They Win, We Lose
by Ben Crystal
Since I submitted my column “The Worst Week Ever,” I’ve found myself musing on the politically pathological behavior displayed of late by President Barack Obama and his accomplices. Not that I don’t recognize Obama’s tenure so far has involved some fairly — ahem — befuddling benchmarks; but, as I suggested Tuesday, the Democrats must be in full panic mode. And their reactions under electoral pressure of their own creation remind me of a drug dealer with two strikes on his record getting popped for selling crack to an 8-year-old.
Of course, to hear liberals tell it, they’re as comfortable as the furniture in one of Warren Buffett’s private planes. If we presume the liberal elite are correct and Obama’s re-election is a foregone conclusion, then we can also fairly presume that his erratic behavior is not born of fear of rapidly declining fortunes. Instead, it is a nationwide dance of liberal celebration.
And what a dance it is! The shockingly violent Occupy rallies, the union thug attacks on the people of Wisconsin (among other places), the incursions against the Bill of Rights and the foreign policy miscues are all steps in an elaborate number that has reached a crescendo in Florida. Down in the Sunshine State, Democratic Party leaders and mouthpieces have descended like a biblical plague of locusts. Spurred on by Obama’s ill-advised remarks about Trayvon Martin, leading lights of liberalism — including the “Reverends” (that means you, Jesse Jackson, and the rest of the usual suspects) — appear to be doing their best to incite a race war.
Meanwhile, Obama has reacted to what he feels were excessively insightful Supreme Court questions regarding Obamacare by edging toward a turf war with the judicial branch. Following Obama’s inappropriately disparaging remarks about the “unelected group of people” on the High Court, the three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals demanded clarification from the Administration, with the Judges issuing a none-too-subtle reminder of just how far the long arm of the law can reach.
In major cities across the Nation — from the crack dens of Washington, D.C., to the festering swamp of New Orleans and from the smoldering ruin of Detroit to the freak shows in California — the Democrats have established hegemony, crime, poverty and misery as the rule. And the same Democrats who would have us believe Obama is guaranteed four more years in the Oval Office are spreading the same seeds of discord across the fruited plain.
I’ll grant that taking as legitimate the Democrats’ proclaimed confidence requires a greater suspension of disbelief than a North Korean propaganda film. But I’m willing to admit it’s possible Obama and his cronies have deluded themselves into believing that they’re unbeatable. If they really are convinced that victory is assured, then it follows that their bizarre behavior is the planned result of their schemes, and the cities I mentioned before are testament to the long-term effects of repeated Democratic victories.
Ill-conceived economic policies resulting in crushing debt, shocking corruption, virtually apocalyptic urban tableaus, a comprehensive disregard for the Constitution and submissive dealings with our adversaries are the modus operandi of Democrats when they think they’re winning.
Food for thought: Why is it that in order for Obama and the Democrats to win, everyone else has to lose?
UPI
President Barack Obama and his accomplices have displayed politically pathological behavior lately.
Of course, to hear liberals tell it, they’re as comfortable as the furniture in one of Warren Buffett’s private planes. If we presume the liberal elite are correct and Obama’s re-election is a foregone conclusion, then we can also fairly presume that his erratic behavior is not born of fear of rapidly declining fortunes. Instead, it is a nationwide dance of liberal celebration.
And what a dance it is! The shockingly violent Occupy rallies, the union thug attacks on the people of Wisconsin (among other places), the incursions against the Bill of Rights and the foreign policy miscues are all steps in an elaborate number that has reached a crescendo in Florida. Down in the Sunshine State, Democratic Party leaders and mouthpieces have descended like a biblical plague of locusts. Spurred on by Obama’s ill-advised remarks about Trayvon Martin, leading lights of liberalism — including the “Reverends” (that means you, Jesse Jackson, and the rest of the usual suspects) — appear to be doing their best to incite a race war.
Meanwhile, Obama has reacted to what he feels were excessively insightful Supreme Court questions regarding Obamacare by edging toward a turf war with the judicial branch. Following Obama’s inappropriately disparaging remarks about the “unelected group of people” on the High Court, the three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals demanded clarification from the Administration, with the Judges issuing a none-too-subtle reminder of just how far the long arm of the law can reach.
