Eyes In The Sky

WRS has today an excellent post about living in an imperial world, the Surveillance State, Realizing what makes you a thoughtcriminal, and what to do when you are surrounded.

Highly recommended, Read it HERE

Also in the news, as Sweden recently joined the list of countries with surveillance states, (or left the list of states who honour personal sovereignty, depending on perspective) passing a new wiretap and electronic surveillance law 143 to 138 in the Parliament that many people are saying is more permissive than East German STASI

Responsibility.

June 28, 2008, was a defining moment in my life. It was the day I shot and killed a man in the defense of my life and the lives of others

I was wholly impressed by Brian Fentiman's story, a type of story that while not infrequent, is rarely talked about in our polite and extremely litigious society. In fact, our own David, has already stated, despite his impressive resume in the campaign for rights and education, that he would not share the same story, if it happened to him. He would clam up, to protect him and his. I cant disagree with that, but i very much admire Mr. Fentiman for taking a much different path. While its been said that Mr Fentiman was not mistake free, he does here have a very real tale to tell, a tale of responsibility in our increasingly antisocial world, not a cold abstract idealist concept of volunteerism, but a story of experience. While he may or may not share some blame, he has no shortage of courage to share his story.

He doesnt ask you to do anything really, not to carry a gun, not to help a stranger, but to realize that you do have a responsibility, one that may have been forgotten by some, but when shirked, has a very real effect on our world.

The America we live in today is not the same country my father and mother experienced. Dad was a World War II veteran and recipient of two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts, and Mom was a "Rosie the Riveter" who built ships in Long Beach, Calif., during the war. They were a generation that helped each other. They were neighbors who watched out for the interests of their neighbors. A large part of the population was involved in WWII, and they had to depend upon each other for their very survival. Sometimes the only thing these military men and women had in common was the fact that they were Americans. Yet they cared for each other.

We live in a dangerous society where the criminal element seems to have no regard for human life, let alone the ability to leave people alone. We need to take a more courageous attitude toward the safety and welfare of our fellow law-abiding citizens and teach our children to have the same values.

Read his story, in full, here: http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_10219218
and remember, if he hadnt told his story, all we would know is what is posted as an include at the bottom of the article, a news snippet, with no names you know, and no story you can relate to. No lesson to be learned, no light to be shown.

Lux Veritas

Then Something Unusual Happened

Its an odd thing when a question of justice, in a court of law, is now referred to as an unusual thing.

CATO has an excellent post about what may become the largest contested court decision post Heller, about whether a Juror has the ability to judge Justice, as well as Guilt Under the law, or do the scales of justice only weigh one side of case? It seems to me that if the government tries the men it chooses, in its courts, procecuted and judged by its men, and the People, selected of peers, can say nothing of it, well, then those men will always be found guilty, and punished as the government chooses.

It was supposed to be just another federal drug prosecution. The federal prosecutors introduced evidence that the man on trial was involved in the black market drug trade. The defense attorney said the government agents entrapped his client. And then the twelve citizen-jurors retired to deliberate the outcome of the case.

But then something unusual happened. The jury sent a note to the trial judge with the following query: Since the Constitution needed to be amended in 1919 to authorize federal criminal prosecutions for manufacturing and smuggling alcohol, a juror wanted to know from the judge where “is the constitutional grant of authority to ban mere possession of cocaine today?”

Read the rest Here: http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/08/14/juror-becomes-fly-in-the-ointment/

and here, here, here, and here.

Rule by law, rule by men, or rule by state?

Cessante Ratione Legis Cessat Ipsa Lex

Change

Ive been asked a few times, why, with my general criticisms of the current regime and system i dont support Barack Obamas particular brand of change. I think this video, of a speech he gave in denver this july, says even more than i could about what Barack considers "Change." Not a change from abuses in the system, but a change from any illusion we might still have that our lives are our own.



At (12:30) into the video you see obama call for massive expansion of the military and national service

65,000 additional soldiers
27,000 additional marines
250,000 Americorp Slots.

but that pales in comparison to the statement the junior senator from illinois makes at (16:45), stating:

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a Civilian National Security Force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

in 2007, 1,426,705 people were on active duty in the military with an additional 1,458,400 people in the seven reserve components with a U.S. Defense budget of $439 billion, with an additional injection of emergency war funding later in the fiscal year.

