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The "food safety" bills in Congress were written by Monsanto, Cargill, Tysons, ADM, etc. All are associated with the opposite of food safety. What is this all about then?
In the simplest terms, organic food and a rebirth of farming were winning. Not in absolute numbers but in a deep and growing shift by the public toward understanding the connection between their food and their health, between good food and true social pleasures, between their own involvement in food and the improvement in their lives in general, between local food and a burgeoning local economy.
Slow Food was right - limit your food to what comes from your region and from real farmers, and slow down to cook it and linger over it with friends and family, and the world begins to change for the better.
And as we face an unprecedented economic crisis, and it is hard to be sure what has value, one thing that always does is food. Which is why the corporations are after absolute control over it. But what obstacles to a complete lock on food do they face? All the people in this country who are "banking" on organic farming and urban gardens and most of all, everyone's deepening pleasure in and increasing involvement with everything about food.
Farmers markets. Local farmers. Real milk. Fresh eggs. Vegetable stands.
Those are things we not only all want, but things we are actively getting involved in, and things we very much need. And where they are truly good, they are growing.
The international financial corporations which have wreaked havoc around the world with astounding nonsensical "solutions" that are destructive of everyone but them, are brothers to the international agribusiness giants (Monsanto, Cargill, Tysons, ADM, etc.) which are just as aggressively after their own form of "taking." Just seeds, animals, water, land.
And freedom.
Because human beings are by in large good and by in large incredibly resilient and clever, and left to their own devices - that is, free - they would handle this gargantuan financial stupidity the corporations brought us with NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT and all other globalized schemes (which they hope to eventually top off with CODEX). How? By being productive in real ways and locally. And farming is the solid ground under that. Farmers produce something of real value (something we used to take for granted), and from that base, businesses grow up. Local markets, local food processors, local seed companies, local tool and supply companies, local stores ... and an economy based on reality and something truly good for us, too, begins to grow.
So, look again at what has been exciting us - Farmers markets. Local farmers. Real milk. Fresh eggs. Vegetable stands. - and realize that they are not only wonderfully healthy but fun and naturally community building. And more, they are a real economy and deeply democratic - and just at a time we need something that works economically, that supports our democratic rebirth, and that protects food itself and our easy access to it.
And it is all those things that threaten the corporations ... which is why we now have these massive "fake food safety" bills in Congress. Everything is going under thanks to these fools, and they wish to be there like vultures to make sure that every drop of blood that can be sucked out of our resources and us, is theirs. To wit, they must get rid of such good and innocent things and yet truly powerful things as:
Farmers markets. Local farmers. Real milk. Fresh eggs. Vegetable stands.
And how will those who contaminate our country's food with pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and more, do that? Why, by setting standards for "food safety" that are so grotesquely and inappropriately and even cruelly applied to a local, independent farmers and ranchers that there is no way they can manage. Imagine your being faced with a 100 page IRS form and facing a million dollar a day penalty for screwing up. That would be in the ball park of the impossible complexity mixed with threat facing our farmers. Imagine having the government and corporations deciding every single thing you can do and must do in your kitchen and backing that up with the threat of 10 years in prison for screwing up - though you have never made anyone sick, and those corporations have. Imagine being surveilled 24 hours a day by GPS tracking devices that feed into ... a corporate data bank, one they have now moved out of the country so no one here can have legal access to see what is in it.
Imagine the devil himself - or a whole boardrooms of them, dressed in suits - defining the only safe and healthy food in this country as dangerous and burdening hard working farmers with more work then anyone could bear, while his own, their own, food is so dangerous at this point that in the last 10 years alone, diabetes has gone up 90%.
And how did they get this far with such a scheme to apply insane industrial standards to every farm in the country? Through fear of diseases and of outbreaks of food borne illnesses, both of which they cause themselves.
