Private Barter Networking & Thoughts On The Liberty Dollar Debacle

"What we see here is the not so subtle conditioning of average Americans towards categorizing certain innocuous behaviors as being related to possible criminal or terrorist motives.

You cannot stop barter networks from forming. They are inevitable."

March 24, 2011
By Brandon Smith

I was in the midst of the Save America Convention in Tampa, Florida when I heard, first, that Libya was under bombardment by the UN (led by U.S. forces), and, that Bernard von NotHaus of Liberty Dollar had been convicted of “counterfeiting”. It was a stressful day, to say the least. For those not familiar with the Liberty Dollar incident, In November of 2007, federal officials raided the group’s headquarters nestled in a strip mall and seized all documents and the gold and silver that backed up the paper certificates and digital currency being distributed through the Liberty Services website. The Justice Department asserted that Von NotHaus was placing gold and silver coins, along with precious metals currency, into circulation with the purpose of mixing them “into the current money of the United States.”

To be clear, NotHaus made some serious mistakes, including pressing his coins to look semi-similar to standard federal currency, and also using language which could be interpreted to insinuate that his currency was “legal tender”. There are many barter networks in the U.S. that use gold and silver that do not have these kinds of problems with the government simply because they are careful not to make the same blunders.

However, it wasn’t the conviction itself that struck me, so much as the language of the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins, in her post trial statement. Let me reprint my favorite parts for you here:  
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America is on the wrong side

The Big Behind The Scenes Plot

Beck’s TV show should be interesting tonight as he spent a fair amount of time talking about how we are aiding our enemies in the middle east and shooting ourselves in the foot by killing our oil production. Beck gets really passionate in this clip as he see America on the wrong side.  To Listen to the radio clip



Posted by The Right Scoop on Mar 24, 2011

Glenn lays out a series of issues on the table and asks the question- Is America on the wrong side? One of the key players in tonight’s show is Samantha Powers, the wife of Cass Sunstein, who was instrumental in advising Obama on Libya. She is a proponent of the Responsibility to Protest doctrine that the UN has used to invade Libya. Other Progressives like Richard Falk want to use that same doctrine to justify invading Israel. Powers herself has called for a Mammoth Protection Force against Israel.

From TV: Obama advisor calls for invasion of Israel

Glennbeck.com

Truth And Lies of a Government ‘Shutdown’

Beltway Republicans live in acute fear of a government shutdown, and have bought into the deception that is relentlessly repeated regarding the infamous budget impasse that occurred in the fall of 1995.

March 24, 2011
By Christopher G. Adamo

In broad daylight, after having won a landslide victory last November, congressional Republicans are engineering the most embarrassing surrender since Napoleon at Waterloo. And the greatest outrage of it is that such a debacle need not ever take place. To this day, the GOP remains in a prime position to devastate its Democrat opposition and strike a fatal blow to the liberal juggernaut that threatens financial ruin for this country. But, having accepted the standard media diatribe that engaging in such a contest might be politically costly, Republican leaders are instead opting to backtrack and capitulate.  Read More

Why Eric Holder Deserves Life in Prison

And How Many Should Go With Him?

March 24, 2011

One Pissed-off Vietnam Vet
3/23/2011

Entrusted to oversee that the laws of the land are administered justly, Eric Holder, the Attorney General for the United States, has so utterly failed that, in order to bring justice back to the Justice Department, each and every employee will have to be terminated, with many, as Holder, to spend the rest of their miserable lives locked up in a cage, to be kept away from law-abiding citizens forever. Never in the annals of jurisprudence has a complete disregard of the rights of others been so demonstrably ignored.

In case after case, the phrase “blatant contempt” hardly comes close to describing the disrespect that A.G. Holder holds for the oath he took to the Constitution. I never quite understood “hanging is too good for him” until Holder became A.G. Life in prison sounds just about right for scum like him. Holder would be with his own kind sharing a cell block with thieves and pedophiles. He took an oath and hasn’t kept it. The American people entrusted Holder to do a job and what he’s done is to make America a more violent place than it ever has been before.  Read More

Chernobyl-Style Yellow Rain Causes Panic In Japan

"With levels of radiation emitted by Fukushima now approaching those spewed out by the blast at Chernobyl, as the establishment media bizarrely pretends that the crisis is all but over, seawater samples taken around 330 meters south of the plant confirm that levels of radioactive iodine released are the highest yet recorded."

