Yesterday’s Freedom Watch provided some fireworks on the torture memos. Fox News anchor Shepherd Smith replaced Glenn Beck on the show and had an abbreviated tirade at the beginning of the show. He shouts, “We are America, We don’t fu@$ing torture!” The Judge and Trace Gallagher continued on without acknowledging the F bomb. Since the show is broadcast internet-only there should be no problem with the FCC.
The Judge’s other guests were Ron Paul (naturally), James Bovard, Shell Roche, and Pastor Steve Anderson. Ron Paul and Napolitano had a chance to talk to each other about several topics without interruption.
They discussed the HR1207, torture memos, secession, and other topics. Shelly Roche again provided feedback and questions for the show from Twitter. This time she did so remotely.
Originally published April 21, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6305.html
EL PASO, TEXAS – On Tuesday KVIA reporter Darren Hunt and a cameraman were arrested, then quickly released by an El Paso policeman. The facts appear that they stopped to film a flipped tractor-trailer, and did not immediately obey the policeman’s order to vacate the scene. They were partially blocking traffic on the other side, and the officer may have been worried about the safety of the scene. At any rate, they eventually did offer to leave but the police officer had had enough and manhandled them, pushing them around, and basically acting like a schoolyard bully. They were released after about an hour, and in regards to the safety concern, the officer did not seek to move them away from the scene after handcuffing them. The full video released to the public is here, and the excerpt from the KVIA news show is here, so you can decide for yourself, but please recognize that likely neither you or I have the “whole story” so try not to judge too harshly.
“We may not wish the Gray Champion to come again – but come he must, and come he will.” – from The Fourth Turning
“Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies.” – Dr. Ron Paul
by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6325.html
BETHLEHEM, PA – I attended several tea parties last week and one was a “post-tea party” held on Saturday. Around 300 people attended, and the concern of most was focused on over-taxation. There were several very motivational speakers and one of them was a homemaker with two children, who said she felt compelled to become politically active for the first time. Her theme was a return to the Constitution and rule of law to secure a free future for her children. As I strongly agree with these sentiments, there was only one part of her speech when I looked up quizzically. She had just said that she did not know why all of us had gathered on this day to defend freedom, that no one person had implored them to follow the Constitution. (photo)
But there is one person who has implored at least me, and who has gathered many others to the standard of peace, prosperity, and freedom.
His name is Ron Paul, and he is the Gray Champion.
During Ron Paul’s alloted 5 minutes to question Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding foreign policy Clinton took the opportunity to heap praise on Ron Paul and his enthusiastic supporters during the Presidential campaign following her answer.
It was a rather classy move by Clinton I must say. We even got to hear here infamous cackle when the chair of the committee said following her remarks, “Now your going to encourage them!”
Check out the lovefest below which also includes Ron Paul’s full question.
Quote of the Day: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money” – Alexis de Tocqueville
In 2005 Representative Tom Osborne of Nebraska thought the Central American Free Trade Agreement was a bad deal, but the Bush Administration threatened to punish his district in the next farm bill if he didn’t vote for it, so Osborne caved and the trade agreement passed by one vote.
But even he voted for what he thought was a bad bill, in order to protect something that a significant block of voters in his district valued. Most representatives do this. It’s a major reason they get re-elected at such high rates, and also why government constantly grows.
This is both bad news and good news. The bad news is obvious, but there’s a silver lining . . .
If a significant block of voters in your district starts telling your elected Representatives that the “Read the Bills Act” is very important to them, your reps will introduce or sponsor the bill, and vote to pass it, even if they would prefer to NOT live under its constraints. (Remember, Osborne would have preferred to vote against the trade agreement).
We may like to tell ourselves that the politicians do what they do because they’re some combination of stupid and evil, and that may well be true in some cases. But the more fundamental truth is that politicians really do represent the values of significant blocks of voters in their districts.
Notice how sometimes Democrats get elected in “red” Districts, if they express socially conservative values. Likewise, some Republicans often achieve success in “blue” areas if they support socially liberal goals.
It’s a matter of local values. Members of Congress have an incentive to represent the values of their districts. But the Read the Bills Act is not a liberal-conservative issue, so any member might introduce it. And the first co-sponsor might be from the other party. It’s a trans-partisan issue. All we have to do is . . .Read More »
From FreedomWatchOnFox.com we get the guest and topic list for Judge Napolitano’s Freedom Watch today at 2PM Eastern:
Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano continues with its 11th show tomorrow. Looks like it will be another great one. Here is the rundown on guests and topics:
Guests:
Glenn Beck
Ron Paul
Lew Rockwell
Jim Bovard – The Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF)
Shelly Roche – Doing the Twitter and interactive thing again
Pastor Steve Anderson – Pastor who was tazed and beaten at a border checkpoint.
Topics:
DHS/FBI report on right-wing extremism
Torture Memos
“Constitution-free” zones
Secession
Don’t forget to get interactive with the show by sending your “tweets” to Shelly Roche during the show: @shellyroche. Also post and vote for show topics, questions, and future potential guests at freedomwatch.uservoice.com.
Please note there are three forums accessible on the right sidebar of the page. There is one for posting questions related to this week’s show topics, another for posting topic ideas for upcoming shows, and one for posting requests for specific guests. All posts can be voted on as well. Do it now.
