The Militant Libertarian

I'm pissed off and I'm a libertarian. What else you wanna know?

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Things Your Media Momma Didn't Tell You

http://www.freemarketnews.com/Analysis/154/7922/lindorff.asp?wid=154&nid=7922

The fact that most Americans oppose the war in Iraq, and want the president
impeached, is testimony to the native intelligence and common sense of the
citizens of this nation.

It sure isn't thanks to the quality of the news we're getting here in
America.!

Here are some of the things you don't know if you just depend on the
corporate media for your information:

Most Americans would like to see this president and vice president impeached
and removed from office. Newsweek magazine published a scientific poll last
October showing that 51 percent of us favor impeachment (including 29
percent of Republicans!), but the corporate media, which normally hasn't met
a poll it won't publish, didn't publicize this one. And now, when the
numbers supporting impeachment are surely even higher, you can't even pay a
polling outfit to ask the question. No wonder most people who favor
impeachment still think they're odd ducks.

There is a bill, filed in the House of Representatives on April 24 by Rep.
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), calling for the impeachment of Vice President
Cheney. Since it was filed, it has gained six co-sponsors, including a
member of the House Democratic leadership, Rep. Janice Shakowsky (D-IL).
Most major media have ignored this important story completely. Most
Americans also don't know that the Vermont State Senate voted overwhelmingly
this spring to call on Congress to impeach the president.

The president has been declared a felon in federal court. Yet even after
Federal District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled last August that President
Bush and the National Security Agency were committing serial Class A
felonies and were violating both the First and Fourth Amendments by spying
on Americans' communications without first obtaining warrants, Bush
continued ordering the NSA to continue the patently illegal program for at
least half a year. In reports on the spying program, the corporate media
never mention that it has been declared a felonious activity by the federal
court.

Fifteen Democratic Party state organizations have passed impeachment
resolutions calling on Democrats in Congress to initiate impeachment
proceedings against the president and vice president. The most recent of
these, the Democratic Party of Oklahoma, passed its resolution at the
party's annual convention on May 19. Other Democratic Party conventions, in
states from Nevada and California to Massachusetts and North Carolina, have
passed similar resolutions. Most have been ignored by the corporate media
even in their own states.

Bush's so-called "coalition of the willing" is not so willing and is not
really much of a coalition either. When's the last time you've heard how
many countries are on board with the US in the war and occupation of Iraq?
The reality? Britain, the only significant contributor of combat troops
besides the U.S., is pulling out, as did Italy and Spain, and many other
countries, like Denmark, Lithuania and others, plan to be out of Iraq by
August or at the latest December. One indication of the seriousness of
situation: The Pentagon no longer lists the countries that are members of
the "coalition." The only mainstream report I've seen laying this out this
collapse in international support for Bush's war was in USA Today last
February.

The Homeland Security Department last year awarded Halliburton $385 million
in a no-bid contract to construct prison camps designed to hold tens of
thousands of unspecified prisoners in the event of domestic unrest.
Meanwhile, President Bush has signed a bill altering the insurrection act so
that he can declare martial rule and order active duty troops to take charge
anywhere in the domestic US in the event of "public disorder." No one in the
corporate media has reported on these developments or asked the White House
to explain what it's all about.

There is evidence that Cheney, as CEO of Halliburton, was a patron of the
Washington Madam whose client book of high-class call-girls is causing many
in Washington political circles-mostly Republicans it appears, who
apparently need to pay for their sex-to sweat. So far no mention of the
Cheney angle in the corporate media, though they've been having fun with the
broader story of a political sex scandal. No mention either of how a brave
West Point cadet refused to shake Cheney's hand on stage when the vice
president was handing out this year's diplomas at the Army's premiere
academy.

Among the "worst of the worst" of the "evildoers" captured and held as
"enemy combatants" at Guantanamo were children, some of them preteens and
kids who were under 15 when captured and brought to Cuba-so many in fact
that the military had to set up a special facility, called Camp Iguana, just
for adolescent and pre-pubescent "fighters." The corporate media have barely
reported on this atrocity (the New York Times ran only one article
mentioning child captives, in June 2005). The only wider coverage of this
outrage came recently when the government tried to prosecute one such
alleged child "terrorist"-Omar Khadr-only to have the military judge in
charge toss his case out because the government had misclassified him.
Khadr, we learned, was captured in 2001 in Afghanistan at the ripe age of
15, making him one of the older child captives brought to and interrogated
at Guantanamo. Under international law, the U.S. was supposed to treat this
and other child soldiers as victims, not as war criminals. Khadr, a Canadian
by birth, instead has spent five years doing hard time in US captivity.

