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November 2014

Sir Thomas More

Thu, 11/27/2014 - 21:57 — james
Sir Thomas More

Natural Law As Restraint Against Tyranny - Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Thu, 11/27/2014 - 21:41 — james

Below is an excellent article by William Barbe copied (with emphasis mine - Ed) from Signs Of The Times website.

I have a couple of qualifications, though. The article concerns a talk given at the Mises Institute by one of its members, Judge Andrew Napolitano. I do not endorse the Mises Institute as I disagree with their solution to the current economic woes. But that is another issue for another day.

I also want to point out that though Judge Napolitano correctly blames government for the abuse of our natural rights (and for the incarceration of half of the US prison population even though they have not harmed anyone - and therefore have committed no crimes - in another video talk of his), he leaves out the very pertinent fact that his own profession is entirely complicit in these outrageous abuses and that these abuses are knowingly enacted daily for the profit of the legal profession. But more on that below William Barbe's article.

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, once a Fox News TV show host - and now an outspoken critic of the US government - delivered a short, intriguing, and, I believe, important speech at the Mises Institute in Costa Mesa, California, on November 8th, 2014.


Sir Thomas More

He began by talking about the origins of Natural Laws, beginning with this quote from Sir Thomas More's treason case under Henry VIII:

Some men say the earth is flat.
Some men say the earth is round.
But if it is flat, could Parliament make it round?
And if it round, could the kings command flatten it?

More was appealing to the jury of the Laws of Nature that restrain even the government. This was the classic Natural Law argument. More was not the originator of this argument; that was Saint Thomas Aquinas nearly 800 years ago. The English liberal philosopher John Locke picked up on this, as did Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison when he was a Scrivener for the US Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson's version of More's phrase -- "We are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" -- articulates the view that our rights come from our humanity.

Napolitano asks: What are these rights that come from humanity? And how can the government trample them? The concept of Natural Rights articulated by Aquinas is that there are areas of human behavior for which we do not need a government permission slip in order to make free choices. Things like freedom to develop your own personality, to think as you wish, to say what you think, the right to worship or not to worship, to assemble in groups or to refuse to assemble, to petition the government for redress of your differences, and the right to defend yourself against tyrants. These are the quintessential 'American rights'. The right to be left alone, for example, codified in the Fourth Amendment today is called the 'right to privacy'.

Trading Oil For Gold and Leaving $US Out In The Cold

Sun, 11/23/2014 - 23:58 — james

Below is a very instructive article first published in Russian by Dmitry Kalinichenko. This translated version by Kristina Rus was found at Fort Russ. I have copied it below in full but I urge readers to follow the link to Fort Russ to read this and other excellent articles.

Grandmaster Putin's Golden Trap

by Dmitry Kalinichenko for Investcafe.ru

Accusations of the West towards Putin traditionally are based on the fact that he worked in the KGB. And therefore he is a cruel and immoral person. Putin is blamed for everything. But nobody ever accused Putin of lack of intelligence.

Any accusations against this man only emphasize his ability for quick analytical thinking and making clear and balanced political and economic decisions.

Often Western media compares this ability with the ability of a grandmaster, conducting a public chess simul. Recent developments in US economy and the West in general allow us to conclude that in this part of the assessment of Putin's personality Western media is absolutely right.

Despite numerous success reports in the style of Fox News and CNN, today, Western economy, led by the United States is in Putin's trap, the way out of which no one in the West can see or find. And the more the West is trying to escape from this trap, the more stuck it becomes.

What is the truly tragic predicament of the West and the United States, in which they find themselves? And why all the Western media and leading Western economists are silent about this, as a well guarded military secret? Let's try to understand the essence of current economic events, in the context of the economy, setting aside the factors of morality, ethics and geopolitics.

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9/11 was an inside job

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 08:34 — admin

hat tip to Big Dan, a well-referenced site of consensus points proving the official story's falsehood http://www.consensus911.org/the-911-consensus-points/