ENIGMA CURRY

Paving New Orleans with gold

September 22, 2005 at 03:28 PM | categories: liberty rants | View Comments

Joe Schembrie over at LewRockwell.com has written a very thought provoking article on the excess of spending that Congress is exercising in the name of 'Reconstruction' in the southern united States.

To share just a few of his good points:

• Congress has recently authorized the expenditure of $62 billion for reconstruction of flood damaged property.
• Congress is already talking about appropriating over $200 billion total by the end of reconstruction
• $200 billion would allow the federal government to do one of the following:
• • Give $200,000 to every man, woman and child in New Orleans.
  • Purchase 32 SUVs for each family in New Orleans ($25,000 a car, for a typical 4 member family)
  • Pave all of the streets of New Orleans with pure gold.

If that last one didn't make you think about the sheer absurdity of the amount of money we are talking about here, nothing will. Who do you think has this kind of money? Certainly not the government. This will just be financed by plopping it right onto the federal charge card (read: deficit).

This is all coming from a government that is majority controlled by a party that claims to want to cut federal spending. Either our political leaders are outright lying to us or they are unbelievably stupid when it comes to economics. Now I don't believe that our leaders are economics experts, but they are far from stupid. Watch as GOP house majority leader Tom DeLay makes what the New Hampshire Union-Leader calls the 'lie of the year':

My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet.

Here Mr DeLay is saying that there is absolutely no way that we can cut any more out of the federal budget. He further clarifies his point by saying:

It is right to borrow to pay for it

An incredulous reporter asked him if he felt that the government was operating at peak-efficiency. Mr DeLay responds:

Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good

Lies, and damn lies.

The Citizens Against Government Waste have written a document describing almost 14,000 programs instituted in 2005 alone, that could easily be cut.

There are so many more tragedies here beyond the pain and suffering of the victims of Katrina. The most important one though is that the government has no responsibility in the matter, and furthermore they have no right to 'borrow' money for which is unecessary and will never be 'returned'. It is absurd to believe that reconstruction should be funded by tax dollars because it is 'the right thing to do', when the very victims are taxpayers themselves.

It is a tragedy that we are even being lied to about where this money is going. There is no way that the money will be used to buy the things that Joe Schembrie mentioned the government could spend it on. No taxpayer, nor victim will ever see that money. That money is already lining the pockets of the very people that have taken it away from you.

Reappraising the war in Iraq - Col. Tim Collins speaks

September 21, 2005 at 05:50 PM | categories: liberty rants | View Comments

Tim Collins, a former Colnel of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, has sobering words to say about the war in Iraq. His words have been creeping around in my mind all day long.

Long have I felt that the United states was in the wrong for going to war. Yet, although I knew that I was against it, I never fully rationalized the other side of the argument, at least, not to my requirements as of now.

We may be able to understand the war in light of it's accomplishments, let's make a check list:

• Destruction of WMDs: Nope
• Destruction of the Baath party: Nope
• Control over Oil: Nope (have you seen prices lately?)
• Disband 'Terror' groups: Nope (the war has made recruitment numbers soar)

On the surface, these criteria were exactly what the war was supposed to be about... right? Again like I said, I never agreed with those agendas, but it appears now I was disagreeing with the wrong agendas. Were any of these criteria ever on the minds of those who brought this war to pass (except in making a public justification)?

...China and India are growing and sucking up every drop of oil, every scrap of concrete or steel even as the old-world powers of the UK and US pour blood and treasure into overseas campaigns which seem to have no ending and no goal... It is time for our leaders to explain what is going on.

When I read that statement of having "no ending and no goal," I had the eery feeling that the warmongers of the world have no ultimate agenda. Not evil, nor good. Unless someone can prove me wrong, I must admit that this Empire has gone insane. Politics is no longer a war of 'difference of opinion'. It wouldn't matter what anyone's opinion was, this war is an outcry from a dying Empire.

