Clearly, there is NO "Liberal Bias" in government agencies!

Except that, well, yes, there is.

Let's whisk ourselves, shall we, over to the city of Richmond, Virginia -- and focus like a laser-beam on the following story unearthed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and further revealed in Andrew Breitbart's Big Government.

First, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

RICHMOND --

The Richmond Tea Party is lashing out at Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones for what it sees as the city's preferential treatment of the Occupy Richmond protesters encamped at Kanawha Plaza.

The tea party group is sending Jones an invoice for the charges incurred for the Tax Day rallies it has held at the plaza the past three years, arguing that the Occupy Wall Street offshoot group squatting there has been using the park illegally and free of charge since Oct. 15. [Allow me to again emphasize: "free of charge." -BZ]

"The tea party keeps being compared to the occupiers. Well, in the way we're treated, there's no comparison. It's like a slap in the face," said Richmond Tea Party spokeswoman Colleen Owens.

Owens said her group has shelled out about $10,000 for the three rallies held there, including a rental fee for use of the park, various permits and other expenses. She added that the rallies were scheduled with the city months in advance and that the group held fundraisers to cover the required costs, which included police presence and portable toilets.

"The city of Richmond is allowing Occupy Richmond to blatantly break the law day after day while forcing other groups to strictly comply," a news release from the tea party group said.

Why police have not already removed the protesters is not clear. A section of the city's mond Times Dispatch, the Richmond Tea Party delivered an invoice for charges incurred in our previous three Tax Day rallies at Kanawha Plaza because Mayor Jones chose to allow Occupy Richmond protesters to convene in the same park for two weeks.

The Mayor not only allowed the Occupiers to break the law, but he visited them in the city-owned park. “Jones said that as a ‘child of civil rights’ and protests, he had allowed the group to remain in the park but understands his mayoral responsibility to uphold laws of the city,” reported the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Apparently his mayoral duties included preferential treatment for a group he sympathizes with ideologically at the expense of the taxpayers.

Perhaps -- like the George Orwell novel Animal Farm -- "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Further:

The Mayor not only allowed the Occupiers to break the law, but he visited them in the city-owned park. “Jones said that as a ‘child of civil rights’ and protests, he had allowed the group to remain in the park but understands his mayoral responsibility to uphold laws of the city,” reported the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Apparently his mayoral duties included preferential treatment for a group he sympathizes with ideologically at the expense of the taxpayers.

The blog Virginia Right reported that the city provided services such as portable toilets, trash pickup, etc. The incomplete invoices obtained from the city totaled $7,000. This was only a portion of the actual costs to taxpayers because the costs of police, helicopter and incarcerations were not included. Also not accounted for was the 24-hour police protection of the Mayor’s home after the Occupiers moved their camp next door to the Mayor’s house. The Richmond Tea Party, conversely, paid for all services for our rallies, including the police, portable toilets, park fees and permits, amounting to approximately $8,500.

Our actions apparently struck a nerve. Our invoice to the Mayor was covered by hundreds of news outlets, including the AP, Richmond Times Dispatch, Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post. On October 31, I appeared on Fox Business, Neil Cavuto’s show, and was interviewed about our actions. Reportedly, at least two Richmond City Council members agreed with our plight. “I guess we’ll be writing a check to the Tea Party people,” said Councilman Bruce W. Tyler, as quoted in the Richmond Times Dispatch. “You can’t treat one group different from the other. It’s unfair.”

Which garnered this response from the City of Richmond, Virginia:


In the audit letter signed by Cynthia Carr, Field Auditor for the City of Richmond, it states that our Tea Party is delinquent in filing of Admissions, Lodging, and Meals Taxes with the city and as such our group has been targeted for a comprehensive audit. Well, aren’t we special? In fact, as part of the Business License we have with the City, a form is filled out by our treasurer every month (as required). We have never charged admission or had lodging or meals associated with our rallies. Every month the forms are appropriately filled with zeros. Ms. Carr goes on to say that if we don’t respond within 15 days, the City will make a statutory assessment–meaning they’ll pick an amount to charge us.

So the City and Mayor apparently feel that the Richmond Tea Party has not paid its fair share for use of Kanawha Plaza. We challenged the Mayor’s unequal treatment between groups and he responded with even more unequal treatment.

This is nothing more than an inherently-biased treatment of two groups.

One -- Conservative -- who must be responsible for themselves and further.

Another -- which isn't responsible for anything other than its perceived "free speech" rights.

Simply because the Mayor wishes it so.

BZ

Herman Cain is Beyond Toast:

With every other bit of baggage.

Add this.

Done.

Stick a fork in him.

BZ

Even The Washington Times Doubts Obama

From the Michael Curl op-ed piece on Sunday (11-27):

Over the last decade, we became a country that relied too much on what we bought and consumed.”

- President Obama, Nov. 19, 2011

“Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.”

- President Carter, July 15, 1979

For the past 36 months, Americans have hoped for the best. But it hasn’t turned out that way. In fact, some argue that Mr. Obama actually made the economy worse - the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week that his 2009 stimulus package may have sustained as few as 700,000 jobs at its peak and that over the long run it will be a net drag on the economy.

But then, this. The president, traveling the country purportedly to look for votes in 2012, decided to lecture the American people on their shortcomings: fat, lazy, stupid. And now, he’s channeling - of all people - Jimmy Carter.

