Thank you for becoming a part of the North Carolina division of the Campaign for Liberty! We hope you will not only join but be a very active citizen/voter/activist in the party of your choice. The Campaign for Libery (C4L) objective is to provide tools to our members that will aid them in organizing for the cause of liberty and expand their voice and influence beyond just voting at the polls. We hope that each of you will become more effective Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and Independents as the message of peace, freedom, and prosperity is spread to our fellow citizens.
As a non-partisan, non-profit, educational group we will be making available as much information as we can regarding specific political parties, how they work, important upcoming opportunities within them, and even training and suggestions on what to do and how to be more effective in your chosen party. Please share your knowledge and experience with others so that we can all work together to help heal our republic and revive our US Constitution. Please forward any important announcements regarding your party to the appropriate Coordinator. If you are registered in a specific party, we are encouraging you to contact that party's offices and find out all you can in order to take the voice of liberty into them.
There is no better place to maximize your voice, than to join with your other C4L members as they become voting delegates within their party. Your vote will help elect them to influential positions within the party or lead you to be one yourself. There are changes that need to occur and we need your help.
(This is where you will find out if you are registered to vote correctly, including voter information about your District and County.}
Special Request: We would like to post here the same links for the other parties if someone would contact us directly via My Dashboard / Mailbox or just click "message" next to Pat's name at the top of the North Carolina page.
Senator Burr has signed up as a cosponsor of S604 so let's get busy on Senator Hagen!
Please visit the NC C4L Forum for all the latest meetings, rallys and petition opportunities!
MAKE THE COMMITMENT TODAY TO BE ACTIVE IN YOUR CHOSEN PARTY!
KNOW YOUR FELLOW LIBERTY FIGHTERS - JOIN THE C4L AND CALL YOUR COUNTY OR REGIONAL COORDINATOR FOR INFORMATION.
Rep. Bob Etheridge---D--NC-----2nd----7th------------------Lillington---------
Calendar
11/09/09 7:00 PM Ron Paul to speak in Columbia, SC
All are encouraged to attend!!! When: Nov 9th 7-9 p.m. Where: Carolina Coliseum Who: Ron Paul What: Rep. Ron Paul of Texas will deliver a lecture at the University of South Carolina on the future of individual liberty and the importance of the U.S. Constitution on Monday, November 9 at 7:00 PM in the Carolina Coliseum.
The event is jointly cosponsored by Young Americans for Liberty, the Carolina Debate Union and the USC Honors College. Dr. Paul will highlight the importance of civility and tolerance of all opinions, not just in politics but also in everyday life.
The lecture is open to the public and is free of charge.
Congressman Paul is a U.S. Representative of Texas currently serving his eleventh term. Dr. Paul received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine and went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon. After his service, Dr. Paul turned to politics in the late 1970s. He currently serves on the House Banking Committee.
University of South Carolina Honors College provides an outstanding undergraduate education for academically gifted students that individualizes and makes available the resources and academic depth of a comprehensive research university. At the core of its mission is the belief that each individual student matters and that each deserves a program of study the fits their individual goals and needs.
The Carolina Debate Union is a newly founded student organization at the University of South Carolina dedicated to providing a forum for the expression of ideas. The Union provides an opportunity for students to augment their education through the study and practice of effective communication. The Union hosts weekly parliamentary debates.
Young Americans for Liberty is a chapter-based organization established as a continuation of Students for Ron Paul. They support constitutional principles and the classical liberal ideology of the Founding Fathers. See you there! Talbert Black, Jr. South Carolina State Coordinator Campaign for Liberty
Carolina Coliseum 701 Assembly Street Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 777-5113
11/14/09 12:00 AM Myrtle Beach Freedom Weekend
The Myrtle Beach Freedom Weekend (MBFW) evolves from last June's original Patriot Expo in Columbia, SC.
The MBFW will host the educational 'Making of America' seminar, based on our Founders' original success formula for freedom -- the 28 principles they adhered to in in forming our system of government... along with provisions on how we can rekindle and preserve our country. This seminar is being conducted by the National Center for Constitutional Studies.
While plans are still in development for this event, we are pleased to announce... G. Edward Griffin, author of many books, including 'The Creature From Jekyll Island,' as Saturday evening's Keynote Speaker! Other noted speaker arrangements are being added to the weekend's roster.
If you attended the Patriot Expo's inaugural event in Columbia back in June, you know what an amazing turnout there was for an event created by a handful of volunteers in only four weeks. Speakers included Peter Koenig, former economist with the World Bank, Thomas Moore, Director of the Southern Institute for Sustainable Living, and Harry McKay, who delivered a moving rendition of Patrick Henry's speech.
I am writing to ask that you forward this announcement to your 'patriot' list, Meetup group, discussion group, etc., visit the MBFW site at http://PatriotExpo.com and add your email address in one of the 'Email Updates' boxes there, so that we can properly send you updates as they happen, if you have an interest in supporting this, or this type of event.
