Speaking about Liberty to a youth group at the Unitarian Universalists Society

[Special note: don't mind the editing of this post, Blogger is doing weird things tonight...]

I spoke to a youth group at the South Valley Unitarian Universalist Soceities Youth Conference - once again introduced to someone for this type of thing by my friend Warren. I'm convinced that in this sort of thing, business or not, networking (i.e. "who you know") is everything.

Anyway, the event was a lot of fun. I met several great teenagers who have a lot to look forward to. I tried to press upon them that they must start doing something now if they want to ensure that they will have any kind of freedom later.

The topic was the USA PATRIOT Act, but I focused mainly on freedom, rights, and liberty. I was glad to see several of them had a decent grasp on the U.S. Constitution, what the First Amendment REALLY says (not just popular belief), and some had even participated in grassroots political action before (in the second group, 100% of the kids in attendance had written a letter to the editor while about 1/5 had been published, which is average).

In the second group, the attending chaperone (i.e. "token adult") was also a libertarian and because he asked questions of a libertarian nature, I felt comfortable pushing some political dogma on the group - explaining what a libertarian is, what the Libertarian Party is, and so forth.

I brought up many things during these 45-minute presentations, but mainly stuck to these points:

• Who I am: webmaster of this site, of CivilDisobedience.us, Secretary and Press Liaison for the Libertarian Party of Utah, general PIA to Orrin Hatch and Co., etc.


• Questions about the U.S. Constitution, our rights, and what the participants know about it.


• Questions about what the USAPA means, is doing, is capable of doing, etc. (note: many of their beliefs are actually somewhat unrealistic and far-fetched, but for the most part, they knew at least the popular knowledge of the USAPA)


• The actual USAPA and a very broad overview of some of its provisions, especially Title III dealing with banking.


• ...and the USAPA's "sunset provisions" and what they actually effect (which is very little of the act, all contained in Title II) and what they don't affect.

I also pointed out the following books and why I believe they are great reading for anyone interested in our nation, our rights, and the USA PATRIOT Act itself:

	I pointed to this book as a very well-written and useful analysis of the USA PATRIOT Act. Mr. Michaels does an excellent job of breaking down the provisions of the USAPA, though he is a little bit dry and academic at times. Incidentally, he was on the Jim Dexter Show last year and was AWESOME. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's interested in sinking their teeth into the USAPA and doesn't want to wade through hundreds of pages of legaleze, government-style.
	I recommend this book because it's a great overview of most of the things (including, but not limited to the USAPA) that are going on now that trample our freedoms and liberties. "Velkom to Amerika. Fingerprint, please." The author talks about current events (including Bush's "War on Terrorism") and how they are eroding our basic freedoms in this country. There is some great stuff in here and a LOT of good statistics and information you can use in your activism.
	Finally, I recommended this book, which is a great overview of the founders of this great nation, our system of government, and more. It deals with them not as facts and statistics (my biggest reason for hating many academic biographies), but deals with them as humans and men. To me, the facts and figures on what they did means little. It's the reasoning and the why they did it that matters to me. Knowing this is essential to understanding our system of government and the core papers (U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, etc.) that created it.

Anyway, it was a great time. My wife was there and took some pictures, but they weren't very good so I won't include any. I doubt you all need to see more pictures of me talking. Although the ability to talk continually about almost any subject is one of my greatest strengths (go ahead: ask me something, I'll talk all frikkin' day about it), you probably don't want to see pictures of me talking here. :)

On another note, I may have mentioned that John Stossel of 20/20 had a new book out. Last night, he did a show (solo, Barbara Walters was on vacation) about the top ten myths in our society. These included things like "guns are bad," "chemicals are killing us," and "you can catch cold by getting cold." It was a great show. I'm a big fan of Stossel, who is a libertarian for sure. Well, I haven't read it yet, but I got his new book today. My wife started in on it tonight and says it's very entertaining, so I'm sure there's a lot of good Stosselism in there.

