PRINT Edition of The Liberty Voice Hits the Streets!
It’s official! The Liberty Voice is back in print! And honestly, I know it sounds trite to say, but it’s better than ever!
The Libertarian Party of Ohio has taken out a full page in support and have done a great job in laying out their “Small Government – Low Taxes – More Freedom” philosophy. The Not-So funny page is mostly funny this time, and twice as big! And best of all, with the help of the LPO and liberty-friendly businesses like Old Skool Skate Shop, half our pages are in full color!
Romney is Very Good Looking
by Sherry Mann
The National Review editors recently wrote, “Mitt Romney ran a firm that invested in struggling businesses, made money, and never asked for a bailout,” and described any attacks on his Bain record as “asinine”.
On October 25, 1994, the Boston Globe wrote, “Republican Senate nominee Mitt Romney’s rescue of a business consulting firm was achieved, in part, by convincing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to forgive roughly $10 million of the company’s debts, according to sources close to the deal and federal records obtained by the Boston Globe.”
David Shuster commented on this in the January 11, 2012 edition of Countdown, “…In other words, not only did Romney ask for a bailout, he received one. And let’s be clear — when any institution lets you or your company forgive and forget a ten million dollar debt, that is a bailout.”
Gingrich Is a Great Debater
By Sherry Mann
If were picking my favorite candidate only by watching the debates, I’d pick Newt Gingrich.
But this time, I want more than promises for change. I want change! So I decided instead of just listening to the announcers, I’d pick the “winning horse” by going down to the barn and turning over the straw; because I’ve found that presidential candidates can serve up a surprisingly, enticing organic by-product that comes from hay and horses.
My mother told me that if I couldn’t say anything nice, I shouldn’t say anything at all, so I’m not going to offer you my opinions about Newt Gingrich after looking through his stall. Instead, I’ve assembled Newt Gingrich’s quotes (with context), so you can draw your own conclusions.
“Either we are going to have to rethink our Constitution or we are going to have to rethink our process of making decisions…”
Newt Gingrich in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Affairs saying that, the challenge for the United States in leading the world is compounded by our Constitution.
“We need to be honest about the fact that we are transferring from the United States at a practical level, significant authority to a new organization…This is not just another trade agreement. This is doing something which twice, once in the 1940’s and once in the 1950’s, the US Congress rejected…It is a very big transfer of power.”
Newt Gingrich in Congressional Testimony on the World Trade Organization and GATT. He later arranged for the vote on GATT, voted in favor of it, and bears the shared responsibility for transferring America’s foreign trade matters over to an international authority.
Ron Paul 2012 (Official Endorsement of Smiley Chris)
Artist: Smiley Chris Instrumental: Airplanes Ron Paul’s statements transcription: Andrew Hesch Ron Paul: This is something that is an intellectual fight. … We have to know what we want. We have to be convinced that freedom works. We have to be convinced that we cannot depend on others, and we don’t have any right to [...]
The Lone Ship of the Freedom Flotilla: The Rachel Corrie MV Continues to Sail Towards Gaza in Defiance of Israeli Threats
by Michel Chossudovsky
Hat tip:Global Research, June 1, 2010
Following Israel’s criminal raid in international waters on May 31st, the Rachel Corrie MV continues to sail towards the Gaza coastline in defiance of Israeli threats.
In an act of tremendous courage, the Rachel Corrie MV is determined to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
At noon today, I received the following message from Christopher Chang and Ram Kardigasu, on behalf of the Malaysian and Irish peace activists, who are on board the Rachel Corrie:
RACHEL CORRIE: MV Rachel Corrie is now the sole ship on the international freedom flotilla moving towards Gaza.
The Malaysian and Irish peace and humanitarian activists aboard share their deepest grief and sense of lost with the loved ones of those killed and injured in the illegal action undertaken by Israel on Monday 31st May 2010 in the international waters of the Mediterranean.
America’s Complicity in Evil
By Paul Craig Roberts
Hat tip: global research
June 1, 2010
As I write at 5pm on Monday, May 31, all day has passed since the early morning reports of the Israeli commando attack on the unarmed ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, and there has been no response from President Obama except to say that he needed to learn “all the facts about this morning’s tragic events” and that Israeli prime minister Netanyahu had canceled his plans to meet with him at the White House.
Thus has Obama made America complicit once again in Israel’s barbaric war crimes. Just as the US Congress voted to deep-six Judge Goldstone’s report on Israel’s war crimes committed in Israel’s January 2009 invasion of Gaza, Obama has deep-sixed Israel’s latest act of barbarism by pretending that he doesn’t know what has happened.
No one in the world will believe that Israel attacked ships in international waters carrying Israeli citizens, a Nobel Laureate, elected politicians, and noted humanitarians bringing medicines and building materials to Palestinians in Gaza, who have been living in the rubble of their homes without repairs or medicines since January 2009, without first clearing the crime with its American protector. Without America’s protection, Israel, a totally artificial state, could not exist.
