End the Fed Photos

Here are the photos from End the Fed, Nov. 22, 2008 in San Francisco.

You Can Only Truly Win By Being Right

At the meeting of a liberty-minded political action group this week week, we were visited by a couple of men who had just won their elected seats in the county. One of them was a seasoned political operative who had been in the county for a number of years and in other places around the country.

He made an interesting statement. Many of us embrace constitutional and libertarian ideas, so in his enlightened wisdom, he said something to the effect of, "Libertarians, I love them, God bless them, but you can't win elections by being right all time." It was an extraordinary statement. On one level, he echoed Ed Griffin's conclusion that we have to come to power before we can implement our ideas. In a practical sense this holds true. Lenin preached this and many others. However, in that statement, also lies the seeds of corruption.

The first job of the politician is to get elected. The second job is to stay elected, somewhere, sometime after that he must get around to carrying out the ideas and wishes of those who voted him into office. The challenges are fierce. The opposition is vicious. The temptation to form questionable alliances, make compromises and backroom deals is very persuasive. The activity of staying in power can become so all-consuming that it seems the issues, voters care about most, never see the light of day. The politician gets caught in the game of the lesser of evils and he becomes evil to his own end.

"Libertarians can't win by being right all the time." Says who? When do we get to the business of the people? How long must it take? How many elections and re-elections do we have to win? How long must the voting public put up with the political games and shenanigans before their business is addressed? Why can't we win because we're right? Or better yet, Can we win by being right?

Ron Paul, the congressman from Texas has won 11 terms to represent his district is an example of winning by being right. What does that say? He's a constitutionalist, a libertarian, a Republican. He fights fair and his ideas are based on logic, an understanding of history, economics and the foundations of this country. He does what he says he's going to do. He votes his conscience and is frequently the lone voice of dissent in Congress. He has more principled integrity than any other member of congress, the senate and the executive and judicial branches combined and he wins elections. Maybe the key to winning elections and getting our voices heard in Washington and Sacramento is by being right. Maybe this is what is needed to turn around our country.

Maybe the key to making genuine changes in our government is to communicate the right message to enough people. What good is winning elections if the right ideas are never implemented?

The GOP in this last election cycle lost the presidency, and a majority of seats in Congress and the Senate by promoting a message of big government, aggressive wars, violating civil liberties and corporate bailouts and budget deficits. It completely abandoned the foundational principles of its own party's roots. It lost the election by being wrong on all of these issues and now efforts are being made to find better ways to communicate, without changing the essential message, without bringing the GOP back to its core principles. Maybe it's time to be right for a change. Maybe voters want to be right about who they elect to represent them.

If we keep electing wrong individuals who have wrong ideas, how can we ever expect anything to go right?

Libertarian Michael Badnarik once said, "If I give you a choice of at 45% chance of lethal injection, a 50% chance at the electric chair and 5% for escape what are you going to vote for? The electric chair because you are likely to win? What are you going to vote for? Escape!
But it's only 5%!
I don't care! It's the right thing to do!"
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIOX9IQhL3M&eurl=http://www.campaignforliberty.com/)

My conclusion is being right on the issues and the candidates is the only way to really win in politics. Winning for the sake of winning ensures the voters continue to lose.

Mike Ledeen wins the first ever Rufus T. Firefly Award

Announcing today's and the first ever Rufus T. Firefly Award for notable antics by politicians and other related folks. Today's award goes to Michael Ledeen, notable neo-con, former scholar at American Enterprise Institute and currently at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Thomas DiLorenzo at LewRockwell.com reported on Ledeen's rather "Strangelovian" speech at Hillsdale college regarding the threat from Iran.

The latest issue of Imprimis, published by Hillsdale College, highlights a speech urging war with Iran by neocon Michael Ledeen, who was instrumental in getting the Bush administration to lie us into the war in Iraq. Iran "is a country where lies and deception are a way of life," he says. Ledeen should know.

From The Broadlighter

We at the Broadlighter would like to congratulate Mr. Ledeen for his accomplishments in keeping America safe for Democracy, while our Constitutional Republic gets relegated to the dustbin of history's horse and buggy era.

Obama Euphoria, What It Means

This article from Llewellyn Rockwell at the Mises Institute spells out the meaning of America's 'breakthrough' election.

"This is why we hear about "breaking barriers" rather than encouraging opportunity, about policies rather than freedom, about power rather than entrepreneurship. For the media writing about all this, it is the only intellectual model they have in mind. The conflict view of society was taught to them in college and is reinforced daily in the press. Also, unless you have some clear filter in mind, it seems like the conflict view is supported by plenty of evidence, given that the rise of the state has actually generated social antagonism where none should exist."