Well-researched reports on the rampant theft of both the 2000 and 2004
elections, and on Republican plans for theft of the 2008 election, such as
Mark Crispin Miller's Fooled Again, have gone unmentioned in the corporate
media. Books on the subject, like Miller's and like Greg Palast's best
selling Armed Madhouse, have never been reviewed.

And of course, there's my own book. The Case for Impeachment, despite its
having sold over 20,000 copies in hardcover, and despite its having now come
out in a mass-market paperback edition, in both cases printed by a
mainstream publisher, St. Martin's Press, has not received a single review
in the corporate media. In this, my co-author Barbara Olshansky and I are
not alone. None of the books on the impeachable crimes of this
administration, including one by Nixon-era impeachment panelist and former
congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, and one by Judiciary Chair Rep. John
Conyers, has been reviewed by a mainstream media outlet.

What we're talking about here is a media blackout of important stories and
news.

Thanks to the internet and to the grapevine, and thanks to their basic
native intelligence, most Americans seem to understand that we're being lied
to and cheated. What the media blackout of important news does manage to do,
however, is keep us all thinking that we are in a minority in opposing
things like illegal wars, a trampled Constitution, and stolen elections.

In fact, however, we're actually the majority.

Once we realize this, maybe we will have a movement, instead of a just
nation of isolated cynics and complainers.

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Friday, June 29, 2007

Ron Paul TV

http://www.ronpaulnation.com/tv.html

When the page opens, click f key to resize screen and roll curser over bottom
of screen to see more options, or just let it run.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The True Story About 9/11

Highly recommended reading:

The True Story of 9-11, Part 1
http://www.newswithviews.com/Monteith/stanley4.htm

The True Story of 9-11, Part 2
http://www.newswithviews.com/Monteith/stanley5.htm

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Monday, June 25, 2007

The Alamo

Commandancy of the Alamo
Bexar, Feby. 24th, 1836

To the People of Texas & all Americans in the World-- Fellow Citizens and
Compatriots--

I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna--I have
sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a
man--The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise the
garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken--I have answered
the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the
walls--I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name
of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to
come to our aid with all despatch--The enemy is receiving reinforcements
daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five
days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long
as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own
honor & that of his country--Victory or Death.
-- William Barret Travis Lt. Col. comdt.

* * * * *

Let the old men tell the story
Let the legend grow and grow
Of the 13 days of glory
At the siege of Alamo.

Lift the tattered banners proudly
While the eyes of Texas shine
Let the fort that was a mission
Be an everlasting shrine.

That they died to give us freedom
That is all we need to know
Of the 13 days of glory
At the siege of Alamo.

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Sunday, June 24, 2007

Good Analysis of the Presidential Run 2008 So Far...

World Affairs Brief, June 22, 2007. Commentary and Insights on a Troubled
World.

Copyright Joel Skousen. From Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com)

MANIPULATING AMERICA'S CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT

If you take time to look closely at how the media promotes their "top"
candidates or suddenly begins promoting a new candidate not currently in the
running, you'll get a glimpse into how the Powers That Be (PTB) make sure
America only gets to vote on candidates selected by them. The PTB have a
real problem with the rising popularity of Rep. Ron Paul, the only reliable
and principled anti-war and limited government candidate. A significant
sector of voters are tired of pro-war Republicans and disgusted with
go-along Democrats. In response, the PTB have three controlled candidates
waiting in the wings ready to divert attention from any non-controlled
candidate: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Former Senator and actor
Fred Thompson, and Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Let's see what
they're up to.

The Break-out Threat: While the PTB have lots of options within the "top
tier" of candidates (Giuliani, McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama),
their main concern now is the possibility that the internet fervor for Ron
Paul could break out into the mainstream by making a major showing in one of
the Republican primaries. Ron Paul doesn't have to come close to winning a
primary to break out. If he even polls 10% in any of the early primaries,
the media would suddenly be forced to acknowledge him (and the error of
their polling data putting him in the 1-2% range).