The work being done on the MBFW is totally volunteer. It is taking a lot of time while we work full-time and try to maintain some degree of attachment to our families. But we know what is at stake, and to us it is worth the time and effort. I know many of you feel this way because of what you are already doing. However, we still need donors and volunteers to help with all aspects of this event (and, hopefully, future events), as well as a few more excellent speakers.
Any money collected from donations and registrations will go SOLELY to cover costs and, hopefully, to help fund future events. (Even some of the speakers have offered to travel thousands of miles and stay the weekend at their own expense!)
We kindly ask that you visit the site, sign up for updates and forward this message on, so that we can build a proper 'opt-in' list. The heat is on, the time is short and there is a LOT to do -- both for this event and for our country.
Thank you, Tom Cornwell Co-Organizer, Myrtle Beach Freedom Weekend
11/22/09 1:00 PM End the Fed 3rd Annual Protest in Charlotte, NC
Please go to the NC Forums and read my posts titled: "General Rules for Protesting" and the thread about the Fed. Reserve protest event. It's important folks....
Join us in a peaceful protest!
Show the FED, the media and our fellow citizens that we detest their private banking cartel! Let's continue to send a clear message that we support sound money and the abolishment of the Unconstitutional Federal Reserve.
Activists nationwide are meeting on the 22nd of November to protest its establishment and demand its elimination.
Will you join us?
On November 22, 1910 a malevolent Creature was conceived in the darkness. Ninety-nine years after its illegitimate conception, we will gather at the gates of its lair to signal the beginning of its END.
Every Fed Bank. Every Fed Office
Thirty-Eight Cities. One Purpose.
Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C., Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Baltimore, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Little Rock, Louisville, Memphis, Minneapolis, Helena, Kansas City, Denver, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, San Antonio, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Salt Lake City, Seattle
How to find us: We will be in the parking lot across from the Fed Bldg, just like last time. The building is one block West and one block North of the Municipal Building. No one has hassled us for parking in the lot across from the Fed Bldg. If you have not been at one of our rallies, please be aware that we cannot protest on the sidewalk that surrounds the building, regardless of conditions in other cities, regardless of the usual condition that sidewalks belong to the public.....
LINKS:
The Liberty Coalition Sponsors END THE FED Rallies facebook page: http://tiny.cc/GUXvW
I would like to thank all the folks who showed up on Tuesday, September 15th at Senator Hagan's office for the Audit the Fed rally in Raleigh. We delivered our petitions to the senator's office, and had nearly 40 people waving signs and distributing DVDs and literature. The John Locke Foundation also showed up to cover the event and posted the video to their Carolina Journal:
There are now 29 sponsors of S604: The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, but unfortunately Senator Hagan is still not among them. Please keep the pressure on! Call her Washington office at 202-224-6342 and tell her to cosponsor S604. Ask her to join the 293 members of the House and 75% of the American public in calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve.
My friends of liberty, allow me to share a few thoughts with you. My name is Eric Canup (kuh-NUP), and I have recently relocated to the Wilmington area from Charlotte. I was a County Coordinator in Mecklenburg prior to moving, and seeing the need here in New Hanover, I was glad to step in. I am looking forward to continuing the fight to restore our Republic from right here on the Cape Fear coast.
As I watch the news, read blogs, and converse with people I encounter in my daily life, I am often struck with two distinctly different thoughts. On one hand, I am extremely proud and encouraged to be associated with so many people who are passionate about returning our country to its once and former glory. However, I am also frustrated by the accelerated pace at which our Republic is disappearing, and at the majority of people who still don't know or don't care that this is happening right in front of our eyes. As energetic as we are, and as well-versed as we are on the talking points of true liberty, we are still but a a small, albeit vocal, minority.
I do not bring this to your attention to dissuade you from our cause. On the contrary, while our liberties are constantly under attack, our army is growing every day. The more they steal from us, the more we wake up from our decades of apathetic slumber. I am guilty of occasionally throwing up my hands in exacerbation, but then I'll reconnect with a fellow Patriot who reminds me that we have a long, difficult fight ahead, but one well worth fighting.
If you are reading this, then you are likely part of the proverbial choir to which I am preaching. But, you came to the Campaign for Liberty for a reason. Was it Ron Paul's highly visible Presidential Campaign? Reading The Revolution? Perhaps a nagging sense that something is increasingly wrong with the status quo in America? Whatever it was, think about how you can transfer that sense of duty to others that you know. Start the conversation, invite them to a meetup, whatever it takes. We need to grow the army. The powers-that-be won't pay attention to us until we do. The voters who show up in the next election won't be awakened to the problems of business as usual until we do. Real change won't happen until we do.
I strongly encourage each of you to involve at least one more person in our fight. Maybe you haven't been as active as you could be lately. Here is your opportunity to re-engage. If you are a paying member of the C4L, consider becoming a precinct leader, a county coordinator, or even step up to the fill the vacancy in the 7th district. If you're not a paying member, perhaps the time has come to do more than just be a passive participant. Anything you can offer helps our cause.
