But I refused to take the sticker. My state of Florida has early voting. For only the second time in my life, I voted for someone (Ron Paul), instead of against someone ("evil" Democrats). It certainly felt good to cast a vote for Ron Paul. Here is why. First of all, I don't vote, unless it is against a tax increase. Second, I have not voted (except against a tax increase and for Ron Paul the last time he ran) for probably twenty years. Third, the lesser of two evils is still evil. Fourth, Republicans are not the lesser of two evils, contrary to what I thought twenty years ago.

In order to vote for Ron Paul in the Florida primary, I had to change my registration from Independent to Republican. Please forgive me. I intend to change back ASAP.

South Carolina’s electorate disappointed me as much as anyone last Saturday, but sometimes they get it right: When “GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney … [said] during a debate last week that American citizens who join al Qaeda ‘are not entitled to due process,’” his audience in the Palmetto State booed him.

By the way, the Feds have handed us an extraordinary weapon against them with the NDAA (the topic under discussion when Mutt proved yet again what a loser he is). Many folks are not yet aware of this stunning legislation; when I inform them, even the most die-hard statist is a) shocked beyond belief that His beloved Rulers could possibly contemplate such wickedness as indefinitely imprisoning him without trial or any proof, simply on the president’s say-so; b) utterly disillusioned with government; c) and then finally, blessedly, really angry at our elected sociopaths.

So milk it for all it’s worth! Keep spreading the word that the Feds have declared war on us, and watch the recruits for liberty line up!

From a LTJG:

"I am an active duty Naval Officer currently stationed in Norfolk, VA. I am not sure if you have ever served, but I can tell you, as a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and having been an active duty officer (been on one deployment) for 2.5 years now, I can say that in my opinion your views are right on 100%. Although i studied Political Science (International relations) in college and used to consider myself fairly informed on politics and world affairs, I realized about a year ago that I knew nothing. Nothing truthful anyways. I have learned more about the world and our true place in the world in the past year from reading and listening to people like Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, Lew Rockwell, and F.A. Hayek than I did in my first 22 years of life. I have really opened my eyes and as discouraging as it is to see whats really going on, it is even more uplifting to know the truth...I am getting out of the navy as soon as my contract is up, and I am very interested in getting involved in the kind of work you do. Thanks again and God Bless!"

Fidel comments: "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been." He is wrong about one thing, of course. The Republican campaign is a three-ring circus with the clowns of Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum. Ron Paul is not a part of it.

Question: What's the difference between a Soviet-era communist and a neoconservative?

Answer: Very little, if anything, when it comes to foreign policy.

The reason for this answer is that world domination is obviously the goal of the self-described "former" Trotskyites (advocates of permanent revolution) who took over the Republican Party during the Reagan years and who are described as "neoconservatives." World domination is what these same people told us was the reason for "fighting" the Cold War all those years. Read Ron Paul's LRC article entitled "We've Been Neoconned." That this is true was on display in a recent LRC blog depicting a debate between one of the many FOX News former general/current defense contractor employee dudes and Professor David Henderson over Ron Paul's noninterventionist foreign policy. Every time program host John Stossel or Professor Henderson would question say, why there are still troops in Japan, South Korea, Germany, etc., etc., the spokesman for the military/industrial/congressional complex would answer by saying "we" have "interests" to "protect." You might not know it, dear reader, but YOU have "interests" to protect in at least 130 countries around the world. And these interests are so important that your government needs to send heavily armed, professional murderers (er, I mean, "soldiers") to those places to use force, if need be, to protect YOUR interests. So don't be so damned ungrateful. The next time you see a guy or gal walking around the grocery store dressed in camouflage, say "thank you for your service" in protecting my interests in Central Africa, Australia, Somalia, and Timbuktu.

Listen to this excellent Australian Broadcasting Corporation Hans-Hermann Hoppe interview on anarcho-capitalism.

UPDATE from a friend:

Thanks for posting the ABC Radio National interview with Hoppe. The host of ABC RN COUNTERPOINT is a former state Labor Party minister Michael Duffy. Duffy has made his name post state parliament as an eclectic conservative commentator and non fiction writer.

