Nobel prize winning economist Friedrich Hayek’s book The Road to Serfdom is required reading for any serious student of liberty.
Hayek’s warnings are very timely, as they seem to describe quite well the events we are currently seeing in the American political system.
The folks at Mises.org have placed a copy of The Road to Serfdom - In Cartoons on their web site. This effort makes The Road to Serfdom approachable to audiences of all ages and intellectual background.
The Road to Serfdom is a chilling guide to the descent of a free nation into a totalitarian socialist dictatorship. If enough free men and women read this great work we may be able to prevent this fall in our time.
Please, send this cartoon to your friends and family. It will educate them on the great dangers we face and may interest them enough to read the entire book.
The proxy list that we used to maintain here at Fort Liberty has now moved to WorkingProxies.info.
Please check there for the newest proxy sites to work-around Internet censorship.
Buy guns now, while they are still legal. Don’t limit yourself to handguns and shotguns, buy rifles in .223 and .308 caliber. Shotguns are for home defense; handguns are for personal defense; rifles are for the defense of our nation.
Buy as many firearms as you can afford from private owners so that the government doesn’t know what you have. But buy new firearms too, we’re not going to get anywhere by trading guns amongst ourselves — we need to ensure that there are enough arms for every patriotic American.
Don’t skimp on ammunition. Ammunition can be stored for a long time and ammunition is likely to be very hard to obtain in the future.
Train as much as you can afford to while its still legal, and train with your entire family.
Store enough food and water to make sure that your family can survive the coming civil unrest.
Maintain a decent first aid kit with a good tourniquet, and an OPA and NPA. QuickClot is an expensive addition, but well worth it.
Make sure every member of your family knows what to do in case of an emergency.
Use your First Amendment rights. Talk not only with your friends and family, but with your neighbors and co-workers. Make connections. These connections will become the backbone of resistance to socialist totalitarianism.
The world witnessed what Lenin’s victory in Russia did to the people of that nation. The world witnesses what Hitler’s election in Germany did to that nation. The world witnessed what Castro’s victory in Cuba did to that nation. The world witnessed what Chavez’s election in Venezuela did to that nation. Now we personally will witness what Barack Obama’s election victory in the United States will do to the entire world.
Keep hope. The world has seen dark times before, but we humans are still clinging to this rock called Earth.
I was watching a great video on YouTube and at the end of the video the editor displayed some great web pages for black Americans — and all Americans — to visit.
The editor titled his list “Right Wings of the Black Community.”
Here are the URL’s from his list:
There are two more I’d like to add to the list:
It’s not a black thing, it’s not a white thing, it’s a not being an ignorant fool thing. Check out all of these web sites!
The United States is currently suffering under an unimaginably complex tax system. The maintenance of this beauracratic behemoth costs the taxpayers billions of dollars every year. The direct costs borne by the taxpayers are small in comparison to the costs borne by corporations and individual taxpayers in attempting to comply with all of these Federal government regulations.
The people of the United States and their elected representatives are now looking at two options to replace the current tax system: The Flat Income Tax and the National Sales Tax.
The Flat Income Tax represents a modification of the current tax system, where the National Sales Tax represents a complete re-architecture of the entire tax system.
A National Sales Tax Would Improve the Trade Deficit
This is a bold claim, so I will explain it in simple terms using a small model of the global economic system. In our model, we will have only two companies and two consumers.
Our two companies are Alpha Company and Charlie Company. Alpha Company manufactures widgets in their plant in Plano, TX. Charlie Company manufactures similar widgets in their factory in Shanghai, China.
Our two consumers are John and Chon. John lives in Los Angeles, Califoria. Chon lives in Beijing, China.
For the purposes of our example, let us state that it costs Alpha Company $100 to manufacture a widget. To this $100, we must then add the burden of income taxes. Again, solely for the purposes of our model, let us state that this burden raises the cost of the Alpha Company Widget by $20.
Alpha Company must pass these additional costs on to the consumer. Therefore, if either John or Chon decide to purchase Alpha Company brand widgets, they must pay more for them.
In effect, the Income Tax makes Alpha Company widgets more expensive (and therefore less desirable) than Charlie Company widgets.
Now let’s look at the effects of a National Sales Tax on international trade.
Once again, we will state that a widget costs Alpha Company $100 to produce. However, this time we will not burden Alpha Company with income tax.
In this model, there are no extra costs for Alpha Company to pass on to the consumers, John and Chon. When John decides to buy a widget, he is taxed the same National Sales Tax — no matter which widget he buys. This allows Alpha Company to compete on an even level with Charlie Company.
Moreover, when Chon decides to buy a widget, he does not pay our National Sales Tax for the widget. This makes Alpha Company brand widgets price competitive in the China as well as in the United States.
Let me restate this succintly: The Income Tax destroys our national competitiveness and increases our trade deficit; The National Sales Tax restores our national competitiveness and enables us to compete on an even playing field with the rest of the world.