For those not already familiar, please consider joining us at www.meetup.com/wilmingtonliberty. Again, I look forward to meeting you and continuing the fight to restore the Republic.
North Korea is at it again...testing missiles, reviving their uranium enrichment program, weaponizing their plutonium to make nukes, and threatening retaliation against anyone who tries to stop them. Once again the US, through the auspices of more UN resolutions, is attempting to impose its will upon the North Koreans. At this moment and for the mean time in the near future, the Obama Administration is pondering on what to do to get the North Koreans to stop building nukes, stop testing missiles, and come back to the negotiating table.
This international crisis appears to be the test that then-VP candidate Joe Biden referred to on the campaign trail that the world will test President Obama in the first 6 months of his administration. President Obama has said repeatedly that his election brought about change and, presumably, that would mean a change in foreign policy from that of the Bush Administration. While the tone and style of the Obama foreign policy may be an improvement from the hostile approach of the Bush foreign policy, there appears to be no substantive difference. Both of them support some sort of American interventionism on the Korean Peninsula for various military, economic, moral, and macho-grandstanding reasons. In reality, there is almost no real difference between Bush's and Obama's position on the issue because they all involve some sort of interventionism on the part of the United States. In fact, when you compare Bush's and Obama's overall foreign policy stances they both involve heavy amounts of US foreign intervention through various groups like the U.N., NATO, EU, WTO, etc... Both want to maintain the American imperial empire by keeping foreign military installations from the WWII, Cold War, and post-9/11 era including, but not limited to: Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, UAE, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Italy (about 700 foreign military installations in total). They both include possible military actions inside Pakistan and Iran. They want to maintain permanent WWII and Cold War era military alliances such as NATO and SEATO. They support polices of nation building inside of Iraq and Afghanistan. They both support the use of economic sanctions against nation-states they feel are misbehaving and not cooperating with the US or the UN. Essentially when it comes to foreign policy you can refer to both of these Presidents as O'Bush. Both of them are interventionists through and through.
Neither of the two major political parties, for the most part, has learned any of the lessons of the past when it comes to foreign policy. Foreign affairs is similar to the free-market in the sense that the more the US federal government gets involved in it the more it comes back to bite us in the ass. Foreign interventionism is the bailouts and stimulus packages of foreign affairs; except, we are already paying for it dearly with more to pay still.
Recent and current foreign policy related issues such as: the Iraq War, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, genocide in Darfur, the Gulf War, the Taliban, Iranian hostage crisis, Saddam Hussein, genocide in Iraq, Al Qaeda expansion, Islamic fundamentalism spreading, embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, USS Cole bombing, and even 9/11 can be traced back to one big and illegal foreign policy blunder by the US federal government? I guarantee 99.9% of Americans have never heard about this incident because the government doesn't like to admit its mistakes and when it does things that are illegal and in violation of the Constitution.
The incident I'm referring to happened in 1953, and the incident was the clandestine mission by the CIA called "Operation Ajax" to overthrow the democratically elected government of Iran. No, that was not a typo...in 1953 Iran was a functional, albeit young, democracy. Surprised?
Now why would our government, the alleged messengers of freedom and democracy, violate international law and the Constitution by deposing a democratically elected government? Well ladies and gentlemen the answer is simple and not surprising...OIL. Yes, oil was a sticking point in our foreign policy even in the 1940's and 1950's. It's not really much more complicated than that in this case.
Here's a brief background on the geopolitical situation over there: Mohammed Mosaddeq, the Prime Minister of Iran, led the charge to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which was a British owned oil company. The move to nationalize the oil in Iran was a very popular thing amongst the Iranian people, but as you can imagine the British were not too thrilled about this move. Iran, until recently then, was a British colony, and the British government wished to maintain their de facto colony inside Iran. The idea to throw a coup d'état in Iran was thrown around the British government, and, originally, the British asked President Truman for aid in this matter but he refused. Then in January 1953 the British caught a break under President Eisenhower with the appointment of John Foster Dulles as Secretary of State.
Now you're probably wondering why this is an American problem since it seems to be a purely British and Iranian affair. Well maybe it is more complicated than just oil after all. We all know that this is the era of the Cold War and that the US was in a political chess match with the USSR with the world as their game board. Iran was a strategically located country for the US because it shared several borders with the Soviet Union (modern day countries of Turkmenistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan). A cooperative Iran would give the US another potential launch pad and strategic location for a retaliatory strike against any future attack by the Soviet Union or for a preemptive strike by the US. There were a few problems for the US in terms of cooperation from Iran since the so-called pro-Western Prime Minister was assassinated a few months earlier and soon afterward there was a strong demand for nationalization of oil companies in Iran with support from so-called pro-Soviet political party factions within the country.