If you get a chance to listen to the follow up item on Counterpoint with Geoff Blainey you may enjoy it. Blainey is probably our most prominent and controversial historian. He has written several prominent books but has never been loved by the academic guild as he chose to proceed as an independent scholar. He began writing on mining history and sought industry funding, after that he was able to produce mass market commercially successful historical nonfiction. He basically bypassed the academe and communicated directly with the great unwashed. In recent decades this has made him politically incorrect as he has failed to pay appropriate genuflections to multiculturalism and celebrated the economic and social achievements of 19th century Victorian capitalism.

Unfortunately the ABC only runs one Counterpoint program and it is really a token gesture. The ABC rural affairs department and Counterpoint are about the only dissents from a predominantly leftist line, in enviro matters they are particularly shrill. Still small blessings are still blessings!

I know that LRC readers are going to be shocked when I say this: The police lied about the TSA incident in Nashville with Rand Paul. Yeah, its shocking; cops lie.

The police claimed that Sen. Paul was "irate" when, in fact, the video shows a calm person perfectly in control. Of course, no cop will be disciplined for lying. Yeah, we all are shocked.

(Thanks to Travis Holte)

Writes Greg Privette:

Read the post about Tim Thomas refusing to visit the white house. It also occurred to me, why would a bunch of millionaires want to go and visit a president who is constantly attacking and berating millionaires?

It reminds me of a statement I read once by the very wealthy former NBA star Charles Barkley (one of my favorite athletes, by the way). He said that before the election of George the 1st he told his grandmother he was going to vote for Bush. She replied, "Oh Charles, you don’t want to vote for Bush; he is only for the rich people."

UPDATE from Ed McFarlane:

Wasn't Ron Paul a national college athlete in his youth? He's the only athlete who needs to go to the White House!

UPDATE from John Keller:

Sir Charles replied, "I am rich!"

Disgraced former House majority leader Tom Delay says of disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, "He's not really a conservative."

Karen: Doesn't all this rampant inflation give you a sense of pride in how our economy is expanding? I remember, in my youth, that a $10,000 house was something wonderful. Now we have $500,000 houses and in such abundance that more are available than we can possibly buy! This must mean that the government and the banks have made us fifty times better off!! Keep the presses rolling! We'll soon all be billionaires! Furthermore, . . . oops, I have to cut this off: Obama just called and wants me to become his speech-writer.

Newt Gingrich is his old "visionary" self again. Yes, the guy who suggested giving poor Americans laptops as a way for them to get out of poverty has now promised a base on the moon in his second term. (Uh, Newt, there will BE no second term, nor first term, either.)

Of course, what is a Gingrich speech without the self-aggrandizement we have come to expect?

Gingrich also said he would push to develop propulsion technology that would get man to Mars.

He emphasized that it doesn't have to be expensive, exploration in partnership with private companies can lower the cost.

"If it's cheaper and it's faster and it works, do it," he said.

He also said launch areas should be capable of launching multiple spacecrafts in a day, like an airport.

"Does that mean I'm visionary? You betcha," he said.

Finally, a bottom for home prices. This paragraph made my brain hurt:

A key signal that the bottom is near is a change in the ratio of average homes prices to personal income — houses are affordable again. After soaring to 4 to 1 during the housing boom, the ratio is now well below the long-term average of 3 to 1.

I have absolutely no clue how that is a "key signal" (it sounds more like something made up from a random word generator), but, here's a better snippet:

By 2014, the housing market should start to look more like its old self, with housing starts near the long-term average of 1.5 million a year, sales of about 6 million and price gains of more than 4% a year.

Its old self? You mean this?

Surprise, surprise - a license plate database free-for-all. The government is photographing license plates and matching the scans up to massive databases. But it is to protect us from ... bank robbers and kidnappers. Thanks to Michael Ostrolenk for the tip.

Here's Heather reporting on their first two weeks of primal living. They've even got Mark Sisson checking on them, says Tom.

Writes Patrick Watkins:

I love your site and can’t wait to visit the Liberty Memorial in DC with my great-grandkids to see the statues of you and Ron. Thanks for everything.