Is Obama serious about creating some kind of domestic security force with this same sort of price tag and power? or is he talking about matching the funding to his new bigger, better armored, better taken care of, more powerful military?

What Does this force do? how is it paid for? (Tax Money of course, noting that today, as i write this, we reach our first free of cost of government day according to http://www.atr.org/) Is it authorized by the constitution in the same way the existing civilian militia is contended to be? Does it function similar in function to the CCC of FDR's day, from whom, no doubt, Obama gained the inspiration, or as it specificly addresses National Security, does it more closely follow the lines of East German STASI? National, Federal Police Jurisdictions and Forces rarely bode well for free societies. These and many other questions are a matter of great concern to me, and the reason i cannot support Obama in 08.

I realize there are very few options out there, and Obama does speak of hope, and change, both increasingly attractive ideas in this stagnant political age. But do the means justify the ends?

While both Mr. Obama and i hold very similar hopes for a new America, an America where citizens and communities band together and where the next generation will give itself to service and involvement, where we disagree is in the methodology. Instead of encouragement, Obama would like to coerce, from mandatory service as a college requirement for schools to receive funding, to tax funded national programs of an unprecedented scale, Obama would like to -force- America to be great, and that is something that ideologically i cannot agree with, and historically does not work.

While many people will continue to hail that Obama is a great change from the terrible dictatorial tendencies of the Bush terms of office, I cant help to think that it is exactly because GW has set such terrible precedent for a rogue executive that Obama thinks he can use the oval office to shape this country and the world, through executive order, special security directive, into his vision of the future. Through the convincing and coercive force of what has become the most powerful, unchecked seat, in the most powerful unchecked government, he may now be able to force about a world as he thinks it should be.

after all, as Georgie said: "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

Im sorry to say, Freedom isnt easy.

I also highly recomend reading this letter: Beware Charismatic Men Who Preach Change

Yes we need change, and I do not denounce him, for saying so, nor do i denounce what he would like to see in america, or what work he may have done, but we must examine that work, and always ask: Change, But at what Cost?

Quo Vadis

The End Is Near

I am honoured today to have permission to repost a piece by the exceptional Padre Engo. Padro Engo is a talented sometimes musician, sometimes sorcerer, always warrior, based out of Brooklyn, New York. His esoteric mixture of new and old world beats and themes has long set him apart in the musical world, where his blend of Caribbean Blues has had him compared to a sort of West Indies Robert Johnson, he is probably most well known for the tune Crucifixion, and as the only Gnostic Moorish Palo Mayombe Priest living in the streets of New Babylon i know, ive always found his opinions to be, well, different to say the least, and an enjoyable change of perspective. Here he touches on a theme we have mentioned a few times here, what is coming, and i think his excellent article duly underscores what ive often thought, that no matter your background or interests, there is an innate human characteristic in all of us, an aversion to servitude, and a love of liberty. No matter how different we, or our methods may seem, we all want the same end, Freedom, and should work together in these coming times. For, as Padre Engo will tell you:



The End is Near.

Imagine being sent forward in time from 1968 to 2008. Instead of gas costing 25 cents a gallon, it's over $3.00. A decent home, intead of costing $15,000, costs $250,000 or more. Imagine your shock that the average American family owes $9000 on their credit cards. Imagine entering a society where less than 2% of the cars on the road are owned by those that drive them, and less than 1% of the homes are owned by the people who live in them. Welcome to the debt based slave state of America in 2008. It is all symbolic of how the globalists have America right where they want it, and are eager to finish it off. As the dollar continues losing strength, what will this mean to the world? Many will be deceived into believing that the economy is recovering; and then they will suddenly wake up to find their money worthless. As with the Argentina currency collapse a few years ago, so will the American dollar collapse likewise. However, the collapse of the US dollar is going to have much greater impact on the global economy and international political landscape than the collapse of the Argentinean peso ever did. The collapse of the dollar will reduce America to third world status, and it's people to a chaos they are woefully unprepared to face. It will be a period of tremendous hardship and economic deprivation. It will be a time of great tribulation.

