Category: Uncategorized

Paul is striking a responsive chord among many unlikely voters. His integrity is unquestioned and seems to over shadow some of his more extreme views.

Soldiers’ Choice

TIMOTHY EGAN

New York Times, 22 December 2011

So this is Christmas, season of peace, time to reflect on the people coming home from a war that most Americans say was not worth it, and those still fighting in another war that raises new doubts by the day.

Many of the service members returning from Iraq — where nearly 4,500 American lives were lost, 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed and about 600,000 Christians were forced to flee the country with other refugees — are paying close attention to the campaign to decide who will be commander in chief.

What would they think of a candidate who says:

“Far from defeating the enemy, our current polices provide incentive for more people to take up arms against us.”

And, “We have an empire. We can’t afford it.”

And, “Acting as the world’s policeman and nation-building weakens our country, puts our troops in harm’s way, and sends precious resources to other nations in the midst of an historic economic crisis.”

The men and women in uniform probably wouldn’t support this proponent of limited engagement. So goes the conventional wisdom, which holds that those in the military support a leader itching for a fight.

But in fact, Representative Ron Paul, the congressman who favors the most minimalist American combat role of any major presidential candidate and who said all of the above quotes, has more financial support from active duty members of the service than any other politician.

As of the last reporting date, at the end of September, Paul leads all candidates by far in donations from service members. This trend has been in place since 2008, when Paul ran for president with a similar stance: calling nonsense at hawk squawk from both parties.

Continue reading “Richard Wright: Ron Paul / INTEGRITY – Soldier's Choice”

Compassion Is Our New Currency : Notes on 2011’s Preoccupied Hearts and Minds

Rebecca Solnit

TomDispatch.com, December 22, 2011.

Usually at year’s end, we’re supposed to look back at events just passed — and forward, in prediction mode, to the year to come. But just look around you! This moment is so extraordinary that it has hardly registered. People in thousands of communities across the United States and elsewhere are living in public, experimenting with direct democracy, calling things by their true names, and obliging the media and politicians to do the same.

The breadth of this movement is one thing, its depth another. It has rejected not just the particulars of our economic system, but the whole set of moral and emotional assumptions on which it’s based. Take the pair shown in a photograph from Occupy Austin in Texas.  The amiable-looking elderly woman is holding a sign whose computer-printed words say, “Money has stolen our vote.” The older man next to her with the baseball cap is holding a sign handwritten on cardboard that states, “We are our brothers’ keeper.”

Complete article with emphasis added below the line.

Continue reading “John Steiner: Occupy Hearts – Compassion New Currency”

This slump won’t end until 2031

Our predicament parallels Long Depression of 1870s

Matthew Lynn's London Eye, Dec. 14, 2011

LONDON (MarketWatch) — In retrospect, it wasn’t hard to see that the markets were becoming dangerously unstable. Germany had just adopted a new monetary system, and Europe was being flooded with cheap German money. Greece had signed up to a monetary union with Italy and France but was struggling to hold it together.

Financial markets had been deregulated. New technologies were transforming production and communications, allowing money to move across borders at lightening speed.

And a massive new industrial power was flooding the world with cheap manufactured goods, blowing apart old industries.

When it all fell apart in an almighty crash, it was only to be expected.

A prophesy for London, New York or Berlin in 2012? Not exactly. It is a description of Vienna in 1873. In that year, in one of the great crashes of all time, the Austrian markets triggered collapses across Europe, swiftly followed by an equally spectacular collapse in New York. It was the start of what economic historians call the Long Depression, a prolonged period of volatility, unemployment and slumps that lasted an epic 23 years, only coming to an end in 1896.

EXTRACTS:

First, depressions can last a very long time, and when their origins are in a debt bubble they should be measured in decades not years.

Second, this depression is structural.

Three, it’s uneven.

Four, good things are still happening.

Five, it won’t be fixed easily.

….this won’t be over until all three structural problems get fixed. Debt needs to be paid down to manageable levels, a new reserve currency needs to be created, and the euro needs to be put out of its misery. None of these are simple tasks, and none will be done quickly.

Read full analysis.

Ron Paul's Inaugural Address, Written by His First (and Only) Speechwriter

Gary North

Dec. 21, 2011

In June of 1976, I was Ron Paul's speechwriter. Shortly after I joined his staff as his newsletter writer and economic analyst, I recommended that he do what I had been doing for a year: buy a Code-A-Phone telephone answering machine and make a weekly 3-minute recording for people in his districts to call. He could send the tape to his office in the district, where the machine would be set up at a local phone number. Residents could call it for free. He thought this was a good idea. So began his weekly speeches.