Don’t doubt the premise here. Democrats must spend - spend and spend and spend. It’s in their DNA. Mr. Obama offered a $3.8 trillion budget this year, to be paid for by - $2.1 trillion in revenue (read: your money). He knows that over the next four years, with automatic budget cuts set to take effect and the American people’s rising ire over the profligate spending in Washington, he’s going to have no money to redistribute to the masses.

Curl finally asks Obama: "why not just bail?"

I concur: Mr Obama, if you're on the fence, if you're uninterested in communicating, if you're disengaged, if you don't much care for the office or for the people around you --

Just bail.

BZ

P.S.
And as Europe begins to burn, ObaNero keeps fiddling, learning nothing from the history unfolding before his very eyes.

Full BeeKeepers' Uniform:

This was the first time I'd ever seen it in my area:

A dark-skinned man, with dark short hair, no beard, contemporary clothing (as in a short-sleeved shirt, jeans, Vans) in the company of a woman who was completely obscured from head to toe, with an unimproved vision area directly in front of her face. A full burqa.


And they were attending a movie, this Sunday, at a local theatre.

Muslims, clear.

With a remarkable exception: apparently HE didn't much feel like keeping with Islam whilst, on the other hand, he felt compelled to keep his wife or girlfriend or "friend with benefits" close at hand and in totalis obscurum.

And therein lies the rub:

For those of you who love to embrace the opposite of this country's foundation, here is your future:

If you're a misogynist male, you'll love it.

If you're a female -- ahem -- not so much.

Because, under True Islam, under Islam As Practiced, the male is simply Superior and the female is simply Subservient. And subject to killing if the male is displeased.

Doesn't quite sound to me as though met with egalitarianism.

Because if you're a Leftist and female you simultaneously disapprove of this post and will be the first to be sublimated as chattel or killed under Islam.

Islam and Sharia are here, ladies and gentlemen. Just waiting for you to be weaker and stupider.

BZ

P.S.
This might be better for the summer:

King Crimson: Lark's Tongues In Aspic, Pt I

No finer album in 1973.

Lark's Tongues In Aspic, by King Crimson.

• Robert Fripp on guitar & Mellotron.
• John Wetton on bass guitar.
• David Cross on violin & viola.
• Bill Bruford on drums.
• Jamie Muir on percussion & allsorts.

BZ

"All This For A (Damn) Flag?"

Watch the video closely. It would appear that, during the nation's 9/11 tribute, Michelle Obama leans to her left and asks Barack Hussein Obama: "All this for a (damn) flag?"



As the bagpipers played and the Honor Guard carefully folded the American flag, the First Lady asks that question of Mr Obama. In my opinion, she does so with contempt, disdain and arrogance.

Very carefully examine the look on her face.

Tim Roth as Cal Lightman of Lie To Me would have a proverbial field day. So would Dr Paul Ekman. The display she exhibits is vastly more profound than mere microexpressions. It's quite overt, in my opinion. She shakes her head and knits her eyebrows; the vertical lines between her brows crease.

In response, Mr Obama turns to the right in order to acknowledge his wife, nods his head slightly a few times and, as he turns back, the ends of his mouth curl in a small smile. He is slightly less disdainful than his wife here. Yet he is not shocked nor surprised with her comment.

The secret is safe between them.

Except that it is not.

I present for you, ladies and gentlemen, our current sitting president and the First Lady.

BZ

P.S.
This video may provide a slightly less-obstructed view:



Your thoughts?

Thanksgiving, November 24th of 2011

This Norman Rockwell painting, entitled "Freedom From Want," first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on March 6th of 1943. It was one of Mr Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings. [The other three noted are Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship and Freedom from Fear.]


The original oil on canvas painting, 45.75 x 35.5 inches, is housed in the Norman Rockwell Museum of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

This painting (and the other three) was intended to inspire patriotism during WWII.

However, according to Wikipedia, "outside of the United States, this image is perceived as a depiction of American overabundance.^[4]

Perhaps I might ask in closing: are any of you having to deal with so-called "overabundance?"

I, myself, am not.

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers.

Frankly, here, I am thankful for you.

BZ

US Government's CBO Report: Obama's Stimulus HURT The Economy -- And So Do ILLEGALS!

Again, more of what you won't find plastered across the DEM/MSM for the next few weeks, because of the incredible BIAS inherent in the LMGC (Leftist Media/Government Complex):

From The Washington Times:

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday downgraded its estimate of the benefits of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package, saying it may have sustained as few as 700,000 jobs at its peak last year and that over the long run it will actually be a net drag on the economy.

CBO said that while the Recovery Act boosted the economy in the short run, the extra debt that the stimulus piled up “crowds out” private investment and “will reduce output slightly in the long run — by between 0 and 0.2 percent afD"font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal aliens working without a green card.

2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

3. 75% of people on the most-wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.

8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.

9. 21 radio stations in L. A. Are Spanish speaking.

10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 4.9 million speak Spanish. (There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County .)

(All 10 of the above statements are from the Los Angeles Times)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare.
Over 70% of the United States ' annual population growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York ) results from immigration.
29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

So what hurts the economy?

Illegal activities.

And further, I submit:

Instead of spending BILLIONS of dollars, there needs to be logic and proportion and reality. How about one easy solution: deliver $1,000,000 to each LEGAL American citizen over the age of 21 and let THEM determine their fiscal future.

