Former CIA Chief: "President Should Be Able to Shut Down Internet"

Apropos to my recent post, former CIA Director Michael Hayden says President Obama should have the authority to shut down the Internet.

As is always the case, the government uses so-called "crises" and "emergencies" to create even more power for themselves.

This also shows how pathetically ignorant and self-absorbed these bureaucrats are. The Internet is not simply an appliance that has a power button - it is a system of networks with countless redundancies.

Or maybe they're just afraid that the people are waking up thanks in large part to the valuable information made available by the Internet.

Senate Approves $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill

The Senate on Sunday passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill with increased budgets for vast areas of the federal government, including health, education, law enforcement and veterans' programs.


Politicians playbook:
Step 1) Make a bunch of campaign promises in order to get elected.
Step 2) Create a bunch of laws and regulations that prohibit innovation and real economic prosperity.
Step 3) Spend a bunch of tax payer money in order to appease the masses.
Step 4) Blame the lack of laws and regulations and the free market when the economy tanks.
Step 5) Even though the government debt is astronomical, get the media to spread the message that the market failed and more government intervention and spending is necessary to bring the country out of the recession.
Step 6) Continue to spend a bunch of tax payer money in order to appease the masses. After all, you can't be the politician in office who tells the dependent sheeple that the spending has been cut to their programs because the money simply isn't there.
Step 7) Convince the masses that your party will take care of them better than the other party.
Step 8) Act exactly like the other party and spend like a college student with daddy's credit card.
Step 9) Repeat from the top each election cycle.

(Don't forget to keep spending billions of dollars overseas in order to feed the empire.)

This irresponsibility on such a large scale is simply a microcosm of the American mentality that one can spend his/her way to prosperity. See: the failed ideas of John Maynard Keynes.

Nullification in Ohio

The bureaucrats in the State of Ohio have introduced the "Firearms Freedom Act" which seeks to “... provide that ammunition, firearms, and firearm accessories that are manufactured and remain in Ohio are not subject to federal laws and regulations derived under Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce and to require the words “Made in Ohio” be stamped on a central metallic part of any firearm manufactured and sold in Ohio.”

The Federal Government, by way of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms expressed its own view of the Tenth Amendment this week when it issued an open letter to ‘all Tennessee Federal Firearms Licensees’ in which it denounced the opinion of Beavers and the Tennessee legislature. ATF assistant director Carson W. Carroll wrote that ‘Federal law supersedes the Act’, and thus the ATF considers it meaningless.

Don't you Buckeyes feel so well "represented"? I can just hear the shouts now:

"We need to throw the rascals out! These current bureaucrats are violating our rights so we need to replace them with a different set of bureaucrats who can violate our rights in a different way!"

The bureaucrats in Ohio have done the right thing which is to ignore the Feds, or at least they pretend that they are going to. But what are they going to do when the Feds inevitably threaten to cut their federal funding if they don't play nice? Will they have the brass to hold firm to their convictions (if you can call them that) and continue to extend the middle finger to DC?

We shall see. In the mean time, let this be a lesson to all you "Constitutionalists" out there who think that a piece of paper can somehow prevent the bureaucrats from becoming tyrannical.

Sure, the Constitution has a lot of history behind it, it was signed by a bunch of very hallowed dead guys, and I'm sure it looks very important behind the glass and lights for the tourists at the National Archives. But reality has shown that it really isn't worth the parchment on which it's written.

Lysander Spooner said, "...whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist."

Fixed Mortgages Will Be Targeted Next

I have previously written about the advantages gained by borrowers in an inflationary environment. The dollars (or any unit of currency) that are paid back to the lender in the future are worth less than the dollars that were originally borrowed.

The DC bureaucrats have proven they have absolutely no regard for private contracts as was most recently seen with the Chrysler bankruptcy when private creditors were the victim of a ruling that “extinguish[ed] the property rights of secured lenders, trampling the most fundamental of creditor rights in disregard of over 100 years of bankruptcy jurisprudence." These creditors had obviously not won favor with the king.