March 24, 2011
By Paul Joseph Watson

Radioactive yellow rain that fell in Tokyo and surrounding areas last night caused panic amongst Japanese citizens and prompted a flood of phone calls to Japan’s Meteorological Agency this morning, with people concerned that they were being fed the same lies as victims of Chernobyl, who were told that yellow rain which fell over Russia and surrounding countries after the 1986 disaster was merely pollen, the same explanation now being offered by Japanese authorities.



“After two days of rain in Tokyo I woke up to a thick coating of this yellow stuff all over my car. What looks like a glare between the glass and the body of the car is actually pollen. My first thought was ewe! Radioactive sludge from Fukushima, but no,” states the comment associated with this You Tube clip.

“The (Japan Meteorological) agency received more than 200 inquiries Thursday morning about yellowish residue left on roofs and elsewhere by the rain, stirring concerns that radioactive substances had fallen after accidents caused by the March 11 quake and tsunami at a nuclear power plant around 220 kilometers northeast of Tokyo,” reports Japan Today.  Read More

Looming Soros Conference Will Focus on Rearranging Global ‘Financial Order’

"We Need a Global Shift"

Posted on March 23, 2011
By Meredith Jessup

On April 8, dozens of “academic, business and government policy thought leaders” are scheduled to gather for a forum reminiscent of the 1944 Bretton Woods gathering that helped launch the World Bank and International Monetary Fund following World War II.

The George Soros-founded Institute for New Economic Thinking will hold its annual conference April 8-11, 2011 at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, N.H. According to the group’s website, the event will bring together economic figures such as Soros, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker to discuss a new, globalized vision of economics in the post-war world.

“This conference reflects INET’s dedication to inspiring and provoking new economic thinking,” the website says.

“Crisis and trauma offer us a rare opportunity to work together to create real lasting change. This is one of those times,” INET says. Promoting “real” justice and equity requires “reinventing” the prevailing economic model — capitalism:



The organization’s social media advertises a very progressive view of economics: Read More

Outside Looking in: Obama Gets Locked Out of White House

The Blaze
March 24, 2011
By Jonathon M.

There’s an Obama video heating up the internet. Not for something the president said or really did, but more for what didn’t happen. It shows him returning from his trip to Latin America and then walking to the Oval Office and jiggling the handle. Nothing happens. It was locked. So he moved on and found another door.

Mediaite says the official explanation is that the staff didn’t know the president was returning early (by two hours, mind you), and so they didn’t have the doors unlocked in time:



Hot Air used the video to criticize Obama’s behind-closed-doors scheduled meeting with Treasury Secretary Geithner. The one set to take place before he even meets with his national security team.

Let the 2012 political analogies begin now.

Outsourced foreign policy and national security issues to Samantha Power.

The Power of Samantha Power

March 23, 2011
By Ed Lasky

Barack Obama seems to have outsourced foreign policy and national security issues to Samantha Power.

John Podhoretz noted her influence with the President when she played a key role in his decision to bomb Libya-pursuant to a trendy concept among foreign policy elites called Responsibility to Protect (R2P for Blackberry texters):

The Tuesday-evening meeting at the White House at which the president decided to move on Libya was "extremely contentious," according to a report in Josh Rogin's excellent blog, The Cable.

Power and a few others took the position that the United States couldn't stay on the sidelines as Moammar Khadafy murdered his own people and snuffed out the people-power revolt in the Middle East in its infancy.

They were opposed by Power's own boss, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Samantha Power's opinions eclipsed the views of her nominal boss, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and those of Obama's Defense Secretary (who, at least, had to pass confirmation by the Senate, unlike Power).

Her influence is long-lasting and deep. She also probably played a role in nominating Mary Robinson to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, despite a checkered record involving international efforts towards our ally, Israel

People should not be surprised at her outsized influence. Barack Obama has made a mockery of the concept of organizational charts and traditional power arrangements in the executive branch (Czars and Czarinas, "advisers" such as Elizabeth Warren who, along with a bevy of recess appointments, escape Senate scrutiny.

