"It must never be unpatriotic to support your country against your government. It must always be unpatriotic to support your government against your country."
– Stephen T. Byington
Friday, February 26, 2010
Libertarian Quote of the Day
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Libertarian Quote of the Day
"Left-wing politicians take away your liberty in the name of children and of fighting poverty, while right-wing politicians do it in the name of family values and fighting drugs. Either way, government gets bigger and you become less free. "
– Harry Browne
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Libertarian Quote of the Day
"Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer."
– Ludwig von Mises
'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery
By Tara Brautigam (CP)
An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.
"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.
"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."
The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn't closing properly, creating a leakage.
He said he was told at the time that the problem was "moderate" and that he should come back for a checkup in six months.
Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.
His doctors in Canada presented him with two options - a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would've required breaking bones, he said.
He said he spoke with and provided his medical information to a leading cardiac surgeon in New Jersey who is also from Newfoundland and Labrador. He advised him to seek treatment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. Read The Rest
An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.
"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.
"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."
The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn't closing properly, creating a leakage.
He said he was told at the time that the problem was "moderate" and that he should come back for a checkup in six months.
Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.
His doctors in Canada presented him with two options - a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would've required breaking bones, he said.
He said he spoke with and provided his medical information to a leading cardiac surgeon in New Jersey who is also from Newfoundland and Labrador. He advised him to seek treatment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. Read The Rest
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny William.
Jefferson Quote of the Week
"The care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills."
– Thomas Jefferson
The GOP's "small government" tea party fraud
The following post is a little long, however it is worth it, as it is a really good debate over the Tea Party and it's connections to the Republican Party and the involvement of Libertarians. I have refrained on this site from endorsing the Tea Party, especially in Maryland and on the Eastern Shore because of the involvement of Andy Harris and a few other individuals.
I have some good friends involved in the movement whom I respect, such as Michael Swartz from Monoblogue, however in my neck of the woods it is simply nothing more than a movement in the Republican Party of MD, which has very little power or influence since the rigged legislative district give all power to two-three counties.
Here is the post......
by Glenn Greenwald
There's a major political fraud underway: the GOP is once again donning their libertarian, limited-government masks in order to re-invent itself and, more important, to co-opt the energy and passion of the Ron-Paul-faction that spawned and sustains the "tea party" movement. The Party that spat contempt at Paul during the Bush years and was diametrically opposed to most of his platform now pretends to share his views. Standard-issue Republicans and Ron Paul libertarians are as incompatible as two factions can be -- recall that the most celebrated right-wing moment of the 2008 presidential campaign was when Rudy Giuliani all but accused Paul of being an America-hating Terrorist-lover for daring to suggest that America's conduct might contribute to Islamic radicalism -- yet the Republicans, aided by the media, are pretending that this is one unified, harmonious, "small government" political movement.
The Right is petrified that this fraud will be exposed and is thus bending over backwards to sustain the myth. Paul was not only invited to be a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference but also won its presidential straw poll. Sarah Palin endorsed Ron Paul's son in the Kentucky Senate race. National Review is lavishly praising Paul, while Ann Coulter "felt compelled [in her CPAC speech] to give a shout out to Paul-mania, saying she agreed with everything he stands for outside of foreign policy -- a statement met with cheers." Glenn Beck -- who literally cheered for the Wall Street bailout and Bush's endlessly expanding surveillance state -- now parades around as though he shares the libertarians' contempt for them. Red State's Erick Erickson, defending the new so-called conservative "manifesto," touts the need for Congress to be confined to the express powers of Article I, Section 8, all while lauding a GOP Congress that supported countless intrusive laws -- from federalized restrictions on assisted suicide, marriage, gambling, abortion and drugs to intervention in Terri Schiavo's end-of-life state court proceeding -- nowhere to be found in that Constitutional clause. With the GOP out of power, Fox News suddenly started featuring anti-government libertarians such as John Stossel and Reason Magazine commentators, whereas, when Bush was in power, there was no government power too expanded or limitless for Fox propagandists to praise.
Bill B. Responded with this:
I have been a member of the Libertarian Party since the early 80s and participating in the Tea Party movement since April 2009. I don't know where you are getting your information about the people involved in the movement; but let me take your points one at a time.
The Tea Party consists of people who honestly believe Obama is a Muslim and
from Kenya,
I have NO reason to believe the president is not a Christian (or any objection if he WERE a Muslim). As to where he was born, I expect it was in Hawaii; but think he shot himself in the foot with all the reluctance to produce documentation.
