Category Archives: libertarianism

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John Grisham » The Racketeer

Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of this country only four active federal judges have been murdered.

Judge Raymond Fawcett just became number five.

Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

Continued:

via John Grisham » The Racketeer.

Really liked this novel! The dynamics of unjust imprisonment and loss of personal freedoms, retribution… are very compelling.

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US Third Party Presidential Debate (Moderated by Larry King) – YouTube

DEBATE STARTS AT 1:02:55

In response to widespread blackout from both the mainstream media and political establishment alike, RT is honored to be presenting a platform for the major third-party candidates also vying for the White House this election year to debate. We are offering the event live in cooperation with the debate’s organizers, the Free and Equal Elections Foundation.

The event is moderated by multi-award winning broadcast journalist Larry King.

You can also watch the debate LIVE on RT.com http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air

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The War on Private Property by Laurence M. Vance

This talk was given at the Orange County/Central Florida Campaign for Liberty Monthly Meeting in Orlando, Florida, on October 11, 2012.

Do you want to live in an authoritarian society? Do you desire an intrusive government? Do you wish for a government that is a nanny state? Do you yearn for government bureaucrats to tell you what you can and cannot do? Do you like puritanical busybodies telling you how to live your life? Do you believe that the government should define and enforce morality? Do you reason that vices should be crimes? Then you should support the war on drugs.

Do you love liberty? Do you treasure freedom? Do you want to live in a free society? Do you prefer government at all levels to be as limited as possible? Do you think people should be responsible for the consequences of their own actions? Do you wish the federal government would at least follow its own Constitution? Do you reason that vices should not be crimes? Then you must oppose the war on drugs.

There is no middle ground. The war on drugs is a war on the free market, a free society, and freedom itself.

Continued:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance307.html

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Government Dependency Will End in Chaos-Ron Paul

Government Dependency Will End in Chaos PDF Print E-mail

The media insists on characterizing statements about dependency on government handouts as controversial, but in truth such statements are absolutely correct.  It’s not that nearly half of Americans are dependent on government; it’s actually more than half.  If one includes not just people on food stamps and welfare, but also seniors on Medicare, Social Security and people employed by the government directly, the number is more like 165 million out of 308 million, which is 53%.

Some argue that Social Security and Medicare benefits are a right because people pay into these programs their whole lives, or that we need a government safety net in place for people who fall on hard times.  However, this all becomes a moot point when the funds people depend on become worthless due to government default or rampant inflation.

This is less an issue of dignity or dependence on government, and more about thedeceitfulness of government promises.

The Fed recently announced that it plans to keep interest rates near zero and keep buying near worthless assets from banks indefinitely.  This enables Congress to spend without having to take deficits or the debt seriously and there is every indication they intend to spend with impunity until the system collapses.  There are no brakes on the runaway train.  The federal debt ceiling law does nothing to limit spending. The ceiling will have to be raised yet again perhaps before the year is out.  What is happening in Greece with austerity measures and riots in the street will happen here within a decade according to some realistic estimates if we do not find some way to fiscally restrain our government.

There is little point in a debate about being entitled to healthcare or food or shelter from fellow taxpayers if the whole system has collapsed.  And, with the way our politicians have taken over and mismanaged vast amounts of resources, collapse seems almost unavoidable.  Yet the number of Americans who have significant dependency on government is dangerously high, and I honestly fear for them.

Worse, corporate welfare is also at an all time high with no signs of diminishing.  Though it is hard to quantify, Tad Dehaven at Cato has estimated that the government spends nearly twice as much on corporate welfare than on social welfare.  Both parties are equally guilty.  More and more, the business sector is learning to rely on taxpayer largesse in one form or another.  They used to be solely concerned with providing a better product to the consumer at a better price.  Now, success on Wall Street depends entirely too much on having the best lobbyists on K Street.  If one includes the employees of “private” businesses who depend on government contracts, grants or bailouts, there are even more people dependent on government in some way.

Government does not create resources when it taxes people and prints money; it merely redistributes the wealth, while supporting a massive, wasteful bureaucracy along the way.  Government is a giant, blood-sucking parasite on our otherwise healthy economy.  For too long we have entrusted too much economic power and influence to irresponsible politicians in Washington.  It’s the chaos that ensues after they run the system into the ground that will be so painful for so many people.  But realigning our economy with the free market and away from government mandates and handouts must happen in order for it to thrive again.

The answer is not to keep asking government to do more.  The answer is to extricate our economy and ourselves from the grasp of Washington DC as much as possible now, before our dependency becomes our downfall.

Government Dependency Will End in Chaos.

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One in five Americans reports no religious affiliation, study says – The Washington Post

By , Published: October 8

One-fifth of U.S. adults say they are not part of a traditional religious denomination, new data from the Pew Research Center show, evidence of an unprecedented reshuffling of Americans’ spiritual identities that is shaking up fields from charity to politics.

But despite their nickname, the “nones” are far from godless. Many pray, believe in God and have regular spiritual routines.

More:

One in five Americans reports no religious affiliation, study says – The Washington Post.

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» TSA Worker ‘Smacked Me In My Testicles’ For Refusing Body Scan Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!

 

Federal screeners now crushing genitals as form of punishment

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
October 8, 2012

Illustrating once again how the TSA is handing out arbitrary punishments for people who exercise their right to opt out of radiation-firing body scanners, frequent flier Steven deForest described how he had his testicles “smacked” by a TSA screener for refusing to go through the scanner.

While traveling through Las Vegas, deForest chose to opt out of a naked body scanner and was told to wait in a glass holding box.

