"Help wanted."
For millions of unemployed Americans, these two words are a beacon -- a light at the end of a dark tunnel in which they found themselves after Wall Street speculators wrecked our economy. For the unemployed, "Help wanted" means there is hope.
But we've recently learned an outrageous fact -- many employers are discriminating against the jobless by prohibiting them from even applying for open positions. Their "Help wanted" signs come with a caveat -- if you are unemployed, you need not apply.1
For millions of U.S. workers, such discrimination is shocking and devastating. And we must make it stop.
So now we need your help. We've started petition asking major employment websites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder to refuse ads from companies that prohibit the unemployed from applying - and it's already having an impact:By signing our petition, you can let employers know that discriminating against the unemployed will not be tolerated.
Late yesterday, Monster.com responded to our campaign saying that they “strongly oppose discriminating vs. the unemployed.” But, so far, they have still not committed to refuse ads from employers who openly discriminate against the unemployed.2 Help us keep the pressure on by signing the petition and spreading the word.
It's outrageous enough that 14 million Americans are out of work. But discriminating against jobless people who just want to feed their families and stay in their homes?
Employers should not penalize applicants for a job status that they cannot control, especially when prohibiting the unemployed from applying only compounds the issue.
We need to get America back to work. By signing our petition, you can let employers know that discriminating against the unemployed will not be tolerated.
Sincerely,
Drew Hudson
USAction/TrueMajority
1 -- http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/business/help-wanted-ads-exclude-the-long-term-jobless.html
2 -- http://insideusaction.org/aggprog/?p=409
Friday, July 29, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Renew the call to end corporate rule at the 1st National Democracy Convention Aug.24-28,2011
Join us in Madison from August 24 to August 28; early registration and lodging discounts end Wednesday!
Wednesday July 27th is the deadline for discount room reservations and early registration for the Democracy Convention, August 24 through 28 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Don't miss out! Room rates will go back to regular price after Wednesday. The discount rate of $85 a night books you a room with two queen or king-size beds at the Madison Concourse, the city's only union hotel. After the 27th, rates will go up by at least 50% more. Make your hotel reservation now online, or call the Madison Concourse Hotel at 1-800-356-8293.
Wednesday is also the deadline for early convention registration discounts of up to 25% if you register and pay at the same time. Regular registration is $50 to $100, sliding scale. If you'd like to take advantage of the discount, click here.
Join us in Madison! The systemic issue behind all those that the Alliance and you work on is corporate personhood and corporate constitutional rights, the cornerstone of corporate rule and power of the corporate oligarchy.
The Democracy Convention hosts multiple conferences on earth democracy, constitutional reform, and education for democracy, media, economic democracy, racial justice and more. Each conference will have workshops, panels, and plenary sessions, with speakers drawn from labor, student, anti-militarism, anti-racism, sustainability, local economy and environmental justice movements.
Confirmed speakers include Tom Hayden, Gar Alperovitz, Margaret Flowers, Riki Ott and Ted Glick, as well as many organizers from Move to Amend. Musician Michelle Shocked headlines the conference celebration.
The Alliance is pleased to be one of the convention convenors, as well as key organizer for the Earth Democracy conference.
The Democracy Convention is where we will come together to:
* learn from each other about grassroots projects and actions
* engage with national action campaigns that bring communities together on the same issue
* build our capacity to enact alternatives that advance the well-being of all people and for the rights of nature.
Please support AfD’s participation in the Democracy Convention by renewing your membership or making an extra donation.
Your financial support is critical as we plan for this event. Help get Alliance activists, materials, and the message—“end corporate personhood, end corporate rule”—to Madison by giving as generously as possible.
Click here to give online or mail your tax-deductible contribution to Alliance for Democracy, PO Box 540115, Waltham, MA 02454. And thanks!
We hope to see many of you in Madison, especially those of you from the midwest. There will be time in the convention agenda for organizational gatherings. Send an email to Barbara Clancy in the office to let us know you will be attending.
Meet with us to build a vibrant democracy that inspires us to renew governance to meet community needs, preserve ecosystems, and establish justice for all (non-corporate) people!
See you in August,
Nancy, Ruth, Jim, Bonnie and Barbara
Want to keep our online community growing? Our Facebook page is an easy way to share AfD news with friends and help spread the word about grassroots alternatives to corporate rule.
Wednesday July 27th is the deadline for discount room reservations and early registration for the Democracy Convention, August 24 through 28 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Don't miss out! Room rates will go back to regular price after Wednesday. The discount rate of $85 a night books you a room with two queen or king-size beds at the Madison Concourse, the city's only union hotel. After the 27th, rates will go up by at least 50% more. Make your hotel reservation now online, or call the Madison Concourse Hotel at 1-800-356-8293.
Wednesday is also the deadline for early convention registration discounts of up to 25% if you register and pay at the same time. Regular registration is $50 to $100, sliding scale. If you'd like to take advantage of the discount, click here.
Join us in Madison! The systemic issue behind all those that the Alliance and you work on is corporate personhood and corporate constitutional rights, the cornerstone of corporate rule and power of the corporate oligarchy.
The Democracy Convention hosts multiple conferences on earth democracy, constitutional reform, and education for democracy, media, economic democracy, racial justice and more. Each conference will have workshops, panels, and plenary sessions, with speakers drawn from labor, student, anti-militarism, anti-racism, sustainability, local economy and environmental justice movements.
Confirmed speakers include Tom Hayden, Gar Alperovitz, Margaret Flowers, Riki Ott and Ted Glick, as well as many organizers from Move to Amend. Musician Michelle Shocked headlines the conference celebration.
The Alliance is pleased to be one of the convention convenors, as well as key organizer for the Earth Democracy conference.
The Democracy Convention is where we will come together to:
* learn from each other about grassroots projects and actions
* engage with national action campaigns that bring communities together on the same issue
* build our capacity to enact alternatives that advance the well-being of all people and for the rights of nature.