In major cities across the Nation — from the crack dens of Washington, D.C., to the festering swamp of New Orleans and from the smoldering ruin of Detroit to the freak shows in California — the Democrats have established hegemony, crime, poverty and misery as the rule. And the same Democrats who would have us believe Obama is guaranteed four more years in the Oval Office are spreading the same seeds of discord across the fruited plain.
I’ll grant that taking as legitimate the Democrats’ proclaimed confidence requires a greater suspension of disbelief than a North Korean propaganda film. But I’m willing to admit it’s possible Obama and his cronies have deluded themselves into believing that they’re unbeatable. If they really are convinced that victory is assured, then it follows that their bizarre behavior is the planned result of their schemes, and the cities I mentioned before are testament to the long-term effects of repeated Democratic victories.
Ill-conceived economic policies resulting in crushing debt, shocking corruption, virtually apocalyptic urban tableaus, a comprehensive disregard for the Constitution and submissive dealings with our adversaries are the modus operandi of Democrats when they think they’re winning.
Food for thought: Why is it that in order for Obama and the Democrats to win, everyone else has to lose?
–Ben Crystal
God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World by Cullen Murphy
by Bob Livingston
Established by the Catholic church in 1231, the Inquisition was designed to make people adhere to the teachings of the church and make them toe the official church-approved version of Catholicism. And if Cullen Murphy’s book God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World stuck to describing the 700-year history of the Inquisition, it might only hold interest for historians who wish to explore how the church functioned as a medieval political power.
Instead, Murphy’s larger purpose is to show how large organizations filled with small-minded bureaucrats can terrorize a population when they have willing foot soldiers to do their bidding. The Inquisition, as Murphy sees it, was just a taste of what big governments would later accomplish when they set their minds to trying to control both how people behave and how they think.
And Murphy points out that today’s technological marvels of communication and surveillance allow government inquisitors to record and track personal behavior in ways the old-time Inquisitorial powers could only dream of. He points out, though, that if you subtract the technological aspects of our modern inquisition, it shares a lot of similarities with what the Catholic church implemented.
Retaining Power
The basic tenet of a bureaucracy, whether it works for the Federal government or a church, is that “Institutions do what they must to retain power. Isn’t it that simple?” That’s a quote that Murphy takes from Eamon Duffy, a historian who has tracked the bloody changeover of England from a Catholic country to a Protestant power in the 16th century.
Murphy shows how the tools of today’s bureaucratic governments are outgrowths of past measures to keep power: “Motivations may change, targets may shift, but the infrastructure builds by increments. Proof of identity, record-keeping, informers, surveillance, denunciation, interrogations: these are the basic instruments. And as medieval kingdoms remade themselves into modern states, the instruments became better and were applied in a more systematic way.”
The transition from the Inquisition to the modern police state picked up steam in France in 1790. It was then that France invented the passport and the identity card. Napoleon and his head of secret police, Joseph Fouche, formulated summaries of all the intelligence, news, rumors and gossip they could gather to make sure they stayed ahead of efforts to depose them.
Later, the Russian Czars modeled their secret police after the French undercover agents. And when the Communists took over Russia, Lenin made the Czar’s bureaucracy into what would later become the KGB. Today the KGB has morphed into the FSB. The FSB, if you can believe it, is even more powerful than the KGB ever was. As Murphy points out, at least the KGB had to report to the Communist Party. Today the Communist Party is gone and the FSB has no one to restrain it.
Preemptive Action
In the United States, Murphy says, these types of efforts at control led to the so-called Palmer raids in the early 20th century. At that time, the attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, organized raids “led by the young J. Edgar Hoover, (that) rounded up targeted individuals by the thousands.” As The Washington Post noted in 1920: “There is no time to waste on hairsplitting over infringement of liberties.”
Later, the FBI, led by the same Hoover, would gather files on 25 million Americans. Today, as the Federal government collects more and more information on its citizens under the USA Patriot Act, untold numbers of electronic files are being collected.
