There is no Crisis in U.S.Trade

Nobody on the conservative side can understand what is going on with the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade bill. It is astounding (a) that the text of it is being kept more secret than a Clinton Foundation contribution and (b) that Congressional Republicans are pressing for fast track status to give the president a free hand in negotiations, presumably because of his demonstrated good faith on immigration, the Iranian Bomb, backing Israel, Affordable Care, and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

This legislation will see the light of day when it is passed, so what benefit is there to secrecy before it is passed? If it is to protect negotiating gambits, that is very minor compared to giving domestic constituencies the time and ability to evaluate it.

And there is a critical point here. There is no crisis in U.S. trade. The chart below shows this. It tells a very important story, so stick with me for a few minutes on it.


http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/06/there_is_no_crisis_in_ustrade.html

Homeland Security… What Is it Good For?

By Dr. Ron Paul

Late Friday night, Congress passed legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security for one week. This vote followed weeks of debate over efforts to attach to the Homeland Security funding bill a prohibition on funding President Obama's executive order granting amnesty to certain illegal immigrants.

Despite the heated rhetoric from both sides, no one seriously believes that Congress will allow Homeland Security funding to lapse. Most in Congress believe that without the Department of Homeland Security, Americans would be left unprotected from terrorists and natural disasters. As with most areas of bipartisan agreement, the truth is the exact opposite of the D.C. consensus. The American people would be much better off if Congress transferred the few constitutional functions performed by Homeland Security to other parts of the government and then shut down the rest of the department.

Many Americans associate Homeland Security with the color-coded terrorist warning system and the "if you see something, say something" public-relations campaign. These programs were designed to inspire public confidence in the department, but instead they inspired public ridicule.

Ironically, the best case for shutting down this department is its most well-known component – the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). More terrorist attacks have been thwarted by airline passengers than by the TSA! The TSA may be ineffective at stopping terrorists, but it is very effective at harassing innocent Americans like Lucy Forck. Three-year-old Lucy, who uses a wheelchair, not only had to endure an intrusive screening from TSA agents, but the agents also took away her beloved stuffed animal.

When not abusing children who use wheelchairs, TSA subjects airline passengers to rules that seem designed to make air travel as unpleasant as possible. For example, TSA recently forced a Campaign for Liberty staffer to throw away a jar of Nutella she had in her carry-on luggage. I am sure all airline passengers feel safe knowing that TSA is protecting them from sandwich spreads.

Ending the TSA would return responsibility for airline security to airports and airlines. Private businesses have a greater incentive than a government bureaucracy to ensure their customers' safety. Those conservatives who think this is a radical idea should try to think of one area where they trust government bureaucrats to do a better job than private-business owners.

Another agency within Homeland Security that the American people could do without is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Having spent 15 years in Congress representing a coastal area subject to hurricanes and floods, I have seen firsthand how FEMA places adherence to bureaucratic rules ahead of aiding victims of a natural disaster. As a result, it is not uncommon for disaster victims to wait months, or even years, for assistance.

FEMA not only fails to provide effective relief to disaster victims, it also impedes private disaster-relief efforts. FEMA even hinders disaster victims' efforts to help themselves. While in Congress, I heard stories of individuals being threatened with fines, or even jail time, if they returned to their property without FEMA's permission. One individual in my district was threatened with arrest if he removed a tarp that FEMA put on his house – even though FEMA was supposed to have put it on his neighbor's house!

Thirteen years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, it is clear that this department has failed to protect our security, but has infringed on liberty. If Congress really wanted to enhance our security and our liberty, it would shut down this unnecessary, unconstitutional department.

The U.S. Economy Is 'Fundamentally Unsound'

By Dr. Ron Paul

Last week, we learned that the key to a strong economy is not increased production, lower unemployment, or a sound monetary unit. Rather, economic prosperity depends on the type of language used by the central bank in its monetary policy statements.

All it took was one word in the Federal Reserve Bank's press release – that the Fed would be "patient" in raising interest rates to normal levels – and stock markets went wild. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had their best gains in years, with the Dow gaining nearly 800 points from Wednesday to Friday and the S&P gaining almost 100 points to close within a few points of its all-time high.

Just think of how many trillions of dollars of financial activity occurred solely because of that one new phrase in the Fed's statement. That so much in our economy hangs on one word uttered by one institution demonstrates not only that far too much power is given to the Federal Reserve, but also how unbalanced the American economy really is.

