Central Banking Propagandists Sell Economic Poison

The propaganda is coming on hot and heavy since the debt ceiling decision that sold our great grandchildren's future to the banking elite. It seems that someone wants you to think that adding more debt to the already over burdened national line of credit is a good thing. It seems that someone wants you to believe that an economic crisis has been averted, not merely postponed and eventually made worse. It seems that someone wants you to move on placidly with your life, not think about the struggling economy, or the growing unemployment, or the dollar losing its value, and just accept that the Federal Reserve and their bought and paid for politicians are just going to do as they please no matter what you might think. Well, at least it's not hard to tell just who the mainstream mass media works for.

I want to point out a couple of interesting spins I caught in the corporate media. The first is the big deal made over the S&P downgrading the credit worthiness of the United States of America's federal government. The implications are that this was motivated by politics and has nothing to do with the ability for the United States of America to pay its debts. Duh. The S&P had already shattered its credibility by maintaining high credit ratings for many of the corporations that would later need to be bailed out back in 2008. Its actions can easily lead one to believe that it's an organization that was taken over by the elite financial interests long ago. It should be no surprise that these same financial interests would use their influence to get the S&P to downgrade the US federal government's credit rating, something that should have been done long ago, and then use their media arms to point out the poor judgment of their recent ratings errors.

There's no question in my mind that financial markets are manipulated. This is proven by the fact that a plunge protection team admittedly exists. The question is how deep and wide the manipulation goes. I would venture to say that the manipulation goes very deep and is spread out extremely wide. Why wouldn't a financial elite class with a monopoly on the creation of money use that power to grab as much influence in that sector as possible? Why wouldn't these people buy the influence of ratings agencies and then use their influence for their own benefit? Why wouldn't they want to use their insider knowledge to try to keep those on the outside from withdrawing their funds in a timely fashion while allowing insiders to get out before they start losing money?

When the media is controlled by the financial elite, one can't count on them to give accurate information. Yet they want money to keep flowing from the common folk into their game so they can continue to fleece them. They have to try to at least appear to be credible. It's a fine line walked by the mainstream media. I think they are teetering on the brink as more and more people loose their trust in the establishment.

The second spin I noticed is the notion that this debt decision somehow shows that congress has matured. I read a headline that actually declared that this decision shows that congress has grown up. Somehow, people believe that compromising on principle is a good, adult thing to do and that piling debt on top of debt will somehow improve the economy rather than destroy the currency. In my opinion, this decision does anything but show a maturing of congress. Indeed, mature congressmen would have stuck by their principles and made the hard and perhaps painful decisions to cut expenses that may have politically upset many of their constituents. The decision made to compromise showed only that most politicians are going to cave to pressure from special interests rather than listen to the majority of the people they represent. Power corrupts.

A recent Rasmussen poll shows that most people don't believe the United States federal government has the consent of the governed. This to me is a very telling statistic. First off, it is Rasmussen that conducted this study, a very credible source for most people even if it is an establishment organization. The other thing that makes this more credible in my mind is that this is a result that the establishment should not want to be brought out. More than that, if you talk to people, even statists, most will probably have some complaint or concern about how the government does business and many will voice their belief that they feel they are not represented by the federal government and its policies. My opinion is that's because the common folk are not represented in congress, the political and financial elite are.

We have been told that a default on the interest of the national debt will lead to even worse economic conditions. This could be so, but such steps could be compared to the practice of giving a cancer patient chemotherapy. The patient might appear to be sicker as he undergoes the process, but eventually the cancer in the body politic will shrink and go into remission. The debt is the cancer and paying it down is the only cure. Big government needs to be cut down and control put back in the hands of local populations. The national credit card needs to be taken away.

Keep in mind that the Constitution of the United States of America allows for an interest free currency. In fact, it allows for only gold and silver coins to be used as money, and only the government may coin money, but the mint is open to the public with anyone being able to get bullion minted into coins. While some will argue that this view of money is quaint and old fashioned, I would argue that it was when these principles were abandoned for political and elitist agendas that the economy started down the path which led to the current mess. In any case, there is a case to be made that the Constitution was never changed and therefore the current system we operate under is unconstitutional and fraudulent.

Whatever the case, we all know that we could not do the same things in our personal lives that the government and their agents claim to be able to do. We could not pile debt on top of debt and expect to become truly wealthy. We could not print money out of nothing without living in fear of being arrested for counterfeiting. I have always felt that if something is wrong for an individual person to do, it is wrong for a group of people to do, it is therefore wrong for government or their agents to do. If you are to give a pass to that group due to good intentions, then the individual should also receive the same consideration.

Those who keep pushing the legitimacy of central banking and fiat currencies are selling the populace economic poison. A quick look back into history will confirm this point of view. Fiat currencies have historically ended up in a bad way. The currencies collapse, devalue and can end up hyper-inflating. Those that have held the privilege of printing the money end up with all the wealth, either collecting real assets such as homes, natural resources, infrastructure, land, etc., when the eventual default occurs or moving the wealth out of the country and employing government agencies to tax the indigenous population into extreme poverty. It is this type of wealth transfer the elite who run the Federal Reserve in the United States is trying to accomplish, in my opinion. They are trying to grab up as much of the wealth of the common folk of this nation as they can, and the further in debt they can drive us, the more stuff they can claim ownership of when the system eventually collapses. They will reap the benefits of the economic poison by inheriting the leftovers of a dead economy.

