Got computer issues this weekend, friends. I am switching over from PC to Mac for bunches of reasons. I typed this on my iPad.

We will catch up on editorials in a couple days with our smart-assed comments about the world and the crazy people that populate it.

Meanwhile, the intellectual giants in South Carolina are marching to the polling places to participate in a meaningless gesture called a primary, preceding another meaningless gesture called the November presidential elections. Your participation in national elections only makes you think your vote actually matters while perpetuating a failed, broken system. If you ever want to experience personal liberty and property rights again on the American continent, you had better stop participating in the American political system and get committed to secession. This Federal government is in a headlong rush to destroy liberty, and you have a duty to alter or abolish your government. That is what the men who signed the Declaration of Independence did…they abolished the government that presumed to place them into bondage. States came first, and states are supposed to be sovereign. In 1776, Georgia was a Nation, not a watered down county for DC. Or, are you the kind of person who just bows, kneels and submits to any indignity when attacked by predators? It’s long past time for talk. It’s time to get ready for when the Shit Hits The Fan. You’re about to experience…not just watch…The End Of The World As We Know It. Your survival and your family’s survival depends on the preparations you are doing NOW.

Get busy. Wake up. Smell the coffee. Grow up. Stop being a candy ass. RESIST.

Copyright 2012 Russell D. Longcore.

Here are the facts as I see them:

• Iran has had a nuclear energy program for nearly 40 years. They use nuclear reactors to produce electricity.
• Iran is being accused by Western nations of enriching radioactive materials with the intent of producing nuclear weapons.
• The International Atomic Energy Commission has not been able to produce any evidence that Iran is enriching uranium for weapons.
• 20% of the world’s oil production is shipped down the Persian Gulf and through the narrows of the Straits of Hormuz.
• The West, led by Washington, who is being led by a nose ring by Israel, are escalating economic sanctions against Iran.
• Recently, the US and Israel performed war games just outside the Persian Gulf as a threat to Iran.
• Iran has done its own war games in the Persian Gulf and recommended that American carrier task forces not return to the Gulf.
• Washington is threatening to destroy the Iranian Central Bank.
• Washington pulled this same shyt in Iraq. Remember?
• Things are fixin’ to get real ugly in the Persian Gulf.

Think about Iran’s situation some more. Iran is one of the major oil producers of the Middle East. Dozens of nations buy their oil from Iran. Iran would be punishing themselves if they blocked the Strait of Hormuz. But the West has shown themselves willing to commit a false-flag operation and hang it around an enemy’s neck. Saddam Hussein’s name might come to mind. The nation of Afghanistan might come to mind. Yet, Washington is moving steadily toward war against Iran. The false-flag operation would give Washington and Israel the cover they need to start a shooting war. More on that below.

The reality of the situation is that Iran has a commodity that the world cannot live without. So, which should be in control here…the buyer or the seller? Should the Central Bank of Iran be held hostage by the banks of other nations, or the banking families that control most of the world banking system? I submit to you that the seller…Iran…should exert its sovereignty and its ultimate control.

What should the Iranian response be?

Iran should announce that beginning immediately, all payment for crude oil will be made in gold: no currency, no credit. No gold, no oil.

That single act will solve most of Iran’s problems. Requiring payment in gold would begin to strengthen the Iranian rial (their currency), thereby setting the world’s bankers back on their heels. If you are not using the banker’s credit, you are not subject to their rules or control. In recent months, the rial has lost almost 50% of its value against the US Dollar. Selling oil for gold would quickly make inflation in Iran disappear. The economy would rebound for everybody living in Iran. Another benefit would be a spike in world gold prices as companies and nations make massive purchases of gold so they can buy oil.

Now, what about a shooting war? Look at a map of the Persian Gulf. The entire eastern shore of the Gulf is Iran. The Persian Gulf is not a big body of water and has a choke point at the southeastern end. The incredible hubris of the American Navy, commanded by whichever President is in office (save Ron Paul), would place one or two carrier task forces in the Gulf. Iran possesses the Russian-built Sunburn anti-ship missile. The American navy has no defense for the Sunburn. The missile travels at nearly 1,600 miles per hour (Mach 2.1) at an altitude of about 50 feet above the waves. Iran has mobile launchers all along the mountainous shoreline of the Gulf. In a retaliatory strike, Sunburn missiles launched from the shore would reach the ships of the carrier task forces in a matter of seconds. The ship-board weapons systems like Phalanx will not have enough time to calculate a firing solution. And the Phalanx system has never been tested against the Sunburn. Multiple Sunburn missiles will send the task forces to the bottom of the Gulf, with massive loss of American sailors and airmen. Yet another defeat for the American military.

In my opinion, Iran could take control of their crisis situation and avoid a war simply by going with gold.

DumpDC. Six Letters That Can Change History.

© Copyright 2012, Russell D. Longcore. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

The Nation: The story about the New Hampshire primary is not that Mitt Romney won. Any drooling moron knew that was going to happen. The story is Ron Paul in second place with 24% of the vote. Gingrich and Santorum weren’t even close, and Jim Dick Perry was only at about 1%. South Carolina is next, and anything could happen. Which leads me to…

The Nation II Newt “Tweedledum” Gingrich has some rich friends who started a super political action committee, or SuperPAC. They have produced and released a 28-minute video called “When Mitt Romney Came To Town.” It’s all over the Internet if you want to watch it. This propaganda piece has the potential to really hurt Romney. It paints him as a Wall Street corporate raider that took pleasure in buying companies, running them into debt, laying off most of the work force, and then letting the companies go bankrupt after Bain Capital cashed out. It never says one word about the big successes Bain Capital made. The movie is produced much like a Michael Moore picture, completely slanted to make a point. But Americans like videos and hate corporate raiders and Wall Street. If the message of the movie sticks to Mitt, anything could happen. Can you imagine seeing Ron Paul win a primary? Which leads me to…

The Nation III On Friday, a Federal judge ruled that Jim Dick Perry, Gingrich, Santorum and Huntsman may not appear on the Virginia Primary ballots. The only two candidates will be Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Get ready, folks. Four years ago, few thought front-runner Hillary Clinton could be beat for the Democratic nomination.

