http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/ Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:22:41 -0500 MyBB http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5265 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:12:05 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5265 ft lauderdale plastic surgeon]]> ft lauderdale plastic surgeon]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5262 Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:30:57 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5262 By Conor Friedersdorf The Atlantic January 21, 2012

An overzealous bill that claims to be about stopping child pornography turns every Web user into a person to monitor



Every right-thinking person abhors child pornography. To combat it, legislators have brought through committee a poorly conceived, over-broad Congressional bill, The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011. It is arguably the biggest threat to civil liberties now under consideration in the United States. The potential victims: everyone who uses the Internet.

The good news? It hasn't gone before the full House yet.

The bad news: it already made it through committee. And history shows that in times of moral panic, overly broad legislation has a way of becoming law. In fact, a particular moment comes to mind.

In the early 20th Century, a different moral panic gripped the United States: a rural nation was rapidly moving to anonymous cities, sexual mores were changing, and Americans became convinced that an epidemic of white female slavery was sweeping the land. Thus a 1910 law that made it illegal to transport any person across state lines for prostitution "or for any other immoral purpose." Suddenly premarital sex and adultery had been criminalized, as scam artists would quickly figure out. "Women would lure male conventioneers across a state line, say from New York to Atlantic City, New Jersey," David Langum* explains, "and then threaten to expose them to the prosecutors for violation" unless paid off. Inveighing against the law, the New York Times noted that, though it was officially called the White Slave Traffic Act (aka The Mann Act), a more apt name would've been "the Encouragement of Blackmail Act."

(Article continues below)


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That name is what brought the anecdote back to me. A better name for the child pornography bill would be The Encouragement of Blackmail by Law Enforcement Act. At issue is how to catch child pornographers. It's too hard now, say the bill's backers, and I can sympathize. It's their solution that appalls me: under language approved 19 to 10 by a House committee, the firm that sells you Internet access would be required to track all of your Internet activity and save it for 18 months, along with your name, the address where you live, your bank account numbers, your credit card numbers, and IP addresses you've been assigned.

Tracking the private daily behavior of everyone in order to help catch a small number of child criminals is itself the noxious practice of police states. Said an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation: "The data retention mandate in this bill would treat every Internet user like a criminal and threaten the online privacy and free speech rights of every American." Even more troubling is what the government would need to do in order to access this trove of private information: ask for it.

I kid you not -- that's it.

As written, The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 doesn't require that someone be under investigation on child pornography charges in order for police to access their Internet history -- being suspected of any crime is enough. (It may even be made available in civil matters like divorce trials or child custody battles.) Nor do police need probable cause to search this information. As Rep. James Sensenbrenner says, (R-Wisc.) "It poses numerous risks that well outweigh any benefits, and I'm not convinced it will contribute in a significant way to protecting children."

Among those risks: blackmail.

In Communist countries, where the ruling class routinely dug up embarrassing information on citizens as a bulwark against dissent, the secret police never dreamed of an information trove as perfect for targeting innocent people as a full Internet history. Phrases I've Googled in the course of researching this item include "moral panic about child pornography" and "blackmailing enemies with Internet history." For most people, it's easy enough to recall terms you've searched that could be taken out of context, and of course there are lots of Americans who do things online that are perfectly legal, but would be embarrassing if made public even with context: medical problems and adult pornography are only the beginning. How clueless do you have to be to mandate the creation of a huge database that includes that sort of information, especially in the age of Anonymous and Wikileaks? How naive do you have to be to give government unfettered access to it? Have the bill's 25 cosponsors never heard of J. Edgar Hoover?

You'd thing that Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), who claims on his Web site to be "an outspoken defender of individual privacy rights," wouldn't lend his name to this bill. But he co-sponsored it! You'd think that the Justice Department of Eric Holder, who is supposed to be friendly to civil libertarians, would oppose this bill. Just the opposite. And you'd think that lots of tea partiers, with all their talk about overzealous government and intrusions on private industry, would object.

But they haven't.

As Julian Sanchez recently wrote on a related subject, "In an era in which an unprecedented quantity of information about our daily activities is stored electronically and is retrievable with a mouse click, internal checks on the government's power to comb those digital databases are more important than ever... If we aren't willing to say enough is enough, our privacy will slip away one tweak at a time."

Image credit: Flickr user MonkeyManForever

*The piece originally stated that David Langum was affiliated with the University of Chicago. In fact, the only connection is that the quoted argument was published by the University of Chicago Press. Thanks to the alert reader who caught my error.



Source: The Atlantic]]> By Conor Friedersdorf The Atlantic January 21, 2012

An overzealous bill that claims to be about stopping child pornography turns every Web user into a person to monitor



Every right-thinking person abhors child pornography. To combat it, legislators have brought through committee a poorly conceived, over-broad Congressional bill, The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011. It is arguably the biggest threat to civil liberties now under consideration in the United States. The potential victims: everyone who uses the Internet.

The good news? It hasn't gone before the full House yet.

The bad news: it already made it through committee. And history shows that in times of moral panic, overly broad legislation has a way of becoming law. In fact, a particular moment comes to mind.

In the early 20th Century, a different moral panic gripped the United States: a rural nation was rapidly moving to anonymous cities, sexual mores were changing, and Americans became convinced that an epidemic of white female slavery was sweeping the land. Thus a 1910 law that made it illegal to transport any person across state lines for prostitution "or for any other immoral purpose." Suddenly premarital sex and adultery had been criminalized, as scam artists would quickly figure out. "Women would lure male conventioneers across a state line, say from New York to Atlantic City, New Jersey," David Langum* explains, "and then threaten to expose them to the prosecutors for violation" unless paid off. Inveighing against the law, the New York Times noted that, though it was officially called the White Slave Traffic Act (aka The Mann Act), a more apt name would've been "the Encouragement of Blackmail Act."

(Article continues below)


Shop Earthhope Magazines

That name is what brought the anecdote back to me. A better name for the child pornography bill would be The Encouragement of Blackmail by Law Enforcement Act. At issue is how to catch child pornographers. It's too hard now, say the bill's backers, and I can sympathize. It's their solution that appalls me: under language approved 19 to 10 by a House committee, the firm that sells you Internet access would be required to track all of your Internet activity and save it for 18 months, along with your name, the address where you live, your bank account numbers, your credit card numbers, and IP addresses you've been assigned.

Tracking the private daily behavior of everyone in order to help catch a small number of child criminals is itself the noxious practice of police states. Said an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation: "The data retention mandate in this bill would treat every Internet user like a criminal and threaten the online privacy and free speech rights of every American." Even more troubling is what the government would need to do in order to access this trove of private information: ask for it.

I kid you not -- that's it.