It doesn't have to end up that way. The United States of America does not have to become a banana republic owned and operated by banking interests. Those that operate the central banking systems can be identified and held to account. The Federal Reserve system can be fully audited and the criminality exposed. Tax monies that have been misappropriated can be returned and used to correct the situation. Corruption does not have to be tolerated in order to sustain the system, but should be cleaned up and the mechanisms that allowed it removed. The system can be slowly disassembled to minimize economic pain as a new, more accountable, more transparent, constitutional system is put in its place, as is the law of the land. Before any of that will happen, however, I believe it will be necessary admit that problems exist, expose the source of those problems and widely disseminate that information. The mainstream mass media is certainly not helping in that area.

My archived articles are available at szandorblestman.com. Please visit there and make a donation to help support me and my efforts. I also have an ebook available entitled "The Ouijiers" by Matthew Wayne.

The 12 Scariest TSA Stories of All Time

(The author of this article requested I post it here. Personally, I think she goes a little easy on the TSA. Many of these stories suggest that the TSA needs to be reformed. I think they need to be abolished and that the individual airlines should be in charge of their own security, that way the passengers themselves, those using the service, could decide for themselves just how much scrutiny they wish to put themselves through when they fly.)

The TSA is an oft hated and maligned part of airline travel, and although the agency seems to get an excessively bad rap, many stories of TSA incidents indicate that the public's assessment is correct. Airline passengers going through security should not fear brutal force, sexual harassment, insensitive treatment, and even being separated from their child in the name of safety, yet as you'll see from the following stories, they do. Although these stories are among the worst, so many more were not included, and continue to develop each day. Read on to find 12 chilling TSA horror stories.

1. Meg McLain Can't Get Home

   What happens when you opt out of the backscatter scan and ask questions about the pat down? If you're Meg McLain, you get harassed and ultimately, get your ticket ripped up. Meg was cuffed in a chair and escorted out of the airport by 12 Miami cops after she questioned what would happen to her in the secondary screening pat down. Her US Airways ticket was torn up, and although US Airways promised to credit her for a new flight, they then refused to replace her ticket. As a talk show host with Free Keene, Meg's story received plenty of attention, with a wildly popular YouTube video, a visit to the Alex Jones Show, and an interview with The Consumerist. The TSA released surveillance videos of the incident in an attempt to lay the blame for the incident on McLain; however, some believe that the videos actually vindicate her.
   

2. Ninety-four year-old stands for her patdown

   At 94 years old, Marian Paterson is not as physically capable as others may be, and that means that it is not comfortable for her to stand for long periods of time. But nonetheless, Paterson was made to stand "for over ten minutes," as she reports, much longer than is necessary to complete a TSA patdown, and much longer than she felt physically able to handle. Her family believes that the TSA went too far, indicating that "they groped her…all over her body." Marian had trouble understanding why, "of all the people in America, they'd pick out some little old lady."
   

3. A terminal cancer patient is forced to remove her adult diaper

   Another elderly woman, Jean Weber's 95-year-old mother, in the final stages of her leukemia battle, was forced to submit to a patdown just a week after receiving a blood transfusion. Her "wet and firm" diaper was deemed suspicious, and she was taken to a private room. They had to remove her diaper, and she was separated from her daughter Jean. She did not have an extra pair, and was forced to go through the airport without underwear. Although the procedure was technically correct, Weber feels that "the procedure needs to be changed," allowing more sensitivity to those with certain health needs.
   

4. Bladder cancer survivor humiliated and covered in urine

   The TSA seems to have it out for those affected by cancer. Tom Sawyer wears a urostomy bag, a device necessary after his successful fight with bladder cancer. The TSA scanner picked up his bag, and he was chosen for a pat down. He had to ask for privacy during the screening, which he received, albeit not without eye rolling. During the procedure, he tried several times to explain his medical condition, and warned them that they could break the seal on his urostomy bag, covering him with urine. But despite his explanations, Sawyer was ignored, the seal was broken, and urine spilled all over his shirt, leg, and pants. The TSA agents' response? As Sawyer recounted, "he told me I could go. They never apologized. They never offered to help. They acted like they hadn't seen what happened. But I know they saw it because I had a wet mark." Without so much as an apology, Sawyer had to walk through the airport, still soaked in urine, board his plane, and wait until after takeoff to clean himself up. On the incident, Sawyer commented, "If this country is going to sacrifice treating people like human beings in the name of safety, then we have already lost the war."
   

5. Oops, your breasts are exposed. Good thing we have video

   An Amarillo woman filed a suit against the TSA for publicly exposing her breasts at a Corpus Christi Airport. She was picked out for an extended search procedure before her flight in 2008, and "as the TSA agent was frisking plaintiff, the agent pulled the plaintiff's blouse completely down, exposing plaintiffs' breasts to everyone in the area." The victim filed an administrative claim against the TSA, but after the agency failed to respond, she filed a lawsuit. To further her embarrassment, the victim claims that TSA employees joked and laughed about her accident, with one male TSA employee sharing "that he wished he would have been there when she came through the first time and that 'he would just have to watch the video.'"
   