History has shown that the large, well-connected financiers (see: Wall Street) are a perpetual bed partner with the bureaucrats (see: financial bailout) and thus will get preferential treatment when it comes to the enforcing of contracts.

In conclusion, the fixed mortgages that the majority of Americans hold will soon be worth less than the paper on which they are printed.

The New F***ing Citibank

The New F***ing Citibank - watch more funny videos

Language is NSFW

The FDIC Is Broke

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Sheila Bair wrote in a March 2 letter to the industry that "the deposit insurance fund could become insolvent this year" if new assessments aren't levied against the banking institutions which are ostensibly "insured" by the incapable government program. This is in stark contrast to the rosy picture she painted last July when she was quoted as saying "People should not worry. Their deposits are safe".

As Kathryn Muratore points out, imagine what an actual above-board insurance company would do in an emergency - say a hurricane hitting a populated area. In the days before and after the hurricane, can you imagine State Farm sending a bill to all of its customers in the Southeast for an emergency premium hike to cover the payouts that it knows are imminent?

In years past the Congress would have simply appropriated more tax payer dollars or used the monopolistic ability of the Fed to create new money in order to stave off the FDIC collapse. But with the recent looting of current and future tax payers to pay for the "stimulus plan" and the massive creation of new money by the Fed to bail out the financial industry (including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), the FDIC has been forced to resort to fleecing the "insured" banks.

UPDATE

1 out of every 31 Americans in Prison in 2007

Imagine the boost on the economy if the state were to repudiate its status as governor of morality, end the ridiculous "war on drugs", and allow these "criminals" to return to society as productive members, not participants in one of the largest societal drains.

"The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." --Ayn Rand

America's Greatest President

William Henry Harrison

"Do-nothing" politicians, especially presidents, are never remembered or highly regarded by the masses. The common belief is that a politician must "do something" in order to have effectively served the public. That "something" is always more government, more regulation, more transfer of power from the people to the state.

Harrison, America's shortest serving president, should also be regarded as its greatest as he had only 32 days to loot the American tax payer. We salute you, Bill.

Greg Anderson: The Face of a Hero

After apparently solving all other problems in America, the Feds continue to go after Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' former personal trainer and pharmaceutical entrepreneur. Anderson has been in and out of prison since 2006 for his refusal to capitulate to the Feds' strong arming and testify against Bonds for alleged perjury.

Even after twenty federal agents in January raided the home of his mother-in-law who has been targeted in a tax probe, Anderson has remained indignant and held his ground. This raid is an obvious retaliation against Anderson by the Feds who are trying to hit him in his most vulnerable targets. When the mob commits acts of jack-booted aggression against its enemies, this is known as a crime. This is standard operating procedure when done by the Feds.

Stay strong, Greg.

Republicans vs Democrats

There is a very public battle occurring between the ideologues on the left and the right, and each camp has its set of designated talking heads whose sole purpose is to propel its own agenda. It seemingly need not matter that the size and scope of the federal government has been expanding exponentially regardless of who was at the helm. If you ask the Democrats, the latest economic crisis can be blamed solely on President Bush and his policies. That same question posed to the Republicans returns a predictable answer of the Democratically lead Congress.

It is a never-ending cycle that plays an essential role in the transfer of power from the people to the state. The state only increases in size - it never shrinks. It never cedes power once taken. It is a unilateral movement toward despotism that is only enabled by the people looking for more security. We have become a nation that turns to the government to solve our every problem and give us that feeling of sanctuary.

How many times in the past year have we heard the talking media heads use the phrase "consumer confidence" and then look to grade our leaders on their ability to convey and inspire this confidence? Why is it the government's responsibility to inspire consumer confidence? The best way to inspire confidence is to get the government out of the business of centrally planning the economy - the market is too vast and complex to be positively manipulated by any collection of arrogant politicians and bankers.

We must stop falling for the same tricks that have distracted us for so long. The war between Republicans and Democrats must be ended and the true enemy must be identified: the state.