As written, The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 doesn't require that someone be under investigation on child pornography charges in order for police to access their Internet history -- being suspected of any crime is enough. (It may even be made available in civil matters like divorce trials or child custody battles.) Nor do police need probable cause to search this information. As Rep. James Sensenbrenner says, (R-Wisc.) "It poses numerous risks that well outweigh any benefits, and I'm not convinced it will contribute in a significant way to protecting children."

Among those risks: blackmail.

In Communist countries, where the ruling class routinely dug up embarrassing information on citizens as a bulwark against dissent, the secret police never dreamed of an information trove as perfect for targeting innocent people as a full Internet history. Phrases I've Googled in the course of researching this item include "moral panic about child pornography" and "blackmailing enemies with Internet history." For most people, it's easy enough to recall terms you've searched that could be taken out of context, and of course there are lots of Americans who do things online that are perfectly legal, but would be embarrassing if made public even with context: medical problems and adult pornography are only the beginning. How clueless do you have to be to mandate the creation of a huge database that includes that sort of information, especially in the age of Anonymous and Wikileaks? How naive do you have to be to give government unfettered access to it? Have the bill's 25 cosponsors never heard of J. Edgar Hoover?

You'd thing that Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), who claims on his Web site to be "an outspoken defender of individual privacy rights," wouldn't lend his name to this bill. But he co-sponsored it! You'd think that the Justice Department of Eric Holder, who is supposed to be friendly to civil libertarians, would oppose this bill. Just the opposite. And you'd think that lots of tea partiers, with all their talk about overzealous government and intrusions on private industry, would object.

But they haven't.

As Julian Sanchez recently wrote on a related subject, "In an era in which an unprecedented quantity of information about our daily activities is stored electronically and is retrievable with a mouse click, internal checks on the government's power to comb those digital databases are more important than ever... If we aren't willing to say enough is enough, our privacy will slip away one tweak at a time."

Image credit: Flickr user MonkeyManForever

*The piece originally stated that David Langum was affiliated with the University of Chicago. In fact, the only connection is that the quoted argument was published by the University of Chicago Press. Thanks to the alert reader who caught my error.



Source: The Atlantic]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5261 Sat, 21 Jan 2012 08:15:44 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5261 Russia Today January 21, 2012



Hacktivists with the collective Anonymous are waging an attack on the website for the White House after successfully breaking the sites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America.

In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA, Motion Picture Association of America and Warner Music Group.

“It was in retaliation for Megaupload, as was the concurrent attack on Justice.org,” Anonymous operative Barrett Brown tells RT on Thursday afternoon.

(Article continues below)


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Only hours before the DoJ and Universal sites went down, news broke that Megaupload, a massive file sharing site with a reported 50 million daily users, was taken down by federal agents. Four people linked to Megaupload were arrested in New Zealand and an international crackdown led agents to serving at least 20 search warrants across the globe.
The latest of sites to fall is FBI.gov, which finally broke at around 7:40 pm EST Thursday evening.

Less than an hour after the DoJ and Universal sites came down, the website for the RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, went offline as well. Shortly before 6 p.m EST, the government's Copyright.gov site went down as well. Thirty minutes later came the site for BMI, or Broadcast Music, Inc, the licensing organization that represents some of the biggest names in music.

Also on Thursday, MPAA.org returned an error as Anonymous hacktivists managed to bring down the website for the Motion Picture Association of America. The group, headed by former senator Chris Dodd, is an adamant supporter of both PIPA and SOPA legislation.

Universal Music Group, or UMG, is the largest record company in the United States and under its umbrella are the labels Interscope-Geffen-A&M, the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group and Mercury Records.

Brown adds that “more is coming” and Anonymous-aligned hacktivists are pursuing a joint effort with others to “damage campaign raising abilities of remaining Democrats who support SOPA.”

Although many members of Congress have just this week changed their stance on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, the raid on Megaupload Thursday proved that the feds don’t need SOPA or its sister legislation, PIPA, in order to pose a threat to the Web.

Brown adds that operatives involved in the project will use an “experimental campaign” and search engine optimization techniques “whereby to forever saddle some of these congressmen with their record on this issue.”


Source: Russia Today]]> Russia Today January 21, 2012



Hacktivists with the collective Anonymous are waging an attack on the website for the White House after successfully breaking the sites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America.

In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA, Motion Picture Association of America and Warner Music Group.

“It was in retaliation for Megaupload, as was the concurrent attack on Justice.org,” Anonymous operative Barrett Brown tells RT on Thursday afternoon.

(Article continues below)


Shop Earthhope Magazines

Only hours before the DoJ and Universal sites went down, news broke that Megaupload, a massive file sharing site with a reported 50 million daily users, was taken down by federal agents. Four people linked to Megaupload were arrested in New Zealand and an international crackdown led agents to serving at least 20 search warrants across the globe.
The latest of sites to fall is FBI.gov, which finally broke at around 7:40 pm EST Thursday evening.

Less than an hour after the DoJ and Universal sites came down, the website for the RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, went offline as well. Shortly before 6 p.m EST, the government's Copyright.gov site went down as well. Thirty minutes later came the site for BMI, or Broadcast Music, Inc, the licensing organization that represents some of the biggest names in music.

Also on Thursday, MPAA.org returned an error as Anonymous hacktivists managed to bring down the website for the Motion Picture Association of America. The group, headed by former senator Chris Dodd, is an adamant supporter of both PIPA and SOPA legislation.

Universal Music Group, or UMG, is the largest record company in the United States and under its umbrella are the labels Interscope-Geffen-A&M, the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group and Mercury Records.

Brown adds that “more is coming” and Anonymous-aligned hacktivists are pursuing a joint effort with others to “damage campaign raising abilities of remaining Democrats who support SOPA.”

Although many members of Congress have just this week changed their stance on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, the raid on Megaupload Thursday proved that the feds don’t need SOPA or its sister legislation, PIPA, in order to pose a threat to the Web.

Brown adds that operatives involved in the project will use an “experimental campaign” and search engine optimization techniques “whereby to forever saddle some of these congressmen with their record on this issue.”


Source: Russia Today]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5260 Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:02:19 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5260
I have a question ...

Someone just asked me the best way to market (online or offline), and then selling a portion of the premium of the land (ie, the sea and the large lot), Cyprus. These sell for as much as possible, so probably not going to a developer, then look for a rich person - ideas on how best to achieve that kind of person? Did you have something similar?]]>
I have a question ...