Murphy believes that single-minded organizations, whether they are inquisitions or modern police states, are misguided by their belief in their infallibility. He quotes Samuel Johnson’s observation about a man who “seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.”
A bureaucracy that wants everyone to behave like obedient sheep is likewise enslaved to one idea that is a wrong one. But as long as we stay vigilant and fight back against that wrong idea, there’s hope for a freer future.
Established by the Catholic church in 1231, the Inquisition was designed to make people adhere to the teachings of the church and make them toe the official church-approved version of Catholicism. And if Cullen Murphy’s book God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World stuck to describing the 700-year history of the Inquisition, it might only hold interest for historians who wish to explore how the church functioned as a medieval political power.
Instead, Murphy’s larger purpose is to show how large organizations filled with small-minded bureaucrats can terrorize a population when they have willing foot soldiers to do their bidding. The Inquisition, as Murphy sees it, was just a taste of what big governments would later accomplish when they set their minds to trying to control both how people behave and how they think.
And Murphy points out that today’s technological marvels of communication and surveillance allow government inquisitors to record and track personal behavior in ways the old-time Inquisitorial powers could only dream of. He points out, though, that if you subtract the technological aspects of our modern inquisition, it shares a lot of similarities with what the Catholic church implemented.
Retaining Power
The basic tenet of a bureaucracy, whether it works for the Federal government or a church, is that “Institutions do what they must to retain power. Isn’t it that simple?” That’s a quote that Murphy takes from Eamon Duffy, a historian who has tracked the bloody changeover of England from a Catholic country to a Protestant power in the 16th century.
Murphy shows how the tools of today’s bureaucratic governments are outgrowths of past measures to keep power: “Motivations may change, targets may shift, but the infrastructure builds by increments. Proof of identity, record-keeping, informers, surveillance, denunciation, interrogations: these are the basic instruments. And as medieval kingdoms remade themselves into modern states, the instruments became better and were applied in a more systematic way.”
The transition from the Inquisition to the modern police state picked up steam in France in 1790. It was then that France invented the passport and the identity card. Napoleon and his head of secret police, Joseph Fouche, formulated summaries of all the intelligence, news, rumors and gossip they could gather to make sure they stayed ahead of efforts to depose them.
Later, the Russian Czars modeled their secret police after the French undercover agents. And when the Communists took over Russia, Lenin made the Czar’s bureaucracy into what would later become the KGB. Today the KGB has morphed into the FSB. The FSB, if you can believe it, is even more powerful than the KGB ever was. As Murphy points out, at least the KGB had to report to the Communist Party. Today the Communist Party is gone and the FSB has no one to restrain it.
Preemptive Action
In the United States, Murphy says, these types of efforts at control led to the so-called Palmer raids in the early 20th century. At that time, the attorney general, A. Mitchell Palmer, organized raids “led by the young J. Edgar Hoover, (that) rounded up targeted individuals by the thousands.” As The Washington Post noted in 1920: “There is no time to waste on hairsplitting over infringement of liberties.”
Later, the FBI, led by the same Hoover, would gather files on 25 million Americans. Today, as the Federal government collects more and more information on its citizens under the USA Patriot Act, untold numbers of electronic files are being collected.
Murphy believes that single-minded organizations, whether they are inquisitions or modern police states, are misguided by their belief in their infallibility. He quotes Samuel Johnson’s observation about a man who “seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.”
A bureaucracy that wants everyone to behave like obedient sheep is likewise enslaved to one idea that is a wrong one. But as long as we stay vigilant and fight back against that wrong idea, there’s hope for a freer future.
York County, PA for Ron Paul 2012 - Volunteer for Polls
Dave Talley
I have started compiling a list of volunteers to work the polls on the 24th (we need you! please make yourself available, do whatever you gotta do to help the cause of liberty) and to canvass the weekend before (looking to blitz on Friday, Saturday & Sunday 4/20-4/22).
I need your help in spreading the word and this email so I can organize our efforts. So PLEASE share with your email list, friends, family members, church members, etc. We need an army of grassroots supporters to man the polling stations.