[Note: Government is never going to end poverty. It is never going to create private sector jobs.]

Many would pay off their homes. Many would pay off their bills. Some would piss their money away on drugs and other illegal activities. So be it. Those who are smart would succeed. Those who are stupid would not. But, despite that, money would be injected into The System.

And all it would cost is roughly $310,000,000 dollars.

Government spending is not the same as productivity. Productivity occurs in the private sector. Productivity: that's the key. No amount of government spending can produce productivity. Government spending destroys productivity. It destroys it.

Leftists say: we need more spending.

The focus needs to be on productivity, it needs to be on goods and services. The private sector creates wealth and productivity.

Government "stimulus" -- NO.

Involving the Departments of Failure -- NO.

Providing power down to its lowest level:

YES.

You truly want more spending, Demorats? All it would cost is $310 million.

Taken to the lowest common denominator.

Refute that, Leftists, Demorats, Liberals. I'll print ALL your comments in response.

BZ

Another reason I enjoy listening to Newt:

Oh my gosh, isn't it sad when the truth particularly zings to the heart of the OWS matter?

BZ

P.S.
This is the 48th anniversary of the slaying of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on November 22nd of 1963. And we still don't have the full truth regarding his assassination in Dallas on that day.

Also: Happy Birthday to my good friend, Richard Keith Carson from Vashon Island, Washington!

The truth from Chris Matthews: Obama's glow is fading

Finally, the truth is out: Mr Obama runs his administration like your average teenager.



As Mr Matthews says:

There's nothing to root for. What are we trying to do in this administration? Why does he want a second term? Would he tell us? What's he going to do with his second term? More of this? Is this it? Is this as good as it gets? Where do we go? Are we going to do something the second term? He has yet to tell us.

He has not said one thing about what he'd do in his second term. He never tells what he's going to do with reforming our healthcare systems, Medicare, Medicaid, how he's going to reform Social Security. Is he going to deal with long term debt? How? Is he going to reform the tax system? How? Just tell us.

Why are we in this fight with him? Just tell us, Commander, give us our orders and tell us where we're going. Give us the mission. And he hasn't done it.

And I think it's the people around him. Too many people like little kids with propellers on their heads. They're all virtual. This social networking -- I get these e-mails -- you probably get them, I'm tired of getting them. Stop giving them to me. I want to meet people.

Their idea of running a campaign is in the virtual universe of sending e-mails around to people. No it's not. It's meetings with people. It's forging alliances. It's White House meetings and dinner parties that go on until midnight. And he should be sitting late at night now, with senators and members of Congress and governors working together on how they're going to win this political fight that's coming.

I don't have a sense that he's ever had a meeting. I hear stories that you will not believe. Not a single phone call since the last election. They don't call. He never calls. That's the message. Members of Congress, I keeping asking: 'when did you hear from him last?' (silence) He doesn't like their company. That's a problem, by the way."

DEMORAT POLLSTERS: OBAMA SHOULD ABANDON A SECOND TERM

And this from the National Journal:

President Obama should abandon his run for a second term and turn over the reins of the Democratic Party to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, two one-time Democratic pollsters wrote in Monday's Wall Street Journal, which appeared online Sunday.

Patrick H. Caddell and Douglas E. Schoen argued that just as Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson decided not to pursue additional runs though they could have, Obama should do the same.

“He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president's accomplishments. He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,”Caddell and Schoen wrote.

Because, right now, there are nothing but kids sitting at the adults' table in the White House.

BZ

Obama: The Smartest President EVER -- And Still Refusing To Increase Jobs

Certainly a long post title, but accurate. Because Mr Obama is the smartest man ever:



Robert at American & Proud notes that talk show host Michael Medved featured an author on his show who wrote a book stating that Mr Obama was simply the best president. Period.

As you attempt to wrap your head around that warped concept, let me get with the specifics. The book, by author Frank J Fleming, is entitled "Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything." I suppose that about sums it up. And published just in time for Mr Obama's re-election campaign.

As Robert writes, part of the product description indicates:

Oh, but Barack Obama was no mere man. He was a paragon of intelligence and civilized society. A savior to the world's depressed. A lightbringer. A genius thinking thoughts the common man could never hope to comprehend. And his words -- his beautiful words read from crystal panes -- reached down to our souls and told us all would be well. With the simple act of casting a ballot for Barack Obama, we could make the world an immeasurably better place -- a world of peace, of love, of understanding, of unicorns, of rainbows, of expanded entitlements. This was his promise. And now, having had him as president for more than two years, we can say without reservation that he has delivered all his promises and more and is the best president this country -- or any country -- has ever had or could even imagine to have.

The book can be purchased through Amazon for the massive price of $1.99 on Kindle.

Though a nicely-accomplished parable, the truly sad portion is this: way too many people really think this way.

On that note, how about another video:



Because the smartest president in the history of our nation has directed the USDA to not only kill 200,000 jobs, but continue to ensure that America will not become energy independent by relying more on its own innate resources.

From The Washington Examiner:

President Obama's United States Department of Agriculture has delayed shale gas drilling in Ohio for up to six months by cancelling a mineral lease auction for Wayne National Forest (WNF). The move was taken in deference to environmentalists, on the pretext of studying the effects of hydraulic fracturing.

