: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/05/60minutes/main2066624.shtml)

My question (supposedly) submitted to ABC for the June 24th's "Prescription for America" Posted by SCPatriotBlogs

Posted 06/17/09 Last updated 06/17/09

Now there is a lot to report on ABC's publicly traitorous move to air this show with no support or input from either sides in opposition to Obama's plans. They (meaning ABC) claims that it will have all sides (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/06/abc-news-responds-to-rnc-letter.html) but we shall see...

For the sake of at least trying (though I know it's in vain) I submitted a question to Obama via ABC's site (see image capture below). Once I hit the submit button, I received no confirmation that it was submitted and also notice the character counter in the screen capture - it never moved as I typed... smoke and mirrors, people - smoke and mirrors.

I do plan on watching this despite the retching I'm sure I'll be doing to see if my question is ever addressed, but again, I know it won't be...

Site addy to 'submit' questions: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/story?id=7845403

State Controlled Media and the Revolution of Ideas Posted by Rob Watts

Posted 06/17/09

The Drudge Report is reporting today that the ABC network will turn over there prime time spot next week on June 24th to the White House to push the Obama health care plan, sometimes referred to as Obama-care. The RNC has asked to be apart of the broadcast to make sure that both sides of the issue are present. Instead ABC has said no. Next week for the first time that I can think of we will have a fusion of media and government in the United States. The DNC is not being forced to pay for this air time, it is being given over to the White House by ABC to promote the Obama health care agenda unopposed. ABC is even going so far as to have World News Tonight broadcast from the White House directly preceding the Obama health care propaganda.

This makes ABC, even if only for one night, a propaganda arm of the government. This is a dangerous thing to happen. We all know that most of the media is in the tank for the left but state controlled media is a very different thing. There is no more truth in a nation were the government is the media, just ask the people of Iran. NBC has already lost its credibility with people except those on the left, ABC now has to have even less credibility by pimping itself out to the White House. In the response to the RNC complaint ABC stated that ABC would have complete editorial control of those in the audience, well lets see what type of questions are asked by the ABC controlled audience.

In a free society the media would always cast a suspicious eye towards government as should the people, but somehow we have learned to trust government all too much, we are willing to pay the price of liberty for a slice of security or false prosperity. If the Obama health care plan is passed we may never recover our republic. Republicans have already conceded Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Department of Education, etc. Republicans used to run on eliminating these programs or agencies but today we are given the false choices of a lot more government or a little more government. If we lose this fight we may see the day where there is no fight to repeal but to reorganize the national health plan. We must fight for real choices. The voters over the past few election cycles have proven that people want the candidate that will give them the most while telling them that the higher taxes to pay for these new programs and departments will not affect them even though it is a false statement. The word revolution has been thrown around a lot over the past few years by people who want drastic change. They call for the "Revolution to Begin", but the revolution has already begun. Unlike the revolution that was fought at the bridge in Lexington, Mass., Camden, South Carolina, and Fort Ticonderoga this revolution will not be fought with bayonets, but with words and ideas. The danger here is that we cannot let out movement get hijacked by the wack jobs such as, anarchist, 9/11 Truthers, and the rest of the black helicopter crowd as this will do nothing but damage our movement. We must remember that the revolution is for the minds and souls of the American people. It is freedom versus tyranny. The revolution is NOW!

In God We Trust,

In Liberty We Live.

(The ABC story can be found at: http://drudgereport.com/flashaot.htm)

From Senator Jim DeMint's Facebook: Will the Federal Reserve Be Audited? Posted by MattJarfi

Posted 06/17/09

This came straight from Senator Jim DeMint's Facebook!!!  What a true champ!

Will the Federal Reserve Be Audited?

Today at 10:15am

It will come as a surprise to many Americans to know: 1) the Federal Reserve is not part of the U.S. government, but is a private organization; and 2) it has never been audited. But more than half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives have become cosponsors of Congressman Ron Paul's bill to audit the Fed, and similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.

Enacted in 1913, the Fed began issuing currency in 1914. All U.S. currency today is Federal Reserve currency. The last U.S. Treasury-issued dollars backed by precious metal carried the date 1968. Since then, the value of all dollars has steadily evaporated due to inflation. All value will soon disappear completely if the process under which the Fed is permitted to print vast quantities of new money isn't terminated.

As an important first step in exposing what the Fed has been doing for almost 100 years, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act on February 26. Known more popularly as the "Audit the Fed bill," H.R. 1207 has already garnered 224 co-sponsors, more than half of the 435 House members. This remarkable achievement could not have occurred without the congressman's valiant run for the GOP nomination that awakened millions. He has been warning that the nation would suffer an economic meltdown for many years. Moreover, the recession that has already harmed so many has generated widespread demand for examining the Fed's books.

In a recent message appearing on YouTube, Rep. Paul pointed out that, while more than half of the House membership has now co-sponsored the bill, an even more important plateau of support would be 290, the number of backers that would negate the potential for blocking the bill through a parliamentary procedure known as suspension of the rules. In other words, he urges continued effort to gain more co-sponsors.

Over in the Senate, a companion measure has been introduced. S. 604 also calls for auditing the Fed and needs its own co-sponsors. To date, the bill's author, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), has been joined by only one co-sponsor, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).

Now that there is such large and growing support for an overall audit of everything the Fed does, Congressman Paul believes that the Fed's authorities and its government supporters who will be under the gun "will come down real hard" to block what the bill seeks to accomplish. But, he says, "Support so far amounts to a major political and moral victory. If the Fed's supporters don't allow this bill to pass, they will prove our point that they are hiding important information that the American people want to see." He also believes any attempt to thwart the purpose of H.R. 1207 will increase demand for the Fed to be audited.

The congressman is correct. Major progress toward achieving long-overdue transparency of the nation's unconstitutional money manager has already been made.

The New American Magazine
By John F. McManus
Monday, 15 June 2009

Lindsey Graham is "now considering" cosponsoring S.604! Posted by MattJarfi

Posted 06/17/09

Lindsey Graham is "now considering" cosponsoring S.604 The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act!!

Keep the pressure on!

Call Lindsey Graham today and ask him to co-sponsor S.604 Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009. He stated in an interview last month that he would support an audit of the Fed. Hold him to it!

Phone number: (202) 224-5972