The truth is stranger than fiction

In my update to yesterday's post, I addressed the conspiracy theory (actually well-grounded in fact) that the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9-11 was not only the attack by commercial jetliners, but a controlled demolition as well. This has led to a Facebook conversation with a skeptic (whose name I am withholding), which I thought deserved a larger audience.

Skeptic: Who set the charges?

HT: As I indicated in my post, we do not know. If it was a false-flag attack (conspiracy theory alert), it would probably have been done by undercover CIA operatives, possibly agents of al-Qaeda on the CIA payroll, as suggested by my link to Michael Chussodovsky [director of the Canadian think tank Global Research, often quoted in this space]. I do not know -- we may never know.

Skeptic:  really!? Our own CIA was in on destroying two of the most expensive buildings in the world and killing thousands of people and doing incalcuable harm to the American economy. okay, gotcha.

HT: I know it's hard to believe. I get that. The problem is that our federal government has been manipulated for years (I'm not sure how many) by people intent on using it for their own benefit at the expense of the rest of us. These people have no problem with murdering thousands (even hundreds of thousands, if you include Iraqis and Afghans) and cleaning millions of Americans out of their savings (through bank and currency manipulations) to maintain their wealth acquired through an imperialist American foreign policy. I'm not speculating about Jews, Illuminati, and Freemasons -- I'm talking about New York bankers (and by extension, the Federal Reserve Bank, which prints our money), arms merchants, and people like George Soros, a billionaire who profited heavily from our moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (by buying into a Brazilian oil company that is drilling in the Atlantic and ... the Gulf of Mexico), and is trying to replicate on the dollar his feat of profitably crashing the British pound about a decade ago -- effectively stealing billions in savings from the British people. [To which I should have added a host of very corrupt Congressmen, like inside traders John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi and those who donate heavily to their campaigns.] The endgame is to reduce all but a small elite of the American people to poverty, so they will willingly enslave themselves to the rich that remain in order to survive. It serves their interest to have Americans more interested in football, Lindsay Lohan, and Dancing with the Stars, and in what would be (but for Ron Paul) a meaningless Republican primary, than to understand what is really going on.




A future historian might well entitle their work on the last fifty years, While American Slept: The decline and fall of the United States of America.

Wednesday night, I attended a meeting of an organization of which I have been a member for sixteen years. Before it started (it is a small group), I briefly went over the Defense Appropriation Bill's detainment provisions and their implications (essentially what I wrote Nov. 29), and asked them if this was the kind of government they really wanted to pledge their allegiance to (They know I have not recited the Pledge of Allegiance since I joined them). And again, even with this warning, I remained the only one not to stand up for the pledge. Our people are very confused, and I am beginning to wonder what, if anything, will shake them out of the myth that we still live, and always will live, in a "sweet land of liberty."

My allegiance to the United States government is conditional on its fidelity to the Constitution, which represents the basic principles of our Founding Fathers. My desire for Ohio independence is to replace that government with a smaller one that is faithful to the same principles, as the Ohio Constitution is (in some ways better than the U.S. Constitution). If we see a miracle next year in the election of a President and Congress who are faithful to the Constitution, I will reconsider my position, but I am not confident that such a miracle will happen.

End the Fed

We are beginning to understand it, and yes, we are probably going to have a revolution soon...

If you don't understand how the Federal Reserve is robbing us all, read G. Edward Griffin's The Creature from Jekyll Island. A good and fairly objective introduction (despite the OccupyWhatever sidebar) appears in Salon.com with the title "Who Actually Owns the Fed and Why That Must End."

Update Oct. 14: If you do not have time to read Creature from Jekyll Island, you can download a one-hour audio version on eBay for 99¢.

Virtual buckeye to Andy Myers.

The Federal Reserve: "A rogue elephant"

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international business editor for The (London) Telegraph, believes that the Federal Reserve Board is engaging in "a dangerous form of social engineering," which unreasonably punishes savers and rewards profligate borrowers. Mr. Evans-Pritchard found QE1 an appropriate response to a collapsing money supply.

He concludes:

An intellectual case can be made that inflation should be raised to 4pc to 6pc in the western world to lift us out of our debt trap. EX-IMF chief economist Ken Rogoff and others have made exactly that argument. Fine. Let debate be joined.

