NDAA Fuels Militarization, Enriches Defense Corporations, Expands Empire

"The military industrial complex is a jigsaw puzzle of seemingly competing private companies; but they are in reality state-sponsored enterprises where well-connected lobbyists, usually after long and prosperous careers in the military or government, pressure Congress to fund pet projects regardless of whether we can afford them or whether they are needed to defend our country. This convenient arrangement is the welfare of the warfare state."

http://original.antiwar.com/paul/2012/12/20/ndaa-fuels-militarization-enriches-defense-corporations-expands-empire/

George Monbiot: "It must follow that what applies to the children murdered [in Newtown] by a deranged young man also applies to the children murdered in Pakistan by a sombre American president. These children are just as important, just as real, just as deserving of the world's concern. Yet there are no presidential speeches or presidential tears for them, no pictures on the front pages of the world's newspapers, no interviews with grieving relatives, no minute analysis of what happened and why."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/17/us-killings-tragedies-pakistan-bug-splats

“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and military.” - William S. Burroughs, Artist/Novelist

“The most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

Are you a dangerous man (or woman)?

"The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are." - H.L. Mencken

Minority Report, U.S. style

Just in case they're needed for future criminal investigations. Very disturbing, particularly considering that we have no idea what might be considered "crimes" in the future.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57556704-38/cops-to-congress-we-need-logs-of-americans-text-messages/

Afghan Children Legitimate Targets, Says U.S. Lt. Col., As They Might Have "Hostile Intent"

"When the war gets to this level--whether or not we believe the Army's assertions that the kids it's killing in Afghanistan deserved it--it's time to rethink whether you are winning hearts and minds, nation rebuilding, or just involved in an endless insane game of blowing shit up and making people so mad they give you what you think is a legitimate excuse to keep blowing shit up.

$200 billion spent on this in just fiscal 2012 and 2013, so we can now, halfway across the globe, "look...for children with potential hostile intent," and if we find them, kill them."

http://reason.com/blog/2012/12/04/afghan-children-legitimate-targets-says

Ron Paul's full-throated endorsement of voluntarism

"To achieve liberty and peace, two powerful human emotions have to be overcome. Number one is “envy” which leads to hate and class warfare. Number two is “intolerance” which leads to bigoted and judgmental policies. These emotions must be replaced with a much better understanding of love, compassion, tolerance and free market economics. Freedom, when understood, brings people together. When tried, freedom is popular.

The problem we have faced over the years has been that economic interventionists are swayed by envy, whereas social interventionists are swayed by intolerance of habits and lifestyles. The misunderstanding that tolerance is an endorsement of certain activities, motivates many to legislate moral standards which should only be set by individuals making their own choices. Both sides use force to deal with these misplaced emotions. Both are authoritarians. Neither endorses voluntarism. Both views ought to be rejected.

I have come to one firm conviction after these many years of trying to figure out “the plain truth of things.” The best chance for achieving peace and prosperity, for the maximum number of people world-wide, is to pursue the cause of LIBERTY.”

- Ron Paul, farewell speech 11/14/12

Why ‘National Security Threats’ Threaten the Government and Not You

"It is not for the sake of Jon and Jane that the United States Government establishes military bases, props up obedient dictatorships, and goes to war in the Middle East. They are not safer and their wallets are emptier because of these policies. It is for the sake of the supremacy of the government – the rulers – that these policies are imposed. Iran, the greatest bogeyman in the establishment’s lexicon, threatens their interests, their dominance in the most strategically important region in the world. Jon and Jane, quite obviously, have nothing to fear from Iran.

“National security interests” are just that: interests of the national security state, not of the people. Just being able to recognize this can change one’s entire understanding of war, politics, elections, and the real threat to their security."

http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/11/06/why-national-security-threats-threaten-the-government-and-not-you/

Truth is treason in the empire of lies

"Bradley Manning didn’t cheat. He didn’t make anything up. He didn’t even hurt anyone. All he did was reveal what is true. The result was explosive in showing the world what goes on behind the scenes in the wars for democracy. He showed innocents being slaughtered, people taking pleasure in bombings and killings, a gigantic catalog of deceptions and trickery, and much more. It wasn’t hard to find this material. He only had to download it and upload it.

Any true American would have done the same — or should have. It takes guts to stand up for what is right. He has languished in prison for two and a half years, for the Orwellian crime of revealing the truth. Julian Assange is exactly right that he is a hero.

