Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-17A: Crash of 2009 still with us

Posted on 2013-05-06 by TPOL Nathan

A short column to remind us that the economy is STILL bad, no matter what lies the government is telling us and no matter what lies Wall Street is telling itself.

Crash of 2009 – Stupid government – Stupid people (Three stories)
More ‘Discouraged Workers’ in April, Says Labor Dept.

Government Unemployment Rate Improved Again in April

9.5 Million People Have Left the Workforce Under Obama
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Three stories all related to the fact that once again, the government is lying, but unable to hide the real numbers.  Sadly, the  markets (at least as I write this on Friday morning) are so stupid that they believe the government. (And the media, who crow about the “reduced unemployment” without explaining why.)

Mama’s Note: If just one mainstream media entity reported the real “employment” numbers – MINUS all government paid/subsidized and mandated positions, including every kind of government “grant” and tax supported institution… the small number of actual “jobs” left in the country would stagger all but the most dedicated statists. The fact is that the true state of business, especially small business, is artfully hidden from almost everyone. The miracle is that such theft and fraud has gone on so long, relatively unnoticed.

Crash of 2009 – Stupid government
Feds Dish Out $4 Million to Increase Food Stamp Usage at Farmers Markets
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course, most farmers (and the other vendors) will cheerfully take them:  they want entitlements just as much as the ones WITH the food stamps, because it lines their pockets.  Just like school lunch programs are financed because the vendors get the money.  I am sure that restaurants are next (fast-food places need not apply, of course: the nanny state usually overrides the “papa-pays” state.)

Mama’s Note: Just talked to someone who has a “convenience store” and he was monumentally pissed that he had to take the welfare “debit card” whether he liked it or not. But he was especially upset that those who use the cards buy soda and all manner of fast food with them now. Finally convinced him that the real problem was the theft from taxpayers, not what was bought with the loot.

Abominable Act – Congress in action
Obamacare Already ‘Hurting Jobs and Paychecks,’ Republican Senator Says
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sorry, Senator, it has already been happening: people CAN read the handwriting on the wall and have taken the actions they need to, in order to avoid this fiasco.

Mama’s Note: Well, some have and many have not. Many have little choice but to pay for Obummercare. The bottom line will be fewer jobs, less real health care, fewer and fewer competent health care providers – and the great disaster that was actually planned all along. People will riot to have government institute “national,” single payer socialist medicine, simply because Obummercare was intended to fail in order to facilitate exactly that. The wise will find alternative medicine and establish healthy lifestyles now instead.

Congress in action – Faux conservatives
Rep. Paul Ryan Now Backs Adoption of Children by Homosexuals
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Ah, a “conservative,” eh? Ryan is a scheming and opportunistic and very ambitious man, with no real principles, but then, that means he is like most of the rest of the Senate.

Theft by government – Stupid government
$7.9 Billion in Improper Social Security Payments in FY 2012
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: More theft?  Or just corruption?

Stupid government – Guvmint-ruined, theft-funded schools
Education Dept. Awards $48,000 to Help Vermont School Recover From a Teen Suicide
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well!  If the US DOE gives this kind of money to an Anglo school, then why aren’t they paying out millions to schools with majority AmerInd students and their sickening suicide rate?

Mama’s Note: Because the AmerInd schools don’t have an effective legislator in their pockets. Or enough of them.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-16D: Home front

Posted on 2013-05-04 by TPOL Nathan

Home Front – TSA Thuggery
Airline, Airport Employees Caught Abusing Security Badges
(NBC)

Nathan: Argh!!! Journalists – don’t have the foggiest idea about grammar or the truth.  First off, it is TSA employees that are mostly discussed in the article.  Second, they were “misusing” the badges, not beating them up or keeping them locked in a closet, or raping them.  But the point is still clear:  for every REAL “terrorist” or threat to air travel, there are hundreds of crimes caused by the very agents “trying to prevent” those threats.  Government and the airlines themselves are the threat.

Mama’s Note: Aye… the “cure” is so often worse than the disease.

Home front: California versus Texas – Politics 2013
Myths vs. Facts: California’s Claims about Texas’ Economy
(Daily Policy Digest) Texas Governor Rick Perry recently began radio advertising in California encouraging California businesses to move to Texas for its pro-business environment.  The radio ads sparked a tiff between the Lone Star State governor and Californians, who have levied a number of claims about Texas’ economic success, all of which are inaccurate, says Chuck DeVore, vice president of policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Nathan: I am shocked, SHOCKED that the People’s Republic of California is attacking the Republic of Texas and making all these claims: twisting statistics to prove that the million people who got jobs in Texas in the last year are nuts and that the 300,000 people that abandoned California for freedom (even a little bit more) last year apparently don’t exist.

Government-run, tax-funded schools – Home front – Self defense
Gunfire and moments of fear as a rural Oregon school tests its readiness
(Oregon Live) “Two masked men wearing hoodies and wielding handguns burst into the Pine Eagle Charter School in this tiny rural community on Friday. Students were at home for an in-service day, so the gunmen headed into a meeting room full of teachers and opened fire. … Principal Cammie DeCastro said it became clear very quickly just how many of the school’s 15 teachers would have survived. The answer: ‘Not many,’ she said. … Armed teachers is one possible outcome, she said. Or the district may get armed and trained volunteers from the community to watch over the school in shifts, she said. Tougher doors and better locks are other options. Gover said the teachers tend to favor having one or two armed teachers in the building at all times.” (04/29/13)

Nathan:  This stupid little incident brought home some blunt truths – and their liberalism seems to be somewhat weakened, no?  Unlike the next school.

Mama’s Note: A good thing none of those “teachers” were carrying “illegally.’ The bogus attackers might well have been killed. What a stupid stunt.

Government-run, tax-funded schools – Hoplophobes
North Carolina: Scholarship for Eagle Scout arrested for shotgun in truck
(The Blaze) Withrow, a high school senior and Eagle Scout, had been skeet shooting the day before the incident and inadvertently neglected to store his firearm. Once he realized his error, he immediately locked the gun in his truck and went inside the school to call his mom so she could come pick it up.  But a Princeton High School official overhead Withrow’s phone call to his mother and the school promptly called the police. … he was arrested and charged with a felony. The school is not allowing Withrow to return to school of the rest of the year, however, an attorney for Johnston County Schools on Thursday said he will still be allowed to graduate on time by attending an alternative school, WTVD-TV reports. Now, Liberty University is stepping in to make sure that the high school senior will be able to continue on to college.

