Spectator: 'We are living through an anomalous period of peace'

War has historically been humanity’s biggest killer. But in most of the world today, a generation is growing up that knows little of it. The Peace Research Institute in Oslo says there have been fewer war deaths in the last decade than any time in the last century. Whether we are living through an anomalous period of peace, or whether the risk of nuclear apocalypse has proved an effective deterrent, mankind seems no longer to be its own worst enemy. We must bear in mind that things can fall apart, and quickly. Germany was perhaps the most civilised nation in the world in the 1920s. For now, though, it is worth remembering that, in relative terms, we have peace in our time.

Why 2012 was the best year ever || The Spectator

CBO: Interest Payments Cost Extra $1.033 Trillion Over Ten Years

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, over the next ten years, that yearly one percentage point rise would cost us an additional $1.033 trillion in interest payments, on top of the $5.079 trillion we’re already paying.

Top Five Myths about Reducing Our $16 Trillion National Debt || Defeat the Debt

Harry Reid Must Talk With Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Before Considering Fed Audit

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he would have to have a “real serious conversation” with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke before he considers bringing the Federal Reserve Transparency Act to the Senate Floor.
......

As CNSNews.com previously reported , Reid was once a strong supporter of auditing the Federal Reserve System - in 1995. Then being discussed was then-Senator Bryon Dorgan’s (D-N.D.) amendment that would have required the Federal Reserve to a prepare a report to Congress and disclose the financial impact of changing interest rates on the public and private sector.

In 1995 Reid went into great detail about how the Federal Reserve wasn’t talked about enough, how it not only affects the federal government because of the money it borrows but also the private sector because “higher interest rates effect everybody,” and how he’s called for an audit of the Federal Reserve System and offered “that amendment every year.”

“Every year the legislation gets nowhere,” Reid said in 1995. “I think it would be interesting to know about the Federal Reserve. I think we should audit the Federal Reserve.”

Reid: I’d Have a 'Serious Conversation' with Bernanke Before Considering Fed Audit | CNS News

Michael Peck is Dead Wrong on Ron Paul and Secession

This can't even be called a hit-piece for the sole reason that it doesn't hit. Exhibit A:

If secession is a fundamental right that some Texans can petition the White House for secession, then why not honor Atlanta’s petition to secede from the state of Georgia? And if your state can secede at will, then why can’t your county, your town, or even your street declare independence? Where does it stop?

Exhibit B:

Is there a fundamental right to secede? Sure there is, in the same way that robbing your neighbor’s house can be justified as a fundamental right if you are starving.

The author gets it backwards. He likens secession to robbing your neighbor. But what anti-freedom bubble does this guy live in? To the contrary, secession would be that neighbor trying to get away from the robber who has full endorsement of the government. And what's so immoral about that? Why wouldn't secession continue there? Ron Paul's Secession Blackmail of America || Forbes Online

Ron Paul likens Gaza to 'Concentration Camp'; Calls Out Obama's Hypocrisy on HAMAS Rocket Condemnation

Ron Paul on Obama's support of Israel's "right to defend itself":

Last week, as the fighting raged, President Obama raced to express US support for the Israeli side, in a statement that perfectly exemplifies the tragic-comedy of US foreign policy. The US supported the Israeli side because, he said, "No country on Earth would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.” Considering that this president rains down missiles on Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and numerous other countries on a daily basis, the statement was so hypocritical that it didn’t pass the laugh test. But it wasn’t funny.

How to End the Tragedy in Gaza || Ron Paul

Best Explanation of Obama Re-Election Victory

From the incomparable Gary North:

Why did Obama win? Because he got more votes. But why? Because people stuck with the devil they knew

American Politics: Bipartisan Boondoggles || Gary North

Why Neoconservatism Won't Die

One of the best essays on Neoconservatism I have ever read:

The Genius of Neoconservatism || Foreign Policy Online

Maybe it should be called "Why Neoconservatism won't die."

Gary North on Ron Paul's Farewell Address

I like the way he put it:

For a nationally known politician to build a career based on his never having attained political power, never wanting to attain political power, and never having anybody suggest that he was going to attain political power, is one of the great anomalies in the history of American politics.

Ron Paul's Farewell Address: An Anomaly in American History || Gary North

*Gary North was Ron Paul's first staff economist back in the 1970s. Here is the text of Ron Paul's Farewell Speech

Go Michelle: Michele Bachmann Suggests Axing The Department Of Education

Huff-Po reports the following:

In a speech in Iowa in April, the presidential hopeful fiercely criticized the department, saying that it is one agency "we can live without."

She's absolutely right. We have had privatized education for at least the first 50 years since the ratification of the Constitution.

Obama Jobs Plan to Push More K-12 Bloat?

Ron Paul: Fixing America's Debt Crisis

Ron Paul: Fixing America's Debt Crisis

Ron Paul "We're In A Debt Crisis That's Worldwide"

Another old video that I had saved in the drafts from 2011.

BookTV: Phyllis Schlafly, "No Higher Power"

Political Pundit, Essayist, Atheist Christopher Hitchens Dies at 62 | CNSnews.com

Political Pundit, Essayist, Atheist Christopher Hitchens Dies at 62 | CNSnews.com Wow. I had this one saved in the drafts since last December. Just publishing this now.

BookTV: Medea Benjamin, "Drone Warfare"

Ron Paul on FEMA and NFIP

"Many assume it is compassionate to entrust government central planners with disaster recovery. However, the greatest compassion brings results, not just good intentions."

Ron Paul || The Economics Of Disaster

Pat Buchanan on the "Coming Age of Austerity"

"With government in the U.S. at all levels consuming 40 percent of gross domestic product, and taxes 30 percent, taxes will have to rise and government spending be controlled or cut. The alternative is to destroy the debt by depreciating the dollars in which it is denominated – i.e., by Fed-induced inflation." Patrick Buchanan || The Coming Age of Austerity

My OTHER Big Idea for Presidential Debate Reform: Allow Third Party Candidates to Participate

Allow them to participate, regardless of polling.

But come to think of it: All this talk of reform isn't really libertarian at all. The "libertarian" view might more radically be repeal of the office of the presidency, and, with that the repeal of both houses of Congress, the cabinets, the Supreme Court, and the rest of government. Yes, even national defense.

This post was inspired by OverStock.com's CEO Patrick Byrne talking about both parties engaging in "tinkering." See below.

My Big Idea for Presidential Debate Reform

Ta-Dah!

Add presidential debates that are like congressional hearings. Of course, one or two town hall style debates should remain. And even the current format where opponents attack each other with one moderator should remain. But this new debate style should be included, and commence immediately, in September, after the national conventions. Twice a week, for three weeks, for at least three hours, on a different topic with an expert group of questioners, until October. There we can continue with the current debate format.

The more presidential candidates in the hearing/debate, the longer the hearing/debate should be. There should be:

A debate on: Taxes, Economy, and the Federal Reserve

A debate on: Civil Liberties and Prisons

A debate on: Foreign Policy

A debate on: Healthcare and Welfare

A debate on: Internet Regulation and Education Reform

A debate on: Immigration

At least those topic suggestions are a start.