..think socialism and fascism are the same thing,
I am well aware of the differences between the many forms of Statism and am opposed to each and every one of them.
...probably couldn't spell Constitution much less realize it contradicts half of what
they espouse,
I'll admit my spelling is not superb; but I do know how to use a dictionary. I am not aware of any position of the Tea Party movement that is contradicted by any part of the Constitution.
...and are led by one of the most dishonest politicians of all time who has been consistently exposed as both embarrassingly uninformed and willing to lie and manipulate anything and anyone to garner support from morons.
First off if you know ANYTHING about the Tea Party movement you know it is not "led" by anyone. If one of the coordinators of one of the many groups that make up the movement can be characterized as "dishonest", "embarrassingly uninformed ", "willing to lie and manipulate", and seeking to "garner support from morons" please identify this idiot. Whoever it is, he is not “the leader” of the Tea Party movement.
Billy P. then Responded:
Jason H. chimed in with:
Actually the tea-party domains were registered prior to the health care and bailout backlash.
Look at the back issues of UrbanSurvival.com for discussions of this interesting fact.
Then he dropped some more good points....
In case you googlefu is not as good as mine:
http://www.urbansurvival.com/blog/?m=200903&paged=2
So much of the news is pushed and shoved, this way and that, by largely
unseen forces, that it frightens me for the kind of country my children
will grow up in. Just another example of unseen hands? Go look up the WHOIS record on some of this seemingly “spontaneous” (city name) Tea Party web sites. You’ll find in some
cases that republicorp types are involved and that the site domain names were purchased in AUGUST 2008, which means the hidden hand is working
an agenda over on that side of things, too.
http://www.urbansurvival.com/blog/?p=1932
Remember that I told you the web URLs’s and “tea party” names and the strategy was set up a year earlier (mid 2008) by some old-line Republican Party operators?
Now the accounting is getting done, and
guess what? Millions of dollars donated by righteously angry Tea Party
suckers was spent on — you guessed it — paying the Republican
consultants that set up the scam in the first place.
Here’s the stuff on the Tea Party Express,
who managed to siphon off over two thirds of the donations right back into their own pockets as
“consultants” to the Tea Party “movement” Majority Of Tea Party Group’s
Spending Went To GOP Firm That Created It. ( http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/majority_of_tea_party_groups_spending_went_to_gop.php?ref=fpb )
Do not try to bend the Republican party. That is impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth. There is no reasonable Republican party. Then you'll see it is not the party that bends, it is only yourself.
Andrew P. has given the latest comment with:
I have some good friends involved in the movement whom I respect, such as Michael Swartz from Monoblogue, however in my neck of the woods it is simply nothing more than a movement in the Republican Party of MD, which has very little power or influence since the rigged legislative district give all power to two-three counties.
Here is the post......
by Glenn Greenwald
There's a major political fraud underway: the GOP is once again donning their libertarian, limited-government masks in order to re-invent itself and, more important, to co-opt the energy and passion of the Ron-Paul-faction that spawned and sustains the "tea party" movement. The Party that spat contempt at Paul during the Bush years and was diametrically opposed to most of his platform now pretends to share his views. Standard-issue Republicans and Ron Paul libertarians are as incompatible as two factions can be -- recall that the most celebrated right-wing moment of the 2008 presidential campaign was when Rudy Giuliani all but accused Paul of being an America-hating Terrorist-lover for daring to suggest that America's conduct might contribute to Islamic radicalism -- yet the Republicans, aided by the media, are pretending that this is one unified, harmonious, "small government" political movement.
The Right is petrified that this fraud will be exposed and is thus bending over backwards to sustain the myth. Paul was not only invited to be a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference but also won its presidential straw poll. Sarah Palin endorsed Ron Paul's son in the Kentucky Senate race. National Review is lavishly praising Paul, while Ann Coulter "felt compelled [in her CPAC speech] to give a shout out to Paul-mania, saying she agreed with everything he stands for outside of foreign policy -- a statement met with cheers." Glenn Beck -- who literally cheered for the Wall Street bailout and Bush's endlessly expanding surveillance state -- now parades around as though he shares the libertarians' contempt for them. Red State's Erick Erickson, defending the new so-called conservative "manifesto," touts the need for Congress to be confined to the express powers of Article I, Section 8, all while lauding a GOP Congress that supported countless intrusive laws -- from federalized restrictions on assisted suicide, marriage, gambling, abortion and drugs to intervention in Terri Schiavo's end-of-life state court proceeding -- nowhere to be found in that Constitutional clause. With the GOP out of power, Fox News suddenly started featuring anti-government libertarians such as John Stossel and Reason Magazine commentators, whereas, when Bush was in power, there was no government power too expanded or limitless for Fox propagandists to praise.