Here's the whole article: Breaking Barriers or Dividing Society?

Rockwell makes the case that human progress results from commerce and not from changes in the political landscape.

"A much better indicator concerning the status of any group – racial, religious, sexual, or otherwise – is commerce, which is the real engine that makes society work. And here we see that there are no such barriers in existence. We need only look at the status of black-owned businesses to see that there are more than one million in the United States, generating revenue of some $89 billion per year, which is more than the GDP of 140 countries around the world, and growing (according to most recent data) at a faster pace than all businesses."

Even though Obama promises the hope of change, what Rockwell describes as a world view based on conflict will retain its status quo in our educational system and news media. It is my hope that Rockwell turns out to be wrong, but I'm afraid he's not.

Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics

Got this story the other day following the election

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it
would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So,
that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are
all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of
your
daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would
each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's
bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out
the
amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued
to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to
compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed
to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'

'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a
dollar, too.

It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got' 'That's
true!!'

shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only
two? The
wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We
didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat
down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money
between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is
how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the
most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for
being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they
might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Free Blue Oyster Cult Show in Santa Cruz

I had been waiting all Summer for this show. My favorite Rock band, the Blue Oyster Cult came to Santa Cruz to perform live at the Boardwalk. I brought my wife, our outdoor chairs, some beach towells and food. We left a little late, still a good 40 minutes before the show, but the traffic backed up at least 2 miles from the venue.

We ended up parking right in front of my late brother's home, a place I visited during my college years and enjoyed listening to the BOC on his turntable. I wished I could have parked closer, but the boardwalk lots were showing "Full" signs. We wended our way across the San Lorenzo River and looked for parking as close as possible near the trestle bridge that links the Seabright neighborhood to the Boardwalk. The first 3 blocks had permit parking signs and we saw people walking toward the Boardwalk from where there were no parking restrictions. We found a spot right in front of my late brother's old place. It was as though he was looking after us.

We schlepped our items down the long streets and across the bridge. That seemed to be the easy part because nothing would have prepared us for the mangy crowd at the Boardwalk. There were people everywhere and so tightly packed in it was difficult to negotiate the chairs and bags we carried. As we got closer to the concert area, marked by a huge stage, about 10 feet above the beach sands, facing the amusement park, we could hear the band playing "Burning for You."

They sounded very crisp. I could tell it was going to be a fine show. Getting to the sand so we could set up our chairs and towels became another challenge. We followed a security officer who was helping a young man and found a wooden aisle running between the towels and masses of people enjoying the show. The wooden walkway also passed directly in front of the band. We needed to be on the right side of the stage because we had a friend and her two nieces coming, one of whom was deaf. The concerts at the Boardwalk always have an sign language interpreter on the right front corner of the stage. So, we passed directly in front of the band. We were about 20 feet from Buck Dharma nad Eric Bloom who were belting out "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll." With no one or nothing but a little sand between me and the band's remaining original members, I almost felt like saying "Hi Eric! Hi Buck!" but they looked a little busy crunching out the riffs for me to bother. They seem so familiar, yet I've never actually been personally acquainted with them.

We found a small area of sand between the towels and blankets for us to set up. As we unloaded our gear, I caught Buck doing his usual lacing and stretching his fingers right before tearing off on his signature solo. I accidentally stepped on a woman's bare feet while settling in. She was there with her husband and kids who seemed to be enjoying the concert. Lots of beach balls went flying and bouncing around the crowd. The children seemed to be very interested in catching and sending the balls on their way.

The rest of the set included "Shooting Shark", a searing "Buck's Boogie" and "Don't Fear the Reaper." It was a very short session, about 45 minutes in all. The band seemed to be enjoying themselves and the crowd. Right before the Reaper, Buck lost a string on his guitar and had to saddle up with another axe. He needed a little time to tune it and I'm not sure it was completely ready, but he played it anyway. Eric Bloom, introduced the song reminding everyone of the Saturday Night Live "Cowbell" routine. He acknowledged all of the fans who brought their own cowbells and invited them to join in.

The session ended with the band promising to reprise a couple of songs in the second set, but it was going to take more than an hour before they'd come out again.