Newt Gingrich is pacing the floor waiting to see if he can jump into the
ring for president. He's another big ego similar to Bill Clinton, so we
haven't seen the last of this wolf in sheep's clothing either. He has had to
put a lot of years between his betrayal of conservatives (when as Speaker of
the House, he pushed through NAFTA and GAAT), and his wife (in bed with
cancer). He knows conservatives have short memories. They forget that
Gingrich was a liberal economics professor who came out of no where and
launched a "conservative political career" to capture and divert
conservative dissatisfaction with Bush I and his New World Order government.
He is trying to do it again and hoping Christians have forgotten his
previous perfidity.

It seems to be working. Various prominent Christian evangelical leaders have
been cultivated by Gingrich and have subsequently praised Gingrich's
supposed confession of faith and change, as Gingrich churns out book after
book trying to woo the Christian base he betrayed. His book "Rediscovering
God in America" is particularly galling for its hypocrisy. Gingrich is also
jumping on the anti-Immigration bandwagon, though if elected, he would
surely compromise and sign it, just like Bush. He's touting a new "Contract
With America" and his website is all geared up for "Winning the Future."
This guy has REAL political ambitions and I consider him very dangerous.
With all that said, I don't think he's got the nod from the PTB, yet. He's
running on his own steam--and positioning himself for the future.

I believe the more probable candidate to divert the Republican disaffected
is former Senator and actor Fred Thompson. He is poised to jump into the
race and stake down the "far right" vote in order to stop the Ron Paul
train. While Thompson's recent positions differ little from the mainstream
pack of Republican candidates, I think the PTB are hoping that Thompson's
strong (and undeserved) hard line conservative reputation will induce
disaffected conservative Republicans to accept him at face value without
looking too deep.

The New York Post had a lead story on June 8, claiming that Thompson is
polling second to Rudy Giuliani in Florida. While the Post backs Giuliani,
it is clear, according to Free Market News Network, that "the Post...is
hedging its bets with Rudy Giuliani by bringing Fred Thompson into the fray
as a 'principled conservative.' As FMNN has pointed out, Thompson is no such
thing.

"While in congress, Thompson, reportedly a good friend of Senator John
McCain, (R-AZ) supported two obviously anti-free market bills: the
McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform act and the Shays-Meehan bill
restricting issue ads. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations, a main think-tank behind the idea of a North American Union that
would eventually dissolve borders between Mexico, Canada and the United
States to create one big super-nation. Thompson also seems to believe in a
robust military presence worldwide and apparently advocates continued US
military involvement in Iraq."

As further evidence of Thompson pushing the globalist warmongering agenda,
he was in London calling for a blockade of Iran. The PTB set him up to meet
with Margaret Thatcher in order to promote his international stature.
Parroting the White House Islamo-fascist line, Thompson said that jihadists
were trying to bring the West to its knees. Speaking on foreign policy,
Thompson kept emphasizing Iran's nuclear ambitions as a key threat to the
West. "When the President of Iran shares his nightmare visions before
cheering crowds, those are not just a fanatic's version of an empty applause
line. The only safe assumption is that he means it," he said. I'll cover Ron
Paul's response to this self-righteous nonsense shortly.

The Bloomberg Move: This week billionaire NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a
strange move by quitting the Republican Party and switching his affiliation
to "independent." Why would he do that far from any Mayoral election unless
he was positioning himself for a run for the Presidency? I don't think this
move has anything to do with killing the Ron Paul fervor, but is designed to
syphon off Democratic votes in the general election. Bloomberg is a
political chamaeleon who was a lifelong Democrat before he decided to switch
to being a Republican in order to get elected in NY.

I think Bloomberg has been tapped to launch an independent campaign in much
the same way H Ross Perot did in 1992 to draw votes away from President
Herbert W Bush to ensure a Clinton victory. Phone records later showed that
Perot's campaign had been in almost daily contact with Clinton's Democratic
National Committee. But Perot was a right winger compared to Bloomberg, so I
can only presume that Bloomberg will position his campaign to drain votes
away from Hillary to ensure another Republican victory. Apparently Bush is
so unpopular that he will sink any Republican chances of holding on to the
White House UNLESS the alternative is SO BAD (Hillary) and is combined with
an independent candidate to syphon off independent votes.