Note that we didn’t hear a word about this in the election, nor in the debates, nor in the ads. We will not hear a word about it after the inauguration either. This is how empire operates: monopoly power guarding secrecy, imposing oppression, and enforcing censorship."

http://lfb.org/blog/back-to-the-business-of-government-get-bradley-manning/

Election Day

Ron Burgundy weighs in on today's facebook activity:

Blessed democracy

H. L. Mencken: "Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right."

America's Drone Terrorism

Here's how Obama is currently terrorizing innocent civilians all across the Middle East (and Romney fully endorses his policy, of course):

Sheldon Richman: "U.S. drone strike policies cause considerable and under-accounted-for harm to the daily lives of ordinary civilians, beyond death and physical injury. Drones hover twenty-four hours a day over communities in northwest Pakistan, striking homes, vehicles, and public spaces without warning. Their presence terrorizes men, women, and children, giving rise to anxiety and psychological trauma among civilian communities. Those living under drones have to face the constant worry that a deadly strike may be fired at any moment, and the knowledge that they are powerless to protect themselves.

The U.S. practice of striking one area multiple times, and evidence that it has killed rescuers, makes both community members and humanitarian workers afraid or unwilling to assist injured victims. Some community members shy away from gathering in groups."

http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/americas-drone-terrorism/

Our so-called leaders

Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure

"We", "us", etc.

"We must, therefore, emphasize that "we" are not the government; the government is not "us." The government does not in any accurate sense "represent" the majority of the people. But, even if it did, even if 70 percent of the people decided to murder the remaining 30 percent, this would still be murder and would not be voluntary suicide on the part of the slaughtered minority." - Murray Rothbard

FYI for my friends supporting Mitt Romney because he is perceived as a great entrepreneur/businessman who is sympathetic to the small business owner. Ronald Reagan’s budget director David Stockman explains:

David Stockman: "...Except Mitt Romney was not a businessman; he was a master financial speculator who bought, sold, flipped, and stripped businesses. He did not build enterprises the old-fashioned way—out of inspiration, perspiration, and a long slog in the free market fostering a new product, service, or process of production. Instead, he spent his 15 years raising debt in prodigious amounts on Wall Street so that Bain could purchase the pots and pans and castoffs of corporate America, leverage them to the hilt, gussy them up as reborn “roll-ups,” and then deliver them back to Wall Street for resale—the faster the better.

That is the modus operandi of the leveraged-buyout business, and in an honest free-market economy, there wouldn’t be much scope for it because it creates little of economic value. But we have a rigged system—a regime of crony capitalism—where the tax code heavily favors debt and capital gains, and the central bank purposefully enables rampant speculation by propping up the price of financial assets and battering down the cost of leveraged finance."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/14/david-stockman-mitt-romney-and-the-bain-drain.html

The teacher from Billy Madison weighs in on Romney/Obama's debate.

"No matter the outcome of tonight’s debate, sources agreed that the most talented sociopath will likely be elected in November and, depending on what kind of support he might receive from like-minded sociopaths in Congress, will then spend the next four years satisfying his malformed brain’s ceaseless thirst for power and glory."

http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-tunes-in-to-see-which-sociopath-more-likabl,29946/

If you watch the debate tonight (I'm not), please keep this in mind: Paul Ryan voted for TARP, voted for the auto bailouts, voted for government stimulus packages, voted for every one of Bush's big government programs, and voted to increase the debt and deficit over and over and over. His fiscal plan will not cut one penny in actual spending, it only cuts the rate of spending increases. He is a big government Keynesian just like Joe Biden, just like Mitt Romney, just like Barack Obama. You'll hear only empty, meaningless, dishonest rhetoric.

I hate to rain on the Red Team vs. Blue Team hoopla, but...

Anthony Gregory: "Americans on both right and left accept Romney and Obama's premise that political economy is a zero-sum game, that high-income taxpayers and the poor are pitted against each other. They use this faulty premise to keep us divided and conquered. Ultimately, the true class struggle is between the political class and the rest of us, and although Obama and Romney use different rhetoric and cater to different constituents to secure their power, they both offer plans that encourage dependence, keep the poor down, and fleece trillions from all productive Americans."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-gregory/the-real-problem-with-rom_b_1898618.html

Yikes

http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/20/obama-campaign-unveils-another-creepy-ge

Earlier today, the Federal Reserve announced that it will continue to inflate the money supply, aka print money, via QE3. If any of us were to do this, we would go to prison for counterfeiting. This policy directly benefits the big banks and big governments at the expense of us all. Yay.

