Weekend Update, No. 14

Another busy week here at PB.  The ruling class just won't let up and give us a chance for some genuine R&R.  In the dead of winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, your beloved editor is in danger of becoming pasty white.  Thank God for vitamin D supplements.

We Are All Speculators Now, by Craig Harris
The primary problem faced by all producers who have no desire to be slaves their entire lives. Namely, that...

In the United States today there is no way to earn a guaranteed rate of return greater than the real increase in the cost of living. Today the opposite is true. As a saver, as an investor in US government bonds or other "safe" securities, the only thing that you are guaranteed is that you will slowly go bankrupt because the return on your money is less than the real rate of increase in the cost of living. This has the effect of being a wealth confiscation mechanism. It is a continuous wealth transfer from the people to the banking system and as that continues you would expect the middle class to disappear, which is exactly what is happening.

Harris compares it to "playing cards at a casino where the only thing you know is that the house is cheating." How did we get here? Simple. The Federal Reserve. Fiat money. The solution? End the Fed. Educate yourselves. Fight back (free PDF here).

The Misesian Vision, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.
With every imposition of the State, people are less able even to imagine a society of freedom, though through the centuries economists have demonstrated that "government cannot improve on the results of human action achieved through voluntary trade and association." Government uses fear to obscure this crucial truth to maintain power. Once people come to understand the truth, that "society contains within itself the capacity for self-management," the illusion is shattered. Rockwell believes that "by believing in freedom yourself, you might have made the biggest contribution to civilization you could possibly make." We here at PB wholeheartedly agree -- refer to our 'Core Philosophy' at the top right of the page. The next step is to spread the message, even if it requires "saying the unsayable, teaching the unteachable," or Defending the Undefendable (free PDF here). Get-r-done, readers.

How To Fix the Jobs Problem, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Rockwell has come out swinging this week. Here, he demonstrates the simple way to reduce 22% unemployment to 0% overnight. Repeal ridiculous regulations that prevent individuals from voluntarily choosing mutually beneficial arrangements, including the minimum wage. Preposterous? No, not really. To object is to believe that "it is better that people be unemployed rather than being exploited at low wages." Despite hysteria from statists right and left, the truth of the matter is that,

In a market-based labor contract, there is no exploitation. People come to agreement based on their own perceptions of mutual benefit. A person who believes it is better to work for $1 an hour rather than sit at home doing nothing is free to make that contract.

Unfortunately, to some collecting unemployment (money stolen under the threat of force, imprisonment, and death) is vastly preferable to being employed in productive work. Such is their disgusting, pathological perspective.

Uncommon Sense, by Becky Akers
It is long past overdue for Americans to reexamine the work of Thomas Paine, a key impetus to our short-lived freedom way back in the 18th century. Paine, and Akers, endeavor to help us "fully appreciate the absurdity that some men rule the rest."

September 11 and the Downward Arc of American Thought, by Joseph Margulies
Frightening illustration how Americans' beliefs have been successfully manipulated by the government since we launched our "Global War on Terror (TM)." We've become a torture-loving, rights-depriving, privacy-invading, assassination-advocating, bloodthirsty mob.  Margulies reminds us that we haven't always been such lunatics.  As noted above, a prime example of the use of fear or crisis to achieve "things you think you could not do before."

Our Pavlovian Population, by Don Cooper
Oh yeah, forgot one. Add TSA-worshiping genital scanners to the list above. The hilarious Cooper is disgusted by just how easily government-brainwashed our "pixie-dust-sniffing majority" has become. He then proceeds to explode the reasoning used to justify the TSA's existence, which ultimately drives him to drink. To this reader, Cooper more than earned his stripes with his inspiring "I've had it, screw the government" trilogy of I'm Tired, I'm So Tired, and his Personal Declaration of Independence. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure how he's not rotting in a prison cell next to Irwin Schiff, father of Peter Schiff, whose company Euro Pacific Capital is endorsed on these pages.

Justice Alito Was Right, by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Constitutional scholar and law professor Obama either fails to understand the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding First Amendment principles or "misrepresents it" (i.e. lies) during his SOTU address.  How many of the ten founding principles limiting the power of government is he against?  One?  Check.  Two?  Check....  Need we proceed any further?

We Need Diversity, by Walter Williams
Tongue-in-cheek piece ridiculing the PC diversity freaks.  It's so beautiful to see Williams, who is black, turning the diversity tables to expose the blatant hypocrisy.  It's gone so far that few would be surprised to learn that Harvard, MIT, Cal, and many others misuse student funds to hire deans and vice-presidents of diversity.  Meanwhile, their revenue generating athletic teams are near-exclusively black and their faculty near-exclusively socialist.  Read to find out his answers to predictable liberal objections.

What's Really Going On In Haiti? by Chuck Baldwin
Hold on to your tinfoil hats, America and be prepared to be blown away.  It's one thing to read "conspiracy theories" on the pages of blogs such as PB, but it's another to see them written by a recent presidential candidate who was on the ballot in all fifty states.  As we already explored last week, things ain't what they seem down Haiti way.  He has never seen a response to a natural disaster anywhere, ever, such as this.  And what a response it is!  20,000 troops, an aircraft carrier, naval destroyers, and on and on.  That's about 1/3 of the troops in Afghanistan prior to the surge, and we're fighting a "war" there!  Plus, we supposedly have a shortage of troops!  Meanwhile, no one in the Dominican Republic felt the quake, despite the fact that Port-au-Prince is less than 50 miles from the border, and only 156 miles from Santo Domingo.  He goes on to note reliable sources who have testified that the Bushes and the Clintons have been parties to drug smuggling through Haiti.  Crazy?  It is commonly acknowledged that the CIA trafficked in drugs in Vietnam and Central America.

