arab spring not just for arabs

i've heard several media reports referring to the 'arab spring' lately. while there's no doubt things are pretty intense in the middle east and north africa, the people that talk about an 'arab spring' have their vision narrowed a little too much. the cry for freedom from oppression is global.

in debt laden greece, thousands crowd into public squares to protest austerity measures. in spain, tent cities reminiscent of hoovervilles are springing up filled with young unemployed people protesting all parties of their political establishment. in france, pretty much the entire country was locked down by military and police personnel in an attempt to quell the rampant g8 protests (actually, every g8/g20 meeting since '08 has been met with protests and police crack-downs). in switzerland, independent journalists harassed police outside the bilderberg meeting. in china, they've stopped reporting the number of protests because there have been so many. in australia and new zealand, people have continued planking despite government crack-downs.

here in the united states, a judge decreed it was just fine for police to arrest people dancing at public memorials (specifically the jefferson memorial in the district of columbia). a small group of protestors went and danced at tj's in protest and were arrested. the videos went viral, and a week later hundreds of people showed up to dance around the statue of thomas jefferson. but they weren't dancing alone. all across the world, there were dances on the same day in support.

the world is in revolt. every day, more and more people are waking up to realize just how much their inalienable, natural rights are being trampled. as their eyes are opened, increasing numbers are taking up the mantle of political activism by getting into politics (tea party), or outright civil disobedience.

ever wonder why ron paul has such insane support? the people are awakening. in '08 he raised more money from active duty military members than any other candidate. even with miniscule name recognition he managed to run a relatively successful campaign for president in the face of clear attempts by the media to block him out. this time he's too popular for the media to ignore. a number of the republican presidential hopefuls have even begun to sound like him. but they don't have the decades long record of voting for liberty.

next week, i'll be in new hampshire for porcfest (the porcupine freedom festival). for those that are unaware, it's a week long celebration of freedom. this year, expected attendance is over 1000 people from all over the country. i'm sure quite a few liberty minded politicians will be there too.

on résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées.
-victor hugo

translation: One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas.

or a variant...

one cannot resist an idea who's time has come.
-ron paul

bradley manning

i'm a little behind the power curve on this, but i came across an awesome interview about bradley manning today. for those of you who don't know that name, he's the one the government is convicting of being responsible for some of the items wikileaks has released. the audio is of a private conference call given for the benefit of a the media. it's been tacked onto the back end of an episode of free talk live. to get it, just go to their archive page, and download the podcast for 25 may. if you don't want to listen to the whole show, skip ahead to around 2:18 (2 hours 18 minutes). you'll know you're in the right place if you hear them talking about a cruise as that's right before they tacked on the call.

i think what's said throughout the call makes it quite clear just how corrupt the united states government (of which the military is a part) has become. i got to experience some of this corruption when i was in afghanistan. fortunately, i didn't observe any war crimes. however, the minor instances i did see were responsible for most of the stress i had while i was there. it seemed like every day i was either in an argument or trying to decide if it was worth starting one.

the one thing i did learn was that it's a rare person who can remain impervious to the siren call of power. i even managed to catch myself abusing my position sometimes...and i was near the bottom of the chain.

a couple nights ago i watched the documentary 'fair game' (the 2010 film...there are several with that name). it's about a CIA agent and an ambassador who end up on the wrong side of the bush administration during the second invasion of iraq. add that to the evidence of power corrupting government.

it's rather ironic that the US government is becoming more and more like the brittish government our forefathers fought against 200 years ago. if there's one thing government needs it's a healthy dose of transparency. it's people like bradley manning, daniel ellsberg, julian assange, etc that bring it. instead of being prosecuted, they should be praised for their courage to stand up to the powers that be, and bring the truth to the ignorant masses.

the internal military mechanisms do not work to bring justice or accountability.
-julian assange

police state rising

do you think the united states government is your friend? do you think the cops are there to help the little people? think again. this post is about exposing just how destructive the monopolies known as governments can be.

we'll begin with a ruling by the united states supreme court: kentucky vs king. full details can be found at the link, but i'll summarize. the cops were chasing someone for a drug violation. he ran into a building, and by the time the cops got to the hallway, there were 2 doors (separate apartments) the guy could have run into. believing they smelled burning marijuana, the cops picked a door, knocked, and allegedly heard noises consistent with destruction of evidence. it turns out they cops had the wrong apartment; the guy they were chasing had run into the other one. however, the first apartment did have cannabis. bonus for the cops, they get two incidents for the price of one.

the defendants correctly asserted the confiscated drugs could not be used as evidence as it was obtained by violating the fourth amendment. you know, the one that says a person's house can't be entered without a warrant. the us supreme court, however, doesn't seem to believe in the constitution. they claim destruction of evidence (or the suspicion there of) is good enough to break into a residence. so don't be flushing any toilets when there are cops at your door, because they'll use that as an excuse to break into your house and start a detailed search.