How it works: Tyson helps Bill Clinton get into office. Bill Clinton immediately and significantly lowers contamination standards for poultry as a thank you. And it is such contaminated waste from transnational poultry factories which is now implicated as the source of bird flu. Then fortunes on made on that fear. And then poultry industry uses the crisis they created to push out small farmers and take greater control than ever. Their mantra? Biodiversity not only be damned but be eliminated. And get rid of those damn farmers who protect it while we're at it.
The bills would require such a burdensome complexity of rules, inspections, licensing, fees, and penalties for each farmer who wishes to sell locally - a fruit stand, at a farmers market - no one could manage it. And THAT is the point. The whole dirty tricks point. The whole "be in tight control of everything needed for survival because it'll be worth a fortune" point.
So, if you like farmers markets, local farmers, fresh milk, fresh eggs, vegetables stands, and freedom, let your friends know that it's all on the line right now with those "fake food safety" bills brought to us with well-planned evil and more of it to come, by Monsanto, Cargill, Tysons, ADM, etc.
Slow Food reminds us of just where we need to be (and notice how much would help any local economy):
Forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems; Developing an "Ark of Taste" for each ecoregion, where local culinary traditions and foods are celebrated; Preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation;Organizing small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products); Organizing celebrations of local cuisine within regions (for example, the Feast of Fields held in some cities in Canada); Promoting "taste education;" Educating consumers about the risks of fast food; Educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms; Educating citizens about the risks of monoculture and reliance on too few genomes or varieties; Developing various political programs to preserve family farms; Lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy; Lobbying against government funding of genetic engineering; Lobbying against the use of pesticides; Teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners; and Encouraging ethical buying in local marketplaces.
But we need to stop these bills first or we are left with no money from the financial bailout and no food from the food stealout.
Send a message to Congress.
We need millions to be fighting this. Contact Eli Pariser at MoveOn moveon-help@list.moveon.org to tell him MoveOn is badly needed.
Featured blog entries
Statement of Congressman Ron Paul
United States House of Representatives
Statement on H. Res. 1422
June 24, 2010
Madam Speaker, the House of Representatives recently considered H.RES. 1422, honoring the 140th anniversary of the Department of Justice. I voted against this resolution because of the Justice Department's history of violating individual rights.
It is the Justice Department that leads the ongoing violations of the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments in the name of the "war on drugs." It is Justice Department agents who perform warrantless wiretap, and "sneak-and-peak" searches under the misnamed PATRIOT Act. It is the Justice Department that prosecutes American citizens for violating unconstitutional federal regulations even in cases where no reasonable person could have known their actions violated federal law.
Some like to pretend that the Justice Department's assault on liberties is a modern phenomenon, or that abuses of liberties are only carried out by one political party. However, history shows that the unconstitutional usurpations of power and abuse of rights goes back at least almost a hundred years to the "Progressive" era and that Justice Departments of both parties have disregarded the Constitution and violated individual liberties.
During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson's Justice Department imprisoned people who dared to speak out against the war. Following the war, the progressive assault on the First Amendment continued with the infamous "Palmer raids," named for Wilson's Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. Just as President Wilson's policies of foreign interventionism and domestic welfare served as a model for future presidents, Attorney General Palmer's assaults on civil liberties served as a model for future attorney generals of both parties. Think of Robert Kennedy authorizing the wiretapping of Martin Luther King, Jr, John Mitchell's role in the abuses of civil liberties by Nixon Administration, Ed Meese's assault on the First Amendment with his "pornography commission," Janet Reno's role in the murder of innocent men, women and children at Waco, and the steady erosion of our rights over the past decade. In addition, it is the attorney general and the Justice Department that defend and justify violations of constitutional liberties by the president and the other federal bureaucracies.