Below are some of the opinions shared on the MDLP's Yahoo Group.
Billy P. Wrote:"I remember Ron Paul just two years ago in the Republican primaries debate
being asked why he was even a Republican since he disagreed with their views
so much, and he responded that he didn't realize that being a fiscally
minded conservative who cared about the constitution had stopped being
something Republicans can identify with. This is the same party that pushed
through an unconstitutional war, were advocating wiretapping journalists and
other citizens, started the war on drugs, want to bring religion into state
schools and offices, wanted to restrict the liberties of homosexuals, and do
all of this and have the AUDACITY to claim they care about our
Constitution.
The Tea Party consists of people who honestly believe Obama is a Muslim and
from Kenya, think socialism and fascism are the same thing, probably
couldn't spell Constitution much less realize it contradicts half of what
they espouse, and are led by one of the most dishonest politicians of all
time who has been consistently exposed as both embarrassingly uninformed and
willing to lie and manipulate anything and anyone to garner support from
morons.
I was aghast when the Libertarian Party website linked to the Tea Party.
Look, if you're against excessive government spending, believe in people's
liberties above any political agenda, and have sane and reasoned criticisms
of Obama and the Dems, then there already is a party for you - the
Libertarian Party."
Bill B. Responded with this:
I have been a member of the Libertarian Party since the early 80s and participating in the Tea Party movement since April 2009. I don't know where you are getting your information about the people involved in the movement; but let me take your points one at a time.
The Tea Party consists of people who honestly believe Obama is a Muslim and
from Kenya,
I have NO reason to believe the president is not a Christian (or any objection if he WERE a Muslim). As to where he was born, I expect it was in Hawaii; but think he shot himself in the foot with all the reluctance to produce documentation.
..think socialism and fascism are the same thing,
I am well aware of the differences between the many forms of Statism and am opposed to each and every one of them.
...probably couldn't spell Constitution much less realize it contradicts half of what
they espouse,
I'll admit my spelling is not superb; but I do know how to use a dictionary. I am not aware of any position of the Tea Party movement that is contradicted by any part of the Constitution.
...and are led by one of the most dishonest politicians of all time who has been consistently exposed as both embarrassingly uninformed and willing to lie and manipulate anything and anyone to garner support from morons.
First off if you know ANYTHING about the Tea Party movement you know it is not "led" by anyone. If one of the coordinators of one of the many groups that make up the movement can be characterized as "dishonest", "embarrassingly uninformed ", "willing to lie and manipulate", and seeking to "garner support from morons" please identify this idiot. Whoever it is, he is not “the leader” of the Tea Party movement.
Billy P. then Responded:
"First, Let me apologize for being a little harsh and generalizing. I was
cranky after work, and politics bring out the worst in people. Obviously,
there are intelligent and nice people who got involved in the Tea Party
because of a concern over excessive government spending. But everything
I've seen from the movement suggest it's really about something far
different. I will explain where I am getting my information at some point
in the future. And the leader, who I realized is not the leader but a
figure who seems to be well-liked within the party, and also their speaker
at their convention, was Sarah Palin. I will explain some of my sources of
information later.
But let me ask you this simple question - isn't it a bit coincidental that
this Tea Party started a few months into the new administration? We had 8
years of an administration that ran an surplus into a deficit, spent, spent,
spent on war and special interests, and continually expanded the power of
the executive branch.
Where was the Tea Party then? Why did they decide big government was a bad
thing so soon after a new administration starts, and decide that the blame
should be shifted to a president who had been in office for a few months,
and not 8 years?"
Jason H. chimed in with:
Actually the tea-party domains were registered prior to the health care and bailout backlash.
Look at the back issues of UrbanSurvival.com for discussions of this interesting fact.
Then he dropped some more good points....