The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) recently estimated that drilling in the Utica shale, which is affected by the suspension of the mineral lease auctions, would produce up 204,500 jobs by 2015. [Update: the USDA estimates that the creation of only a few dozen to 200 jobs will be delayed by this study.]

"The President’s plan is to simply say ‘no’ to new energy production," House Natural Resources Committee chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash, said to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar during a hearing pertaining to hydraulic fracturing. "It’s a plan that is sending American jobs overseas, forfeiting new revenue, and denying access to American energy that would lessen our dependence on hostile Middle Eastern oil."

Certainly, it's fine that Mr Obama sends money to Brazil in order to enable their oil drilling whilst -- at the same time -- negating further oil drilling off our coasts and on our own sovereign soil. Mr Obama said to Brazil: "We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely. And when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers."

I wrote about that here.

Yes indeed, people. Clearly, the finest president ever -- not just in the history of our nation, but of the planet itself. So calm, so composed.

And whose Socialist and anti-Capitalist philosophy still won't let him harvest our own abundance.

BZ

P.S.
On a final serious note: the report -- linked next -- indicates that the US has the greatest oil reserves on the planet. Untapped. Please read.

Addendum: should we decide to kill the Canadian/US Keystone oil pipeline, the Chinese have indicated to Canada that they are interested. Canada will sell to China if the Unites States isn't motivated or declines. And Mr Obama will do his level best to ensure we're oil-starved by killing this proposed pipeline.

Why I Still Like Newt:

Because he'll always be The Smartest Man In The Room.

And that has to count for something.



Scott Pelley: Speaker Gingrich, if I could just ask you the same question, as President of the United States, would you sign that death warrant for an American citizen overseas who you believe is a terrorist suspect?

Newt Gingrich: Well, he's not a terrorist suspect. He's a person who was found guilty under review of actively seeking the death of Americans.

Scott Pelley: Not-- not found guilty by a court, sir.

Newt Gingrich: He was found guilty by a panel that looked at it and reported to the president.

Scott Pelley: Well, that's ex-judicial. That's-- it's not--

Newt Gingrich: Let me-- let me-- let me tell you a story-- let me just tell you this.

Scott Pelley: --the rule of law.

Newt Gingrich: It is the rule of law. That is explicitly false. It is the rule of law.

Scott Pelley: No.

Newt Gingrich: If you engage in war against the United States, you are an enemy combatant. You have none of the civil liberties of the United States. You cannot go to court. Let me be-- let me be very clear about this. There are two levels. There's a huge gap here that-- that frankly far too many people get confused over. Civil defense, criminal defense, is a function of being within the American law. Waging war on the United States is outside criminal law. It is an act of war and should be dealt with as an act of war. And the correct thing in an act of war is to kill people who are trying to kill you.

Male Voice: Well said. Well said.

Obama vs Newt Gingrich?

No hesitation: Newt.

BZ

Herman Cain: Not Ready For Prime Time

Stick a fork in it; Mr Cain's campaign is now officially moribund.

I tried to give him every chance. But, as with most candidates, their mortal wounds are predominantly self-inflicted.



The above video is from an editorial interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Monday the 14th.

Also covered here by The Washington Post.

And the MJ-S blog here.

As a presidential candidate, when you chalk up the rambling and disjointed answer of a media question to fatigue, the first question rationally asked should be: so how will this man react when he does receive the proverbial 2 am crisis phone call in the White House?

Watch the video, read the articles, and draw your own conclusion.

BZ

GOP: Selling America Down The River AGAIN In The Supercommittee

According to Eric Cantor, it's perfectly acceptable to assure the already-dire housing market completely tanks.

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sidestepping controversy, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., declined to take sides Monday on a proposal for higher taxes backed by fellow Republicans on Congress' supercommittee, yet expressed confidence the panel would agree on a deficit-reduction plan of at least $1.2 trillion by a Nov. 23 deadline.

So let me make this clear: our REPUBLICAN House Leader has REFUSED to "take sides" in a proposal for higher taxes -- "BACKED BY FELLOW REPUBLICANS" and considered by our Mr Obama's so-called Congressional "Supercommittee."

The only conclusion I can draw is this:

Republicans -- confident, easy and comfortable in having been installed now in DC -- have completely forgotten the reason for their being there and the strife that occurred this past November. They have forgotten their "promises." You note, of course, the quotation marks.

And this is how easily Conservatives are betrayed.

With: $300 billion of tax hikes to be achieved by limiting the mortgage deduction and by limiting charitable deductions, state and local income tax deductions.

No Republican of which I am aware, ran on this platform. This wasn't our "message" in November.

These ARE TAX INCREASES. No matter what you call it, these are tax hikes.

Hugh Hewitt writes:

What the GOP cannot do is fold and accept tax hikes, especially on the fragile housing market and the reeling not-for-profit sector. Limiting the mortgage interest deduction is the worst of many bad economic ideas bandied about by the Beltway wizards who first brought us Fannie and Freddie, and the canard that people don't give to charity because of the deduction marks anyone who utters it as simply ignorant of how the world of churches, universities, hospitals and the hundreds of thousands of crucial not-for-profits from homeless shelters to disease prevention and research groups all operate.

Politically, Obama says that without these agreements in the Supercommittee, he will gut the military even further. The threat. The cheese and the whip.