Please support AfD’s participation in the Democracy Convention by renewing your membership or making an extra donation.
Your financial support is critical as we plan for this event. Help get Alliance activists, materials, and the message—“end corporate personhood, end corporate rule”—to Madison by giving as generously as possible.
Click here to give online or mail your tax-deductible contribution to Alliance for Democracy, PO Box 540115, Waltham, MA 02454. And thanks!
We hope to see many of you in Madison, especially those of you from the midwest. There will be time in the convention agenda for organizational gatherings. Send an email to Barbara Clancy in the office to let us know you will be attending.
Meet with us to build a vibrant democracy that inspires us to renew governance to meet community needs, preserve ecosystems, and establish justice for all (non-corporate) people!
See you in August,
Nancy, Ruth, Jim, Bonnie and Barbara
Want to keep our online community growing? Our Facebook page is an easy way to share AfD news with friends and help spread the word about grassroots alternatives to corporate rule.
Monday, July 25, 2011
In Defense of the American Empire
Reckoning from Vancouver, British Columbia...by Bill Bonner
Oh my, the young man accused of killing 93 people in Norway, isn't the man Homeland Security and the Pentagon hoped for.
But we'll come back to that...first the world of finance.
Republicans and Democrats are under pressure. They need to keep up appearances. Both sides want to make a debt deal – so as to give the impression that US authorities know what they are doing and are in control of the situation.
Undoubtedly, it will be like the European deal...too little and too late to make any real difference.
Meanwhile, stocks fell 43 points on the Dow on Friday; no big deal, in other words. Bonds went up – showing that investors aren't particularly concerned about the debt ceiling problem. And gold rose back over $1,600.
So, let's move on...back to the future of the US empire.
As an empire matures, every opportunity to expand becomes a matter of national defense. (In America, the word "empire" is never mentioned.)
Ever since 9/11 "defense" industries have been peddling the idea that Islamic terrorism is a threat to national security. Their spirits must have lifted when they first heard the news from Oslo over the weekend. Finally, after 6 years of relative quiet, here comes more evidence that there really are some Islamic terrorists!
But now we discover; he isn't an Islamic terrorist at all. He's a Christian terrorist; he thinks he's defending Christendom from the Islamic Threat.
Oh la la...the valiant knights of the military industrial complex now have Christian terrorists on the right...and Islamic terrorists on the left. Or vice versa.
But wait, their story was that they were defending the USA and its empire against Muslim bad guys who want to destroy it. Are they also defending the empire against Christian bad guys who want to protect it?
Ay yi yi...what a tangled web we weave...
And more thoughts...
"Bill, you're telling only a part of the story. I mean, the story of how America became an empire and what it means."
The speaker was a weekend visitor, from Washington, DC, a man active in conservative politics.
"First, winning the Cold War was the biggest setback of our lifetimes. There was probably nothing we could do about it, but it unleashed 3 billion people to compete against us.
"But then, the US was still in a position to protect itself. We were providing a protective umbrella to Europe and Japan. Basically, we guaranteed their safety...with our nuclear arms. We also guaranteed their access to oil.
"We did this without getting anything in return. When the Europeans proposed to put up an airplane company that could compete with Boeing, we were still in a position to stop it. But the US was told that unless it went along with the Airbus program, NATO would be a dead issue. NATO was the means for the US to project power in Europe. Rather than let the empire go, the US gave up much of its aircraft industry.
"Same thing in Japan...and now in China. In order to finance the empire's spending, the US had to give up its own manufacturing industry. That was the imperial bargain. 'We'll protect you and let you sell stuff to us...but you have to finance our empire.'"
"Are you saying the US shouldn't allow foreign cars or foreign-made planes to be sold in the US," we asked?
"No, I'm just saying that an empire is not a free market enterprise. It makes deals. The deals it made in Europe and Asia doomed its own manufacturers to failure and doomed its middle classes to poverty.
"All I'm saying is that this is part of the story of the empire. Yes, the zombies have taken over, as you put it. But it's really an empire story. That's the important part.
"It didn't matter who was in the White House, Republican or Democrat. Liberal or conservative. They all did the same thing. They followed the imperial agenda. There were stupid leaders, such as George W. Bush. And there were smart leaders, such as Barack Obama. The stupid ones liked sending troops to Iraq, for example, and sent them. The smart ones didn't like sending troops, but they sent them too. They all do the same thing. Because their real mission – whether they realize it or not – is to build out the empire.
"All of them do what they need to do. As you say, 'people come to think what they need to think when they need to think it.'
"And now the conservatives are faced with an historic choice. I've attended those Tea Party meetings and the meetings of CPAC, the conservative political action committees. There are two currents of thought.
"But first you have to understand what has happened in the conservative movement. The Tea Party has shaken things up. But it's just beginning. And the Tea Partiers don't quite know what they think. Their reactions are emotion, not well thought out. Not always coherent or logical.
"There are the principled, old conservatives – people like Ron Paul, who are consistently against expanding the power of government and consistently in favor of reducing the cost of it. And there are the new conservatives, much of the religious right, and the neo cons.
"Both groups say they are in favor of the same things – basically cutting big government down to size. But conservatives have to decide what this means. The obvious and fastest way to balance the federal budget is to renounce the imperial agenda. It costs about $1.2 trillion a year to maintain troops all over the globe, to run Homeland Security, participate in 3 wars...and all the other things that go into being an empire. Congress and the president could simply announce that they no longer believed the empire was a worthwhile project. Presto, the budget would be balanced. Problem solved.
"And I'm not talking about undermining national defense. I'm just talking about eliminating spending on things that actually make the nation less safe. That's what an empire does. By involving itself in everyone else's business, it makes enemies.
"I know a gal who lives part of the year in Morocco. She told me that she had a friend who is tall, with curly blond hair. Apparently, he's always getting attacked on the streets because people think he's an American.