Stanley Kurtz sees more moves afoot as the Soros-linked Samantha Power continues to work with Barack Obama to weaken the concept of American sovereignty and empower the international community at the expense of American independence. He also notes that Obama has always been clever about hiding his motives behind a façade of pragmatism.  Read More

A Foolish and Unconstitutional War

This is not the world's war. This is Obama's war.

March 23, 2011
By Patrick J. Buchanan

“The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”

So said constitutional scholar and Senator Barack Obama in December 2007 – the same man who, this weekend, ordered U.S. air and missile strikes on Libya without any authorization from Congress.

Obama did win the support of Gabon in the Security Council, but failed with Germany. With a phone call to acquitted rapist Jacob Zuma, he got South Africa to sign on, but not Brazil, Russia, India or China. All four abstained.

This is not the world’s war. This is Obama’s war.

The U.S. Navy fired almost all the cruise missiles that hit Libya as the U.S. Air Force attacked with B-2 bombers, F-15s and F-16s.

“To be clear, this is a U.S.-led operation,” said Vice Adm. William Gortney.

“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies,” said Winston Churchill. Obama is a quick study.  Read More

Supreme Court: Fed Must Disclose Bailout Details

"What is certain is that the central bank is coming under increasing fire from all sides of the political spectrum. Calls to, as Rep. Paul puts it, “End the Fed,” are growing louder every day. States across America are considering legislation to restore constitutional money. And the attacks on the Fed will likely continue intensifying as the dollar decline accelerates and the people learn more about what their monetary masters have been doing behind closed doors for almost 100 years."

March 23, 2011

By Alex Newman
3/22/2011

After the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of lower-court rulings, the Federal Reserve must release information within five days about its “emergency” bailouts of large banks and financial institutions undertaken in 2008 under the guise of saving the financial system.

The central bank attracted intense scrutiny during the economic crisis when it lent trillions of dollars to various institutions, including foreign banks, in an unprecedented transfer of wealth. And as concern intensified, several media organizations including Fox and Bloomberg sought disclosure of the bailout records using Freedom of Information Act requests.

But the Federal Reserve and a coalition of some of the biggest banks in the world fought back against disclosure for years. So after refusing to release the records, Bloomberg took the Fed to court.

The central bank argued, among other points, that the New York Fed is a private corporation with private shareholders, not a government agency subject to FOIA rules. The defendants also claimed that releasing the information would hurt the reputations of bailed-out institutions.

The Fed lost its initial case in court. It appealed and lost yet again. Finally, the central bank received a stay on the order until the case could be taken to the Supreme Court. But on March 21, the high court denied the appeal without comment, meaning the federal appeals court decision stands.  Read More

Patrick Henry’s Speech: A Post-Modern Version

"Can more be said? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!"

March 23, 2011

Don Stevens
3/21/2011

No man thinks more highly than I do of peace. But different men see the same subject in different lights. Therefore, it is not disrespectful to peace-loving gentlemen to express an opinion opposite to them. The time for mincing words has passed. The pandering of those in Congress to moderates and liberals is shameful when seen in the light of how our precious Constitution and its promise of freedom to all has been disregarded; the prosperity of subsequent generations legislated away! This is no longer a question of politics. These atrocities are nothing less than a bold move against individual freedom and a frontal assault made by an enemy intent on enslaving us! The proportion to the magnitude of the problem ought to determine the volume and heat of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth and fulfill the great responsibility that we hold dear to God and country. Should I hold back my fierce opposition because I fear giving offense? To do so makes me guilty of treason and disloyal to the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly authority and common courtesy!

Mr. de facto President, Supreme Court Justices, and Congress, it is natural for man to shut his eyes against painful truths. Yet, should this be the path of patriots when engaged in a struggle to preserve liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who have eyes and see not; have ears, yet hear not? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it costs me, I MUST seek the whole truth, and finding it, make provision for it.
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Sprouts: An ideal emergency preparedness food

One of the highlights of sprouts is the ease of growing them. And, they can be grown 100 percent indoors, requiring very limited space.

March 23, 2011
By Sherry L. Ackerman, Ph.D.