In case you googlefu is not as good as mine:
http://www.urbansurvival.com/blog/?m=200903&paged=2
So much of the news is pushed and shoved, this way and that, by largely
unseen forces, that it frightens me for the kind of country my children
will grow up in. Just another example of unseen hands? Go look up the WHOIS record on some of this seemingly “spontaneous” (city name) Tea Party web sites. You’ll find in some
cases that republicorp types are involved and that the site domain names were purchased in AUGUST 2008, which means the hidden hand is working
an agenda over on that side of things, too.
http://www.urbansurvival.com/blog/?p=1932
Remember that I told you the web URLs’s and “tea party” names and the strategy was set up a year earlier (mid 2008) by some old-line Republican Party operators?
Now the accounting is getting done, and
guess what? Millions of dollars donated by righteously angry Tea Party
suckers was spent on — you guessed it — paying the Republican
consultants that set up the scam in the first place.
Here’s the stuff on the Tea Party Express,
who managed to siphon off over two thirds of the donations right back into their own pockets as
“consultants” to the Tea Party “movement” Majority Of Tea Party Group’s
Spending Went To GOP Firm That Created It. ( http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/majority_of_tea_party_groups_spending_went_to_gop.php?ref=fpb )
Do not try to bend the Republican party. That is impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth. There is no reasonable Republican party. Then you'll see it is not the party that bends, it is only yourself.
Andrew P. has given the latest comment with:
Keep in mind there isn't one "tea party". If you join teapartynation.com or resistnet.com, they are outright hostile and hateful to anything that smacks of liberty and the free market. I joined myself and have never experienced such a group of ignorant and hateful people. Don't mention that Obama "and Bush" are responsible for the mess we're in now, they'll call you a Bush bashing troll. Don't speak of natural rights either, they don't know about natural rights or think it's only for gays or "faggots". Don't mention anything about cutting domestic and defense spending, only certain types of domestic spending may be cut. When I say don't mention it, I mean that they will ban you for speaking of any of these ideas. They will attack you personally, as well for any reason, they can dream up. If you let them know you live near DC, they will accuse you of being some kind of gov't bureaucrat who is against them. Another thing, don't
mention you're a libertarian and you don't support the "Great" Scott Brown. Also, close your ears to the nasty things and worse such as k----- Muslims, foreigners or immigrants. Yes, that's what I mean!! Someone said k---- them and didn't get banned. After their "volunteer" moderators ban you for your comments, there is no recourse. The leaders of the group won't respond to any complaints about any of this. They just want to be a bunch of hateful and ignorant people. Grassfire is the parent group of resistnet, which I used to think was a "legitimate" thoughtful group, not anymore.
Now, on the other hand, take teapartypatriots.org, (.com is a different group or site). Post or say anything you want within reason on the patriot's site and they won't have any problem with it. Say you're a libertarian, no worries.
So, obviously it's a mixed bag some are fraudulent, the patriots are okay. Take it for what it's worth, whatever that is supposed to mean?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Libertarian Quote of the Day
"Liberals want the government to be your Mommy. Conservatives want government to be your Daddy. Libertarians want it to treat you like an adult."
– Andre Marrou
Are US Taxpayers Bailing Out Greece?
by Ron Paul
But there have been statements made by the European Central Bank to calm fears and give assurances that Greece will get the aid it needs. Details of agreements are not forthcoming.
Is it possible that our Federal Reserve has had some hand in bailing out Greece? The fact is, we don’t know, and current laws exempt agreements between the Fed and foreign central banks from disclosure or audit.
Greece is only the latest in a series of countries that have faced this type of crisis in recent memory. Not too long ago the same types of fears were mounting about Dubai, and before that, Iceland. Several other countries (Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Latvia) are approaching crisis levels with public debt as well. Many have strong ties to Goldman Sachs and the case could easily be made that default could have serious implications for big US banking cartels. Considering the ties between the Fed and these big banks, it is not outlandish to wonder if the US taxpayer is secretly bailing out the entire world, country by country, even as our real unemployment tops 20 percent. Unless laws are changed to allow a complete and meaningful audit of the Federal Reserve, including its agreements with foreign central banks, we might never know if this is occurring or not.
A Libyan Charm Offensive
To the shores of Tripoli with the son of Qaddafi
Michael C. Moynihan
Tripoli, Libya—Perhaps I overestimated the bien-pensantultra British understanding of “modernity.” When the BBC reported that “at Tripoli’s ultra-modern airport…you could be almost anywhere in the world,” I expected at bare minimum a Starbucks, a fake Irish pub, and (this is the bit) a bank of vending machines dispensing iPods and noise-canceling headphones.
