World
Written by: Tom Mullen
While it is likely that the two parties in Congress will reach a deal before the August 2 deadline, I can’t help reflecting on how wonderful it would be if they didn’t. While Congressman Ron Paul has correctly pointed out that the government has already defaulted at least three different times in its history, and continues to default every time it prints new money, it is not quite the same as an “on-the-books” failure to make a timely payment. That is exactly what America needs.
Politicians, mainstream economists, and the media tell us that a U.S. government debt default would be catastrophic. Treasury bonds would be downgraded, interest rates would soar, and the massive government spending that has supposedly fueled the present (jobless) recovery would be severely curtailed, plunging the U.S. and possibly the world back into a deep recession.
Perhaps that is true. However, a debt default by the federal government would still be a blessing to American society for several reasons. [more…]
Symptoms of a Lost Society
Scratched and inked on mirrors and stalls, taggers names are randomly scribbled amongst a penis doodle, the F-word, swastikas, and a joke about yo’ momma. While it all appears to be in opposition to authority, bathroom vandalism lacks symbols of freedom and slogans for resistance. At first glance, most contemporary graffiti is sloppy, lacking in political content and rarely qualifies as high art if art at all. When compared to the ancient world in which graffiti was a source of news for the populous, a quick look at modern tagging would suggest that we have degenerated toward idiocracy.
A majority of graffiti artists, it would appear, reflect the mindlessness of society. We can confirm this observation by simply listening to the insignificant sports statistics and pop trivia our friends are obsessed with. An obvious culprit for this cultural regression is television programming, which has set the tone of discourse for much of our lives. [more…]
Pennsylvania Avenue or Wall Street?
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt. [more…]
Written by: Matthew Hensman
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government; lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” – Patrick Henry
If our government (which is supposed to be lawfully bound by the Constitution) can simply pick and choose which parts of the Constitution to disregard today, what is to keep them from choosing more to disregard tomorrow?
The Founders understood that an invasion on private property was an invasion of freedom itself. An individual’s right to live freely must include the right to acquire and possess property (which represents the fruit of one’s intellectual and/or physical labor). An individual’s time on earth is finite. So, too, is one’s labor. Therefore, private property and liberty are inseparable. Any unjustified search or seizure upon one’s private property is a direct infringement upon one's liberty. [more…]
Written by: Paul James
One or Won
The West is an ambiguous term used to describe the wild and unsettled area from the East coast inward to the original thirteen colonies. For those of us who live in this vast region, we inhabit lands that were settled thousands of years ago by the indigenous populations. What we know of these people is vast and what we understand is minuscule, because as colonists we sought first to live among them and finally to drive them off their land. This happened in a relatively short period of time, in less than a generation, and marked a repetition of such scenarios all over the country. What is commonly held as truth is that these people had not changed in their behaviors fundamentally for thousands of years. That is, they had not developed any significant agricultural or technological advancements in that time. This is held up as a sign of inferiority and as a mark of distinction between "savage" and "civilized" people of the day. Since then, much of what occurred as conflict between our very different cultures has been forgotten or not recorded for public viewing. Again, different renditions abound surrounding any event but there were significant events simply not recorded at all. [more…]
Written by: Jimmy Miller
For years Democrats and Republicans have debated two different options for balancing the budget, decrease entitlement and defense spending or increase tax revenue. However with neither side willing to budge, the choice is now one of default or printing money indefinitely. We have exceeded the 14 trillion dollar debt limit, and every day the government is spending 6 billion dollars it does not have. So a debate rages in Congress as to whether or not we should raise the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, more debt will not solve anything whatsoever. It only delays a bigger default later. The depression we face cannot be avoided any longer with discount credit rates and government handouts. We will have to deal with the consequences of spending beyond our means because postponing the inevitable only intensifies our problems.
Former Reagan administration budget director David Stockman’s recently appeared on Bloomberg. Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge discusses the interview in which Stockman states “Congress has been lulled to sleep by the central banks that keep buying all the debt and therefore holding down the real cost of interest on middle and long term debt that we are issuing every day.”
The real cost is that more tax dollars earned by hardworking Americans are being sucked into a black hole of interest, on money that was created out of thin air. [more…]
Written by: Paul James
Truth vs. Propaganda
You might want to rip on past this post. It isn't a nuts and bolts article. That type of content is important, as are questions of politics, religion and science. Somewhere, there is a category for this article and it would probably fall under "media issues". Although it has more to do with why we rely on the media to form our opinions. As this, and all articles are "media content" my personal predilection is to restrain my biases from being too imposing. That is, I like a reader to think and evaluate for themselves, and not accept my viewpoint as anything else.
For this reason, I don't veil my messages as anything else, but instead I'd prefer to state clearly there is no effort to compel the reader to accept anything I believe. But none the less, this leaves someone who delivers content with the question, "What really did happen." If we are to relay an event, how are we to surround that event with a description of any kind without bias? That description must first occur in our heads, and then on paper or in print as it were. This makes the information you receive not second, but third removed, because you then must interpret the writers interpretation. [more…]
Written by: Jimmy Miller
War in the Middle East to continue indefinitely unless anti-war liberals speak up
Proudly displaying banners denouncing Bush’s hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, liberals gallantly marched in opposition to illegitimate war. Chanting “yes we can,” progressives truly believed their candidate would deliver change. Regrettably, our brothers and sisters on the left are unwilling to face the facts, and are thus unable to recognize that Obama’s campaign rhetoric does not match his deeds since taking office. Peace activist liberals are sound asleep at the wheel while the President continues the neo-con agenda of his predecessor. Violence is escalating in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and now Obama says he does not need congressional consent to continue war-mongering in Libya. We are involved in conflicts in so many countries and in so many places, it is reasonable to assume that we may be rushing into and gearing up for another World War. [more…]
