Thursday, December 17, 2009

Love heals all wounds


He is a Chief Master Sergeant in the USAF. As high as you can go in enlisted ranks (E-9)
John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little girl's entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair. The girl is coming along with her healing. He is a real Star of the war, and represents what America is trying to do.This, my friends, is worth sharing. Go for it!! You'll never see things like this in the news. Please keep this going. Nothing will happen if you don't, but the American public needs to see pictures like this and needs to realize that what we're doing over there is making a difference. Even if it is just one little girl at a time.
James Gates U. S. Navy

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Fed's Money Monopoly


Last week, in the name of protecting the little guy from Wall Street, the House passed HR 4173 to increase the little guy's false sense of security in the financial system. This mammoth piece of legislation would massively increase government regulation and oversight in the banking industry under the misguided reasoning that more government could have stopped faulty lending practices, when in actuality it caused them. This bill would also greatly increase the powers of the Federal Reserve, which too many in Congress still see as savior rather than perpetrator in this mess.
One silver lining is that the amendment to audit the Fed is still attached to the bill, and if it survives the Senate, the Fed will no longer operate in secrecy. If any version of HR 4173 becomes law, the Fed will be intervening and bailing out more rather than less, as it will gain enormous new powers in addition to those it already has. Whatever happens, the Fed and its defenders have seen that people are becoming very wary of its methods of operation, and many are downright angry at its very existence. Never again will the Fed be immune from the scrutiny of its critics. This is very positive.
Because of legal tender laws that force acceptance of the dollar, the Fed has absolute power over the currency. This absolute power is leading to the absolute corruption of our currency. The money supply has doubled in the last year or so, which is extremely dangerous. The banks seem to be hoarding liquidity now but once these dollars make their way into the economy, hyperinflation and economic chaos will be a real possibility.
Every time hyperinflation rips through an economy, the middle class gets completely wiped out. It is very alarming to watch the purchasing power of an entire life savings reduced to that of a few pennies. Those savings represent years of real labor, real time, effort and sacrifice exchanged for corruptible pieces of paper that politicians and bankers can destroy at whim.
Legal tender laws force the people to become subject to this risk for the benefit of the rulers. Artificial demand for currency allows the authorities to create arbitrary amounts of it to pay for wasteful projects, like frivolous wars and an ever-expanding public sector. This saps the private economy of jobs and purchasing power, yet the temptation proves too great for politicians, time and time again. Our government is no different. Although our dollar has taken nearly a century to lose 98% of its purchasing power, the fact that we are all obliged to participate in this slow burn of the economy on pain of imprisonment is anathema to the principles of liberty.
I introduced the Free Competition in Currency Act last week to free the people from these governmental threats. HR 4248 would repeal legal tender laws, prohibit taxation on certain coins and bullion, and repeal certain laws related to coinage. The prospect of people turning away from the dollar towards alternate currencies should provide incentive for Congress to regain control of the dollar and halt its downward spiral. Restoring soundness to the dollar will remove the government's ability and incentive to inflate the currency and keep us from launching unconstitutional wars that burden our economy to excess. With a sound currency, everyone is better off, not just those who control the monetary system.
Editor's Note: The Daily Bell is pleased to provide its viewers with editorials from a selection of free-market thinkers. These may have been reprinted elsewhere and are NOT necessarily representative of Daily Bell editorial policy. The Bell itself is unapologetically free-market and its perspective tends toward absolute privatization of all money functions and unconstrained capitalism so long as the capitalistic enterprise is not in any way advantaged by government.
by Dr. Ron Paul

Monday, December 14, 2009

Associated Press Ignores Climategate Source Code


E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled skeptics and discussed hiding data - but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by The Associated Press. The 1,073 e-mails examined by the AP show that scientists harbored private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. However, the exchanges don't undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The scientists were keenly aware of how their work would be viewed and used, and, just like politicians, went to great pains to shape their message. Sometimes, they sounded more like schoolyard taunts than scientific tenets. The scientists were so convinced by their own science and so driven by a cause "that unless you're with them, you're against them," said Mark Frankel, director of scientific freedom, responsibility and law at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also reviewed the communications. Frankel saw "no evidence of falsification or fabrication of data, although concerns could be raised about some instances of very 'generous interpretations." - AP
Dominant Social Theme: The AP is on the case.
Free-Market Analysis: This article really is a ho ot. After reading ALL the Climategate emails, the AP has widely disseminated a story (it's really all over the ‘Net) revealing that global warming is taking place even though some of the major scientists analyzing data proving global warming have revealed tremendous biases. As to how AP arrived at its decision, here's the crux explanation as revealed in the article itself:
The AP studied all the e-mails for context, with five reporters reading and rereading them - about 1 million words in total.
So from this we can see that five reporters read every single email before reaching their conclusion. From our perspective, this is a little bit like reading a novel in order to learn how to write one. The mechanics will inevitably prove elusive and the inherent geography will remain submerged. Indeed, it seems that the real problems lie not with the emails but with source code which was disgorged along with the emails. Here's an excerpt from a more dependable analysis found at The American Thinker (a rabidly conservative site that we usually avoid but this article really was good) as follows:

CRU's Source Code: Climategate Uncovered by Marc Sheppard ... One can only imagine the angst suffered daily by the co-conspirators, who knew full well that the "Documents" sub-folder of the CRU FOI2009 file contained more than enough probative program source code to unmask CRU's phantom methodology.
In fact, there are hundreds of IDL and FORTRAN source files buried in dozens of subordinate sub-folders. And many do properly analyze and chart maximum latewood density (MXD), the growth parameter commonly utilized by CRU scientists as a temperature proxy, from raw or legitimately normalized data. Ah, but many do so much more.
Skimming through the often spaghetti-like code, the number of programs which subject the data to a mixed-bag of transformative and filtering routines is simply staggering. Granted, many of these "alterations" run from benign smoothing algorithms (e.g. omitting rogue outliers) to moderate infilling mechanisms (e.g. estimating missing station data from that of those closely surrounding). But many others fall into the precarious range between highly questionable (removing MXD data which demonstrate poor correlations with local temperature) to downright fraudulent (replacing MXD data entirely with measured data to reverse a disorderly trend-line). In fact, workarounds for the post-1960 "divergence problem", as described by both RealClimate and Climate Audit, can be found throughout the source code.
So much so that perhaps the most ubiquitous programmer's comment (REM) I ran across warns that the particular module "Uses ‘corrected' MXD - but shouldn't usually plot past 1960 because these will be artificially adjusted to look closer to the real temperatures." (Emphasis ours.)
Now we would like to point out that this article (and others like it) spread quickly around the ‘Net and thus this was public information by around November 25. That's nearly three weeks ago. AP, which just released its report, read a million words but STILL couldn't be bothered to deal with the issue of the source code. And we've read elsewhere that there are additional comments within the purloined code itself commenting on the ludicrousness of the exercise.
Now the AP is not alone in its almost comical refusal to deal with the full gamut of repercussions from Climategate. We analyzed an article last week on how major American television programming had not covered Climategate even once. We imagine of course that these same television stations are bringing American viewers breathless reports from Copenhagen where complaisant political figureheads are arguing over the diminunition of cow flatulence.
Can such reporting simply be attributed to ignorance and oversight ? Or is there is a power elite - a muscular, generational entity of wealthy families and individuals responsible for what we call dominant social themes - promotions that are disseminated to frighten (mostly Western) citizens with an eye toward gaining additional wealth and power. In the era of the Internet it is especially hard to avoid this conclusion because the evidence is overwhelming if one only chooses to look. The pattern is evident, even though no one (except the Bell) has explained the mechanism in promotional terms. But there are plenty of documented sources - on the Internet of course. Not one or ten, or even a thousand, but tens of thousands, even millions.
One needn't be a "conspiracist" to read blogs, white papers, articles and reports that prove (to anyone inclined to be moderately receptive) that there is a pattern in play. In fact, none of these promotions are based - from what we can tell - on scientific truths but are cobbled together by a variety of speculative and untrustworthy sources. But once the argument is assembled, tremendous support is seemingly arranged.
Indeed, the highest sources in the West, the most prestigious think tanks and academies lend credibility to what is incredible, and their productions are faithfully reported by the most muscular mainstream media. And eventually of course Nobel Prizes are distributed. Curricula begin to be written. From the foundations of the EU, to the mythic underpinnings of Islamo-fascism, to global warming itself, the average individual is assaulted by this organized, deliberate fear-mongering. And if that's not enough, the Western economic system itself - with its fiat money and central banking - regularly crashes and burns, spreading joblessness and hopelessness at cyclical intervals.
The spectacle in Copenhagen is very obviously an organized one - how could it be otherwise given its political nature. Certainly, the ideology is actually financial and has little or nothing to do with the falsehood of global warming. The AP conclusions are not coincidental within this larger frame or reference. And we have difficulty believing that an absolute news blackout by the major American television stations was somehow coincidental either.
Conclusion: We are not prepared to explain in detail how all this gets done. It is not, in fact incumbent upon us to explain it, merely to observe that there is a wealthy and powerful elite that utilizes sophisticated promotional mechanisms to consolidate increasingly international control and global wealth. We have also noted that in the age of the Internet, these promotions are becoming increasingly difficult to shield from public view. We think, ultimately Climategate may prove illustrative of this.
http://www.thedailybell.com/660/Associated-Press-Ignores-Climategate.html

Friday, December 11, 2009

Who Wants War?