My cousin just posted this on her Facebook…I thought you might find it interesting.

“When my husband went to withdraw cash from our account today (not a terribly great sum, either) he was told that they needed advance notice for this, that they "needed to leave some for others". He was then asked what would he be using this money for? Is this standard procedure for our banking system?”

UPDATE from Scott Airhart:

When the bank asked me what I was using my money for, I simply pointed to the part on all paper currency stating "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." No one said anything and I walked away with cash in hand.

"These are the Supremes," writes James Dunlop.

My favorite newspaper these days, The Daily Mail, has dethroned the evil (and terminal) New York Times. (Thanks to Travis Holte)

From the Mises Academy:

An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, the capstone of Murray Rothbard’s career, is one of the greatest works of intellectual history written in the twentieth century. It is a massive book, over one thousand pages of small print, and students often find it hard to read. This course, the first of a two-part series, will cover the first volume. Students who take it will gain a thorough knowledge of some of the key themes of the book.

People with three different interests will find this course of value. First, if you want to learn Austrian economics, it is essential to grasp how this system grew out of previous economic thought. Austrian economics developed the insights of the Spanish Scholastics, in particular the subjective theory of value, and reacted against the classical economics of Adam Smith and his followers. Rothbard’s book is an unrivalled source of insight on these vital topics.

Second, if you are interested in the thought of Murray Rothbard, you need to read An Austrian Perspective. It contains his views on many topics either not otherwise available or not discussed elsewhere in so much detail. These include the key mistake in Aristotle’s economics, why Adam Smith is overrated, the place of religion in economic development, and the importance of Cantillon and Turgot.

Third, if you are interested in history, you will find in Rothbard’s book a treasure trove of insights. How did the idea of natural law develop? What role did Catholics and Protestants play in the development of capitalism: is the Weber thesis correct? Was Machiavelli a teacher of evil? How did the modern state arise? What was the basis of mercantilism.

Read more, register, and have the intellectual time of your life.

From Bob Wenzel about our podcast today.

So the language of Obama's State of the Union registers at an 8th grade reading level. Are we surprised?

Not after reading the piece by Walter Williams posted on LRC this morning. The people Obama is trying to reach are simply uneducated — not dumb, but deliberately deprived by the educrats of the capacity to reason and reach rational conclusions, to paraphrase Hannah Arendt. (Be sure to read the article Williams refers too, as well. Brace yourself.)

Obama has deliberately dumbed down all three of his SOTU addresses. His "average grade-level score of 8.4 is more than two grades lower than the 10.7 grade average for the other 67 addresses written by his 12 predecessors," according to a careful analysis of the texts. Wonder why?

Obamanologists at Politico gild the lily: "Obama's use of simple language  is in part a reflection of his audience: the American voter in an election year."

Translated through the LRC Truthacator, we add the missing adjective: the Holy O's audience is the :uneducated" voter (thanks to his allies in the government school unions), and his goal is making them resentful and envious while leaving them uneducated. Think Orwell's proles, and Huxley's Deltas.

Get in line for your Soma.

An article about an alleged hack of “a Northwest rail company's computer” in December reports that “a confidential government bulletin sent to officials in 2004 said with tight budgets, the U.S. private sector rails tend to apply funds where they are most needed…”

Duh. Ya think? Memo to bureaucrats: that’s how it goes when you have to earn every dollar you spend rather than robbing taxpayers for it.

“… instead of toward reducing ‘vulnerabilities which terrorists may choose to exploit.’"

Yeah, we’ve all seen how well that works for the TSA.