Even in primary season, when the last two candidates not to have dropped out are left, put them through a debate - congressional-hearing style. So I guess I'm playing loose with the term "debate" here. I guess I want - and think the American people deserve - a hearing on all the positions of the people who want to "serve" us.

They can debate about those positions later.

If you want to retweet or favorite my tweets, click here for tweet one, tweet two, tweet three, tweet four.

P.S. Yes, I think the "World's Toughest Job Interview" should last three hours. I predict that the shorter debates in October would be more popular. This debate can be relegated to C-SPAN, and other networks that want to cover it.

I'm Absolutely Terrified of Mitt Romney

Doug Wead Explains Romney's America:

It  turns out that Mitt Romney and other Republican operatives were apparently very much aware of what was going on at the precinct, county, district and state conventions.  This was not greedy state and country chairmen wanting to hang onto power so they could go to the RNC as delegates and get drunk.  The hardball tactics were apparently approved and refined from state to state from Iowa, where the state chairman got money for the GOP and promises and conveniently kept a Santorum popularity vote win and a Ron Paul delegate win, out of the news for months, all the way to Tampa, where pudgy, Romney Brownshirt  goons raced along the streets in golf cart-like vehicles, looking for demonstrators to divert into chain fence cages beyond view of the media.  Welcome to Romney’s America.

How Mitt Romney Cheated His Way to the GOP Nomination || Doug Wead  

Also Read: Romney's Fair Warning by Vox Day. Here's an excerpt:

What we learned from the convention is that Mitt Romney is a dictator who expects obedience and does not tolerate even the mere appearance of dissent. More ominously, he is also a rules lawyer who is more than willing to smash the spirit of the game while rewriting its rules any time it appears to suit his interests. From keeping important party figures such as Ron Paul and Sarah Palin off the podium to refusing to recognize the duly-elected delegates from Maine, from changing the party rules on the fly to indulging in a Soviet-style vote count in which only votes for Romney were reported, it is clear that Mitt Romney is even more inclined toward authoritarian rule than Barack Obama has ever shown himself to be.

It is deeply ironic that paranoid Republicans, who suspect Obama of secretly planning to circumvent the law in order to rule the country with an iron fist, should turn to Mitt Romney to save them when Romney has already shown his ready willingness to do the very thing they fear.  Romney’s ruthless actions at the Republican convention show every sign that in turning to him, America will be jumping out of the frying pan and right into the fire.

 Video: RNC 2012's Scripted Rules Change 

An Excerpt from Thomas Sowell: The Economics of Medical Care

The Economics of Medical Care || Thomas Sowell

My Interview with Gov. Gary Johnson - Libertarian Presidential Candidate - On Al-Qaida, Obamacare

We talked about Syria, al-Qaida, Medicare, Social Security, and Obama. Read about it by clicking the links below.

Libertarian Party Nominee Gary Johnson: ‘A Quarter of the Syrian Rebels are Al-Qaida’ || Politic365

Libertarian Nominee Gary Johnson on Obamacare: ‘A Torpedo in a Sinking Ship' || Politic365

Sanchez: 'True Progress Toward Liberty Cannot be Achieved Through the Offices of a Gargantuan State'

Danny Sanchez on voting and the cause of liberty:

For one thing, your vote helps provide a mandate for all of the elected officer’s policies, whether you support those policies or not. As one author has said, voting "just encourages the bastards."

Furthermore, every vote for a federal office is a vote for the hyper-state known as the U.S. federal government, and for hyper-states in general. It is effectively an endorsement of centralized power and a vote of no confidence in localism. And yes, this would be true of a vote for a middling libertarian like Gary Johnson, or even an exceptionally heroic individual like Ron Paul.

Vote for Liberty by Not Voting || Daniel Sanchez 

Ron Paul: 'Long Term Solutions" to U.S. Economy 'Involve Some Short Term Pain'

From Rep. Ron Paul's weekly column:

The truth is the long term solutions to our economic quagmire involve some short term pain.  Re-evaluating the economic role of an institution as insidious and behemoth as the Federal Reserve will inconvenience some people, and those people happen to have a lot of power.  Similarly, the idea of ending government programs and closing down superfluous departments will always upset someone because it means someone will stop getting a government check. 

Again:

Not all of the unemployed are counted in the BLS unemployment numbers.  This is no secret.  In 1994 government statisticians came up with the term "discouraged worker" to remove entire swaths of people from the unemployment statistic.  Now all the government has to do to improve the unemployment numbers is discourage people from looking for a job.

Keeping Up Statistics Appearances || Rep. Ron Paul

Back to Back Front-Page Articles on CNSNews

Romney Says He Will Work to Organize and Arm Syrian Rebels 'Who Share Our Values'

Westward Ho! Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Alaska Have Best Tax Climate

On Drudge: Steve Wynn says Businessmen "Frightened" of Obama

'Every Business Guy I Know Is Frightened By Barack Obama'

A Funny Study Exploring the Relationship Between Partisanship and Beauty

From a blog I just discovered today.

Ron Paul: 'Government is a giant, blood-sucking parasite on our otherwise healthy economy'

From His Texas Straight Talk Column:

It's not that nearly half of Americans are dependent on government; it's actually more than half.  If one includes not just people on food stamps and welfare, but also seniors on Medicare, Social Security and people employed by the government directly, the number is more like 165 million out of 308 million, which is 53%.

Government Dependency Will End in Chaos || Rep. Ron Paul

Is a Nuclear Deal With Iran Possible?

Patrick Buchanan making sense on Iran:

What would cause anyone to believe Iran is willing to negotiate?

There are the fatwas by the ayatollahs against nuclear weapons and the consensus by 16 U.S. intelligence agencies in 2007, reaffirmed in 2011, that Iran has no nuclear weapons program.

Even the Israelis have lately concluded that the Americans are right.

Nor has the United States or Israel discovered any site devoted to the building of nuclear weapons. The deep-underground facility at Fordow is enriching uranium to 20 percent. There are no reports of any enrichment to 90 percent, which is weapons grade.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has lately mocked the idea of Iran building a bomb in the face of a U.S. commitment to go to war to prevent it:

"Let's even imagine that we have an atomic weapon, a nuclear weapon. What would we do with it? What intelligent person would fight 5,000 American bombs with one bomb?"

Ahmadinejad did not mention that Israel has 200 to 300 nuclear weapons. He did not need to. The same logic applies.

And then he says something even I didn't know before:

And Tehran seems to be signaling it is ready for a deal.

According to the United Nations' watchdog agency, Iran recently converted more than one-third of its 20 percent enriched uranium into U308, or uranium oxide, a powder for its medical research reactor.