Now as for the British getting an important ally in US Secretary of State Dulles...Dulles is what you'd call a "hardliner" when it came to the Soviet Union. He was vehemently anti-communist, built up strong support for NATO, and supported countries and groups fighting communists around the globe (for example the French in their war in Vietnam against the Viet Minh). He thought basically in black and white...either you're with us or you're with the communists (sound familiar...?). In his mind, Dulles didn't believe that the situation in Iran was its own unique dilemma but rather a small battlefield in the war against the communists. He jumped on the British offer for regime change in Iran like a kid on candy at Halloween. For the first time in history the CIA would be used to openly topple a foreign government (Guatemala, South Vietnam, and others were soon to follow).
Operation Ajax: The plan was quite simple really. The CIA sent in Kermit Roosevelt Jr. (ironically Kermit was the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt who many consider the father of American imperialism and interventionism) to bribe military officers and political leaders to support a coup to reinstall the Shah as an autocratic leader. It took only about 3 weeks but they got enough political leaders to support it and enough military personnel and anti-communist guerillas to surround Tehran and seize control of the country. Those 3 weeks would soon prove to be the biggest mistake, in my opinion, in American foreign policy history. It would set off a chain of events that we are still dealing with today and will continue to deal with for at least the next 100 years.
Aftermath: The Prime Minister was deposed and put on "trial" and the Shah was installed as the dictator of Iran. As promised, Iran would ally itself with the US against the Soviet Union and, as a bonus; US oil companies would get more stakes in Iranian oil. In exchange the US provided arms and modernized the Iranian military so the Shah could suppress his dissenters through force. For about 25 years the Shah would become a brutal dictator and create a fertile ground for religious extremists and anti-US sentiment to grow. Eventually that sentiment became too strong for the Shah to contain, so he fled to Egypt and eventually the United States to escape the Iranian (Islamic) Revolution perpetuated by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.
The Islamic Revolution would dramatically alter history's course of events. Two immediate and major things happened: The Ayatollah himself said he wanted to spread his Shiite Islamic Revolution around the globe and Iranian students seized the US embassy and took those inside as hostages for 444 days (Ronald Reagan took office the day they were released). Now the latter of those two you'd think would have the greatest impact and it did when it came to immediate US-Iranian relations (US and Iran broke off diplomatic ties and have never been restored to this day); however, it was the former that would have the most severe consequences. The statement by the Ayatollah to spread the revolution to rest of the world scared two countries the most: Iraq and the Soviet Union.
***First lets discuss Iraq and then we'll get back to the Soviet Union***
During this time Iran's neighbor Iraq was going through several transitions and military coups. Eventually a man by the name of Saddam Hussein seized control of the Baath Party (Iraq's dominant right-wing political party) and eventually established himself the dictator of Iraq. Iraq is a country with a majority of its people part of the Shiite or Shia sect of Islam, just like Iran. Unlike Iran though Iraq has a huge number of Kurds (an ethnic group found in modern day Turkey, Iraq, and Iran) and Sunni Muslims as well including Saddam Hussein himself (Sunnis make up about 90% of all Muslims and Shias about 10%). Saddam feared an uprising by the Shia majority in his country inspired by the Islamic Revolution of Iran, so that, along with the weakening of the Iranian military by the Ayatollah, led Saddam to launch an invasion of Iran.
Now this is where the US and the embassy hostage crisis would come into play. Obviously, many here in the United States were a little POed at Iran for taking our embassy workers hostage. They saw the Iran-Iraq war as our chance to get back at the Iranians. President Reagan would send a diplomatic envoy, a man by the name of Donald Rumsfeld, to meet with Saddam to negotiate an agreement between Iraq and the US to help fight the Iranians (the famous picture of Rumsfeld and Saddam shaking hands). To assist the Iraqis, the US would supply Saddam with money, helicopters, artillery pieces, satellite images of targets inside Iran, and probably the most controversial thing...chemical weapons. The Iran-Iraq war would end in 1989 killing over a million people (most of them civilians) on both sides with an inconclusive treaty resulting in essentially no gains by either side. The war left Iraq in massive debt and decimated its military, which was one of the largest in the world.