International: In Beijing, China, hundreds of people lined up outside the flagship Apple store to buy the Apple iPhone 4S. They were turned away when the store ran out of phones. The news story said that upset shoppers pelted the store with eggs. Do you think this might have been staged? Think about it. Mr. Lee says to Mrs. Lee: “Honey, I’m going down to the Apple store to buy a new phone. Hand me a couple eggs, would ya?” Who takes eggs with them to buy a phone?

International II: Today, nine European countries received credit rating downgrades. Here’s a tidbit that you won’t see most places. The credit downgrade could easily cause defaults in major corporate borrowers. If your company borrowed money and pledged AAA government bonds as collateral…which is pretty normal…and your AAA bonds are now rated AA+, you are technically in default. The lender could call the loan, or demand more collateral. Either one could cause a borrower to go bankrupt. So here’s another layer of potential financial collapses that could domino the European system.

International III: More about European default, but this time…let’s talk about time zones. Most of Europe is six hours ahead of the Eastern time zone here in America…London is five hours ahead. If a cascading domino-effect market collapse happens in Rome or Athens when banks open in the morning…say 9:00…it’s still 3:00 am in New York…midnight on the West Coast. By the time the banks open in New York, the default has already been burning down Europe for six hours. Actually, the American banks would not open. They would declare a “bank holiday.” The world cable news networks would have been broadcasting the European collapse for six hours. The parking lots outside East Coast banks would be jammed with people desperate to get their hands on their money. Riots would ensue in a time zone wave from the East Coast to the West Coast. Doesn’t that sound fun?

Business: World oil prices dipped this week as two European Union officials said that the proposed Iranian embargo and sanctions are going to be put on hold for as much as six months. What does that tell you? First, that US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is full of shyt. Second, that this is all about oil, not about who has nuclear weapons.

Shameless Plug: There are very few glowing and growing segments of the American economy. Energy is one of them. When I talk about “energy,” I’m talking about natural gas and electricity. As the population grows, the demand for energy grows. Energy is the last major monopoly to be deregulated, and deregulation is sweeping across America. And, when deregulation occurs there is a massive transfer of wealth from the monopolies to the new competitors. The energy business is the nearest thing you’ll find to a recession-proof business. Think about it. Energy is a life-essential service that everyone already had in their monthly budgets. Just imagine if you had an energy business in which you got paid a little profit every month when your customers paid their energy bills…just like the big guys get paid. Find out more about this business at MasterpieceEnergy.com.

Economy: Remember last week when all the network news shows gushed about the unemployment numbers dropping to only 372,000 that week? This week, 399,000 new unemployment claims were filed. THIS WEEK. And in my opinion, the only reason the number wasn’t above 400,000 was that the government cooked the numbers. I could be wrong. But 399,000 people that had jobs a week ago don’t have them this week.

Sports: OK. Last week I proved what a goober I am about the NFL. I predicted that New Orleans and the Packers would meet in the Super Bowl. I didn’t remember that they are both in the NFC. Maybe it will be the Saints and Denver. The Saints will still take home all the marbles.

Entertainment: A New York Philharmonic performance was brought to a standstill Tuesday night…by a ringing cell phone. Conductor Alan Gilbert was in the last few moments of the Mahler Ninth Symphony when a front-row audience member’s phone began ringing…and ringing…and ringing. Gilbert finally stopped the orchestra until the patron silenced his infernal phone from ringing. Apparently, the audience member was convinced that he was more important than the orchestra and a house full of people. This is the etiquette of the second decade of the 21st Century.

DumpDC. Six Letters That Can Change History.

© Copyright 2012, Russell D. Longcore. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

by Fred Reed

Last night on the lobotomy box I encountered yet another candidate for the presidency, a Mr. Sanctorum, threatening to make war on Iran. I can’t decide whether the idea is more frightening than fascinating, or fascinating than frightening. I do suggest that the combined candidates do not have the military competence of a stuffed bear. Given that the principal business of the United States is war and preparation for it, do we want a martial analphabetic in charge? One does not let children play with chain saws. (From all of this I exempt Ron Paul, who appears to be sane.)

To save the republic, if any, from another routine military disaster, I offer the following thoughts.

To begin, I will ask the following questions of the candidates, and for that matter of Mr. Obama, and of the Secretary of Defense, a generic bureaucrat.

Can you explain: Convergence zones, base bleed, Kursk, range-gate pull-off, artillery at Dien Bien Phu, IR cross-over, Tet and queen sacrifice, Brahmos 2, CIWIS, supercruise, side-lobe penetration, seven-eighty-twice gear, super-cavitating torpedoes, phased arrays, pulse Doppler, the width of Hormuz versus the range of Iranian cruise missiles, DU, discarding sabot, frequency agility, Chobham armor, and pseudo-random PRF?