The PTB would hope that a self-financed independent campaign by someone like
Bloomberg will also deter Ron Paul from running as an independent (which
would draw votes away from the Republican nominee). Paul will remember how
they used the split in Perot's organization in a subsequent election to
weaken Buchanan's bid. Another big-dollar independent candidacy will
simultaneously deter a lot of independent voters from selecting a true Third
party movement--which they don't want either.

BLOCKING OF RON PAUL BEGINS IN EARNEST

Ron Paul has been deliberately shunned in the Iowa Republican debates,
sponsored by The Iowa Christian Alliance and Iowans for Tax Relief. Thomas
E. Woods, Jr. is particularly incensed that an Iowa Tax Relief organization,
run by one Edward Failor, would consider Ron Paul "non-credible." Paul has
been considered the "taxpayer's best friend" for decades.

"Mr. Failor, you're busted!" He begins. I got to thinking about this Failor
character: what kind of person running a 'tax relief' organization would
exclude the presidential candidate with - and this is no exaggeration-
possibly the best record on taxation in all of American history, someone who
favors the abolition of the income tax and the drastic reduction or
elimination of nearly all other federal taxes? Should this be the Iowans For
a Little Tax Relief, But Not Too Much? I did a little poking around, and it
turns out that our Edward Failor was initially a supporter of...George
Pataki! And here I was thinking Failor had a hard time pinpointing credible
candidates."

The Dailypaul.com website picked up on the suspicion that Failor is only
fronting the tax issue to appear conservative. They found out that "Ed
Failor Jr. is senior adviser on the McCain Campaign in Iowa! Talk about a
conflict of interest! "Not only is he an adviser, but he has donated $1250
to the McCain 2008 campaign on March 31, 2007."

The Iowa Christian Alliance is also lying about their innocence in this
scheme to block Paul. Woods comments: "I've received emails from people
telling me that the folks at the ICA insist that they had nothing to do with
excluding Dr. Paul, and that the blame rests with Ed Failor of Iowans for
Tax... But that organization cannot possibly be believed when it innocently
claims it has nothing against Ron Paul.

"The ICA has a page on its site that lists all the announced candidates for
president. Until yesterday, when I pointed it out on the LRC blog and
embarrassed them a bit, there was no Ron Paul. Now look at the list again.
Ever heard of Hugh Cort? John Cox? Mark Klein? [the ones that were
"non-credible" and excluded from the debate] The people at the ICA evidently
have, since there they are on the list. But they apparently hadn't heard of
Ron Paul until just yesterday.

"Actually, though, they did know who Ron Paul was. They even used to have
him on their list, as this Google cache shows. But then he disappeared. They
also used to have a link to Paul's YouTube site, along with those of the
other candidates, at the bottom of the page, but that's also been
suppressed. So if they thought they could claim that deleting the link to
Ron Paul's campaign site was some kind of innocent mistake, that isn't going
to work.

"Heck, they even include a list of 'potential' candidates. That list
includes Al Sharpton. So Al Sharpton merits inclusion, but Ron Paul does
not." Yep, the fix is in! The PTB are blocking attention to Ron Paul's
candidacy.

Here's an example of the kind of principled legislation Dr. Paul is
sponsoring in Congress. He has introduced theHealth Freedom Protection Act,
HR 2117 which protects your right to know the truth about the positive
effects natural products can have for you. According to Dr. Paul's office,
"The FDA currently restricts truthful information (Called 'health claims')
to 'structure function claims'. This means that you are not permitted to
hear what scientists or clinical experience have to say about a supplement.
Imagine the drug companies not being permitted to tell you what their
products could do for you? Do you think they would stand still for that?
Well, the FDA applies a totally biased standard to health claims BASED IN
SCIENCE to supplements. Dr. Paul says this is unfair and violates your
health freedom."

Contrast this with the HR 1561, the dangerous "FDA Revitalization Bill"
which was passed by the Senate as S. 1082 gives the FDA even more powers. It
also induces the FDA to become more dependent upon the drug industry by
establishing a user fee system. From now on much of the FDA budget will be
dependent upon producing good results for the drug companies. This will
provide even more incentive to push through drug approvals faster than ever
in order to earn more fees. The current system is already rife with
collusion between the FDA and the drug majors. While the FDA nitpicks every
tiny side effect of natural herbs, it routinely approves drugs that have
numerous and lethal side affects.

http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com

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