While the real economy continues to sputter, financial markets reach record highs, thanks in no small part to the Fed's easy-money policies. After six years of zero interest rates, Wall Street has become addicted to easy money. Even the slightest mention of tightening monetary policy and Wall Street reacts like a heroin addict forced to sober up cold turkey.

While much of the media paid attention to how long interest rates would remain at zero, what they largely ignored is that the Fed is, "maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities." Look at the Fed's balance sheet and you'll see that it has purchased $25 billion in mortgage-backed securities since the end of QE3. Annualized, that is $200 billion a year. That may not be as large as QE2 or QE3, but quantitative easing, or as the Fed likes to say, "accommodative monetary policy," is far from over.

What gets lost in all the reporting about stock market numbers, unemployment-rate figures, and other economic data is the understanding that real wealth results from production of real goods, not from the creation of money out of thin air. The Fed can rig the numbers for a while by turning the monetary spigot on full blast, but the reality is that this is only papering over severe economic problems. Six years after the crisis of 2008, the economy still has not fully recovered, and in many respects is not much better than it was at the turn of the century.

An economy that holds its breath every six weeks, looking to parse every single word coming out of Fed Chairman Janet Yellen's mouth for indications of whether to buy or sell, is an economy that is fundamentally unsound. The Fed needs to stop creating trillions of dollars out of thin air, let Wall Street take its medicine, and allow the corrections that should have taken place in 2001 and 2008 to liquidate the bad debts and malinvestments that permeate the economy. Only then will we see a real economic recovery.

Democrats and GOP Rebels Save The Day On Obamatrade

After the Republican-controlled Senate foolishly passed the so-called "Obamatrade" bill, the House leadership (John Boehner, Steve Scalise, Paul Ryan, et al.) worked their tails off to pass the bill. But a majority of Democrats and liberty-minded Republicans (small in number) rallied in opposition to the bill and voted it down. HOORAY! In this case, it was mostly Democrats that saved the day!

I have been saying for years that people who think the Republican establishment is a friend to liberty are extremely naïve. On issues regarding so-called "free trade" (it's NOT free trade; it's globalism masquerading as free trade), the Warfare State, deficit spending, globalism, and civil liberties, the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., is FAR WORSE than the Democrat Party. In general terms, the Democrat Party is worse on issues that deal with gun control, welfare, abortion, gay marriage, and extremist environmentalist policies. As one should easily be able to see, there is no "lesser of two evils" between these two parties. Each party is a greater evil, depending on the issue. And taken as a whole, both parties in Washington, D.C., are selling our liberties down the river.

But this so-called Obamatrade bill is a nightmare. If you thought NAFTA and GATT are bad (and they are), Obamatrade (TPP) is far worse. Even worse is that congressional leaders will not allow the public to know what's in the bill. Heck, most of the congressmen and senators who are voting on the bill don't know what's in it.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/baldwin/150618 

The Looming travesty known as the Trans Pacitic Partnership (TPP)

The Trans Pacific Partnership efforts have been much in the news lately.  Unfortunately too few citizens seem to have interest in what it is about.  And fewer still have attempted to contact their elected representatives to voice their opinions on what is on its face a very bad deal for all Americans..  To get a sense of what our government leaders of both parties have been trying to do to us please read these three items.  They are the best explanations I have seen and if you read and understand the content and understand the implications it should really concern you. 

https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/the-great-tpp-deathtrap-for-india-china/

And below is the full text of the second item which was overridden by a re-vote (third item) this afternoon in the House of Representatives   So the matter is back in the Senate hands.  https://www.numbersusa.com/news/after-house-passage-trade-promotion-authority-faces-senate-hurdles

Contact your senators if you do not agree with this bill which, I think, is an absolute travesty.  

George Burns

John Pilger - The War On Terror - Truth & Lies

John Pilger dissects the truth and lies behind the 'War on Terror', investigating the discrepancies between American and British justification for 'war' and the facts on the ground in Afghanistan and Washington DC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD_k0ipRf3E 

Science & Things

This item expands past discussions regarding science.  It ranges in scope presenting things we all should know about and give consideration as to their implications.  Scan the contents.  It is likely that you will find several of the items to be of interest.   