Many civil libertarians were hopeful the new administration would be more sympathetic to civil liberties than was the prior administration. But the current administration has disregarded campaign promises to restore respect for civil liberates and has continued, and in many cases expanded, the anti-freedom policies of its predecessors. For instance, the current administration is supporting renewal of the policies of warrantless wiretapping, and other PATRIOT Act provisions. The administration, despite promising to be more open and transparent, is also continuing to use the claim of "state secrets" to shield potentially embarrassing information from Americans. According to the New York Times, the current administration is even outdoing its predecessors in the prosecution of government whistleblowers. It is little wonder that the head of the American Civil Liberties Union recently said he is disgusted with the administration's record on civil liberties.
Of course, Madam Speaker, Congress bears ultimate responsibility for the Justice Department's actions, as it is Congress that passes the unconstitutional laws the Justice Department enforces. Congress also fails to perform effective oversight of the Justice Department. Instead of honoring the Justice Department, Congress should begin to repeal unconstitutional laws and start exercising congressional oversight of executive branch agencies that menace our freedoms.
Categories: , Civil Liberties, Ethics, History
Tags: Department of Justice
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I would like to extend a personal invitation to everyone here at C4L to come down to the Uptown Theater to watch V for Vendetta on November 5, 2009. Please come down to the Valentine Room along the north side of the Uptown around 6 pm. We should start the movie about 7 pm. I will be in costume so polish up your Guy Fawkes masks if you have them.
Categories: Just For Fun, Current Events
Tags: Party, gay, Movie, fawkes, november, uptown
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Posted by John Tate
| Posted 10/25/09Last updated 10/25/09
 
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Campaign for Liberty believes it is time to reform the way health care is delivered in America. Years of ruinous government intervention, excessive regulation, and corporatism have damaged the patient-doctor relationship and driven up consumer costs.
The solution to our health care dilemma will not come from some grand scheme concocted by the same people who ran our economy into the ground and who continue to accumulate trillions of dollars in debt.
It will come from choosing freedom by ending government meddling in health care, protecting patient privacy, returning more of our hard-earned tax dollars to us, and ensuring the federal government does not block any information about alternative treatments.
Congressman Ron Paul, an OB-GYN who has delivered more than 4,000 babies, has introduced several pieces of legislation in Congress to bring true change to health care and to protect the American people from further government intrusion.
H.R. 2629, the Coercion is Not Health Care Act, stops government from taking even more of our money and railroading us into its health care scheme by preventing any individual or agency in the federal government from requiring anyone to purchase health insurance. H.R. 2629 also prohibits conditioning the receipt of any government benefit or participation in any government program on the purchase or maintenance of health insurance.
H.R. 1495, the Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act of 2009, allows all Americans to pay their health care bills through the method that suits them best by providing all Americans with a tax credit for 100% of health care expenses (fully refundable against both income and payroll taxes), allowing individuals to roll over unused amounts in cafeteria plans and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSA), providing a tax credit for premiums for a high-deductible insurance policy connected with a Health Savings Account (HSA) and allowing seniors to use funds in an HSA to pay for a medigap policy, as well as making all medical expenses tax deductible by repealing the 7.5% threshold for the deduction of medical expenses.
H.R. 1498, the Freedom from Unnecessary Litigation Act of 2009, addresses rising medical malpractice costs by providing a tax credit for negative outcomes insurance purchased prior to medical treatment and by preventing medical malpractice awards obtained through binding arbitration from being taxed.
As Dr. Paul said in his speech introducing H.R. 1498, "Relying on negative outcomes insurance instead of litigation will also reduce the costs imposed on physicians, other health care providers, and hospitals by malpractice litigation."
H.R. 2630, the Protect Patients and Physicians Privacy Act, allows patients and physicians to opt-out of any government-mandated or -funded system of electronic health care records and repeals the federal law creating an "unique patient identifier." It also denies the use of federal funds to advance the use of standard unique health identifiers in any federal, state, or private health care plan.
H.R. 3394, the Freedom of Health Speech Act, requires the FTC to actually prove health care claims are false before preventing those claims from being made, and H.R. 3395, the Health Freedom Act, ends the FDA's attempts to censure truthful health claims.