Nathan: First off, this Eagle was a stupid kid.  There were three or four different ways he could have avoided this, but he seems to have panicked. (He could have driven his truck off campus, he could have been a WHOLE lot more discrete in talking to his mom on a public phone, etc.)  And his mom and dad, frankly, are stupid in letting him go to a “public” school. And despite the generosity of Liberty University, he is STILL facing felony charges and the costs – even if the jury uses its collective common sense (ain’t holdin’ my breath) and refuses to find him guilty.  This may affect him for years – until the Collapse.

Culture wars – Politics 2013
Boy Scouts of America Survey: 61% Support Current Policy of Excluding Homosexuals
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: But the leadership has already decided to “compromise” and there are too many in the national council who WANT the immorality to be permitted.  So what Scouters and Scouts and sponsoring organizations want is going to be ignored.  And the homosexual activists and Tranzis will STILL not be satisfied and will STILL attack the BSA.

Mama’s Note: Trying to think just how anyone’s sexual orientation is anyone else’s business. Any more than one’s gun ownership, religion or gardening method. When the BSA decides to give up all theft funded perks (sponsorship by government schools, etc.) then they may have a better handle on the problem. The theft is, as always, the root of it.

Abominable Act – War on some drugs
Poll: 54% would repeal healthcare law, 85% for medical marijuana
(Fox News) “By a 54-41 percent margin, American voters would get rid of the sweeping 2010 health care law if given the option, according to a new Fox News poll. The poll, released Wednesday, also shows most voters — 71 percent — think the more than 15,000 pages of regulations that implement the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, are ‘way over the top.’ Some 19 percent say that number of pages ‘seems about right.’ The concern about the small mountain of health care rules is bipartisan.” (05/01/13)

Nathan: This public opinion will matter as much as the 61% of the BSA in the story above.  Congress is greedy, stupid, and power-mad, and facilitates the administration’s lawlessness and immorality.  BOTH the Abominable Act (ObummerCare) and the war on some drugs – especially the war on medical marijuana – are immoral AND unconstitutional, but the Nazgul are no more going to change them or rule against them than Holder and his capo will change.

War on religion – Stupid government
Pentagon Threatens Courts Martial for Preaching Gospel
(Breitbart)

Nathan:  Weinstein is supported by the bootlicking political generals in charge, the political appointees and minions of the “messiah” and their Tranzi overlords.  Like forcing open homosexuality, open adultery, so-called “marriage” and dozens of other less noticeable actions, this damages the military. It drives more and more good (and even neutral) people OUT, to allow more trash – gangbangers and such – to be not just in the service, but promoted rapidly.  The only way is downhill.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-16C: Gun backlogs, stealing babies, more

Posted on 2013-05-03 by TPOL Nathan

Home front – Self defense
Weaponized America: Sturm-Ruger backlog despite doubling of gun production and shipments
(Zero Hedge)

Nathan: YES, we are “weaponizing” (real English: arming) Americans more and more:  I know of people who have NEVER owned a weapon other than a bb gun who have gone out and purchased one or several.  Sturm-Ruger has TWO MILLION orders backlogged, and other companies are facing similar situations.  People are expecting the worst:  government seizures (ala New York, Connecticut, and Californai), societal breakdown, governmental breakdown, increased crime, reduced response to real crime by cops, and more. This is no more “irrational fear” that buying a fire extinguisher or a tire flat repair kit means we are fearful of a house fire or a flat tire: these things happen and good people, smart, rational people, prepare.  Are you?

Home front – Stupid people and government
Offended hospital has baby seized from parents

and Russian couple seeking answers
(Political Outcast – Russia Today) Evidently the doctors and staff at Sutter were offended that Anna wanted to seek a second opinion because the day after the two hospital visits, police and Child Protective Services showed up at their house.  Alex met them outside the door and says that the police pushed him against the house and then smacked him down to the ground.  The police then opened the door without asking permission and entered the house.  Anna, who was frightened to death, turned her camera on to record what was happening. … Anna was allowed to visit Sammy in the hospital for 1 hour since his kidnapping and that visit was supervised.  They hope to be able to get everything straightened up with a judge in the next few days, according to their attorney.

Nathan: The interpretation seems to be that Sutter Hospital treated the parents’ decision to have a second opinion from doctors at another hospital as an insult, to which they responded by first calling the cops (which didn’t work out) and then calling the thugs at CPS (and their own pet cops) who then illegally invaded the home and snatched the child out of his mother’s arms.  And here we thought that was only done to the children of Cuba Communists…  But at least SOME resolution:

Update: Baby returned to parents after mixup

Nathan: “Mixup.” Right. After ONLY six days they let the parents have their child back.  Any reason for the father to NOT compare California’s regime to Soviet Russia?  But never mind, Governor Moonbeam just signed a law to use $24 million to help steal 40,000 weapons from 20,000 Californias – adding insult to injury by using gun fees to pay the goons to go steal.  Can the Western States absorb another 50-100,000 refugees (families of the gun-owners)?

Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts – Losing Liberty
California governor signs gun seizure bill
(Los Angeles Times)

Nathan: Will any of these people decide that enough is enough, and fight back?  How many will move out of state before they get caught?  How many will die?  Will California pursue these “felons” out of state?

Stupid environists
Norway: Oslo running out of garbage
(Popular Science)

Nathan: Gee, the environists do it again.  The more they cut waste, the less they have to supply their power plants.  Stupid is as stupid does.

Home front – Techology
Can this device protect you from drones?
(Popular Science) Drone Shield is a pager-sized device (remember pagers?), with the incredibly cheap Raspberry Pi computer at its core. It detects drones by sound, using a microphone to pick up the noise before human ears can. It then uses the processing capacity of the computer to understand the signal, screens it against an internal database, before sending an alert out over text message or email.

Nathan: THIS IS IMPORTANT. One more major “advantage” of US military forces operating against indigenous forces – whether “freedom fighters” or “terrorists” is starting to go away.  And through the efforts of private business, not some enemy government or organization (unless you consider most American civilians (“unorganized militia” and reserve/retired military) to be enemy combatants).  As usual, the people who do this and publicize this don’t understand the difference between “shield” and “warning.”  This is a WARNING system – and very useful, especially if it is already available for under $100 – and IF it has the algorithms to avoid confusing an airliner at 30,000 feet from a drone.

Stupid government – Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
Militia Hired by State Dept. Warned It Wouldn’t Protect Stevens’ Movements in Benghazi
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Militia are evil, according to the feds, right?  So why this?  Ah, Islamic mafia – excuse me, militia is GOOD.  Only AMERICAN militia is bad.  And what about writing contracts in a place where a ferengi can’t expect to have help enforcing the contract?  STUPID.