I'm currently reading "Boston's Gun Bible," by Boston T. Party (2002 Revised Edition). I'm impressed so far and will tell you what I think of it when I'm done.

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FW: Cash, Precious Metals Now a No-No in Safe Deposit Boxes Under Guise of "National Security" ...

The sons of bitches...


http://www.gulufuture.com/

INTELLIGENCE SPENDING BILL (HB2417)
GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM, PALLADIUM AND DIAMONDS

The US Financial Gestapo has finally moved against coin owners. A number of banks, Washington Mutual, Sterling Savings & Venture Bank have sent out changes of terms notices to all of their customers. As of 1/1/04, you won't be able to store cash, or gold and silver, in your safe deposit boxes.

This is being done under the guise of terrorism and national security. The new Intelligence Spending Bill (HB2417) that has just been passed provides that institutions reveal their
customer's private financials as well as general information, including tangible things.

Banks must now spy on you. They are not the only ones: reporting on you to the government are also stock brokers, credit-card companies, insurance companies, dealers in precious metals and stones or jewels, licensed senders of money, telegraph companies,
airplane and boat dealers, Realtors and estate closings and the US Post Office.

George Orwell must be having a good laugh. There wasn't even a debate on the Bill forcing Coin dealers to turn over records to the government upon request. And if you hoard your gold at home you are anti-American or some kind of terrorist sympathizer.

[My note: They have to know you have it before they can take it from you...]
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Rep. Ron Paul in SLC - Full Report

Congressman Ron Paul Speaks in Salt Lake City
by Aaron Turpen

A coalition of committees of the John Birch Society, calling themselves the "Utah Get US Out of the UN Committee" hosted a conference featuring Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) on Thursday, January 22. In attendance were two members of Utah's legislature, Representative Bush and Senator Thomas, who have co-sponsored HJR3, a proposal to declare Utah's intention to get us out of the UN. Representative Bush attempted similar legislation in last year's session and was stonewalled.

The meeting was to a packed house of an estimated 800 or more people. The crowd was, while respectful, very jubilant and applause was loudly forthcoming.

The show opened with the Jensen family, a troupe of entertainers (ages 3 and up) who play various musical instruments and sing patriotic songs. Very fun!

After several introductions, Dr. Paul finally spoke. He spoke for quite some time and was very informative and entertaining, having many anecdotes of the proceedings in and around Washington, D.C. He promised to move to Utah if he runs into trouble in Texas, but is currently running for reelection unopposed this year (interesting to note, the Libertarian Party of Texas is running 31 candidates for 32 available seats in Texas, not running against Paul as a specific note of approval).

During his speech, Paul made many great libertarian references to personal sovereignty, the Von Mises Institute, and more. He advised us to stay concerned about the USA PATRIOT Act and made many joking references to his own voting record in Congress.

He noted that he "votes alone" regularly: more often than all other members of the House COMBINED. He noted that his voting strategy is simple: vote not to raise or expand anything, vote to lower or shrink everything, and if it's not specifically given to the Congress in the Constitution, vote NO every time. His stalwart record and principles and his many awards from various conservative and low-government advocacies attest to the truth of his statements.

During Dr. Paul's speech, two key notes came out regularly: first, don't expect a lot out of Washington in any short amount of time; second, grass roots activity does have a noticeable and lasting effect on D.C. politics.

Specific grievances that Rep. Paul has against the United Nations are: their push for a world tax, their push to "regulate" firearms of all types, their Kyoto-style "Heritage Site" provisions for land control, the basic bureaucracy of the UN, and their attacks on sovereignty using the "environment" as an excuse.

Paul also pointed out some of our own problems here in the US: the extremely unmitigated power of the Executive Order, all forms of debt (national, corporate, and personal) are monstrous while the dollar gets weaker, the attempts by Congress to allow the EPA to set law according to UN mandate without Congressional vote, etc.