6. Removing nipple rings with pliers

   The TSA indicates that "security officers are well trained to screen individuals with body piercings in sensitive areas with dignity and respect," but Mandi Hamlin did not receive such treatment. Instead, she was forced to remove her nipple piercings, one of which had to be taken out with pliers. The TSA's policy is to give individuals with body piercings either pat downs or have them remove the piercings in private; however, Hamlin was not given the option of the pat down — her only available option was to remove her piercings. In fact, she indicated that she could show a female agent her piercings, but was told she couldn't board her flight without removing all piercings. In a letter to the TSA, Hamlin's attorney reminded the agency that "After nipple rings are inserted, the skin can often heal around the piercing, and the rings can be extremely difficult and painful to remove," making what they forced Hamlin to do cruel, especially as reinserting them is also quite painful. And as if that wasn't enough, while Hamlin was removing her jewelry behind a curtain, she heard male TSA agents snickering at her plight. Her lawyer notes, "The last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon."
   
   

   7. Sikh profiled for screening, forced to remove his turban

      The TSA recommends removing all headwear, "but the rules accommodate those with religious, medical, or other reasons for which the passenger wishes not to remove the item." That is not the experience that Gurdeep Singh Bawa received at Chicago O'Hare in 2010. For religious reasons, Bawa does not let anyone touch his turban, and he does not take it off, an action that is very disrespectful. Despite clearing two tests for explosives trace detection, he was told he would have to take his turban off. After removing it in a private room, officers took it away, bringing it back minutes later. Bawa and other Sikhs in his community feel that they are being "religiously, racially profiled," and Bawa in particular feels that he was offended, noting, "I've never been humiliated like this in my life."
      

   8. Taking a teddy bear away from a three-year-old girl

      Kids often get very attached to toys, and three-year-old Mandy Simon is no exception. So when screeners took her teddy bear away from her to run it through the x-ray machine, she was very upset. Although it was standard procedure, the incident was jarring for little Mandy, and she was so upset about her teddy bear, she couldn't walk calmly through the metal detector, setting the machine off twice. It was at that point that she had to be patted down, still crying, and screaming, "Stop touching me!" Her dad, a Houston TV news reporter, caught the incident on video, which ended up getting lots of attention and pushback from Slashdot and a mention in several news outlets, including NY Daily News.
      

   9. Suing for a concussion

      In 2010, Robin Kassner sued the TSA for using abusive bodily force against her at the Reagan National Airport in 2007. The TSA claims that "was interfering with the screening process and refusing to follow security procedures." The security cameras show a scuffle, with Kassner wrestled to the floor by police, and taking an elbow to the head as she was slammed on a table. Kassner claims that she blacked out and suffered a concussion, which has led to memory problems. It's not clear what she did to provoke such a response. She is seeking $10 million in damages for the incident.
      

   10. We don't care about your disability, little boy

       Four-year-old Ryan Thomas was born sixteen weeks early, and as a result, is developmentally delayed: at the time of his TSA incident, he was just starting to walk. His parents use a stroller for him, as well as leg braces for his malformed legs with low muscle tone. Unable to walk steadily on his own, his mother initially walked him through the metal detector, and his leg braces set the alarm off. Ryan was forced to take off his leg braces, but his mother was not allowed to help him walk this time — he had to walk on his own. That's right, a disabled four-year-old just learning to walk with the assistance of leg braces had to walk, without any physical assistance or the use of his braces, through the detector for TSA. After Ryan's father went to the press, the TSA apologized to the family, and acknowledged that there are other ways to screen those with disabilities, including those that don't require a disabled child to do what is nearly impossible.
       

   11. Amputee separated from her four-year-old son

       Peggy is a mother of a four-year-old, and she also has a below-knee amputation. Both she and her son were subjected to invasive pat downs, and were also separated from each other. Peggy had to sit and watch without helping or comforting her son as he was patted down, which included a peek in his diaper, an experience that left him shaking but still not able to seek the comfort of his mother. Peggy had her own, far worse embarrassment to deal with after her son's ordeal. She had to remove not just her prosthetic leg, but her prosthetic liner, and run them through the x-ray scanner. Her prosthetic liner must be kept sanitary to avoid infection and a possible higher level amputation, and above that, protects from sight a part of Peggy's body that she feels "is on par with one's genitals." She was gawked at while her liner was run through the machine with no attempt to keep it sanitary, and was then thrown haphazardly into her lap. Peggy's story reached Boing Boing, and is a focal point of the Amputee Coalition of America's Call for Improved Screening Procedures for TSA.
       

   12. TSA agents took my son

       The TSA doesn't seem to respect the bond and safety of mother and child. In 2009, Nicole White claims she was separated from her 16-month-old son, Jackson. According to the TSA, they "will not ask you to do anything that will separate you from your child or children," but that was not Nicole and Jackson's experience. After his pacifier clip set off an alarm, Nicole and Jackson were escorted together to a plastic box, where they waited and became increasingly late for their flight. They were eventually patted down, but instead of patting down Jackson in Nicole's lap, a TSA agent insisted that he had to be picked up, and Nicole handed him to the agent. It was at that point the agent walked away with her son, and despite Nicole's questions and tears, she could not see Jackson and was ignored until the TSA threatened to involve the authorities. She was separated from her son for an estimated 10 minutes, during which time she had a panic attack. The TSA posted videos to discredit her story, but Nicole, just like Meg McLain, maintains that the full incident was not posted, including the time when Jackson was taken away and Nicole made two phone calls to her husband and mother.
       