Dr. Ron PaulIf anyone still doubted that this administration's foreign policy would bring any kind of change, this week's debate on Afghanistan should remove all doubt. The President's stated justifications for sending more troops to Afghanistan and escalating war amount to little more than recycling all the false reasons we began the conflict. It is so discouraging to see this coming from our new leadership, when the people were hoping for peace. New polls show that 49 percent of the people favor minding our own business on the world stage, up from 30 percent in 2002. Perpetual war is not solving anything. Indeed continually seeking out monsters to destroy abroad only threatens our security here at home as international resentment against us builds. The people understand this and are becoming increasingly frustrated at not being heard by the decision-makers. The leaders say some things the people want to hear, but change never comes.
One has to ask, if the people who elected these leaders so obviously do not want these wars, who does? Eisenhower warned of the increasing power and influence of the military industrial complex and it seems his worst fears have come true. He believed in a strong national defense, as do I, but warned that the building up of permanent military and weapons industries could prove dangerous if their influence got out of hand. After all, if you make your money on war, peace does you no good. With trillions of dollars at stake, there is tremendous incentive to keep the decision makers fearful of every threat in the world, real or imagined, present or future, no matter how ridiculous and far-fetched. The Bush Doctrine demonstrates how very successful the war lobby was philosophically with the last administration. And they are succeeding just as well with this one, in spite of having the so-called "peace candidate" in office.
We now find ourselves in another foreign policy quagmire with little hope of victory, and not even a definition of victory. Eisenhower said that only an alert and informed electorate could keep these war racketeering pressures at bay. He was right, and the key is for the people to ensure that their elected leaders follow the Constitution. The Constitution requires a declaration of war by Congress in order to legitimately go to war. Bypassing this critical step makes it far too easy to waste resources on nebulous and never-ending conflicts. Without clear goals, the conflicts last forever and drain the country of blood and treasure. The drafters of the Constitution gave Congress the power to declare war precisely because they feared allowing the executive unfettered discretion in military affairs. They understood that making it easy for leaders to wage foreign wars would threaten domestic liberties.
Responses to attacks on our soil should be swift and brief. Wars we fight should always be defensive, clearly defined and Constitutional. The Bush Doctrine of targeting potential enemies before they do anything to us is dangerously vague and easily abused. There is nothing left to win in Afghanistan and everything to lose. Today's military actions are yet another futile exercise in nation building and have nothing to do with our nation's security, or with 9/11. Most experts agree that Bin Laden and anyone remotely connected to 9/11 left Afghanistan long ago, but our troops remain. The pressures of the war racketeers need to be put in check before we are brought to our knees by them. Unfortunately, it will require a mighty effort by the people to get the leadership to finally listen.
Editor's Note: The Daily Bell is pleased to provide its viewers with editorials from a selection of free-market thinkers. These may have been reprinted elsewhere and are NOT necessarily representative of Daily Bell editorial policy. The Bell itself is unapologetically free-market and its perspective tends toward absolute privatization of all money functions and unconstrained capitalism so long as the capitalistic enterprise is not in any way advantaged by government.

http://www.thedailybell.com/index.asp

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

I am not a body. I am free

"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me."
"I call upon God's Name and on my own."
I call upon God's Name and on my own" is another way of reminding me that I am not a body. If my name is the same as God's Name, then I must share the same characteristics as God. God is not a body so I must not be a body. God is innocent and wholly loving, so I must be innocent and wholly loving.

To call upon God's Name is to remind me of my Source and What I am. God has no fear, so fear must be alien to me as well. God does not condemn and so I must not condemn. Any image I believe about myself that is different from this is a false image that limits me and blinds me to the truth about myself.

To call upon God's Name is to open my mind to receive the truth of What I am. That is what I truly desire at the core of my being. I truly want to remember What I am. This Self that God created is where I find comfort and peace. It is the part of me that remembers God's Name is my own, along with all my brothers. It is the part of me that sees only unity and therefore is perfectly safe always.

