Apr

30

The Tax Cut Myth

Filed Under Economics, Federal Reserve, Taxation | 2 Comments

“Bush should not be credited with cutting our tax burdens. He has engaged in tax shifting and in hiding the burdens of his expansions of the welfare and warfare state, and he has demonstrated that he’s opposed to lowering our tax burdens. Deep into his second term, we have plenty of evidence to show that Bush should be blamed for increasing our tax burdens at a phenomenal pace.”

The Washington kleptocrats rely heavily on the average American not understanding the true nature of federal tax and monetary policy. Fortunately for the proponents of big government most Americans out of their ignorance of these seemingly complex things acquiesce to the simplistic rhetoric of politicians claiming they either for or against “tax cuts”. If a sufficient number of Americans took the time to understand how and why they are being deceived by both major parties in this taxation shell game, I think there would be a revolution at sunrise.

This is a great article by Mark Brandly at The Ludwig von Mises Institute that will hopefully start to open some eyes.

Bush has NOT cut taxes
By Mark Brandly
Posted on 4/30/2007

While the occupation of Iraq is the major topic of debate in the 2008 presidential race, the candidates have also taken positions on George Bush’s fiscal policies. We see Republican candidates supporting Bush’s tax “cuts” and being asked to sign a pledge, a pledge they will all, except for Ron Paul, violate, promising not to raise taxes, while Democrats decry Bush’s tax “cuts” and promise to at least consider rolling back the tax cuts should one of them take power.

In short, there is general agreement that Bush, and the Republican Party in general, is in favor of tax cuts. Let’s consider the validity of this assumption. Do Bush’s policies demonstrate that he’s in favor of reducing taxes?

READ ON

Apr

29

There’s Nothing Like Success

Filed Under War On Drugs | 2 Comments

In this Associated Press news article, “Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Thursday that the violence in northern Mexico shows the government’s campaign against drug trafficking in his nation is working, but cautioned the United States must play a role in the fight.”

Yep, there’s no better sign of success in the War on Drugs than increased violence and killing. Is this guy for real?

Fox also said “he applauded successor Felipe Calderón’s use of army troops and federal police in drug-ravaged regions and extradition of cartel leaders to the United States.”

Just what we need, Mexico is cleaning out some old gangsters and shipping the leaders to the U.S. to be a burden on U.S. taxpayers while making room for a new crop of gangsters. I read a few weeks ago that Columbian drug lords were filling in the vacuum left by the chaos of the purge and setting up shop in Mexico.

And then Fox said “the United States must do its part to cut back on purchases of illegal drugs, whose profits flow back to Mexican drug gangs.”

Well Vicente that’s all well and good as a political statement but the U.S. has been trying to do that for decades with no success, which was inevitable since prohibition increases the profit incentive to market the prohibited substances.

“It’s a shared responsibility, because the consumption of drugs is here in the United States,” Fox said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Here is where the money is generated to bribe Mexican officials, Mexican policemen and public servants, so we have to work together.”

As long as prohibition exists, there will always be money to bribe Mexican officials, policemen and public servants. I think that’s what they all want, do you really think any of these guys want the gravy train to stop? As we should have learned from the failed U.S. alcohol prohibition period (1920-1933), the last people who wanted prohibition to end were the gangsters and the public officials who were directly or indirectly profiting from the prohibition.

Last year the total number of drug war related deaths in Mexico topped 2000, an increase of over 500 from the previous year. So far 2007 looks like it will be another record year with more that 700 drug war deaths already counted as of this month. There’s nothing that spells success quite like a growing body count, at least for Fox, Calderón and our own drug war crazed U.S. officials.
As the great H.L. Mencken once wrote, “Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent.” As far as government programs go, it’s hard to think of anything more arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent than the War on Drugs.

Apr

27

Ron Paul - The Dorm Room Interview

Filed Under Libertarian, Republican Party, Ron Paul | 2 Comments

Now this is what I call grass roots campaigning, Ron Paul interviewed by James Kotecki in his dorm room.
I like these types of intimate interviews, they tell you more about what a candidate is really all about than any public debate, speech or 2 minute spot on a MSM TV show. That’s probably why a lot of candidates dread long interviews, as you might find out how ignorant they really are.

This is the first part of the interview, you can watch the rest of the interview videos here

Apr

26

Bill Moyers - Buying the War

Filed Under Foreign Policy, Global, National | 2 Comments

The mainstream media, propaganda and the War in Iraq.
Even if you already have a healthy distrust for mindless TV talking heads and government bootlicking newspaper and magazine journalists, this is - must see TV.

The whole show and transcript is here.

Apr

25

Thomas DiLorenzo on Free America Radio This Thursday

Filed Under Economics, History, Libertarian, Thomas DiLorenzo | Leave a Comment

Thomas J. DiLorenzo, professor of economics at Loyola College and author of How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present, The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War and Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe will be a guest on Free America Radio with Jim Ostrowski this Thursday, April 26, 1pm EST, streaming online at WNYMedia.net.