The Income Tax Discourages Working; The National Sales Tax Encourages Saving
Any good animal trainer knows that animanls do what you reward them for doing and avoid doing what they are punished for doing.
The Income Tax effectively punishes people for working. For every extra dollar you make, you are forced to pay more Income Tax.
If you work for $10/hr, the income tax takes approximately $3.50 of that. You are now working for $6.50/hr. Isn’t that significantly less motivating than $10.00/hr?
By reducing our motivation to work, succeed, and produce, the Income Tax robs our national economy of much of it’s vigor. It hinders our ability to compete with other world economies.
The National Sales Tax, on the other hand, punishes Americans when they spend money. That $2 beer now costs $2.50. The $100 Walkman is now a $125 Walkman.
This acts to discourage spending. Discouraging spending automatically encourages savings. Savings become investment. Investment becomes wealth.
What does American business require to build and grow? Investment capital.
Where does American business currently get that investment capital? From overseas.
Why does American business get its investment capital from overseas? Because Americans don’t save and invest.
Who profits from American business? The investors.
Who ends up owning American businesses? Foreigners.
We must be careful here not to blame the foreigners who now own a large number of American businesses. They took the risks and invested money when we didn’t, and the markets rewarded them for this. What we must do, however, is build a tax system which enables and encourages Americans to save and invest in America.
Building wealth for foreigners is a good thing; Building wealth for Americans is a better thing.
Objections to the National Sales Tax
Objection
The National Sales Tax is regressive. It taxes poor people more heavily than rich people.
Resolution
In many states which currently collect sales tax, basic items are exempted from sales tax. These items include food, clothing, and housing.
Exempting these basics of living from the National Sales Tax has the effect of moving the National Sales Tax from a regressive to a progressive tax.
Objection
The National Sales Tax will be difficult and expensive to collect.
Resolution
Forty-five states are now collecting state sales taxes. The Federal government will be able to outsource the collection of the National Sales Tax to the existing organizations within the states.
Organizations to collect the National Sales Tax will have to be built in only five states.
Objection
Switching to a National Sales Tax would require a repealing of the 16th Amendment.
Resolution
The 16th Amendment allows the Federal government to levy an income tax, but does not [i]require[/i] it to do so.
We could switch to a National Sales Tax and repeal the 16th Amendment at some point far in the future.
Summary
Our nation is at a critical crossroads where we must choose to stay with our current broken system of taxation, attempt to repair it, or replace it entirely with something new.
The principles of economics show us clearly that the National Sales Tax is the right path to take to ensure the economic prosperity of America for our children and for their children.
Now is the time to build a tax system which encourages American values, supports American business, and builds prosperity for our futures and our childrens futures.
Every year since 1999, the U.N. has voted in support of a resolution which is misleadingly named “Combating the Defamation of Religion.”
This resolution is sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a powerful group of Islamic nation states which dominates the U.N. General Assembly.
This resolution “stresses the need to effectively combat defamation of all religions and incitement to religious hatred, against Islam and Muslims in particular.” In other words, this resolution combats the freedom of speech which free people all over the world hold so dear.
Former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton speaks very clearly to this issue when he says “It’s obviously intended to have an intimidating effect on people expressing criticism of radical Islam, and the idea that you can have a defamation of a religion like this, I think, is a concept fundamentally foreign to our system of free expression in the United States.”
The entire purpose of free speech in our society is to protect those who would criticize ideas and beliefs held by the rich and powerful. Ideas and beliefs are never above review. This resolution is a slap in the face to the founding fathers of this great nation, men who fought and died to give the gift of freedom to their children.
This resolution is sponsored by totalitarian states who give no protection to freedom of speech or religion to the powerless minorities in their countries. Clearly, this is not the sort of behavior which the people of any free nation should be encouraging.
We must act now to protect and defend our values, before they are overrun with the values of a seventh century death cult.
Professor Sir David King is President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He is on a mission to prevent luddite environmentalists from causing the deaths of millions of Africans.
These well-meaning but hopelessly confused environmentalists are trying to prevent Africa from adopting modern scientific farming methods.
These same methods have achieved never before seen levels of prosperity in the West, but the environmentalists feel that Africans should stick with their traditional manual farming methods which use weaker plant varieties and do not protect crops with modern pesticides.
In effect, these people are attempting to turn Africa into a museum — denying the people of Africa membership in the modern world. They are sentencing Africans to the periodic starvation periods which are endemic to the farming methods of the middle ages.
This would all be silly except for the fact that these racist environmentalist groups are wield significant political power. They hold important positions in government bureaucracies and non-governmental organizations which enable them to prevent the people of Africa from obtaining access to the information and tools necessary to implement modern scientific farming methods.
Frankly, these people are committing genocide and they should be held accountable for their actions.