(NaturalNews) Given the rapidity with which critical global events are unfolding, preparedness just makes good sense. The question isn't whether or not to be prepared - it's what to be prepared for? Earthquakes, nuclear accidents, tsunamis, power outages and gasoline shortages have been on this week's menu. Each, of course, has its own specific type of preparedness protocols. But, no matter what kind of unexpected event looms large, there is always a need for food. Food shortages could result from any of the aforementioned potential scenarios, as well as from any number of scenarios that I haven't mentioned. There are any number of ways to approach food shortage preparedness, but my preferred method is sprouts! Sprouts are, in my mind, the number one, perfect survival ration. I think that sprouting seeds belong in every household's emergency kit. Let's look at some of the reasons that I think this.

First of all, sprouting seeds have a long storage life. Sprouting seeds can be stored up to four years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. They are small and lightweight and, thus, don't take up vast amounts of storage space. You can buy them already prepared for storage or simply buy them in bulk from any reputable health food store and put them in airtight, waterproof storage containers yourself. Glass canning jars with rubber-ringed lids are a good option. You want something that is rodent proof, as little critters like seeds, too! Once sealed, the sprouting seeds can be stashed in a cool, dry, dark corner of the attic or pantry for years.

The next reason that I think sprouts are ideal emergency rations is their rich, digestible energy, bioavailable vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, beneficial enzymes and phytochemicals. Let's face it: if you are involved in an emergency situation, you want healthy, nutritious food. Crises are not the time to have to rely on empty calories. Once germinated, sprouts provide a good supply of vitamins A, E & C plus B complex. Like enzymes, vitamins serve as bioactive catalysts to assist in the digestion and metabolism of food and the release of energy. They are also essential for the healing and repair of cells. During World War II, considerable interest in sprouts developed as a result of an article written by Dr. Clive M. McKay, Professor of Nutrition at Cornell University. Dr. McKay opened his article with this dramatic announcement: "Wanted! A vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3 to 5 days, may be planted any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in vitamin C, will be free of waste in preparation and can be cooked with little fuel and as quickly as a ... chop." Well, there you have it!

Another reason that sprouts get my vote is the fact that they are extremely inexpensive. You are not tying up massive financial resources in preparedness. For example, you can get alfalfa, wheat, rye, barley, triticale, spelt, kamut, quinoa, sesame or amaranth for roughly eight dollars a pound. And, a pound of sprouting seeds is going to yield buckets of sprouts! If you want the Cadillac of sprouts, you could get broccoli sprouts for somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-five dollars a pound. Famous for their antioxidant content, broccoli sprouts can contain up to fifty times the sulfurophane found in mature broccoli, by weight, so you get as much antioxidant in one ounce of broccoli sprouts as you would if you ate three pounds of fully grown broccoli.  Read More

Devil Demolition Derby

Obama: Consistently Anti-American

"The Obama presidency is a trainwreck, and we are living in a constant state of chaos and agitation. Going from bad to worse, we are living on the edge of impending catastrophe."

March 22, 2011

By Pamela Geller
3/21/2011

Well, you have to hand it to Obama, he is consistent in his extreme anti-Americanism. America is firing missiles into Libya just as the Telegraph reported that “statements of support for Libya’s revolution by al-Qaeda and leading Islamists have led to fears that military action by the West might be playing into the hands of its ideological enemies.”

Throughout Obama’s presidency and all of the Islamic revolutions sweeping the Middle East and Africa, he has sided with the Islamic supremacists at every turn. Taking his marching orders from the vile America-hater and Jew-hater, the devout Muslim Sheik Qaradawi, Obama is now paving the way for an Islamic state in Libya. Not that Libya has been good under Gaddafi — hardly. But there are degrees of evil. The situation can always be worse, and little matches the anti-human brutality of Islamic regimes in the twenty-first century.

It’s ironic that Obama has turned against Gaddafi, since Gaddafi has regarded him warmly, saying in April 2010: “Barakeh Obama is friend…He is of Muslim descent, his policy should be supported.” As meticulously documented in my book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America, the ties between Gaddafi and Obama are close and extensive. Back in July 2008, Gaddafi endorsed Obama, going so far as to say: “All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency.”

And Obama’s spirtual svengali and former Nation of Islam adherent Jeremiah Wright went to Libya with Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan to see Gaddafi, as he recalled during the 2008 campaign: “When [Obama’s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit [Gaddafi] with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.”

It didn’t, but it should have.  Read More