Email questions to: studio@wnymedia.net or call 716-886-9696..

Tom is also a columnist at LewRockwell.com and a senior fellow at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute


Apr

24

Do Americans chose not to know?

Filed Under Foreign Policy, National | Leave a Comment

Choosing not to know could be called one of those great American pastimes, helped along by constant busyness like working to pay taxes for who knows what and diversions to keep us from paying too much attention to who’s doing what.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government;… whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.” Which makes one wonder how far wrong things have to get in these busy times to attract the peoples notice.

This is a pretty good article, at least for people who choose to know.

Deaths In Other Nations Since
WW II Due To Us Interventions

By James A. Lucas
24 April, 2007
Countercurrents.org

INTRODUCTION

After the catastrophic attacks of September 11 2001 monumental sorrow and a feeling of desperate and understandable anger began to permeate the American psyche. A few people at that time attempted to promote a balanced perspective by pointing out that the United States had also been responsible for causing those same feelings in people in other nations, but they produced hardly a ripple. Although Americans understand in the abstract the wisdom of people around the world empathizing with the suffering of one another, such a reminder of wrongs committed by our nation got little hearing and was soon overshadowed by an accelerated “war on terrorism.”

But we must continue our efforts to develop understanding and compassion in the world. Hopefully, this article will assist in doing that by addressing the question “How many September 11ths has the United States caused in other nations since WWII?” This theme is developed in this report which contains an estimated numbers of such deaths in 37 nations as well as brief explanations of why the U.S. is considered culpable.

READ ON

Apr

24

Ron Paul - On Lou Dobbs 4/23/07

Filed Under Libertarian, Republican Party, Ron Paul | Leave a Comment

Apr

23

Ron Paul - Security and Liberty

Filed Under Libertarian, Republican Party, Ron Paul | 1 Comment

Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk Column

Security and Liberty
April 23, 2007

The senseless and horrific killings last week on the campus of Virginia Tech University reinforced an uneasy feeling many Americans experienced after September 11th: namely, that government cannot protect us. No matter how many laws we pass, no matter how many police or federal agents we put on the streets, a determined individual or group still can cause great harm. Perhaps the only good that can come from these terrible killings is a reinforced understanding that we as individuals are responsible for our safety and the safety of our families.

Although Virginia does allow individuals to carry concealed weapons if they first obtain a permit, college campuses within the state are specifically exempted. Virginia Tech, like all Virginia colleges, is therefore a gun-free zone, at least for private individuals. And as we witnessed, it didn’t matter how many guns the police had. Only private individuals on the scene could have prevented or lessened this tragedy. Prohibiting guns on campus made the Virginia Tech students less safe, not more.

Read more

Apr

23

Global Warming - We’re all gonna die!

Filed Under Global | Leave a Comment

I wonder how many carbon credits will be purchased to put on these 7 Live Earth concerts. I mean what about all those greenhouse gases? All that traveling to the concerts, jet fuel and gasoline, and all that electricity that will be consumed. Sounds like these clowns will be contributing a lot to their imaginary “Climate in Crisis”.

See the Concert for Climate in Crisis

And check out Global Cool for your typical spaced out environmental experts. Lily Allen says “we’re all gonna die, and so will our children, and that would be very bad.” Have another drink Lily.

H.L. Mencken once said “The curse of man, and the cause of nearly all his woes, is his stupendous capacity for believing the incredible.” The man-made global warming hysteria counts as “believing the incredible”.
The believers won’t listen to the scientific arguments in The Great Global Warming Swindle. It just doesn’t fit into their collectivist visions of saving the world from humans.

Furthermore the collectivist dupes don’t see the big business corporatism angle. Big business advertising sponsors and rent seekers are lining up to profit off of the man-made global warming scam and Wall Street types have colluded in Copenhagen to share ideas on carbon profiteering.

Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley want Congress to establish a so-called cap-and-trade system so that they can profit from the trading of greenhouse gas emissions permits.

Industrial giants such as Dupont and Alcoa want Congress to give them “carbon credits” — essentially free money — for greenhouse gas emissions reductions already undertaken. Solar and wind energy firms, as well as the ethanol lobby, want Congress to award them subsidies and tax breaks.

All the new climate piggies that want to gorge themselves at the public trough have crowded out the environmentalists, transforming the global warming issue from an ostensibly serious save-the-planet crusade into a financial orgy complete with taxpayer piñata.

Read the rest of this article by Steven Milloy

HT to Raw Carrot for the Live Earth and Global Cool links

Apr

23

Dumb and Dumber

Filed Under Education, National | 4 Comments

Some terrifying thoughts came to my mind after watching this video. One, that some of these dullards will be voting in the next election, and two, that there may be tens of millions more like them out there.
This may be the greatest obstacle to liberty.

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