"And it's no wonder. Bush didn't tell Americans the truth about the terrorists. They were over here because we were over there, not the other way around. I mean, we're not over there because they were over here.
"And when I talk about cutting the Pentagon budget and the costs of running an empire, I'm just talking about the part of the defense and other budgets that have nothing really to do with providing real security. They're just about imposing US authority on the rest of the world.
"There's always a trade off. It's either politics or markets. You see that in the business world too. There are people who want control. And there are people who are trying to provide a good service or product at a profit. The politicians in a business care more about controlling things. They'll ruin a business if you let them.
"Either you're letting people work out their own problems...between willing buyers and sellers. Or you're telling them what to do. Politics, especially, imperial politics is all about controlling the rest of the world.
"Trouble is, politics is expensive and unproductive. The more of it you have – either at home or abroad – the poorer you become...until you can no longer afford it. That's the situation we're in now. We're already way beyond the point of no return...the point where the debt depresses growth. It's only a matter of time before we can't go on.
"The real question is whether we do something about it now...bringing our spending in line with our ability to spend...or whether the market forces us to do it. As Ayn Rand said, you can ignore the market. But you can't avoid the consequences of ignoring the market. Now, we're facing the consequences.
"And what I'm proposing is to eliminate the deficit by renouncing the empire. Of course, this would come as a huge shock to the public. They thought the Pentagon was defending them from something. They don't even realize that we have an empire. They have no idea what it costs, what it means, or what might happen if we didn't have one. We've never had that debate. Woodrow Wilson launched the nation directly on the path of empire, but there was never any discussion of it. No debate in Congress was ever held. Instead, every time we went further and further away from real national defense – such as when Wilson sent troops in WWI – it was always justified in defense terms. Even then, we were supposedly 'making the world safe for democracy.'
"But that's just the way it works. Every empire transforms its own expansion into self defense measures. Germany invaded the Sudetenland, and then Poland largely to secure its own frontiers. Japan marched down Southeast Asia to secure its lifeline of resources. Britain conquered half the world to protect its manufactures....and Napoleon invaded Russia to remove the threat on the East.
"The US didn't have any real enemies – after the Soviet Union folded up – so it had to invent this whole terrorism thing. Now, we have our forces all over the Mideast and now North Africa, to protect the USA from terrorism. That's what they say.
"And here's the scary thing. In all the many examples of empires, none...not one...ever backed up. None ever renounced its imperial destiny. None ever thought better of it. Instead, they all went headlong...forward...until they finally got their butts kicked.
"Some people in the Tea Party...and even in the Republican Party...see what has happened. They understand how the nation has become addicted to cheap credit, cheap money, and to expensive imperial adventures. They are afraid that if they don't get control of it now, it will soon be too late.
"And my hope for the nation is that they will be successful. I believe there is hope. I think that if we can make the link clear – between the imperial, big spending, big credit, big government project...and the coming bankruptcy of the nation...we might be able to turn the country around.
"At best, it will be a close run. Because the military is about the only institution in America that people still trust. They don't trust Congress or the banks...or the political parties...or the rich...or the big corporations. And we have no national church, they might trust.
"So, when push comes to shove, the Tea Partiers – like everyone else – are likely to back the military and the empire. There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction; when you're faced with adversity, you back your military, no matter what they're doing. Even when it brings you close to extinction. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Tea Party get mixed up and hijacked by the neo-cons and the big- government imperialists in the conservative movement.
"Just the other day, I heard Rush Limbaugh make the argument. He said we should give the Pentagon our full support, because it was the only institution we can still believe in. A lot of Tea Partiers feel the same way. They don't make the connection between central planning, big budgets, unlimited credit and the big, imperial agenda.
"So, I know I might lose this fight. The Tea Partiers will probably choose the Empire over the Republic...they'll probably prefer politics to markets. They'll probably back the troops...and let the country go broke. But if I'm going to live in the United States of America I've got to take a stand...I've got to do something. And this is all I can do."
Regards,
Bill Bonner,
for The Daily Reckoning
-------------------------------------------------------
Here at The Daily Reckoning, we value your questions and comments. If you would like to send us a few thoughts of your own, please address them to your managing editor at joel@dailyreckoning.com
American Public Policy and Government Accountability
Oh my, the young man accused of killing 93 people in Norway, isn't the man Homeland Security and the Pentagon hoped for.
But we'll come back to that...first the world of finance.
Republicans and Democrats are under pressure. They need to keep up appearances. Both sides want to make a debt deal – so as to give the impression that US authorities know what they are doing and are in control of the situation.
Undoubtedly, it will be like the European deal...too little and too late to make any real difference.
Meanwhile, stocks fell 43 points on the Dow on Friday; no big deal, in other words. Bonds went up – showing that investors aren't particularly concerned about the debt ceiling problem. And gold rose back over $1,600.
So, let's move on...back to the future of the US empire.
As an empire matures, every opportunity to expand becomes a matter of national defense. (In America, the word "empire" is never mentioned.)
Ever since 9/11 "defense" industries have been peddling the idea that Islamic terrorism is a threat to national security. Their spirits must have lifted when they first heard the news from Oslo over the weekend. Finally, after 6 years of relative quiet, here comes more evidence that there really are some Islamic terrorists!
But now we discover; he isn't an Islamic terrorist at all. He's a Christian terrorist; he thinks he's defending Christendom from the Islamic Threat.
Oh la la...the valiant knights of the military industrial complex now have Christian terrorists on the right...and Islamic terrorists on the left. Or vice versa.
But wait, their story was that they were defending the USA and its empire against Muslim bad guys who want to destroy it. Are they also defending the empire against Christian bad guys who want to protect it?
Ay yi yi...what a tangled web we weave...
And more thoughts...
"Bill, you're telling only a part of the story. I mean, the story of how America became an empire and what it means."
