Every Single Day, Every Word You Say, I'll Be Watching YouThe Department of Homeland Security has declared its intention to gather personal data on journalists or others who might use "traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed." I suppose that would include those of us at the Independent Institute who blog, tweet, and update Facebook.
New guidelines allow for a broader reach in collecting such pers... (more)
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Tell the Truth, Get Out of Jury DutyThis morning I had to "serve" my country through the involuntary servitude of the jury system. Fortunately, I told the truth during the deliberations and got kicked off the jury as a result.
It all started with the summons a month or so ago, the government only gave me about 4 weeks advance notice. Fortunately, I didn't have a trip planned, as I've heard stories of people being forced to cut their vacations off early because they were drafted to "serve."
I was... (more)
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A Year To Wake Up! It’s always a gamble to make predictions. I’ve had the benefit of seeing the 2012 predictions of the greats, and so far they don’t bode well. Marc Faber is not excited about our prospects for prosperity. Chris Mortenson and Gerald Celente and Richard Russell are also concerned. My sense is that 2012 will be a year of learning, of realizing, of wakin... (more)
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The Shape of Another RevolutionOne of my friends believes that a second American revolution is imminent and will be sparked by the economic instability now rocking the continent. Frankly, I doubt it. Insurrections may occur, but I expect the US government to lumber along, dragging the world deeper into poverty and conflict for many years to come.
Upon hearing my friend out, however, my first thought was, "if a revolution erupts, it will resemble the French one of 1789 more closely than the American one o... (more)
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The evil of indefinite detention and those wanting to de-prioritize itThis Wednesday will mark the ten-year anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo prison camp. In The New York Times, one of the camp’s former prisoners, Lakhdar Boumediene, has an incredibly powerful Op-Ed recounting the gross injustice of his due-process-free detention, which lasted seven years. It was clear from the start that the accusations against this Bosnian citizen — who at the ... (more)
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Elections and the Illusion of ChoiceThe political season has unleashed its predictable frenzy, much to delight of people who make a living off it. But to what end? There are only two types of politicians who end up holding office, wrote H.L. Mencken: "first, glorified mob-men who genuinely believe what the mob believes, and secondly, shrewd fellows who are willing to make any sacrifice of conviction and self-respect in order to hold their jobs."
The about sums it up. The plus side of elections is that sometimes the ... (more)
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What Was Left Out of the AnalysisIf they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about answers. -Thomas Pynchon
As I watched the TV bobble-heads trying to analyze the outcome of Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, it became evident that those whose job it is to translate the agenda of the establishment to the rest of us could not explain the Ron Paul phenomenon. I doubt that any of these people are so intellectually dense as to miss the significance o... (more)
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The Genius of the Price SystemThe other day, a local hamburger joint was advertising a 99 cent hamburger, and I took the offer. It was great. I wondered how they can make money this way. A few days later, my head still swimming with memories of that great experience, I went back. This time, I dug in a bit deeper and upgraded the order, including fries and a drink, and this time shelling out for my passenger too. The total bill came to $16. Wow. That's how they make money!
This was an interesting case of how a ... (more)
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Time to End the War on Poverty Wouldn’t it be great if some mainstream pundit were to ask the following question of the Republican presidential candidates: “Do you believe that the time has come to end the war on poverty?”
Alas, it’s not going to happen. The question would obviously be considered outside mainstream America and, therefore, not the subject of legitimate debate among the presidential candidates. Moreover, all but one of the candidates, along with all the mainstream press, are as enthusiastic sup... (more)
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From Democracy to Dictatorship As I walk the streets of Manhattan, I study the other pedestrians and wonder if they sense our danger. A mother pushing her son’s stroller laughs into her cell phone; two elderly gentlemen greet each other effusively; a jogger shuffles past; shoppers lug their treasures home. No one looks especially worried or upset, and I wonder if they’ve heard about the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA).
How can the sun brightly shine and taxis whiz past as if no... (more)
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Life in Bizarro World Sometimes I feel like I’m living in an alternative universe, one that is similar to Bizarro World, which was introduced in the early 1960s in Superman comics. It’s a world in which everything that is normal is considered abnormal, and everything that is abnormal is considered normal.
Look at Iraq. Statists say, “Isn’t it wonderful how fantastic Iraq has turned out. We should be so grateful to the troops for wha... (more)
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The Worst Rise to the TopThis year’s Republican primary race has turned politics into a continuous 24-hour carnival for political junkies to gawk at and speculate about. The weekly debates, packed field, plus the poll surges and collapses by virtually every candidate, has been a boon to MSNBC, CNN, and FOX.
However in the end, as the saying goes, “no matter who wins, the government gets elected.” This political primarypalooza is just a 7 days a week infomercial for democracy and the state. The cover... (more)
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Conservatism Is a LieIs anyone surprised that Ron's Iowa supporters are young, liberal, and the least wealthy? He got a plurality of voters under 40 and about half of those under 30. A plurality of those making less than fifty thousand a year support him, and his biggest support comes from those making way less--they see through the claptrap that free markets benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. A plurality of those calling themselves mode... (more)
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The Dystopian Bungling and Brutality of Immigration EnforcementA fourteen- or fifteen-year-old Dallas girl was deported by U.S. immigration officials to Colombia. She spoke no Spanish and they did appear not to have even checked her fingerprints to ensure she was who they thought she was. It’s true, she gave a false name to local police, but there is simply no excuse for the government deporting anyone for any reason without even bothering with the basic bu... (more)
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The Outlook for the New YearThis past year has not been a good one for the 99%, and the new year is likely to be even worse. This column deals with the outlook for liberty. The next will deal with the economic outlook.