These, gentlemen, are the small talk of serious students of the military. Here I mean men like David Isby, author of such books as Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army for Jane’s, which you likely have never heard of, or William S. Lind, probably the best military mind (though, or because, not a soldier), that I have encountered. If you are unfamiliar with them, and with the things listed above, you are unfamiliar with the military. Yet you campaign for possession of the trigger.

Perhaps a little humility, perish the thought, and a little self-examination might be in order.

Peering into your own depths, you will probably find that the humility does not come easily. In my decades of covering the armed services, I noticed among men a belief in their innate jock-strap competency regarding wars. Men who would readily admit ignorance of petroleum geology, ophthalmology, or ancient Sumerian grammar nonetheless believe that they grasp matters military. Usually they do not. In particular, they have an utterly unexamined belief in America’s military invincibility.

Candidates should be wary of this. Instead, most of you propose ultimata to Iran as one would threaten a three-year-old with a spanking. You clearly think that the American flotilla would quickly thrash the impudent Persians with no unexpected consequences. Do as we say, or the fleet will teach you a jolly good lesson.

So thought Philip II in 1588.

A little reading wouldn’t hurt. I would strongly recommend A Legacy of Ashes, by Tim Weiner, on the CIA, and We Meant Well, by Peter van Vuren, a former State Department guy on how Iraq actually works. You will be most surprised. I accept in advance your gratitude for these suggestions.

Once a candidate from the relative bushes gets elected, as may happen, he becomes a captive of Washington in about ten minutes. This too you should bear in mind. You will be briefed by the CIA, which will spin things so that you believe what it wants you to believe. The spooks will radiate lethal charm and speak with the assurance of a higher order of being. This will give you a sense of admission to a special tree house where everyone has a Captain Marvel secret decoder ring (two box tops and a dollar fifty). And, in Washington, you will have access to no other view. Gotcha.

You will be briefed by the Pentagon by generals with firm handshakes, steely gaze, obvious intelligence, and a convincing understanding of the world as consisting chiefly of threats. They are very good at this. You do not become a general without expertise with Power Point and the slick gab of a confidence man. Generals too are politicians. They will carry you along like a wood chip in a spring flood. And you will pay the price.

A powerful skepticism is here well advised. The belief that military men know about war is beguiling. It is their trade, is it not? Surely they must be authorities. Dentists know about dentistry. Soldiers must know about war. But how often when you go to a dentist do you return without teeth?

In fact career officers live in a mental world not well adapted to winning today’s wars. You need to understand this. Theirs is a world of aggression seeking an outlet, of institutionally inculcated confidence unrelated to external reality, of suppression of dissent. Fatal bad judgment is common, and recently almost the rule. If you think this implausible, consider:

When the Japanese attacked Pearl, their military thought it would win, Yamamoto excepted. When the Wehrmacht went into Russia, it thought it would win. So did Napoleon. When the Germans attacked in 1914, they thought they would win, the Schlieffen Plan being infallible. When the Confederates shelled Sumpter, they thought they could win. When the French took on the Viet Minh, they thought they would win. When the Americans went into Viet Nam, they thought they would win. When they went into Iraq, Somalia, Beirut, Afghanistan….

And now you, our newly elected, fresh-caught president, contemplate a shooting war with Iran. Those who favor this idea will assure you that it will be short and sweet. Shock and Awe. Duck soup. A cakewalk. The Iranians will just take it, perhaps put up some slight and hapless resistance, and roll quickly over. Our airplanes, after all, say varooom and pow-pow-pow and boom.

Good luck.

Note that in the foregoing list of wars, all were expected to end quickly. This should not surprise. Military men live in the psychic world of the cavalry charge, of decisive battle, of courage, heroism, and glorious victory. Modern militaries are designed with shsort-and-sweet in mind, with tanks ships and aircraft intended to fight other tanks ships and aircraft. Unfortunately wars nowadays are more like dealing with a recalcitrant bureaucracy. They go on and on. Concentrated firepower doesn’t work well against dispersed enemies. The treasury bleeds, the public wearies. Quick victory seldom comes. The Pentagon thrashes and thrashes every more desperately, a saber tooth in the tar pits of La Brea. Just give us a little more time, a few more troops, a surge….

Reflect that the Pentagon hasn’t won a war since 1945, unless you count titanic eruptions like Granada. Yes, it usually wins the conventional battles, as it did in Afghanistan, as it did in Iraq, “Mission Accomplished,” but then the enemy deploys the most fearsome weapons of the last half-centry: the AK, the RPG, and the IED.

The Pentagon can bomb Iran with impunity, as it could Afghanistan. It thinks it can keep the Straits open, as it thought it could do all the things in the past that it couldn’t. How many burning supertankers does it take to discourage the rest?

Then the unexpected comes. It turns out that the enemy is not as stupid as the strategy required. Pehhaps thousands of Iranian troops infiltrate into largely Shiite Iraq, which blows again. Oh fun.

If you can’t win any war at all, start a larger one. And you, Mr. Sanctorum, or Romney, or Gingrich, will hold the bag. Such a deal.

All original material © Violeta de Jesus Gonzalez Munguia
www.FredOnEverything.net

(Editor’s Note: I don’t believe you can find a better definition for true conservatism that Gary’s article. Curiously, there appear to be no conservatives remaining in the Republican Party that meet this definition. And I heard old Bob Schieffer of CBS News say that “Ron Paul is too far to the right and not in the mainstream.” Bob is spot on. But the mainstream is not conservative.)

