A Reaon To Celebrate

Today the House rejected the bailout bill before them and shocked the pundits!

Maybe finally someone is listening to the people. Or maybe they have realized how far we have strayed from Constitutional government.

Either way, we can see some of the benefits of bicameral legislation. Perhaps the author is jumping the gun on the excitement, but how could one not feel some relief in this vote?

Here's the kicker, though. If the powers that be in DC want this so bad, what lengths will they go to get it? We may see soon.

Hopefully a link will be posted here soon to get to the voting record on this bill, but as of now the house.gov/ site is "encountering problems.

The Chicken Littles Were Right

Folks have been warning us for several years now about the Fed's monetary policy. As a twenty-something back at the "turn of the century," I was beginning to learn about the hazards of fractional reserve banking and the Federal Reserve.

Of course the men and women who were warning us were met with scoffing and criticism. Ron Paul has been laughed at for suggesting a return to gold based currency. I have been laughed at when suggesting that what we have is unjust weights and measures. And try to tell folks how the Fed is stealing their money through inflation, ha!

One cannot be sure whether it is an "America is too big to topple" mentality or if it is just arrogant apathy. One thing that is sure, though, is that all of these Austrian economist who were dismissed as "Chicken Littles" are now saying, "This is what we've been talking about!"

But sadly, too few are listening. Sure, the majority of Americans polled are opposed to this $700,000,000,000.00 bailout, but they are still going to flock to the polls to elect a president that will continue all of the same policies that got America into this mess.

Neither of the "viable" central party candidates are going to address the REAL problems and you can bet they will not tighten up DC's belt and downsize federal government.

No, the District of Corruption will not change unless forced to. Perhaps that's why there is a growing constituency in the secession movement.

Robbing Peter To Pay Paul

I am taking a break from writing today, but I have an excellent submission from columnist, friend, and fellow Southern Patriot William Barr. These are his thoughts for the week.
_________________________________

It's been an exciting quadrennial election year in some ways.

Listen to Congress on C-Span and tell me we aren't exchanging creeping for a galloping socialism.

Consider creating federal equity in our financial institutions via government acquisition of their more toxic assets. This means that shortly we shall have the ailing automotive industry bellying up to the bailout bar, and that's only one major industry we can expect to see with their paws out.

What shall we do if (when?) Treasury bills cannot attract buyers, given that Bush's bailout of big finance is predicated on the wholesale creation of another marketable treasury security, Treasury notes? As to what happens to Uncle Sam's line of credit with foreign banks, one based more and more on bad loans, the Lord only knows.

Has anybody thought through the implications of the Uncle Sam "owning so much paper, including bad mortgages, and what happens when the feds come to collect...what should they do so?"

That's a question raised by Charles H. Featherstone, a freelance business journalist living in Chicago, who sees that if the politics of home ownership has heretofore been a mess, it will worsen when federal judges routinely decide who gets to stay in their homes. That's the position currently embraced by congressional Democrats--surprise, surprise.

And we thought that we already had an imperial judiciary!

I'm with Featherstone, a blogger at lewrockwell.com, when it comes to the imperative of closely following the money in the bruited $700 billion-bailout of the week.

In this election season, we live in a brief moment when national politicians shuck off their proconsular rhetoric and demeanor and put on an the aspect of the Old Republic. It's a ritual in living history, not unlike suburbanite weekend-warriors reenacting Confederate military feats through encampments and mock battles.

High and low, national politicians are swooning over votes from an imperiled middle class. Thus, isn't it about time someone "considered the very real inflationary effects of adding gazillions more meaningless dollars to the U.S. economy?" That's what Featherstone demanded last week, and it seems reasonable to me. Drying up the pension funds and savings of the middle class through an inflationary monetary policy, one which as well erodes the value of wages, indicates the particular backs on which the Bush bailout is borne.

Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul.

And how, demands Featherstone, does "the US federal gummint pay for all these wars, all this domestic welfare, subsidize everything good and wonderful in its sight, and bail out investment banking and insurance firms at the same time?" I confess that this question especially engages my attention as I urge abolition of foreign aid in my Thursday columns in the Paris (TN) Post-Intelligencer (parispi.net).

Rather than restore, as U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Con) calls it, "the collective confidence in our nation's financial institutions", how about Congress making it a priority to restore citizen confidence in the political process? Or even working towards restoring itself as a branch of the federal Leviathan not inferior to the executive and judicial branches?