What I am looking for is the persons name, best contact phone #, email address, can they work poll on the 24th, can they canvass on the weekend before. So either you or they can respond to this email address so I can add you or them to the list. My email address to respond to is: davidtall17313@yahoo.com
THIS WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE DO TO GET THE DELEGATES/ALTERNATES ELECTED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
Fighting for Liberty,
Dave Talley
717-542-7379 cell
I have started compiling a list of volunteers to work the polls on the 24th (we need you! please make yourself available, do whatever you gotta do to help the cause of liberty) and to canvass the weekend before (looking to blitz on Friday, Saturday & Sunday 4/20-4/22).
I need your help in spreading the word and this email so I can organize our efforts. So PLEASE share with your email list, friends, family members, church members, etc. We need an army of grassroots supporters to man the polling stations.
What I am looking for is the persons name, best contact phone #, email address, can they work poll on the 24th, can they canvass on the weekend before. So either you or they can respond to this email address so I can add you or them to the list. My email address to respond to is: davidtall17313@yahoo.com
THIS WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE DO TO GET THE DELEGATES/ALTERNATES ELECTED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
Fighting for Liberty,
Dave Talley
717-542-7379 cell
Heavyweights In Ron Paul’s Corner – Help Change The MSM Story!
Zak Carter
These speakers are familiar with the language used by the target audience and can relay Dr. Paul's message to them better than he could himself. Any help YOU could give me in promoting these speakers to new media, talk radio and the MSM would be hugely appreciated. Feel free to share my contact information with producers, editors, reporters and show hosts, and I'll line em' up! zakrevolution@yahoo.com 206-501-9221
There are 3 key coalition groups that we need to win over the GOP - and when we do it will be a Ronslide from there on out!
1. National Defense (Represented by Veterans For Ron Paul 2012)
Colonel Doug Macgregor (ret) http://douglasmacgreg... is a decorated combat veteran, the author of four books, a PhD, and a spokesman of the Veterans for Ron Paul 2012. http://www.youtube.co... The Veterans For Ron Paul organized a military/veterans march on Washington D.C. http://www.youtube.co...
Adam Kokesh, http://www.adamvsthem... veteran and co-founder of Veterans for Ron Paul 2012 is also available for interviews representing this coalition. http://www.facebook.c... Adam is planning for a bigger march on the RNC this August http://www.youtube.co...
Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden unit http://en.wikipedia.o... and author of Imperial Hubris http://www.amazon.com... has endorsed Ron Paul and is available for interviews. If Colonel Macgregor is like an Abrams tank brigade gunning down neocon foreign policy idiocy, Michael Scheuer is an atom bomb!
2. Bible (Represented by Christians For Ron Paul) Pastor Brian Jacobs of the Metroplex Family Church http://metroplexfamil... who used to work with Rev. Billy Graham, is a spokesman of Christians for Ron Paul, http://www.facebook.c... and has been sending 1,000’s of DVD’s to fellow Christian leaders. It was Pastor Jacobs that introduced Rev. Graham to President George W. Bush during the 2000 election.
Minister Derrick Grayson, (aka TMOT) is also a spokesman of Christians For Ron Paul and has been making hard hitting and entertaining videos in support of Ron Paul. http://www.youtube.co...
Dr. Walter Block http://www.walterbloc... is a founding member of Jews for Ron Paul http://www.facebook.c... and is also available for interviews.
3. 2nd Amendment (Represented by Gun Owners For Ron Paul) Gary Marbut is the President of the Montana Shooting Sports Association http://www.mtssa.org/... and is also spokesman of Gun Owners For Ron Paul 2012. http://www.facebook.c... Gary has been featured on the Glenn Beck Show and other nationwide media for his work protecting the 2nd Amendment. http://www.youtube.co...
To liberal, independent and libertarian media I’ve been promoting Robin Koerner. Robin is the founder and editor of watchingamerica.com, also writes at the Huffington Post and has started the “Blue Republican” movement, which is asking Democrats and Independents to support Ron Paul. You can read his article that started it all here - http://www.huffington...