Writes Angus MacSporran:

"I have to say, that until quite recently I was rather pessimistic about the future, given that I believed Y-Gen to be the dumbest generation in the entire history of the planet and the ruling Baby Boomers to be possibly the most selfish and evil. However, I'm gradually coming around to the view that all is not lost. Y-Gen does seem to have the endearing characteristic of being anti-authoritarian and their enthusiasm for Ron Paul is extraordinarily uplifting. We shouldn't be surprised nor begrudge Y-Gen for being apathetic, detached, and surly when faced with the disgusting liar's-world they have been born into. In fact we should view their attitude as a rational defense mechanism to all the BS they are constantly bombarded with. We should also not be surprised (though I admit I am) that when they are finally given a glimpse of the truth they should embrace it so enthusiastically. I can see now where Ron gets much of his apparently limitless energy from. If the lamp of liberty could remain alight and survive the darkest days of the 20th century, it can survive anything! The storm clouds are gathering but the light has spread. It will never be extinguished, no matter what they do. The petty and not-so-petty crimes of the desperate criminal-elite reveal them to be terrified of what is coming. They have every right to be terrified ... they face oblivion! Walter Block is correct (as usual): We should be optimistic about the future given how far we have come. If "a little truth goes a long way," think how far the torrent of true flowing from LRC, the LvMI, and the Ron Paul campaign will go ... I CAN'T WAIT!! So thank you, Lew, thank you, Walter, thank you, Ron Paul et al., and thanks Y-Gen, for taking the "red pill" and soaring free of the Matrix. If they can't control your mind, they've got NOTHING!!!"

As Congress once more congratulates itself for its amor sui (self-love, the engine of the City of Man), let us remember those who died that bright morning in Tucson, who are, of course, nobodies to the insatiable power-lusting beast:

Gabe Zimmerman, 30; John Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; and Christina Taylor-Green, 9.

Mere "collateral damage"? Well, don't send them down the Memory Hole just yet: "Speaking to the Arizona Republic, 77-year-old George Morris, a survivor of the shooting, blames Mark Kelly for the death of his wife and five others for not taking extra precautions to protect Giffords after she had been receiving death threats....Morris vented to the paper that he is tired of seeing media coverage of Giffords and her husband.

'Every time I see them on TV, it makes me want to vomit,' he told the paper.

May Rep. Giffords and the thirteen other nameless wounded continue in their recovery, and may the innocent and forgotten dead rest in peace.

"The following will be pretty generally applicable [under communism].

1.  Abolition of private property . . .

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax."

— The Communist Manifesto (1848), Part II

. . . . . . . . .

"Obama urges taxing the rich."

Reuters headline, January 25, 2012

I don't mean to single out Giffords. Would to God that everyone in the House would resign and let Ron Paul and the handful of others that oppose the US empire and try to follow the Constitution govern a very limited government. A quorum of five perhaps. And then perhaps Rand Paul and one or two others in the Senate.

David, the only other vote I am aware of that Giffords made after her tragic shooting was to raise the debt limit.

Passing through the Gestapo checkpoint at BWI Airport recently, I noticed that the brand name of the porno-tron machine was "Rapiscan." The manufacturer appears to have mistakenly left off the "e."  Michael Chertoff, former head of  Fatherland Security and current seller of Rapiscan machines, call your office.

"Liberal" Gabrielle Giffords—who, like many liberals, believes that women own their own bodies only when it comes to abortion—will make her last act before she leaves Congress the opportunity to vote for a strong drug-smuggling bill she proposed.

As Laurence already pointed out, this same "liberal" only once saw a war appropriations bill she didn't like.

With "liberals" like Gabrielle Giffords in Congress, who needs right-wing fascists like John Boehner et al.?

Adios, Gabrielle—and could you take the rest of your worthless colleagues in the Congress with you?

UPDATE: The Nazis in Congress unanimously passed this bill. [Thanks to Geoffrey Allan Plauché for the update]

The Republican three-ring circus (starring clowns Romney-Gingrich-Santorum) marches on. (Or is it now a two-ring Romney-Gingrich circus?)

[Thanks to Travis Holte]

Here are two "unrelated" stories on the growing fascist United States of Amerika.

First, Nazi York City police want permission to fly drone planes over the city. Of course, it's to protect us New Yawkuhs from the "terrorists."

Second, the Los Angeles (aka Nazi York City West) police  will be joining in with military exercises in downtown LA.

"The exercises are designed to ensure the military's ability to operate in urban environments, prepare forces for upcoming overseas deployments, and meet mandatory training certification requirements, police said." [italics mine]

"Overseas" deployments. Oh "sure."