Someone just asked me the best way to market (online or offline), and then selling a portion of the premium of the land (ie, the sea and the large lot), Cyprus. These sell for as much as possible, so probably not going to a developer, then look for a rich person - ideas on how best to achieve that kind of person? Did you have something similar?]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5259 Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:01:01 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5259
Paste the link below to your favorite browser: http://www.nameslot.com/Best-Tips-For-Ho...-7419.html]]>
Paste the link below to your favorite browser: http://www.nameslot.com/Best-Tips-For-Ho...-7419.html]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5256 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:38:42 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5256
Hello Everyone,

I am sharing some wonderful real estate discussion sources that will help you to improve your knowledge about real estate and related business issues. I hope you will definetely try the sources:

Look at here:

1. Ottawa Apartments Free Ads Forum

2. Real Estate Forum

3. Ottawa Real Estate Agents Forum

4. Ottawa Apartment Forum

5. Canadian Real Estate Forum

6. Ottawa Townhouses Forum

7. Real Estate Canada Forum

8. Ottawa Apartments Forum

thanks for review.]]>
Hello Everyone,

I am sharing some wonderful real estate discussion sources that will help you to improve your knowledge about real estate and related business issues. I hope you will definetely try the sources:

Look at here:

1. Ottawa Apartments Free Ads Forum

2. Real Estate Forum

3. Ottawa Real Estate Agents Forum

4. Ottawa Apartment Forum

5. Canadian Real Estate Forum

6. Ottawa Townhouses Forum

7. Real Estate Canada Forum

8. Ottawa Apartments Forum

thanks for review.]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5255 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:37:35 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5255 Please review that source: http://www.clvgroup.com/]]> Please review that source: http://www.clvgroup.com/]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5254 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:36:21 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5254
Can anyone tell me about the housing market in the Canada?

I want to buy a property here.]]>
Can anyone tell me about the housing market in the Canada?

I want to buy a property here.]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5253 Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:34:56 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5253
1- The best strategy to make money in this field would be to invest in upcoming cities.

2- Rental properties normally appreciate in value with inflation.Increased value can mean sale and reinvestment in higher value properties, or provide an equity line of credit to use for other investments.

3- In real estate if you make a good deal then you can end up with 10-35% instant equity.

4- You reduce your mortgage and increase your equity with every mortgage payment made on underlying debt.]]>
1- The best strategy to make money in this field would be to invest in upcoming cities.

2- Rental properties normally appreciate in value with inflation.Increased value can mean sale and reinvestment in higher value properties, or provide an equity line of credit to use for other investments.

3- In real estate if you make a good deal then you can end up with 10-35% instant equity.

4- You reduce your mortgage and increase your equity with every mortgage payment made on underlying debt.]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5252 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:37:10 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5252
]]>
]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5251 Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:27:59 -0500 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5251
]]>
]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5241 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:15:40 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5241
This is interesting,

True story and most people will never know it.

After the Japanese decimated our fleet in Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941, they could have sent their troop ships and carriers directly to California to finish what they started. The prediction from our Chief of Staff was we would not be able to stop a massive invasion until they reached the Mississippi River.

So, why did they not invade?

After the war, the remaining Japanese generals and admirals were asked that question.

Their answer.... they know that almost every home had guns and the Americans knew how to use them.

The world's largest army... America's hunters! I had never thought about
this....

A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and arrived at a striking conclusion:

There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin ..

Allow me to restate that number.

Over the last several months, Wisconsin 's hunters became the eighth largest army in the world.

More men under arms than in Iran ..

More than in France and Germany combined.

These men deployed to the woods of a single American state to hunt with firearms, and no one was killed.

That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of Pennsylvania and Michigan 's 700,000 hunters, all of whom have nowreturned home.

Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally
establishes the fact that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

The point?

America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of
home-grown firepower.

Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer. It's a matter of
national security.

That's why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed.

Food for thought when next we consider gun control. Yes!]]>
This is interesting,

True story and most people will never know it.

After the Japanese decimated our fleet in Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941, they could have sent their troop ships and carriers directly to California to finish what they started. The prediction from our Chief of Staff was we would not be able to stop a massive invasion until they reached the Mississippi River.

So, why did they not invade?

After the war, the remaining Japanese generals and admirals were asked that question.

Their answer.... they know that almost every home had guns and the Americans knew how to use them.

The world's largest army... America's hunters! I had never thought about
this....

A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and arrived at a striking conclusion:

There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin ..

Allow me to restate that number.

Over the last several months, Wisconsin 's hunters became the eighth largest army in the world.

More men under arms than in Iran ..

More than in France and Germany combined.

These men deployed to the woods of a single American state to hunt with firearms, and no one was killed.

That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of Pennsylvania and Michigan 's 700,000 hunters, all of whom have nowreturned home.

Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally
establishes the fact that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

The point?

America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of
home-grown firepower.

Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer. It's a matter of
national security.

That's why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed.

Food for thought when next we consider gun control. Yes!]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5234 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:52:29 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5234
No matter which of the Keratosis Pilaris treatments you select, the largest key to your success is going to be consistent and persistent every day attention. For those who don't know much about KP it is important to have a general understanding about this common skin disorder. KP is so common that it is estimated that around 40% of the world's adult population suffer from KP but the majority do not even know it. KP is strictly cosmetic and there is no actual threat to your health, it does not look nice. The disorder shows itself as numerous small and rough reddish bumps that appear mostly around the hair follicles on the backs of your arms, legs and sometimes even the face. Some refer to it as chicken skin as KP shows a goose bump type appearance on your skin. Those who have KP usually produce much keratin and this keratin ends up trapping hair follicles and creates small hard plugs on the skin and that is where the bumps come from.

First and foremost in case you think you may have KP then go and see your doctor to confirm. One time confirmed then you can proceed with treatment. of the more common Keratosis Pilaris treatments involves a continuous combination of exfoliation and moisturizing. Now because people have different reactions to different creams, moisturizers, etc it may take a few attempts to find that works for you. Keep in mind not to give up! KP is treatable it may take some time before you find exactly which Keratosis Pilaris treatments work for you. With a small little bit of research and time you ought to have no issues treating your KP, whether you prefer all natural treatments, prescriptions or over the counter products there is no shortage of Keratosis Pilaris treatments.]]>
No matter which of the Keratosis Pilaris treatments you select, the largest key to your success is going to be consistent and persistent every day attention. For those who don't know much about KP it is important to have a general understanding about this common skin disorder. KP is so common that it is estimated that around 40% of the world's adult population suffer from KP but the majority do not even know it. KP is strictly cosmetic and there is no actual threat to your health, it does not look nice. The disorder shows itself as numerous small and rough reddish bumps that appear mostly around the hair follicles on the backs of your arms, legs and sometimes even the face. Some refer to it as chicken skin as KP shows a goose bump type appearance on your skin. Those who have KP usually produce much keratin and this keratin ends up trapping hair follicles and creates small hard plugs on the skin and that is where the bumps come from.