The speaker was a weekend visitor, from Washington, DC, a man active in conservative politics.
"First, winning the Cold War was the biggest setback of our lifetimes. There was probably nothing we could do about it, but it unleashed 3 billion people to compete against us.
"But then, the US was still in a position to protect itself. We were providing a protective umbrella to Europe and Japan. Basically, we guaranteed their safety...with our nuclear arms. We also guaranteed their access to oil.
"We did this without getting anything in return. When the Europeans proposed to put up an airplane company that could compete with Boeing, we were still in a position to stop it. But the US was told that unless it went along with the Airbus program, NATO would be a dead issue. NATO was the means for the US to project power in Europe. Rather than let the empire go, the US gave up much of its aircraft industry.
"Same thing in Japan...and now in China. In order to finance the empire's spending, the US had to give up its own manufacturing industry. That was the imperial bargain. 'We'll protect you and let you sell stuff to us...but you have to finance our empire.'"
"Are you saying the US shouldn't allow foreign cars or foreign-made planes to be sold in the US," we asked?
"No, I'm just saying that an empire is not a free market enterprise. It makes deals. The deals it made in Europe and Asia doomed its own manufacturers to failure and doomed its middle classes to poverty.
"All I'm saying is that this is part of the story of the empire. Yes, the zombies have taken over, as you put it. But it's really an empire story. That's the important part.
"It didn't matter who was in the White House, Republican or Democrat. Liberal or conservative. They all did the same thing. They followed the imperial agenda. There were stupid leaders, such as George W. Bush. And there were smart leaders, such as Barack Obama. The stupid ones liked sending troops to Iraq, for example, and sent them. The smart ones didn't like sending troops, but they sent them too. They all do the same thing. Because their real mission – whether they realize it or not – is to build out the empire.
"All of them do what they need to do. As you say, 'people come to think what they need to think when they need to think it.'
"And now the conservatives are faced with an historic choice. I've attended those Tea Party meetings and the meetings of CPAC, the conservative political action committees. There are two currents of thought.
"But first you have to understand what has happened in the conservative movement. The Tea Party has shaken things up. But it's just beginning. And the Tea Partiers don't quite know what they think. Their reactions are emotion, not well thought out. Not always coherent or logical.
"There are the principled, old conservatives – people like Ron Paul, who are consistently against expanding the power of government and consistently in favor of reducing the cost of it. And there are the new conservatives, much of the religious right, and the neo cons.
"Both groups say they are in favor of the same things – basically cutting big government down to size. But conservatives have to decide what this means. The obvious and fastest way to balance the federal budget is to renounce the imperial agenda. It costs about $1.2 trillion a year to maintain troops all over the globe, to run Homeland Security, participate in 3 wars...and all the other things that go into being an empire. Congress and the president could simply announce that they no longer believed the empire was a worthwhile project. Presto, the budget would be balanced. Problem solved.
"And I'm not talking about undermining national defense. I'm just talking about eliminating spending on things that actually make the nation less safe. That's what an empire does. By involving itself in everyone else's business, it makes enemies.
"I know a gal who lives part of the year in Morocco. She told me that she had a friend who is tall, with curly blond hair. Apparently, he's always getting attacked on the streets because people think he's an American.
"And it's no wonder. Bush didn't tell Americans the truth about the terrorists. They were over here because we were over there, not the other way around. I mean, we're not over there because they were over here.
"And when I talk about cutting the Pentagon budget and the costs of running an empire, I'm just talking about the part of the defense and other budgets that have nothing really to do with providing real security. They're just about imposing US authority on the rest of the world.
"There's always a trade off. It's either politics or markets. You see that in the business world too. There are people who want control. And there are people who are trying to provide a good service or product at a profit. The politicians in a business care more about controlling things. They'll ruin a business if you let them.
"Either you're letting people work out their own problems...between willing buyers and sellers. Or you're telling them what to do. Politics, especially, imperial politics is all about controlling the rest of the world.
"Trouble is, politics is expensive and unproductive. The more of it you have – either at home or abroad – the poorer you become...until you can no longer afford it. That's the situation we're in now. We're already way beyond the point of no return...the point where the debt depresses growth. It's only a matter of time before we can't go on.
"The real question is whether we do something about it now...bringing our spending in line with our ability to spend...or whether the market forces us to do it. As Ayn Rand said, you can ignore the market. But you can't avoid the consequences of ignoring the market. Now, we're facing the consequences.
"And what I'm proposing is to eliminate the deficit by renouncing the empire. Of course, this would come as a huge shock to the public. They thought the Pentagon was defending them from something. They don't even realize that we have an empire. They have no idea what it costs, what it means, or what might happen if we didn't have one. We've never had that debate. Woodrow Wilson launched the nation directly on the path of empire, but there was never any discussion of it. No debate in Congress was ever held. Instead, every time we went further and further away from real national defense – such as when Wilson sent troops in WWI – it was always justified in defense terms. Even then, we were supposedly 'making the world safe for democracy.'
"But that's just the way it works. Every empire transforms its own expansion into self defense measures. Germany invaded the Sudetenland, and then Poland largely to secure its own frontiers. Japan marched down Southeast Asia to secure its lifeline of resources. Britain conquered half the world to protect its manufactures....and Napoleon invaded Russia to remove the threat on the East.
"The US didn't have any real enemies – after the Soviet Union folded up – so it had to invent this whole terrorism thing. Now, we have our forces all over the Mideast and now North Africa, to protect the USA from terrorism. That's what they say.
"And here's the scary thing. In all the many examples of empires, none...not one...ever backed up. None ever renounced its imperial destiny. None ever thought better of it. Instead, they all went headlong...forward...until they finally got their butts kicked.
"Some people in the Tea Party...and even in the Republican Party...see what has happened. They understand how the nation has become addicted to cheap credit, cheap money, and to expensive imperial adventures. They are afraid that if they don't get control of it now, it will soon be too late.