It's 'John Galt' time, folks.

[Thanks to Travis Holte]

What to do about conspiracy theories (except the ones promoted by the regime, that is)? WaPo'a Slate and Soros associate Evgeny Morozov wants Google to deep-six politically incorrect in search results, or label them as dangerous with a big red sign (that might help!). We don't need any more proof of how worried the bad guys are about popular disbelief in State pieties, and about sites like LRC that stoke it, but this elite propaganda provides it.

“Gruff and unpleasant security officers are not exactly helping business at the Buffalo Niagara and Niagara Falls airports, according to a top man at the [Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority].”

Guy’s worried passengers, especially Canadians, will patronize other airports in the region and wants remedial training for the unremediable. He’d do better to listen to “Paul Rath” who nails the problem in his reader’s comment: “When someone is empowered by the Government to look at you naked and feel you up at will — its [sic] clear who is in control in that relationship. Why do people think they will get any ‘respect?’”

That demonized country is bypassing the US's beloved bankster system and selling its oil for gold to India and China. Will this be looked back upon as the beginning of an international gold standard?

Not many of us are as lucky as Walter Block's students, to learn in person from this funny and learned Austrian economist and libertarian. But this Friday at 7:00pm Eastern time, we all have this chance. Walter will talk for 45 minutes on "How To End Unemployment in One Day," Austrian business cycle theory and much else, and then take questions for 45 minutes, via the Mises Academy. The price is just $25, and you will find it a tremendous experience. Getting to know your fellow students is great, too. Here are the details. Get to Walter now, before he becomes chairman of the council of economic advisors in the Paul administration; then he won't have time for great events like this.

Check out the latest in the growing Orwellian police state in "the land of the free." It's a combination of Minority Report and 1984. (Of course, the toothless ACLU is only partially concerned about this.)

Another graphic from Mark Fee. Again, click on it and then click on it again for a visible image.

So, while the TSA was wasting time, money, and effort abusing Rand Paul, its thieves remained busily at “work.”

“Michael Pujol and his wife, Betsy Pujol Salazar … were arrested Thursday … Pujol, who was apprehended after an iPad he was accused of stealing was traced to a Craigslist sale, …stowed the stolen goods in a secret jacket pocket [added to his uniform jacket] that was big enough to conceal a laptop computer. … Pujol Salazar admitted that she and her husband have been stealing goods and on-selling them for three years…” [Emphasis added.]

Breathtaking, isn’t it? Apparently, there's no limit to the cretins’ corruption. And yet totalitarians, commies, and the Pauls’ enemies dared criticize Rand for standing up to these thugs.

Mark Fee sent this graphic. Click on it, then click on it again for a visible image.

Reader "Ian" posted this comment on ABC News' account of Rand Paul's kidnapping-sorry, "detainment":

"Ron and Rand Paul are today’s Paul revere. Be warned the Americans are coming."

Yes!

...I know of what I speak:

"He [Romney] makes his money the same way I make my money," Buffett said. "He makes money by moving around big bucks, not by straining his back or going to work and cleaning toilets or whatever it may be. He makes it shoving around money." [Where does the money come from to pay those "real" workers to do those jobs, Warren, you MORON?]

Yeah, Warren, you're such a "greedy, capitalist pig." In reality, what Romney's Bain Capital does is very important in the marketplace. On the other hand, Buffett—having made his billions in the second biggest scam (the Fed being the first) ever perpetrated on the sheeple—is the richest fraudulent huckster in the history of the NYSE.

And, for the umpteenth* time, Warren, if you're feeling such "guilt" over not paying enough in robbery taxes ("funny" how he protected all of his wealth in his tax-exempt foundation throughout his wealth-accumulating career rather than paying taxes to his beloved government like the rest of us sheeple), you can always mail the U.S. Treasury a very generous check.
______________________________________
*If anyone reading this post (such as a Bershire Hathaway shareholder) has Warren Buffett's email address, please put Buffett out of his misery and email him the link to the U.S. Treasury's gift program. Thanks.