I wrote his first talk. He later told me that he didn't like reading a script written by anyone else, so he had decided to record his own. As far as I know, that was the last speech anyone ever wrote for him.

He used that machine for the next two-and-a-half years. After his defeat in November 1976, he posted a weekly phone message. The weekly report became a tool for a comeback. In 1978, he defeated the man who had barely defeated him (268 votes) in 1976.

So, having been his only speechwriter, I will now offer my second speech that he will not deliver.

* * * * * * * * * * *My Fellow Americans, as an earlier President from Texas used to say.

I would like to take this opportunity to say something that is both profound and memorable. The trouble is, only three inaugural addresses are remembered today, Lincoln's second inaugural and John F. Kennedy's only inaugural. Lincoln said these words: “With malice toward none, with charity to all.” Those are fine words. Franklin Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is . . . fear itself.” If unemployment were at 25%, the way it was in 1933, that would scare just about anyone. Finally, Kennedy said: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” I especially like the first sentence.

Given the fact that hardly anyone remembers an inauguration speech, the likelihood of my saying something both profound and memorable today is low. Therefore, I have decided to do something memorable instead.

[He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper that he has typed. He holds it down to the podium with his left hand. He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a pen.]

I have in front of me a piece of paper. I wrote it this morning. Let me read it to you.

Executive Order 13,601: An executive Order Revoking all Previous Executive Orders.I, Ron Paul, do hereby declare null and void all previous Presidential executive orders.

Signed: Ron Paul, January 20, 2013.

Continue reading “Gary North: Ron Paul EXPOSED — Real Reason Two-Party Tyranny is Terrified He Might Win in 2012”

HILLARY CLINTON WILL CHALLENGE OBAMA IN 2012!

Frank Lake

Weekly World News, December 21st, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC –  Sources close to Hillary Clinton say  she will announce her run for President in 2012.

Hillary Clinton came to WWN Headquarters and told editors that she is livid about the downgrade of the U.S. Credit Rating.  “I’ve stood silent long enough.  I don’t think Obama is a leader and I know… I know I can do a much better job.  I am a true leader and… I am going to challenge Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for the President of the United States.”

The White House was quick to deny the news, saying that as far as they knew Hillary Clinton is happy as Secretary of State and remains loyal to Barack Obama.

But, WWN has learned  that in recent weeks, Bill Clinton, has been meeting with democratic operatives in Washington and grass roots leaders early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.  Bill thinks this time around, Hillary can easily wrestle the nomination from a weakened Barack Obama.

“It’s her time.  The nation desperately needs Hillary.  The world desperately needs Hillary,” Bill Clinton told  WWN’s Frank Lake in phone interview last night.

Some cynical Republican consultants feel that this was the plan all along.  “They made a pact back in 2008.  Barack would serve one term and get Obamacare passed, then Hillary would serve two terms and pass the other elements of their progressive agenda. The plan is working perfectly.”

Sources close to Hillary said, however, that Hillary has not spoken to Barack Obama personally in over three weeks.  “Hillary feels that President Obama has moved dramatically to the center and abandoned the core progressive principles they both old dear.”

A quick Rasmussen poll of Democratic primary voters puts the race at 52% for Hillary and 45% for Obama with 3% undecided.

James Carville, Paul Begala and, surprisingly, Dick Morris, have all signed up to join the Hillary for President team.  2012 is going to be a wild  year.

Bill Clinton likes Hillary’s chances.  “Hillary is going to crush Obama.  And the country is going to get two for one.  We are back, baby.  We’re back!!”

Republicans and Tea Party Patriots are… very worried.  VERY worried.

Phi Beta Iota:  This came in from gold circles in Asia.  The lunatic  corrupt theater that passes for US politics makes this much more likely than one might assume.  We could even posit Obama being “tired” and withdrawing to his Allen & Co offices to count gold with Bill Bradley and George Tenet.  Our reading of the Republican field is that they are all intended to lose–the 1% is heavily invested in both the Bush and the Clinton families, each enjoying serious gold certificates and each a “known” ally of the 1%.  In combination with Americans Elect as a wild card, 2012 has all the makings of the greatest (and most expensive) presidential theater ever performed.  We are also certain that 2013 will be a year of severe collapse as all the cover-ups from Obamaville fray.   Absent Occupy wising up to the need for focused political activism, and an alliance among Occupy, returning veterans, the 16-20 year age group, and seniors interested in the truth about why health and medicare are so hosed (corruption), the USA appears to be headed for four more years of irresponsible unresponsive “governance.”

See Also:

ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Earth Intelligence Network, 2008)

We the People Reform Coalition

MOVED to BigBatUSA [http://bigbatusa.org] / Electoral Reform