During the break, quite a few people left or moved and made a little more room for us to spread out. Our friends arrived about 10 minutes before the second set began. The band came out with a bang. They launched into "The Red and the Black" whipping up the crowd into a frenzy. The followed it with "Harvester of Eyes" then "Burning For You." The next song was a real treat,this one from their first album - "Before the Kiss, A Redcap." Buck's solos were smoking and the band sounded really tight. Then came a very excellent "Black Blade." Following that, Buck introduced "Harvest Moon" from their "Heaven Forbid" album. Eric Bloom called out the monster that ravaged Tokyo "Godzilla" and during the song's interlude introduced bassist Rudy Sarzo, formerly of Quiet Riot, Whitesnake and Ozzy. They played a few riffs from those bands then finished "Godzilla." The nightfall came on during this set and as it got darker, our nostrils filled with the stench of Marijuana. If anyone who was their reads this blog and was doing that, I have a message for you and it's this: I haven't been into Pot for about 30 years now and don't intend to, but please, if you are going to smoke pot, stay away from the skunk weed. That's just awful. Some people were smoking undoubtedly better stuff, but that smell mixed with the skunk weed just sucks. Another thing. It seemed that when the second set started there were bunches of young men and women appearing out of nowhere walking across the towels not seeming to know where they were going. This went on from 10 to 20 minutes and made it very distracting for everyone else. The band finished their set with another "Don't Fear the Reaper" only this time with an even more impassioned guitar solo from Buck Dharma. Band members Eric Bloom, Richie Castellano and Rudy Sarzo made trips to all sides of the stage to energize the crowd and then Buck himself did the same during his second solo. The crowd went nuts. This band knows how to play for its audience.

It still didn't seem like enough. The lady MC announced the end the of the show, but the crowd wasn't buying it. Eric Bloom came out one and said the band had time for one more and then blistered everyone with "Hot Rails To Hell." The crowed was all on its feet and we took that as our cue to pull up the chairs and towel and pack it in.

Wading through the boardwalk crowd seemed even more challenging. It had not thinned at all and everyone seemed to be a few notches up on the inebriation scale. My wife and I made a plan for me to fetch the car while she waited at the entrance to the boardwalk. It seemed that everyone who headed in my direction was drunk or stoned. Even those who brought their bicycles. I passed by a group of cops detaining a man who was sitting on the ground complaining of his treatment. There had also been a medical emergency out on the beach sand during "Godzilla."

After making it past the trestle bridge and walking through the Seabright streets I noted a few revelers arguing and cussing over who was going to get to drive. Above them on an apartment balcony were a couple of young children listening and then talking back to the revelers. Everyone else I saw walking down the streets or getting into cars was staggering and falling over themselves. I finally made it to my car and drove back to pick up my wife at the Boardwalk entrance. A couple of drunks lurched nearby, but they didn't seem to be bothering her.

I was glad to make it home safe and sound. I love the Blue Oyster Cult, but it seemd like paying for tickets and seeing them in a bar as I did a couple of years ago in San Francisco would be a safer and more sensible way to go.

Observances on the band: Buck Dharma just seems to keep doing his thing. He's a great soloist to watch and listen to. He draws you right in and just plays. Eric Bloom seems to be losing his voice. There are certain songs like "Astronomy" and "Going Through the Motions" that really highlight his vocals. They don't play those at the live shows anymore and I can see why. Eric brought up his New York Baseball teams. He announced that the Yankees and his favorite, the Mets both won, but alas no one Northern California would have known any better. He was happy the Philadelphia Phillies lost, but again, this didn't do anything for this largely stoned-out West Coast crowd. I was a little surprised to note that Allen Lanier was missing in the line-up. Turns out, he stopped touring with the band in 2006.

They are a great band to watch and they keep touring. They are one of those 'On Tour Forever' bands, but in their case who knows how long 'Forever' will last.

McPainful Episode at the Texas GOP Conventions

Professional electioneering begets more and more of itself. Alan Stang from News with Views details the sordid proceedings of the Neuces County and Texas state GOP Conventions. I think this paragraph sums it pretty well:

"A word should be said about the convention mentality. It appears to be a species of hypocrisy so intense, so total, that it metastasizes into brainwashing. It is a bizarre combination of politics and show business, a procession of dignitaries with perfect hair and choreography, speaking through mechanically pasted Senator McNasty smiles, thundering that the main problem in the country is the Democrats. For instance, on the dais in Houston, Newtie Gingrich favors wall to wall drilling for oil. Elsewhere, he is an Al Gore carbon “footprint” environmentalist. Asking about the discrepancy means you are disloyal."

Read the whole thing here.

If this sort of thing is happening all over the country, and I've heard of like stories in Missouri, Alaska and Nevada, then perhaps Obama wins this election by a landslide. Either that or McCain wins narrowly, with a little help from the electronic voting machine vendors.

Before They Added the Cowbell

Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Buck Dharma gets inspiration from his wife Sandy that leads to recording his and the band's biggest hit single "Don't Fear the Reaper." You know, that song Will Ferrell and Christoper Walken immortalized on Saturday Night Live when they added 'more cowbell'?

Watch and enjoy:



The song should be re-titled as "Don't Fear the Reaper, Gotta Have More Cowbell and Don't Lose the Mustache."