These are just a few of steps Congressman Paul has taken in Congress to address the health care crisis.
Click here to get contact information for your representatives and urge them to support Dr. Paul's health care reform legislation.
And be sure to visit Dr. Paul's congressional website, where you can get information on all the legislation he has sponsored and cosponsored in the current Congress and several previous ones, read his speeches introducing his legislation and remarking on other efforts, and learn more about his work to restore respect for the Constitution in Washington.
The federal government has meddled in our health care affairs long enough. It's time to choose freedom.
It's time to make sure Americans can receive efficient, effective health care by unleashing the power of the free market.
Click here to contact Congress.
Categories: , Health Freedom, US Constitution, Federal Legislation, Current Events
Tags: Health Care, Health Control
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Secret State Police Report:
Ron Paul, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Libertarians are Terrorists
Kurt Nimmo / Infowars
March 11, 2009
Alex Jones has received a secret report distributed by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) entitled “The Modern Militia Movement” and dated February 20, 2009. A footer on the document indicates it is “unclassified” but “law enforcement sensitive,” in other words not for public consumption. A copy of the report was sent to Jones by an anonymous Missouri police officer.
The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as “militia” influenced terrorists and instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.
“Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) provides a public safety partnership consisting of local, state and federal agencies, as well as the public sector and private entities that will collect, evaluate, analyze, and disseminate information and intelligence to the agencies tasked with Homeland Security responsibilities in a timely, effective, and secure manner,” explains the MIAC website. “MIAC is the mechanism to collect incident reports of suspicious activities to be evaluated and analyzed in an effort to identify potential trends or patterns of terrorist or criminal operations within the state of Missouri. MIAC will also function as a vehicle for two-way communication between federal, state and local law enforcement community within our region.”
MIAC is part of the federal “fusion” effort now underway around the country. “As of February 2009, there were 58 fusion centers around the country. The Department has deployed 31 officers as of December 2008 and plans to have 70 professionals deployed by the end of 2009. The Department has provided more than $254 million from FY 2004-2007 to state and local governments to support the centers,” explains the Department of Homeland Security on its website. Missouri is mentioned as a participant in this federal “intelligence” effort.
Last month, the ACLU issued a news release highlighting the activity of a fusion center in Texas as the “latest example of inappropriate police intelligence operations targeting political, religious and social activists for investigation,” in particular “Muslim civil rights organizations and anti-war protest groups.”
The MIAC report does not concentrate on Muslim terrorists, but rather on the so-called “militia movement” and conflates it with supporters of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, the so-called patriot movement and other political activist organizations opposed to the North American Union and the New World Order. The MIAC document is a classic guilt by association effort designed to demonize legitimate political activity that stands in opposition to the New World Order and its newly enshrined front man, Barack Obama.
In September of 2008, Missouri sheriffs and prosecutors organized truth squads to intimidate people opposed to Obama and threatened to arrest and prosecute anybody who ran “misleading television ads.” Missouri governor Matt Blunt eventually denounced the use of “police state tactics” on the part of the Obama-Biden campaign.
MIAC claims members of a “rightwing” militia movement organized in the 1990s — generally in response to the Oklahoma City bombing and the events at Waco — “continuously exploit world events in order to increase participation in their movements. Due to the current economical and political situation, a lush environment for militia activity has been created” and supposedly exploited by “constitutionalists” and “white supremacists,” the latter an oft-employed canard used to demonize activists as dangerous and potentially violent lunatics.
MIAC notes many of the political issues cited by the so-called patriot movement — the Ammunition Accountability Act, the impending economic collapse of the government, the possibility of a constitutional convention, the North American Union, Obama’s “Universal Service Program,” and the implementation of RFID, issues that are not limited to the patriot movement but are shared by a wide array of political activists.