First and foremost in case you think you may have KP then go and see your doctor to confirm. One time confirmed then you can proceed with treatment. of the more common Keratosis Pilaris treatments involves a continuous combination of exfoliation and moisturizing. Now because people have different reactions to different creams, moisturizers, etc it may take a few attempts to find that works for you. Keep in mind not to give up! KP is treatable it may take some time before you find exactly which Keratosis Pilaris treatments work for you. With a small little bit of research and time you ought to have no issues treating your KP, whether you prefer all natural treatments, prescriptions or over the counter products there is no shortage of Keratosis Pilaris treatments.]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5233 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:53:34 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5233 by Darren Wolfe Earthhope Action Network October 15, 2011



“The kick that the left really needed “ are the words of one of the protesters. These are high hopes that will not be realized. Who are these Occupy Philly people? What do they stand for? Who do they represent? Let’s take a look. In the video below there are two interviews with participants in the Occupy Philadelphia movement and a Karl Marx impersonator that performed there. These are the first three parts of the video after the brief introduction. I recommend watching them before reading on. The second half of the video isn’t as relevant to this article as the first half is and can be viewed later.

(Article continues below)


Shop Earthhope Magazines

For the most part what one sees in these interviews is a complete lack of understanding (deliberate misrepresentation?) of what capitalism is and what it has achieved. Every time it, capitalism, is criticized the criticism is that the government intervenes on behalf of the corporate elite. While this is true it also misses the essential point that capitalism is about markets free from government interference. What they are criticizing is actually the corporatist system that we have today, a system that more closely resembles fascism than anything else.

In the first interview Brandon of Philly Socialists talks about how our economic system is the same capitalist system now as it was two hundred years ago, a rather strange point of view. How can one miss the fact that the vast majority of the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies that we suffer under now was created in the twentieth century? How can one not see the vastly larger share of Gross Domestic Product that the government now absorbs? There were very few regulatory agencies in the early days of the republic, often no central bank, and very low levels of taxation. There were also no Robber Barons and a growing economy based much more on local businesses than today. While not perfect it was better than, and a far cry from, our present corporatism.

Rich, a registered nurse, is in the second interview. He advocates protectionism, an idea long ago debunked. (See “Protectionism and Communism”) More importantly Rich claims that the regulation of the medical profession is an illusion. That it is really the corporate elite that writes the rules for their own benefit and controls the regulators through the political process. Up to that point he’s right, but to claim that this means that there is no regulation and that this represents too little government involvement in health care is way off base. Pro business regulation is still regulation. The government is heavily involved, it’s just not doing what it is supposed to do. This is not a problem that is fixable, this is the nature of the beast. The ruling elites will always control the regulators. The only solution is a free market in health care. That means no government regulation or licensing.

Lastly, we come to the Karl Marx impersonator. He repeated the canard that the problem with the free market is the government intervening on behalf of the elites. In a conversation after his performance he acknowledged that that is not actually a free market but what the crowd thinks it is, therefore, his use of the term free market. An interesting admission. Very enlightening was his praise of the Paris Commune of 1871. My impression is that this is the model they’re trying to emulate in the Occupy Movement.

All of this leads to a few conclusions about Occupy Philadelphia. Since, fortunately, 99% of the people aren’t socialists what we really have here is the .01% claiming to be the representatives of the majority when in reality they are only helping the 1% that rule over us. They are completely ignorant of economics and, therefore, don’t understand why things are going wrong. They cling to the view that government can be made to work if only…whatever, but it’s not that way. In advocating empowering the government so that it will become the “dictatorship of the proletariat” they only play into the hands of the 1% they claim to oppose. Why is the left always so willing to allow itself to be played? They should know by now that the elites will always control the government.

In the end Occupy Philadelphia only manages to discredit itself by presenting stale old statist ideas that have been proved time and again not to work. I ask them to step aside and let those with real solutions, the advocates of liberty, take the lead.

Darren Wolfe is the former Eastern Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Puerto Rico and lived in Venezuela for seven years, including the first year of Chavez's rule.His articles have appeared on OpEdNews.com, the Libertarian Penn, and the Nolan Chart. Links to his work have been picked up by news services such as Rational Review and the NYPost.com. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darrenlobo

©2009 Darren Wolfe, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.

Source: Earthhope Action Network]]> by Darren Wolfe Earthhope Action Network October 15, 2011



“The kick that the left really needed “ are the words of one of the protesters. These are high hopes that will not be realized. Who are these Occupy Philly people? What do they stand for? Who do they represent? Let’s take a look. In the video below there are two interviews with participants in the Occupy Philadelphia movement and a Karl Marx impersonator that performed there. These are the first three parts of the video after the brief introduction. I recommend watching them before reading on. The second half of the video isn’t as relevant to this article as the first half is and can be viewed later.

(Article continues below)


Shop Earthhope Magazines

For the most part what one sees in these interviews is a complete lack of understanding (deliberate misrepresentation?) of what capitalism is and what it has achieved. Every time it, capitalism, is criticized the criticism is that the government intervenes on behalf of the corporate elite. While this is true it also misses the essential point that capitalism is about markets free from government interference. What they are criticizing is actually the corporatist system that we have today, a system that more closely resembles fascism than anything else.

In the first interview Brandon of Philly Socialists talks about how our economic system is the same capitalist system now as it was two hundred years ago, a rather strange point of view. How can one miss the fact that the vast majority of the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies that we suffer under now was created in the twentieth century? How can one not see the vastly larger share of Gross Domestic Product that the government now absorbs? There were very few regulatory agencies in the early days of the republic, often no central bank, and very low levels of taxation. There were also no Robber Barons and a growing economy based much more on local businesses than today. While not perfect it was better than, and a far cry from, our present corporatism.

Rich, a registered nurse, is in the second interview. He advocates protectionism, an idea long ago debunked. (See “Protectionism and Communism”) More importantly Rich claims that the regulation of the medical profession is an illusion. That it is really the corporate elite that writes the rules for their own benefit and controls the regulators through the political process. Up to that point he’s right, but to claim that this means that there is no regulation and that this represents too little government involvement in health care is way off base. Pro business regulation is still regulation. The government is heavily involved, it’s just not doing what it is supposed to do. This is not a problem that is fixable, this is the nature of the beast. The ruling elites will always control the regulators. The only solution is a free market in health care. That means no government regulation or licensing.

Lastly, we come to the Karl Marx impersonator. He repeated the canard that the problem with the free market is the government intervening on behalf of the elites. In a conversation after his performance he acknowledged that that is not actually a free market but what the crowd thinks it is, therefore, his use of the term free market. An interesting admission. Very enlightening was his praise of the Paris Commune of 1871. My impression is that this is the model they’re trying to emulate in the Occupy Movement.

All of this leads to a few conclusions about Occupy Philadelphia. Since, fortunately, 99% of the people aren’t socialists what we really have here is the .01% claiming to be the representatives of the majority when in reality they are only helping the 1% that rule over us. They are completely ignorant of economics and, therefore, don’t understand why things are going wrong. They cling to the view that government can be made to work if only…whatever, but it’s not that way. In advocating empowering the government so that it will become the “dictatorship of the proletariat” they only play into the hands of the 1% they claim to oppose. Why is the left always so willing to allow itself to be played? They should know by now that the elites will always control the government.