With our money being worthless, there will no longer be the ability to import fossil fuels. The gas lines of the 70's will seem like a pleasant dream compared to what this would be like. Also, this will have a devastating effect upon the agriculture and transportation sectors. The transportation system will not be able to distribute food without gas or diesel. Industry will largely grind to a halt. No longer will the economy be able to function. It will be the end of the American global empire. As with the fall of the Roman Empire, America would be forced out of economic necessity to close its military bases around the world. There would be no money for government services, education, pensions, health care, security, etc. Society would quickly slip into lawless anarchy. The Homeland Security people would have their hands full, to say the least.

Yet even as the dollar slides downwards towards collapse, many refuse to believe that it is possible for something like this to happen today. After all, we live in an age when Governments and their Reserve Banks can support the value of currencies through intervention right? Various economists, speaking on behalf of the Federal Reserve, make soothing noises that there is nothing to worry about the dollar falling. They claim that this is going to assist American exporters, ignoring that the costs of imports will rise even more; and that the trade and current account deficits will continue to deteriorate. Some claim that while there have been collapses in the past surely this would not happen today. Sadly, the reality is that not only could this happen today, but it will happen much faster than at anytime in history. Modern communications enable billions of dollars can be switched from one currency to another at a click of a mouse today, when in the past it took weeks for speculators to switch from one currency to another. Never has been a time when currencies have been more vulnerable for speculation on their values.

The US Government is in a bind. If they lift interest rates to try and support the dollar, it will increase the size of the US budget deficit, plus the likelihood that the economy would go into a tailspin. The level of personal and corporate debt in the USA is now so high, that a sudden increase in interest rates would likely bring about an economic collapse. Either way, America is in deep trouble. What we could experience is a run on the US dollar, until it becomes completely worthless. There have been collapses of currencies throughout history. A recent example has been the collapse of the German Mark in 1923. At that time, the German economy was saddled in massive external debts, plus was being forced to repay war reparations. America is in a similar position today, as the world's largest debtor nation. Let's have a look to what happened to the German currency in the 1920's. At the outbreak of WWI, the German Mark was going for 4.20 to the dollar, at the end of the war, the mark was 4.80 to one US dollar, at the end of 1919, it was 42 marks to the dollar. By Dec 1923 it had fallen to 4.2 trillion marks to one dollar.

The German people suffered severely during this time, and it set the stage for the rise of Hitler to power. What took 3 years to lead up to the collapse of the German economy would only take 3 weeks today, with the speed money is able to be transferred from one country to another. The collapse of the US dollar would remove America as a global power. There is now a shift of the balance of power from North America to Europe. THIS IS ALL BY DESIGN! The international bankers who control the US and global economy want America to collapse, in order to get the American people to accept a global currency. The Asian economies will also be severely affected by the collapse of the American dollar. Not only do these economies depend upon the US market for revenue from much of their exports, but they also hold substantial reserves in US dollars. The Chinese and Japanese banking systems would collapse, their dollar holding evaporating, and the high debt levels of Chinese corporations will cause a massive wave of bankruptcies.

The Euro will become the preferred currency of choice around the world, providing the Europeans with even greater political influence than the US has today. Behind all of this, the European based international bankers will further consolidate their power by creating a United States of Europe. The crises of the collapse of the US dollar will help speed up the creation of a United States of Europe defense force. Europe will emerge from the economic chaos that will erupt across the world as the dominating economic power bloc. Germany, as the engine economy in Europe, and the largest nation, will be in the drivers seat for the direction this new Europe goes in. Meanwhile, the nations of North America will be asked to repay their massive external debts. Having sold off much of their silver and gold, the creditors will look at other means of recovering the money they have advanced. America would be held in economic bondage to these international money lenders, even more than they are now. They are going to demand total control of our economy, reducing our people to slaves, where we will be held in economic bondage.

Already, America is despised around the world not only because of the Iraq situation, but also because America is generally seen as a nation that has been greatly blessed, but, partly because of the filth that Hollywood exports around the world, is seen as an incredibly arrogant, and undeserving superpower. This has left America with few friends that would come to it's financial rescue when the chips are down. God is allowing America to be humiliated and defeated for rejecting His Law, for trusting in wealth instead of trusting in God. Our leaders have for the most part rejected the Constitution, and have allowed this once great nation to be ruined by enslaving us to a group of international bankers, in direct opposition to what the Constitution states.

