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“When I joined the military it was illegal to be homosexual; then it became optional. I’m getting out before Obama makes it mandatory.”
—-Gunnery Sgt Harry Berres, USMC
Here’s a video of a proposed Marine recruitment ad. It’s a satire that implies that the military may not be well-served by the loss of “don’t ask, don’t tell”.
The times, they are a-changin’. We may soon see the Silver Star replaced by the Silver Boa.
video 00:00:41
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki32TxKNga4
Image via Wikipedia
“After writing this song and sending out on an e-mail list a Tennessee middle school football coach was terminated for alleged political incorrectness. I think he has a bigger career as song writer.” Russ Steele
This song was released last August. I just heard it. It’s solid. This “hammer” swings. You’re gonna like it.
It was written for the A.D. 2010 election, but could be easily updated to apply to A.D. 2012.
video/ song 00:03:09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfH46DTAkxo&feature=player_embedded
Image via Wikipedia
The attached 2-page PDF file reports that on December 21st, the New Jersey Supreme Court adopted an emergency rule concerning foreclosure proceedings.
That new rule will apparently compel the plaintiff’s (bank’s) attorney and/or the plaintiff’s (bank’s) employees to verify under oath that the plaintiff actually has ownership and possession of the fundamental documents (note and mortgage) required to be the real party in interest and thus have standing to foreclose.
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60 Minutes investigated the growing inability of many state and local governments to pay their bills. The resulting video focuses on facts that point to: 1) these state/local governmental entities (quasi “sovereigns”) have been borrowing and spending irrationally to provide seemingly “free” benefits, “entitlements” and pensions for over a decade; 2) much of the public has become dependent on these seemingly “free” (actually borrowed, debt-based) benefits; 3) the state and local governments’ ability to continue borrowing is ending; 4) these governmental entities’ ability to continue to supply the benefits, “entitlements” and pensions previously promised is ending; and 5) there will be a national catastrophe when those who depend on gov-co handouts are suddenly deprived of their primary means of support.
This is no joke. We may see Americans begging for food or housing. We will almost certainly see riots and political upheaval.
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Just in time for the holidays. Saturday Night Live’s version of It’s a Wonderful Life.
It’s not exactly in the Christmas spirit, but it’s pretty much the way I feel about government, so it has a lot of holiday appeal.
video
00:03:28
http://www.hulu.com/watch/115719/saturday-night-live-wonderful-life
Image by Steve Crane via Flickr
The governments of the western world have: 1) adopted “democracy” (a word that doesn’t even appear in our federal Constitution); 2) pushed to destroy the nation-states in order to usher in a New World Order; and 3) bribed the people with “free” benefits to cooperate with “democracy” and the New World Order.
The people, of course, have delighted in the promise of “free benefits” (something for nothing) and swarmed to support, or at least tolerate, the push towards democracy (collectivism) and the New World Order (fascism).
Image by @Michael via Flickr
The attached video (“Detroit in Ruins”) offers a number of opinions as to why the city of Detroit is a largely wasteland. This ruin is particularly poignant since “in the day,” Detroit had the highest median income in the USA. Today, Detroit’s median income is #68.
The video blames Detroit’s liberal government, teachers’ union, and labor unions as the principle causes for the city’s collapse.
All of those accusation may be true, but I want to stress that Detroit has collapsed because: 1) INDUSTRY is the primary source of most urban wealth; and 2) the primary Detroit industry (auto manufacturing) has effectively fled Detroit.
Point: If you lose your industrial base, you’re headed for poverty and social collapse.
Detroit’s collapse offers a tangible evidence of what’s likely to happen to the entire USA thanks to “global free trade”.
Image via Wikipedia
Often, an important idea is best communicated by a single, insightful analogy. John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute advances such an analogy to describe the U.S. in this era of growing electronic surveillance: an “electronic concentration camp”.
In essence, why does government need barbed wire or physical camps to coral “all the usual suspects” if government has an electronic spy network that is so sophisticated that they know what each of us is doing, where we are, and even even what we may be thinking? Why pay to build and staff camps, and to feed prisoners, if the suspects can be electronically monitored in their own homes and communities? Instead, why not let the suspects pay for their own food and shelter in the “electronic concentration camp”. It’s cheaper, more efficient, than a conventional “brick-and-mortar” concentration camps.
In essence, why bring the prisoners to the camps, if electronic surveillance can bring the camps to the prisoners?
Image via Wikipedia
This video on Civil Asset Forfeiture won the A.D. 2010 W3 Gold Award in the Non-Profit Video Category. It offers a brief, concise and effective commentary on modern system of plunder implemented by our alleged “government”. Our alleged “public servants” have passed and are exercising laws that allow them to seize our property without due process.
Video 00:02:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hytkAaoF2k
What the video does not explain is how these acts of official “robbery” can be legal. I doubt that they know.
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In the last two weeks, I’ve warned that increasing economic efficiency inevitably leads to increased economic vulnerability; that, in a highly efficient, highly interdependent economy, one seemingly small adverse event (the failure of a Wall Street bank, a sub-prime mortgage debacle, or even a 16-year old kid hacking into a major industry’s computer) could conceivably collapse an entire, national economy. (See, http://adask.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/economic-efficiency-downside-no-1-increased-vulnerability/)
The relationship between increased economic efficiency and increased economic vulnerability is barely imagined by most Americans, but it’s well understood—and feared—by America’s governmental and corporate leaders. Knowing that the economy is increasingly vulnerable to seemingly trivial events, our leaders become increasingly paranoid and prone to regulatory fascism to control everyone and everything to protect the increasingly efficient—and increasingly vulnerable—economy. (See, http://adask.wordpress.com/2010/12/14/economic-efficiency-downside-no-2-fascism/)
This week I’ll explore the relationship between global free trade, economic efficiency and slavery.