"And my hope for the nation is that they will be successful. I believe there is hope. I think that if we can make the link clear – between the imperial, big spending, big credit, big government project...and the coming bankruptcy of the nation...we might be able to turn the country around.
"At best, it will be a close run. Because the military is about the only institution in America that people still trust. They don't trust Congress or the banks...or the political parties...or the rich...or the big corporations. And we have no national church, they might trust.
"So, when push comes to shove, the Tea Partiers – like everyone else – are likely to back the military and the empire. There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction; when you're faced with adversity, you back your military, no matter what they're doing. Even when it brings you close to extinction. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Tea Party get mixed up and hijacked by the neo-cons and the big- government imperialists in the conservative movement.
"Just the other day, I heard Rush Limbaugh make the argument. He said we should give the Pentagon our full support, because it was the only institution we can still believe in. A lot of Tea Partiers feel the same way. They don't make the connection between central planning, big budgets, unlimited credit and the big, imperial agenda.
"So, I know I might lose this fight. The Tea Partiers will probably choose the Empire over the Republic...they'll probably prefer politics to markets. They'll probably back the troops...and let the country go broke. But if I'm going to live in the United States of America I've got to take a stand...I've got to do something. And this is all I can do."
Regards,
Bill Bonner,
for The Daily Reckoning
-------------------------------------------------------
Here at The Daily Reckoning, we value your questions and comments. If you would like to send us a few thoughts of your own, please address them to your managing editor at joel@dailyreckoning.com
American Public Policy and Government Accountability
Sunday, July 24, 2011
On The Idea of America - July 4th
Whiskey & Gunpowder by Gary Gibson July 1, 2011 Geneva, Florida, U.S.A.
The Fourth of July is upon us again and a couple hundred million people in the middle latitudes of the North American continent are going to celebrate the birth of the United States. Most of them assume that this means they'll also be celebrating being American, but that's not necessarily so.
The United States is a political thing, one heir to the typical failings of politics, and the almost imperceptibly slow decay of republican virtue into nanny statism and imperial hubris.
America, however, is something different. It is not the same thing as the United States that seek to overlay it and to smother it. America is an idea that precedes the U.S. and, we like to believe, both transcends the nation-state and will outlive it.
As Thomas Paine says:
"Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise."
The new version of The Idea Of America: What It Was and How It Was Lost collects in one volume the greatest essays about what America means. It is something undeniably anarchist, resolutely independent and demanding of personal liberty no matter the cost in inconvenience and even in the face of mortal danger.
As stated before America precedes the U.S., but from the founding of the political version of the nation, a dozen generations have sequentially sacrificed more liberty, more of the uniquely American independence for perceived expedience, convenience and security.
"The desire for material ease long ago vanquished the spirit of '76," writes American Anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre.
The Idea Of America co-editor Bill Bonner adds, "People in the land of the free and the home of the brave will go along with almost anything. They are perfectly willing to give up almost every trace of freedom as long as they have security and economic comfort."
I don't know many books that can hook the reader so powerfully just with the introduction, but that is exactly what The Idea of America does.
Co-editors Bill Bonner and Pierre Lemieux start out strong. I was actually worried that there would be no way for the book to deliver on the promise offered by such a strong start. I needn't have worried. I mean, really how could you go wrong with Murray Rothbard, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and other such luminaries?
Lemieux's introduction begins the book with a tour of American history that smartly highlights how the forces of liberty have vied with those of state intervention. The book then continues with selections from Murray Rothbard, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Lord Acton. An entire section is devoted to selections from Alexis de Tocqueville. The rest of the book features Jefferson, Franklin, Thoreau, Mencken. This new edition also has selections from Emma Lazarus and Rose Wilder Lane. The book is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to choice quotes.
Take for example this one from Alexis de Tocqueville defining the totalitarian nanny state, devoid of outright despotism, but destructive nonetheless. From his essay on democratic despotism:
"...[T]he species of oppression by which democratic nations are menaced is unlike anything which ever before existed in the world; our contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their memories. I seek in vain for an expression which will accurately convey the whole of the idea I have formed of it; the old words despotism and tyranny are inappropriate: the thing itself is new, and since I cannot name it, I must attempt to define it.
"Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?
"...After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
"...I have always thought that servitude of the regular, quiet, and gentle kind which I have just described might be combined more easily than is commonly believed with some of the outward forms of freedom, and that it might even establish itself under the wing of the sovereignty of the people."
Then there's Benjamin Franklin's "To Those Who Would Remove To America", as classic a description of the essence of the true American. Franklin asks of any man would start fresh in America:
"...[W]hat can he do? If he has any useful art, he is welcome; and if he exercises it and behaves well, he will be respected by all that know him; but a mere man of quality, who on that account wants to live upon the public, by some office or salary, will be despised and disregarded. The husbandman is in honor there, and even the mechanic, because their employments are useful."
Franklin also provides a lesson in capitalism, finding a need and filling it and of the economics of early America, what sort of person and skills would flourish in the new country.
In the next essay, the equally inimitable H.L. Mencken puts it so: "All our cities are full of aristocrats whose grandfathers were day laborers, and clerks whose grandfathers were aristocrats."
Ralph Waldo Emerson adds:
"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried."
"Consider what is happening in public finance," Bill Bonner asks of the reader in parting.
"An individual might say, 'This country must stop spending so much money.' But he will not want to give up his own public benefits-his Social Security, his Medicaid, all his government checks. He has no reason to give up his benefits, because it wouldn't make a dent in the problem. It is as if the whole nation had a single credit card. It does not make any sense for a single individual to take himself off the Social Security rolls. Thus, mass institutions have no way to correct their own courses; they must continue down the path to ruin."
It seems like a lost cause. As if things must simply run their course. As if the idea of America must decline and die like everything else.