The “messiah’s” minions – Theft by government
New Obamacare Challenge Says IRS Is Flouting the Law As Written by Congress
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And we are supposed to be surprised and shocked that the IRS is just another bunch of government criminals who not only violate the Constitution and moral law, but the very law that their capos put in place.

Theft – Tranzis
Gallup Poll: Americans Want Employers to Help Pay Their Tuitiom
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Americans want a free lunch.  And a lot of government will work to force the businesses to provide it.  Guess what, folks?  Your employers DO help pay your tuition: they pay you for your work and you use the money for anything that you want.  Including tuition.  But something for nothing?  Why?  It will STILL come from their profits and reduce what they can pay you.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-16B: Politically incorrect truth

Posted on 2013-05-02 by TPOL Nathan

Well, once more, global warming is dumping snow – a May Day blizzard on the Front Range of Colorado.  Yesterday’s rainy mists and clouds here in West River of South Dakota have been replaced by partly cloudy but cold skies: barely above 40 after several days of 50-80F weather.  We are all gonna die:  the May Day blizzard here in the Black Hills will no doubt be an Ides of May blizzard on the 4-8 inches of grass grown up from LAST week’s 15+ inch snow.

Politics 2013 – Politically incorrect and  truth (2 stories)
Tennessee County Commissioner in trouble for Facebook photo
(The Tennessean) West played no active role in any of those incidents. He just put an image on his Facebook page, which shows a man aiming a shotgun under the phrase “How to wink at a Muslim.” But even that put a chill through Muslims in Middle Tennessee. Muslim groups tweeted a screen grab of his post and it went viral.

Nathan: Thanks to Steve C for this one.  Truth is hard to swallow: if all these Muslims in Tennessee think this is insulting them, perhaps they should make it clear that they do NOT support their co-religionists’ constant aggressive killing and passing of fatwas and all the rest.

Colorado: Greeley Billboards anger
(Denver Post (taken from Greeley Tribune)) Two billboards in which images of American Indians are used to make a gun-rights argument are causing a stir with some residents, who say the image is offensive and insensitive. The billboards show three men dressed in traditional American Indian attire and the words: “Turn in your arms. The government will take care of you.”

Mama’s Note: I’m sure you’ve seen this. The controversy isn’t a surprise. Objections by “indians” is a bit of a surprise.

Nathan: All I’ve heard are favorable comments, from both AmerInd, Anglos, and Hispanics.  (Haven’t gotten any feedback from blacks, orientals, or small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.) I think it is great, and these idiots who find it offensive are – offensive.

Theft by government – New religions: environism (2 stories)
Green Jobs: Illusive and Costly
(Texas Public Policy Foundation) Solar generation accounts for only 500 jobs and wind technologies account for only 2,700 jobs…

Nathan: Once more, people with serious number crunching ability and analytical skills point out that this scam is still running strong  – as a scam.  Solar and wind are nice, in their place.  But government subsidies just provide opportunities for graft and other sorts of theft of money already stolen!

New Tax on Hybrid Vehicles to Support Highway Maintenance
(USA Today) A new law in Virginia will require hybrid and electric car owners to pay a $64-per-year fee to make up for what taxes these owners aren’t paying at the pump…

Nathan: Which (according to several studies I’ve glanced through) steals away most if not all of the “savings” over the life of the car.  Never mind: it is power and influence, and again, government subsidies with all their wonderful opportunities.

Mama’s Note: I know my niece despises her “Prius,” but will have to drive the stupid thing another five years to break even. A new tax or fee on the thing will be a deal breaker for sure and she’d probably unload it – even if she had to drive it off a cliff. She’d never buy another such vehicle again anyway.

War against religion – Politically-correct military
Military Consultant: Tolerance doesn’t extend to “christian monsters”
(American Vision News) Weinstein, who heads up the cross-crushing, prayer-prosecuting Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), is the same man who just published a blistering rant calling evangelicals “fundamentalist Christian monsters.” (And that’s the nice part!) “We must,” he writes, “vigorously support the continuing efforts to expose pathologically anti-gay, Islamophobic, and rabidly intolerant agitators for what they are: die-hard enemies of the United States Constitution. Monsters, one and all. To do any less would be to roll out a red carpet to those who would usher in a blood-drenched, draconian era of persecutions, nationalistic militarism, and superstitious theocracy.” . . .

Nathan: These draft regulations will drive more and more people out of the military, and allow the ranks to be filled with amoral worshippers of the almighty State, who will gleefully carry out their “duties” to trod the people of these United States under their boots.

Stupid people tricks
Shock Value vs. Moral Courage
(Acton Institute) Salman Rushdie, the British Indian novelist, has a piece in The New York Times entitled “Wither Moral Courage?” He is saddened that we have “no Gandhis, no Lincolns anymore” and that those who do stand up to the “abuses of power and dogma” are quickly imprisoned or vilified.

Nathan: Rushdie is a brave man, and has said a lot of good things.  But ANYONE who considers that Abraham Lincoln, “Abe the Tyrant,” stood up to abuses of power and dogma must have every word he says or writes examined extremely carefully.

The “messiah”
Obama: ‘Maybe I Should Just Pack Up and Go Home
(CNS News)

Nathan: We could only hope… But he and his gang would do more than steal the “w” keys off the keyboards, wouldn’t they?

Theft by government – Government-run/Tax-funded schools
Bill Bennett: Mistake for So Many People to Go to Four-Year Colleges
(CNS News)

 

Nathan: True indeed, but interesting to come from him in particular.  Colleges have, for the most part, become worthless money drains that have incompetents teach incompetents, whether in brick and mortar or virtual space.  For some professions, you need the degree (thanks to government and its collusion with too many special interests for the most part) and you need the knowledge and training available in a formal setting.  But for most of life?  Not hardly.

Home front – Stupid government tricks?
Three additional people arrested in Boston Marathon bombings
(Boston Globe ) Three college students have been arrested by federal authorities in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, a law enforcement official familar with the case said this morning.

Nathan: And the media is having a field day with it:  three more useful idiots trying to keep a friend out of trouble.  Very STUPIDLY trying to, apparently.  But you can be sure the FBI is busy tracing out everything they can, and will rope more friends and acquaintances into their net.  Show trials just ahead, no doubt.

Islamic wars: Mesopotamian front
Iraq: Government takes 10 TV stations off air for “incitement”
(Christian Science Monitor via  rationalreview.news-digests.com”  “Iraqi authorities have suspended 10 television networks in response to their coverage of the killing of dozens of Sunni demonstrators by the Iraqi Army last week.