Is a Nuclear Deal With Iran Possible? | CNSNews.com

Drudge: O'Reilly Winning the Cable News Race

CABLE NEWS RACE
SEPT. 27, 2012

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,841,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,511,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,185,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,080,000
FOXNEWS FIVE 1,960,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,857,000
CMDY DAILY SHOW 1,832,000
CMDY COLBERT 1,295,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,284,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 1,235.000
MSNBC O'DONNELL 1,204,000
FOXNEWS FOX/FRIENDS 1,149,000
CNN PIERS 670,000
MSNBC MORNING JOE 552,000
CNN COOPER 477,000

Misleading Headline: Iran Vows to Enemies Will Not Survive

Finish the headline for goodness sakes (Iran Vows Enemies Will Not Survive -- If Attacked First). This is so misleading. (And it's in bright red at that)

From the Associated Press:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian general has said that his country's enemies will not survive if they attack Iran's nuclear sites. (emphasis mine)

 We can stop here. But let's go on.

A Friday report by the semiofficial ISNA news agency quotes Gen. Farzad Esmaili, chief of air defense, as saying "we vow our enemies will not survive," if they attack Iran's nuclear sites. (emphasis mine)

It's clear as day, Iran isn't going to attack anyone unless they're attacked first.

Friedersdorf: 'Obama terrorizes innocent Pakistanis on an almost daily basis'

I agree with this:

I find Obama likable when I see him on TV. He is a caring husband and father, a thoughtful speaker, and possessed of an inspirational biography. On stage, as he smiles into the camera, using words to evoke some of the best sentiments within us, it's hard to believe certain facts about him:    

1. Obama terrorizes innocent Pakistanis on an almost daily basis. The drone war he is waging in North Waziristan isn't "precise" or "surgical" as he would have Americans believe. It kills hundreds of innocents, including children. And for thousands of more innocents who live in the targeted communities, the drone war makes their lives into a nightmare worthy of dystopian novels. People are always afraid. Women cower in their homes. Children are kept out of school. The stress they endure gives them psychiatric disorders. Men are driven crazy by an inability to sleep as drones buzz overhead 24 hours a day, a deadly strike possible at any moment. At worst, this policy creates more terrorists than it kills; at best, America is ruining the lives of thousands of innocent people and killing hundreds of innocents for a small increase in safety from terrorists. It is a cowardly, immoral, and illegal policy, deliberately cloaked in opportunistic secrecy. And Democrats who believe that it is the most moral of all responsible policy alternatives are as misinformed and blinded by partisanship as any conservative ideologue. 
2. Obama established one of the most reckless precedents imaginable: that any president can secretly order and oversee the extrajudicial killing of American citizens. Obama's kill list transgresses against the Constitution as egregiously as anything George W. Bush ever did. It is as radical an invocation of executive power as anything Dick Cheney championed. The fact that the Democrats rebelled against those men before enthusiastically supporting Obama is hackery every bit as blatant and shameful as anything any talk radio host has done.  
3. Contrary to his own previously stated understanding of what the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution demand, President Obama committed U.S. forces to war in Libya without Congressional approval, despite the lack of anything like an imminent threat to national security.

Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama || Conor Friedersdorf

Free Beacon Reminds Us about Obama's Economic Forecasts--and Their Failures

The Washington Free Beacon reminds of the promises of economic recovery:

In January 2009, before Obama took office, his future economists Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein released a report projecting the effects of the incoming President’s proposed stimulus package. In the forecast, Romer and Bernstein predicted that the stimulus would prevent the unemployment rate from ever hitting 8 percent. If Congress didn’t adopt the President’s plan, the unemployment rate would rise to 9 percent but fall back down to 6 percent by the third quarter of 2012, they argued. In reality, Obama’s massive stimulus package was adopted and the unemployment rate rose to 10 percent in October 2009 and currently sits at 8.1 percent—a number achieved only because millions have given up looking for work altogether.
In June 2010, the Obama Administration claimed the “Summer of Economic Recovery” had arrived. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner welcomed Americans to the recovery in August 2010. But as of summer 2012, “Americans [were] still waiting for the recovery,” according to Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.). The economy has yet to recover. Unemployment remains above 8 percent and the economy consistently adds less than 100,000 jobs per month.

Obama's Forecast Failures || The Washington Free Beacon

My Top Picks for The X-Factor 2012

So I'm taking a quick break from politics to make predictions about my favorite show on television: The X-Factor (USA).

#1 - Carly Rose Sonenclar
The Star. If she continues to perform like she did on her audition night, she will have the $5 million prize in the bag. She is easily the top choice. She's confident. She's a star in the making. And she's thirteen. I hope we hear a lot from her in the future beyond the show.

#2 - Jessica Espinoza
Mini-Pink. The reason I bumped her up from third was because if she can tap into that raw, real singing power, she can get farther than Jillian Jensen, who also has raw, real singing voice. Her back story is more endearing than Jillian's, and she brings that back story to the fore in her music. Additionally, I think her voice might be stronger than Jillian's, but she just  has to sing the right songs to tap into it.

#3 - Jillian Jensen
Raw Emotion. The night I saw Jillian Jensen she immediately became my favorite. Her ability to harness her pain and sing it out is her greatest strength. She also has a phenomenal, sexy, and raspy voice. But how long will she be able to keep up those highly-emotional performances? That question is why I bumped her down from number one. Additionally, after listening to Carly Rose Sonenclar the next night, and re-listening to Carly and comparing the two girls, Carly does seem to have the more powerful voice. But the older Jillian seems to have the more mature voice. It will be tough.

Honorable Mention: Diamond White
I wanted to make Diamond White my number four pick, but I am not so sure. She is a wild-card, so she is worth an honorable mention. Like Carly Rose Sonenclar, she is also 13. But the most powerful voice and better performer award goes to Carly.

Bottom Line: The 2012 X-Factor competition, I think, has the most formidable competition ever and the best singers among any reality contestant show. (I'll probably update this post within a few days.)

Ron Paul: 'We never try to see through the eyes of those we seek to liberate'

From Congressman Paul's weekly column:

There is danger in the belief we can remake the world by bribing some countries and bombing others. But that is precisely what the interventionists – be they liberal or conservative – seem to believe. When the world does not conform to their image, they seem genuinely shocked. The secretary of state’s reaction to the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi was one of confusion. “How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction,” she asked.

The problem is that we do not know and we cannot know enough about these societies we are seeking to remake. We never try to see through the eyes of those we seek to liberate. Libya is in utter chaos, the infrastructure has been bombed to rubble, the economy has ceased to exist, gangs and militias rule by brutal force, the government is seen as a completely illegitimate and powerless US puppet.  How could anyone be shocked that the Libyans do not see our bombing their country as saving it from destruction?

Walter Williams Explodes the Reasons to Tax the Rich, Again

In the face of our looming financial calamity, what are we debating about? It's not about the reduction or elimination of the immoral conduct that's delivered us to where we are. It's about how we pay for it — namely, taxing the rich, not realizing that even if Congress imposed a 100 percent tax on earnings higher than $250,000 per year, it would keep the government running for only 141 days.

Immoral Beyond Redemption || Walter Williams

OMG...Margaret Sanger Was So Racist

I heard about Margaret Sanger being a racist before, but these quotes (if real) are devastating.

Napolitano: 'Abortion is today the most frequently performed medical procedure in the United States'

What has gone unmentioned, however, in the cacophony of condemnation by Republicans and Democrats, is the implication in Akin’s comments that rape is not a moral justification for abortion. In that, he is correct: It is not.