Politically, the Republicans should stand firm and say:

• First, we're not buying tax hikes, and
• Second, you want to gut the military, then it will be done in the bright light of day
• And its results will be on YOU
  

And it may cost you, Mr Obama.

Call the fucker's bluff.

You will literally kill the already-execrable housing market and guarantee that charities are abandoned.

• If you're a Demorat, you don't care because it means more money.
• If you're a Republican, you simply want to be loved and for everyone to just "get along."

To my readers: and THIS is why Republicans took back the House?

This is why the TEA Parties were created?

BZ

Ft. Knox: No Gold?

It has been postulated, I've just recently been made aware, that there may in fact be no gold in the United States Bullion Depository, otherwise known more simply as Ft. Knox, in Kentucky.

It is alleged that Ft Knox holds 5,046 tons (147.2 million troy ounces -- as gold is customarily measured in ounces) of gold. In contrast, The Federal Reserve Bank in New York's Manhattan underground vault is alleged to hold 7,716 tons of gold, but some of it held "in trust" for foreign nations, central banks and international organizations.

The necessity for the USBD at Ft Knox came about by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's -- to be blunt -- illegal Executive Order 6102, which resulted in the physical confiscation of gold in all forms from private American citizens on April 5th of 1933. What is known now as Ft Knox was completed in 1936.

EO 6102 criminalized the possession of physical gold by anyone other than the United States government. People were paid $20.67 per troy ounce for the gold they possessed. People who, then, had large amounts of gold sent it physically to countries such as Switzerland because of various private banking laws.

The US government, of course, realized a profit from EO 6102 and used that money to create the Exchange Stabilization Fund brought about by the Gold Reserve Act in 1934.

The Gold Reserve Act had economic ramifications far beyond national finance. At that time many contracts stipulated that their monetary terms could be demanded in gold.

Such gold clauses were intended to protect against the United States devaluing the dollar.

When the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 and the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 outlawed the use of gold, then such contracts became sources of controversy.

In the gold clause case Norman vs. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 294 U.S. 240 (1935), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gold clauses were invalid. However, Congress later reinstated the option to use gold clauses for obligations (new contracts) issued after October 1977 in accordance with 31 U.S.C. § 5118(d)(2).

A viable country runs on what is called the Gold Standard. Meaning that, basically, whatever paper money exists is backed by an actual physical asset.

But note this:

The total amount of gold that has ever been mined has been estimated at around 142,000 metric tons.^[25] This is less than the value of circulating money in the U.S. alone, where more than $8.3 trillion is in circulation or in deposit (M2).^[26]

Therefore, a return to the gold standard, if also combined with a mandated end to fractional reserve banking, would result in a significant increase in the current value of gold, which may limit its use in current applications.^[27]

A point little realized: the United States stepped completely away from the Gold Standard. All links were finally severed when President Richard Milhous Nixon ended any possible association between gold and the US dollar on August 15th of 1971.

In retrospect, that one move placed this nation -- by extension, later, the entire world -- into the situation it finds itself now. The die was cast. [A great UK article is here.]

From then on, until today, the dollar has not been "backed" by anything resembling a physical asset, but by trust and confidence.

Let me repeat that again, for those of you who may just have tuned in:

From then on, until today, the dollar has not been "backed" by anything resembling a physical asset, but by trust and confidence.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is quite how precariously our current dollar stands.

With this in mind, your understanding of the US stock market should have expanded exponentially.

It's not solely predicated but upon physical assets or hard commodities, but primarily upon emotions.

Feelings.

As in: how do you feel about your money today? What trust do you have in your portfolio?

Even more base: what kind of CONFIDENCE do you have in your American government?

You, I'm certain, see where I'm going with this.

With that in mind, you remember about Ron Paul, don't you?

You remember that Ron Paul is about the only person in DC politics who has called for an actual audit of the Federal Reserve? And that would include the Treasury Department. Which, by extension, would call for an audit and examination of our United States Bullion Depository at Ft Knox.



This is the one crucial point that I credit to Ron Paul.

The last president, to my knowledge, who actually visited Ft Knox -- for reassurance -- was then-President Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Please allow me to cut to The Proverbial Chase:

Our US government alleges that there is still over 5,000 tons of gold in Ft Knox.

With that in mind, there are those persons -- locally as well -- who say that there is little if any gold left in Ft Knox and that, over the years, it has been sold, ransomed, distributed, sown to the four winds, for political purposes.

Which brings up a literal host of excellent questions, to include:

1. If that is true, do you want, in this economy, an actual audit of the Federal Reserve to include the USBD at Ft Knox?

2. Do you really want to know if Ft Knox is packed with gold, or if it merely hosts a primarily-empty room surrounded by an incredible series of over-the-top security measures?

3. Do you want to make that result public?

4. Or is that an issue that should lie dormant until the country is emplaced into a much stronger political and economic position than it is now?

Because here is what would occur:

If Ft Knox were found to contain little or no gold as the result of a physical, public audit, the local, national and global confidences in the Unites States of America and its dollar would plummet, literally, overnight.

The average American could wake up one morning to discover that his or her assets were mostly worthless, that the dollar was predicated solely upon paper, and that this paper was just that: paper.

Do the math and what I call The Logical Extension:

A running flood on banks, not nearly enough physical paper to cover everyone's assets and investments, a run on commodities, a run on water, food, fuel, hard assets, an absolute hoarders' mentality.