Nathan: Nice to know that all those Arabs and Kurds and such in Mesopotamia learned how to do democracy and protect liberties from DC, huh?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-16A: Spam and magic incantations

Posted on 2013-04-30 by TPOL Nathan

Nathan: I got another one of those spams from the “Grassfire Coalition” urging me to sign a petition to “Stop the Internet Tax” that will go to “my” senators.  Here it is, in part:

We’ve confirmed that at least one of your South Dakota Senators supports a massive $24-billion-a-year tax mandate that’s coming up for a vote next Monday, May 6.
The so-called Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 743) would mandate Internet retailers to collect sales taxes on all purchases and then send the revenue to the appropriate state and municipal taxing authorities. In theory, that money would be used for local roads, bridges, police and fire departments.

An open response from Nathan: Hey, they are not MY senators: I voted and worked hard to keep BOTH of them from getting elected.  And Johnson is nothing but a ventriloquist’s dummy since his tumor/stroke.  As for Thune, he has known for years that HIS way to power was by supporting big business and hanging smallholders out to dry. This bill will make it nearly impossible for small businesses to do any retail sales outside a very short list of states, because of the recordkeeping and all those little checks to all the parasites.  The big businesses – the ones with pull – will win more and more. But this is perfect for both of the so-called “Senators from South Dakota”: $24 billion more stolen from people in the name of “fairness” – kind of like the “Fair Share Law” in Atlas Shrugged.  Stop wasting your time and money thinking that the right magic words on enough “petitions” to the thugs in DC will fix things: buy food and ammo…

Energy and the future
Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough?
(Independent, UK) One giant leap for mankind: £13bn Iter project makes breakthrough in the quest for nuclear fusion, a solution to climate change and an age of clean, cheap energy. It may be the most ambitious scientific venture ever: a global collaboration to create an unlimited supply of clean, cheap energy. And this week it took a crucial step forward. Steve Connor reports…

Mama’s Note: This fusion thing just never made any sense to me. Far, FAR too complex, and this “hotter than the sun” thing really seems nuts. Building multi-billion dollar central plants is just wrong anyway. Seems to me that decentralization of energy production is as important as decentralization of power structures. If you put all your eggs in one basket…

Nathan: There is just so MUCH wrong with this thing that I could pontificate for a whole 1000+ words about it.  First, I think that Steve Connor used the right word when compared the entire project and its troubles to Babel.  This entire project strikes me as incredibly arrogant on the part of the sponsors and the people doing the work:  more than a decade and nearly $20 billion to produce something that has already been demonstrated to work on a much smaller scale, and without the costs and risks associated with this monster.  As Mama Liberty pointed out, central plants are bad.  R. A. Heinlein wrote about one major problem in “Blowups Happen” way back in the infancy of nuclear power. But there are many other reasons.  Centralization is bad – for those who love liberty.  But for tyrants, all this is just another variation on “water empires.”  Back in ancient times, the god-kings did best in those regions where they could control the essentials of life.  The best was water:  you controlled the irrigation canals and dams and such, and all the people not only obeyed you and served you and let you steal from them, they also WORSHIPED you because YOU were the god who controlled the water: Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China.  Today, POWER – electrical especially – is the “water” that an “energy empire” controls to, in turn, control the land and the people.  So they work feverishly (remember, they are GOVERNMENT employees: bureaucrats in FRANCE:  another 10 years is par for the course), to have a centralized power plant that is vulnerable to terrorism attack to justify more cops, more security, more troops, more restrictions.  Meanwhile, there are others, not all friends of liberty, but still: they are working on things like the Hyperion Power Module:  a truck sized nuclear reactor that burns the nasty byproducts of the big old dinosaur nuclear power stations:  a truck-size “battery” that fits into a nice concrete vault in a park or by a water tower or something.  And a dozen people working on basement or garage sized fusion and fission:  not just to let a small city have their own power, but a single block or even a single family.    And something like that is likely to be able to heat up enough reaction mass to get enough Delta-V to make it to the Asteroids, or beyond.  This thing, this monster is too poorly designed and built to handle a small earthquake.  But – that’s government for you!

Stupid people – Home front
Massachusetts:  Clergy reportedly banned from bombing scene
A new report in the Wall Street Journal claims that faith leaders were very literally banned from the trauma scene. As individuals lay on the ground maimed and suffering from unimaginably-dire wounds, nearby clergy were not allowed to enter to give last rights or even to comfort the victims.

Nathan: Surprised?  Don’t be:  The war on religion takes priority over whether an eight-year-old is able to worship as he wanted.  And after all, these priests and others would just fill the victims with nonsense, and probably kill just as much as the jihadis do – after all, didn’t some Army training identify Roman Catholics as extremists and likely terrorists?

Mama’s Note: The idea that these clerics would “just be in the way” is stupid, to say the least. In my long nursing career, I dealt with chaplains and clergy constantly – both in the ER and in many other settings. The very LAST thing they would do was get in the way, or interfere with treatments. They were, however, often instrumental in helping the patients  cooperate with the medical people as they struggled to control pain and bleeding. A priest would be one of the last people I’d bar from any medical emergency. And cops would be the first… they are the ones who stand in the road and gum up the works all too often.

Self-defense – Helping others
Utah: Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop comes to aid of woman being attacked
(Fox News) “A Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop helped a neighbor woman escape a Tuesday morning attack by a man who had been stalking her. Kent Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged in front of their house. The 47-year-old father of six rushed out the door and grabbed the weapon closest to him — a 29-inch high carbon steel Samurai sword. He came upon what he describes as a melee between a woman and a man. His son stayed inside to call 911 while he approached the man along with other neighbors who came to help. The martial arts instructor didn’t hesitate in drawing the sword and yelling at him to get on the ground.” (04/23/13)

Nathan: Whatever works, but a smart man (even an LDS bishop) would have a pistol also handy for home defense: even in Deseret.  Good for him.

Self-defense
Pennsylvania: AR15 used in home defense
(Philly.com) “Jasper Brisbon, 32, wandered up to a couple late Friday at the Lynnewood Apartments as the pair spoke outside their unit. Brisbon, they told police, appeared to be on drugs. He stared at the pair for several minutes before the couple decided to go into their apartment, police said. But as they entered their home Brisbon jumped between them, forcing his way in. The male of the couple ran to get a semi- automatic AR-15 rifle and insisted Brisbon leave. Brisbon refused. Instead, as the man yelled ‘Stop! Stop Stop!’ Brisbon moved menacingly toward the man, police said. The man fired a shot striking Brisbon in the torso and immediately called 911.” (04/22/13)

Nathan: Well, he could have done it with a shotgun, right?  Or a baseball bat.  Or 9-1-1 calls and screams: he could have thrown up on the guy or wet himself or just died.  But he DID have a useful weapon to defend himself and his wife.  Good for him.

