Graphic: Platform Adoption Ramps (Log Scale)
Citizen-Centered, ICT-IT, InnovationGary North: Ron Paul EXPOSED — Real Reason Two-Party Tyranny is Terrified He Might Win in 2012
Uncategorized
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.
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.
John Bogle: ENOUGH – Speculation Bad Investment Good
03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Corruption, Government, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
MARK JEWELL
Associated Press, 22 December 2011
EXTRACTS:
Bogle says he's paying close attention to tax policies he considers unfair, including one that's favorable to the fund industry and investors with taxable accounts. The top rate for dividends and long-term capital gains is historically low at 15 percent, as a result of the extension of Bush era tax cuts that Congress and President Barack Obama agreed to a year ago. In contrast, top earners pay 35 percent on regular income. He doesn't like that disparity.
. . . . . . .
As for capital gains, there ought to be some distinction between capital made by people who start businesses, and contribute value to society, and capital made by gamblers on Wall Street, some of whom win. Earned capital income should carry the regular dividend rate, but capital income gains by trading, and particularly short-term trading, should pay a higher tax, even than the present ordinary income rate.
. . . . . . .
Q: What's your take on the Occupy movement?
A: I'm happy to say that my current income puts me in the 99 percent group. So maybe I'm not so happy, I don't know.
This movement has brought to the surface some very serious problems in our country about disparities in opportunity and income. So many young people are having a terrible time getting a job.
Young people have great idealism, and the Occupy movement has been a bit unrealistic at times. So what? I can't imagine a worse America if our younger generation didn't have great idealism. I salute them for their enthusiasm, and their mission.
The negative side is that they just pushed too hard for too long. It's very difficult for any movement without any seeming leadership ā other than a good idea ā to have any sense of taste or judgment. Who's to say, ‘This is going too far'? In some places, it's just gone on too long, and it's been too disruptive. So I think it's good that we've been cleaning up the plazas where the Occupy movement set up.
See Also (Steele Reviews in Each Case):
John Bogle, The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
William Greider, The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
Matt Taibbi, Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History
Mini-Me: Hillary to Challenge Obama in 2012 — As Long Planned
Uncategorized
HILLARY CLINTON WILL CHALLENGE OBAMA INĀ 2012!
Weekly World News, December 21st, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC –Ā Sources close to Hillary Clinton sayĀ 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.Ā āIāve stood silent long enough.Ā I donāt think Obama is a leader and I knowā¦ I know I can do a much better job.Ā I am a true leader andā¦ I am going to challenge Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for the President of the United States.ā
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 learnedĀ 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.Ā Bill thinks this time around, Hillary can easily wrestle the nomination from a weakened Barack Obama.
āItās her time.Ā The nation desperately needs Hillary.Ā The world desperately needs Hillary,ā Bill Clinton toldĀ WWNās Frank Lake in phone interview last night.
Some cynical Republican consultants feel that this was the plan all along.Ā āThey made a pact back in 2008.Ā 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.ā
Sources close to Hillary said, however, that Hillary has not spoken to Barack Obama personally in over three weeks.Ā āHillary feels that President Obama has moved dramatically to the center and abandoned the core progressive principles they both old dear.ā
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.Ā 2012 is going to be a wildĀ year.
Bill Clinton likes Hillaryās chances.Ā āHillary is going to crush Obama.Ā And the country is going to get two for one.Ā We are back, baby.Ā Weāre back!!ā
Republicans and Tea Party Patriots areā¦ very worried.Ā VERY worried.
Phi Beta Iota:Ā This came in from gold circles in Asia.Ā The lunaticĀ corrupt theater that passes for US politics makes this much more likely than one might assume.Ā We could even posit Obama being “tired” and withdrawing to his Allen & Co offices to count gold with Bill Bradley and George Tenet.Ā 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%.Ā In combination with Americans Elect as a wild card, 2012 has all the makings of the greatest (and most expensive) presidential theater ever performed.Ā We are also certain that 2013 will be a year of severe collapse as all the cover-ups from Obamaville fray.Ā Ā 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)
Chuck Spinney: Europe in Crisis Rule by Troika Spain and Hungary Next
03 Economy, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Government
by Serge Halimi
Le Monde Diplomatique, December 2011
Former bankers Lucas Papademos and Mario Monti have taken over in Athens and Rome, exploiting the threat of bankruptcy and the fear of chaos. They are not apolitical technicians but men of the right, members of the Trilateral Commission that blamed western societies for being too democratic.