Because of our current thinnest of margins on warehousing and the perilous but necessarily demanding transportation of products within not just days but hours -- current supplies in most any realm would last, at most, perhaps three days. Trains and trucks. Stalled by a national dollar paralysis.

And that gets back to a few of my more Basic Questions.

• Are you prepared?
• Could this happen?

Is there gold?

If not, then why not?

And what can you do, if anything?

BZ

A Brief Respite: I Love To Boogie

How about a little, innocuous, upbeat song from Marc Bolan as T Rex:

"I Love To Boogie."



BZ

To Law Enforcement: Keep Stepping Away From OCCUPY Camps

Because when you do, the Leftists are revealed for the ignorant, evil and violent barbarians they are.

All OCCUPY camps should be LEFZs, or "Law Enforcement Free Zones," in my opinion. It's essentially what they want; it's what they truly should receive.

First, because the local governments, mayors, city councils, county supervisors and other aligned boards don't have the courage to delineate the OCCUPY camps as illegal, profane, unhealthy and in most cases, outright criminal and lawless.

In that regard, many local law enforcement heads have been told to stay away, to stand down. To allow whatever happens, to occur.

And in response, I say to my fellow law enforcement officers: do it. Step away. I know that it grates against every fiber of your being, but it will enable you to not only achieve a lengthier career, but reveal your upper echelons for the cowardly quislings they truly are.

Ensure that your fellow officers are safe. Ensure that your own family is safe. But, where the OCCUPY camps are concerned, carry out the orders that your Leftist government delineates -- to the letter.

Let the OCCUPY camps live in their own excrement, squalor, bile and violence.

From FoxNews.com:

A rash of reports of sexual assaults at Occupy Wall Street protests across the country has both police and activists raising red flags.

Nearly a half-dozen assaults have been reported at Occupy camps, including three at the New York City protests, which have prompted protesters to set up a “women only” tent in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to provide a safe haven.

“The concern would be the rapes and attacks that aren’t reported,” said Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a police union in New York City. “We have no way of really knowing. If you have three or five crimes reported, you really don’t know if it’s eight or 10 that happened.”

.

A murder occurred in an Oakland camp, directly adjacent City Hall.

Conclusion? In general, the OCCUPY camps are festering cesspools of violence and disease, displaying the worst of unsanitary conditions and indifference -- with the overarching thought that Someone Else will take care of these issues and is "responsible." Not themselves.

But here's the true kicker. Which made me wonder when I actually stepped into the Alien Vortex Of Insanity:

-As a result, Oakland PD is "pleading" with the OCCUPY protesters to pack up and leave.

OAKLAND (CBS SF) – Both Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and the Oakland police officers’ union have again called on Occupy Oakland protesters to leave Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall, where they have had an encampment for a month.

They ASK these people.

Yes, Oakland is actually that stupid.

Once again, to my Law Enforcement Brothers and Sisters:

STOP pushing against the tide.

Simply give your bosses, managers and governmental managers what they want.

Step aside.

With two very important caveats:

• Cover your fellow officers and BE SAFE, plus
• Collect your paycheck.

You have to be smarter than your so-called "superiors."

BZ

Veterans' Day 2011

11-11-11.

It doesn't get any more significant or clear than now. Today will be the only time in the history of Veterans' Day that this combination of numbers will ever occur.

Veterans' Day sources from World War I, where the armistice was signed and major hostilities ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day on the 11th month of 1918.

The history of Veterans' Day is here.

God bless each and every American who served in our Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard -- past and present.

I don't fall into that category. I am only a civilian cop, not a veteran. I must be clear.

Our military veterans have kept, to date, our nation -- the greatest experiment in the history of this planet -- free, powerful and vital.

We have an obligation, you and me.

An obligation to ensure that their lives, their expenditures --

-- were not made in vain.

BZ

USMC: Happy Birthday

And with that, we discover that the remains of some of our finest service personnel -- our American Soldiers -- have been dishonored, abused, lost and -- worse yet -- possibly even dumped in a landfill.

From The Washington Post:

Remains of war dead dumped in landfill

By Craig Whitlockand Greg Jaffe, Wednesday, November 9, 3:19 PM

The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of some dead troops’ body parts by burning them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burying the remains at sea.

The Dover mortuary, which is the main point of entry for America’s war dead, sent remains to the landfill from 2003 until 2008, according to Air Force officials. The manner of disposal was typically withheld from the relatives of fallen service members. The disclosure comes in the aftermath of several federal investigations into

Federal investigators said Tuesday that they had uncovered “gross mismanagement” at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary that cares for America’s war dead after whistleblowers reported horror stories of lost body parts, shoddy inventory controls and lax supervision.

The Air Force admitted that the Dover mortuary misplaced a dead soldier’s ankle and another set of remains that had been stored in a plastic bag. Employees also sawed off the damaged arm bone of a Marine so he could fit in his uniform and coffin — but did not tell his family.

Military officials said the incidents resulted from the strain of handling thousands of dead bodies, some with gruesome injuries that made it difficult to prepare remains for burial.

But the sloppy handling of troops’ remains at Dover painfully undercut the military’s commitment to treat war dead with the utmost honor. “There is nothing more sacred, there is nothing that is a more profound obligation than treating our fallen with reverence, dignity and respect,”

The two camps that actively fight for Americans:

• 1. The military soldier, and
• 2. The law enforcement officer.