   
   

A Cash Filled, Central Banking Free Society

Did you watch the show? It was the latest reality show, complete with drama, unexpected twists and all kinds of different personalities clashing with one another. Like all reality shows, it was not really an improvised and unplanned series of events, but was mostly scripted and had a predictable outcome. In fact, the outcome was predicted by many who were paying attention. I am talking, of course, about the show that congress was putting on to try to make the public believe they care about shrinking government and convince the masses they are doing something to alleviate the debt. The saddest part of this reality show is that it actually affects each and every one of us with very real consequences for their actions.

What has occurred was so predictable, it's laughable. I knew months ago what was going to happen. I heard from several sources this exact scenario. Congress would try to frighten us by saying default and collapse was inevitable, would result in unprecedented catastrophe, and would bring about chaos and mayhem unless we bowed to the will of the central banks and raised the debt ceiling. They would then pretend to be at an impasse, that the two parties were actually different and battling each other for the principles they believe in. It would look like the deadline would be reached and the nation would go into (gasp) default and then, suddenly, at the last moment, a compromise would be reached and the world would be saved! Hurray for the heroic politicians!

I even saw little Timmy Geithner come out and say something similar just a few days ago. He was talking about how congress had no choice but to reach a compromise and raise the debt ceiling. I don't know how it happened, but somehow these people have come to believe that the only way to get out of debt is to pile on more debt. They have even convinced many of the common folk of this. That makes about as much sense as believing the only way to lose weight is add even more fattening foods to your diet. The way to get out of debt is to quit buying anything that isn't absolutely necessary, to pay down any debt you may have already accumulated, and to try to get back to basics. Raising the debt ceiling only means going into more debt.

This outcome was predictable because it has been going on for a very long time. Banks have been manipulating governments and currencies for their benefit and to the detriment of society and the masses of humanity in general for centuries. The latest iteration of this parasitic monstrosity is known as the Federal Reserve, attached itself to productive humanity in 1913 with the help of the United States congress, and has been happily sustaining itself through our hard labor ever since. It is using the same fraudulent techniques that central banks have used for ages to enrich itself only with a modern twist. It uses the popular mass media to generate propaganda, spread fear of economic failure and convince the masses that without it there would be no economic growth.

So, in 1913 the Federal Reserve began to siphon off the wealth of the lower classes and funnel it to the extremely wealthy elite banking class. It began to spread its tentacles into all areas of the financial world. It began its manipulations that would lead to the ruination of millions. It began to create the corporations that would one day become too big to fail. It began to put into motion its plans to control and dominate a new world order with a new world big centralized bank. But this really didn't begin in 1913, it began long before then. The families involved in this scam have been around for centuries and are simply modernizing their old tricks. They are simply doing what the masses have allowed them to do for ages. Perhaps their ancestors can't be held accountable, but those who continue to help perpetuate this fraud need to be exposed and held accountable if we are ever to realize a truly free society.

Contrary to what many would have you believe, there are many ways the economy could have been helped without raising the debt ceiling, without hurting the poor or those dependent upon the state for their survival, and without growing government. The number one way I can think of is to end the occupations and aggressions the United States military is engaging in. How many billions would that cut from the budget and then how much head room would we have? We could stop policing the world and bring all troops home from all foreign shores. How much room would that leave? We could get rid of the department of education and let local interests and parents handle the education of the children. We could get rid of the TSA and let airlines handle their own security. Oh, and billions could be saved if our government stopped paying interest on the debt and paid back only the principle.

This congress, these politicians and the bankers that control them don't want to eliminate the debt. They don't want to shrink government or give up any power. They want it all, and they want you to just sit back and accept their dictates. They will keep growing the government until everyone is working for or dependent upon them in one form or another. They want you and your progeny as their livestock so that they can do with you as they please. That seems to be their ultimate goal, to completely control the lives of everyone on this planet so that they can live out their sick delusions of becoming gods.

At the same time, they want you to believe that they are making spending cuts. I keep reading about them cutting two trillion in spending, but they raised the debt ceiling. Huh? If they raised the debt ceiling, that means that they are increasing spending. If they were to cut spending by two trillion, then the ceiling should be falling by two trillion. What they've really done is stretched out their ability to waste more money and continue to benefit themselves and their friends for the next ten years. What they've done is to defer the burden of paying off the debt to the next few generations, just like they deferred the burden of paying off debt to this generation when they printed all that money to pay for the social programs and the wars fought in the twentieth century. They are hoping to divert your attention so that in ten years we'll forget their folly of 2011 and they can continue to increase the debt unabated.

I think the buck should stop here, so to speak, with this generation, and we should start paring down all government. Forget about a balanced budget amendment. That allows for the federal government to be far too large, to be able to borrow far too much money, to have far too much power, and to maintain the ability to intrude upon your life and violate your rights. The first thing I'd like to see is a full audit of not only the Federal Reserve, but of all central banks. While all this drama about the budget was taking place, an important report about the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) one time audit of the Fed came out. It shows over 16 trillion in emergency loans going out to financial institutions worldwide and other disturbing facts. Exactly how much is the deficit? Exactly who has benefited from these funds? I have the feeling a full audit would reveal much that many of the elite would not want you to know.