Abortion takes the life of innocent human beings who are the most vulnerable in our society. Abortion is today the most frequently performed medical procedure in the United States. American physicians perform about two abortions every minute of every hour of every day: about 1 million a year since 1973.

Abortion and Rape || Judge Andrew Napolitano

The Return Of The Great Depression?

Christian Mensan Vox Day talks to Sean Hannity about his book The Return of the Great Depression.

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 14

Editor's Note: The Goins Report did not publish a Weekly Health Review since 8/21/12.

The Senior White House Correspondent for ABC News reports that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel holds that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act, which limits political activity to the President and Vice President.

The IRS Deputy Commissioner says that IRS agents won't be enforcing the 2010 health care law, CNBC news reports.

Democrats are committing a real war on women by forcing contraception coverage at the expense of medical care for older people on Medicare, AAPS columnist Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, MD, writes.

War on Women: 60,000 women died prematurely because of government-endorsed information, Vliet reminds readers.

Tea Party Patriots slammed the must-pass continuing resolution that will go up for vote this Thursday because it funds the 2010 health care law, once derisively called "Obamacare," The Hill reports.


Scientific Breakthrough: Australian scientists working under a government-funded science consortium implanted the "world's first" bionic eye that allows the patient to see images of varying size, Yahoo News reports.

Doesn't that stink? Swallowed batteries account for thousands of children's emergency room visits, Fox News reports.

Health.com outlines 14 types of headaches and how to treat them.

Calm down, everyone! A conservative policy president says Romney's statement that there are parts of the 2010 health care law that he likes is no statement that he'd keep it in place, the National Review Online has the opinion piece.

And she also notes in another piece that what Governor Romney envisioned for Massachusett's was not what was eventually passed into law.

DNC Convention News

Clinton double counts on Medicare, an opinion piece in POLITICO argues.


POLITICO fact-checks Bill Clinton's speech. Does a similar breakdown of Paul Ryan's speech.

Conservatives says that the decrease in health care spending was already in motion before the 2010 health care reform law was passed, yours truly for Politic365 reports.

RNC Convention News

In his RNC acceptance speech, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney vows to repeal and replace the 2010 health care reform law, Kaiser Health News reports (with video).

And while they GOP claims they'll have a mandate to reshape Medicare if they win in November, POLITICO explores the question: A mandate for what?

Liar, Liar?: The Associate Press charged Paul Ryan with taking some factual shortcuts in his RNC VP acceptance speech, The Hill reports.

Mr. Obama, Are you Really Christian?' Syrian Man after Criticizing U.S. Foreign Policy

Vox Day on Mitt Romney

What we learned from the convention is that Mitt Romney is a dictator who expects obedience and does not tolerate even the mere appearance of dissent. More ominously, he is also a rules lawyer who is more than willing to smash the spirit of the game while rewriting its rules any time it appears to suit his interests. From keeping important party figures such as Ron Paul and Sarah Palin off the podium to refusing to recognize the duly-elected delegates from Maine, from changing the party rules on the fly to indulging in a Soviet-style vote count in which only votes for Romney were reported, it is clear that Mitt Romney is even more inclined toward authoritarian rule than Barack Obama has ever shown himself to be.

Romney's Fair Warning || Vox Day

Jobless Wrap-Up for August

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics came out with its August job numbers.

Clinton: "This election to me is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment."

Here's a wrap-up of the best headlines (Kudos to the Drudge Report for some of these.):

The unemployment rate for August is 8.1 percent, Yahoo Finance reports.

A record 88.9 million Americans are not in the workforce, CNSNews.com reports.

The real unemployment rate for June is 15 percent says Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), yours truly reports for Politic365.com.

Black unemployment remains at 14.1 percent, Politic365.com reports.

Low-wage jobs add the most jobs in the past year, Zerohedge reports. Jokes: Tomorrow's Pravda Today headline: "UNEMPLOYMENT RATE PLUNGES"

Confirmation: A study says that the majority of new jobs pay low wages, the New York Times reports.

Two charts show that President Obama is the worst among job creators, The Goins Report compiles the sources.

Related: Taxing Millionaires Won't Fix the Economy, CBS News reports. The rich aren't getting richer, CNBC.com reports--they're getting poorer. Marketwatch reports that college graduates are taking jobs that require no degree.

Pentagon OK with selling US drones to 66 countries

You can't make this stuff up man. This is big business:

WASHINGTON -- As many as 66 countries would be eligible to buy U.S. drones under new Defense Department guidelines but Congress and the State Department, which have a final say, have not yet opened the spigots for exports, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday.

The 66 countries were listed in a Defense Department policy worked out last year to clear the way for wider overseas sales of unmanned aerial systems, as the Pentagon calls such drones, said Richard Genaille, deputy director of the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency. He did not name them.

Pentagon OK with selling US drones to 66 countries

Study: Majority of New Jobs Pay Low Wages

While a majority of jobs lost during the downturn were in the middle range of wages, a majority of those added during the recovery have been low paying, according to a new report from the National Employment Law Project.

Majority of New Jobs Pay Low Wages, Study Finds || The New York Times

Government Does Stuff That Shouldn't Be Done At All

Then, one day, I suddenly realized I had been betrayed.

Then I looked at history. It’s always the same. Political rule never results in what you think it should. Why? After reading Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, and Murray Rothbard, it finally dawned on me. The government doesn’t do anything that the market can’t do better.

I ticked through the list in my mind. Helping the poor, getting people health care, providing education, building roads, providing retirement income, inspiring virtue, boosting the economy, making people secure. Even the whole court system is a mess, and so people resort to private solutions…and profitably.

Plus, government does tons of stuff that shouldn’t be done at all, like giving privileges to elites, bombing innocent people, meddling in business where it has no business, taxing people into poverty, and debauching the currency.

Give It Up || Jeffrey Tucker

Guy Fawkes and Us

So much for the textbook Catholic high school teaching on Guy Fawkes.

The Whiskey and Gunpowder blog has an excellent article based on its namesake that explores the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1700's and the Gunpowder Plot of the early 1600's.

The following passage really made me think of something I'd thought of before:

Anarchists and various anti-government types often appropriate a stylized simulacrum of Guy Fawkes’ face as their symbol because Guy was the one caught preparing the barrels of gunpowder. He is most closely associated with the anti-government plot in the popular imagination…

But Guy wasn’t interested in permanently or drastically reducing the reach of power of government; he merely wanted a Catholic monarch in power to persecute the Protestants, instead of the prevailing situation in which a Protestant monarch was persecuting the Catholic minority.

Guy was actually much like your garden-variety nationalist. He wanted his kind of people in power. This is not unlike the supporters of the few politicians we like — like Ron Paul.

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party aren't small-government or pro-civil liberties. They just kick and scream as if they are. But really, it's just that their version of big government isn't being posed on the rest of the nation.

That's it.

And it also reminded that statism has so many different incarnations (in this case religious) that we really have to question whether it was the religions themselves or something else that was the cause of it.

I don't know. Maybe something like, you know, the human heart.