I am an Old School Presbyterian Calvinist, a position so conservative within Presbyterian Calvinism that it was relegated to the fringes after 1870. And if you ask me, they were kind of squishy.

With respect to politics, I voted for Goldwater in 1964. In 1966, I voted for William Penn Patrick instead of Ronald Reagan in the race for the Republican nominee for governor of California. I thought Reagan was too liberal.

I was a speaker at the National Affairs Briefing Conference in Dallas in 1980, which launched the New Christian Right.

I sent my children to Christian day schools.

With this as background, I want to present my case for Constitutional social conservatism.

CONSTITUTIONAL SOCIAL CONSERVATISM

I begin with a premise: “If a federal law is not in conformity to the judicial principles and precedents in American colonial law in 1788, it is unconstitutional, unless a Constitutional amendment has authorized it.” This is simple to understand. It means that the Constitution was intended by the Framers to be the source of fundamental law restricting politicians and judges who hold office in the United States government. The Constitution was ratified by voters on that basis in 1787-88. That which is not authorized by the Constitution is prohibited.

Conservatives say they believe this. But do they?

The Constitution of the United States does not authorize the following:

1. Federal laws against pornography
2, Federal laws against alcohol
3. Federal laws against drugs
4. Federal laws against homosexuality
5. Federal laws against abortion

Social conservatives must decide: federal laws prohibiting any of the Big Five vs. Constitutional law.

The Constitution of the United States also does not authorize the following:

1. Federal laws legalizing local pornography
2, Federal laws legalizing local alcohol
3. Federal laws legalizing local drugs
4. Federal laws legalizing local homosexuality
5. Federal laws legalizing local abortion

Social liberals must decide: federal laws legalizing any of the Big Five locally vs. Constitutional law.

The two groups are generally agreed: Violate Constitutional law. This is the problem for American liberty. American politics is a contest over which group gets to decide which Constitutional restraints to ignore.

This is not how the two groups come to their donors. Each group pledges to extend justice. Each group blames the other for undermining the Constitution. Both groups are correct.

The social conservative says he favors local initiative. Then he votes for Washington politicians who interfere with local practices.

The social liberal says he favors national justice. Then he votes for Washington politicians who interfere with local practices.

The social conservative is inconsistent. The social liberal is consistent. So, the social conservative politician, when in office, attempts to pass laws that set legal precedents for the social liberals to use in the next election cycle: extensions of federal power. Then, in some future election cycle, the social liberals repeal the conservative laws by passing new laws that extend the power of the federal government. The new laws make illegal local practices that social conservatives favor. What the politicians do not do in this regard, the federal courts do. In both views, the federal government becomes messianic. It becomes a means of implementing federal control over local practices. We have seen this in action ever since 1788. It has done what the opponents of ratification said it would do, but on a scale undreamed of by the Anti- Federalists.

The social conservative goes to Washington vowing to bang heads locally. So does the social liberal. This question does not occur to the social conservative: “How much federal power must we consent to in order to bang heads locally?” This question occurs all the time to the social liberal. He has an answer: “More.” When push comes to shove, this is the also the traditional social conservative’s answer.

So, the social conservative finds himself defending the extension of federal power. He insists that this is for a good cause.

Yet here is the great irony: the word “social” means “voluntary.” The historic position of American conservative political theory is this: The state is not society. The historic position of the social liberal is this: The state best represents society. We hear of “social justice.” This is a code phrase for “welfare state.” We hear of the Social Gospel. This is a code phrase for “welfare state.” Liberals say “social,” but the really mean “state.”

In practice, so do social conservatives. Officially, they defend free association, but when push comes to shove, they join with liberals to vote in favor of an expanded federal government. When it comes to assessing the power of the state, both groups say “more.”

PORNOGRAPHY

This is the representative case. Would a socially conservative Congressman vote for a law restricting pornography? After all, it crosses borders.

The question that I raise today is this: “How can you regulate pornography and leave the Internet free?”

The pornographic materials on the Web are close to unlimited. It costs nothing to upload it. It costs nothing to download it. This is driving the pornographic movie industry out of business. As the afficionados say, “Smut yearns to be free.”

How can the government stop the spread of essentially free digits? At what cost? I don’t mean financial cost. I mean cost of lost liberty.

Censorship was always based on control over the physical properties of the media. It took printing presses. It took paper and ink. It took distribution channels. It took retail outlets. The technique: Follow the money. But when there is no paper, no ink, no printing press, and the distribution channels are outside of the jurisdiction of any specific national government, what is the technology of censorship? Ask Hosni Mubarak.

The cost of prohibiting something that is highly demanded and is free to the customer approaches infinity.

So, how do we stop the spread of pornography? By self-government.

ALCOHOL

Nationally, we have been down this road. Prohibition gave the criminal syndicates the money they needed to finance their entry into the other areas of sin. It made the crime syndicates what they are today.

What stops the spread of alcohol? Self-government.

There are local laws against alcohol There are dry counties. I used to live in one in Texas. At the edge of the county’s borders on all sides were liquor stores. But the voters remained committed to prohibition.

What should Congress do about the legalization of alcohol? Nothing. What should Congress do about dry counties? Nothing.

DRUGS

What applies to alcohol applies to drugs — all drugs. The analytical principles are the same. So are the legal principles.

What should the federal government do to stop the spread of hallucinatory drugs? Shut down the Department of Education. The biggest drug emporium in any zip code is the public high school. I have written about this here”How to Win the War on Drugs.”