“A bulky young TSA agent came over to pat me down,” deForest told author Christopher Elliott. “He told me to turn around. He was using his command voice, barking orders. I told him that I wasn’t comfortable turning away from my luggage, which had already been screened, and wanted to keep it in my sight.”

The agent issued more orders — “Stay there, I didn’t tell you to move!” and “Empty your pockets!” — and deForest says the federal screener seemed irritated that he didn’t obey him without hesitation.

And that’s when deForest says he was punished. The agent knelt in front of him to conduct a pat-down.

“As he raised his hands he was looking at me,” he says. “Then he gave a quick flick and smacked me in one of my testicles.”

“I can’t over-emphasize the feeling of humiliation, rage, and frustration,” said deForest. “I believe I have a better idea of what a woman feels when she is groped, or worse. I was deliberately assaulted by someone who knew that he could get away with it.”

It seems as though Americans have a choice of punishment when they opt out of the body scanner – either have their genitals squeezed or allow TSA agents to steal their valuables and money.

The TSA had admitted that it punished travelers who opt out of the body scanner with more invasive pat downs.Last week we reported on TSA screener John W. Irwin, who pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny after he stole $520 dollars from a man as a punishment for the man complaining about his invasive pat down.

As Consumer Traveler’s Charlie Leocha reported, “When meeting with privacy officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and TSA…. I was told unofficially that there were two standards of pat-downs. One for the normal situation where passengers are going through metal detectors and a different pat-down for those who refuse to go through the whole-body scanners.”

“With this latest announcement, TSA admits that it has been clandestinely punishing passengers for refusing to go through the invasive whole-body scans with an even more intrusive aggressive pat-down and that soon those more invasive pat-down will creep from airport to airport,” adds Leocha.

During the height of the national op-out day backlash against the TSA in 2010, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was told directly by a TSA agent that pat downs were made increasingly invasive not for any genuine security reason, but to make the experience so uncomfortable for the traveler that they would be forced to use the body scanner.

Even being seen to display a “bad attitude” in not instantly complying with the TSA’s obedience training can lead to trouble.

As we reported last month, a TSA screener admitted to a woman traveling through Houston Airport that she was prevented from boarding her flight for retaliatory reasons as punishment for a bad attitude rather than any genuine security threat, after the woman refused to allow TSA agents to test her drink for explosives.

Journalists who have been critical of the TSA have also been targeted for reprisals. CNN reporter Drew Griffin was also put on a TSA watch list immediately after he filed reports critical of the organization back in 2008.

The fact that TSA screeners now fondle and in some cases squeeze people’s genitalia is not only a form of punishment, but also a fairly routine part of the pat down process.

Hundreds of letters of complaint about the TSA’s invasive security procedures which were released last month under the Freedom of Information Act include numerous horror stories about TSA screeners directly touching people’s genitals during pat downs.

Back in May, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera described how he was “manually raped” by a TSA agent who touched his “junk”.

In November 2010, we reported the story of how radio host Owen JJ Stone was told by a TSA screener that his pat down would include the screener putting his hands down Stone’s pants. The TSA worker directly patted down his testicles, penis and backside while his hand was inside Stone’s pants.

Also in November 2010, blogger Erin Chase went public to reveal how she literally had her vagina groped by a TSA screener, who touched both her labia as well as her buttocks and breasts during a pat down.

Former Miss USA Susie Castillo also revealed how a TSA worker touched her vagina during a pat down at Dallas-Fort Worth airport in April 2011 after she refused to go through a body scanner.

Back in April, Republican Congressman Francisco Canseco complained about how a TSA worker grabbed his private parts.

“As he was moving up my leg, he moved his hand aggressively up to my crotch and he hurt me,” Canseco said. “The natural reaction is when someone goes for your crotch and it hurts, you’re going to pull back — and my right arm came down and moved away his hand briskly.”

When Canseco moved away the screener’s hand, the screener characterized the action as an “assault”.

Rape counselors have warned that women who have been sexually assaulted face treatment metered out by TSA screeners that can be “extremely re-traumatizing to someone who has already experienced an invasion of their privacy and their body.” An estimated one in six women in the United States have been the victim of an attempted or completed rape.

Infowars is launching the national Opt Out and Film Week during Thanksgiving, November 19-26. Click here for more details or click here for the campaign’s Facebook page.

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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

» TSA Worker ‘Smacked Me In My Testicles’ For Refusing Body Scan Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!.

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Matt Ridley on Libertarians | Mind & Matter – WSJ.com

Inside the Cold, Calculating Libertarian Mind

An individual’s personality shapes his or her political ideology at least as much as circumstances, background and influences. That is the gist of a recent strand of psychological research identified especially with the work of Jonathan Haidt. The baffling (to liberals) fact that a large minority of working-class white people vote for conservative candidates is explained by psychological dispositions that override their narrow economic interests.

More:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444358804578016291138331904.html

 

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Capitalism Without Failure: You Cannot Have Capitalism Without Failure

Capitalism is an approach to economics that is organic. Self-interest drives individuals to pursue wealth. Through entrepreneurship and hard work and ingenuity, an economy morphs into existence. Capitalism is the ultimate meritocracy; the smartest and the most creative and the most tenacious thrive; those who cannot compete ultimately fail and must find another way to be productive market participants.

That describes what happens in a capitalist system that has not been corrupted and gamed  to the point where institutions are incentivized to direct more money and effort to lobbying for political protection, and less to competing harder and smarter.
More:

Capitalism Without Failure: You Cannot Have Capitalism Without Failure.