Gary North on Political Platforms

A political platform is a statement of faith that the voters ask the politicians to provide. It is quite comparable to the phrase, "Will you still respect me in the morning?" Once the platform emerges from the convention, it will have approximately as much meaning as the assurance, "Why of course I'll still respect you in the morning."

Gold Commission 2 || GaryNorth.com

Mitt Romney Reveals Non-Specific Policy Specifics

The news here isn’t that Romney announced new policy proposals. The news is that he’s still trying to get away with tailoring his messaging to his audience, and with telling people what he thinks they want to hear rather than what he actually believes. On that front, Romney revealed nothing. Perhaps because there’s nothing to reveal.

Mitt Romney Reveals Non-Specific Policy Specifics || Reason Hit and Run Blog

I'm Disgusted With The Republican Party

In reaction to the news that the RNC sought a rules change to avoid a floor fight:

I am very slow to anger but I think what the Republican Party did to the Ron Paul people is just despicable and disgusting. It's absolutely deplorable that Paul supporters have been shut out of GOP state conventions, denied seats to duly elected delegates, arrested, and had the rules changed on them the week of the very convention they were sent to vote at.

This is a party that is all about squelching and silencing opposition, even at the cost of an election.

So I ask: What is wrong with a little internal dissent?And is clamping down on dissent really worth it when the cost is the very support you are trying to win over?

Of course, it could be completely be the case that the Republicans know that they would have a hard time winning over the Paul people, and would have to make so many concessions on the platform ad infinitum that in their minds it is justified to prevent a floor fight.

It could completely be the case that they believe they can't win us over, so preventing a public relations mess would be timely right about now.

We're honest people and our rallies and organizations are the true grassroots. Our rallies are not funded by the Koch Brothers like Americans for Prosperity, just every day, hardworking -- and intelligent -- people.

And this is the kind of opposition they want squelched? Other grassroots that aren't too Ron Paul-friendly should be on our side, because it might be their turn one day to be on the receiving end of the GOP strong arm.

The Republican Party does not know how to handle the Ron Paul revolution. They think they can just pander to us and get our vote but they are dead wrong. It's going to take a lot more than just adding "Audit the Fed" to the GOP platform to win my vote.

I'm voting Ron Paul.

Related: How the GOP Establishment Stole the Nomination From Ron Paul || LewRockwell.com

Taxing Millionaires won't fix the Economy, Budget Expert says

From CBS News:

(CBS News) Federal budget expert Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget, said the "Buffett Rule" is not "going to come anywhere close to fixing the problem" of income inequality or the national debt

"Because...growing income inequality has been so pronounced in the past year, what you can't do is pretend that only taxing millionaires is going to come anywhere close to fixing the problem," MacGuineas said on CBS News' "Face to Face."

Budget expert: Taxing millionaires won't fix the economy || CBS News 

Related: The Decline of the Rich

Two Charts That Show Obama Is Amongst the Worst of Job Creators

Don't worry, a Bush is down there, too.

 From Freedom Outpost.

From Reason's Hit & Run Blog.

And here is a related essay refuting the Obama campaign's claims that Obama's recovery is greater than Reagan's recovery.

The Make-Up Police Are Coming to Shut You Down

From Facebook:

A long time ago in the early days of The Goins Report (2010), I wrote a series of blog posts arguing that women should be legally allowed to braid their own daughters hair or neighbor's hair -- because logic dictates that if you need a license to be a hairstylist to do hair in a building, what stopping the gov't from shutting down a hair salon run out of a home?

This time, the make-up police are out!

Here are those three blog posts I was referring to:

[1] Libertarian Views of Law: Why You Can't Legally Braid Your Neighbor's Hair 
[2] Libertarian Views of the Law: A response to the Hair Post
[3] Vindicated! How Ron Paul's Life Proves My Point

Owen Jones: The US is Still a Bully

The problem is power, not presidents, columnist argues:

How easy it was to scrutinise US power when George W. Bush was in office. After all, it was difficult to defend an administration packed with such repulsive characters, like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, whose attitude towards the rest of the world amounted to thuggish contempt.

Many will shudder remembering that dark era: the naked human pyramids accompanied by grinning US service personnel in Abu Ghraib; the orange-suited prisoners in Guantanamo, kneeling in submission at the feet of US soldiers; the murderous assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah. By the end of Bush's term in office, favourable opinion of the US had plummeted even in allied countries, and those desperate for a Republican rout in the presidential elections ranged from resolute socialists to committed Tories.

It was a bad dream that went on for eight years, and no wonder much of the world is still breathing a sigh of relief. But US foreign policy these days escapes scrutiny. In part, that is down a well-grounded terror of the only viable alternative to Barack Obama: the increasingly deranged US right. A deliberate shift to a softer, more diplomatic tone has helped, too. But it is also the consequence of a strategic failure on the part of many critics of US foreign policy in the Bush era. As protesters marched in European cities with placards of Bush underneath "World's No 1 Terrorist", the anti-war crusade became personalised. Bush seemed to be the problem, and an understanding of US power – the nature of which remains remarkably consistent from president to president – was lost.

Owen Jones: Getting rid of George W. Bush wasn't enough. The US remains a bully || The Independent (UK)

College Students Taking Jobs That Require No Degree

After four years of college, many graduates are ending up in jobs that only require the ability to operate a cash register with a smile.

After commencement, a growing number young people say they have no choice but to take low-skilled jobs, according to a survey released this week. And while 63% of “Generation Y” workers — those age 18 to 29 — have a bachelor’s degree, the majority of the jobs taken by graduates don’t require one, according to an online survey of 500,000 young workers carried out between July 2011 and July 2012 by PayScale.com, a company that collects data on salaries.

Trading caps and gowns for mops || MarketWatch

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 13

Ex-Porn star Jenna Jameson tells the women of the Twitterverse that they're entitled to all the sex that they want, but that doesn't mean she should have to pay for their birth control, The Goins Report has the story.

U.S. Appeals court blocks FDA "graphic image" labels on cigarettes in the name of the First Amendment, the Associated Press (via Time Healthland).

Mitt Romney defends Massachusetts health law as better than Obama's, The Hill reports.

Yes, we passed the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" and we are still finding out what's in it, including thirteen new taxes on top of the expiration of several tax cuts in 2013 that will affect the middle class and the rich alike, The New American magazines reports.

More and more doctors are suffering from burnout, and more than people in other professions, Reuters reports.

Health policy experts say that the Affordable Care Act will drive people to "concierge doctors" and increases demand for care while doing little to expand supply, CNSNews.com reports.

Flashback: HHS fully aware of doctor shortage, announces $250 million to strengthen the primary care workforce, CNSNews.com reported in 2010.

DOC: Physician shortages set to increase without increases in residency training.

Americans are having fewer children each year since the financial meltdown of 2008, Bloomberg reports.

Is Missouri Rep. Todd Akin (R) running for President? Nope. But that isn't stopping the Obama presidential campaign from sending out a mass e-mail to his supporters linking Akin's "legitimate rape" comments to the GOP platform. ABC News has learned in advance that Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who made politcal noise earlier this year for her statements before a House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, will be sending out the e-mail.