the next case is barnes vs indiana. a couple were arguing so their snitch neighbors called the cops. the defendant argued with a cop in the parking lot before entering his residence. the cop attempted to follow him. the guy told the cop his presence was unnecessary, and asked him to leave. the cop refused so the guy attempted to shut the door on the cop. the cop forced his way inside where the guy threw the cop against a wall, and a fight started.

whether the cops were justified in forcing their way into the house is debatable, but what's really shocking is the indiana supreme court's ruling. they basically said it's unlawful to resist illegal entry into one's house by the cops. there are several problems here. 1) a person should have the ability to resist the unlawful presence of any intruder. 2) how are people supposed to know if the intruders are cops? any clown can dress up in a cop uniform and claim to be the police.

then there's the story about the marine veteran who was executed by a swat team in ariozona. being a veteran and responsible gun owner, the victim was naturally inclined to grab his ar-15 and investigate the situation. as he was entering the hallway the swat team broke down the door and fired 71 rounds. the marine's weapon still had the safety engaged. paramedics were on sight within 2 minutes (which is actually rather impressive). the cops prevented the emergency responders from entering the house claiming it was dangerous. the only other people in the house were the guy's wife and 4 year old kid. an hour later, (yes, i said an hour) the cops dismissed the emergency medical technicians because the victim had died. talk about adding insult to injury.

the lesson? americans are not safe in their homes. the castle doctrine appears to now be legally dead. it's been de facto dead for quite some time now. one more cop story....

adam kokesh covered a story in washington dc (it's in the second 1/2 of the show). there's video depicting cops assaulting a guy in a wheelchair. the official story? -- a guy was drunk. the cops attempted to issue a citation. the guy refused to comply with the citation's issuance. the cops attempted to arrest the individual. the guy resisted arrest, and assaulted the cops. -- watching the video clearly shows the cops are the aggressors and are only concerned with being violent. the saddest part of the whole story is that without the video evidence, the cops in question would have gotten away with it. they still might, but at least now there's a chance they'll be disciplined.

i want to have faith in the united states. i want to believe i was in afghanistan defending freedom. however, as more time goes by, i become increasingly aware of the truth. the greatest enemies of the united states constitution are not to be found in some distant land, but right here in the united states. american citizens are more likely to be killed by a cop than a terrorist. the incarceration rates in the united states are the highest in the world. free country? clearly not.

i fear the day may come when i'm faced with a difficult choice. to follow the constitution that i swore an oath to defend, or follow the illegal orders just handed down to me. it's not too hard to imagine this country embroiled in civil unrest. it's just as easy to imagine the government response would be to quell the rebellion by whatever means are necessary (even if those protesting are not violent). this cannot be allowed to stand. the ultimate question is: if such a day comes, how many of my fellow patriots will stand with me in keeping true faith an allegiance to the constitution?

osama bin laden? really?

ok, so this is something that would probably have been better posted yesterday, but i was busy. it's not like anyone reads this blog any more anyway so...mute point i guess. i do feel the urge to record my thoughts somewhere quasi-permanent though; call it therapy.

i've been quite disturbed at the reaction to the latest news to come out of our government propaganda machine. the death of bin laden is all over the media, and the general public seems to be drunk with euphoria. i guess it's an indictment on the intelligence level of the general populace. i guess i need to explain myself now. here we go....

a threat? really? bin laden's been in hiding since september '01. i know he wasn't directing any of the insurgent activity i had the pleasure of dealing with in afghanistan. that was all being done by a bunch of unsophisticated splinter cells.

it doesn't take much to fight a gorilla style war with improvised explosive devices. in fact, this is exactly what he trained the afghans to do when they were fighting the soviets in the 80s. this time, they don't have our stinger missiles and the invading force is a little nicer, but those are the only substantive differences. hell, many of the villagers think we're the russians. now i'm getting sidetracked though.

and funding? we cracked down on bin laden's sources of capital. while cutting it all off would be impossible, he at least would have had a hard time moving money around. what little money and supplies the insurgents got was not from bin laden. it comes from people that hate having americans running around in their back yard.

contrary to popular belief, bin laden hasn't had any tactical value to terrorism for years. at best, his remaining alive was a great public relations boost for the haters of america.

so that makes killing him good for us, right? i'm not so convinced. it seems his death may actually galvanize the people our government has declared war on. has anyone checked the latest travel advisories? i know the tsa is a great reason to not go to airports, but anyone that does end up at one will notice even more 'security'. it appears letting him live would have been the better option.

but that's me being logical; let's look at people that are clearly not logical: the american populace. sunday night there was a huge party outside the white house. people were drinking, chanting, doing drugs.... adam kokesh went out there with a camera crew to ask a few questions. if anyone's curious to see just how stupid he discovered them to be, i've got a nice little link to the show where he covered it. americans truly are retards.