This is a most interesting item.  It gets to the root of what must be done with the persistent issue of global warming/climate change.  Quote: "Science is not about "consensus" but facts. Not only were some physicists not initially convinced by Einstein's theory of relativity, Einstein himself said that it should not be accepted until empirical evidence could test it. That test came during an eclipse, when light behaved as Einstein said it would, rather than the way it should have behaved if the existing "consensus" was correct.  That is how scientific questions should be settled, not by political intimidation. There is already plenty of political weight on the scales, on the side of those pushing the "global warming" scenario. The fact that "global warming" models are not doing a very good job of predicting actual temperatures has led to a shift in rhetoric, with "climate change" now being substituted. This is an issue that needs to be contested by scientists using science, not political muscle."   I think Dr. Sowell is exactly right.   http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2015/04/14/the-new-inquisition-n1984575/page/full   

This piece adds further credence to the fact that frantic efforts climate warmists are being undertaken to ensure the upcoming Paris climate conference regains some of the lagging support for their efforts to "...give government officials and environmental activists the power to eliminate fossil fuels, control businesses and entire economies, and tell families what living standards they will be permitted to enjoy – with no accountability for the damage that will result from their actions."  And, "Countries, communities, companies and citizens need to challenge and resist these immoral, harmful, tyrannical, lethal and racist EPA, IPCC, UN and EU decrees. Otherwise, the steady technological, economic, health and human progress of the past 150 years will come to a painful, grinding halt – sacrificed in the name of an illusory and fabricated climate crisis."   http://townhall.com/columnists/pauldriessen/2015/06/13/twin-peaks--twin-lies-n2010591/page/full

Quote: "The scientific weakness of global warming science, and other environmental science, is demonstrated more than anything else by the reaction of the scientist and lay advocates to those who dare to raise objections to the doomsday theories. Rather than meeting the objections with scientific arguments, the critics are attacked and marginalized. This behavior is not scientific, it an attempt to defend a dogma by lashing out at those who dare to question the dogma."
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/03/pareto_speaks_to_us_about_environmentalism.html   This item illustrates the difference between warming scientists predictions and actual readings.  Quite a difference.   http://townhall.com/columnists/patrickmichaels/2015/05/29/when-will-climate-scientists-say-they-were-wrong-n2005122?  

This is another interesting piece addressing the "doctoring" of scientific data to support given position.  Quote: "A flurry of recent publication activity on the health impacts of carbon dioxide by the catastrophic climate change community is evidence that it has now moved beyond post-normal science.  That was the philosophical answer to traditional science founded on rational hypotheses, reproducible experimentation, and impartial confirmation of results.  Post-normal science was to be the answer to really difficult research problems; it would apply in cases where "facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decisions urgent," according to its advocates Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1991.  These same attributes accurately describe the status of climate research.  Loosening the traditional standards of acceptable proof to include some postulating and science conclusions based on consensus and opinion would expand the universe of available answers desperately desired by governing bureaucrats and environmental activists."    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/06/bespoke_science_on_the_rise.html

Can we trust scientific studies?  This medical doctor says "no" and tells us why and how we can spot the flaws with them.  Quote: "There’s so much confusion regarding health information in the media. How do you determine which advice to follow and what to take with a grain of salt?  Dr. Malcolm Kendrick wrote the book Doctoring Data: How to Sort Out Medical Advice from Medical Nonsense to help you answer that question."  https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/05/joseph-mercola/doctored-data/   This item addresses the incessant push to expand the use of vaccinations even though much evidence exists suggesting that the hype from the medical/pharmaceutical machines is not what they advertise it to be.  Quote: "They are not safe. They are not effective. They were not responsible for the major decline in so-called contagious diseases.  In most if not all cases, the diseases they are supposed to prevent affect only a tiny fraction of the people claimed to be at risk.  In some instances, (e.g., seasonal flu, Swine Flu, SARS), the “outbreaks” have virtually nothing to do with the viruses touted as the cause of illness. Therefore, even if vaccines were safe and effective, they would have no relevant effect, because they are targeting viruses which are not causing illness.  The rabid claim that unvaccinated children pose a threat to vaccinated children is, on its face, a lunatic self-contradiction, since those who are vaccinated are supposed to be protected."  And, "It would be foolish, of course, to suggest that many doctors or medical bureaucrats are aware of all these nine reasons. Most medical personnel are brainwashed, through education, into believing what they support is real and true."   https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/06/11/globalism-and-the-push-for-mandatory-universal-vaccination/ 