Because there are sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. And I am PROUD to still be a SHEEPDOG after 40+ years in service. In my department, I am a Silverback.

This is the 236th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps.

But, under its current administration and perhaps even that of the one before -- and even stepping back to the 60s and 70s -- the American Soldier, one of the most pure of essence -- has been thrown into situations from which they cannot escape or even overcome. Politics frequently trumps assignment and logic.

And still:

We find young American males who wish to shore up and literally, physically, fight for their country.

I've got to stop writing now. The tears are cascading down my cheeks.

Semper Fidelis.

"Always faithful."

God bless all who served and who serve now. Military and civilian.

Where would we be without you?

BZ

If Israel Attacks Iran: Oil To $500 Per Barrel?

From InfoWars.com:

Oil at $300 or $500 per Barrel If Israel Attacks Iran

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
November 8, 2011

Brent crude futures are up $1.17 a barrel to $115.73 on continued word that Israel may go it alone and bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. It is their highest level in nearly two months.

Read further, particularly regarding the Strait of Hormuz:

But it would be nothing compared to the cost if Israel attacks. In 2006, as Israel and the U.S. began to rattle sabers over Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards deployed bottom-tethered mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a defector.

“The plan is to stop trade,” the source told Newsmax. One third of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

The deployment was mentioned in a plan produced by the Strategic Studies Center of the Iranian Navy in 2005. It also called for a single operational headquarters integrated with Revolutionary Guards missile units, strike aircraft, surface and underwater naval vessels, Chinese-supplied C-801 and C-802 anti-shipping missiles, mines, and coastal artillery, according to the intelligence office of the Ministry of Defense in Iran.

Revolutionary Guards missile units have identified “more than 100 targets, including Saudi oil production and oil export centers,” the defector said. “They have more than 45 to 50 Shahab-3 and Shahab-4 missiles ready for shooting” against those targets and against Israel, he added.

It's no secret that Iranian missiles can strike Israel. From GlobalPost.com:

The Tehran Times quoted Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force, as saying: "The range of our missiles has been designed based on American bases in the region as well as the Zionist regime."

He added that if provoked, "We can hit [Israel] from Damghan or Semnan with our missiles."

And: "America has made things easier for us by stationing its garrisons and camps in neighboring countries... We can attack all American facilities in the region by these missiles."

The Israeli border is 745 miles from Iran and U.S. bases in Afghanistan are within their 1,242 mile range, but not Europe. Hajizadeh said Iran had the technological capability to build longer-range ballistic missiles but had chosen not to.

Specifically, the U.S. has bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a presence in Bahrain and Qatar and aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf.

That said, continuing from InfoWars.com:

On November 1, a group of 13 generals and admirals produced a report warning that a “sustained disruption” of oil “would be devastating – crippling our very freedom of movement.” The report, entitled “Ensuring America’s Freedom of Movement: A National Security Imperative to Reduce U.S. Oil Dependence,” was sponsored by a San Francisco-based Energy Foundation.

“Under a worst-case scenario 30-day closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the analysis finds that the U.S. would lose nearly $75 billion in GDP,” reports National Defense Magazine.

Last week, the Rapidan Group predicted oil prices over $175 per barrel if Iran is attacked. According to a survey conducted by the group of oil industry specialists, oil prices would rise on average by 23% in the first hours of the attack.

Arnaud de Borchgrave, writing for the UPI, suggests the price of oil would go much higher. “One bomb on Iran and oil prices could shoot up to $300 or even $500 a barrel,” he writes. “The Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, is the world’s most important oil chokepoint with a daily oil flow of 16 million barrels, roughly 33 percent of all seaborne traded oil, or 17 percent of oil traded worldwide.”

“While many experts in the market believe that a war on Iran would send oil prices soaring high between, at least, $200 and $300 for each barrel, the most optimistic analysis of the impact on oil markets of an Israeli attack on Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz said oil prices could spike by as much as $175/bbl,” reports the Fars News Agency, Iran’s official news outlet.

Gird thy loins, ladies and gentlemen. Our strategic oil reserves have already been tapped numerous times, our refineries need attention and, of course, the Leftists of our nation have consistently refused to allow us to build and create further refinery capacity, electrical generation stations, or allow us the capability to further tap the assets laying beneath our very feet.

Lack of real "energy independence" -- the ability to tap our own abundant sources? Purposely curtailed by Leftists, Demorats and the Religious Left?

That policy is soon to bite us right in our national ass.

BZ

Old School & Herman Cain

I had two very important posts all cued up for today because, after all, the news is cascading all about our shoulders -- very important news and developments, I might add. Literally: world-shaking events.

Still and all, I put those posts aside for this one.

And I readily admit up front:

My wife may not care for this post, nor might the bulk of my readers who are female.

That said, I feel absolutely compelled to express my thoughts, considering they are based upon being raised in a household that didn't distribute hugs and love willy-nilly, but instead distributed high expectations and the two core, key phrases:

• 1. Just wait until your father gets home, and
• 2. If you want to cry, I'll give you something to really cry about

In today's context, those phrases would have CPS knocking on your door and parked in your driveway.

But let's get serious for a moment and be realistic:

I actually did fear my father. And I feared my mother. I knew my parents held sway over my future. Mom was more immediate; Dad came home now and then but was the threatened Shadow That Lingered if I misbehaved.