Mama’s Note: Indeed, and I’m glad he did what he needed to do. Unfortunately, running to get the gun is not always an option. I much prefer to have that gun on my belt while I’m awake, or on the nightstand beside my bed when I sleep. It’s never more than a foot or so from my hand, and that’s far enough.  Oh, and the wife needs one close too…

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-15C:

Posted on 2013-04-28 by TPOL Nathan

Islamic wars: Arab Street revolt
House Report: Al Qaeda in Maghreb and Al Qaeda-Linked Ansar al-Sharia Did Benghazi
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Listening to or reading Congressional reports is like reading months-old newspapers:  the obvious takes forever to make it through the computers and committees – and the gray mush that has replaced the little gray cells in the 535 of them.  (Not to mention aides and staffers and lobbyists.)  And of course, beCAUSE it is stale news, it gets buried and no one remembers all the thugs and thugettes that lied and lied about how some idiotic tax-dodging Armenian C-grade movie maker got all the wonderful, loving, peaceful, decent, heavily-armed population to go attack the embassy while all the authorities were playing golf or writing their autobiography or the next day’s lies for public consumption.

Theft by government  – Congress in action
Congress Prepares $100 Million Bipartisan Flu Tax
(Weekly Standard)  Along with taxes on other vaccines, this tax would fund the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund.  The fund is a “no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines.”

Mama Liberty: Well, gosh… one MORE reason not to allow anyone to inject you with poison “vaccine.” This farce has gone on long enough. For whatever reason, I’ve never had the “flu,” and have never had a “flu shot” either. Really glad about that.

Nathan: Any excuse to rob people, I guess.  And to put fear and terror in the hearts of those you rob, so that they don’t squawk as much:  “Government could save us from these horrible diseases.”  From long experience in trust funds and how they work for landfills and fuel tanks in Colorado (and else where), it goes like this:  A hundred million dollars a year builds up over ten years, and there are no claims (at least none that are acceptable) for compensation from the fund, so the legislature says “we can raid this, and let it build back up again.”  So they pass a law to steal the billion, and then add insult to injury by raising the tax to “replenish” the fund, lest we have a major problem. Neat scam, huh?

Energy – Government goofs (2 stories)
Increased Natural Gas Production Lowers Emissions
(Wall Street Journal) Carbon dioxide emissions from energy production has fallen 12 percent between 2005 and 2012, according to the U.S. Energy Department…

Nathan: Amazing what wonders a crash can do, eh?  Or new technology.  Or private business to INVEST in new technology that government agencies will not touch.  Never fear, government will come along to steal it soon enough.  Especially since their own pet windmill scheme is falling FLAT on its face, as the next story relates.

Wind Energy Cannot Compete in Free Market
(GlobalWarming.org)  The cost per megawatt-hour (MWh) of combined capital and operating expenses of the lifetime of a new wind energy unit is $96/MWh versus $66.1/MWh for natural gas…

Nathan: Put simply, “free wind energy” costs 50% more than cheap, abundant, low-carbon-footprint natural gas.  And this is not talking about all the nasty stuff that wind energy does:  the carbon footprint is huge, the birds are dead, the landscape (or seascape) is permanently changed   And of course, the government both profits from AND subsidizes it with billions stolen from you and me. But never fear, it is GOOD for the Environment, and the kiddies LOVE it.

Mama’s Note: Oh, almost nothing is “permanent.” The machines can be dismantled and the components used for other things eventually.

War on some drugs – Celebrity twits
Susan Sarandon: ‘I Would Like to See Everybody Be Able to Smoke Pot’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I assume she means (a) “legally” and (b) “voluntarily.”  But with people like her, you never know. Besides, all the cool people, like the “messiah” already done smoked all the weed you can imagine.  And you KNOW (whatever she says) that it would be majorly uncool to have a fat couch potato in a white knit wifebeater swilling his Bud (or – gasp, Lone Star) with one hand and holding a doobie between tokes in the other hand.  Even if it does keep the nausea down from the chemo for his lung cancer.  By the way, according to her the “War on Drugs” is racist – BIG news flash, in 1969 maybe. (When she was 23: I had to go look her up, as I vaguely recalled she was an actress: 125 movies, a typical Baby Boomer liberal and child of the 60s.  One of those whose parents gave her a big bustline (which she likes to still display to the world at age 71, apparently) and met budget by shorting her on brains. (I am assuming she didn’t buy the 20 or so pounds of extra body fat, but that much silicon surely could increase processing power a foot or so higher, right?) Sad that so many people worship people like her.)

Islamic war: State Department front
Kerry’s ‘New Paradigm’ to Deal With Terrorism Includes Job-Creation for Palestinians [sic]
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So, excessive unemployment causes terrorism, except of course in the United States where it is people with guns who cause terrorism.  Notice his “paradigm” doesn’t include disarming the “Palestinians” in any way.

Mama’s Note: “Disarming the Palestinians?” Oh, that would be interesting… Not that ENOUGH of them are truly adequately armed, of course.

Congress in action – Tranzis
Harry Reid: “Government is Inherently Good”
(Breitbart, via Conservative Action Alerts) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he can’t understand why the tea party remains popular, given its similarity to the anarchist movement and its steadfast opposition to the “inherently good” government. Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, made the statements during floor remarks in the Senate earlier this week, expressing dismay over legislation stalled because of tea party opposition, Breitbart reported.

Nathan: Tranzi babble – evil words about an evil institution.  Reid (and 98 or so of his colleagues) neither knows nor cares about the philosophy which led (however badly it turned out) to the American system of government – a philosophy that said that government is inherently evil but probably a NECESSARY evil that we must control and limit in every way.  (Yes, I know that they were wrong: to believe that evil is necessary is a huge step (or leap) towards Hell – and hell on Earth.)  It is Reid’s position that leads to the gulag and Dachau and the Khymer killing fields.  The enemies of liberty have seldom been so forthright as this – but usually they are sneaky, like that thug Holder.

Mama’s Note: But Nathan, that depends entirely on the premise and goal of the beholder… if the total control and subjugation of all human beings to the collective is the goal, then here is no question but that “government” is necessary – and not evil at all. You either is or you isn’t… this compromise business is stupid.

The “messiah’s” minions – Tranzis
Holder Calls Amnesty a ‘Civil Right’
(Conservative Action Alerts) During a April 24th speech to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Attorney General Eric Holder said that creating a “pathway to earned citizenship” was a “civil right.”

Nathan: Yes, this is ANOTHER Tranzi babble – there is no “right” to become a citizen except by birth – and that should not be a right.  Even if you believe in government, citizenship is an obligation that comes with certain necessary privileges that should be chosen voluntarily and earned by proven performance in fulfilling those obligations – or at the very least, demonstrating your ability to perform those obligations.  But it is certainly no right the way that free speech or bearing arms or innocence (until proven guilty) is: no more than food or shelter or clothing is a “right.”  Of course, Holder does not believe that things like arms and speech and innocence ARE rights: he’s an evil thug who recognizes no law of God nor man except the law of might makes right.