Update: VP Running Mate Paul Ryan (R) dodges the Akin-ization of the GOP campaign narrative as he refuses to explain the "forcible rape" language he used in a bill earlier in his congressional career, The Hill and ABC News' Jake Tapper reports.

Ex-Porn Star Jenna Jameson: I Shouldn't Have to Pay for Your Birth Control Pills

In early August, Ms. Jameson is reported to have said that "If you're rich, you want a Republican in office."

Later this month on Twitter, she made another political statement.

Check out her past polical statements.

How NBC News Covered the FRC Shooting versus Fox News

Details, details, details.

Most of NBC's story:

Police say a security guard at the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C., was shot Wednesday morning.

Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson Officer Araz Alali confirmed to NBC News that one security guard, an adult male, was shot in the arm at about 10:40 a.m. ET inside the building and was conscious and breathing after the shooting. He was transported to a local hospital.

Alali said one suspect is in custody in connection with the shooting and a weapon was recovered. The Metropolitan Police Department is now working with the FBI in the ongoing investigation.

Police do not know a motive at this point.

Most of Fox News' story:

A security guard at the Family Research Council's headquarters in Washington, D.C. is being hailed as a hero after he stopped a gunman posing as an intern, taking a bullet in the arm before wrestling the suspect to the ground.


The gunman entered the lobby of the organization's Chinatown headquarters around 10:45 and expressed disagreement with the conservative group's policy positions, Fox News has learned. When the guard, who was not identified, asked him where he was going, he opened fire, according to police.

“The security guard here is a hero, as far as I’m concerned,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said. ”He did his job. The person never made it past the front.”

The guard, who was not identified, was shot in the arm and was conscious after the shooting and was in stable condition. The gunman, who also was not identified, was being questioned by the FBI, sources said. Sources said he is in his twenties.

The suspect "made statements regarding their policies, and then opened fire with a gun striking a security guard," a source told Fox News. WJLA-TV7 reported the suspect was also shot. Sources also said the gunman may have been carrying a bag from Chick-fil-A, the embattled fast-food restaurant whose president came under fire from gay activists after he said he did not agree with same-sex marriage.

Sources told Fox New that after guard took away his gun, the suspect said, "Don't shoot me, it was not about you, it was what this place stands for."

Update: NBC has filled in more facts.

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 12

Romney's Vice Presidential running mate is far from a fiscal conservative as evidenced by his voting for the biggest Medicare expansion in history, POLITICO reports.

The men of the 2012 Presidential election, Romney, Ryan, and Obama, have all supported near trillion dollar cuts in Medicare, ABC News' Jake Tapper reports.

The key to fixing emergency rooms' overcrowding problem is to put more emphasis on primary care, a doctor wrote for Politic365.com.

Flashback: Mitt Romney invested in a company that disposed aborted fetuses by placing them into an incinerator, Mother Jones reports.

Jake Tapper's Top 10 Political Movies

My favorite reporter uses the new Will Ferrell film as an excuse...I mean....springboard to talk about his top 10 political movies.

Constitution is STILL a secular document, says a Christian

NPR has a story out about a Christian man who believes the Constitution is a biblical document, or at least very laced with biblical quotations:

For example, you've been taught the Constitution is a secular document. Not so, says Barton: The Constitution is laced with biblical quotations.

"You look at Article 3, Section 1, the treason clause," he told James Robison on Trinity Broadcast Network. "Direct quote out of the Bible. You look at Article 2, the quote on the president has to be a native born? That is Deuteronomy 17:15, verbatim. I mean, it drives the secularists nuts because the Bible's all over it! Now we as Christians don't tend to recognize that. We think it's a secular document; we've bought into their lies. It's not."

I highly disagree, and I think he's fighting wrong battle.

But I won't say why.

Watch this, read this, this, this, and then this WHOPPER. There.

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 11

A new study says that oral sex (fellatio) cures pregnant women's morning sickness, CBS DC reports.

The CBO released a report saying that 30 million Americans will still be without health insurance by 2020, CNSNews.com reports.

Papa John's CEO John Schnatter said that as a result of the Affordable Care Act the company will have to raise prices, POLITCO reports.

A new study by economists say that healthcare costs can be curbed best by a market approach, Kaiser Health News reports.

Samaritan Ministries recently posted links contained in their August Newsletter, including a commentary from Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute on understanding the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act.

Will Liberals now call for 'Knife Control' with Ohio Dark Night Copycat?

Gun kills people, and so do knives, and this copycat had plenty, so why don't liberals call for knife control?

From The New York Daily News:

Scott Smith, of North Ridgeville, had a beige satchel that raised suspicion when he entered the theater. After Smith took a seat, an off-duty Westlake police officer who was providing security to the movie theater asked to search the bag.

The officer found a loaded 9mm Glock handgun, multiple loaded magazines and three knives inside, Westlake Police Lt. Ray Arcuri said. An additional knife was found underneath his clothes.

BookTV: Dambisa Moyo, "Winner Take All"

Watchdog Assesses Degree of Religious Freedom in Muslim States’ Constitutions | CNSNews.com

(CNSNews.com) – About 44 percent of the world’s Muslims live in 23 countries that have declared Islam to be the state religion, according to a new survey by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Watchdog Assesses Degree of Religious Freedom in Muslim States’ Constitutions | CNSNews.com

Pat Buchanan: Is Mitt being neoconned into war? - Conservative News

“No option would be excluded. Gov. Romney recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself and that it is right for America to stand with it.”

What does “stand with” Israel, if she launches a surprise attack on Iran, mean? Does it mean the United States will guide Israeli planes to their targets and provide bases on their return? Does it mean U.S. air cover while Israeli planes strike Iran?

Pat Buchanan: Is Mitt being neoconned into war? - Conservative News

A Great Interview with Brent Bozell

From the Daily Caller:

Leaders with Ginni Thomas: Brent Bozell, Media Research Center

This is my favorite part though.

Video: The State Against Blacks

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 10

Editor's Note: The Goins Report did not publish a Weekly Health Review last week.


Conservatives say that August 1 would be the day religious liberty died, CNSNews.com reports.

Kyle Drennen caught NBC journalists "gushing" over the celebration of Europe's National Health Service over at Newbusters.

The Fiscal Times reports that five percent of Americans account for half of health care spending in 2009.

The United States Postal Service is on its way to default because of retiree benefits, the Associated Press reports.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons highlighted several areas to reform and proposed solutions to fix it.

The AAPS released their Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons for Summer 2012 including an article on "the healthcare bubble" and an insider's view of "the medical insurance mess and the health care law Supreme Court case.

FLASHBACK: The POLITICO reports on several telling arguments from the oral arguments for and against the 2010 healthcare law (w/video).