HOMOSEXUALITY

What does the Constitution have to say about sexual behavior? Nothing. About marriage? Only this: how to structure the tax code. My recommendation is simple: get rid of the graduated income tax. That would end tax discrimination for or against marriage.

ABORTION

Here, the federal government has a position: there can be no laws against abortion. That was a Supreme Court decision.

What is the Constitutional way to deal with this? Simple: have a 50% plus one vote in each branch of Congress to remove the issue of abortion from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make (Article III, Section 2).

The President has no say in this. Neither does the Supreme Court. Anyone who wants to know if this is the correct view of this section should research Ex Parte McCardle.

CONCLUSION

Social conservatives need to decide: head-banging or the Constitution.

Social liberals want to free up head-banging in these five areas, so as to have more money to spend on head-banging in the areas of federal regulation of the economy.

The correct agenda for social conservatives is simple: vote for Congressmen and Senators who follow these rules: (1) Constitutional authorization of all laws; (2) reduced taxation; (3) budget in surplus; (4) debt reduction; (5) de-funding of the executive. In one phrase: Shrink the federal government. There is only one social conservative who favors this agenda.

It isn’t Newt Gingrich.

Gary North is the author of Mises on Money. Visit www.garynorth.com. He is also the author of a free 20-volume series, An Economic Commentary on the Bible.

Copyright © 2012 Gary North

The time for Secession is coming to your neighborhood very soon. Read on.

The Nation: The theater production called the Iowa Caucuses is over, with Romney winning by an eyelash over Rick “No Chance in Hell” Santorum. The vote tabulation was done in an undisclosed location, not in easy view of voters and vote watchers. Even though I suspect massive vote fraud, Ron Paul still got over 21%. The neocon leadership had been openly announcing for two weeks that they would not allow Ron Paul to win Iowa. They weren’t lying.

The Nation II: The right third party candidate could win this election. And I submit that the right candidate would be Ron Paul. It would be even better if he chose his son as his running mate, Senator Rand Paul. I also submit that any third party that does not offer a substantive anti-Washington choice would be a waste of time and money, and would likely place Obama back in the White House. But I believe that Ron Paul as a third party choice could beat both Republicans and Democrats. There is only one man that is an actual conservative, obey the Constitution, shrink the Federal government candidate available. Ron Paul. I believe that if a Ron Paul/Rand Paul candidacy emerged, they could take 35% in November 2012. The biggest problem is getting on the ballots. They could go write-in, but that’s unlikely. The state-to-state election rules have been written expressly to keep viable candidates out of the races. The other big challenge is the electoral college. Paul would have to take some pretty big states to win.

The Nation III: My prediction of the presidential election in November 2012 is that no matter which candidate the Republican Party chooses, the Republicans will win in an astonishing landslide. Barack Obama may not win in a single state. This will be the widest margin of victory in American history. In addition, a wave of Republicans will win in Congressional and Senate races. But don’t think for a moment that this will divert the American train from the economic derailment ahead. Just a different crew on the train when it crashes.

International: The insane nations of the West continue to threaten Iran with economic sanctions to punish Iran for having a nuclear fuel program. Of course, it’s OK for thirty other nations to have nuclear power reactors, and OK for 10 nations to already have nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Iran sells the West oil and natural gas. All Iran must do is to stop delivering to the West and sell it to China. Oil prices will quickly hit $400 per barrel and a gallon of gasoline will cost $15-$20.

International II: A Japanese restauranteur paid over $736,000 for ONE single Blue Fin Tuna caught off the Japanese coast this week. This 592 pound fish, once cut up, could cost 5,000 Yen per slice.

Business: Ann Barnhardt posted articles this week that showed how the MF Global debacle is beginning to cause huge waves in the commodities markets. Here’s the problem. A grain farmer sells his harvest to a grain dealer who keeps it in a grain storage facility, like a grain elevator. The farmer gets paid as the grain sells over time. And the grain broker sells or buys futures contracts, which are nothing more than bets on what prices will be like in the future. If the broker is right, he makes money. But if he’s wrong, he’s got to settle a margin call. Recently, futures brokers are finding it tough to find those who will play the game. And if a broker goes bankrupt, the farmer cannot just back his truck up to the elevator door and take back his harvest. The stored grain becomes assets of the broker to be liquidated. The farmer stands at the back of the line of creditors, hold his warehouse receipts and futures contracts in one hand and his balls in the other.

MF Global was one gigantic futures bet that they lost. And MF was using its own customers’ segregated funds to bet with, which is worthy of jail time or death.

The commodities marketplace is so leveraged that it will not be able to meet margin calls (or collateral calls) if futures contracts implode. This is yet another financial market that is likely to collapse, and with its collapse, could trigger the complete economic collapse of the US economy and the Dollar. It is inevitable, friends. When the system is built on debt, fiat money and fractional reserve banking, those three things will take it down. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Business II: More about MF Global. The Feds have turned the bankruptcy proceedings upside down, and set the stage for the confiscation of YOUR money in bank accounts, retirement accounts, and stock market accounts. In the MF bankruptcy, the Feds are placing the other big banks at the front of the line of creditors. The customers of MF who had their money invested through MF, and in escrow accounts, are not even being allowed to stand in line. That means the customer’s money is going to be used as assets to pay off the other big financial institutions, not the assets of the corporation. This sets a precedent previously unknown in Bankruptcy law. That also means that when the other big financial institutions fail, depositors and investors will have their assets confiscated to pay off other people’s debts. If you have paper assets in any financial instrument whatsoever, you now have a new market risk. That is the market risk of no Rule of Law. The very government agencies that you would run to for protection are now the agencies dedicated to screwing you. You will have no recourse. Your only option is to get your assets changed from paper to hard currency and take delivery at home or at a local depository.