Obama: "Uhhh..that's not in my script"

Good ol' democracy

Does anyone think it's a little weird that every four years we are expected to choose a ruler who will use the threats of jail and bodily harm to boss us around from thousands of miles away? And even though half of the people don't get the guy they chose, they are expected to just do as he says, and if they don't like it, too bad (again--jail or bodily harm). Does this system seem kind of ridiculous?

Sad milestone

America, land of the "free," imprisons more people than Russia, China, or Iran.

Why war?

Is this another one of GOB's tricks?

When he's not trying to manipulate marijuana users into voting for him, uber-drug-warrior Barack Obama is busy locking them in cages and ruining their lives, including waging his ever expanding war against medical marijuana.

John Cusack Interviews Prof. Jon Turley on the War Against the Constitution

"So what Obama's doing is to rewrite the most fundamental principle of the US Constitution. The whole point of the Holder speech was that we're really good guys who take this seriously, and you can trust us. That's exactly the argument the framers rejected, the 'trust me' principle of government. You'll notice when Romney was asked about this, he said, 'I would've signed the same law, because I trust Obama to do the right thing.' They're both using the very argument that the framers warned citizens never to accept from their government."

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11264-john-cusack-and-jonathan-turley-on-obamas-constitution

Rubio's Freudian Slip

A  classic Freudian slip lets the world hear the true intentions of neoconservatives like Marco Rubio:

"We chose more government instead of more freedom."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16VbryCejyA&feature=youtu.be&t=17m15s

Red Team vs. Blue Team

The Main Difference: The MLB doesn't claim the right--regardless of who wins the game--to control your life, steal your money, and put you in prison/shoot you if you don't obey.

Similarities include:
- Teams battle tooth and nail, but ultimately work for the same organization
- Engenders fierce rivalry among spectators based on not much more than where someone grew up or what they're favorite color is
- Provides a fabulous living for those playing the game
- Relies on the participation of millions of people in order to have any significance

Political quiz

Which presidential/VP candidate supported the TARP bailout (that massive transfer of wealth from all of us lowly taxpaying peasants to the Wall Street firms and big banks who took all those crazy risks prior to the economic crash)? Was it: (a)Barack Obama; (b) Mitt Romney; (c) Joe Biden; or (d) Paul Ryan? Answer: (e) all of the above. Don't vote for any of these creeps.

The solution is actually quite simple

Paul's Ryan's Principle Problem

Paul Ryan: "This bill offends my principles, but I'm going to vote for this bill to preserve my principles."

Ben Swann: "What does that even mean?"

The illusion of choice

Spoiler alert. No matter which dynamic duo wins, we will get more debt, more war, more bailouts, more handouts, more inflation and less liberty. Reject this illusion of choice.

Empires and their games

False.

The land of the free? Don't make Dwight laugh.

A tragic waste of youth

"Just imagine what MICHAEL PHELPS, the greatest Olympian of all time, might have accomplished if he hadn't smoked pot? After 18 gold medals (22 overall), all he can look forward to is the bleak future of other pot users...such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Steve Jobs."

The lesser of two evils

"The greatest lie & myth in politics: Good people are obligated to support the lesser of two evils."- Mike Rothfeld

I interrupt the very serious Chick-Fil-A scandal for this announcement: the president is murdering innocent civilians around the globe via drones, the Federal Reserve is inflating our money supply into worthlessness to enrich the politically connected few, politicians are forcing trillions of dollars of debt on future generations to further their own careers, soldiers lives are being sacrificed to enrich defense contractors and expand government power, Americans are being placed in cages for the non-crime of smoking a leaf (even for medicinal purposes).....and, government has no place being involved in marriage AT ALL in the first place, neither defining "traditional marriage" nor sanctioning gay marriage. Now, back to your previously scheduled distraction.

ALL governments

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted." - Frank Herbert

Ron vs. Ben

Ron Paul's last stand against Ben Bernanke as a congressman. Dr. Paul singlehandedly made The Fed--and all its inflation/theft--a mainstream issue for the first time in 100 years.

Night of the Living Statists

Statist: "But without the state, who would build the roads?"

Libertarian: "Hmmm. Good point. And who would build the cars?"