In the end Occupy Philadelphia only manages to discredit itself by presenting stale old statist ideas that have been proved time and again not to work. I ask them to step aside and let those with real solutions, the advocates of liberty, take the lead.

Darren Wolfe is the former Eastern Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Puerto Rico and lived in Venezuela for seven years, including the first year of Chavez's rule.His articles have appeared on OpEdNews.com, the Libertarian Penn, and the Nolan Chart. Links to his work have been picked up by news services such as Rational Review and the NYPost.com. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darrenlobo

©2009 Darren Wolfe, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.

Source: Earthhope Action Network]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5202 Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:59:13 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5202 by Darren Wolfe Earthhope Action Network September 24, 2011



On September 24 Darren Wolfe gave a speech titled "The New Peace Movement: Ending the Wars by Uniting all Ideologies Around the Issue that Matters Most" at the second Agora I/O unconference.


Check us out on Facebook too: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=281738058519645

(Article continues below)


Shop Earthhope Magazines

Thank you Ken, & thank you my fellow liberty minded peace activists both here & online.

Focus on Peace is an inclusive peace movement, one that people of all political persuasions can join in good conscience. The idea has been around for a while, but it has been all rhetoric until now.

For example, the International Action Center (IAC) had a conference last November named the "Regional ANTIWAR Conference and a National meeting to STOP FBI Repression", they hailed it as "…a discussion of a new kind of unified & inclusive antiwar movement that can challenge the wars abroad and at home". As is usually the case with left wing antiwar organizations this one too comes with their social agenda as part of the package. On their website they state that part of the discussion is to be about "…a massive movement to bring the war $$, troops, and mercenaries home now, rebuilding our cities, providing jobs, schools and health care that we all have a right to". Bringing the troops and mercenaries home sounds great. It is the part about then using the money saved to finance the government’s spending on social programs the is a problem for the liberty minded. Given these realities the question has to be asked, is this really an inclusive antiwar movement?

No doubt that by now progressive listeners are rolling their eyes wondering how this crazy libertarian can be against spending money on health care and education. This isn’t the time or place to engage in a debate about these subjects, we can do that later after we end the wars. Now is the time to agree to disagree on some things and unite to stop the wars and oppression.

Libertarians are reaching out to the left to stand together for peace. I approached the organizers of the October 16 peace rally in Philadelphia last year at their planning meeting a few days before the event. There I was politely, but firmly, told that they were completely unwilling to change their left wing agenda for future rallies to accommodate other points of view.

Earlier this year there was a meeting in Philly leading up to the big peace rally of April 9th in NY. There Joe Lombardo of the United National Antiwar Committee specifically said that the anti war movement can not be politically neutral. He said it must take up causes like social justice, the environment, & the Palestinians in order to be effective.

Then there was the Declare Peace Fair that the Brandywine Peace Community had over the 4th of July weekend at Independence Hall. There a couple of the hard line socialists stood in front of the Focus on Peace table directly & rudely contradicting our message of unity in the peace movement.

Lastly, there is the strange reference on the One People’s Project website to “crackpot libertarians” latching on to the peace movement to advance their agenda. Hmmm….good thing the left doesn’t do that!

When the left tacks on a social agenda to their antiwar coalitions that others can not endorse they tell us we’re not welcome. We’re not asking any of the organizations and individuals that are part of IAC or similar groups to change their advocacy. Their speakers can advocate all the same things they have before. Same with the signs they carry. All we ask is that the antiwar coalitions themselves be politically neutral so we can all join them in good conscience.

Fortunately, not everyone one the left is against unity. Several Greens, Naderites, & progressive Democrats have said they support a united peace movement. Veronica Nunn of Brooklyn for Peace wrote in an email "I looked at your website and I really like what the group is doing. There are quite a few people that are very turned off by the extreme left approach to peace.".

Joan Wile of Grandmothers Against the War wrote a reply to a comment I made to an article she wrote stating her support for the Focus on Peace concept, “I totally agree, Darren. I get so frustrated when at a rally, for instance, speakers bring up unconnected controversial issues that turn people off who otherwise are dedicated to ending the wars. It's certainly a problem, and I'm appreciative that you brought it up.”

Also, Bob Small, a local Green Party leader wrote on a mailing list:


Quote:One of my Leftist Friends questioned how to bring in
people from other political persuasions to the
Anti-war movement because "they don't agree with us
on other issues". My feeling is that is why the anti-war movement
has had thirty years of fragmentation, marginalization,
and dissolution. The last March on Washington
I attended featured fifteen other issues, including a few I
disagreed with. That was over five years ago.
I decided they could stop the war without me.


All of us who think that way need to come together. One obstacle that I’ve run into is people on the left claiming that to achieve peace we have to work on the big picture, which includes social & economy justice. I certainly agree that there is a big picture though it is not the one they talk about. When the left decries the government’s diversion of its resources from human needs to the military it is on to something. War does impoverish us. What the left needs to understand is that a government with the resources to build schools also has the resources to build drones, a government with the resources to build roads also has the resources to build jet fighters, and a government with the power to tax and create money has the resources to pay for the weapons mentioned above and to wage war.

And wage war it will, for as the progressive commentator Randolph Bourne wrote "War Is the Health of the State". Giving the state resources only feeds the war machine. Welfare at home and warfare abroad are just flip sides of the same coin. We can not give the government the tools it needs to wage war and expect it not to do so. I’m not talking about weapons here. It’s not enough to advocate that they not buy weapons. We must take away the tools they use to acquire them. This means that we must end the Federal Reserve System, the income tax, the federal government’s social spending, its regulatory role, and its police powers. Peace will only come when the government is powerless to commit evil acts both at home and abroad.

That’s a libertarian view. I’m not saying that everyone has to agree with it to stand with us against the wars, far from it we welcome people with other political views. All we ask is for the same consideration in return. Imagine the strength of a truly united and inclusive peace movement. We can do it. All it takes is a little tolerance and understanding.

A quick word about Focus on Peace. Our purpose is to have a peace movement that welcomes people of all ideologies, creeds, and beliefs. One that makes everyone feel not only comfortable but a part of the movement. No one should feel that they are endorsing someone else's political agenda when standing up for peace. To this end we have only one focus: ending the wars abroad. Now that the summer is over we will be getting back to our popular sign waves again. Stay tuned for those. More important is that we’re organizing what will hopefully be the first annual Philadelphia Peace Fair, modeled on the annual Brooklyn Peace Fair. There will be exhibitor’s tables, workshops, & well-known speakers, details to be announced soon. The date is Saturday, April 7th of next year at the Friends Meetinghouse at 4th & Arch Sts in Philadelphia, don’t miss it. If you or your group would like to take part you can rent a table &/or place an ad in the program. Don’t hesitate to contact me about this.