Mama’s Note: Well now, “amnesty” indicates a general forgiveness for something wrong… Since arbitrary borders and “citizenship” are artificial things, the whole question is easily answered by universal self ownership and self responsibility. When the whole question resolves around imaginary lines on a map, and insane “entitlements” provided for by theft… the whole discussion devolves into insanity.

The “messiah” – Tranzis
Obama: Citizenship ‘Expresses Itself Through Our Government’
(CNSNews.com) President Barack Obama told donors at a Democratic National Committee fundraising event at a private residence in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday that Americans express their citizenship and obligations to one another “through our government,” among other areas.

Nathan: Excuse me while I throw up.  After the Senate and the racist scum in his administration, we have this bilge.  It is not that he is necessarily wrong (there are a lot of definitions of “citizenship” and “citizen” out there which are revolting to me and other lovers of liberty and freedom.  (Webster’s first definition may be the best for citizen: “an inhabitant of a city or town; especially : one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman”; the first two for citizenship: “1: the status of being a citizen, 2 a : membership in a community.”

But this not what this man is talking about: not whether I am a freeman, a member of Whispering Pine community or Pennington County or the Black Hills or South Dakota: he is talking about “federal citizen (subject)” and no doubt “world citizen (subject)”

Mama’s Note: I belong to ME, without any strings except those I freely accept (with family or community.) My “obligation” is only to those I recognize as mutually acceptable and beneficial.

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Why do I carry a gun?

Posted on 2013-04-25 by MamaLiberty

Once in a while, someone asks me why I carry a gun… what is the reason?

I have lots of reasons.

I once had to shoot a man to save my life.

I am the only one responsible for my life and safety.

And I love my guns.

But what most people don’t seem to understand is that I don’t NEED any reason at all.

Asking for the “reason” I carry a gun is very much like asking if I have underwear on.

NOBODY’s business.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-15B: Baby killers and other criminals

Posted on 2013-04-25 by TPOL Nathan

I again return to the new Bergen-Belsen, that hypocritical and evil place called Philadelphia, once again proving its wickedness by not demanding justice be done.

Nazgul – Culture wars: killing babies (2 stories)
Gosnell’s Attorney: ‘Ludicrous’ ‘To Say a Baby is Born Alive Because It Moves One Time’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I realize that the attorney has to stand up for his client, no matter what a piece of living garbage that client is, but this is such a ridiculous claim as to make the attorney an accomplice after the fact:  the testimony clearly stated that the baby was moving and alive for more than 20 minutes after being “aborted” before Gosnell “snipped” it – decapitated it and murdered it in cold blood, premeditated.  But apparently the judge does not believe that babies born live – if accidentally alive – are human, as the next story relates.

Judge Throws Out 3 Murder Charges in Gosnell Abortion-Murder Case
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: “There ain’t no justice” – “TANJ” – is a frequent cry throughout human history, and once again this seems to be proven.  The man who killed or directed the killing of TENS of thousands of babies, and who unlike Hitler or Stalin or Mao seems to have done a good deal of it “hands-on” is off the hook for three of the pitifully few (seven) charges of murder he faces, even while his employees turn states’ evidence to get off the hook as well, and the politicians and cops and “welfare workers” and medical inspectors of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania get out of even having their hands slapped.  No reason is given for the dismissals in the story, just as no reasons are given for why he did not face charges of crimes against humanity and mass murder, and even genocide.  Yes, he can only hang or fry or be gassed or injected once, and I know that vengeance is the Lord’s, but all this does is show that children can be killed with virtual impunity, and so the killings elsewhere will continue, and no doubt ARE continuing in Philadelphia right now with someone who at least knows how to keep the vermin down doing the killing.

Mama’s Note: And yet… the death of even one child at Newton or anywhere else – when killed with a gun – is supposed to be sufficient reason to make everyone in the country completely helpless… except police, of course.

Congress in action – American front
Sen. Chuck Schumer on Border Security: ‘We Certainly Need More Drones’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: What, he and the other 534 members of Congress are not enough?  Seriously, Schumer is a slaver in his heart, and he wants them to keep the people under control – his fear of a real republic and people who stand up for their rights is obvious.  Also seriously, if we NEEDED more drones for border security, we have a fleet of them operating all over the Middle East, and all we need to do is bring them home to protect our borders, which is a MILITARY function and not the proper role for one of the biggest porkbarrel agencies on the planet.  And bring the airmen home to maintain and fly the things too (although I suspect that the pilots are already at home at Groom Lake and telecommuting to kill innocents in rural tribal areas on the other side of the world).

The “messiah’s” consort and minions – Stupid government
First Lady: ‘Federal Workers Are This Invisible Face, No One Knows What They Do’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Lady, I don’t know about Chicago, but “federal workers” are in my face almost EVERY day, if not every HOUR of the day, and I know EXACTLY what they do: they steal from me, waste what they steal, and make my life and those of my family and my friends, co-workers, and clients poorer and more miserable than they should be.  They are the evil 1% that lord it over the rest of us and cause untold misery at home and abroad.  And you are one ROYALLY STUPID lawyer (or former lawyer) whose major skill is lying.

Mama’s Note: The utter waste, from any conceivable direction, is really hard to communicate to a lot of people… unless they’ve spent some serious time in the DMV, or being audited by the IRS. Most of those really do “get it.” This “lady” has obviously never been inconvenienced that way… though one does wonder about the “former lawyer” bit.

The “messiah’s” minions – American front/Home front
Napolitano to Cruz on 844-page Immigration Bill: ‘Actually I Have Read the Bill’

Nathan: What?  She can READ?  Her record in Arizona and now in DC seems to make a strong argument for needing to have her aides and others read to her.

Mama’s Note: …if they indeed ever bother.

Napolitano to Sen. Sessions on Poor Morale at ICE: ‘It’s Not Just With ICE – It’s Throughout the Department’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Hmmm.  Does she have a mirror in her office or her “executive wash room?”  Perhaps if she uses it, she might understand why the entire department has low morals – excuse me, low morale.  Remember, everyone of their offices and posts has a picture of her and her slick-talking, America- and liberty-hating boss, on their walls: AND they have these really awful uniforms and jobs, and they mostly have families that go around saying their relative works playing piano in a cheap hooker bar or whorehouse so that they are not embarrassed by the truth…

Mama’s Note: Funny, but true… my niece’s X was an “air traffic controller,” and she divorced him when he decided to “move up” to fly helicopters for the DEA. She had enough trouble admitting to the ATC… but the DEA was just much too much.