That said, me and my two brothers grew up strong. I was the youngest. Our beginnings, our parents, our neighborhoods, created who we were. We all grew up in the same house for 60 years. You either grew strong and you learned from your lessons, or you were told you weren't a member of the family. An A____.

And I was told, some years later (because I was "unexpected" and further quantified as: a "mistake") that I would follow on the heels of my two previous brothers. Large shoes to fill, with a 10+ year gap.

That said, we all learned "reality" rather quickly.

Years later, only now do I appreciate that my mother would, in today's context, be considered to sit completely alone and adrift in a household dominated by males: her husband and three sons.

Yet, then, in her mind: she ruled the house and brooked no transgressions. Simple as that. Her word was Law.

Life for her was immediate. Life was the 40s and the 50s and the 60s and the 70s and the 80s and the 90s. Yet she not only survived those decades but thrived and excelled.

My mother was popular and sought-after and social and networked before there was such a thing.

But make no mistake: she could be tough as metal. If there was hammering to be done, she was not the nail.

Which brings me to Herman Cain.

And his so-called "accusers."

You were "sexually harassed." In three words: "boo-fucking-hoo."

Did he throw you down? Were you physically assaulted? Did he rape you? Did he overcome you with force? Did you fight back? Was his skin to be found underneath your nails? Did you scratch and scar him so you could identify him?

No. Not.

Yet, today, this is more than enough to take down a political candidate. Of any sex. But mostly male.

In my mother's day, if a man got what was called "fresh," the man was slapped or hit back or kneed in the groin. His balls swelled for days. And he learned a very important lesson.

Had something akin to that occurred in her kitchen, my mother would have slit the man from his nutsack to his throat with a blunt butter knife, no matter how long it took to carve.

Yet, now, women can allege damned near anything and not be held accountable for time nor position nor lack of situational awareness.

And let me be even more obtuse -- for want of two things:

• Victimhood, and
• Money

Taught by our loving Demorats.

In my 40+ years of law enforcement, I've seen every politically-incorrect statistic that was meant to be buried. For one: almost 40% of alleged rapes of women -- in the stats I held in the 1990s -- are based upon lies. In my area, 50%+ of robberies are committed by young black males.

But no one wants to know the Truth. Because the Truth Hurts. And it is completely inconvenient.

We all have our crosses to bear. You. Me. Everyone.

You either learn to deal with it, or you become a perpetual victim.

Unfortunately, in our current Western American society, Victimhood is an awarded, cultivated and sought-after status.

Whilst those who are stoic, who "stick it out," are cast aside.

Additionally, these days, as an "extra added attraction -- BONUS -- Victimhood also PAYS.

Finally:

You may have won, Demorats.

Herman Cain is likely done. On any number of levels.

But, Conservatives, if you think that Cain is the "exception" -- then you must realize: he's only what's coming.

If they came after Cain, they're coming after every other potential GOP candidate.

I predict: any future excoriation of a black GOP candidate will be referred to being "Cain'ed."

BZ

A Nuclear-Equipped Iran: At The Tipping Point

The swords have been shaken, on both sides.

It is becoming evident that Iran is on the cusp of becoming an actual nuclear power. There are currently eight nuclear-armed nations, to include the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, China, India, Pakistan and, of course, Israel. North Korea conducted a nuclear test in 2006 (though it was a small yield) but is working to further its program.

Words and statements issued previously may be coming home to roost.

And it is a political axiom that: "You answer words with words, and actions with actions."

Iran has stepped beyond words and has taken action. It may, in fact, not be far from potentially taking the largest action imaginable.

Anyone with a molecule of common sense knows that Iran's leaders -- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in particular (the 6th and current president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, since his election in 2005) -- range from the hardest of lines to bordering on psychotic.

From The Times of India:

Ahmadinejad, in an interview with Egypt's state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper, lashed out at Israel after its president, Shimon Peres, warned at the weekend that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely.

Israel, Iran's arch-enemy, was "bound to collapse," Ahmadinejad said.

"Iran's capabilities are increasing and it is progressing, and for that reason it has been able to compete in the world. Now Israel and the West, particularly America, fear Iran's capabilities and role," he said.

"Therefore they are trying to gather inte3Cp>Ayatollah Mahmoud Alavi, a senior Iranian cleric, Sunday dismissed talk of a military strike by Israel as empty propaganda, taunting the Jewish state for screaming "like a cornered cat" rather than roaring like a lion.

Alavi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, a body that appoints and supervises Iran's supreme leader, said Israel would not dare attack Iran. "If they make such a mistake they will receive a crushing response from the Islamic Republic," he told the official IRNA news agency.

Israel bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and launched a similar strike against Syria in 2007 -- precedents lending weight to its veiled threats to take similar action against Iran if foreign pressure fails to curb its atomic activities.

But many independent analysts see any such mission as too much for Israel to take on alone. Israel lacks long-range bombers that could inflict lasting damage on Iran's widely dispersed and fortified facilities.

One point is clear: "sanctions" against Iran haven't worked and won't work.

Israel has made it plain that it can't tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. Possible targets inside Iran are between 930 to 1,400 miles from Israel proper. It is, for example, 1,240 miles from Los Angeles to Dallas.


The sides have lined up.

Will Israel unleash an attack at Iran's nuclear power sites?

And what will be the response from Russia, and the rest of the Islamic world?

BZ