**As a side note during the 80's Saddam would use the money, choppers and the chemical weapons we gave him to fight the Iranians to commit acts of genocide against his own people (mainly Shiites and Kurds) including the infamous al-Anfal campaign led by Saddam's first cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid aka "Chemical Ali" in which about 200,000 Kurds were slaughtered between 1986-1989 using methods such as chemical warfare and concentration camps**
Saddam would then turn his attention to his neighboring Sunni-dominated Arab countries Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia funded Iraq heavily during the Iran-Iraq war because of the shared animosity towards the Iranian regime. In Saddam's mind, however, he was defending the entire Sunni Arab world from the radical Shia Islamic Revolution and that his neighbors were the ones who owed him a debt that he would make them pay by force. At this point the CIA was sent to Kuwait to assure the government there that the US would support them against any Iraqi invasion (this was due to the large military build-up along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border). In August of 1990 Iraq would invade Kuwait and would soon make the biggest mistake of the decade...they seized the Kuwaiti oil fields (yes oil rears its ugly head again). This would be the beginning of the first Gulf War. When Saddam launched his invasion of Kuwait the Arab League had asked the UN and other Western powers to stay out of this and not intervene because they viewed it as a purely Arab/Middle Eastern affair. Apparently, the Arab League just didn't know how much influence oil had on US foreign policy. Saudi Arabia, an autocratic repressive monarchy, struck their own deal with the United States to allow American troops on Islamic holy lands to defend the Saudis against potential Iraqi invasion. President George H.W. Bush called "Operation Desert Shield" as a "wholly defensive" campaign against Iraq. Of course this "wholly defensive" mission would soon become very offensive in the succeeding "Operation Desert Storm". Saddam's weakened military would be quickly crushed but not before killing about 300 US soldiers, Saddam firing SCUD missiles into Israel, and the burning of Kuwaiti oil fields by the retreating Iraqi army.
**According the Department of Veterans Affairs about 200,000 US veterans of the Gulf War were rendered permanently disabled (over 25% of the US forces involved in Desert Storm) through various physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wounds...the unseen casualties of war**
Now there was another serious consequence to our intervention in this purely Arab affair, but neocons will never admit to it. As I said under this US-Saudi pact US troops would set up military bases inside of Saudi Arabia (the heart of the Islamic world with the holy cities of Mecca and Medina located in its borders), and, as neocons are frequent to point out, the US military is mainly made up of Christian soldiers. Now Christianity and Islam historically don't have a pleasant relationship with each other going back to the Crusades starting in the late 11th century and continuing to Western imperialism in the early 20th century. Many Islamic conservatives saw the presence of Western Christian troops on Islamic holy soil as blasphemy, unacceptable, and as a new crusade by the US. Muslims began protesting the presence of US troops on Islamic lands; among them include the wealthy heir of a Saudi construction company named Osama Bin Laden, who had just come back from fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan (another consequence of the Islamic Revolution in Iran that I'll get to in a bit). To this day our bases and troops in Islamic holy lands are a major recruiting tool for terrorists and extremists...being free and prosperous is not!
Now after Iraq had invaded Kuwait, Osama Bin Laden (OBL) had offered his troops, a group called Al Qaeda (Arabic for "the base"), to the Saudi royal family to help them in case of Iraqi invasion. When the Saudis decided to decline his offer and instead rely on US and Western troops, OBL viewed it as an outrage and personal insult. He began publicly denouncing the Saudi monarchy and in 1992 the Saudis revoked his citizenship and deported him to Sudan. In Sudan he began building up his terrorist organization and associating himself with Egyptian hardliners such as Ayman al Zawahiri (OBL's current second-in-command). OBL used Sudan as a staging ground to launch attacks against American interests all over the Middle East and around the world. The United States soon put so much pressure on the Sudanese government forcing them to deport him to Afghanistan in 1996.
**The Arab dominated Sudanese government currently provides the US valuable intel on Al Qaeda's network in Africa and around the world since they hosted OBL during the time he built his militia into a global terrorist organization. Now the Sudanese have threatened to cut off all intel reports and stop cooperating with the US in the War on Terror if the US, UN, EU, or anyone else attempts to stop the Sudanese government from committing genocide in Darfur against ethnic Africans**
Now why would OBL go to Afghanistan? Well Afghanistan is where OBL underwent a transformation from a quiet and pious boy into a rugged Mujahedeen warrior fighting the Soviet invasion. It's where he was educated and mentored in the Islamic art of theology and defensive jihad (an Arabic word literally meaning "struggle" but has become slang for "holy war") by Abdullah Azzam, an influential Palestinian scholar in Pakistan. Most importantly though Afghanistan was under the control of militia group called the Taliban, who had a strict interpretation of the Koran (the Islamic holy book), were oppressive and brutal, and shared OBL's ideology that Sharia law (Islamic law) should be implemented worldwide. The Taliban were led by a man known as Mullah Mohammed Omar, and the Taliban seized control of most of Afghanistan in late 1996. The Taliban and Al Qaeda would join forces and allow another staging ground for OBL to launch attacks against America such as the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the USS Cole bombing, hotel bombings in Saudi Arabia, and of course...9/11
Wait a second...how on earth did a terrorist group essentially seize control of almost an entire country? Well this is where the Islamic Revolution of 1979 comes back into play...remember when I said that Ayatollah Khomeini's declaration to spread the Islamic Revolution beyond Iran's borders scared two countries in particular...Iraq and the Soviet Union. We've already discussed how it impacted Iraq and the subsequent events that occurred because of it, so now let's get back to the Soviet Union and their involvement in Afghanistan...