Congress in action – Good riddance
Officials: Democratic Sen. Max Baucus to Retire|
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: One more enemy of liberty retiring to enjoy his stolen wealth – yes, stolen, even if he retiring just on his Senate pension.  Instead, he should be enjoying the rest of his life in SuperMax outside Canon City, paid for by taking every dime he has swindled or invested since he was first elected to ANY public office.  I cannot forgive the people of Montana for foisting this man and his hatred of freedom on the rest of us for all these years.

Ex-criminals-in-chief
Bill Clinton Omits ‘Creator’ In Citing Declaration and ‘Endowed With Certain Rights’ at Gay Awards Event
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Look, folks, we know that Bill Clinton is an amoral opportunist, shyster, con-artist, and big time parasite: of COURSE he is going to conveniently forget God, right up to the moment when he is pulled in front of the Great White Throne (kicking and screaming about “the definition of is,” no doubt) and judged.  Indeed, may the Lord have mercy on his soul.  Let us not get our knickers into a wad about things like this, and concentrate on what is important: he can believe whatever he wants to, as long as he doesn’t aggress against anyone else – and God WILL judge him and deal with him as he deserves.

Congress in action – Theft by government
Rep. Ellison: New Taxes ‘Really Should Be Paid’ to Maintain ‘Liberty and Justice for All’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: He is Muslim, which means his definition of “liberty” and “justice” is warped by his false religion, but this is extreme even so.  Taxes produce liberty and justice?  In what universe?  Not this one.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-15A: Home front

Posted on 2013-04-24 by TPOL Nathan

Islamic wars: South Asian front
Pakistan: Rare Christian retaliation against Muslim violence
(Christian Science Monitor) “As violence against religious minorities in Pakistan continues to grow unabated, at least one group of Christians has decided it is finally time to fight back. Earlier this month, in what observers and locals characterize as a very rare occurrence, Christians in the Francisabad neighborhood of Gujranwala stood their ground when a group of Muslims from nearby settlements began attacking their property.” (04/22/13)

Nathan: As Mama Liberty pointed out to Steve T., who wrote the headline, this is self-defense and NOT “retaliation” – and it is a crying shame that too many “christians” and “libertarians” both can’t tell the difference.  You do NOT become a “vigilante” either, just by defending yourself.  God gave ALL His children the right to defend themselves, and the obligation to defend their families, and their communities (“do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”)  Pakistan, Afghanistan, “Iraq,” Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and all the rest are places filled with evil men and controlled by evil forces – too often evil forces allied with the United States and other western powers.  Self-defense is essential, and more and more evil will take place until those who are NOT evil stand up against it.

Home front – Stupid government
Security theater: US to keep restriction on small knives on planes for now
(CNN) “The U.S. government will temporarily delay a controversial rule that would again permit passengers to carry small knives on commercial flights three days before it was due to take effect. The Transportation Security Administration said in a statement on Monday it would consider additional input from a federal advisory committee that includes aviation-related interests, passenger advocates, and law enforcement experts before activating the new regulation.” (04/22/13)

Mama’s Note: Nobody REALLY thought they’d be “allowed” to take a “knife” on an airplane, did they?

Nathan: As usual, one thing (in this case, the ricin mailings and bombing in Boston) is a convenient excuse to crackdown on something totally unrelated, like in the Sandy Hook killings, where (supposedly) pistols were used, but it was an excuse to try and ban rifles (“assault weapons”).  Tyrants (and nannies) use anything as a hook for their exercises in control.

Home front – “Gun-free zones”
15-year-old boy found shot to death blocks from President Obama’s home
(Chicago Sun-Times) When Timika Rutledge didn’t see her son – nicknamed “Cornbread” – waiting for her on the corner Monday night, she immediately got a bad feeling. After the police cars swooped in, she soon learned that her 15-year-old son, Cornelius German, was lying …

Nathan: If the “messiah” had not had a home there, would this not have happened?  Is it all his fault?  And how did the boy get killed?  Chicago is the town with all the tough gun laws!  But his mama said he is NOT a gangbanger, just had friends who were.  She raised her son the way the “messiah” treats this country:  abusive and full of lies.

Mama’s Note: Well, we don’t know really. I’m sure that it is almost impossible for boys raised in Chicago to avoid being involved with gangs to some degree. Obama’s Chicago house had noting to do with it.

Home front – Islamic wars
Saudi Students in U.S. Up More Than 500% Since Sept. 11, 2001
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: We supposedly don’t let pedophiles or Holocaust implementers/apologists or rapists into the nation, but there is no indication that any of these people are screened for such things (which are not, apparently, crimes in Saudi Arabia and therefore would not show up in a records check).  Like everything else the government claims to do, they do NOT do this well – indeed, they make matters worse.

Mama’s Note: With all the money the Saudi rulers have, it’s a little surprising they don’t have plenty of their own universities. But I don’t expect the US gov. or the Saudi state to screen these people, regardless of their criteria. Everyone is responsible for themselves and their legitimate dependents.

Attempted murder, rape or child molestation should be a one way ticket to the morgue – preferably at the hands of the intended victim.

Russian front – Hypocrisy
Putin’s Russia launches ‘unprecedented’ crackdown on activists, rights group warns
(NBC News) It also comes weeks after the State Department cataloged a series of human concerns in Russia, including restrictions to harsh fines for unsanctioned political meetings, electoral fraud and the detention and trial of citizens without due process.

Mama’s Note: The only thing that is “unprecedented” is the level of hypocrisy – both the US and Russia. The US “state department” doesn’t consider the “Patriot Act” atrocities and Gitmo, TSA… etc. as human rights violations? How convenient…

Nathan: You mean like the way they are handling the “Suspect #2” in Boston – or the hundreds of thousands of citizens locked down in panic for almost 24 hours?  These “rights groups” are as biased as the US and UN agencies whose activities they support and validate.

Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
Muslim Mob Destroys British War Cemetery
Video shows unidenified Libyans (including those in typical Imam-style dress) knocking over grave stones and attempting to tear down the memorial cross in what is clearly a British WW2 War Cemetery.