There's an undeniable tragedy to this Fourth of July. The decay has become too advanced for anyone not in denial to ignore: The foreign entanglements, the innumerable tendrils of state intervention, the advancement of the police state...
As we mark the birth of the Republic this year it has never been easier to think about its death. It's no random republishing that brings this new edition of The Idea of America to us now.
I am going to give away the ending, but I think it's worth it...
Bill Bonner paraphrases Ghandi when he concludes, "America is a very good idea. Somebody ought to try it."
Who can argue with that? This book will certainly make you want to try.
Regards,
Gary Gibson
Managing editor, Whiskey & Gunpowder
On The Idea of America appears on Whiskey & Gunpowder.
P.S. We now have the new version of The Idea of America: What It Was and How It Was Lost in stock!
Click here to get your copy.
If you do so through the link provided in this letter, you will get 20% off the cover price.
Whiskey On Facebook Become a Facebook Fan of Whiskey & Gunpowder, here.
Whiskey On Twitter Follow the Whiskey & Gunpowder on Twitter, here.
The Fourth of July is upon us again and a couple hundred million people in the middle latitudes of the North American continent are going to celebrate the birth of the United States. Most of them assume that this means they'll also be celebrating being American, but that's not necessarily so.
The United States is a political thing, one heir to the typical failings of politics, and the almost imperceptibly slow decay of republican virtue into nanny statism and imperial hubris.
America, however, is something different. It is not the same thing as the United States that seek to overlay it and to smother it. America is an idea that precedes the U.S. and, we like to believe, both transcends the nation-state and will outlive it.
As Thomas Paine says:
"Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise."
The new version of The Idea Of America: What It Was and How It Was Lost collects in one volume the greatest essays about what America means. It is something undeniably anarchist, resolutely independent and demanding of personal liberty no matter the cost in inconvenience and even in the face of mortal danger.
As stated before America precedes the U.S., but from the founding of the political version of the nation, a dozen generations have sequentially sacrificed more liberty, more of the uniquely American independence for perceived expedience, convenience and security.
"The desire for material ease long ago vanquished the spirit of '76," writes American Anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre.
The Idea Of America co-editor Bill Bonner adds, "People in the land of the free and the home of the brave will go along with almost anything. They are perfectly willing to give up almost every trace of freedom as long as they have security and economic comfort."
I don't know many books that can hook the reader so powerfully just with the introduction, but that is exactly what The Idea of America does.
Co-editors Bill Bonner and Pierre Lemieux start out strong. I was actually worried that there would be no way for the book to deliver on the promise offered by such a strong start. I needn't have worried. I mean, really how could you go wrong with Murray Rothbard, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and other such luminaries?
Lemieux's introduction begins the book with a tour of American history that smartly highlights how the forces of liberty have vied with those of state intervention. The book then continues with selections from Murray Rothbard, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Lord Acton. An entire section is devoted to selections from Alexis de Tocqueville. The rest of the book features Jefferson, Franklin, Thoreau, Mencken. This new edition also has selections from Emma Lazarus and Rose Wilder Lane. The book is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to choice quotes.
Take for example this one from Alexis de Tocqueville defining the totalitarian nanny state, devoid of outright despotism, but destructive nonetheless. From his essay on democratic despotism:
"...[T]he species of oppression by which democratic nations are menaced is unlike anything which ever before existed in the world; our contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their memories. I seek in vain for an expression which will accurately convey the whole of the idea I have formed of it; the old words despotism and tyranny are inappropriate: the thing itself is new, and since I cannot name it, I must attempt to define it.
"Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?
"...After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
"...I have always thought that servitude of the regular, quiet, and gentle kind which I have just described might be combined more easily than is commonly believed with some of the outward forms of freedom, and that it might even establish itself under the wing of the sovereignty of the people."
Then there's Benjamin Franklin's "To Those Who Would Remove To America", as classic a description of the essence of the true American. Franklin asks of any man would start fresh in America:
"...[W]hat can he do? If he has any useful art, he is welcome; and if he exercises it and behaves well, he will be respected by all that know him; but a mere man of quality, who on that account wants to live upon the public, by some office or salary, will be despised and disregarded. The husbandman is in honor there, and even the mechanic, because their employments are useful."
Franklin also provides a lesson in capitalism, finding a need and filling it and of the economics of early America, what sort of person and skills would flourish in the new country.
In the next essay, the equally inimitable H.L. Mencken puts it so: "All our cities are full of aristocrats whose grandfathers were day laborers, and clerks whose grandfathers were aristocrats."
Ralph Waldo Emerson adds:
"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried."
"Consider what is happening in public finance," Bill Bonner asks of the reader in parting.
"An individual might say, 'This country must stop spending so much money.' But he will not want to give up his own public benefits-his Social Security, his Medicaid, all his government checks. He has no reason to give up his benefits, because it wouldn't make a dent in the problem. It is as if the whole nation had a single credit card. It does not make any sense for a single individual to take himself off the Social Security rolls. Thus, mass institutions have no way to correct their own courses; they must continue down the path to ruin."
It seems like a lost cause. As if things must simply run their course. As if the idea of America must decline and die like everything else.
There's an undeniable tragedy to this Fourth of July. The decay has become too advanced for anyone not in denial to ignore: The foreign entanglements, the innumerable tendrils of state intervention, the advancement of the police state...
As we mark the birth of the Republic this year it has never been easier to think about its death. It's no random republishing that brings this new edition of The Idea of America to us now.
I am going to give away the ending, but I think it's worth it...
Bill Bonner paraphrases Ghandi when he concludes, "America is a very good idea. Somebody ought to try it."
Who can argue with that? This book will certainly make you want to try.
Regards,
Gary Gibson
Managing editor, Whiskey & Gunpowder
On The Idea of America appears on Whiskey & Gunpowder.
P.S. We now have the new version of The Idea of America: What It Was and How It Was Lost in stock!