In the late 1970's the government of Afghanistan was a quasi pro-Marxist regime making it a natural ally of the communist Soviet Union. The USSR had sent military advisors and equipment to assist the Afghan government because during that time a low level Islamic-orientated insurgency called the Mujahedeen rooted in Pakistan was starting to cause trouble for the Afghan government and in turn the Soviet government. Even before the Islamic Revolution in 1979 the Soviets had been making plans to intervene in Afghanistan on behalf of the government there. At this point in time President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order (extended by President Reagan's administration) to provide funds and arms such as propaganda tapes, stinger missiles, automatic weapons and anti-tank weapons to the Mujahedeen and other anti-government insurgencies in Afghanistan (thus getting the US involved in another conflict). Then the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran (Afghanistan's and the Soviet Union's neighbor) in March 1979 and in December of 1979 the Soviets decided to invade Afghanistan to prevent the Islamic Revolution from further inspiring militants to join the Mujahedeen. Unfortunately for the Soviets their invasion of Afghanistan ended up doing that anyway and then some. There was a call to arms in the Arab world to fight a defensive jihad against the Soviet invasion. Many young Muslims, including OBL, answered that call after almost a decade the Soviets were eventually defeated and forced to retreat. Incidentally the Soviet failure in Afghanistan has been equated to the US failure in Vietnam because it depleted their resources, bankrupted their treasury and caused regime change to occur in the Soviet Union (some argue that the Afghan disaster is what caused the Soviet Union to crumble). Of course with the Soviets retreating and Afghanistan's government severely weakened there was a huge power vacuum that someone had to fill...and someone would.
Towards the end of the Soviet-Afghan war and for a few years afterwards a group of religious students in Pakistan started a movement, which called for implementation of Sharia Law in Afghanistan and Pakistan and for a strict interpretation of the Koran. This group of religious students would call themselves the Taliban, which simply means "students". Their movement would pick up a lot of steam with a few military victories on the Afghan-Pakistan border against local warlords, who essentially ruled Afghanistan after the Soviets pulled out. In 1996 the Taliban would capture Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and control all but the northern-most part of the country. The northern-most part of the country was ruled by a man named Ahmad Shad Massoud, the former Defense Minister of Afghanistan, a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war, and the head of the Northern Alliance (the militia group that controlled the north of Afghanistan). Massoud had fought the Taliban to a standstill in mid-2001 and it looked to be a stalemate between the two factions. As luck would have it though for the Taliban a new ally and his Arab army arrived in 1996 and would provide key support for the Taliban regime. This ally was of course OBL. OBL had been using Afghanistan since 1996 to launch attacks against the US; he had a huge attack planned for which he would require the Taliban's help. He, of course, was planning the September 11, 2001 attacks, and knew that the US would retaliate fiercely if his plan succeeded. Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, offered OBL a deal: kill Massoud in exchange for protection from US onslaught. OBL agreed and on September 9 (two days before 9/11) two Al Qaeda operatives disguised as TV reporters blew themselves up at a news conference killing Ahmad Shah Massoud.
**After the 9/11 attacks occurred and the US invaded Afghanistan it would be the Northern Alliance that would overthrow the Taliban and assist in the hunt for OBL. Afghanistan's new president Hamid Karzai the next year would declare Massoud to be a national hero of Afghanistan and the day of his death is observed as a national holiday**
Almost 7 years later we still have not captured or killed OBL, Ayman al Zawahiri, or Mullah Omar, and now we are bogged down in a war in Iraq based on false claims of WMDs and a false connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. We are also now threatening war with Iran (the center of this foreign policy nightmare), which would open up a third front in this conflict and would most certainly bring back the draft. Now why is all of this relevant? Every single crisis and tragedy that I mentioned can be traced back to one event...the CIA's overthrow of a democratically elected government of Iran in Operation Ajax. More importantly it reflects the dangers and disasters that can and will occur if the United States continues a foreign policy of interventionism around the world. The world functioned fine before the US got involved and it will continue to function long after the US disappears. Neither of the two major parties are serious debating reform in our foreign policy to that of non-interventionist (NOT isolationist as many seem to want to falsely call it) instead of this interventionist foreign policy we've had since the late 19th century that has brought us almost nothing except disaster, debt, and death.
I just want to leave all of you something to think about before I wrap this up. This is not my own connections drawn here, but rather these are historical conclusions drawn by better men and women before me that I agree with. All of this in the aforementioned could have been avoided if we had not illegally used the CIA to topple a democratic government inside Iran, a country on the other side of the world and with no issue that was none of the United States' concern, and had instead kept our hands off of a situation we had little to no understanding of. I'm not saying we should become isolationists, but we should learn more about different areas of the world culturally, politically, economically, spiritually, etc. before we start making rash foreign policy decisions like toppling democracies and installing puppet dictators. President Obama should take a step back and realize the insanity of doing the same foreign policy tricks again and again. Perhaps President Obama will focus on a Constitutional foreign policy of self-defense...somehow I doubt it.
Congressman Ron Paul has introduced HR 1207 - The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009. This bill would allow the Government Accountability Office to audit the Federal Reserve in a way that is currently crippled under the law. The people deserve the full information not just some FED approved "audit". Let's make history!