The MIAC document includes a map of the North American Union not dissimilar from one released by NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition (see the NASCO map here).
The MIAC report is similar to one created by the Phoenix Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Force during the Clinton administration (see page one and page two of the document). The FBI document explicitly designates “defenders” of the Constitution as “right-wing extremists.” The MIAC report expands significantly on the earlier document.
In order to artificially heighten the perceived threat threshold, MIAC rolls in Christian Identity, white nationalism, “militant” anti-abortion activists, opposition to illegal immigration, and income tax resistance. MIAC deceptively blurs the lines between these disparate political ideologies and underscores the possibility for violence in a summary of the organizational structure of the militia movement and a section describing how members strive to train in “combat readiness.”
The MIAC effort to characterize Libertarians and Constitutionalists as racists is reminiscent of an attempt by the corporate media in early 2008 to portray Ron Paul as a racist by attempting to link him to a series of vaguely racist newsletters produced in the 1980s. Paul did not exercise editorial control over the newsletters and went so far as to apologize for them, but this did not prevent the corporate media from characterizing him as a racist.
According to MIAC, opposition to world government, NAFTA, federalization of the states, and restrictive gun laws are a threat to the police. “The militia subscribes to an anti-government and NWO mindset, which creates a threat to law enforcement officers. They view the military, National Guard, and law enforcement as a force that will confiscate their firearms and place them in FEMA concentration camps,” the document claims in a section entitled “You are the Enemy.”
In regard to supposed militia movement literature and media, the MIAC report mentions Aaron Russo’s America: Freedom to Fascism and William Luther Pierce’s The Turner Diaries — the latter was penned by the former leader of the white nationalist organization National Alliance and the former by a Libertarian filmmaker. In order to underscore the absurdity of the MIAC attempt to link Pierce’s novel and Russo’s anti-tax documentary, it should be noted that the late Aaron Russo was Jewish and The Turner Dairies posits a Zionist government in America (or ZOG, the Zionist Occupation Government) run by Jews.
The award-winning film Zeitgeist, featuring Alex Jones, is also mentioned as terrorist material.
The MIAC report is particularly pernicious because it indoctrinates Missouri law enforcement in the belief that people who oppose confiscatory taxation, believe in the well-documented existence of a New World Order and world government (a Google search of this phrase will pull up numerous references made by scores of establishment political leaders), and are opposed to the obvious expansion of the federal government at the expense of the states as violent extremists who are gunning for the police. It specifically targets supporters of mainstream political candidates and encourages police officers to consider them dangerous terrorists.
MIAC is attempting to radicalize the police against political activity guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If Missouri police indoctrinated by MIAC propaganda overreact to political activists and supporters of Ron Paul in their state and injure or kill people involved in entirely legal and legitimate political activity, MIAC, the governor of Missouri (his name appears on the MIAC document), and the DHS and federal government should be held directly responsible and prosecuted the fullest extent of the law.
Categories: , Campaign For Liberty, Education, Grassroots News, US Constitution, Revolution
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Please comment and help me perfect this article!
We have almost always been governed by the "American System"
This is a three part system.
Step 1 - A private elite class of people are put in charge of the monetary system. They always have access to the national treasury and are trusted to keep things in order. (Central Bank)
Step 2 - The central government borrows money from these elites to engage in "internal improvements" or expansionist war. This public debt is the glue that holds society together. (According to Hamiltonian Federalists, just ask one!)
Step 3 - The government puts in place various excise taxes (income tax) on the people to make interest only payments to the elite class, being careful to never pay off the all important public debt.
Who wins with this system?
The Elites win because they can insure a constant growth in wealth and power as long as the public debt is maintained.
The government wins because they don't have to depend on taxes to fund their expansionist projects. This system allows the government to leverage their projected tax revenues into a credit account which multiplies available money for spending by 20-30 times.
The people are suppose to win because they will be taken care of from cradle to grave.
Sound familiar?