For more information on David’s work, read Green activists ‘are keeping Africa poor’
As I am a devout Atheist myself, this post should more rightly be titled “My fellow Atheists, grow up!”
The angry folks from the Freedom From Religion Foundation are suing President Bush and Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin in response to a federal law designating a National Day of Prayer.
Their frivolous lawsuit claims that the law creates a “hostile environment for nonbelievers, who are made to feel as if they are political outsiders.”
I’ll tell you who is being hostile — it’s Atheists like these who can’t let other people live in peace. That is hostility right there.
As an Atheist, I am not harmed by people who wish to pray. I can pray myself, even if only I can listen to my own prayers. It doesn’t harm me at all, and it certainly doesn’t harm me to allow other people to take comfort in their own religious beliefs.
The yahoo’s from the Freedom From Religion Foundation want their freedom, but they are unwilling to grant the same freedom to others. It’s a double standard and one that should embarrass every right-thinking Atheist.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation folks are clogging up our legal system with meaningless lawsuits, including one that was rejected by the Supreme Court last year. They are wasting the hard-earned tax dollars of Americans of all faiths.
And so, to the Freedom From Religion Foundation I say — Grow up!
Thanks to a college student, scientists now know that in years past, the earth was a much warmer place than previously believed. Fossils collected from East Antarctica show that polar cap was once much hotter. At least, 14 million years ago.
The fossil, an ostracod, couldn’t survive in as cold of a climate as is present today. So this leads us to the next logical reason: the earth was much warmer back in the day. Tests show that the Arctic was at least thirty degrees warmer than it is today. Then suddenly 14 million years ago there was a major cool down and here we are.
Scientists haven’t yet determined what caused the major cooling period. Then again they also slacked while a college student found the new evidence in fossil form. That’s either one really smart kid or we have a bunch of really dumb and/or lazy scientists.
With global warming at the forefront of today’s news topics, maybe we should send all of our college students out into the field. No doubt they would unearth some of the world’s great mysteries. Where’s the ambition these days anyway? Where were the “professional” scientists when this kid got the fossils? Actually, where they were when the student was growing up is probably a better question.
I’m sure we all do the best we can, especially at work. But these stories (and many others like it) show just how complacent we get in certain situations when we’re there for a while. Then suddenly someone comes in and shows us up while we sit back and watch. I say good for the college student. I wonder if this means a scholarship.
Israel might have taken a step forward but with recent events the country has also taken two steps back. Two years ago, two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped on the Lebanese border by terrorist group Hezbollah. The group had kept the soldiers’ well-being from anyone though evidence found at the scene indicated the soldiers suffered major injuries. Shlomo Goldwasser is the father of one of the kidnapped soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser; he continued to have hope that his son was still alive.
Last week, however, this was found to be the furthest thing from the truth. In a deal with Israel, Hezbollah agreed to turn over the bodies of Goldwasser and fellow soldier Eldad Regev in return for murderer Samir Kantar who killed his daughter and another man in 1979. Kantar has been in Israel prison ever since. The current deal was negotiated by German intelligence and forensic experts confirmed the remains did indeed belong to the soldiers. Goldwasser had hope that he would receive his son. He lost that hope when Hezbollah turned over two black coffins in exchange for the prisoner.
A neighbor of the Regev family said through tears “It’s the saddest day for Israel. They kept us waiting until the last second to learn the fate of our sons”. The recent deal had been in negotiations for weeks with the Israel cabinet finally agreeing in full. Hezbollah celebrated the deal as a victory. A website for the terrorist group claimed the prisoners were to be dressed in military uniforms.
Hezbollah supporters and fellow terrorist group Hamas stated, “Today is a great victory for the resistance movements and for Hezbollah. It shows that the only successful way to free the prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers”. Gerhard C., a member of the German intelligence agency spent months on negotiations traveling between the U.N., New York and the middle east. Prime Minister Olmert was already under fire due to alleged corruption in his administration. He had been under pressure not to come to an agreement with Hezbollah.
In response to the continued attacks upon Israel, the Israeli’s attacked attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 and Lebanon is still yet to fully recover. Olmert ordered an attack in order to secure the release of the two kidnapped soldiers but the move was poorly executed as the soldiers were not released. After 34 days of war, Hezbollah was still holding the soldiers. The power of the leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, had increased power after the kidnapping and attacks that followed.
Still remaining is a classified report giving to Gerhard C. during negotiations about the fate of a future soldier, Ron Arad, who left his plane during a bombing in 1986 in Lebanon. Finding out the details and circumstances of this soldier and the events that day were a priority for the Israeli government. After reading several dozen pages, this report was deemed useless after finding out that it only stated Arad had been moved frequently and then lost.
Olmert stated “the report is completely inadequate”. It is doubtful that clarity on Arad’s death will ever be provided. Last weeks deal by Olmert was plagued by corruption investigations and the deal is attributed to Israel’s domestic weakness.