H.R. 1207 is getting surprisingly good bipartisan support and thanks to our hard work and dedication, HR 1207 now has 276 cosponsors. There are now 17 US Senators as cosponsors! The companion legislation in the Senate is S. 604. Get your Senator to cosponsor today!
Now is the perfect time to make our voices known to Congress. It will still take a massive grassroots impact on Congres to get this "Audit the Fed" bill passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President.
You are encouraged to help by phoning the toll-free congressional switchboard number, 1-877-851-6437, and asking to speak to the offices of the members of the House Financial Services Committee, and then, asking to speak to those representatives who have cosponsored H.R. 1207 to praise and applaud them.
If you want to see if your congressman is already one of HR 1207's cosponsors? All you have to do is click here and type in your zip code. Once you do that, your congressman will automatically appear along with an indication of whether or not he is a cosponsor. The appropriate sample letter will appear below that information. You can use the sample letter, or you can write your own. Either way, make your voice heard! If your representative is already a cosponsor, please offer your thanks and insist he or she fight for a roll call vote on this crucial bill.
If he or she hasn't yet cosponsored, please use the form on our website to send your representative an email right away urging them to support Dr. Paul's bill. This will be a great way to do your part in supporting our national effort!
The video below is the best one I have found to promote to your friends. Copy the web URL in the address bar on your browser to an email to all your friends. DO THIS TODAY!!! Let's get this to go "viral" and be the biggest outpouring of support in modern political history! KEEP READING... don't hang up yet, more action info below.
Campaign for Liberty has been on the Hill regularly lobbying congressmen to support HR 1207, Ron Paul's bill to Audit the Fed, and we're pleased to report that the bill's momentum shows no signs of slowing down!
C4L's Jesse Benton has visited well over 50 congressional offices, and reports that "the reception has been unbelievable.... Between our Hill lobbying, the work of Dr. Paul's congressional staff and the work of all the tremendous grassroots activists in our movement, we are making progress unthinkable a few years ago." Read his report on the C4L blog here.
If the media didn't know what to say about all our "Audit the Fed" signs dominating the Tea Party visual landscape on April 15th, just wait till they see Congress slammed with tens of thousands of C4L petitions!
Make no mistake: We're turning this spirit of freedom into real legislative action.
All C4L members all across America are being asked to take their petitions to their representative's district offices. Phone calls and emails are powerful tools, but nothing compares to a personal office visit. (Plan to bring along your cameras! when you turn in your petitions.) If you want to gather more signatures to take to your non-cosponsoring Congressman, we have a new streamlined petition available here.
Stay tuned to our national home page often for the latest information.
Let's flood their offices with our petitions. Let's fill their inboxes with our messages.
Your letter, combined with all the thousands of petitions that we are dropping on Congress and across the country, may just start a tidal wave that no one will be able to stop.
We're putting our momentum into action and declaring a National Petition Push.
HR1207 Audit the Fed ACTION ITEMS
Find out if your Congressman has co-sponsored HR1207 - [ click here]
Get a complete list of cosponsors for H.R. 1207 - [ click here]
Find out if your Congressman is a member of the House Financial Services Committee - [click here]
Download the petition and gather signatures: [click here]
Deliver signed petitions to your Congressman's district office(s)!
Anyone who has had the privilege to listen to a lecture from Tom Woods or read Judge Andrew Napolitano knows this is big news. Nullification is one the best weapons in our constitutional arsenal to check the power of the federal government back to its proper levels; although nullification is relatively unknown. Nullification declares a federal law the state feels is unconstitutional invalid within the state passing the nullification law. It goes beyond the language of state sovereignty acts and takes action.
There is speculation that the Supreme Court would take up the eminent case between the federal government and Montana should an emerging consensus arise with several states adopting similar laws, and overturn the expansion of the Interstate Commerce clause, and in doing so severely tie the hands of congress and the executive branch. The federal government currently uses an expanded and unconstitutional interpretation of the interstate commerce clause to interfere in affairs constitutionally left to the states ranging from guns to what a farmer can grow on his farm for personal consumption. Those looking for more information on nullification should check out the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 penned by Jefferson and Madison respectively or check out this Tom Woods video.
Montana's nullification action is with regard to gun laws. Montana has declared that federal gun laws are invalid in the state of Montana on guns made in the state of Montana, used exclusively in the state of Montana, and never transported across state lines. This particular law applies to ammunition and gun accessories as well.This is now a law in Montana. It has been passed and signed by the governor. Similar laws are being formed in Utah, Tennessee, and Texas. Imagine the impact Campaign for Liberty could have in getting similar legislation passed with local efforts within our states.
The law, included below, says in simple terms the following.
