Archive for March, 2010

Don’t let the NFL take your away your vitamins

March 12th, 2010 10:03 pm  |  by  |  Published in congress, DownsizeDC.org, Health Care, Liberty, Market Regulation, Politics  |  0

Senator John McCain has introduced S. 3002, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA).

This bill will . . .

* control your ability to use vitamins,
* for the benefit of the major sports leagues

The following welfare queens endorsed McCain’s bill within hours of its introduction . . .

* The National Football League
* The National Basketball Association
* Major League Baseball
* National Hockey League
* The NCAA
* The Professional Golf Association
* The U.S. Olympic Committee

Nearly all of these entities receive tax funding to build the stadiums they play in. Now they want to make your supplements more expensive so that none of their rich athletes will accidentally ingest anything banned by league rules. But you can take action to kill this bill.

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Dollar Bulls Beware

March 12th, 2010 2:44 pm  |  by  |  Published in Debt, Economics, Money, national debt, Peter Schiff, Politics  |  1

by Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital and author of Crash Proof 2.0: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse

By late 2009, as the U.S. dollar flirted with multi-year lows against most foreign currencies, big investment players crowded into trades that shorted the greenback. Commentators noted that the anti-dollar momentum had taken on a life of its own and that the trade had become too crowded.  It is true that markets have a nasty tendency to move against the crowd.  When a lot of traders agree on a particular trade, it’s more likely that in the short-run the opposite trade will be a winner.

The 2008 “flight to safety” rally of the U.S. dollar was a once in a lifetime event that presented huge opportunities for aggressive currency traders. By December 2008, after rallying 25% over the previous five months, the dollar topped out. However, there were many speculators who had come somewhat late to the party, as well as many others who had ridden the dollar up and were thus sitting on huge unrealized gains.

Those technical reasons, combined with the re-emergence of strong growth in emerging markets and solid earnings from overseas companies, redirected investment flows away from the dollar. 2009 became a year of dollar weakness, with the buck giving back nearly all of its gains. At that point, most people made the reasonable conclusion that the decline would continue.

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Can you prove you’re not a terrorist?

March 11th, 2010 2:04 pm  |  by  |  Published in Big Government, congress, DownsizeDC.org, Liberty, privacy, REAL ID  |  0

The REAL ID Act has punished innocent Americans with red tape, higher fees, and lost privacy. Some in Congress want to add to these burdens.

Let’s stop them! Please tell Congress to repeal REAL ID and oppose any further attempts at creating a national ID card.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . .

What is the purpose of REAL ID?

* to prevent terrorists from boarding planes, even though there are an infinite number of other ways to engage in terrorism
* to prevent illegal immigrants from getting driver’s licenses – which only increases the likelihood they will drive without ever being tested, creating more dangerous roads http://tinyurl.com/yf5r595

Why should either (misguided) goal interfere with an American citizen’s attempt to renew a driver’s license?

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The Guantanamo Problem – Part 2

March 11th, 2010 8:00 am  |  by  |  Published in Blowback, Civil Liberties, Commentary, Constitution, Foreign Policy, Jake Towne, law, Liberty  |  0

Originally published March 10, 2010 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/the-guantanamo-problem-ndash-part-2-1

This series addresses the War on Terror. While my stances on both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are very clear, in this piece I will propose what to do with Guantanamo Bay and its prisoners.  In Part 1, I explained the history of Guantanamo for knowing its history is key to understanding what should be done with this military base.  In this piece,  I will dissect a recent editorial published in the local newspaper by the incumbent Congressman and then propose my solutions on how to handle Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Following this, no current discussion on terror would be complete without discussing the controversial body scanning and I will add my comments and solutions on airline safety. The last part will summarize border security and just how dangerous the war on terror is – not only to our soldiers who risk their lives everyday and avoiding financial ruin as a country, but also to our liberties as a free society.

Readers should be aware that the incumbent, Congressman Dent, in my congressional race sits on Homeland Security and is a rabid supporter of the Bush and Obama administrations’ War on Terror. While I do not question his motives to protect the American people, I do very much oppose his actions and ineffective solutions. Our country’s leaders have not only plunged our nation into expensive, preemptive, and unjust wars for the past decade, but have embarked on a vast extension of a modern-day police state. It is the duty of every citizen to question whether these new restraints over our lives are, in fact, beneficial. I view the infringement of civil liberties that are protected by our Constitution as not only illegal but unnecessary and immoral.

The original source has been moved to the Morning Call archives here, but a modified version is available on Politico. In quotation marks are quotes from the Congressman, followed by my comments explaining my logic.

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PATRIOT Act Backdoor Extension Passes Congress

March 10th, 2010 9:51 pm  |  by  |  Published in Jake Towne, Liberty, patriot act  |  3 Responses

Give us all your liberties, and we will keep you safe.” – Intentions of the United States Congress under the USA PATRIOT Act, 2001-2010

Originally published February 28, 2010 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/patriot-act-backdoor-extension-passes-congress-1

[Thanks to LS for preparing the below video.]