But if so, the Fed needs to state this openly and not carry out a social revolution by subterfuge. Any such decision should be subject to democratic endorsement by elected parliaments.

How can we bring these the central bankers to heel?

We could start by ending the Fed and going to a silver-based currency.

How the Federal Reserve works

As predicted in a 1912 cartoon:

The tentacles have now reached our pockets in the forms of mortgages and inflation. Only sound money based on gold or silver will reverse this trend.

(Click on the cartoon to enlarge.)

Quotation of the day

From Charlie Earl (who calls himself a "professional curmudgeon"), reacting to a headline "Fed on the Ropes? Bernanke to Hold Press Conferences," by Thomas Eddlem in lewrockwell.com:

"They should be hanging from the ropes....not on them."

We need to set priorities!

Glenn Beck likes to compare President Obama to a magician by saying that we always have to watch what his other hand is doing. The powers that be have thrown so much at the liberty movement in the last year, that it is hard to know where to direct our efforts. This could be intentional. If we split ourselves into many different directions, none of us will be effective. 

One of my most persistent critics likens me to a "gerbil in a wheel, spitting out worthless posts about secession-is-just-around-the-corner almost daily," a comparison I find laughable, but one which could become apt if we fail to focus on priorities. 

As a business analyst, I have to recognize that there are three constraints to every project: time, cost, and people. You cannot cut all three at the same time. If you want something done faster, you need more people, more money, or both. If you cut costs or people, you will probably need more time. 

Applying this to Ohio's liberty movement, we need to ask – among the many urgent needs we have to regain our freedom, which should we tackle first?

I observe that we can express most of our requirements as pairs -- actions needed in Congress that can be complemented or replaced by state actions. I list these pairs below. Note that I am ignoring the state budget and SB 5 because both are certain to pass in some form, most likely in a way that will work in the direction of smaller government.

My question to my readers is, which of the following should we be pursuing first, second, and third? Please comment; even if it is nothing more than "1.x, 2.y, 3.z."

	Actions by Congress	Actions by the State of Ohio
a	Refuse appropriations for the Libyan war.	Governor Kasich to refuse deployment of Ohio National Guard to Libya.
b	Repeal national health care, or "Obamacare."	Nullify mandatory health care in Ohio (legislation).
c	Abolish the Federal Reserve Bank.	Authorize state and local tax payments in gold or silver: "Honest Money."
d	Balance the budget.	Intercept federal taxes (through the Ohio Department of Taxation) pending a state board or legislative ruling on the constitutionality of federal expenses.
e	Repeal the USA PATRIOT Act.	Nullify the use of body scanners and aggressive patdowns in Ohio airports.
f	Modify or repeal federal gun control laws.	Nullify gun control for weapons both made and sold in Ohio (intrastate commerce). (Note: link is to bill in previous General Assembly)
g	Repeal federal drug laws, particularly those related to marijuana.	Nullify federal prohibitions on the use of marijuana as a prescription drug.
h	Repeal federal food laws that affect intrastate commerce in farm produce.	Nullify federal regulation of farm produce both grown and sold in Ohio (Manna Storehouse – but note that Manna Storehouse was an abuse of state power).

Ron and Rand Paul form tag team to audit the Fed

From Business Wire:

Congressman Ron Paul and his son, Senator Rand Paul, today introduced companion legislation in both chambers of the United States Congress to require a full and thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.

The bills, both titled The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, but known better as “Audit the Fed,” are numbered H.R. 459 in the House and S. 202 in the Senate and continue the efforts championed by Ron Paul last year that won 320 co-sponsors before passing the House and 32 cosponsors in the Senate before falling short on a floor vote.

H.R. 459 starts the session with 56 original bipartisan cosponsors, while Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) are original cosponsors for S. 202.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011 would open up the Fed’s funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Term Securities Lending Facility, and Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility to Congressional oversight and audit by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office. Additionally, audits would include discount window operations, open market operations, and agreements with foreign central banks such as ongoing dollar swap operations with European central banks.

The Wall Street bankers have reason to be afraid -- very, very afraid.

The rest of us have a cause to press with our Congressmen and Senators. This is only the first step toward honest money, but we can not progress farther without it.