Why Not Allow Bankers to Lie? (If It’s Okay for Lawyers…)
May 3rd, 2010
hat tip: PhilaLawyer
“[I]t takes two to lie – one to lie and one to listen.” – Homer Simpson, “Colonel Homer” (1992)
Unless you’ve been in a coma, you’ve probably seen some snippet of the Senate grilling of Goldman Sachs’ executives. I won’t bother characterizing that embarrassment here. My earlier post on Twitter suffices:
The Goldman Senate Hearings. For the non-red light district crowd who’d otherwise never see a prostitute argue with a bookie.
But viewing that awful spectacle – watching a hopelessly out-of-her-depth lifetime government employee like Clare McCaskill attempt to cross examine a guy like Lloyd Blankfein on reconciliation of derivatives – an interesting question hit me.
Insider trading’s rampant, everyone knows that. A number of economists and policy wonks have suggested in the past the market might be more transparent if we admitted that fact and legalized the practice. In that same vein of thinking – in light of the obvious fact that humans will always commit frauds, more frequently the more money’s in play – I have to ask… Why not allow bankers to lie to one another?
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX: HOW A BANKRUPT GERMANY SOLVED ITS INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEMS
by Ellen Brown,
August 9th, 2007
hat tip: Web of Debt
“We were not foolish enough to try to make a currency [backed by] gold of which we had none, but for every mark that was issued we required the equivalent of a mark’s worth of work done or goods produced. . . .we laugh at the time our national financiers held the view that the value of a currency is regulated by the gold and securities lying in the vaults of a state bank.”
- Adolf Hitler, quoted in “Hitler’s Monetary System,” www.rense.com, citing C. C. Veith, Citadels of
Chaos (Meador, 1949)
Guernsey wasn’t the only government to solve its infrastructure problems by issuing its own money. (See E. Brown, “Waking Up on a Minnesota Bridge,” www.webofdebt.com/articles/infrastructure-crisis.php, August 4, 2007.) A more notorious model is found in post-World War I Germany. When Hitler came to power, the country was completely, hopelessly broke. The Treaty of Versailles had imposed crushing reparations payments on the German people, who were expected to reimburse the costs of the war for all participants — costs totaling three times the value of all the property in the country. Speculation in the German mark had caused it to plummet, precipitating one of the worst runaway inflations in modern times. At its peak, a wheelbarrow full of 100 billion-mark banknotes could not buy a loaf of bread. The national treasury was empty, and huge numbers of homes and farms had been lost to the banks and speculators. People were living in hovels and starving. Nothing quite like it had ever happened before – the total destruction of the national currency, wiping out people’s savings, their businesses, and the economy generally. Making matters worse, at the end of the decade global depression hit. Germany had no choice but to succumb to debt slavery to international lenders.
Or so it seemed. Hitler and the National Socialists, who came to power in 1933, thwarted the international banking cartel by issuing their own money. In this they took their cue from Abraham Lincoln, who funded the American Civil War with government-issued paper money called “Greenbacks.” Hitler began his national credit program by devising a plan of public works. Projects earmarked for funding included flood control, repair of public buildings and private residences, and construction of new buildings, roads, bridges, canals, and port facilities. The projected cost of the various programs was fixed at one billion units of the national currency. One billion non-inflationary bills of exchange, called Labor Treasury Certificates, were then issued against this cost. Millions of people were put to work on these projects, and the workers were paid with the Treasury Certificates. This government-issued money wasn’t backed by gold, but it was backed by something of real value. It was essentially a receipt for labor and materials delivered to the government. Hitler said, “for every mark that was issued we required the equivalent of a mark’s worth of work done or goods produced.” The workers then spent the Certificates on other goods and services, creating more jobs for more people.
A Memorial Day Reality: War is a Racket
hat tip: AmericansWhoTellTheTruth.org
Major General Smedley Butler Biography
War Hero, Antiwar Activist (1881-1940)
“I served in all commissioned ranks from second lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of the racket all the time. Now I am sure of it.”
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, also known as “The Fighting Quaker.” At the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in US history, and the only person to be awarded a Marine Corps Brevet Medal and a Medal of Honor for two separate military actions. He was also an unrelenting voice against the business of war.
Raised by prominent Quaker parents, Smedley Butler defied his pacifist lineage by joining the Marines just before his 17th birthday. He served in Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Haiti (earning his Medals of Honor in the latter two places). He served and distinguished himself in World War I, although he was not stationed on the front lines for combat. Butler was known for his leadership and commitment to the welfare of the men under his command. He rose quickly through the ranks to become one of the youngest major generals at age 48.
Butler was very vocal against what he saw as a rise in admiration for Fascism and Mussolini. He told an unfavorable story about Mussolini for which he was court-martialed. Rather than recant and apologize, Butler retired from the military in 1931. By then, he had also begun questioning US involvement in foreign conflicts. Butler saw the US as being imperialistic, that war (in particular WWI) was really a profitable business for the few at the expense of thousands of lives, and that he himself was a cog in the war machine. In a booklet titled War is a Racket, Butler wrote, “In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War….How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle?….The general public shoulders the bill. And what is this bill?….Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds….For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.” War is a Racket grew out of a series of speeches Butler gave to whatever group wanted to hear his views. Veterans, groups with Communist leanings – it did not matter to him. This often drew criticism against Butler, but he was steadfast in his beliefs about war, US imperialism, and a growing Pro-Fascist movement. He spoke frankly and honestly about his experiences and opinions, and was very popular with the American public.