Section 1: Gives a name to the bill Section 2: States why the state of Montana can nullify a federal law, including references to the 2nd, 9th, & 10th amendments to the US Constitution Section 3: Sets up definitions for terms used in the bill Section 4: Nullifies federal gun laws relating to arms built, used, and kept within the state of Montana Section 5: Sets exceptions to what is nullified Section 6: Brands Montana firearms Section 7: Lists where the law goes in the Montana Code Section 8: Sets application date to October 1, 2009
Text of the New Law "HOUSE BILL NO. 246 INTRODUCED BY J. BONIEK, BENNETT, BUTCHER, CURTISS, RANDALL, WARBURTON.
AN ACT EXEMPTING FROM FEDERAL REGULATION UNDER THE COMMERCE CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES A FIREARM, A FIREARM ACCESSORY, OR AMMUNITION MANUFACTURED AND RETAINED IN MONTANA; AND PROVIDING AN APPLICABILITY DATE. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Short title.. [Sections 1 through 6] may be cited as the "Montana Firearms Freedom Act".
Section 2. Legislative declarations of authority. The legislature declares that the authority for [sections 1 through 6] is the following: (1) The 10th amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the states and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere in the constitution and reserves to the state and people of Montana certain powers as they were understood at the time that Montana was admitted to statehood in 1889. The guaranty of those powers is a matter of contract between the state and people of Montana and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889. (2) The ninth amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the people rights not granted in the constitution and reserves to the people of Montana certain rights, as they were understood at the time that Montana was admitted to statehood in 1889. The guaranty of those rights is a matter of contract between the state and people of Montana and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889. (3) The regulation of intrastate commerce is vested in the states under the 9th and 10th amendments to the United States constitution, particularly if not expressly preempted by federal law. Congress has not expressly preempted state regulation of intrastate commerce pertaining to the manufacture on an intrastate basis of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition. (4) The second amendment to the United States constitution reserves to the people the right to keep and bear arms as that right was understood at the time that Montana was admitted to statehood in 1889, and the guaranty of the right is a matter of contract between the state and people of Montana and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889. (5) Article II, section 12, of the Montana constitution clearly secures to Montana citizens, and prohibits government interference with, the right of individual Montana citizens to keep and bear arms. This constitutional protection is unchanged from the 1889 Montana constitution, which was approved by congress and the people of Montana, and the right exists, as it was understood at the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889.
Section 3. Definitions. As used in [sections 1 through 6], the following definitions apply: (1) "Borders of Montana" means the boundaries of Montana described in Article I, section 1, of the 1889 Montana constitution. (2) "Firearms accessories" means items that are used in conjunction with or mounted upon a firearm but are not essential to the basic function of a firearm, including but not limited to telescopic or laser sights, magazines, flash or sound suppressors, folding or aftermarket stocks and grips, speedloaders, ammunition carriers, and lights for target illumination. (3) "Generic and insignificant parts" includes but is not limited to springs, screws, nuts, and pins. (4) "Manufactured" means that a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition has been created from basic materials for functional usefulness, including but not limited to forging, casting, machining, or other processes for working materials.
Section 4. Prohibitions. A personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Montana and that remains within the borders of Montana is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce. It is declared by the legislature that those items have not traveled in interstate commerce. This section applies to a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured in Montana from basic materials and that can be manufactured without the inclusion of any significant parts imported from another state. Generic and insignificant parts that have other manufacturing or consumer product applications are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition, and their importation into Montana and incorporation into a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured in Montana does not subject the firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition to federal regulation. It is declared by the legislature that basic materials, such as unmachined steel and unshaped wood, are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition and are not subject to congressional authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition under interstate commerce as if they were actually firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition. The authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce in basic materials does not include authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition made in Montana from those materials. Firearms accessories that are imported into Montana from another state and that are subject to federal regulation as being in interstate commerce do not subject a firearm to federal regulation under interstate commerce because they are attached to or used in conjunction with a firearm in Montana.
Section 5. Exceptions. [Section 4] does not apply to: (1) A firearm that cannot be carried and used by one person; (2) A firearm that has a bore diameter greater than 1 1/2 inches and that uses smokeless powder, not black powder, as a propellant; (3) ammunition with a projectile that explodes using an explosion of chemical energy after the projectile leaves the firearm; or (4) a firearm that discharges two or more projectiles with one activation of the trigger or other firing device.
Section 6. Marketing of firearms. A firearm manufactured or sold in Montana under [sections 1 through 6] must have the words "Made in Montana" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame.
Section 7. Codification instruction. [Sections 1 through 6] are intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 30, and the provisions of Title 30 apply to [sections 1 through 6].
Section 8. Applicability. [This act] applies to firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition that are manufactured, as defined in [section 3], and retained in Montana after October 1, 2009.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson
Campaign for Liberty is a 501(c)4 lobbying organization which neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office and claims no responsibility for the actions of individuals or groups of individuals who use the Campaign for Liberty logo or name or who may claim to act as representatives of the Campaign for Liberty without prior written consent of the Campaign for Liberty. [?]