“The system does not collapse but evaporate.” – Trace Mayer
by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution Originally published Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6305.html
EVERYTOWN, USA – All over the United States last week, over-taxation “Tea Parties” protests broke out, rightly directed at Congress. Many Americans found themselves protesting on the streets and fields of their nation for the first time. This occurred despite the massive smokescreen put in place by the corporate mainstream media and Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Actual unemployment has hit 19%, not 8.5%. The actual consumer price inflation (CPI) is at +7%, not slightly below zero. On Saturday April 25, major END THE FED protests will break out at 38 cities directed at the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, who hold the real “money power,” not Congress, as explained here: “The Money Matrix – How the FED Works (PART 6/15)“. (photo)
Ron Paul was interviewed by Alan Colmes on his radio show last night. They discussed Ron Paul’s recent comments regarding secession along with those of Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Once again Ron Paul hammers his talking points home during the interview. Linking the economic crisis with American empire and transitioning the secession talk into the drug war, using federal drug raids in California as an example.
It is fascinating to listen to Ron Paul work his left-right magic. He focuses on the Left’s talking points when on liberal radio and the Right’s points when on conservative radio stations. Many say that Ron Paul doesn’t play politics, but it is obvious he frames his words around the audience listening to him.
Listen to the entire interview in two parts below.
Witnessing the Tea Parties last week left me a bit queasy. Perhaps the “tea” was too sweet or perhaps it was the effort to appropriate an idea just because the “other” team is now in power. During Glenn Beck’s broadcast of the Tea Party held at the Alamo you could clearly see a Ron Paul 2012 sign in the background. Since Ron Paul continues to claim that he doesn’t intend to run in 2012…
My thoughts veered once again to Gary Johnson, New Mexico’s former libertarian-in-Republican-clothing Governor. I wondered if he’s still considering a 2012 run, then I read a beautiful article by Bill Kauffman yesterday exploring the potential for a Johnson run by comparing him to Mark Sanford.
Yes, as a congressman Sanford opposed the U.S. intervention in Kosovo under a Democratic president; Gary Johnson opposed a Republican president’s war upon Iraq. Sanford reluctantly endorsed McCain in 2008; Johnson emphatically endorsed Ron Paul. Sanford has potential on civil liberties; Johnson, like Paul, has the guts to call for the legalization of marijuana and an end to the drug war.
As this issue went to press, Governor Johnson told me that he was keeping his options open for 2012. Keep an eye out for him, will you?
Ron Paul started something. Or, rather, he revealed something: liberty has a constituency. I was heartened mightily by the crowd in Minneapolis, which was overwhelmingly young. What a rousing sight: bright and enthusiastic kids afire with the spirit of liberty, of resistance to regimentation and the tyranny of standardization. Homeschoolers, homebrewers, punk rockers, evangelical Christians, radical Kansans, and reactionary New Englanders. These were American girls and boys, beautifully stained in the American grain, hip to Republican lies and numbing Democratic statism. Hell no, they won’t go. They’ll not be cannon fodder for the wars of Bush-Cheney or Obama-Biden. They demand honesty and liberty and respect for all things small and smaller; they have nothing but scorn for the liars and whores who run the empire.
I’d love for Gary Johnson to start getting his name out there as a potential candidate like Sanford is doing. I like Johnson more than Sanford at this point, but both are arguably more marketable than Ron Paul would be in 2012 mainly due to his age, certainly not his ideas.
I have worries and concerns for both potential candidates though. Ron Paul is unique and no candidate not named Ron Paul can claim 38 years of consistency fighting for free market and limited government principles. It appears more and more likely that the fight for the Ron Paul Republican voting block in 2012 will come down to Mark Sanford, Gary Johnson, or both.
Crops grow in dirt. Animals don’t take showers or use toilets. Food is made from yucky stuff.
This means there’s always a risk of contamination. We can reduce this risk, but not eliminate it. Attempts to make everything perfectly safe are Utopian fantasies that carry a high price in increased costs, reduced variety, diminished supply, and . . . increased risk.
The free market already provides you with multiple ways to balance risks and costs. You can choose between . . .
* Organic and non-organic food
* Locally grown food, or food from far away
* Processed or non-processed food
* Natural or genetically engineered food
The politicians want to reduce this variety, and your choices, in favor of their preferred scheme of top-down, one-size-fits-all regulation. But do such monolithic schemes really make us safer? What if the one-size-fits-all scheme gets something wrong, overlooks something, or has unintended consequences? Then everybody suffers, whereas . . .
The choices provided by the free market tend to limit the harm caused by mistakes. It’s like having a diversified portfolio of investments. Sadly, politicians aren’t fond of diversity. They much prefer their own arrogant dreams for re-engineering the world. Now here comes their latest one . . .
Some politicians want to exploit highly publicized food-borne outbreaks to remake American agriculture, from the top down. These outbreaks were generally the result of industrialized food production, but, as with 9-11 and the housing bubble, politicians like to use crises to grab the power to re-do everything. In this case the most infamous proposal is H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act. This bill would create . . .
Liberty Maven
BETHLEHEM, PA – I attended several tea parties last week and one was a “post-tea party” held on Saturday. Around 300 people attended, and the concern of most was focused on over-taxation. There were several very motivational speakers and one of them was a homemaker with two children, who said she felt compelled to become politically active for the first time. Her theme was a return to the Constitution and rule of law to secure a free future for her children. As I strongly agree with these sentiments, there was only one part of her speech when I looked up quizzically. She had just said that she did not know why all of us had gathered on this day to defend freedom, that no one person had implored them to follow the Constitution. (
END THE FED
“.
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