It is the very nature of an Empire to spend money and to flex muscles, It doesn't matter to what end that power is used. If you realize the nature of the thing, it puts things into it's rightful perspective.

I'm sorry Tim, you may never get that explanation for "what is going on."

Hostile Government takeover of Spanish Fork Concert

August 24, 2005 at 06:03 PM | categories: letters, liberty rants | View Comments

DOWNLOAD AND WATCH THIS VIDEO NOW!!

On Saturday there was a concert at Diamond Fork in Spanish Fork canyon (just 200 miles north of where I live) featuring Evol Intent among other bands. Just after about 11:30pm that evening, this concert of somwhere between 1500-3000 in attendance (I can't find an official count, just the number of ticket sales), was raided by SWAT teams and over 60 people were arrested for drug charges. Now, this may or may not seem out of the ordinary to you but consider the following:

• The Concert was 100% legal and legitamite. The tickets were sold well in advance. There was ample advertising.
• Permission from both the city of Spanish Fork and the Bueuru of Land Management was given prior to the event.
• Just as any 100% legal concert would have, there was already ample security forces present. Searches for drug paraphenalia were being done at the door prior to anyone's entrance to the concert.
• Not only drug 'offenders' were arrested. All of the organizers of the event were arrested as well. This includes the Security forces that were employed that night.
• As you watch the video, ask yourself the following: Do these people look like police officers (they are) or do they look like military? Make sure you notice the fact that these 'peace officers' are carrying some form of assault rifles.
• Did the SWAT teams enter through the front door even? No. They flew into the concert via helicopter!!
• And worst of all: No warrant was issued to the invading forces.

Watch the video. It speaks for itself. We are already living in a fascist empire. What's that you say? You think I'm an extremist who takes things a little too far? Whether or not you choose to see this country for what it is, is probably dependant on whether or not you can see things that don't directly affect you, not whether you like or dislike the music style. If you don't express your outrage for the rights of others... what rights do you have?

I smell another letter in the works....

(See much more documentation on this matter over on the MySpace Forums (local copy here))

Update Aug 25: There is a wealth of information on the new site Music Vs. Guns

Rescind Emergency Powers!

August 21, 2005 at 03:26 PM | categories: liberty rants | View Comments

In my last post I spoke of very current legislation. Today I wish to bring to attention something of a much more historical nature. In this country we have a terrible habit of introducing legislation that benefits us now and forgetting about it later once we took care of whatever it was that peice of legislation was about. In the most benign sense this is why we have so many so called "blue laws" still in effect which no one seems to care about, and in the most serious instance we have emergency powers. It is this latter part that I wish to bring to light.

• March 1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a national state of emergency.
• So does Harry Trueman on December 16, 1950
• So does President Nixon on March 23, 1970 and again on August 15, 1971

Over 72 years later, we are still officially in a state of emergency. Not one of the above emergency power acts/orders have been declared "over." And why would they? They provide for all three of the branches of government sweeping and practically absolute power. Once they get the power, why would they give it up? Now, you might say, well obviously we're out of the Great Depression. THAT emergency is over. Well, in 1973, Senate report 93-549 declared that "Since March the 9th, 1933, the united States has been in a state of declared national emergency." That was Congress themselves acknowledging the fact that these powers haven't gone away. That same report realized that over 470 federal laws were currently enabled by these acts. Countless more have been so enabled since 1973. In light of my last post, I have promised myself that I will write a letter a month to my representatives. So, without further ado, here is my first letter. Please take this letter and send it to your representatives as well. I grant anyone public domain usage of the following letter, take it as it is (but put your name and your representative), or personalize it as you see fit.

Here is a Microsoft Word formatted version

Update Aug 22: I have sent off my letter to Senators Bennett and Hatch, Congressmen Mathesen, and George Bush himself. I will let you know as soon as I recieve any response from them.