Does any sober person believe that we can even approach such goals without a renewed commitment to our state and national constitutions? Isn't that what this blog, named for worthy progenitors, is all about?

--William Barr (Katy, TX) wbarrparis@aol.com

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Thanks to Mr. Barr!

Ron Paul Endorses Chuck Baldwin

Yesterday Congressman and former presidential candidate, Ron Paul endorsed Chuck Baldwin for President. On the Campaign For Liberty blog, Dr. Paul made another appeal for the third party option and wished the Libertarian Party success, but due to Bob Barr's actions and unsolicited advice, he formerly endorsed Chuck Baldwin.

The Libertarian Party Candidate admonished me for “remaining neutral” in the presidential race and not stating whom I will vote for in November. It’s true; I have done exactly that due to my respect and friendship and support from both the Constitution and Libertarian Party members. I remain a lifetime member of the Libertarian Party and I’m a ten-term Republican Congressman. It is not against the law to participate in more then one political party. Chuck Baldwin has been a friend and was an active supporter in the presidential campaign. . .

I’ve thought about the unsolicited advice from the Libertarian Party
candidate, and he has convinced me to reject my neutral stance in the November
election. I’m supporting Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party
candidate.

This is especially great news to those of us who voted for Baldwin last election as VP to Micheal Peroutka. For all of you Constitution Party supporters, this comes as a great boost!

Chuck Baldwin, in his column today thanked Dr. Paul and talked about his position.

As President, I would seek to overturn the 16th Amendment, eliminate the Internal Revenue Service, and disband the Federal Reserve. I would lead the charge to return America to sound money principles. I would seek to reduce federal spending to constitutional levels by eliminating those same federal departments that Newt Gingrich promised to eliminate in his Contract with America back in 1994 (and then failed to do). I would seek to eliminate the Departments of Education, Commerce, Energy, etc. I would demand that Congress pass a balanced budget and that we stop deficit spending.

Palin Falling Right In Line

Sarah Palin has indeed fallen in line with the DC agenda. As I mentioned here, she was as quick to criticize Russia as anyone and equally aggressive in her statements towards them.

Some could pretend that their choice this November between Obama and McCain made a difference, but pray tell. . . where? The economy? The acts of aggression toward non threatening nations? Less intrusive government?

Check out this commentary on Palin and Iran at Mike Tuggle's blog for more (and better) info.

The Emperor Is Naked!

Here is another market story that should not be missed. While the money gods of this country and others are making a complete wreck out of our economy with fractional reserve banking via fiat money, they are telling us all that they are actually saving us by bailing out the financial institutions and possibly those that insure them in a deal that could run as much as $1 trillion. Yes, trillion.

President George Bush said the threat to the American economy meant he had to take radical action 'to protect our nation's health from serious risk'.
Gordon Brown hinted similar action could be taken in the UK after promising to do 'whatever is necessary to make sure people have confidence in the system'.

I love that, "whatever is necessary to make sure people have confidence in the system."

Does anyone else think this sounds like the two swindlers that sold the emperor a new set of clothes?

The best part of it?

Hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayers' money will be used, but it is not clear
whether they will be paid back in full.

Aw shucks, Uncle Sam. You just keep it. Consider it "thanks" for the new clothes.

The Fed and Weekend At Bernie's

The Fed may be taking a scene right out of Hollywierd. In the movie, Weekend at Bernie's, two guys finally get to go to the bosses vacation home on the beach only to find him dead. Not wanting to miss all of the partying and great times to be had, they decide to prop him up and make everyone think that he was still alive by moving his head, arms, and feet.

Today, the Dow "soared" 410 points amidst financial crises, but why, how? The Fed said in a press release today:

The Federal Open Market Committee has authorized a $180 billion expansion of its temporary reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines). This increased capacity will be available to provide dollar funding for both term and overnight liquidity operations by the other central banks.

One cannot help but see the Fed and the Treasury Department carrying around a dead market pretending it is alive by injecting BILLIONS of dollars into it hoping no one will notice.

By the way, in the end Bernie was still dead.

How Many Shares Did You Get?

According to a statement by AIG Tuesday concerning Fed's "$85 billion secured revolving credit facility," we are all stockholders in the company.