Video: Ron Paul says bill better named 'Obsession with Iran Act 2012'

Schiff: 'If you thought 2008 was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet

Video: Christopher Hitchens "Hitchslaps" Ronald Reagan

Why we should end the war on drugs in one picture

Drug War Question || CNSNews.com

Guns Sales Are Up, People More Interested in Concealed-Weapon Training

From the NYPost:

Dick Rutan, owner of Gunners Den in suburban Arvada, Colo., said requests for concealed-weapon training certification "are off the hook." His four-hour course in gun safety, required for certification for a concealed-weapons permit in Colorado, has drawn double the interest since Friday.

"What they're saying is: They want to have a chance. They want to have the ability to protect themselves and their families if they are in a situation like what happened in the movie theater," Rutan said.

Gun sales surging in wake of 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting || NYPost

Iowahawk Beat to It: In the Beginning was the Government

So Iowahawk beat me to publishing it. But let it be known, on May 6, 2012 at 12:50 AM, I wrote a similar parody, with almost the exact same spoof-bible book ("Book of Obama"). The only reason I didn't publish it by now was because, well, it was really skimpy and I wanted to fill it in.



I could have beat Iowahawk by a full 78 days.

Obama Administration Pushes United Nation Anti-Gun Agenda

From Forbes:

The Obama administration is actively engaged in negotiations to finalize details for a new global agreement premised to fight “terrorism”, “insurgency” and “international crime syndicates”. As U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon describes its purpose, “Our goal is clear: a robust and legally binding Arms Trade Treaty that will have a real impact on the lives of those millions of people suffering from consequences of armed conflict, repression and armed violence…It is ambitious, but it is achievable.”

Under the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. originally voted against a resolution that began the process in 2006. However, the current administration reversed that policy, and strongly supports its enactment. In January 2010, U.S. representatives joined with those of 152 other countries in endorsing a U.N. Arms Treaty Resolution to draft a blueprint for enactment in 2012. This activity is planned to be completed by July 27, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged to push hard for Senate ratification. Previously led by the United Kingdom, there can be no doubt that the U.N.’s 193-member General Assembly will approve it.

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty: Are Our 2nd Amendment Rights Part Of The Deal? || Forbes

The Decline of the Rich

Tax the rich? According to a new report, the rich have an increasingly-shrinking slice of the pie. But Obama and the left say they need to pay just a little bit more. Just a little more sacrifice.

CNBC has the story:

The presidential election has given us two myths about the rich. First, that their incomes, and income inequality, are at all-time highs. Second, that the wealthy pay less in taxes than ever, and lower taxes than the rest of us.

A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, however, suggests that both may be false.

The Falling Fortunes of the One Percent || CNBC.com

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 9

Spending on penis pumps have gone up five-fold since 2000 as Medicare paid for $188 million in penis pumps over 10 years, the Tea Party Economist reports.

Fox News reports that the survivors of the "Batman" shooting are likely to develop post traumatic stress disorder.

No surprise: The 2010 health care law will cause more job losses, the Tea Party Economists reports.

President Obama departed from the usual rhetoric of calling the health care law's individual mandate a tax or penalty and called it a "principle," the Washington Free Beacon reports.

A pregnant woman's never-removed surgical pin from a past operation comes close to her unborn child, Fox News reports.

The race for a cure for AIDS has begun again, the Associated Press reports.

An Obama spokesman falsely claims that most Americans aren't against the repeal of the President's signature healthcare reform legislation, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

The Associated Press reports on how to protect children from whooping cough.

An FDA whistleblower has sued former employees in the past, the Wall Street Journal reports.

USA Today reports that hospitals ignoring regulations are making it harder for health care providers to identiy problems and solve them.

Sen. Paul: DISCLOSE Act 'Lopsided towards' Republican-leaning Donors; Away from Unions

Washington (GoinsReport.com) -- Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told The Goins Report on Monday that the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections Act of 2012, otherwise known as the DISCLOSE Act, in his office's analysis of the legislation is lopsided against people who tended to be Republican donors and shied away from union donors.

"In our analysis of the bill we felt like it was lopsided towards certain people that tended to be more republican donors and away from certain donors like union donors on the other side," Paul said.

"What I’ve proposed we ought to do, and I’ve talked to some of the Democrats about this, is the way to reform campaign finance would be, if you want to do it constitutionally, would be to link restrictions to federal contracts. So if you do business with the government and I give you a $100 million contract, I think we can legally restrict your activities by the contract. Because then you voluntarily sign the federal contract and we limit what you do. Anything other than that, unless its related to a contract, is a restriction of first amendment [rights] and I think its wrong," he continued.

While Paul voted against the DISCLOSE act on Monday, he did say that he is in favor of "some kind of campaign finance reform."

"I am for disclosing information," Paul told The Goins Report.

When asked whether he agreed with Senator Paul's view on the lopsidedness if the DISCLOSE act, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) expressed a similar view.

"It’s hard to get the ACLU and the NRA on the same sheet of music but they’re able to do it. It’s a bill that gives unions a preference when it comes to the DISCLOSE act and it was obviously not the solutions to the problems we face as a nation," Graham said.

The Goins Report further asked Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) whether he agreed with Senator Paul's view of the DISCLOSE act. His answer departed from his Republican Senate colleagues.

“I don’t think so at all. Matter a fact, I don’t know the numbers but I think before you can say that you got to go say, what’s the registration of all the top 200,000 tax filers in this country. And that’s the only way you’ll know that," Coburn said.

The DISCLOSE act was voted on early Monday evening in the Senate and was not passed with 54-44 vote. The bill needed at least 60 votes to pass.

The Senate is expected to vote again on the bill Tuesday afternoon (July 17).

My video work

The following list comprises of my work as cameraman and video editor. Much of the time I am doubling as journalist and video editor in the same day.

Trumka Announces 'Second Bill of Rights'


Chief Deputy Majority Whip: “For the first time” Gov’t “imposing a tax on something that someone hasn’t done”

Andrews: Roberts right in ruling mandate a tax; ‘Also correct under the Commerce power’

Rep. Bachmann: Justice Roberts’ Obamacare Ruling Was ‘Completely and Utterly Wrong’

Sen. Hatch: ‘I Still Have a Very High Opinion of Chief Justice Roberts’ After Obamacare Ruling
Republican Congressmen Re-Launch Revised ‘Stolen Valor’ Bill

Freedomworks: If Democrats Take Control of Congress, Keep White House ‘We’re All Screwed

Lawyer Representi​ng States Challengin​g Obamacare: Justice Roberts ‘Rewrote the Law’

Boehner: Giving This Government More Revenue Would Be Like Giving A Cocaine Addict Who Wants To Quit More Cocaine

Boehner Won’t Say If GOP House Will Approve Funds for Obama to Force Catholics to Act Against Faith

McCain on Obama Granting Work Permits to Illegals: He Can't Do It Because He's Not King

Video: Austrian School Economist Wipes the Floor with Incoherent Keynesian Krugman

Thanks to Lew Rockwell.com for finding this:



Austrian School Economist Wipes the Floor with Mumbling, Incoherent Keynesian

Balancing Budget at Current Spending Would Take Record High Taxation | CNSNews.com

(CNSNews.com) - Both President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney have recently said they would like to balance the federal budget. However, according to data published by Obama’s own White House Office of Management and Budget, accomplishing that goal at anywhere near the current level of federal spending would require imposing and sustaining a record level of federal taxation as a percentage of GDP.