The next thing that we should do is go back to constitutional money or allow for competition in the currency market. Neither of those ideas are perfect and certain people will find fault in each one, but in my opinion both are better than the system currently in place. I think competition in currency would be best and the marketplace would be able to figure out the best way to hold accountable those who would commit fraud. I think that a society based on cash where the need for credit is limited would be liberating. Remember, debt means you do not own the things you think you own. The debtor is beholding to the lender who can lay claim to his things if conditions warrant. A cash based society free from central banking interests would lead to greater ownership opportunities, more self reliance and more freedom for all. This is what humanity should be striving for.

My archived articles are available at szandorblestman.com. Please visit there and make a donation to help support me and my efforts. I also have an ebook available entitled "The Ouijiers" by Matthew Wayne.

A Tyrant Judge and his Florida Fiefdom

I do not advocate violence. I believe it to be counterproductive. There are times, however, when it seems that one must exercise some form of force to restrain those who think they are superior to the rest of us and deserve special privileges in order to prevent them from doing harm. This can be called self defense or intervention in the defense of another peaceful person who may be harmed. I also consider myself to be a reasonable person, so I am willing to consider all sides of a story. What I have come to discover as I have aged is that the common folk have become too willing to simply bow to authority and obey authority figures without question while those same authority figures overstep their bounds time and again and are almost never held accountable for their actions and/or bad decisions.

Recently, Chief Judge Belvin Perry signed an order prohibiting the distribution of jury nullification literature outside the Orange County courthouse in Florida. There are many things wrong with this order on the surface. It extends the power that a judge is supposed to exercise in a reasonable manner to outside the purview of his courtroom. It violates the individual's right to free speech on public property where it is most necessary and effective. It violates the principle of separation of power by allowing a single individual to write the law, as well as judge it, and bypasses the power and processes of the legislative branch. Perhaps most important, yet less obvious, it takes away an important tool used for centuries by humans to inform their fellow human beings of the power they have to determine their own destiny. This is, in my opinion, the real reason why this order was written. Chief Judge Belvin Perry does not want individuals well educated about their power when it comes to law polluting the pool of potential jurors with people who will judge the law itself. He wants sheeple who will respect his authority and mindlessly follow without question his instructions.

Chief Judge Belvin Perry cares not for the law. He cares not for the rights of individuals. He cares not for principle or preserving the foundations upon which our nation was based. He cares not what you or I or any of the common folk think or feel. He cares only for his own ego. He cares only for his own power. He thinks he is superior to the rest of us and knows best what we can and can't do, and he's willing to throw people in jail in order to prove it. It seems to me that he feels he is supreme in his own fiefdom and his word is law, not that he is a servant of the people sitting in judgment of government agents who may violate individual rights.

As evidence of the above statement I cite the arrest and conviction of one Mark Schmidter. It wasn't enough that he was arrested for handing out pamphlets, a victimless crime that harms no one but merely offers knowledge to others, he was convicted and sentenced to 151 days in jail. In my opinion, the judge committed multiple crimes that harmed someone by throwing a man in jail when he did nothing wrong. Chief Judge Belvin Perry found Mark Schmidter guilty of "indirect criminal contempt," whatever that means. What it amounts to is a system where a tin pot judicial lord can use some poorly worded law that can be broadly interpreted to throw anyone who challenges his authority in a jail cell, in some cases indefinitely. What it amounts to is creating political prisoners from people who have a difference of opinion and are exercising their natural right to speak out against injustice. This is not what America was supposed to be about. This is what every tyrannical government in human history is about.

As I said above, I do not advocate violence, but in this case I think it is Chief Judge Belvin Perry who should be thrown in a jail cell. I think he should have been charged with treason for violating his oath to uphold the Constitution. I think the bailiffs and court police who also take oaths to uphold the Constitution should have refused to follow the judge's order to throw Mr. Schmidter and jail and should have arrested the judge instead. But the ranks of officials who are supposed to protect individuals from having their rights violated by the leviathan state are no longer filled with courageous men and women who understand the principles of liberty, they are filled by vacant eyed, salivating, power crazed bureaucrats waiting for the order to bust heads and engage in the very behaviors they are supposed to protect against.

Unfortunately, Chief Judge Belvin Perry will likely never be held accountable for his action. Like his brethren in the law enforcement community, he is treated differently within the justice system than the rest of us. He has the privilege of being able to break the law and harm individuals with impunity. The best that we can hope for at this moment is that Mr. Schmidter is vindicated on appeal and that Chief Judge Belvin Perry is unseated as a judge, or relieved of his post, or at the very least giving a slap on the wrist for this obvious violation of Constitutional law. I doubt very much even that will happen.

It is my hope that even more people will now show up to support Mr. Schmidter and his efforts. It is my hope that even more activists will now show up at the Orange County courthouse in Florida and pass out jury nullification pamphlets to prospective jurors. It is my hope that the common folk will demand the release of Mr. Mark Schmidter and the resignation of Chief Judge Belvin Perry. I would like to see so many people demanding the restoration of respect for their rights that these bureaucratic officials are forced to yield.