Ron Paul becomes subcommittee chairman

.. of the Domestic Monetary Affairs Subcommittee in the U.S. House taking office next month. It was announced last night on Judge Andrew Napolitano's Freedom Watch show on the Fox Business Network.

There are still a few questions as to how long a leash incoming House Speaker John Boehner will give him, especially since Rep. Boehner will hold the subpoena power; but for now, it is a sign of hope that, just maybe, we can start in the direction of honest money.

But don't sell your gold and silver yet...

Video is from The Daily Paul.

Why the Federal Reserve Bank is unconstitutional

Brian at Repeal the 17th Amendment has reproduced an opinion given by then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson to President George Washington on the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States. The same reasoning applies today to the Federal Reserve Bank.

It is interesting that Mr. Jefferson makes passing reference to the idea of a world currency. Let us hope he wasn't being prophetic...

Federal Reserve bails out foreign banks, too

Isn't it amazing just how consistently our "Feds" (federal government and Federal Reserve) act against the interest of the American people? Here is a list from Zero Hedge of 35 foreign banks that received loans from the Federal Reserve Bank between October 27, 2008, and August 6, 2009. The loans totaled $350 billion.

Virtual buckeye to Rebellion.

Of puppets and men

Yesterday, some of my Facebook friends were all atwitter* about Glenn Beck’s series about George Soros, "The Puppet Master?” The evidence I have seen (not all of it from Mr. Beck – for example, go to muckety.com) verifies Mr. Beck’s statements about George Soros’ associations with organizations backing an extremely socialist agenda for the United States. In addition, a Google search on Mr. Soros lists many instances where Mr. Soros himself has been very open about his intentions.

But one thing troubles me. There is no question that Mr. Soros is very wealthy. According to Forbes (Sept. 10) he is the 14th richest American with a fortune of $14.2 billion. But even with that kind of money, it is difficult to understand how he can afford to give hundreds of millions of dollars to political causes without significantly decreasing his own wealth.

So here is my conspiracy theory, which has backing from some admittedly unreliable sources on the Internet. I think Mr. Soros is a front man for the Rothschilds. Proving such a connection will be difficult, because the Rothschilds are extremely secretive people (you will note, for example, that no one in that family appears in the Forbes list of the world’s richest people). And, for that matter, neither does anyone surnamed Rockefeller. Let me stress here, that while such theories have been used to support anti-Semitism, my conclusions are only against the power brokers, not Jews in general. **.

So I have a suggestion for Mr. Beck and his Blaze news organization. Start investigating the connections between Mr. Soros and the Rothschilds and Rockefellers. But be very careful. I suspect that, once you start down that road, your life will be in great danger.

In general, I believe that pursuing conspiracy theories is a waste of time – so why do I advocate investigating this one? Because the enemies of freedom are extremely wealthy and extremely powerful. The more we know about them – and the more they are exposed, the better we will be able to deal with it. Shine a flashlight on the rats and they will scatter.

There is a linkage between U.S. foreign and immigration policy that is detrimental to our interest (check out the connection between the Rockefellers and the American foreign policy establishment through organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission), the systematic robbery of the American people by Wall Street bankers through the Federal Reserve Bank, and the bankrupting of the federal and state governments. This linkage betrays an agenda that seeks a global concentration of power and wealth. These linkages are public record and are easily verifiable.

This is truly a battle of good vs. evil. Obviously, we cannot win it alone; but with God’s help, the wisdom to make the right calls, the willingness to dare greatly, and hard work, we shall win it.

Update Nov. 10:
Here is some additional background on George Soros, from The Blaze.

* sorry, couldn’t resist the temptation…
** For one thing, while I am a Christian, I have Jewish friends, and I am a life member of a Jewish college fraternity.

It's time to end the party -- we have work to do

Most of my friends in the Tea Party and liberty movements were ebullient as the Republicans regained control of the U.S. and Ohio Houses, the Ohio U.S. Senate seat, and Governorship. I remained quiet yesterday out of compassion, thinking that they should be allowed one day to bask in their assumed victory.