Shameless Plug: Heard about SOPA yet? The Stop Online Piracy Act purports to protect intellectual property on the Internet, but critics say the bill will give the entertainment industry the power to censor your website if THEY deem that you are infringing somebody’s copyright. They could actually block your domain name or Internet Protocol (IP) address. Don’t expect your Congressman to read this bill. They don’t read bills anymore. Bob Parsons, Founder of GoDaddy.com, took an early position in favor of SOPA. But the “free market” spoke to him, and he pulled his support. We here at BigGenieDomains.com are completely opposed to SOPA, and we know that the law is unconstitutional. Come see us for all your domain registry and webhosting needs.

Economy: Friday night’s network news broadcasts were all a dither with the announcement that the unemployment rate had dropped to 8.5% just since last month. What they did not speak about is the 372,000 NEW unemployment claims in the last seven days, or the fact that the new unemployment claims numbers were above 400,000 WEEKLY for the last six months. Folks, if you do not see how stupid Washington thinks YOU ARE, you’re lying to yourself. These monthly unemployment numbers are entirely fabricated by this Administration. Remember that when an unemployed person’s weekly benefits expire, Washington stops counting them in the numbers. They also do not count persons who are unemployed but have part-time jobs. The REAL unemployment rate is above 18% nationally, and in certain places like Detroit, is FAR HIGHER.

Sports: I predict that the 2012 Superbowl will be the New Orleans Saints against the Green Bay Packers, and the Saints will win. But for this weekend…playoffs, Baby.

Entertainment: This weekend, I am filling out my final ballot for the Grammy Awards. Your editor has recorded 17 CDs on the Telarc label with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Five of those CDs have won Grammy Awards. I am a First Tenor in the Chorus. I joined the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1998 after winning the first Grammy and have been voting for the Grammy Awards ever since. Some hobby, eh?

DumpDC. Six Letters That Can Change History.

© Copyright 2011, Russell D. Longcore. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

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Thanks again, my friends. Keep preparing for TEOTWAWKI. Get your money out of paper investments and into precious metals. Buy lots of ammo, make sure you have at least six months of food and home needs in storage. Read. Research. Don’t believe anyone…even me…without doing your own research.

Resist.

by Fred Reed

It was getting late in Ajijic when Vi and I headed for the Camaleon. The narrow streets were empty and somber. Gringos do not go out as much as they once did now that the narco wars have reached the town.

Light and music poured from the door. For some reason I thought of what the country must have been like in 1900, a wilder and cruder time with dirt streets and few people. Not much law, less schooling, raw tequila and suchlike bust-head in adobe cantinas, horses, guns, and rattlesnakes. Not a great world, but I would love to have seen it.

We took our usual table next to the fireplace. It is seldom lit. When it gets really hellishly cold here, you might need a light sweater. We ordered drinks and I wondered at the strangeness of life. (I know, I’m the only one who has ever done that.) I mean, what am I doing with an exotic Mexican woman in a town in Jalisco? (The exotic part is absurd, but I like saying it.) I communicated this to Vi. She responded that I wasn’t exactly what she had expected when she was fifteen either.

Which will interest nobody. But it supports my view that living wisely is a bad idea. I’ve seldom done anything sensible that wasn’t boring. Maybe my only contribution to the sum of human knowledge is that if you get sick of being a news weasel in Washington, Gualalajara isn’t Washington. By a long shot.

Ajijic is pretty much Mexico as conceived by sappy drones at Disney and gelded by expats who don’t really want to live here but don’t have the money for Lauderdale. Still, traces of Mexico remain among the boutiques. This is especially true at night when the bleakness of blank walls and cobblestones—actually empedrado—hold the modern world at a distance and hint at Mexico as it was. And, in many places, still is.

Mexico still has bars that are bars, joints where if the owner’s dog, or a customer’s, or the dog belonging to the bar down the street wants to come in to see what is happening, no one cares. So far as has been recorded, no one has died of dog poisoning.

The Camaleon is such. The jukebox bellows and rumbles perpetually. The place does not look to have been designed at corporate and when you order you don’t get a very nice waiter who says, “Hi! I’m Bruce and I’m going to be your waitperson and I hope you have a wonderful dining experience.” When you take a leak you do not feel as if you are profaning a surgical suite. The urinals have character.

A nation’s character is embodied in its whizzenzimmers, loos, and johns. From this example, at the Camaleon, one sees that Mexicans are stark mad. It is a pleasant condition, and I hope that it spreads northward.

In the United States real bars still exist, corner joints in blue-collar Chicago, the Last Chance Saloon at the top of the Florida Keys, maybe the Sunset Grill in Washington, a million others. Yet the trend is toward the unpleasantly clean, obsessively controlled, capriciously regulated, and over-policed with cops lurking outside with Alkasensors. However spelled. From a Commie under every bush, America has moved to a Mommy behind every bush. Can I have my Commies back?

An air of predatory virtue diffuses across the US, of passive-aggressive goodness by do-gooders taking out their unhappy lives on others. I would rather be left the hell alone. This isn’t what the country was. It is what the country is.

Mexico used to be stranger than it is now. I think I was nineteen when I first dropped down into Saltillo from Laredo. In those days bars were for men only, except, in Saltillo, for the Arizpe Bar in a hotel. I found myself one night in a murky working-class mescal chute where your mother definitely would not want you to go. I was probably the first Caucasian the place had seen. A fellow came in with a wet-cell battery and a step-up transformer slung over his shoulder on a strap, with two cables leading from it to silvery hand-grips.