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I must say, although the mainstream media adores Obama's address to Congress last night, I have a different opinion. I forced myself to watch it and, looking at the text again, I must say I'm somewhat startled that the president has managed to outdo his predecessor in terms of the declared faith he has in the omnipotence of the federal government.
Many have commented upon his Rooseveltian promise that "[w]e will rebuild, we will recover," but he goes beyond even FDR in his ambitious economic agenda. "It's an agenda," Obama explains, "that begins with jobs."
Echoing the in-fashion Keynesian reasoning that puts the cart before the horse, neglects opportunity costs of government growth, and stresses employment over production, Obama reiterates his vow that the "stimulus" plan will "save or create 3.5 million jobs." Aside from the economic problems, this assertion disingenuously reflects estimates based on earlier versions of the plan.
While Obama claims that "it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament," he completely misdiagnoses the problem:
"You see, the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy. The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education; how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment, and businesses make payroll."
Is this how it should be, though? Is this the foundation of the economy -- all financing is done by debt? It used to be that Americans would save, which helped them whether the Great Depression much better than we might be able to with what's in store for us. Instead of saving and production, Obama emphasizes more and more borrowing and spending.
"But credit has stopped flowing the way it should," Obama intones. In fact, the "credit crunch" of 2008 was a great hoax. Credit has plateaued, not sunk, and the fact is it should shrink more. For the economy to adjust back to reality, the policy of ever easier credit must end. It was this that brought on the business cycle and artificial boom -- as investments and spending increased at the same time, leading to malinvestment and the illusion of prosperity. We need more saving and production, not more credit.
But Obama wants to "re-start lending" with his "new lending fund" for "auto loans, college loans, and small business loans" and "a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages."
Perhaps more ominiously, the president got bipartisan applause when he promised that the government
"will act with the full force of the federal government to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times. And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance sheets, and assure the continuity of a strong, viable institution that can serve our people and our economy."
He is essentially talking about nationalizing the banks. This is economic fascism, and apparently it is very popular right now. And this talk of the "full force of the federal government" implies that government has been insufficiently involved in the financial sector. In reality, the banking system is on the brink of collapse, thanks to nearly a century of federal meddling. Perhaps "the full force of the federal government" will finally stabilize the system -- if it doesn't knock it over entirely first.
Here we see Obama's full embrace of Keynesian logic:
"Because when credit is available again, that young family can finally buy a new home. And then some company will hire workers to build it. And then those workers will have money to spend, and if they can get a loan too, maybe they’ll finally buy that car, or open their own business. Investors will return to the market, and American families will see their retirement secured once more. Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover."
Uh oh. This is the "multiplier effect" in its full glory: If we just keep borrowing and spending, the economy will balloon. The basic idea was refuted in the nineteenth century by Bastiat, who explained that the "broken window fallacy" neglects the unseen opportunity costs -- what could have been done with the money otherwise.
But consider what Obama is saying: If one person gets a loan, he can indirectly hire other people, and they too can get a loan, and with each loan our prosperity will rise. But where's the money coming from? It has to come in the form of savings or inflation somewhere.
If there's any doubt that credit is sufficiently available, Obama already takes plenty for himself:
"Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation's supply of renewable energy in the next three years. . . .
"[W]e have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade. . . . [The government has begun] a new effort to conquer. . . cancer in our time."
Aside from this, he announced "the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education -- from the day they are born to the day they begin a career."
Now that is just chilling.
On foreign policy and civil liberties, Obama was supposed to bring change. It mainly seems to be a change of scenery, with less emphasis on Iraq and insread "a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat al Qaeda and combat extremism."
Although some have hailed or condemned him for ordering the closing of Guantanamo, I'm a bit concerned that he put it in terms of "swift and certain justice for captured terrorists." How does he know they are all terrorists before the hearing or trial? Isn't that the point of habeas corpus? Furthermore, although on torture, state secrets and rendition, the administration is only somewhat different from Bush's -- although torture has reportedly gotten worse at Guantanamo since Obama took power -- Obama's most substantive approach to the issue appears to be a simple change in rhetoric:
"I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture."