He then made several positive points in these regards: grass roots organizations against the UN are gaining in speed, voice, and influence. The economy, though it gets worse, will eventually lead to the collapse of the dollar and an opening to make significant change in our monetary system for the better. Finally, the greatest wealth we have as a nation is our right to free speech, protected by the First Amendment.

Some specific points he would like to see happen: the fall of the IRS, repeal of the 16th Amendment, Constitutional restriction on the power of an Executive Order, and a return to the strong belief in individual, state, and national sovereignty.

All in all, Representative Ron Paul's speech was very well received and afterward, in milling about the crowd, I met people of many differing political backgrounds and became amazed at the number of people who support those like Ron Paul in their activities.

It was a great event to witness and I gained great encouragement by it!


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Dr. Ron Paul In SLC!

I was priviledged enough to see Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) speak tonight here in Salt Lake City. The event was put on by affiliates of the John Birch Society and was EXTREMELY well attended! I'll have more and a synopsis after I've had some sleep...

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Rick Stanley to be Released!

One of my living heroes, Rick Stanley of Colorado who was jailed for exercising his rights as protected by the constitutions of both Colorado and the United States of America, will be released on Tuesday!

WOOO-HOOO! Kudos to Rick and his wife Pam for their perseverance through this and good luck on the trial in May!

More information is available on Rick's website: http://www.stanley2002.org.

The State of the Union Address (in a nutshell)

Here is the President's State of the Union Address in a nutshell:

"Blah blah blah blah support the troops blah blah blah terrorist threats blah blah blah Homeland Security blah blah blah economy isn't tanking blah blah blah blah perscription drug entitlement blah blah blah grandchildren will pay for it blah blah blah blah blah trust me and keep things the way they are blah blah blah or fall back to the Dark Ages blah blah defense of American people blah blah blah keep the Patriot Act blah blah blah terrorists blah blah blah blah terrorist regime blah blah killers joined by terrorists blah blah blah democracy blah blah blah blah terrorist blah blah blah blah blah blah..."

Well, that's basically it. I didn't count, but in the transcript of his speech, the word terrorist appears in almost every paragraph. Got a point to make, Mr. President?

I'm sorry, but I don't find any justification for villifying our rights in the name of "Homeland Security" and the word "terrorist" only makes me think of the IRS. So you aren't making an impact here, Bush.

I'm not sure why I bothered with his State of the Terrorists Address anyway. I knew it would only piss me off...

Rules of the Blog

OK, I guess before I seriously get started here, I'd better lay down the rules of this blog.

First, read this blog at your own risk. I'm not responsible if you're bothered by the occasional curse, swear word, sexual reference, rude gesture, nasty comment on religion, or anti-government screed. I spout these sorts of things occasionally. Get over it or find another blog to read.

Second, this blog is in no way affiliated with the Libertarian Party or any of its affiliates. While I might be a Libertarian myself, I don't speak for the organization/political party. Look at the title of this blog. Obviously, I'm an unhappy person. Many LP members share my sentiments, I'm sure, but I don't speak for them.

Finally, there will be various forwards and other posts here that I find good to read. This means I'll be forwarding/posting links to articles from the Web, forwarding posts I've made to various forums on the 'Net (always with names removed, of course, since I'm no spam flunkie), and so forth. Usually these will have my own commentary...assuming I didn't write them to start with.

So there you have it. That's the rules I'll be living by under this blog and that you'll be living by should you choose to continue reading it.

OK, I lied, that wasn't the final note.

Final note: see the "brought to you by" links over there? Those are links to music I enjoy/listen to/find inspiration from. Clicking on those links pops up the lyrics to that particular song, a photo of the album cover, and a link to Amazon.com to buy the album. If you're so inclined, check out these musicians and their work. I personally enjoy every one of them, or I wouldn't post them here. I don't guarantee that you will like the music, of course. Everyone's different. Some of us just have better taste than others. :)