Click here to get your copy.
If you do so through the link provided in this letter, you will get 20% off the cover price.
Whiskey On Facebook Become a Facebook Fan of Whiskey & Gunpowder, here.
Whiskey On Twitter Follow the Whiskey & Gunpowder on Twitter, here.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
The Gospel of "Saint" Ambrose, part two from "The Devil's Dictionary"
Whiskey & Gunpowder by Jim Amrhein July 20, 2011 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
For now we direct your attention to the second installment of Jim Amrhein's review of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. Read on below...
BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters.
-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911
In the first installment of this two-part series, I entertained you - quite fittingly, I thought, for its 100th anniversary - with the acerbic hilarity of some of the more state-skewering entries from Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary...
To me, many of these "definitions" are actually closer to being truly definitive of their corresponding terms than anything you'd find in an actual dictionary.
For instance, the latest version of the online dictionary I use most often defines "cynic" principally as:
Cynic (noun): A person who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable or unselfish reasons...
However, to my way of thinking, this "objective" definition falls far short of the clinical (or cynical) reality.
Evidence abounds in government, the markets, medicine, the courts, religion, the media, sports, education, marriage, friendships, and everywhere else of rampant selfishness. By and large, people really are motivated by self-interest - it's central to our survival, bred into our very DNA.
Through the lens of the real, Bierce's definition of "cynic" is the more accurate one:
CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be...
That's because his definition (which includes himself as a prototypical example) speaks not to whether people are selfish or not - but to how a society wholly comprised of selfish people regard those who point out their hypocrisy...
According to Bierce, a cynic is one who's held in contempt by society (a blackguard) for seeing it as it really is: A corrupt place ruled by the self-interested.
Like I said, dead-nuts accurate under a thin veil of humor...
Just like his Devil's Dictionary take on other institutions fundamental to a "civilized" society. Things like schooling:
ACADEME, n. An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught.
ACADEMY, n. [from ACADEME] A modern school where football is taught.
EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.
LEARNING, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious.
And medicine - a deserving target if there ever was one...
FORGETFULNESS, n. A gift of God bestowed upon doctors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.
GOUT, n. A physician's name for the rheumatism of a rich patient.
MEDICINE, n. A stone flung down the Bowery to kill a dog in Broadway.
PHYSICIAN, n. One upon whom we set our hopes when ill and our dogs when well.
PRESCRIPTION, n. A physician's guess at what will best prolong the situation with least harm to the patient.
Let's not forget morality and religion - those sacred cows few ever deign to joust with in print...
CLERGYMAN, n. A man who undertakes the management of our spiritual affairs as a method of bettering his temporal ones.
FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
IMPIETY, n. Your irreverence toward my deity.
INFIDEL, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.
MORAL, adj. Conforming to a local and mutable standard of right. Having the quality of general expediency.
PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
RELIGION, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
RESPONSIBILITY, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor.
SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.
(I suppose now is the time to add the disclaimer: The views of this column are not necessarily the views of Whiskey & Gunpowder, its publishers, contributors, etc. Although some - like Bierce's thoughts on money, commerce and business - no doubt are, to one degree or another...)
COMMERCE, n. A kind of transaction in which A plunders from B the goods of C, and for compensation B picks the pocket of D of money belonging to E.
CORPORATION, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
FINANCE, n. The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage of the manager.
(Are you paying attention, Goldman-Sachs?)
IMPUNITY, n. Wealth.
INSURANCE, n. An ingenious modern game of chance in which the player is permitted to enjoy the comfortable conviction that he is beating the man who keeps the table.
LABOR, n. One of the processes by which A acquires property for B.
PIRACY, n. Commerce without its folly-swaddles, just as God made it.
RICH, adj. Holding in trust and subject to an accounting the property of the indolent, the incompetent, the unthrifty, the envious and the luckless.
WALL STREET, n. A symbol for sin for every devil to rebuke.
Some of Bierce's most hilariously devilish "definitions" apply to that hallowed ground, the law...
LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.
(Because like almost any of the lawyers in Congress can tell you, one must know the law if one is to break it to his own benefit.)
LITIGANT, n. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones.
TRIAL, n. A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the blameless characters of judges, advocates and jurors.
RETALIATION, n. The natural rock upon which is reared the Temple of Law.
But for all of his venom loosed on society's institutions in The Devil's Dictionary, Bierce saves some of the most potent for everyday life and relationships. I won't list any of them here, but they're pricelessly vicious and undeniably true...
If you're a fan of the ugly truth and timeless, sardonic wit, you simply must pick up a copy of The Devil's Dictionary for yourself - and for each of your like-minded friends. I'm fortunate enough to have the 2004 edition illustrated by the one-of-a-kind Ralph Steadman (of Hunter S. Thompson fame), but there are others out there.
However, by now you must be wondering why anyone would want to subject himself to the miserable, "nothing matters" vision of Ambrose Bierce anyway...
There's a very good reason, and it's this: If more of us were sharp-eyed, acid-tongued, outspoken cynics instead of rose-colored-glasses-wearing, social media addicted Kool-Aid gulpers, America might not be as screwed as she is right now.
The incredible hubris and hypocrisy in our government got that way over the last 200 years because we bought into the vaunted notion that they were doing what they did "for the people"...
Instead of for themselves - which is human nature, like it or not.
We let things like debt spending, entitlements, welfare programs, lax border security, and endless regulation get the better of our wallets, property, and rights because we believed it when our leaders told us they were "doing it all for us"...While they feathered their own nests and saddled America's children with the bill.
In other words, if more of us had been cynics like Ambrose Bierce - and as such, more keenly able to spot the egregious self-interest of those we've elected - we could have done more to stop the damage they've done to our republic.
Bierce himself single-handedly defeated one of the most shamelessly corrupt bills ever put before Congress, in fact. It was 1896 when advocates for numerous railroad giants slipped a bill in front of Congress without public notice or hearings...