Los toques. The idea, if it rose to that level, was that to demonstrate your toughness, you held one contact in each hand while the proprietor of the things gradually turned up the voltage. Your muscles would begin to spasm and at a certain point you would not be able to release the toques. Or so I was told. I didn’t make the experiment. The wisdom of applying a voltage across my chest did not leap to what mind I had at that age.

There is in segments of the American population a sniffish sense that bars are vicious places, ridden by Demon Rum and productive of drunkenness and maybe even billiards. In the parlance of those limited souls afflicted by these notions, one doesn’t drink, but “uses alcohol.” One should therefore seek help from a therapist. I think therapists need to go to bars.

In fact bars are places of philosophy, of conviviality and conversation. Yes, any town has its drunks, chain smokers, and people dependent on Prozac. They are few, except for the Prozac gobblers. In any event, I prefer the occasionally sozzled to the Depakote zombies, the Xanax-disabled, and the Valium-dependent.

Mexico still has bars that by custom though not law are for men only. This works no hardship on women since bars integrated by sex are everywhere, and in any event the male-only establishments are not such as to be attractive to women. It apparently infurates a subset of the American women here who, having a sort of Rosa Parks complex, go barging into traditionally male cantinas to integrate them. This creates considerable ill-will.

Which is curious. If women started an all-female bar, men wouldn’t care at all.

A horse galloped past outside. I love it. Mexico is nothing if not motley. Teen-agers rush around with smart phones and build websites and engage in the cyber-larceny of music. And yet horses—real ones, with feet, ears, tails, all the credentials—clop about. It isn’t really primitivism. If you are going to raise cattle and goats in the rocky hills hereabouts, a horse is the only practical vehicle. I like hosrses. They eat grass and mind their own business. I can think of countries that might try the approach.

So much for searching insights. Actually there are probably only a dozen or so insights to be had, and everybody has already had them. We paid and left. The streets were again empty and silent. A cat saw us and ducked around a corner.

All original material © Violeta de Jesus Gonzalez Munguia
www.FredOnEverything.net

by Russell D. Longcore

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where’s the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?

I need a hero
I’m holding on for a hero ‘til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong
And he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I’m holding on for a hero ‘till the morning light
He’s gotta be sure
And it’s gotta be soon
And he’s gotta be larger than life…larger than life.
~BonnieTyler~

Americans keep looking for a hero. That’s what every Presidential election is about.

Americans are bathed in government from the moment of conception until long after death. Government surrounds us like the water in a fish bowl surrounds the goldfish. Government is so much apart of our every living moment that we often scarcely recognize it. But think about the goldfish. After a while of living in this closed ecosystem and shitting in the atmosphere in which it lives, the water becomes toxic. The fish will gradually become sicker and sicker. To save the life of the goldfish, somebody must change the water.

Secession changes the water.

Here at DumpDC, we incessantly beat the drum for secession. We believe that state secession is the only possible solution and the only hope for personal liberty and property rights here on the North American continent. We hold the opinion that there is presently no stomach among the adult population generally for state secession since the adult population has been mis-educated for 100 years to believe in “one nation, under God, indivisible.” Most Americans were taught that the concept of secession was settled by Lincoln’s War. We believe that only a nationwide economic collapse will provide the sufficient impetus to move many people to seek an alternative to the failed American experiment. We believe that the hunger, crime, disease, death and destruction that will be the result of the American economic collapse will cause millions of Americans to finally awaken from their stupor and embrace secession. And we also believe that when secession becomes a viable choice, Washington will have dissolved also and will not move to prevent secessions, but will cease to exist like the USSR did in 1989.

But at the same time, we acknowledge the reality of the nation in which we presently live. Over 311 million souls call America home. The vast majority of the populace got their education in government schools, where they were programmed to be good little citizens willing enough to pay their taxes and trust their elected leaders to know best. And most of those who got their education in private schools may have gotten higher SAT scores, but the stuff they learned was about the same as the general population. I dare say that home-schooled children likely learned an entirely different curriculum and gained an enhanced sense of individuality. So I expect that most of the American population, suffering under extreme privation after TSHTF, are not equipped mentally to bear the responsibility of personal liberty. They will clamor for a hero to save them from their doom.

Perhaps I underestimate the appetite for liberty here in America. If we looked at America as a bell curve of political thought, you’d have 10% on the left tail as pure socialists, then 80% of the populace, spanning from nearly socialist to nearly anarchist, then finally the 10% right tail as libertarian anarchists. 10% of 311 million is 31 million. Are there truly 31 million people living in America today that are committed to individual liberty and property rights? I doubt it, even if some of the right end of the 80% of the bell curve are counted in the number.

But perhaps it doesn’t matter. I submit to you that 1% (or less) could band together and secede, establishing a new nation on new principles and new forms of governance. The present populations of Alaska, New Hampshire and North Dakota do not exceed 700,000 each. On the other side, my favorite state, Texas, which has the most vibrant independence movement in America, has over 24 million people. I submit that a few thousand individuals committed to secession could lead Texas into nationhood once again.

BUT…it WON’T be a hero that brings personal liberty and property rights back to the North American continent.