Well, perhaps we came through Libya’s spillover airport, its Midway or Stansted, because this is “anywhere in the world” only in some mad, dystopian-novel sense. Available for purchase are Egyptian gum, cheap watches celebrating 40 years of the Libyan revolution, and glossy magazines with Hugo Chavez on the cover. Sinister men in baggy uniforms, all puffing Marlboros, shout at each other and disappear with my passport. I later find out this bit of theater was required because I possess a passport stamp from Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. After some discussion, my personal government apparatchik informs the entire staff of Libyan customs that, on orders from high, this particular learned elder of Zion can be allowed through.
It’s not entirely clear why I am in Libya, although it would have been rude to refuse a trip funded by the generous and, according to their hired help, deeply misunderstood comrades of the Qaddafi Foundation. At the behest of Saif al-Qaddafi—Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi’s slick, London-educated son and dauphin—our group of journalists is being shuttled to the country in an effort to demonstrate a new Libyan openness and, it is implied, a future rather different from the past. Personally, I’m more interested in sneaking a glimpse at the world’s only Islamo-socialist personality cult.
The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab JamahiriyaIt doubtless keeps Qaddafi pere awake at night that had he tamped down the rhetorical goofiness and sartorial excess (and maybe a terrorist bombing or two) his country could have been like Castro’s Cuba or Sandinista Nicaragua in the eyes of the West. In the 1970s, Libya promoted itself to European revolutionary tourists and gringo sugarcane harvesters in Havana as a socialist alternative with a moderate religious component. The regime took part in all sorts of radical-chic nastiness too: bombing a German disco full of American soldiers, talking nonsense about collectivizing the Sahara, and providing the Provisional IRA with the weapons needed to kill wayward Catholics.
The 'Stimulus' Actually Raised Unemployment
by Alan Reynolds
President Obama seized on the one-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as an opportunity to take credit for the belated and tenuous economic recovery.
But the economy always recovered from recessions, long before anyone imagined that government borrowing could "create jobs." And we didn't used to have to wait nearly two years for signs of recovery, as we did this time.
A famous 1999 study by Christina Romer, who now heads the Council of Economic Advisers, found the average length of recessions from 1887 to 1929 was only 10.3 months, with the longest lasting 16 months.
Recessions lasted longer during the supposedly enlightened postwar era, with three of them lasting 16 to 21 months.
Keynesian countercyclical schemes have never worked in this country, just as they never worked in Japan.
The issue of "fiscal stimulus" must not be confused with TARP or with the Federal Reserve slashing interest rates and pumping up bank reserves.
One might argue that those Treasury and Fed programs helped prevent a hypothetical depression, but it's impossible to make that argument about ARRA.
The "fiscal stimulus" refers only to a deliberate $862 billion increase in budget deficits. Importantly, only 23% ($200 billion) was spent in 2009, with 47% in 2010 and 30% in later years (according to the Congressional Budget Office this January).
Monday, February 22, 2010
Cut the Commerce Department to Boost Real Business
by Chris Edwards and Tad DeHaven
We're wasting billions subsidizing corporations that don't need it.
However, the department — which boasts a work force of about 40,000 even in non-census years — has bloated far beyond its historically limited functions. The NIST, for example, has the constitutional duty to "fix the standard of weights and measures," but these days, it also operates an array of business subsidy programs.
That sort of mission creep has occurred across the government and is one reason why the federal budget is drowning in red ink. At $17 billion, Commerce isn't the largest federal department, but cutting even a few billion dollars a year can add up to significant savings over a decade.
We're wasting billions subsidizing corporations that don't need it.
You may have noticed a Census Bureau commercial during the Super Bowl. There's certainly plenty to debate about whether that was a wise use of taxpayer money, but the bureau's work — a decennial count of the U.S. population — is a basic constitutional function of our government, something that can't be abolished.
The bureau is part of the Department of Commerce, which carries out other constitutional functions, such as those of the Patent and Trademark Office and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).However, the department — which boasts a work force of about 40,000 even in non-census years — has bloated far beyond its historically limited functions. The NIST, for example, has the constitutional duty to "fix the standard of weights and measures," but these days, it also operates an array of business subsidy programs.
That sort of mission creep has occurred across the government and is one reason why the federal budget is drowning in red ink. At $17 billion, Commerce isn't the largest federal department, but cutting even a few billion dollars a year can add up to significant savings over a decade.
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