The outlook for liberty is dismal. Those writers who are critical of Washington’s illegal wars and overthrow of the US Constitution could find themselves in indefinite detainment, because criticism of Washington’s policies can be alleged to be aiding Washington’s enemies, whi... (more) Check out Paul's new website PaulCraigRoberts.org. |
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Exiting IraqIn his official remarks about the end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, President Obama told an assembly of troops,
The war in Iraq will soon belong to history. Your service belongs to the ages. Never forget that you are part of an unbroken line of heroes spanning two centuries — from the colonists who overthrew an empire, to your grandparents and parents who faced down fascism and communism, to you — men and women who fought for the same principles in Fallujah and Kandaha ... (more)
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Election 2012: Pacifier for the ProlesOn Tuesday the US presidential cycle reached its first major milestone, with Iowans caucusing to determine the fates of the GOP's contenders. As the unofficial start of 2012's election madness (in fact already well under way), Iowa offers an opportunity to reflect on what rehashing the whole fatuous pretense every four years actually means.
In the systems prevailing around the world today, those of political decision-making, public policy is crafted by an infinitesimal fraction of... (more)
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Equality Before the Law Finally Achieved Like virtually every country on earth, the United States has a long and sordid history of persecuting minority groups in the name of national security, safety and cultural "preservation." This can include racial minorities, religious minorities and even linguistic minorities.
The level of persecution varied from short-term hostility and small-scale mob violence, as with German-speaking Americans during the First World War, up to outright chattel s... (more)
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The Statist Attacks on Ron PaulThe most fascinating aspect of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign is how it is revealing the real nature of the battle facing our country. It is not a battle between left and right, as we have all been taught, but rather between libertarianism and statism.
From the first grade on up, we’ve all been inculcated with the notion that there are fundamental philosophical differences between liberals and conservatives. As they’re growing up, people go through all sorts of contortions deci... (more)
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The Law -- War By Other MeansLaw is no longer — if it ever was — about the ostensible reason the law was passed. It is simply a toolkit for achieving the real objectives of the state. The state starts with those real objectives, then searches the full range of technical capabilities presented by the letter of existing law to find a useful weapon.
Take, for example, the way the state “overcharged” Bradley Manning, in an attempt to blackmail him into turning on Julian Assange. That’s just a more extreme version... (more)
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The Real Problem with the National Defense Authorization ActFor each of the past forty-eight years, Congress has passed the misnamed National Defense Authorization Act to set forth the budget of the Defense Department. President Obama just signed into law the latest version of the NDAA, but not without some controversy.
The House originally passed this 1145-page bill (H.R.1540) back on May 26 by a vote of 322-96. Only six Republicans voted against the bill (Justin Amash, John Campbell, Jason Chaffetz, John Duncan, Tom McC... (more)
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Beware of GOP False Flag Chicanery at the Iowa Caucuses After a withering barrage of record-quoting "negative" advertisements from Ron Paul and Mitt Romney in early December, Newt Gingrich, the disgraced intellectual – supporter of carbon taxes, global treaties dismantling American sovereignty... (more)
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In The World As Some "Progressives" Pretend to See It......what was done to this four-year-old Pakistani girl is less obscene than a handful of supposedly scandalous things published in an obscure newsletter decades ago. To them, the mutilation of this innocent child is a tolerable evil -- but the expression of unsanctioned opinions is an offense no decent person can abide.
They don't demand an end to the unconscionabl... (more)
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Obama: Indefinitely Detaining Americans Is Wrong... But Executing Americans Without Trial is A-OKIf you haven't heard, Obama's New Year's gift to America was signing the NDAA indefinite detention bill into law. He tried to quell outrage by saying he was only signing it with "serious reservations."
“I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists,” ... “My administration will not authorize th ... (more)
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Progressives and the Ron Paul fallacies[...]Whatever else one wants to say, it is indisputably true that Ron Paul is the only political figure with any sort of a national platform — certainly the only major presidential candidate in either party — who advocates policy views on issues that liberals and progressives have long flamboyantly claimed are both compelling and crucial. The converse is equally true: the candidate supported by liberals and progressives and for whom most will vote — Barack Obama — advocates views on these... (more)
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New laws for 2012! "Music therapists" must be licensed, happy hour banned2012 is finally here, with it will come a bunch more stupid laws by our idiot overlords!
The AP reports:
State laws taking effect as 2012 begins require girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire to first tell their parents or a judge; voters in Tennessee to show photo ID; and California students to learn about the societal contributions of gays and lesbians. A sampling of some other new laws taking ... (more)
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Iraq: Was It Worth It? Would you sacrifice your firstborn son to establish a democracy in country that had a dictatorship? How about giving up your son to effect a regime change? What about exchanging your son to end the oppression of minorities? How about trading your son in return for a country holding elections?
I don’t know of any American mother or father that would do such a thing. I wouldn’t give a finger from one of my sons to do any of these things. Some Americans, however, would... (more)
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Militarists, Drug Warriors, and Heresy-Hunters: The Anti-Ron Paul Axis of "Decency"Newt Gingrich, lapsed adulterer, impenitent warmonger, and self-appointed “teacher of civilization,” has excommunicated Ron Paul and his supporters from the ranks of human decency. A similar anathema has been pronounced by left-wing heresy hunter David Neiwert -- a former sidekick to the degenerate fraud named Morris Dees – and many other self-appointed political “watchdogs.”
Those banishment... (more)
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