Assumed being the key word. All evidence to date points to the GOP as trying to swallow up the liberty movement so the party can destroy it. I hope and pray that I am wrong. If liberty-loving Ohioans are very watchful of their state and federal representatives, and put intense pressure upon them to reduce the size and cost of government, well and good. But if we don't, we will find ourselves two years from now being as unhappy with the Republicans as we were two years ago, and as we just were this year with the Democrats.

On a related note, I was extremely disappointed with the number of votes captured by Libertarian and Constitution Party candidates. While I did not expect any to win, I thought they would poll closer to 10%, setting them up for some victories in 2012. That clearly did not happen. They need some media (with many times more readership than The Ohio Republic) that will publicize their campaigns, and explain to the public why their views should prevail. They clearly won't get it from the existing newspapers and broadcasters -- and until such media do appear, nothing will improve for them. Sorry, it's just hard reality.

Meanwhile, we have to spring a few traps, like this one, described by Buttonwood at The Economist:

The Fed's Wednesday announcement on QE [quantitative easing -- the purchase of U.S. government debt, which is equivalent to printing money] is probably more market significant. There seems little doubt that some QE will be announced but there is room for uncertainty about how much. You can take your pick from today's data—weak numbers on personal incomes and a strong purchasing managers' index—and argue for a little QE or a lot.

I have argued before that QE might not work, given that bond yields are already low and banks are flush with cash. So it seems likely that the markets will be disappointed, however big the QE programme.

But there is also a nice irony at work. The tea party is opposed to massive government spending and bailouts. But QE is a way for the central bank to finance that government spending and to pump money into the banking sector. So on the day that the tea partiers may be celebrating, an unelected central bank will be carrying out a programme, probably totalling several hundred billion dollars, that will cut against everything the partiers stand for.

The hyperinflation has already started

Here's the evidence, with some pithy comments by Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker.

And a not-so-very-nice reminder that I told you so. Repeatedly.

End the Fed? Yes, but more needs to be done

... as the Czech Republic's President Václav Klaus points out in this October 18 speech, in which he attacks the International Monetary Fund (emphasis in the original):

I consider the IMF a barbaric relic from the Keynesian and fixed-exchange rate era. I know it is a harsh verdict but Keynes himself repeatedly used similar strong statements about his colleagues which
justifies my using such a terminology.

I am convinced the IMF should be dismantled or radically restructured as soon as possible. To do the opposite, to increase its role as it happened as a result of the last year’s G20 decision in the middle of the panic connected with the then looming crisis or to speculate about creating similar institutions on individual continents (especially in Europe) is a wrong way to go. It is yet another manifestation of a mistaken and dangerous global governance mindset which – to my great regret – has been getting more and more support in the intellectual and political circles these days. To whom and how at all can the IMF be held responsible for its activities? And if its proposals or measures turn out to be mistaken (and this can happen very easily), who will face the consequences? Certainly not the IMF.

The Czech Republic has provided two of the greatest statesmen of our time, Václav Havel and Václav Klaus. They experienced Communism, know how and why it has failed the people, and have led the Czech people to freedom. We would do well to listen to them.

Virtual buckeye to Brian at Repeal the 17th Amendment.

... and speaking of the Fed ...

Have you heard of "Fedmageddon?" Stephen Gandel, Time magazine's Curious Capitalist, isn't exactly predicting it, but he conducts an excellent review of economic opinion as to what could happen if the Federal Reserve Board decides Nov. 4 to engage in a policy called "quantitative easing." In plain English: print more than $1 trillion to satisfy large bank debtors, so we can become more like Zimbabwe (left).

However, even as this most mainstream medium points out, that could destroy the savings of millions of Americans. While the Curious Capitalist doesn't think that riots and civil war will really happen, he does see dry gunpowder waiting for a catalyst.

The consensus? With 10% unemployment, zero interest rates, and a stagnant economy, there will be a double-dip recession. Delaying the second dip will only make it worse when it comes, so let's get it over with.

The only problem is, getting it over with would deny Wall Street yet another chance to rob the American people, and we can't let that happen, can we?

Understanding the gold standard

Libertarians have been calling for a gold standard to replace our fiat currency (meaning, currency backed by nothing -- or even worse, currency backed by debt). But there are two kinds of gold standards, as Michael Rozeff points out in DumpDC: a free-market gold standard, which ensures that there is a natural relationship between gold (or silver) and economic activity; and a gold standard based on government-created currency. With a natural relationship (which requires that there is no governmental intervention, event that of coining the money), inflation is rare and mild, and the value of money tends to rise over time, protecting the savings of the people.