We are apparently now in the final countdown towards the greatest economic meltdown in history. Yet few appear to be aware of what lies ahead. We are about to witness the end of the America that we were blessed with, and enter a worldwide age of tribulation and chaos that no one has experienced in living memory.

-Padre Engo

Scheduled Departure Takes Flight

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement began a pilot program called Operation Scheduled Departure on Tuesday that allows some illegal immigrants to come forward and schedule their own deportation. The Program, which will run until Aug 22, will be active in five cities:

• Charlotte, North Carolina
  
• Chicago, Illinois
  
• Santa Ana, California (Los Angeles area)
  
• Phoenix, Arizona
  
• San Diego, California

People who register for “Operation Scheduled Departure” will have 90 days to get their affairs in order before leaving. They won't be taken into custody, but may have to check in regularly with immigration officials or be monitored in some other way.

While ICE is stating the program is a direct response to complaints of abuses in the accelerated raid programs which have in recent months been breaking down doors and arresting even parents in predawn raids, leaving children to fend with CPS, the real message they are sending is clear: Leave now, right now, while you can, or things will become very hard for you indeed.

I would imagine there will be a short lull after the end of the nearly month long program end while ICE analyzes its results and reformulates its overall strategy in what may well be the active enforcement and removal portion of Operation Endgame, the The DRO strategic plan which in 2004 set in motion a cohesive enforcement program with a ten-year time horizon that will build the capacity to “remove all removable aliens”

While im uncertain whether it would be a good idea for someone concerned for their families welfare to report to one of these 5 locations, I will note that they do forbid cameras to be brought with you, and as we all know, a camera may well be the most effective tool you can have.

In the coming months, though, I will suggest you watch the skies, so to speak, and wonder:
Whatever Happened to Never Again?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

It's Too Late to Apologize.

I apologize for the slow updates, but as my computer is temporarily out of commission, i have fallen a few days behind in both my reading and my writing. I have, however still been paying attention i assure you, and as i get the time, i will continue to give you my opinion, here, at exactly the price it is worth. Ill tell you, the price of admission here is much lower than what the state is willing to pay to keep a captive audience.

As the house last week spent its final days of session debating and passing things like non binding resolutions to apologize for slavery one has to wonder about the priorities of a congress that would address a 140 year old injury rather than our current economic and foreign policy, as inflation looms, the economy falters, Iran is being pressured with a threat of a preemptive nuclear strike, a US missile radar system being installed in Israel, and Russia is planning on keeping nukes in Cuba as it rekindles its relationship with the Peoples Republic of China as a hedge against global reliance on the failing dollar.

Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service announces that it is owed about $58 billion in federal payroll taxes it never received, and also tells us that its going to start watching our credit and debit cards to makes sure we arent taking anything that isnt ours, making me consider exactly when slavery will end, and when will congress apologize to the hundreds of millions of Taxpayers that it so cruelly subjects to incrementalized slavery every single day. The call for reparations for 87 years of black slavery in the United States, (211 years on the continent in shameful total) still goes on today, even as we continue a 147 year legacy of state theft and thralldom, not based on race, but of total and universal subservience to the state. When will we call for this emancipation, the emancipation of the people from a state that has so long ago lost the peoples consent?

Well will the house wake up, and once more enact the will of the people, not of 140 years ago, but of today? if you notice, the dates between Emancipation, and the Enaction of the Income Tax arent that far apart. I have always wondered if the reason Lincoln acquiesced to free the negro of the confederate states was precisely so that he could serve the masters of the state, and not the masters of the south. Free, but not too free. Freed not in the interest of humanity but in the interests of Internal Revenue.

Previous to 1860, 4 million black Americans wouldn't have been taxable.

Today, they can send Wesley Snipes to three years of prison for stepping out of line. Maybe he will meet Ed Brown, who will most likely never see his wife again outside of a courtroom. Or perhaps Ed and Elaine's supporters, who are now being tried and may face decades in prison for the unquestionable crime of supporting someone who would dare speak out against the authority or propriety of the right of the state to seize anything and everything you may have.

• Slavery: Noun. Slavery (also called thralldom) is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to provide labor.

Taxation is Slavery, be it 100%, or a simple 30%.

De oppresso liber*
*out of the oppressed man, comes the free