There is a sister group with the same goals that deserves to be mentioned. That is Come Home America. Their website is ComeHomeAmerica.US. The basis of this group is a book titled ComeHomeAmerica.US it’s a compilation of essays resulting from a gathering of unlike-minded people who are nevertheless united in their alarm about the destructive consequences of our country’s runaway militarism. The meeting held in February of last year included people from the right, left and radical center, from progressives and conservatives, and liberals and libertarians. It reflects the views of many Americans that are not represented in the political dialogue in Congress, the White House, or the mainstream media.

This group too deserves your support.

Let me touch on one of the mainstream views of why the US needs to intervene over seas. The idea that the US is fighting defensively overseas to keep the Muslim hoards from taking us over is so ridiculous that it needs no debunking. The idea that we’re promoting democracy is made an obvious lie by just looking at the dictatorships, past & present, that the US supports. Let’s put aside the media clown’s & politician’s babbling. A much more serious reason to intervene around the world is the protection of international trade. The argument is that since the US is dependent on global trade we have to control the seas to assure our continued prosperity. If we don’t control the seas another power that does could cut us off from our overseas markets badly hurting our economy. Certainly there is some logic to this argument.

One advocate of this view is George Friedman, the founder & CEO of Stratfor, which stands for Strategic Forecasting. It is a private global intelligence company giving non-ideological analysis. He wrote a great book earlier this year titled “The Next Decade”, talking about the geopolitical realities in the world for the coming 10 years. While I can’t agree with his pro intervention conclusions, Mr. Friedman makes good points that few Americans are willing to face. The major one being that the US has become an unintended empire. That’s important to bear in mind when talking about controlling the shipping lanes around the world. The great empires have always been about trade as much as about military control, sometimes more so. We’re no different.

To get to debunking the pro empire trade argument, every benefit must be balanced against its cost & the cost of maintaining an empire goes well beyond just the federal govt’s defense budget, which sure is a huge cost greatly slowing our economy, not stimulating it as some claim. Taking our cues from the wisdom of the French Classical Liberal economist Frederic Bastiat who in his essay “That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen” tells us that we have to look deeper than just the obvious that’s right in front of our noses. The benefits of empire would seem to be the trade & relative prosperity that we enjoyed until this recession started. Should I say “End the Fed” now? The cost of empire is also in what is not produced because of the kind of govt it imposes, & the economic & social policies such a govt implements. Earlier I touched on how welfare & warfare go hand in hand. To get the populace to tolerate the cost of empire & support the govt those costs must be hidden & the people must be bought by means of a welfare state. I’d like to add to that the regulatory state. Intervention abroad requires intervention domestically. In order to be strong enough to project power overseas the govt has to tighten its grip domestically if only to acquire the resources to do so, doing many harms in the process. I’m talking about how taxes, regulation, & welfare drain the economy & severely limit growth. Just one example, Social Security, is conservatively estimated to cost us 5% GDP growth every year. Taxes & regulation only add to the destroying of our wealth. When anyone says that losing our overseas markets will make us poorer the answer is to point out that the empire has already done that.

I haven’t even touched on the destruction of our civil liberties under the kind of militarist democracy we live under. We just heard about how the Transportation Security Admin is trampling our rights. Soon you’re going to hear a talk about how the US has become a police state & another talk about opposing curfews so I won’t go into much detail now. Suffice it to say that what seems obvious to us in the liberty movement isn’t always obvious to the rest. One argument I hear a lot is that we’re way free compared to the way they lived under the Nazis so everything is just fine here. I disagree, we may not be suffering as much as the unfortunates who lived under Hitler’s govt, but that doesn’t mean we have the liberties we should have either. The process should be obvious to all by now, the illusion of liberty must be maintained. It is as Thomas Paine warned in "The Rights of Man":


Quote:…the portion of liberty enjoyed in England is just enough to enslave a country more productively than by despotism, and that as the real object of all despotism is revenue, a government so formed obtains more than it could do either by direct despotism, or in a full state of freedom, and is, therefore on the ground of interest, opposed to both. They account also for the readiness which always appears in such governments for engaging in wars by remarking on the different motives which produced them. In despotic governments wars are the effect of pride; but in those governments in which they become the means of taxation, they acquire thereby a more permanent promptitude.


One reason I decided to stop picking on the left & move to the mainstream is that we need to expand the peace movement. If it remains a matter of the radical left on one side & the libertarians on another it will keep getting the same dismal results it has up until now. In between these 2 sides is the great middle. You know the famous Joe & Jane Sixpack. Their not radicals. They may be Democrats Republicans, or independents. They may also be anti war, but where have they been able to turn? Until now we’ve left them out of the peace movement. Now, though, with groups like Focus on Peace they have a place to go to engage in peace activism.

Getting back to the intellectual I most love to debunk, George Friedman, also in "The Next Decade" states that he passionately wants the American republic to survive the empire it has acquired. Long live the unintended empire! That means the republic is dead though. He rightly points out that the Roman republic was overwhelmed by its empire & doesn’t want to see that happen here. Unfortunately, it has already happened here. We’re not about to have an emperor a la Caesar, but the form of the republic lives on long after the reality of it has died. Patrick Henry told us long ago that we can't be both a republic & an empire at the same time in his speech "Shall Liberty or Empire be Sought?":


Quote: But now, sir, the American spirit, assisted by the ropes and chains of consolidation, is about to convert this country into a powerful and mighty empire.... Such a government is incompatible with the genius of republicanism. There will be no checks, no real balances, in this government. What can avail your specious, imaginary balances, your rope-dancing, chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances? But, sir, "we are not feared by foreigners; we do not make nations tremble." Would this constitute happiness or secure liberty? I trust, sir, our political hemisphere will ever direct their operations to the security of those objects.


Today the world trembles before the American government's might. That includes the Americans themselves who are increasingly victimized by it. Patrick Henry's prophetic words come back to haunt us. I know where I stand when it comes to the question of "Shall Liberty or Empire be Sought?". I say liberty, always & forever! Anyone else here feel that way? Whether you’re on the left or the right join us in standing for liberty by standing with us against the greatest destroyers of it there are, war & empire.

You can check out our website, fopeace.com, for updates on what we’re doing. Those of you here in this room please sign up for our email updates too. Thank you, & let me say goodbye by wishing you all peace & prosperity.

Darren Wolfe is the former Eastern Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Puerto Rico and lived in Venezuela for seven years, including the first year of Chavez's rule.His articles have appeared on OpEdNews.com, the Libertarian Penn, and the Nolan Chart. Links to his work have been picked up by news services such as Rational Review and the NYPost.com. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darrenlobo

©2009 Darren Wolfe, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.


Source: Earthhope Action Network]]> by Darren Wolfe Earthhope Action Network September 24, 2011



On September 24 Darren Wolfe gave a speech titled "The New Peace Movement: Ending the Wars by Uniting all Ideologies Around the Issue that Matters Most" at the second Agora I/O unconference.