So there is the big difference. The CIA as well as U.S. officials at Bagram and other foreign detention centers will continue their "harsh" interrogation methods, and prisoner abuse will continue, except we will stop calling it "torture." This is much like McCain's position: Oppose torture rhetorically while supporting torture policies.
In response to this horrible speech, Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave the Republican reaction. Some of the rhetoric is quite good: "The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and the enterprising spirit of our citizens."
But in the next breath Jindal is just as enamored of the power of the nation-state as is Obama. Obama had wrongly said America was "the nation that invented the automobile" -- it was more likely invented by a German -- but Jindal too expresses national pride in a somewhat collectivist manner: America, says Jindal, is "the nation that cast off the scourge of slavery, overcame the Great Depression, prevailed in two World Wars, won the struggle for civil rights, defeated the Soviet menace, and responded with determined courage to the attacks of September 11, 2001."
Notice that every accomplishment there is typically attributed to the federal government. Yet the young Republican claims with a straight face that it is "Democratic leaders in Washington" who "place their hope in the federal government."
Jindal's speech is also dripping with the Republican policies of big government masquerading as small government that defined the Bush era -- more federal meddling in education, more national central planning for the entire energy sector, a federal priority of "universal access to affordable health care coverage." The Republicans say their ideas in these areas are "market-based," but they always seem to involve an increasing role for the heavy hand of government.
Jindal also decries the alleged "deep cuts in funding for our troops" that Obama represents, even though the Democrats have consistently run on increased spending on the military and defense budget. So here we have the opposition party: "market-based" socialism at home and increased military spending at an even faster rate. Not a very inspiring alternative, is it?
If either party wants to truly lead change in America -- especially if that change is to do any good in protecting American freedoms or prosperity -- it must adopt the principles of liberty, peace, free enterprise and honest money on which this country was founded. Unfortunately, the leadership of the party currently in charge is about 180 degrees in the other direction, and the Republicans, most of whom cheered Obama's most odious declarations of his intent to expand government power, are not much better themselves.
Categories: Foreign Policy, Education, Finance, Civil Liberties, Domestic Policy, Health Freedom, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Executive Power, Federal Legislation, History, Current Events, Philosophy, Revolution, Socialism, War/Military, Economy, Monetary Policy, Congress
Tags: Obama address to Congress, Bobby Jindal
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Comments (27)
Posted by Deb Wells
| Posted 01/20/09Last updated 05/13/09
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UPDATE: Find Committees and the members of each Committee in the House and Senate.
Campaign for Liberty was well-represented at the Missouri Legislative training class held in Jefferson City yesterday. Following are tips from the training session.
Before an issue (proposed legislation/bill) goes to the House of Representatives or Senate for a vote, those issues are discussed by "Committees" - a lot of them are discussed in Committee Hearings in January and February. We'll soon find out which Missouri representatives will be on specific Committees.
Committee members need to hear from you. They are not experts on every issue. They need full facts in order to make a good decision about whether proposed legislation goes to the next level.
Here is where we can make a difference. You will need to decide which issue is the most important to you (pick one or two), follow it, concentrate on it and put your efforts toward it. By narrowing down your "hot button" issues, you can be the most effective and organized.
All are encouraged to: (a) make an appointment to visit committee members in Jeff City who are on the committee for your top one or two issues and/or (b) invite Committee reps to a function in your neighborhood, if available and/or (c) attend hearings in Jeff City to listen in and/or speak as a witness regarding your issue.
TIPS:
-When visiting a rep's office, make an appointment, be cordial and well-prepared with a written list of reasons you are concerned & evidence/facts; be on time or a few minutes early.