Balancing Budget at Current Spending Would Take Record High Taxation | CNSNews.com

Weekly Health Review, Vol. 8

Editor's Note: The Goins Report did not publish a Weekly Health Review last week.

Kaiser Health News created a list of 10 things you didn't know were in the 2010 Health Care law, including a CDC public education initiative to promote "community water fluoridation."

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says that he's really glad the Supreme Court of the United States didn't legalize extortion, CNSNews.com reports.

The House of Representatives voted to repeal the President's 2010 health care reform law, CNSNews.com reports.

A lawyer that defended 26 states against the 2010 healthcare law and served in the Bush one and Reagan administrations says that Chief Justice Roberts rewrote the law in when upholding the President's health reform law. The Goins Report has the story.

Companies with at least 50 percent of their employees enrolled in account-based health plans have lower costs for individual employees than companies without them, Human Events reports.

Flashback: Murray Rothbard's Essay Fluoridation Revisited.

My Question to Governor Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate

Am I the only one who thinks that Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Governor Gary Johnson (N.M.), would not only have been a more effective Senator but would have been a shoe-in for the 2012 U.S. Senate race in New Mexico? I mean if the governor of his own state can't win a Senate race in his own state, that same governor should not be trying to convince us that he can win the presidency.

It's almost like after being governor the U.S. Senate is beneath him. And his run shows that despite the sentiments of this country, which show that people are upset with both parties, he misreads the politics of this country, and also extracts the wrong lesson from it, and that in itself shows how unwise the run has been. I think it's time for the Libertarian Party and all those third party folks (I still have my Constitution Party membership card, although I'm a registered Republican now) who think we can just give the American people a "third option," and any old third option at that, and think they'll go for it. No, please go away. Rethink your strategy. Put down the hubris hoagies and take a bite out of some humble pie.

Shouldn't we in the liberty movement be shooting for winnable, doable campaign victories and quit it with all this pie-in-the-sky-overly-optimistic crap. Gary Johnson isn't even a household name, and if he thinks he can just woo any old Ron Paul supporter he has another thing coming for him. Johnson should look forward to replacing the next Democrat to leave the U.S. Senate in his state so we can at least have someone in the U.S. Senate. He would also be another vote to repeal Obamacare. Think. Think. Think. Libertarian Party.

On that same note, the Constitution Party Presidential Candidate Virgil Goode needs to get of his pride horse as well. He's not going to win. He's better off going back to the Republican Party and mounting a U.S. Senate campaign.

U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, announced his retirement in February 2011, more than enough time for you to mount a successful U.S. Senate campaign.

My question to Governor Johnson is this:

Governor Johnson, why didn't you run for the U.S. Senate? Why didn't you help the GOP takeover the Senate? Isn't a presidential run a waste of not of only your time and resources but our time and resources as supporters?

Wouldn’t it have been better if you had the impact of a Rand Paul--who is introducing legislation and actually holding up the Senate and is creating alliances within the GOP members in the Senate?

Instead, you have an unlikely presidency, and if you lose, you now have to wait to be effective again in the Senate or the Presidency? All you will have after all of this is an e-mail list and no legislative impact.

Lawyer Representing States Challenging Obamacare: Justice Roberts ‘Rewrote the Law’

Washington (GoinsReport.com) -- A lawyer representing the 26 states challenging the 2010 healthcare law said Monday that Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion for the 5-4 vote that upheld the Constitutionality of President Obama’s healthcare law, “rewrote the law” when invoking the taxing powers of Congress to justify upholding the Affordable Care Act.

“He did not interpret the language that Congress enacted,” David Rivkin explained. “He rewrote it. In fact if you want to kind of flip an observation, just like on the front end, it took Nancy Pelosi, as per her mortal statement, remember ‘we need to pass the law to figure out what’s in it,’ it took the Supreme Court to rewrite the law to uphold it.”

He continued: “And clearly rewriting the law is not justified by the imperative constitutional deference. It’s not justified by going to the enth degree to parse the words in such a way as to save it from oblivion.”

David Rivkin, who served in both the Reagan administration and George H.W. Bush administration, said that re-conceiving taxing power troubled him far more.


He also said that re-writing the law wasn’t a judicial function.

“What troubles me far more, is the way he reconceived taxing power, makes it another specie of general police power, at least something that can easily morph into it,” Rivkin said.

Rivkin made his remarks alongside other legal and health policy scholars at the Cato Institute.

In his written opinion on the healthcare law, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “The Federal Government does have the power to impose a tax on those without health insurance. Section 5000A is therefore constitutional, because it can reasonably be read as a tax."

“A weird sort of victory for federalism enclosed in a loss”

Legal scholars from across the political spectrum gathered Monday, June 2, at the Cato Institute to discuss the pros and cons of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold the constitutionality of President Obama’s 2010 health care law.
Randy Barnett, a Georgetown Law School professor, said the decision “could have been worse,” and noted that while the healthcare law has been upheld, an advance on at least one front has been made: the scope of the Commerce Clause was not expanded although the individual mandate was upheld.

“As it is we made good law as opposed to bad law on the constitution,” Barnett said.

He also said that reversing the law “is within the power of the electorate.”

Ilya Shapiro, the Senior Constitutional Studies Fellow at the Cato Institute, expressed a similar view.

“Randy is right, this is a weird sort of victory for federalism enclosed in a loss,” he said.

“As I titled my SCOTUS blog yesterday ‘we won everything but the case,’” he continued.

But Barnett also reflected on another lesson from the decision: “five votes on the Supreme Court is not enough…Because if you only have five somebody breaks.”

Barnett made his comments a day after CBS News reported that Chief Justice Roberts switched his views to uphold the healthcare law.

According to that report, a source said that Justice Roberts was initially going to vote against upholding the law, but then switched his views to side with liberals on the court.

“Well we all know what kind of decision this was. First of all it was obvious on the face of the opinion before the reporting took place yesterday that this was a political decision. It was not a legal decision.”

“The legal merits were all on our side,” Barnett said.

Barnett said that if it was a political decision, it was a “foolish move if it was done out of calculation” and “not a smart move because it misreads the politics of the country” at this time, adding that it was an” illegitimate basis to make a constitutional ruling” if political.

‘Easily Reversed’

Barnett held out hope that the taxing power which was invoked to hold the law could be reversed.

“But what is the precedential weight of this decision? How binding is it on future judges? How much respect is it due given how we have a very good idea about how that fifth vote was obtained?”

Barnett said that with any kind of “change in our political culture” the tax part of this decision is not long for this world,” adding that it “could be easily reversed because it is not a weighty precedent,” Barnett said.

However, the he added that if the political culture does change as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the healthcare law, the decision itself would “not pose a barrier to forward progress in limiting the powers of the federal government.”

Michael Cannon, a health policy scholar at the Cato Institute, said that the law was “weaker” and the path to repealing the Affordable Care Act was “clearer than it was one week ago.”

He cited the public backlash against the law, and states’ ability to block new expansions in Medicaid as things going in the direction of repeal.