Nathan: (The caption states this is a cemetery of “British war victims” – a totally different idea than the reality: British war dead: soldiers and sailors and airmen, NOT “victims” but killed in action.) Although I do not understand Arabic, the word “Israeli” was clear at least once, giving the impression that in the eyes of those desecrating the cemetery, the British are somehow equated with the Israelis.  (I could not see if any of the gravestones being broken and toppled had Stars of David or not.) It is unlikely that all the stones knocked down and splintered were of Jewish dead.  And of course, it ignores the fact that the British dead were killed in the process of liberating Libyans from Italian and German conquest and occupation.  But this is typical for the Muslim communities in the world:  making a joke or publishing a cartoon viewed as “desecrating” the memory of Mohammad (peanuss butter und honig) or stating something “disrespectful” about the “Religion of Peace” (TM?) is viewed as an insult punishable only by death.  Graves which have been left in peace for a half-century must be destroyed, apparently not in a fit of violence but in sober determination that anything Western is evil and fair game for any abuse and vandalism wanted.

Quote of the week

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. 

C. S. Lewis
English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 – 1963)

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Gold: Business as Usual?

Posted on 2013-04-20 by MamaLiberty

By L. Reichard White
©April 20, 2013

On Friday April 12 and Monday April 15, 2013, the titular price of gold dropped a total of over $200, a performance not seen in over 30 years. Monday saw the biggest one day dollar drop in gold ever. The Friday move was about 4.88 standard deviations meaning it should only happen about once every 4,700 years, and the two day price movement in the GLD ETF was in the eight standard deviation range — meaning the sun should burn out before it happens. Everyone’s looking for explanations.

Yet, at the same time, ABN AMRO, one of the largest banks in Europe, didn’t have the physical gold it had contracted to deliver and defaulted. Venezuela, Germany, Mexico and the Netherlands are repatriating their gold from the United States — and the U.S. Mint has periodically suspended sales of gold and silver coins because of a lack of the precious metals. Maybe that’s because as a CNBC survey discovered, more Americans prefer gold over all other investment classes.

Maybe it’s just a normal trashing of the gold price by the government-banking axis, but an extreme one.

But why now?

Hopefully the answer is, “Because we’ve been trying to protect our Keynesian zero-real-interest-rates against gold ever since it hit $1923.70/oz and threatened them — and just NOW all the factors were finally right.” Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts thinks that’s the case.

But if the answer is, “We see a serious ripple in the fiat money force, and we’re trying to head the disaster off at the pass,” they may be right. Worse, their blatantly obvious action against gold may precipitate the very disaster history suggests they should fear. Maybe Japan’s early April program to inflate the yen as far as the eye can see was the ripple that broke the camel’s back.

In that case, Paul Craig Roberts explains what the bankster-government axis is worried about.

Here’s an example of how nervous central banksters get about a rising gold price – – –

We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further. A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake. Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it. It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded. The U.S. Fed was very active in getting the gold price down. So was the U.K. –Edward A. J. George, Governor of the Bank of England and a director of the BIS, to Nicholas J. Morrell, Chief Executive of Lonmin Plc: Civil Action No. 00-CV-12485-RCL, Filed Dec. 7, 2000

Why are governments involved? Guess which organizations are, hands down, the biggest debtors in the world and so must have low interest rates? Guess which particular one is the biggest debtor in the history of the world? Hint: THE Debt Clock

So you shouldn’t be surprised when veteran metals trader Andrew McGuire reports that the western banking-government amalgam — spearheaded as usual by Bankster Goldman Sachs with its bearish call on gold last week — dumped more than an unheard of 500 tons of PAPER gold on the market late last week (April 12, 2013). And, it seems, pimped, cajoled, and forced other weak hands to play along.

CNBC’s Rick Santelli, April 15, 2013, reports a sell order of 125 tons from a single source on Friday’s open alone. There’s a similar report from Ross Norman but of 400 tonnes, and another from Mark O’Byrne at GoldCore that, “ Massive $20 Billion Paper Gold Sell Orders Trigger Stop Loss Selling And Unfounded Panic“.

There was a similar if even more virulent move in the silver pits.

What’s paper have to do with it? “Paper gold” means the move was done with promises to deliver gold, not with actual physical gold itself. Which is what makes the failure of ABN AMRO to deliver promised gold — and the U.S. Mint suspending precious coin sales — very interesting indeed.

It’s directly analagous to the beginning of an old fashioned run on a bank where the bank was unable to redeem its “Redeemable in Gold on Demand” dollars — the only Constitutional kind — because they’d printed those redeemable I.O.U.s for more gold than they actually had. If anyone else had done that, it would be called “counterfeiting.”

And because the banks are so interconnected, this isn’t just a run on ABN AMRO.

AND maybe the repatriation movement, besides being interesting, is the straw that lit the fuse as Venezuela, Gremany, probably Holland, and perhaps some other countries are repatriating their gold which has been theoretically stored in the valuts beneath the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — made famous in Die Hard With a Vengeance, the third movie in the series. Mexico, with about 95% of it’s gold reserves in New York and The Bank of England, is also beginning to repatriate “its” gold.

The real tell for anyone who doesn’t believe in this sort of thing is that even the experts all remark on how unusual it is. For example, according to CNBC’s Sharon Epperson, “The volatility that [the NYMEX futures traders] are seeing right now in the gold market, they say, is unprecedented in the last twenty, thirty, forty years they’ve been trading.” Likewise renown analyst and long-time market observer Dennis Gartman remarked on CNBC, April 15, 2013, ~”In 40 years observing the gold market, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

That’s what it now takes to get folks’ attention, and clearly this hasn’t been lost on those engineering such events these days. And remember, when the government does it, it’s not a conspiracy, it’s a plan.

History? That was when France, a few other countries, and most importantly, the markets, called Uncle Scam’s Bretton-Woods “London Gold Pool” paper-gold bluff by taking delivery of actual physical gold from the U.S. and its other eight dragooned central banks. In stupidly trying to again raise the market bet and cap the price of gold, Uncle airlifted a bunch of gold to London, ultimately collapsing the floor of one storage vault. But that was all to no avail. Being caught with its counterfeit shorts down, finally, on August 15, 1971, with Executive Order 11615, Nixon “closed the gold window,” thus abrogating the international convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold and finalizing the biggest default in history. So far.

So, trashing gold – – – as long as possible – – – is business as usual.

But there are consequences – – –

…after 1971, the era of stable growth simply came to an end for the United States. Eighteen months after the gold window was shut, American wages, adjusted for inflation, reached their all-time peak. …since then the average American worker has been losing ground. Family income has gone up, which is the statistic most politicians point to but it now takes two workers in each family to make that income, whereas in 1971 it took just one. -Joel Kurtzman, THE DEATH OF MONEY, (New York, NY: SIMON & SCHUSTER 1993), p. 70

L. Reichard White [send him mail] taught physics, designed and built a house, ran for Nevada State Senate, served two terms on the Libertarian National Committee, managed a theater company, etc. but his hobby is explaining things he wishes someone had explained to him. You can find a few of his other explanations here.

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