"The AIG Board has approved this transaction based on its determination that this is the best alternative for all of AIG's constituencies, including policyholders, customers, creditors, counterparties, employees and shareholders. AIG is a solid company with over $1 trillion in assets and substantial equity, but it has been recently experiencing serious liquidity issues. We believe the loan, which is backed by profitable, well-capitalized operating subsidiaries with substantial value, will protect all AIG policyholders, address rating agency concerns and give AIG the time necessary to conduct asset sales on an orderly basis. We expect that the proceeds of these sales will be sufficient to repay the loan in full and enable AIG's businesses to continue as substantial participants in their respective markets. In return for providing this essential support, American taxpayers will receive a substantial majority ownership interest in AIG."

Wow, socialism never sounded so good. What has in fact happened over the past couple of weeks is that our government has "acquired" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and 80% stake in one of the largest insurance companies in the world.

Of course the Fed is acting as our saviour. If they did not step in, other markets would suffer or perhaps fold and blah, blah, blah. And the American public buys it all and cheers, "long live the fed." What they do not realize is that by artificially propping up these markets, the fed and our messianic government are going to make things much worse.

One particular statement that the Fed made in a press release yesterday really got under my skin.

"The Board determined that, in current circumstances, a disorderly failure of AIG could add to already significant levels of financial market fragility and lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth, and materially weaker economic performance."

Wait! Considering the Fed's monetary policy of inflating the money supply which drives up the cost of goods and ruins our savings coupled with a progressive income tax used to make interest payments to the illegal banking cartel, one may ask, "So now who is responsible for reduced household wealth and weak economic performance?"

Answer: The very men that are claiming to save us from such by stealing more of our money then telling us how great they are for making us prosperous. Are we that stupid, really?

Palin's Russian Roulette

In light of Sarah Palin's most recent statements about the possibility of war with Russia in order to "defend" Georgia, I thought I would take a second to look at some of our most recent history antagonizing Moscow.



Mrs. Palin said in regards to Russia defending South Ossetia, “We’ve got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable.”

Now keep in mind that it was Georgia that attacked South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia that has been successfully asserting its independence since 1992 and has been recognized as an independent nation by Russia and Nicaragua, along with Abkhazia and Transnistria (two other de facto independent republics). There is also the issue of the Russian citizenry in South Ossetia when Georgia attacked. It is important to note that Russia made no pre-emptive strike like the US did in Iraq. They responded to Georgian aggression toward S. Ossetia. Also, Russia was responding to the attack on a bordering nation not half way around the world (again like Iraq).

Some important points to consider are that during the previous months before Georgia attacked S. Ossetia, American troops were training Georgian troops in combat exercises. Some have opined that either the US put Georgia up to this or that Georgia felt that the guaranteed Russian military retaliation and defense would draw American military support.

Also Condi Rice has just signed a missile defense pact with Russia's neighbor Poland that may cause further destabilization of the area.

To top it all off, there is further animosity coming from Russia regarding the impending acceptance of Georgia as a member of NATO.

There are other such actions that the US has done to cause tension with Russia in the past couple of decades like bombing Serbs in 1995 who are allies with Russia. A friend of mine who was in the military at that time responded to my questions about the US recognizing Kosovar independence in a recent e mail...

"Foreign policy blunder, absolutely! Though foreign Muslim fighters flooded Bosnia and Albania to commit terrorist acts against Serbs in an effort to maintain an Islamic state in Bosnia and create an Islamic state in Kosovo, we took military action against the Serbs when the Muslims were loosing (though Croatians were as much into eliminating Bosnian Muslims from their section of Bosnia as the Serbs were theirs) and stood by while Albanians were assassinating Serbian Officials and exterminating Serbs from the Kosovo area. And for what purpose? I believe that our misguided administrations were trying to show the Muslim world that we were their friends. Also, Serbia has always been allied with Russia, and Greece, because of their common Eastern Orthodox faith. It is as if we would do anything to weaken Russia at the expense of Christian persecution and the cutting off our political nose to spite our face. I have had more than one Greek to accost me over the fact that we seem to always support the Muslims over Christians, though we are supposed to be a Christian nation."


All of this to say that Sarah Palin has gone the extra mile to prove that she can toe the ol' party line with the best of 'em. She could have come out strong against Iran or maybe North Korea and proven a loyal neo-con, but to make such aggressive statements about a nation like Russia frankly makes me think that Palin may be the perfect sidekick for a man like John McCain.