Individual liberty cannot be delegated to another. That’s why it’s called “individual.” And individuals may band together to do amazing things. But the moment it becomes about one person…one hero…one Savior…the end is inevitable. The Founders of the First American Secession in 1776 were not seeking a hero. They thirsted for FREEDOM. The very idea that they would trust their liberties to a far-away despot had already borne bitter fruit. They threw off such government and established thirteen new nations, each with a commitment to protect individual liberty and property rights.

Nothing like that exists today in the United States of America.

What we see in the daily news is a litany of hero-worship. The Republican candidates are mostly small people who love big government. And I am not singling out the Repubs, as the Democrats already have their candidate or they would be doing the same traveling theater of the absurd. Inherent and hidden in every news story, no matter if the story is a puff piece or an attack piece, is the desire for a new hero.

The American presidency was NEVER meant to be such a position as it has become today. Listen to some radio news broadcasts. Most lead with a story about what the American president is doing that day. The US Constitution, as old, worthless and ineffectual as it is, started with Congress choosing the president from among its own members. It was essentially a group of managers choosing a head manager for specifically designated duties and no more.

Today, the American presidential candidate is the embodiment of the sought-after Savior. He (or she), replete with various personality flaws, try to be everything to everybody. So, they tend to drift to the lowest common denominator. Every four years, Americans hold their noses and vote for what they usually call “the lesser of evils.”

Some hero, eh?

Most of America is still looking for that superhero in the red cape to fly in and make everything all right once again. And most of America has only the hope of a hero as its plan for the future. Kind of like the guy who never saves a dime but spend $20 a week buying lottery tickets. But those who will actually experience individual liberty and property rights in the future will not be wishers…they will be the ones who forsake hero worship and accept the wild ride that true liberty entails.

As Thomas Jefferson said, “Most men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”

Secession is the only hope for humanity. Who will be first?

DumpDC. Six Letters That Can Change History.

© Copyright 2011, Russell D. Longcore. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

Bonnie Tyler- “I Need A Hero”

The Nation: The mainstream media all have their panties in wads because Texas Congressman Ron Paul is surging in Iowa polling. Even in polls that are unfriendly, with carefully crafted poll questions, Doctor Paul is at the top of the list of Republicans. The GOP bosses cannot abide this, and will do whatever it takes to derail Paul’s candidacy. As I have said previously, if Ron Paul continues defying the power brokers and winning, he had better stay out of airplanes between now and November 2012. The power elite have no compunction about arranging an airplane crash to look like an accident. Ask John F. Kennedy, Jr. or Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone or Georgia Congressman Larry McDonald. Oh, wait. They died in highly suspicious plane crashes.

The Nation II In San Francisco, a group of strippers donated $20,000 to a local firefighter’s toy program. Of course, they had to deliver the donation in a garbage bag since it was 20,000 one-dollar bills. (just a joke. The girls presented a check)

International: This one’s kind a blend of national and international. Remember seeing the news stories of the last of the American military personnel leaving Iraq last week? Well that was just eye candy. The largest American embassy on the planet is in Baghdad, and who do you suppose is guarding it? Mercenaries! Or, “security contractors,” as they like to be known. There are still thousands of “mercs” on the ground in Iraq. But America’s perception is that the troops came home. Washington is incapable of telling the truth in any subject.

International II: Another blend. Washington announced that it is selling Saudi Arabia $30 BILLION worth of upgraded F-15 fighter jets. Think about this. Boeing delivered the first F-15s in 1972. So DC is selling fighter jets of a 40 year-old design to our buddies in the sandbox. Just how many planes in this deal is not known. Does Saudi Arabia have any enemies? Can’t think of any. But you do realize that this has little to do with Saudi security concerns and is primarily a planes-for-oil deal. I wonder if either side feels like they got a good deal? Arabs love to haggle, and Americans don’t.

Business: First, big banks announce that they are going to assess fees for using debit cards. Then this week Verizon announced that they planned to charge their own customers a $2.oo fee to pay their bills online. When the customers howled loudly enough, both banks and Verizon cancelled their plans. Even though the free market ain’t free anymore, it still speaks. Would to God that Washington listened to taxpayers like business listens to its customers. What’s the difference? The number one difference is violence. Government gets its money from you with a gun in your ribs. Businesses have to compete.

Economy: The new unemployment claims jumped back up to 381,000 this week. Last week Washington and the media were crowing that a two-week drop in new claims was the beginning of a trend. You didn’t hear dick about the increase this week, did you?

Sports: The college football bowl games have gotten entirely out of hand. This year, there are 35 bowl games between December 17th and January 9th. Have you seen the hilarious sponsorships for these mediocre matchups? Some of my favorites are: Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, R+L Carriers Bowl (a trucking company), The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, Beef O’Brady Bowl, Belk Bowl (department store), Valero Alamo Bowl (chain of gas stations), Mieneke Bowl (auto repair shops), MAACO Bowl (body shop chain), GoDaddy.com Bowl (webhosting company), Kraft Bowl (mac ‘n cheese)…and my favorite, the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl. When I was a kid, there were the Cotton, Sugar and Rose Bowls, and they all were played on New Year’s Day. Those were the days.

Entertainment: Pop singer Katy Perry and British stringy-haired not-funny beanpole Russell Brand have announced that they are ending their barely-one-year marriage. Brand is the one who actually filed for the divorce. This is a perfect example of the inherent downside in a life of pursuing women. What do you do once you inadvertently catch one? Kind of like a dog that chases cars. Actually, they are divorcing for religious reasons. Brand thought he was God and Katy didn’t.

DumpDC. Six Letters That Can Change History.

© Copyright 2011, Russell D. Longcore. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.