The facebook group and website that has grown from this article can be found here - http://www.facebook.c... http://www.bluerepubl...
And last but definitely not least I’ve been promoting Jun Dam to libertarian media. Jun is the founder of Grassroots for Liberty SuperPAC, is also behind http://rp2012.org/... (check out their petition drive!) has set up a phone for Ron Paul from home program, has hosted contests, and helped get supporters to Iowa. http://www.youtube.co... Jun rocks!
Even if you don’t have personal media connections, just sending out emails/faxes and making phone calls is a huge help!
To Victory! Ron Paul 2012!
In Liberty, Zak Carter
http://cvrp2012.com/...
These speakers are familiar with the language used by the target audience and can relay Dr. Paul's message to them better than he could himself. Any help YOU could give me in promoting these speakers to new media, talk radio and the MSM would be hugely appreciated. Feel free to share my contact information with producers, editors, reporters and show hosts, and I'll line em' up! zakrevolution@yahoo.com 206-501-9221
There are 3 key coalition groups that we need to win over the GOP - and when we do it will be a Ronslide from there on out!
1. National Defense (Represented by Veterans For Ron Paul 2012)
Colonel Doug Macgregor (ret) http://douglasmacgreg...
is a decorated combat veteran, the author of four books, a PhD, and a spokesman of the Veterans for Ron Paul 2012. http://www.youtube.co... The Veterans For Ron Paul organized a military/veterans march on Washington D.C. http://www.youtube.co... Adam Kokesh, http://www.adamvsthem...
veteran and co-founder of Veterans for Ron Paul 2012 is also available for interviews representing this coalition. http://www.facebook.c... Adam is planning for a bigger march on the RNC this August http://www.youtube.co...Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden unit http://en.wikipedia.o...
and author of Imperial Hubris http://www.amazon.com... has endorsed Ron Paul and is available for interviews. If Colonel Macgregor is like an Abrams tank brigade gunning down neocon foreign policy idiocy, Michael Scheuer is an atom bomb!2. Bible (Represented by Christians For Ron Paul) Pastor Brian Jacobs of the Metroplex Family Church http://metroplexfamil...
who used to work with Rev. Billy Graham, is a spokesman of Christians for Ron Paul, http://www.facebook.c... and has been sending 1,000’s of DVD’s to fellow Christian leaders. It was Pastor Jacobs that introduced Rev. Graham to President George W. Bush during the 2000 election.Minister Derrick Grayson, (aka TMOT) is also a spokesman of Christians For Ron Paul and has been making hard hitting and entertaining videos in support of Ron Paul. http://www.youtube.co...
Dr. Walter Block http://www.walterbloc...
is a founding member of Jews for Ron Paul http://www.facebook.c... and is also available for interviews.3. 2nd Amendment (Represented by Gun Owners For Ron Paul) Gary Marbut is the President of the Montana Shooting Sports Association http://www.mtssa.org/...
and is also spokesman of Gun Owners For Ron Paul 2012. http://www.facebook.c... Gary has been featured on the Glenn Beck Show and other nationwide media for his work protecting the 2nd Amendment. http://www.youtube.co...To liberal, independent and libertarian media I’ve been promoting Robin Koerner. Robin is the founder and editor of watchingamerica.com, also writes at the Huffington Post and has started the “Blue Republican” movement, which is asking Democrats and Independents to support Ron Paul. You can read his article that started it all here - http://www.huffington...
The facebook group and website that has grown from this article can be found here - http://www.facebook.c...
http://www.bluerepubl... And last but definitely not least I’ve been promoting Jun Dam to libertarian media. Jun is the founder of Grassroots for Liberty SuperPAC, is also behind http://rp2012.org/...
(check out their petition drive!) has set up a phone for Ron Paul from home program, has hosted contests, and helped get supporters to Iowa. http://www.youtube.co... Jun rocks!Even if you don’t have personal media connections, just sending out emails/faxes and making phone calls is a huge help!
To Victory! Ron Paul 2012!
In Liberty, Zak Carter
http://cvrp2012.com/...
I just donated $60.50 to Ron Paul to help Restore America Now!
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