WASHINGTON, DC – Just three days before the USA PATRIOT Act was to expire, Congress used a backdoor method to camouflage the stripping away of civil liberties until after the 2010 election. The bill, HR 3961, was originally passed by the House last fall as the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act. While the Republocrats originally wanted to add the PATRIOT Act reauthorization to the so-called* “jobs” bill, some dissent on the jobs portion by some Republicans and on the PATRIOT portion by some Democrats delayed the bill, so Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) had to resort to the backdoor amendment of HR 3961.

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Country-crashing Afghanistan on the House floor

March 10th, 2010 9:28 pm  |  by  |  Published in Big Government, Blowback, Commentary, congress, Constitution, Foreign Policy, Maven Commentary, Ron Paul, War  |  2 Responses

Dennis Kucinich had his day on the House floor today. The debate on his doomed bill to demand that Obama remove our troops from Afghanistan was full of the usual suspects making their usual arguments. I can’t help but wonder, if George Bush were still president, would there have been more than 60 votes of support from Democrats?

Ron Paul took his five minutes to continue his lifelong demonstration called, “How to follow the Constitution”.

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The Dangers of “Wartime Powers”

March 10th, 2010 8:03 pm  |  by  |  Published in Big Government, Civil Liberties, Commentary, Constitution, Foreign Policy, Liberty, Neo-con, patriot act, terrorism, War  |  6 Responses

A few weeks ago at CPAC, a Friday panel was assembled to answer the question: “Does security trump freedom?” Among the panelists were Robert “Skip” Ash, who teaches a course on “national security law” at Regent University, and also serves at the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) as their Senior Litigation Counsel for National Security Law. The deck was stacked beforehand: The ACLJ claims to be “focused on National Security issues and waging an effective and constitutional war on terrorism” (Constitutional? What Constitution?), and the debate moderator was Jay Sekulow, who serves as the organization’s Chief Counsel.

In his opening statements to the audience, Ash commented: “[The troops] also wonder why the President of the United States cannot bring himself to admit that the United States is in a long-term war with enemy jihadists, who seek to destroy us.” Several panelists, including the chief architect of the Patriot Act, went on to defend the Patriot Act as a set of wartime powers necessary to protecting freedom; as former Attorney General John Ashcroft had explained earlier in the day, “the purpose of security is to reinforce and enhance freedom.” Or, as George Orwell famously listed as a slogan of “the Party:” Freedom is Slavery.

To this, the short response is: If these “wartime powers” are so essential to maintain America’s national security and the freedoms of its citizens, why not declare a war? The heart of the matter, of course, runs much deeper. As Glenn Greenwald wrote in his New York Times bestseller, How Would A Patriot Act?, the goal is not to uphold or defend the Constitution at all, but rather to utilize fear to undermine it:     Read More »

Unlocking the Jobs Dilemma

March 9th, 2010 9:35 pm  |  by  |  Published in Economics, jobs, Market Regulation, Money  |  0

by John Browne, Senior Market Strategist, Euro Pacific Capital

Productive, private-sector jobs – the lifeblood of a sound economy – are under assault by politicians in the United States and Western Europe, who have unwittingly taken a number of steps that make future job losses a foregone conclusion.

In the 1980s, as a Member of the UK Parliament and elected Chairman of the Conservative Small Business Committee, I led discussions on the issue of job creation. At that point, the British labor market was dealing with technological advances that threatened traditional industries and an influx of highly competitive Eastern European workers who drifted westward in the waning days of the Cold War.

Pushing back against those who wanted to preserve an untenable status quo, the Conservatives recognized that defensive measures like excessive regulation, high taxes, and favored bidding for government contracts were antithetical to business growth. Fortunately, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. Her understanding of economics, combined with her ability to communicate and lead, resulted in the adoption of pro-business polices.  The British economy soon flourished, creating many profitable new jobs.

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Do you want more unelected lawmakers?

March 9th, 2010 9:11 pm  |  by  |  Published in Activism, Big Government, congress, Constitution, DownsizeDC.org, Federal Reserve, government spending  |  5 Responses

Congress wants to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that will regulate everything from credit cards to mortgages.

House Democrats want the CFPA to be an independent agency, but Republicans are opposed. As a result, Senators Chris Dodd and Bob Corker are thinking of making it an arm of . . . the Federal Reserve!

Both Democrats AND Republicans are missing the point. Only Congress – not unelected bureaucrats – should have power to write and pass laws. Please tell Congress to oppose the creation of the CFPA and tell them to introduce the Write the Laws Act (WTLA) instead.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . .    Read More »

Rand Paul has “it” but hasn’t won anything yet

March 8th, 2010 8:30 am  |  by  |  Published in Activism, Commentary, Election, Fund Raising, Liberty, Maven Commentary, Politics, Polling, Rand Paul, Ron Paul Republicans  |  0

As many Liberty Maven readers are aware we endorsed Rand Paul last summer following our interview with him. At the time he was behind in the polls by 11% points in the Kentucky GOP primary. On Sunday the latest poll shows him leading his Republican opponent Trey Grayson by 15% points.

This is uncomfortable territory for those of us who are used to being the underdogs. Rand Paul has the best chance of any liberty candidate at winning, but a 15% lead does not mean victory is assured.

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