In November, the Franco-German directorate of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund ā the ātroikaā ā were furious when the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, announced plans to hold a referendum. This, they said, would call into question an agreement reached in October to strengthen the economic policy that had brought the country to its knees. Summoned to Cannes for an interview during a summit that his country was too small to attend, kept waiting, and publicly upbraided by Angela Merkel and Nicolas SarkozyĀ (who were responsible for exacerbating the crisis), Papandreou was forced to abandon the plan for a referendum and resign. His successor, a former vice-president of the ECB, promptly decided to include in the Athens government a far-right organisation banned since the Greek colonels lost power in 1974. (The troika expressed no views on this.)
The European project was supposed to secure prosperity, strengthen democracy in states formerly ruled by juntas (Greece, Spain, Portugal), and defuse ānationalism as a source of warā. But it is having the opposite effect, with drastic cuts, puppet governments at the call of the brokers, and renewed strife between nations. A young Spaniard voiced his anger at having to go to Berlin or Hamburg to find work: āWe canāt go on being Germanyās slaves.ā The Italians find the French presidentās high and mighty attitude offensive and wonder, rightly, what exceptional talents might justify this.Ā Some Greeks are complaining about the āoccupationā of Greece, with cartoons depicting the German chancellor in Nazi uniform.
For people in countries suffering under austerity measures, the history of Europe provides some outstanding examples. In some ways, recent events in Athens recall Czechoslovakia in 1968: the crushing of the Prague Spring and the removal of the Communist leader Alexander Dubcek. The troika has played the same part in reducing Greece to a protectorate as the Warsaw Pact did in Czechoslovakia, with Papandreou in the role of Dubcek, but a Dubcek who would never have dared to resist. The doctrine of limited sovereignty has been applied, though admittedly it is preferable and less immediately lethal to have its parameters set by rating agencies rather than by Russian tanks rolling over the borders.
Having crushed Greece and Italy, the EU and the IMF have now set their sights on Hungary and Spain.
See Also:
Electoral Reform Act Pledge 2.1
UncategorizedMOVED to BigBatUSA [http://bigbatusa.org] / Electoral Reform
Tom Atlee: #Occupy 2.0 Part III – Initatives Galore
Uncategorized
Exploring #Occupy 2.0 – Part 3 – Initiatives within and inspired by OWS
There is SO much going on in and around the Occupy movement – even in the midst of and aftermath of the many recent evictions – and even as the holiday season gets seriously underway. The diversity of local dynamics and initiatives exceeds my ability to track. But here is another taste of what's going on:
First in this mailing I offer a remarkable movement visioning document from Toronto. Then I share news from two Occupy efforts – one in Atlanta with a variety of initiatives and one in Iowa focusing on the upcoming primary elections. Then I describe three sites where some very intensive thinking is going on about the occupy movement as a whole – one focusing on building the movement's capacity for collective reflection, one providing an online forum for wildly participatory dialogue, and a third combining organized online reflections with sophisticated conference calls with notes made publicly available. I also skimmed a bunch of brainstorming off of that last site to give you a sense of what those folks are considering. Finally, I offer four initiatives inspired by the Occupy movement – a “national general assembly”, a January 20th demonstration at the Supreme Court protesting the Citizen United decision, a bill in Congress to tax the worst Wall Street speculative trading, and some ideas for Occupying the Holidays – including a hilarious/serious video intended to help Occupiers talk with resistant family members at their holiday dinner table.
For better and worse, there's a lot here. Feel free to skim over to what might interest you, and dig in there. I hope you find it useful, informative, and inspiring.
Occupy your holiday with good spirit and expanding awareness and love.
Coheartedly,
Tom
Visit full post with links and abbreviated summaries of each.