Presidential Assassinations of US Citizens, by Glen Greenwald
Among other powers Obama has claimed for himself, he now exercises the right to kill anyone, including US citizens, at any time anywhere on mere suspicion of being a dreaded "terrorist."  Apparently, "they're entitled to no charges, no trial, no ability to contest the accusations."  Greenwald is no pacifist.  He acknowledges the "right to kill combatants actively fighting against them, including American citizens.  That's just the essence of war."  Absurdly, the US government defines the battlefield as the entire world.

Blackwater's Youngest Victim, by Jeremy Scahill
Heartbreaking interview of the victim's father.  He was driving his nine year-old son and other family members across Baghdad to pick up his sister's children when the mercenaries opened fire without provocation, murdering at least 17 Iraqis.  Blackwater successfully paid off most for less than $100,000 each.  His story will haunt and infuriate you.  But the most damning evidence is the corroboration of his story by horrified Blackwater employees who witnessed the massacre, describing the actions of their "colleagues" as "pretty heinous sh*t."  Nice to know just what exactly your stolen tax dollars are used to fund.

David Kelly Post Mortem to Be Kept Secret for 70 Years as Doctors Accuse Lord Hutton of Concealing Vital Information, by Miles Goslett
As brilliant editor Rockwell poses it, was the "scientist who exposed the Bush-Blair WMD lies... offed by MI-6 (British intelligence) or the CIA?"  How else to explain sealing the records on the supposed "suicide" for so long?  If it smells like a power elite cover-up, sounds like a power elite cover-up, and looks like a power elite cover-up....

The Anthrax Attacks Remain Unsolved, by Edward Jay Epstein
All evidence clears the scientist that the hapless, corrupt FBI has pinned it on.  He had neither the skills nor the access to the remarkably advanced technology required to weaponize the anthrax with silicon.  Who does have such skills and means?  Governments, only governments.  Yet again, "if it smells like a power elite cover-up, sounds like a power elite cover-up, and looks like a power elite cover-up...."  Sound at all like the nano-thermite found at the WTC site post-9/11?  Nah.

Taxpayers Pay $101,000 for Pelosi's In-Flight 'Food, Booze,' by Bob Unruh  The wicked witch of the west spends roughly $1000 per week (more than the average American income) on booze during her chartered military flights.  You don't even want to know how much the flights themselves cost.  Read the testimony of the military officers assigned to Pelosi duty that verify the claims.  Our rulers have utter contempt for their serfs.

Employer Told Not to Post Advert for 'Reliable' Workers Because it Discriminates Against 'Unreliable' Applicants, by Ryan Kisiel and Andrew Levy
Unbelievable tales from nanny-state Brittania, volume I.

Driver Fined for Blowing His Nose... by Same PC Who Ticketed Man for Dropping £10, by Paul Sims
Unbelievable tales from nanny-state Brittania, volume II.

The Dictionary: Too Hot for Fourth Grade! by Mary Elizabeth Williams
The nanny-state comes to our shores.  Expect more to come.

The Man Who Cured Heart Disease With a Natural Molecule, 20 Years Before Cholesterol Drugs! by Bill Sardi
Yet more damning evidence that unpatentable, life-saving solutions are ignored by the pharmaceutical-industrial complex.

The Second American Revolution Flag
Look for it to pop up more and more, alongside such flags as those featured here at PB (see sidebar at right).  But be wary and do not follow it blindly.  It is being flown by Scott Brown supporters, and we all now know that he's the worst wolf (I think he waxes, see link) in sheep's clothing, voting for socialist RomneyCare and open to similar horrors at the federal level.  Perhaps the Bennington Flag promoted by SurvivalBlog is a better alternative.

After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday's Web Site, by John Koblin
Witness the laughable death throes of our dinosaur media.  A $650 million investment yields a 35 subscriber ($9000 this year) return.  Website traffic is down 700,000 per month since the pay-to-read transition.  As PB demonstrates, in the internet era, you can get much more than you pay for.

Love and Freedom in Avatar, by Glen Allport
The neocons in their blind rage just don't get it.  Avatar is not anti-western, anti-American, anti-white, or any such nonsense.  It is proudly anti-war and anti-fascist, pro-freedom and pro-property rights.  Allport notes that it supports the two great human needs, love and freedom.  After reading his articles for the past year or so, I'm coming around to his way of thinking.

South Butt David versus North Face Goliath, by Stephan Kinsella
The adamantly anti-IP Kinsella summarizes the fascinating legal case.  If you are in the least bit annoyed by the proliferation of North Face gear "sported" by those who have never even seen a mountain, then you owe it to yourself to read these links.  Check out the brilliant company started by a college student to mock the poseurs, The South Butt.  Also read perhaps the only entertaining legal document ever written, his answer to the North Face lawsuit.  Fantastic.