By Judge Andrew P.Napolitano FOX News Senior Judicial Analyst
The Secretary of the Treasury and the Chair of the Federal Reserve have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and the federal laws. Among those laws is the obligation of management of publicly traded corporations to inform shareholders in a meaningful way of the risks attendant upon all extraordinary corporate activity, including major acquisitions.
The acquisition of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America was surely a major acquisition and an extraordinary corporate act. The president of B of A now tells us that the Secretary and the Chair told him not to inform his shareholders that Merrill Lynch was truly a risky investment. As it turns out, when Ken Lewis learned that Merrill Lynch was worth about $17 billion less than the $50 billion agreed upon amount, he attempted to invoke the material adverse change (MAC) clause in the contract of acquisition, which would have given him the option of getting Merrill Lynch for $33 billion or walking away from the deal.
“Ken Lewis, Henry Paulson, John Thain, Ben Bernanke, and Jeffrey Lacker, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, should all be prosecuted for extortion, conspiracy to extort, criminal fraud, and theft of honest services; and they should be imprisoned if convicted.”
I must confess. This Ron Paul supporter suffered from a temporary bout of neo-conservatism after viewing that completely horrifying video of the young woman lying in the street bleeding to death in Iran over the weekend. I will not link to it because I don’t want to infect anyone else. My long lost compassionate conservatism gene made a return as I was filled with hatred and sadness. I thought, “Something must be done!. America needs to intervene!” A few hours and a reality check later I found myself back on firm Founding Father-style non-interventionist footing once again.
Some claim taking a non-interventionist approach on the Iran election aftermath is the height of hypocrisy from someone who claims to believe in liberty. Ron Paul is being criticized for his lone “Nay” vote on condemning the Iranian government’s heinous actions on it’s own people. On the surface it appears Obama is taking a similar non-interventionist approach for now, although there are some arguing the opposite may be true. Hopefully, Obama stands his ground (this time) against the interventionist opposition.
Those clamoring for intervention need to answer a few questions, but there is one question that trumps them all.
Earlier this year the Campaign For Liberty’s Steve Bierfeldt was detained at the St. Louis airport for carrying cash. The story was reported first on Judge Napolitano’s Freedom Watch show and then other news outlets picked it up.
The ACLU has now brought a lawsuit against the TSA on behalf of Steve Bierfleldt and CNN ran a report on the story during Wolf Blitzer’s “Situation Room” yesterday.
We liberty lovers went into a bit of withdrawal last week when Freedom Watch aired a “best of” show. Yesterday it returned in stellar form with guests Ron Paul, Daniel Hannan, Lew Rockwell, Tom Woods, Peter Schiff, Shelly Roche, and Tom Palmer (CATO) joining Judge Napolitano.
Ron Paul and Daniel Hannan united in a one two punch fighting for liberty. They spoke about nullification, secession, and then compared Europe and America on the road to socialism. Another topic that they and the other guests discussed was protectionism. Peter Schiff seems to believe the U.S. need not worry too much about protectionism. Tom Palmer disagrees. Woods and Rockwell delve into the prospects for liberty in our lifetime.
Bruce Fein. Well, obviously this is just some wishful thinking on my part. It does rival some other wishful thinking from others that the choice will be Judge Andrew Napolitano. No, none of us liberty lovers will get our choice among the nine. Obama will certainly get his choice, much to our unpleasantness.
After watching Bruce Fein in person deliver a lecture a few weeks ago I walked away with the opinion that every person in America should pay attention and heed his words of warning. Luckily, Fein appeared with Bill Moyers on PBS last week discussing torture, American empire, and executive branch overreach.
Interestingly enough his consistent view regarding prosecuting Bush/Cheney for war crimes is now carrying over to the question about what the Obama administration should do about it. Fein believes in the prosecution, but he also suggests that Obama pardons Bush/Cheney once the prosecution occurs in accordance with the law. Watch a great 30 minute discussion here at PBS and the extra web only 17 minute follow-up discussion.
For foreign policy see Bruce Fein. For free market economics see Robert Higgs. For history and economics see Thomas Woods. To support all of the above see Ron Paul.
“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. One word of truth outweighs the world.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, imprisoned Soviet dissident and Nobel Prize winner
by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution Originally published Friday, May 1, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article6368.html
WASHINGTON, DC – In January, I wrote an Austrian economic proof that the Obama stimulus plan would fail, I noted that one of the many symptoms would be inevitable, unstoppable corruption. Well, I suppose it’s no surprise to any American that corruption in our government is already widespread. And it’s pretty sad to see the mainstream media freak out over a case of the flu. As fellow columnist Jonathan Cymberknopf writes in “Swine flu make for great ratings“, 36,000 died due to influenza in 2008, so there is no need for a mass freak out. (And yes, there is a possibility that it could become serious. A small possibility.)
After returning to the USA last month, I found that, perhaps paradoxically, the best news is being reported on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, a comedy show. Check out the “Your Government NOT at Work” excerpt from the April 28 episode 07:45 to 12:00. Stewart outlines a scandal involving my former Congresswoman, Jane Harman, of California. My residence used to lie in Harman’s district, she failed to reply to a single one of my attempts to write or be heard. I contacted her over one hundred times over two years without reply, but perhaps she was busy covering up. In Harman’s defense, she would like to release all of her wiretapped conversations to the public.
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.
Ron Paul was interviewed by Phil Hendrie recently. They discuss marijuana legalization, Somali pirates, torture, Rick Perry secession comments, and Obama releasing the CIA memos on torture.
Listen via youtube below in two parts. Thanks to Tim Peck for sending us the video links.
Ron Paul was a guest on the “Brian and The Judge” radio show this morning. Listen to the audio here. The interview is about 13 minutes long.
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The cruel beauty of having Barack Obama as President is how he can be used as an almost black and white litmus test for partisan nepotism (or hackery as some call it). Dip your favorite lawmakers (or special interest groups) in the testing solution and they come out pure red, pure blue, or some shade of purple. Here are a few examples:
Barney Frank: Under Bush he clamored for more transparency. Under Obama he’s mum on transparency = Pure Blue Partisan Hack.
Neo-con Tea Party Enthusiasts: Some under Bush supported the bailouts. Under Obama they scream for his head because of the bailouts = Pure Red Partisan Hacks.
Antiwar Obama Fans: They wanted to impeach Bush for getting us into the Iraq War on lies. They are oddly less enthusiastic about protesting Obama for relocating more and more troops to Afghanistan = Pure Blue Partisan Hacks.
Ron Paul: Under Bush denounced the Iraq War as unconstitutional. Under Obama still denouncing foreign interventionism = Pure Purple Principled Non-partisan.
Playing the game of partisan nepotism is quite easy. The rules are merely to compare the actions (and reactions) of various individuals and groups to the policies of George W. Bush in the past and Barack H. Obama right now. No doubt there are many other examples. Feel free to leave your own in the comments.
The goal of this game is to lose by showing your purple pride, revealing that you are a principled non-partisan. You believe in the rule of law and don’t change your views just because your team is in the lead. Sadly, I’d say that most Americans are either purely red or purely blue. Sometimes when you win, you really do lose.
Liberty Maven
After returning to the USA last month, I found that, perhaps paradoxically, the best news is being reported on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show, a comedy show. Check out the “Your Government NOT at Work” excerpt from 
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