It has become obvious that the officials care not to follow their own rules. They constantly violate not only their oaths, but their own regulations they supposedly set up to ensure accountability. If they can violate the rules governing their behavior with impunity, then the common folk ought to be able to do the same. It remains to be seen how far the common folk will allow the bureaucrats to push the envelope. It remains to be seen how long the common folk will allow these violations to continue to take place. I have seen evidence, however, that the masses are awakening to their plight and more and more action is being taken to correct the usurpation that has occurred. It is my hope that even the bureaucrats will one day be able to see the flaws inherent in the system as it is and help to peacefully create an open, free, taxless, voluntary society.

My archived articles are available at szandorblestman.com. Please visit there and make a donation to help support me and my efforts. I also have an ebook available entitled "The Ouijiers" by Matthew Wayne.

Pirates of Savannah, A Book Review

I must admit, I am a tad bit jealous of Tarrin Lupo. He is a man of many talents, not the least of which is his ability to tell a story. His book, "Pirates of Savannah," is a well crafted historical fiction that recounts a time nearly forgotten and hardly ever mentioned in the study of United States history. Through the eyes of Patrick Willis, a man condemned to live out his years in the king's debt prison, we experience the new world of the colonies a few decades before the Americans declared their independence from the English crown. It is an exciting and sometimes disturbing tale, an interesting mix of fact and fiction that will keep the reader turning the page to learn the fate of the main characters.

We often forget that history, as life, is the day to day mundane interspersed with exciting events every so often. It is the mundane that is most important to most people and the excitement is usually not such a good thing. This is especially true if one lives under the rule of a tyrannical despot and the excitement involves his henchmen exercising the king's power to steal and punish. As Americans we might forget the blood, sweat and tears our forefathers had to suffer in order to establish this nation. We have almost certainly forgotten that they withstood decades of oppression before they finally screamed "enough!" and became independent of sovereign kings. It was a shout that the whole world heard.

Mr. Lupo's novel concentrates on the exciting events that change the hearts and minds of men. He does an excellent job of inserting the message of freedom into his story. The reader is reminded of what freedom is and why it is so important. I think that too many people have forgotten the trials and tribulations our forefathers struggled through to get to the point we're at today, and too many people are willing to take steps backward and allow the tyranny to once again take hold in the body politic. While "Pirates of Savannah" may be a work of historical fiction, the principles upon which it was based remain true and relevant to this day.

"Pirates of Savannah" is a quick and exciting read. The characters are likable and believable. The historic facts are interesting and engrossing. All and all, it was quite an enjoyable book. I highly recommend it.

Norway and Violent Lessons of the State

A terrible, terrible tragedy struck Norway on July 22nd, 2011. My heartfelt condolences go out to all that lost someone in those terrorist attacks. It is a horrible thing to lose a loved one in such a violent manner. I cannot express enough my dismay when I heard the news. Norway is perhaps one of the last places on earth one would expect such a tragedy to strike. Of course when one hears about such tragedy, it is only natural to scratch one's head and wonder why.

That said, it may be important to remember that tragedies occur on nearly a daily basis in other parts of the world. How many innocent children have been killed in Iraq since the United States and their allies began hostilities in that nation? How many innocents have died in Afghanistan? How many innocents have died in Pakistan? Libya? Is it somehow better because they have died at the hands of generals and the soldiers who obey their orders rather than at the hands of a lone gunman? Is it somehow less shocking? Is it any less terrible? Does the loss of a loved one hurt less because it happened as the result of a military operation? My heartfelt condolences go out to those who have lost loved ones in those terrorist attacks, for what is a full scale military attack if not terrifying?

It seems that we as a species have a strange need to excuse behaviors in supposed authoritarian figures that we find abhorrent, frightening and inhuman in individuals that hold no air of authority. It's almost as if such excuses are psychological bandages or salves applied to the karmic wounds suffered when one somehow identifies himself with another who is obviously engaging in evil doings. I think it would be better if we endeavor to prevent such psychic injury from occurring rather than trying to treat it after the fact.

Why do such tragedies occur? Perhaps it has to do with the lessons such violent people have learned in their lives. Perhaps they have learned that violence works when it comes to solving problems. I'm not talking about overt lessons where one sits and listens to a teacher who tells them violence is the way. I'm talking about more subtle lessons. After all, what is life but an inundation of lessons day in and day out from birth until death? People are constantly and consistently learning and evolving. Perhaps they've seen from childhood that violent means are the means most often utilized when it comes to bringing about social change one wishes to see in the world, or at least that's what they believe they've learned. Perhaps they think that if they truly wish to change the world, the only option they have is through violence. For them, violence works.

I agree that this point of view is misguided, but let's look through history and see why someone might come to think this way. Ancient empires like the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, and even the Chinese profited greatly from violence. Even the Bible tells stories of genocide committed by those who are supposedly God's favorite people. They stole natural resources and made slaves from the other human beings they conquered. In more modern times, the British empire rose and it's people became very prosperous through violence. The American nation was birthed in violence and won its independence through violent means. It grew and morphed into an empire the likes of which the world has never seen. It continues to use violence to maintain its empire and though it has its problems and its standard of living has fallen precipitously over the last couple of decades, it is still viewed as a prosperous and successful nation.

Closer to home, governments have shown how successful people and organizations can be through violence. The tax system proves this. Though nearly everyone complains about taxes and how their money is spent by government, people still tend to defend the system and fail to see the violence inherent in it. Simply put, the only reason people pay taxes is because of the threat of violence hanging over their heads should they refuse. That's extortion. Taxes are theft. Even if you are one of those who claim that they don't believe this to be true and use mental gymnastics to make excuses for the government, I believe that the vast majority of people understand this in their emotional heart and moral spirit if not in their logical mind.