Here is a letter sent to me by an avid reader of LRC: Hi Walter, I am becoming more and more convinced that this country is a lost cause. I'm pretty much convinced that there is no hope of ever changing it playing by the rules. At a certain point you need to stop banging your head against the same door and accept the fact that peace and liberty are lost causes. As long as people have their American Idol and their iPads and their Dancing with the Stars, they are contented sheep. I will continue to pull for Dr. Paul, but I am all but convinced we are fighting a war we cannot win. I think the fact that the imbeciles in South Carolina gave the bottom-feeding piece of crap Gingrich a massive victory over the only decent candidate in the race is pretty much proof of that. The people will never rise up until there is no food on the table and no gas for their cars and by then it will be too late. I have not given up yet, but I'm very close to it. I had my heart broken in 2008 and probably will again this time, but I won't ever put myself in a position to go through that again after this.

Here is my response: I agree with your negative assessment of short term success. It is due to biological hard wiring, in my view. However, the fight is so much FUN! So, forget about whether we win or lose. You’re right, we’ll probably lose, at least in the short run. In the long run, who knows?

I urge you to focus, instead, on the sheer pleasure of undermining the world view of the mainstream media, and all those other blowhards in the pulpit, in academia, etc. Don’t you just LOVE it when Ron tweaks their pompous noses?

Read the rest of this entry »

Bruins' goalie Tim Thomas refused to take part in the president worship that occurs when a winning sports teams visits the White Temple. Here is his great statement:

"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.

This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.

Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.

This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT"

(Thanks to Gerard Bruin)

Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Friends: If you are Jewish, please consider joining our group. If you are not, please send this material to your Jewish friends, and ask them to do so. In order to join, write to Tom Nash at [email protected] Here is what I consider our best essay on this matter. Please join us asap. Florida is heavily Jewish. Please send all this material to your friends in Florida, particularly Jewish ones. Ron may not be spending a lot of money there, but he will participate in the debates there, is on the ballot there, and needs every vote he can get there. The attached material ought to help out in this quest.

Also, do watch our new video (I make a cameo appearance here) on Ron Paul and his SUPPORT for Israel:

Today's edition of "Spot the Non Sequitur" features former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson:

Essentially, financial firms have been buying the right to take on more risk. When things go well, executives in these firms get the upside – mostly in terms of immediate compensation, because few executives are compensated on the basis of risk-adjusted returns. That means that when the risks materialize and the firms suffer losses, the costs fall on taxpayers.

Ron Paul is right to point to imbalances of power and massive distortions within the financial sector. He is also correct that many government policies favor relatively few big firms — and favor them in a way that encourages excessive and dangerous risk-taking.

But Paul and others are wrong to argue that the government is the ultimate cause of all financial evil. Executives in financial firms want to take big risks. They like arrangements under which they win even when they lose.

Of course, what Johnson means is that deregulation + deposit insurance = moral hazard, so we need regulation to keep financial firms from taking excessive risks. The idea that moral hazard might be mitigated by eliminating deposit insurance, and letting the market discipline financial-market entrepreneurship, is unthinkable to regulators.

I wonder if the scribblers at the New York Times carry rose petals with them while riding in cabs. I am reminded of the story of a cab driver in New York who threw rose petals out his window while driving. His passenger inquired as to the reason for his doing so. "To keep lions away from us," he replied. "But how can that possibly work?," the passenger intoned. The cabbie responded: "you don't see any lions, do you?"

I would be very interested in knowing how many lions  terrorists TSA has actually captured with their groping. I mean genuine terrorists, not grandmothers with knitting needles, breast-feeding mothers, six-month old infants in diapers, people with finger-nail clippers, etc.

Bill, the DHS trolls websites -- no reason to believe they aren't doing so when it comes to articles about either Paul.

On the other hand, yes, the Times and the many of its readers really hate liberty.

My friend Ron Maxwell, who's worked in the film industry for forty years, defends intellectual property rights — and Hollywood! — against not only pirates, but Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

January 21–23, 2012, was the best-read weekend in LRC history. And mailed-in donations of $29,500 to our annual appeal raised the total to $76,016. Many thanks to all our writers, donors, and readers. Oh, and a message to the other side: You ain't seen nothin' yet.