To find out your representatives you can find out on the GovTrack website (the easiest way is to enter your nine digit zip code)

Summer of Woe and Indolence

August 19, 2005 at 09:00 PM | categories: liberty rants | View Comments

This Summer, more legislation and statutes have disgraced this republic we call the United States of America then in all of my 24 years, and possibly in all of it's history. The worst part of it all though is this: I have been reading it after the fact. I am greatly disturbed that these decisions have been made by our political leaders, but even more so by my indolence towards finding out and my lack of doing anything to prevent it. These are but a few of the things that I have felt remorse for not doing a better job of forseeing and doing anything about:

1. H.R. 1268 - The Emergency spending bill and 'REAL' ID act.
2. Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
3. The Patriot Act version 2.0
4. Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005
5. The Supreme Court decision of Kelo v. City of New London

You can read about these all over the web at the moment, but here are just a few of the worst bits of each:

1. H.R. 1268: See my blog entry.
2. CAFTA: This bill was passed in Congress during a late night session in late July. The proponents of the bill broke the house rules and extended the voting period which had alread expired (with the bill voted down). They proceeded to bribe and steal as many votes as they could by promissing subsidies and benefits for the other representative's states. One estimate by a friend of Representative Ron Paul stated that these promises equate to over $50 billion in completely unrelated promises. These promises just get tacked onto our, the taxpayers bill. I'm all for free trade, but do we really need over one hundred pages to mention that we should have free trade? It must be a lot more than it is purpoted to be.
3. Patriot Act 2.0: I hope you know about this one. This was passed briefly after the attacks on the east coast on September 11th, 2001. It was passed very quickly and without much thought about anyone's personal liberties. It was designed to combat 'terrorism.' The only good thing about the act was that it had sunset clauses. That the provisions it specified would end. Well here we are, in the middle of an ongoing war with Iraq, London get's bombed, twice. On the very day of the second London bombings, the Patriot Act's provisions are made permanent. That is, all but two of them. Those two are renewed for another 10 years. So, Those things that were passed in October of 2001 were thought so incredibly necessary to fight terrorism that that they would suspend most of the personal protections guaranteed by our constitution, are now found to be even more important now than they were before to make them permanent? It sounds to me more like the Patriot act is no longer so controversial in the minds of most. People have forgotten, people have thought to themselves, well it hasn't affected me at all, so it must be working. Even after we are are through with Iraq, even after the 'War on terrorism' is long forgotten, those provisions will still be in effect. By that time, probably most people will assume that that's the way it's always been, that 'Government knows best'.
4. Energy tax incentives: The energy industry is probably one of the most profitable industries in the world. Everyone uses it, and very few provide it (what some would call a government sanctioned monopoly, some would call a cartel.) However, George Bush sees them differently. He sees them struggling to make ends meet. Among some of the more extravegant subsidies of this bill are:
   • Over $2.9 billion alone is set aside in subsidies for the coal industry.
   • A traffic light in Canoga Park, CA receives $100,000 in funding.
   • A bridge to be built in Alaska, spanning from the mainland to an island with a population of fifty: $223 million.
5. Kelo v. City of New London: Of all of these, this is probably the most blatant overriding of people's rights. The Supreme Court decided in June that it's OK for someone to take your house away from you as long as it's within the economic best interest of the community. Yes, the 5th ammendment does say that "private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation", but do you really think that this is what they meant? If my house can be taken away at any moment, do I really own it? Unfortunately, no.

So, this summer I watched as these things passed me by. Sure, I wrote a few letters to my Senators and Cogressmen expressing my distaste for what they had done, but what good will that do? I vow to be more proactive from now on in finding out about this stuff before it happens. I promise that when I do, I'll bring it to your attention as well. Watch this space, because Ryan is through feeling bad about past mistakes. Ryan is pissed off and ready to take action. I know exactly where I draw the line. I will take back what liberty is rightfully mine. *Ryan