The alternative, which, as Mr. Rozeff points out, is the one being pressed by the central bankers, is a gold-based world currency, which will in time become a fiat currency, just as the dollar did -- leading to periodic panics/depressions, and robbery of the people by the central bankers.

The take-home is, we must watch what officials are trying to push on us.

Only a return to a really free market, currency included, will act in the interest of all of us. Otherwise, we will continue the same old, same old, until we are robbed into slavery by the bankers and their friends in government.

Read the link to gain a greater understanding of the underlying ideas.

Inflation, simplified

This is the clearest explanation I have heard of what taking the dollar off the gold standard (thanks to the Federal Reserve Bank) has done to the value of our money:

In 1933, Americans were paid $20.67 for each ounce of gold they surrendered. If they had simply lost one of those ounces behind the sofa, today they could exchange it for over $1,200. But if they had taken that $20.67 and misplaced it until today, that amount of money would only buy what a mere $1.32 would have bought them the day they turned in their gold.

Virtual buckeyes to Tammy Bertram and Teri Cain Owens, via Facebook.

Is secession the "third rail" of politics?

Russell D. Longcore at DumpDC.com thinks so.

[T]here is a new political "Third Rail" in America today... Secession. It evokes fear and dread in most politicians, no matter if those politicians are at the state or federal level. Even the lone Congressman leading a revolution in Washington for liberty... Dr. Ron Paul of Texas... won't speak of secession as a solution to end Federal tyranny.

Mr. Longcore spoke with Rep. Paul recently and asked him about secession. Rep. Paul's opinion was that the states had no chance for secession at this time. "Rather," Mr. Longcore writes, "he stated that as the Federal government implodes, the states wold be able to nullify or simply ignore Washington... a 'de facto secession' is what he called it."


Mr. Longcore links to Rep. Paul's "State of the Republic" address, in which Rep. Paul outlines the reasons why America is in such deep trouble as a nation. However, it is evident that Washington will not consider any of Dr. Paul's prescriptions for America's recovery. Even with 315 co-sponsors to HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve Bank, Rep. (and Dr.) Paul does not anticipate that a vote will be taken in 2010.

Russell Longcore's conclusion:

There remains only one solution.

Secession.

I disagree with Doctor Paul. I do not believe that we can prevent "blood from running in the streets." State secession would not prevent the economic collapse of the Dollar. And when the dollar melts down, crime, hunger, poverty and death are still going to happen widely in America. I also believe that the President will invoke martial law as soon as the economic collapse occurs. At that moment, governors and state legislators are going to have to make a hard decision about who is finally in charge.

In Mr. Longcore's opinion, the only hope for a state to "shorten the suffering of its citizens" is to secede and immediately adopt a gold- or silver-based currency.

I think he's right.

Virtual buckeye to Bill Miller at Secession & Nullification.

The day Ohio robbed a bank

Joe Bozzi, of the Honest Money initiative at the Ohio Freedom Alliance, tells the story of how Ohio State Auditor Ralph Osborn carried out a mandate from the Ohio General Assembly in 1819 to collect $100,000 in taxes from the Bank of the United States (precursor to the Federal Reserve Bank).

The background of the story describes economic conditions similar to those we experience today, and is an example of state sovereignty in action at a time when no one questioned the right of states to nullify offensive federal laws under the Tenth Amendment.

It's easy reading and contains valuable lessons for all of us.

Well, this should come as no surprise...

Neil Irwin of the Washington Post (link is to the Columbus Dispatch) confirms what we all know -- workers and families went backward economically since 2000. Here is one telling quotation from the article:

“This was the first business cycle where a working age household ended up worse at the end of it than the beginning, and this in spite of substantial growth in productivity, which should have been able to improve everyone’s well being,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank.

Another expert attributes it to "macroeconomic mismanagement." I wouldn't expect the liberal Washington Post to call it what it really is -- a calculated theft of resources from those who earn the money to those who simply play with it.

Of course this is not all new...