Holy Spirit, help me see with the vision of my Self. Help me see the loving innocence of my brother so that I may recognize it in myself. Today I would receive Your meaning for everything I would look upon. Help me to be the Love I was created to be and see It everywhere. Help me to answer every call for Love with Love and thereby teach myself that only Love is real.


God is universal. God is the truth of all that is real. When I forget God, I am forgetting my Source, my true Identity. When I forget my Source, I am dreaming a dream of being separate from What I truly am. The way out of this is to return to letting God back into my awareness. The way out of this is to be willing to wake up from the dream of separation.

Anything other than God is a dream. That is why remembering God is my deliverance. "I call upon God's Name and on my own" helps me remember the truth. There is nothing other than God. That truth is my safety and my joy. Remembering that truth is my salvation.

I would remind myself of the truth frequently today. I would let my mind be healed of belief that anything other than God is real. This is how I rest in God today. This is how I wake up from the dream.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Mainstream media ignores climategate 14 days after news broke

Getty ImagesFor the fourteenth straight day, the three broadcast networks have failed to report on the great and growing ClimateGate scandal on their weekday morning or evening news programs. How to explain this? Perhaps it is that ABC, NBC and CBS have not yet heard of the story, despite two weeks of non-stop reporting on and discussion of ClimateGate in a whole host of media outlets. Perhaps the broadcast networks only trust their fellow liberal press outlets, like the New York Times. Perhaps they don't realize the Times exhibited journalistic diligence on ClimateGate, with a front page story the day the story broke. In the event that ABC News, NBC News and CBS News missed the news, the Media Research Center (MRC) is today rushing each of them a copy of the Times story, in the hopes that armed with this new information, they will finally report a story that has been roiling nearly everywhere else for a fortnight. So as not to offend the networks' pro-global warming sensibilities, MRC President Brent Bozell is looking to have the stories delivered by bicycle messenger. - MRC
Dominant Social Theme: Don't look now! ...

Free-Market Analysis: Wow, we didn't realize this was the case. We don't watch that much TV, especially American television, because we just can't stand it anymore. But sometimes you miss things, and this was one of them. We didn't realize that there hadn't been any formal reports on the Climategate controversy on American TV. Now, perhaps there have been reports on various talkshows, etc., but MRC claims that the major networks have not formally gone about covering the story. Incredible!
We have pointed out in the past that a major way of killing true reporting is to ignore it. This is much different than heavy-handed USSR tactics of "making up" news. The Western way has always been more subtle, at least in the 20th century. Not so sure about the 21st because of the Internet. But we watched how the powers-that-be carefully controlled news in the 20th century.
First, reporting was made into a graduate school degree. Second, the major media tended to hire from the graduate schools, and this was exceptionally effective when it came to larger issues of finance and politics. Those who graduated from these schools, especially with high marks, were already entirely conditioned. If you were a major media player with a specific conversational gambit, you didn't have to worry. Just like buying a car from a major producer - you kind of knew what you were getting.
But this wasn't enough, we saw. In the late 20th century, especially in America, which has always pioneered reporting as a good many other things, there was an effort to do away with sourcing. Lawyer Steven Brill, with shadowy funding (from our point of view), attempted to set up a quarterly magazine discussing journalistic "ethics" in general. One of Brill's big issues was that reporters not use "unnamed" sources. It went on for several years, article after article, reporter after reporter beating his or her breast about the sin and mortification of using unnamed sources, and Brill pontificating about the morality involved and how using unnamed sources should be grounds for dismissal.
Fortunately Brill went bankrupt - as regards the magazine anyway - and the movement to report without using the only kind of good source there is (an anonymous one) gradually faded away. (We're sure it will return sooner or later.) More pernicious and still attracting adherents is the whole idea that journalism should be "detached" and even-handed.
We've run several analyses on this issue, showing that journalism was always polemical, both in Britain and America, until well after the Civil War when a number of social standards shifted. We don't believe these changes were for the good, certainly they weren't sensible and in many cases we think they were inspired by determined manipulations that were intended to make news less incisive, less focused and generally less reliable.
Conclusion: And what do we have today, after more than a century of news "improvement?" After 100 years of turning news gathering into a profession, of setting the "highest standards," of ensuring as much as humanly possible that all forms of bias were excommunicated from the news rooms? ... Why we have America's major networks NOT COVERING THE SCIENTIFIC STORY OF THE DECADE FOR A FULL TWO WEEKS AFTER THE FIRST REPORTS. Kind of makes you wonder where all the improvement's gone, huh? Unless it's on purpose ... Ya think?
http://www.thedailybell.com/638/Big-3-TV-Ignores-Climategate.html