This item addresses how scientists think.  It is quite interesting.  I can't say I agree with everything the author writes but his piece is certainly thought provoking.  Quote: "Scientism, like other varieties of political correctness, is de rigueur among much of the cognitive or approximately cognitive elite, and has been inculcated in the populace by endless repetition. The credo runs roughly Big Bang, stars form, planets, oceans, life, evolution, Manhattan. Acceptance—unexamined acceptance—of scientism is now regarded as evidence of right thinking. Most who accept it have no idea what they are accepting, but they know that it is the proper thing to do."  And, "Note that the premises of the sciences, if accepted other than provisionally for a paraticular investigation, lead to paradoxes, as for example the Aquarium Effect. Scientists view the universe as if it were an isolated system in a vast aquarium. They can look at it, poke at it with sticks and instruments, but they are apart from it. If they regard themselves as being within the system, problems arise."     https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/06/fred-reed/can-scientists-think/

Further evidence that no one should ever claim anything scientific is "settled science".   Scientific claims that CFCs were causing ozone depletion was seized upon by politicians who in turn caused the expenditure of much time and money being spent on what is now a proven scientific fraud.  Quote: "The latest atmospheric data confirms the ozone depletion theory is a scientific fraud. In fact, the Montreal Protocol banning CFCs was signed in 1987, despite no scientific evidence for this ban, and those who organized the treaty knew there was no such evidence. Richard Benedick, the State Department official responsible for negotiating the Montreal Protocol, states so plainly in his book Ozone Diplomacy."  http://survivaljoe.net/blog/why-the-world-political-community-is-wrong-on-ozone-depletion/   It is a sad state of affairs when people, scientists and politicians or otherwise, with agendas decide they need to lie to get their way/impose their point of view on others.

Solar ice caps are safe and sound, not disappearing.  Quote: "It’s been recently reported that there’s so much sea ice around Antarctica that vessels carrying scientists and supplies are having trouble reaching the research stations there. It appears global warming isn’t melting any polar ice in her ongoing campaign against earth and humanity."   http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2015/05/24/global-warming-continues-to-pummel-polar-ice-caps-by-not-causing-them-to-melt-n2003328?    Ponder this. 
Is there an ice age in our future?   http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/05/saving_humanity_from_catastrophic_global_cooling_a_task_for_geoengineering.html

This item is full of information regarding the global warming/climate change issue.  President Obama's recent over the top claim that climate change is more of a threat than ISIS prompted this  item.  Quote: "If any Americans actually believe the climate claims linking ‘global warming’ to a rise in conflicts, no amount of evidence, data, logic or scientific studies will likely persuade them. But given the high profile nature of the comments, a rebuttal to the President’s climate claims is necessary." http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/05/20/science-data-and-history-refute-obamas-climatewar-claims-climate-depots-rebuttal-to-pres-obamas-climatenational-security-claims/   More about Obama's misguided and unethical meddling in scientific matters he clearly does not understand OR it is further evidence that he is in hot pursuit of disastrous political objectives.  Apparently President Obama intends to obligate the United States to more CO2 reductions at the December 2015 Paris Climate Conference.  The obvious question to be asked is Why?   http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/04/obama_expected_to_bind_us_to_co2_reduction_at_paris_climate_meeting_this_year.html  

The EPA is forced to admit their science is flawed.  This new study could find no evidence that hydraulic fracking does little if any contaminating of water.  Quote: The study, more than four years in the making, said the EPA has found no signs of “widespread, systemic” drinking water pollution from hydraulic fracturing. That conclusion dramatically runs afoul of one of the great green crusades of the past half-decade, which has portrayed the oil- and gas-extraction technique as a creator of fouled drinking water wells and flame-shooting faucets."     http://hotair.com/archives/2015/06/05/epa-remember-all-that-horrible-stuff-we-said-about-fracking-yeah-never-mind/?
  
An apparent discovery has been made that suggests that deep inside the earth is a vast reservoir of water.  Quote: "Scientists discover an ocean 400 miles beneath our feet that could fill our oceans three times over."  http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/05/07/several-oceans-underneath-the-earths-crust/

This item deals with charges by critics that fracking causes earthquakes.  The media and those on the left seized on the words they liked and ignored the rest of this study.  Quote: "So, even if we can link earthquakes to fracking, they are so minor that we shouldn’t worry about banning the process. Such reasonable and cool-headed conclusions were lost on the Left and their allies in the media, who merely seized upon the link between fracking and earthquakes.  I would not expect any of this kind of information to make it to any national news media for a prolonged period of time, if at all. They and the Left are dead set on keeping us bound to oil from Arabic dictatorships whose alliances with us are out of convenience at best, and of course, that says nothing of the fact that our money is doing nothing to stop their horrible human rights records."  http://www.redstate.com/2015/05/20/fracking-might-cause-earthquakes/