Check us out on Facebook too: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=281738058519645

(Article continues below)


Shop Earthhope Magazines

Thank you Ken, & thank you my fellow liberty minded peace activists both here & online.

Focus on Peace is an inclusive peace movement, one that people of all political persuasions can join in good conscience. The idea has been around for a while, but it has been all rhetoric until now.

For example, the International Action Center (IAC) had a conference last November named the "Regional ANTIWAR Conference and a National meeting to STOP FBI Repression", they hailed it as "…a discussion of a new kind of unified & inclusive antiwar movement that can challenge the wars abroad and at home". As is usually the case with left wing antiwar organizations this one too comes with their social agenda as part of the package. On their website they state that part of the discussion is to be about "…a massive movement to bring the war $$, troops, and mercenaries home now, rebuilding our cities, providing jobs, schools and health care that we all have a right to". Bringing the troops and mercenaries home sounds great. It is the part about then using the money saved to finance the government’s spending on social programs the is a problem for the liberty minded. Given these realities the question has to be asked, is this really an inclusive antiwar movement?

No doubt that by now progressive listeners are rolling their eyes wondering how this crazy libertarian can be against spending money on health care and education. This isn’t the time or place to engage in a debate about these subjects, we can do that later after we end the wars. Now is the time to agree to disagree on some things and unite to stop the wars and oppression.

Libertarians are reaching out to the left to stand together for peace. I approached the organizers of the October 16 peace rally in Philadelphia last year at their planning meeting a few days before the event. There I was politely, but firmly, told that they were completely unwilling to change their left wing agenda for future rallies to accommodate other points of view.

Earlier this year there was a meeting in Philly leading up to the big peace rally of April 9th in NY. There Joe Lombardo of the United National Antiwar Committee specifically said that the anti war movement can not be politically neutral. He said it must take up causes like social justice, the environment, & the Palestinians in order to be effective.

Then there was the Declare Peace Fair that the Brandywine Peace Community had over the 4th of July weekend at Independence Hall. There a couple of the hard line socialists stood in front of the Focus on Peace table directly & rudely contradicting our message of unity in the peace movement.

Lastly, there is the strange reference on the One People’s Project website to “crackpot libertarians” latching on to the peace movement to advance their agenda. Hmmm….good thing the left doesn’t do that!

When the left tacks on a social agenda to their antiwar coalitions that others can not endorse they tell us we’re not welcome. We’re not asking any of the organizations and individuals that are part of IAC or similar groups to change their advocacy. Their speakers can advocate all the same things they have before. Same with the signs they carry. All we ask is that the antiwar coalitions themselves be politically neutral so we can all join them in good conscience.

Fortunately, not everyone one the left is against unity. Several Greens, Naderites, & progressive Democrats have said they support a united peace movement. Veronica Nunn of Brooklyn for Peace wrote in an email "I looked at your website and I really like what the group is doing. There are quite a few people that are very turned off by the extreme left approach to peace.".

Joan Wile of Grandmothers Against the War wrote a reply to a comment I made to an article she wrote stating her support for the Focus on Peace concept, “I totally agree, Darren. I get so frustrated when at a rally, for instance, speakers bring up unconnected controversial issues that turn people off who otherwise are dedicated to ending the wars. It's certainly a problem, and I'm appreciative that you brought it up.”

Also, Bob Small, a local Green Party leader wrote on a mailing list:


Quote:One of my Leftist Friends questioned how to bring in
people from other political persuasions to the
Anti-war movement because "they don't agree with us
on other issues". My feeling is that is why the anti-war movement
has had thirty years of fragmentation, marginalization,
and dissolution. The last March on Washington
I attended featured fifteen other issues, including a few I
disagreed with. That was over five years ago.
I decided they could stop the war without me.


All of us who think that way need to come together. One obstacle that I’ve run into is people on the left claiming that to achieve peace we have to work on the big picture, which includes social & economy justice. I certainly agree that there is a big picture though it is not the one they talk about. When the left decries the government’s diversion of its resources from human needs to the military it is on to something. War does impoverish us. What the left needs to understand is that a government with the resources to build schools also has the resources to build drones, a government with the resources to build roads also has the resources to build jet fighters, and a government with the power to tax and create money has the resources to pay for the weapons mentioned above and to wage war.

And wage war it will, for as the progressive commentator Randolph Bourne wrote "War Is the Health of the State". Giving the state resources only feeds the war machine. Welfare at home and warfare abroad are just flip sides of the same coin. We can not give the government the tools it needs to wage war and expect it not to do so. I’m not talking about weapons here. It’s not enough to advocate that they not buy weapons. We must take away the tools they use to acquire them. This means that we must end the Federal Reserve System, the income tax, the federal government’s social spending, its regulatory role, and its police powers. Peace will only come when the government is powerless to commit evil acts both at home and abroad.

That’s a libertarian view. I’m not saying that everyone has to agree with it to stand with us against the wars, far from it we welcome people with other political views. All we ask is for the same consideration in return. Imagine the strength of a truly united and inclusive peace movement. We can do it. All it takes is a little tolerance and understanding.

A quick word about Focus on Peace. Our purpose is to have a peace movement that welcomes people of all ideologies, creeds, and beliefs. One that makes everyone feel not only comfortable but a part of the movement. No one should feel that they are endorsing someone else's political agenda when standing up for peace. To this end we have only one focus: ending the wars abroad. Now that the summer is over we will be getting back to our popular sign waves again. Stay tuned for those. More important is that we’re organizing what will hopefully be the first annual Philadelphia Peace Fair, modeled on the annual Brooklyn Peace Fair. There will be exhibitor’s tables, workshops, & well-known speakers, details to be announced soon. The date is Saturday, April 7th of next year at the Friends Meetinghouse at 4th & Arch Sts in Philadelphia, don’t miss it. If you or your group would like to take part you can rent a table &/or place an ad in the program. Don’t hesitate to contact me about this.

There is a sister group with the same goals that deserves to be mentioned. That is Come Home America. Their website is ComeHomeAmerica.US. The basis of this group is a book titled ComeHomeAmerica.US it’s a compilation of essays resulting from a gathering of unlike-minded people who are nevertheless united in their alarm about the destructive consequences of our country’s runaway militarism. The meeting held in February of last year included people from the right, left and radical center, from progressives and conservatives, and liberals and libertarians. It reflects the views of many Americans that are not represented in the political dialogue in Congress, the White House, or the mainstream media.

This group too deserves your support.