Statist: [tries to eat libertarian's brain]

Force

“People try to argue that government isn’t really force. You believe that? Try not paying your taxes. When they come to get you for not paying your taxes, try not going to court. Guns will be drawn. Government is force — literally, not figuratively.” - Penn Jillette

For international friendships, dismantle the military empire

Economic liberty, free trade, and genuinely limited government is the key to peace, prosperity, and harmony with the people of the world, says Jacob Hornberger.

http://fff.org/2012/07/09/for-international-friendships-dismantle-the-military-empire/

The Bubble

Wanna know why the the financial crisis happened? The all-stars who predicted it exactly will explain why in this film, coming out in the Fall. Watch this trailer!

Welcome to Bizarro World

Welcome to Bizarro World, where the fool is a highly regarded Nobel Prize winning economist, and the sage is an often mocked or ignored failed presidential candidate.

The prevailing "wisdom"

Note: the majority of those in power actually believe this.

Statism

War is a racket

War is a racket. It always has been. 

U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler explains:

"[War] is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."

"A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

The Oil Change Co-Pay

With this great analogy, Eric Peters explains why the real problem with routine healthcare insurance is that it exists in the first place, and why having government even more involved than it already has been for decades will continue to force prices to rise and quality to fall.

http://ericpetersautos.com/2012/07/06/the-oil-change-co-pay/

War drums

Yeah, they're all starting to sound the same at this point.

Nothing hurts quite like government "help".

Who Won World War II? (or, WWWW II?)

Contrary to the notion that "we" are "back-to-back World War champs", the people of the US have lost more in our government's past century of war than is even calculable. "We" never win anything in war. The state and the military industrial complex, on the other hand, profit immensely.

For example, Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation explains who really won WWII.

http://fff.org/2012/02/16/won-world-war-ii-2/

I own myself

Dear State,

I own myself. Get lost.

Sincerely,
the individual

It works the same way in every country

How the Obama Administration Defended DEA Agents Who Put a Gun to a Little Girl's Head

I wonder what the Obama administration would have said if DEA agents broke down the door to the president's house in a mistaken drug raid and told his two young daughters to "get on the fucking ground" while pointing a gun at their heads, dragging them to the floor and handcuffing them. The reaction probably would not have been that the agents' actions were "plainly reasonable", as in this case with the 11 and 14 year old Avina sisters.

http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/19/obama-administration-defended-use-of-vio

Selling the wars

The government is waging an aggressive marketing campaign for its most lucrative product: war.

"A nation of laws"

Six-year-old Obama

Aww, six-year-old Obama is too young to murder children. Poor little guy. Cheer up, your day will come.

Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=418730834813867&set=a.140926845927602.22674.123178441035776&type=1&theater

War is anti-free market

Omnipotent Moral Busybodies

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis

Barack Obama (paraphrased)

"Let me be clear: thanks to some clever accounting tricks and, uhh, the redefinition of otherwise clearly defined words, I now only murder small, acceptable numbers of 'innocent civilians' with drones."

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/under-obama-men-killed-by-drones-are-presumed-to-be-terrorists/257749/

"...oh, and, uhhh, folks...," the Nobel Peace Prize winning & drone-loving president continued, "Make no mistake: we are winning the War on Terror. One bombed-out, grief-stricken, newly radicalized-against-America village at a time."

http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-covert-drone-war-in-yemen-prompting-more-terror-2012-5

Jack White on economics

I'm looking forward to Jack White's upcoming tune "Price Mechanism Blues".

http://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2012/05/25/what-jack-white-can-teach-us-about-economics/

Finally

An honest campaign slogan.

Do as I say, not as I do

Barack Obama continues to destroy the lives of people who commit the victimless crime of choosing to put a non-government-approved substance into their own body; the same crime that he proudly admits in an effort to appear hip and cool. What a guy.

War & Socialism

Before Obamacare, before Medicare, before Social Security, there was...

WAR, the ultimate socialist program.

Man vs. State

As the old proverb goes:
Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day.
Steal a percentage of fish every day from a man's productive labor, and you'll enslave him for a lifetime.

Government magic

Undoubtedly, countless lives have been saved by the TSA's magical bomb-defusing trash cans.

Government Marriage

I think the most degrading thing to the institution of marriage is that government, of all things, claims some moral authority to determine what it is or isn't, and requires individuals to grovel for permission to enter into it. Protect the sanctity of marriage: get government out of it altogether!