Are these things/actions indicative of a government looking out for the people.?  https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/government-witch-hunt-to-eliminate-monsanto-critics/

He is more interested in making political statements, promoting special interests and "his" agenda than serving as president for all the people. http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/obama-climate-change-order/2015/03/19/id/631277/    Even given the history of failed predictions do not get in his way as he pursues HIS objectives regardless of the facts.  Consider this short piece for instance. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/06/in_2008_abc_news_reported_that_by_june_12_2015_nyc_would_be_flooded_milk_1299_a_gallon_gasoline_9_due_to_global_warming.html

Quote: "There is actually far more money behind the Church of Global Warming than any of its skeptics. The difference is that global-warming cabbage is not portrayed as unclean or suspected of influencing the outcome of scientific studies, because it comes from media-approved “good guy” organizations presumed 100 percent selfless and altruistic.  The biggest media-beloved, honorable, compassionate organization is, of course, the government."   http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/08/climate-change-advocates-collect-big-money-from-interested-parties/?

The vaccine debate rages on.  Here is a tragic example of what in some cases vaccines can do.  The medical community's behavior in this case is reprehensible. To some it smacks of cover-up.   http://naturalhealthonline.com/california-infant-dies-after-being-vaccinated-no-answers-for-his-family/   Consider this item.  Two babies die and 29 others get sick and as of this writing six of the 29 were gravely ill.    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/babies-die-29-sickened-bad-vaccines-south-mexico-30945536

There are problems with the Chicken Pox vaccine.  This item discusses the relationship between childhood chicken pox and later incidences of shingles.  The evidence does not speak well for administering chicken pox vaccines to children especially in proximity to MMR vaccines.   https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/06/joseph-mercola/shingles-and-natures-own-vaccine/

Here is more bad news about the use of vaccines, especially those given to children.   http://www.naturalnews.com/049669_vaccine_injury_depopulation_agenda_deadly_side_effects.html

Everyone needs to pay attention to these findings. Quote: "Psychiatric drugs lead to the deaths of over 500,000 people aged 65 and over annually in the West, a Danish scientist says. He warns the benefits of these drugs are “minimal,” and have been vastly overstated."    https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/05/russia-today/psychiatric-drugs-kill-500000-every-year/

Parents and grandparents with little ones please read this item..   https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/dr-sherri-tenpenny/is-there-a-right-to-poison/   And this one too.   http://www.jeffereyjaxen.com/blog/nurse-reveals-routine-vaccine-induced-injury-from-current-schedule-at-hospitals   Are all vaccines safe and effective?  Read this and determine for yourself if these data suggest otherwise...recent events add to continuing questions/concerns that keep gettimg supressed by the media and the medical establishment.   https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/05/19/fantasy-vaccines-remarkably-safe-and-effective/  

This is something everyone should read and consider when making decisions regarding whether or not to get vaccinated yourself or allow your children to be vaccinated.   http://www.naturalnews.com/049484_vaccine_industry_media_censorship_scientific_facts.html

Is the prevailing view that same sex science valid?  Are they born that way?  I certainly don't know but some say not.  http://godfatherpolitics.com/22640/when-science-doesnt-matter-to-liberals/

That GMO fraud is happening has now been documented in a new book.  Here is just one sentence from the forward.  "In the book's foreword, award-winning humanitarian and leading primate expert Dr. Jane Goodall lauds Druker for bringing to light a number of important truths about GMOs, including that they have never undergone appropriate safety testing; have never been shown to be safe for human consumption; and were not even approved in accordance with federal law."   http://www.naturalnews.com/049192_Altered_Genes_Steve_Druker_GMOs.html  

This item addresses the action Argentina medical professionals have taken in opposition to Monsanto and its manufacturing and selling of Roundup and its association with GMO's. Here is what 30,000 doctors and other medical professions have to say: “Health authorities, including the National Ministry of Health and the political powers, can no longer look away. Agribusiness cannot keep growing at the expense of the health of the Argentine people. The 30,000 health professionals in Argentina in the FESPROSA ask that glyphosate is now prohibited in our country and that a debate on the necessary restructuring of agribusiness is opened, focusing on the application of technologies that do not endanger human life.”   https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/roundup-cancer-link-30000-doctorshealth-professionals-agree/  Another item from Jon Rappoport on the Monsanto/Dow issues in Hawaii.   https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/gmo-war-in-hawaii-epa-liars-on-parade/

George Burns