and that's probably the reaction obama was going for. let's see, what would we have been talking about if it wasn't for this huge upstaging event? there's a debt ceiling limit that's going to get voted on pretty soon. gary johnson and ron paul's campaigns are just starting. the dollar's been tanking pretty hard, and inflation's been flying pretty high. oh yeah, and there's a united nations gun control treaty that's up for the senate's ratification. seems like a good time for a distraction doesn't it?

seriously america. quit being a bunch of sheeple, and use your brains for a change. stop accepting everything the government feeds you on blind faith. hold your representative's feet to the fire, and let them know you're watching. wake up!!!

death of a blog

so i haven't blogged in a while. i totally can't write about myself, and my life; there just isn't anything happening. i'm sure i could blog about current events and my opinion on them, but i don't think that's the purpose of this site.

so i've been toying with doing an opinion blog. it would no doubt have a lot of politics and econimics as that's what's attracted my attention as of late. does this interest anyone? does anyone really care what i think? is anyone still reading this to answer me? i'll give it a few weeks.

i guess i can throw in a little about my life. i just got back from arkansas where i had a 2 week class. it was...well...boring (no surprise there).

i tried to throw together an outdoor football (not american, real football) team. i discovered i don't have enough friends to fill a roster; that'll do wonders for self esteem. so i'm going to hit up the captain's meeting and try to see if i can get the few friends i did manage to scrounge up onto other existing teams. i expect i'll be able to get everyone onto a team and able to play so net positive if that works out.

fastest blog post ever. well...of the ones that weren't rushed anyway. laterz........

on the radio

so...in my constant pursuit of trying to make a buck (or in this case preserve my purchasing power), i had what i thought was a great idea. i'd heard some banks were offering loans, and would take gold as collateral. i figured i could use such a loan to buy even more gold. as long as the price of gold (in dollars) went up more than the interest rate on the loan, i'd come out ahead (or lose less money than simply holding dollars). the whole idea is rather complicated though so i figured i'd get some advice from a professional.

i believe i've mentioned the peter schiff show in my blogs before. if i haven't, i'd encourage people to check it out here. anyway, i called the hotline and managed to get on the air! how crazy is that? if you hit up the webpage today or tomorrow, you can download the show (9 feb) for free. if you can't make that timeframe and are interested, shoot me an email and i can find a way to get a copy to you. i come on around minute 34-35 if you don't feel like listening to the full hour 20. he has a good show though, so i certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from taking some time to listen to the full thing. i listen on a regular basis and find it to be an excellent source for investment advice.

speaking of gold, i've been doing research how people can invest in the shiny metal. i've discovered the good deals are often out of reach for common folk. many of the local dealers will charge over 10% above spot for an ounce coin, and don't even get me started on the big companies that throw their adds all over tv. i happen to buy my gold in large enough quantities and from the right dealer to get a decent rate. if any of you out there are looking to preserve your purchasing power by investing in gold bullion, give me ring or shoot me an email and we'll work something out. i'm not a business so i don't have to turn a profit; as long as i break even, i'm happy.

anyway, i've gotta run. laterz.

budapest (part 2)

*note: this is a continuation of part 1. click here to read it.

the effects of the socialist state are evident to this day. public places are strangely quiet. it took a bit to realize this was because people weren't talking (or at least not very loud). the older section of the populace almost never talks in public. the middle aged will talk a bit, but very quietly...so no one can eavesdrop on them. it's only in the young ones (the ones born after the end of the socialist era) that the locals act in a way that westerners consider normal. this results in their youth having more in common with the rest of the world than their own older countrymen. americans think there's an age gap here? they haven't seen anything.

their views on religion seem to be equally disparate. christianity's roots are in europe. the people have had centuries to watch the rise and fall christendom. in their eyes, the remaining few (very few) that still cling to their faith are an anachronism; the last vestiges of dark historical times. or at least the old ones think this. the youth are inquisitive and open. if religious fervor is to return to hungary, it will be at the hands of the young.

most of the populace is familiar with church, and biblical history. i didn't get a chance to verify this, but i suspect it's part of their schooling. many of the concepts that take some explaining to americans outside the church system are already understood by hungarians. all the knowledge is there; they just haven't had many examples to demonstrate the walk. after decades of oppression, this is not surprising, but it does demonstrate their need to be exposed to true believers.

on the flight between budapest and frankfurt (on the way home), i had a long conversation with hungarian man. he was very curious to know what i thought of his country. we talked for almost 2 hours about things like: socialism vs. capitalism, what form of government the unites states truly is (hint, it's not the republic it was created to be), government policies and their effect on the economy and religion, welfare vs. charity, challenges to missionaries in developed countries, etc. it was amazing! i wish i had the opportunity to share with more people in that way.

the whole trip was a positive, learning experience. there's a lot of potential in this [now] little country. i imagine most of the eastern european countries have similar stories. tales of a dark, almost unspeakable past with the potential for a bright, amazing future.