Even though government constantly fails, it is quite successful at stealing money and convincing the masses that such theft is a necessity to societal well being. Central banks are also very adept at this. They steal money in the form of government bailouts and they steal purchasing power in the form of inflation. It's difficult to say who learned from whom, the central banks from government or government from central banks, but it is clear to see the collusion between the two types of institutions. Even today we can see subtle threats of violence coming out of the central banking institutions who claim that we will all suffer great economic calamity if we don't continue to feed the central banking monster.

Take a look at politicians, especially in Washington DC, but likely worldwide, and you will see wealth and success. Most likely don't know what it's like to actually work and be productive for a living, they only know how to finagle and play the system. They know how to lie and manipulate. They know how to be coercive and use enforcers, violence and threats of violence to get what they want. There are none who are more financially successful than the central bankers and they have consistently been the driving force behind most of the violence and wars for centuries. Their fraud and manipulations have caused more harm, death and violence than any measure of good they may have accidentally or incidentally caused. The long and short of it is, whether one knows it or not, one learns the lesson that violence works in the system as it is set up. Is it really any wonder when some so called nutcase decides to act on such knowledge, even when those lessons may be subconscious in nature?

I'm afraid that tragedies like the one that occurred in Norway will continue to occur even in places one would not expect until we start to teach people that peace and non violence work. When the masses begin to learn the lesson that peaceful means of change lead to peace and prosperity, then peace and prosperity will be rewarded and our society will become more peaceful and prosperous. When violence becomes shunned by the masses and more and more people refuse to take part in the violence of the state, there will be fewer incidents of violence. Unfortunately, I don't believe that time has yet arrived, but I do believe the path to that time is open and has been revealed to more people and they are deciding to tread upon it.

I'm fairly certain that the mainstream mass media is not going to look at this incident in the same way. I'm fairly certain they are not going to talk about the violence of the state and how its wars are leading to more people deciding to act out in ways abhorrent to the nature of mankind. Instead, they are going to try to demonize certain political groups and views that they want to squelch. They are going to try to divide and conquer rather than pointing to the root cause of the violence. They want to analyze the problem in a way that will increase the power of centralized government (and its centralized banking cartel) rather than pointing out the huge faults in the system. Watch out for that. Keep your eye out for the propaganda which will seek to perpetuate the violence through violating individual rights rather than alleviate the problem through decentralization.

We have had socialistic systems in place for quite some time now. It just seems to get worse. It just seems to consistently reward failure. It just seems to consistently punish those who seek a better way. Perhaps the time has come to try a better, more voluntary societal model. Make taxes voluntary and allow those who wish to withhold taxes do so with impunity when government funds projects with which they disagree. Allow competition in currency and other services government currently monopolizes. Allow those who use such services to pay for them so that a fair price can be established for such services. Make sure that people engaging in the economy need to be productive to succeed and have something of their own to lose should they fail. In this way, perhaps those who currently believe that violence is their only choice will see other, more positive options.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe this man should be excused for his actions. He has harmed others and should be held accountable. I am simply making suggestions for how to avoid such tragedies in the future. I am simply suggesting that we examine with great vigor the true nature of how our governments work. I don't believe that any society will ever be a perfect utopia, but I do believe that the only way to become a less violent society is to build less violent governmental systems. The socialists seem to believe that a utopia can be built by violence, but I don't buy that. Fear is the poison that causes hatred. Hatred leads to anger and violence. Violence achieves only death and destruction for both the physical and the spiritual. Because these things are part of humanity, there can never be a utopia, but we can get close if we learn to recognize how concentrating power over others causes human emotion and morality to become corrupt. When we reach that point, perhaps war and such tragedies will be but nightmares remembered upon the wakening of humanity.

My archived articles are available at szandorblestman.com. Please visit there and make a donation to help support me and my efforts. I also have an ebook available entitled "The Ouijiers" by Matthew Wayne.

Food, Control and the Growing Police State

Food has always been a tool the elite have used to control the masses. When you control the food supply, you control everything, even life and death. A starving man is more likely to sell his soul for a potato then someone with a full tummy. The relatively free market of food production and distribution that has been in place in this nation for a few centuries now has led to unrivaled prosperity. Food can, in fact, be grown for practically nothing if you have the land, the time and can afford to buy just a few heirloom seeds to grow the organic vegetables necessary for good health. This will save you money, is better for you than grocery store vegetables which may be genetically modified or may contain unwanted chemicals, and helps you to become less dependent on the state for your survival.

It is the last part of the above statement that frightens government officials. They want you dependent on them. For some, it makes them feel important. Others may just want to feel needed or helpful. Still others may just want the paycheck. Whatever the case, they don't seem to just want to leave you alone to your own devices. Perhaps that's why they're attempting to pass laws making it illegal to grow your own garden. Perhaps that's why they want to make sure you're a compliant grass farmer just like your neighbors. Perhaps that's why they're trying to control the food necessary for life.