Let me touch on one of the mainstream views of why the US needs to intervene over seas. The idea that the US is fighting defensively overseas to keep the Muslim hoards from taking us over is so ridiculous that it needs no debunking. The idea that we’re promoting democracy is made an obvious lie by just looking at the dictatorships, past & present, that the US supports. Let’s put aside the media clown’s & politician’s babbling. A much more serious reason to intervene around the world is the protection of international trade. The argument is that since the US is dependent on global trade we have to control the seas to assure our continued prosperity. If we don’t control the seas another power that does could cut us off from our overseas markets badly hurting our economy. Certainly there is some logic to this argument.

One advocate of this view is George Friedman, the founder & CEO of Stratfor, which stands for Strategic Forecasting. It is a private global intelligence company giving non-ideological analysis. He wrote a great book earlier this year titled “The Next Decade”, talking about the geopolitical realities in the world for the coming 10 years. While I can’t agree with his pro intervention conclusions, Mr. Friedman makes good points that few Americans are willing to face. The major one being that the US has become an unintended empire. That’s important to bear in mind when talking about controlling the shipping lanes around the world. The great empires have always been about trade as much as about military control, sometimes more so. We’re no different.

To get to debunking the pro empire trade argument, every benefit must be balanced against its cost & the cost of maintaining an empire goes well beyond just the federal govt’s defense budget, which sure is a huge cost greatly slowing our economy, not stimulating it as some claim. Taking our cues from the wisdom of the French Classical Liberal economist Frederic Bastiat who in his essay “That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen” tells us that we have to look deeper than just the obvious that’s right in front of our noses. The benefits of empire would seem to be the trade & relative prosperity that we enjoyed until this recession started. Should I say “End the Fed” now? The cost of empire is also in what is not produced because of the kind of govt it imposes, & the economic & social policies such a govt implements. Earlier I touched on how welfare & warfare go hand in hand. To get the populace to tolerate the cost of empire & support the govt those costs must be hidden & the people must be bought by means of a welfare state. I’d like to add to that the regulatory state. Intervention abroad requires intervention domestically. In order to be strong enough to project power overseas the govt has to tighten its grip domestically if only to acquire the resources to do so, doing many harms in the process. I’m talking about how taxes, regulation, & welfare drain the economy & severely limit growth. Just one example, Social Security, is conservatively estimated to cost us 5% GDP growth every year. Taxes & regulation only add to the destroying of our wealth. When anyone says that losing our overseas markets will make us poorer the answer is to point out that the empire has already done that.

I haven’t even touched on the destruction of our civil liberties under the kind of militarist democracy we live under. We just heard about how the Transportation Security Admin is trampling our rights. Soon you’re going to hear a talk about how the US has become a police state & another talk about opposing curfews so I won’t go into much detail now. Suffice it to say that what seems obvious to us in the liberty movement isn’t always obvious to the rest. One argument I hear a lot is that we’re way free compared to the way they lived under the Nazis so everything is just fine here. I disagree, we may not be suffering as much as the unfortunates who lived under Hitler’s govt, but that doesn’t mean we have the liberties we should have either. The process should be obvious to all by now, the illusion of liberty must be maintained. It is as Thomas Paine warned in "The Rights of Man":


Quote:…the portion of liberty enjoyed in England is just enough to enslave a country more productively than by despotism, and that as the real object of all despotism is revenue, a government so formed obtains more than it could do either by direct despotism, or in a full state of freedom, and is, therefore on the ground of interest, opposed to both. They account also for the readiness which always appears in such governments for engaging in wars by remarking on the different motives which produced them. In despotic governments wars are the effect of pride; but in those governments in which they become the means of taxation, they acquire thereby a more permanent promptitude.


One reason I decided to stop picking on the left & move to the mainstream is that we need to expand the peace movement. If it remains a matter of the radical left on one side & the libertarians on another it will keep getting the same dismal results it has up until now. In between these 2 sides is the great middle. You know the famous Joe & Jane Sixpack. Their not radicals. They may be Democrats Republicans, or independents. They may also be anti war, but where have they been able to turn? Until now we’ve left them out of the peace movement. Now, though, with groups like Focus on Peace they have a place to go to engage in peace activism.

Getting back to the intellectual I most love to debunk, George Friedman, also in "The Next Decade" states that he passionately wants the American republic to survive the empire it has acquired. Long live the unintended empire! That means the republic is dead though. He rightly points out that the Roman republic was overwhelmed by its empire & doesn’t want to see that happen here. Unfortunately, it has already happened here. We’re not about to have an emperor a la Caesar, but the form of the republic lives on long after the reality of it has died. Patrick Henry told us long ago that we can't be both a republic & an empire at the same time in his speech "Shall Liberty or Empire be Sought?":


Quote: But now, sir, the American spirit, assisted by the ropes and chains of consolidation, is about to convert this country into a powerful and mighty empire.... Such a government is incompatible with the genius of republicanism. There will be no checks, no real balances, in this government. What can avail your specious, imaginary balances, your rope-dancing, chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances? But, sir, "we are not feared by foreigners; we do not make nations tremble." Would this constitute happiness or secure liberty? I trust, sir, our political hemisphere will ever direct their operations to the security of those objects.


Today the world trembles before the American government's might. That includes the Americans themselves who are increasingly victimized by it. Patrick Henry's prophetic words come back to haunt us. I know where I stand when it comes to the question of "Shall Liberty or Empire be Sought?". I say liberty, always & forever! Anyone else here feel that way? Whether you’re on the left or the right join us in standing for liberty by standing with us against the greatest destroyers of it there are, war & empire.

You can check out our website, fopeace.com, for updates on what we’re doing. Those of you here in this room please sign up for our email updates too. Thank you, & let me say goodbye by wishing you all peace & prosperity.

Darren Wolfe is the former Eastern Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Puerto Rico and lived in Venezuela for seven years, including the first year of Chavez's rule.His articles have appeared on OpEdNews.com, the Libertarian Penn, and the Nolan Chart. Links to his work have been picked up by news services such as Rational Review and the NYPost.com. Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darrenlobo

©2009 Darren Wolfe, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.


Source: Earthhope Action Network]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5198 Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:41:16 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5198
I want to buy flat in the Canada?

Can you suggest how I can contact a real estate agent?]]>
I want to buy flat in the Canada?

Can you suggest how I can contact a real estate agent?]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5196 Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:37:55 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5196
I want to make a apartments with 20 floor, is it legal in Canada? or how many floor I can make in a apartment.

thanks in advance.]]>
I want to make a apartments with 20 floor, is it legal in Canada? or how many floor I can make in a apartment.

thanks in advance.]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5183 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:04:30 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5183
I would like to know what knowledge management is all?

What types of activities KPO is involved? So how is knowledge management related to human resources?

I hope you help me.

Thanks]]>
I would like to know what knowledge management is all?

What types of activities KPO is involved? So how is knowledge management related to human resources?

I hope you help me.

Thanks]]> http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5182 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:02:24 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5182 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5181 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:01:10 -0400 http://earthhopenetwork.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5181
What do you think about it?]]>
What do you think about it?]]>