-When attending hearings, be prepared with your written list and if you decide to speak as a witness for or against legislation, be prepared to answer specific questions. Be factual, provide an example of how it would affect you, don't let emotions get in your way. Dress properly. If you've previously visited the reps on the committee, they will be more open to listening to you (unless you've offended them in some way or they are dead-set in their views).
-If your testimony or comments are ignored, take note of it but don't let it bother you, continue to build relationships with reps and educate them by providing further facts.
-Try hard to understand why a rep might be in favor of or against the bill.
-Build a good relationship with your rep's assistants.
-The Chairman of the Committee is a very important person to build a relationship with.
-Watch who else in the hearings speak out on your side - if you don't know them, introduce yourself and work together.
-Try not to be intimidated (reps are just people and put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else does). If know more about the issue because you are directly affected by it & have researched it, try not to intimidate others - just educate them.
-You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Information about how the legislative process works in Missouri. How do bills become laws? Read: http://www.house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/info/howbill.htm
Categories: Grassroots News, Action Item, State Legislation
Tags: Senate, House, training, bills, tips
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A precinct leader is a volunteer who is willing to go door to door in their precinct or neighborhood. The times that people will go door to door are generally prior to an election to hand our information on a candidate, when there is a community or neighborhool issue that you want to raise awareness about, or just a neighborhood bar-b-que. Precinct leaders are the most valuable people to make a change in elections. There are 180,000 precincts in the country and if we can get 180,000 people who are willing to be precinct leaders it will be very easy to make a difference in elections.
For instance, if your county has 30 precincts and you have 25-50 people who agree on something that have stepped up to be a precinct leader it is very easy to get information to people. We all are aware of the problems with the talking box (aka television) and newspapers. They give an opinion and not facts.
Let's use the example of a new road. If a county wants to put in a new road for the benefit of a company in a neighboring county the currently elected county officials discuss it and how much it will cost. There are usually a few articles in the local paper about it and maybe a talking head will mention it once or twice. The request for the funding is put on the municipal ballot and people are asked to vote for or against it. Just how much information do the voters really have about the issue? Because this is not really a partisan issue the republican and democratic precinct leaders are probably not going to do any canvassing of their precincts to provide information to the people. Republican and Democratic precinct leaders mainly canvass to keep or get back their party's power or dominance.
If there were liberty minded precinct leaders who would go door to door with information regarding the project the voters would be better informed. Maybe provide a copy of the budget for the highway that shows where the county intends to get the funds from, information that shows the layout of the proposed road, information about who benefits the most from the road, and information about what property the county will intend to take through emininent domain for the project. This information is needed by voters to make informed decisions. The precinct leader would also remind people when the election day was and maybe even offer to provide a ride for their neighbors who don't drive.
The Campaign For Liberty precinct program has great tools and teaching programs to help people learn about their precinct. While not necessary they are EXTEMELY helpful as you learn how many voters you have, how many people vote in the general election verses the municipal elections, which way your neighborhood generally votes, etc. As an active precinct leader your neighbors will start to look to you as a source of information after you have canvassed your area a few times. They will recognize you and most are happy that someone has stepped up and is willing to provide them with information that they don't get from the talking box or dying newspapers.
How many of you walked your neighborhood to hand out information regarding Ron Paul? If you could walk your neighborhood to give out information regarding the presidential elections why can't you walk your neighborhood to give out information regarding local issues that directly affect you and your neighbors? To restore constitutional principles to our country we need to restore order to our local governing bodies. To make our voices heard we must stand together. As we work on our local areas though our precinct leaders we can and will re-awaken the spirit of our country and remind people that what made our country great was less government, not more.
Please join the Campaign For Liberty and become a precinct leader in your neighborhood.
Robyn Hamlin
MO CD 1
Categories: Campaign For Liberty, Education, Grassroots News, Action Item, Current Events
Tags: what is a precinct leader, why should i become a precinct leader
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County Coordinator
Local Coordinator