There was much reporting done on the story of Julie Bass from Oak Park, Michigan, who was arrested for growing a garden in her (gasp) front lawn. There was so much reporting on this story, in fact, that the city of Oak Park decided to drop the charges. They had claimed that the citizens of Oak Park were in favor of such ordinances that made it a crime to have anything but nicely manicured, inedible, Kentucky bluegrass lawns (an exaggeration, but you get the idea). I think they were rather surprised when the Bass's neighbors came out decidedly against the arrest. Rather than apologizing and admitting they were wrong like normal people would do, however, they did what you would expect of government control freaks who think they're perfect. They found something else to charge poor Julie Bass with. Things get tough for you once you're on the government's shit list.

As Julie Bass's further adventures in the world of government abuse unfold, I hope she continues to receive the support of her neighbors and things turn out well for her. There are others who are not quite as fortunate as her, however, when it comes to the government's longing for complete control over food. There are other victims of inane policies of local government gangs. The homeless in Orlando are a good example.

Now, you'd think that government officials would want to help the disadvantaged such as people who have lost everything due to the economic downturn. That's what government officials would have us believe in many cases, that they are there to help when one is down and out. Why, then, would they want to make sure the homeless are hungry? Why would they want to arrest people for feeding other people who can't afford to buy a sandwich? Why would they wish to appear so callous about those who they are supposed to be helping? Perhaps they don't like the thought that they aren't the only ones who care about the plight of less fortunate people. Perhaps they simply don't like someone trying to muscle in on their charity monopoly. I'm not sure, but there is something terribly wrong with a system that decides to arrest people for helping.

There is a man, a super activist so to speak, who is trying to rectify this situation. His name is Julian Heicklen. He is a 79 year old activist who is trying to show us all what it means to truly fight tyranny and become free. He is going to Lake Eola Park in Orlando Florida on August 18th to help the "Food not Bombs" people distribute food to anyone who's hungry, including homeless people. Many have already been arrested by the not overly compassionate Orlando police for such acts of kindness. He also plans on engaging in other non violent illegal activities such as distributing Fully Informed Jury Association literature to people at the Orange County Court Complex and taking pictures of police officers doing their work to point out the ridiculousness of tyrannical laws, but it is the distributing of food down there that has really piqued my interest. The other activism is important as it sheds light on practices the controllers would like to keep secret, but one must truly wonder what on earth was going through their heads when they decided to make it illegal to help others who are less fortunate.

So, some local tyrants have decided not to allow the local serfs to grow vegetables in their front yards. They've decided that only they are allowed to help the needy, and they're doing a real poor job of it. If that's not enough to convince you of the immorality of many local governments that the common folk are supposed to be protected against, then I would point out the slew of kids' lemonade stands that have been shut down recently. Many stories of this occurring have been circulating lately and all I've heard about is people shaking their heads and complaining. Recently, however, someone has decided to do something about it.

Robert Fernandes has decided to create a website that promotes an event called Lemonade Freedom Day on August 20th, 2011. The idea is to spread the word that selling lemonade is not a crime and should not be treated as such. Don't you remember being a kid and setting up a lemonade stand? I remember doing so, only I sold Kool-Aid. I'm fairly certain that millions of children across this nation have fond memories of similar experiences. Why would someone want to steal such a valuable activity from modern youth? Why would anyone want to criminalize such a delightful piece of summertime Americana? Could it be that perhaps they wish to suppress the entrepreneurial spirit that helped build America? Could it be that their lust for control is so overwhelming to them that they couldn't care less about the children affected? Could it be that they are simply trying to drill into the heads of our youth the idea of obedience to law, no matter how onerous, bad, or immoral the law is? As I see it, authority has grown so far out of control that it has made itself illegitimate.

There are a couple of things that tie all these news stories together. The first is that none of these laws would matter if it wasn't for the enforcers, the police. All of these so called crimes would not have made the news if the police had simply said "no" when asked to arrest the perpetrators or shut down their operations. But the police in this nation seem to no longer be able to think for themselves. They have become the automatons of the state, excusing their actions because they are "just doing their jobs" just like the German Nazis excused their actions during World War II. I would point out that their job includes upholding the Constitution of the United States of America. I would point out that their job includes saying "no" to enforcing bad laws when ordered to. If things were running properly and the system wasn't so corrupt, perhaps that's what would be happening. In a perfect world, the brave peace officer who stands up to the corrupt government official would become a hero and be rewarded while the corrupt government official would get his comeuppance. Instead, we have a world where any "law enforcement officer" is punished for standing up to the system and lives in fear of losing his job or worse if he does what's right.

The other thing that ties these stories together is the common folk. It is their apathy that has allowed the system to deteriorate to this point. It is their going along to get along and simply not saying anything that has allowed the system to become so corrupt. It is their shrugging their shoulders and keeping their heads down that has allowed evil to win as much as it has, as the proverbial saying goes. Those in government have come to believe they can simply do as they please. They have come to believe that whatever they say is law and the people will grumble and moan, but simply obey and not do anything else about it. Well, that seems to be changing. The people spoke up about the Julie Bass situation and they're taking action to correct the other injustices mentioned above. Methinks that perhaps the government officials have pushed the envelope just a little too far and more than enough people can now see just how much the tyranny has grown. Next month should be an interesting one as the people attempt to trim it back.

My archived articles are available at szandorblestman.com. Please visit there and make a donation to help support me and my efforts. I also have an ebook available entitled "The Ouijiers" by Matthew Wayne.