The nature of that bill: An exemption on repayment of tens of millions of dollars borrowed from the U.S. government for the construction of the transcontinental railway. Dispatched by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Bierce traveled to Washington, investigated the deal, and penned a series of such scathing editorials on the subject that the plot was exposed and the bill roundly defeated.
We forget, we Americans, what power we wield. Not just with our pens - but with our dollars, our votes, our choices, and our passion.
And the reason we forget is that we're all hopeless deceived, distracted, deluded, or doped-up to be able to clearly see when others are acting egregiously in their own self-interest in dire conflict with our own...
Ambrose Bierce and his Devil's Dictionary remind us of the need to be more cynical for the sake of our own survival - and he does it better than anyone else can, or ever has. And the price he paid for it in life was surely one of loneliness. From the Dictionary:
FRIENDLESS, adj. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.
I, for one, salute Ambrose Bierce as friend, wherever he is. His disappearance at age 71 remains a mystery.
My only hope is that however he went, it was doing something for himself - in his own interest - rather than in trying to add to the incredible service he rendered to this nation and the world with the simple, cynical truth.
Very Truly Yours,
Jim Amrhein
P.S. Thanks again, Whiskey-ers, for the chance to spend some time and share some thoughts with you all once again. I hope you've enjoyed my fond look back at one of history's greatest polemicists. And I look forward to keeping you abreast of the exciting goings-on at Agora Financial's "Fight or Flight" Wealth Symposium in Vancouver, the last week of July. Talk to you then... J.A.
For now we direct your attention to the second installment of Jim Amrhein's review of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. Read on below...
BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters.
-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911
In the first installment of this two-part series, I entertained you - quite fittingly, I thought, for its 100th anniversary - with the acerbic hilarity of some of the more state-skewering entries from Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary...
To me, many of these "definitions" are actually closer to being truly definitive of their corresponding terms than anything you'd find in an actual dictionary.
For instance, the latest version of the online dictionary I use most often defines "cynic" principally as:
Cynic (noun): A person who believes that people are motivated purely by self-interest rather than acting for honorable or unselfish reasons...
However, to my way of thinking, this "objective" definition falls far short of the clinical (or cynical) reality.
Evidence abounds in government, the markets, medicine, the courts, religion, the media, sports, education, marriage, friendships, and everywhere else of rampant selfishness. By and large, people really are motivated by self-interest - it's central to our survival, bred into our very DNA.
Through the lens of the real, Bierce's definition of "cynic" is the more accurate one:
CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be...
That's because his definition (which includes himself as a prototypical example) speaks not to whether people are selfish or not - but to how a society wholly comprised of selfish people regard those who point out their hypocrisy...
According to Bierce, a cynic is one who's held in contempt by society (a blackguard) for seeing it as it really is: A corrupt place ruled by the self-interested.
Like I said, dead-nuts accurate under a thin veil of humor...
Just like his Devil's Dictionary take on other institutions fundamental to a "civilized" society. Things like schooling:
ACADEME, n. An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught.
ACADEMY, n. [from ACADEME] A modern school where football is taught.
EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.
LEARNING, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious.
And medicine - a deserving target if there ever was one...
FORGETFULNESS, n. A gift of God bestowed upon doctors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.
GOUT, n. A physician's name for the rheumatism of a rich patient.
MEDICINE, n. A stone flung down the Bowery to kill a dog in Broadway.
PHYSICIAN, n. One upon whom we set our hopes when ill and our dogs when well.
PRESCRIPTION, n. A physician's guess at what will best prolong the situation with least harm to the patient.
Let's not forget morality and religion - those sacred cows few ever deign to joust with in print...
CLERGYMAN, n. A man who undertakes the management of our spiritual affairs as a method of bettering his temporal ones.
FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
IMPIETY, n. Your irreverence toward my deity.
INFIDEL, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does.
MORAL, adj. Conforming to a local and mutable standard of right. Having the quality of general expediency.
PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
RELIGION, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
RESPONSIBILITY, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor.
SCRIPTURES, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.
(I suppose now is the time to add the disclaimer: The views of this column are not necessarily the views of Whiskey & Gunpowder, its publishers, contributors, etc. Although some - like Bierce's thoughts on money, commerce and business - no doubt are, to one degree or another...)
COMMERCE, n. A kind of transaction in which A plunders from B the goods of C, and for compensation B picks the pocket of D of money belonging to E.
CORPORATION, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
FINANCE, n. The art or science of managing revenues and resources for the best advantage of the manager.
(Are you paying attention, Goldman-Sachs?)
IMPUNITY, n. Wealth.
INSURANCE, n. An ingenious modern game of chance in which the player is permitted to enjoy the comfortable conviction that he is beating the man who keeps the table.
LABOR, n. One of the processes by which A acquires property for B.
PIRACY, n. Commerce without its folly-swaddles, just as God made it.
RICH, adj. Holding in trust and subject to an accounting the property of the indolent, the incompetent, the unthrifty, the envious and the luckless.
WALL STREET, n. A symbol for sin for every devil to rebuke.
Some of Bierce's most hilariously devilish "definitions" apply to that hallowed ground, the law...
LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.
(Because like almost any of the lawyers in Congress can tell you, one must know the law if one is to break it to his own benefit.)
LITIGANT, n. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones.
TRIAL, n. A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the blameless characters of judges, advocates and jurors.
RETALIATION, n. The natural rock upon which is reared the Temple of Law.
But for all of his venom loosed on society's institutions in The Devil's Dictionary, Bierce saves some of the most potent for everyday life and relationships. I won't list any of them here, but they're pricelessly vicious and undeniably true...
If you're a fan of the ugly truth and timeless, sardonic wit, you simply must pick up a copy of The Devil's Dictionary for yourself - and for each of your like-minded friends. I'm fortunate enough to have the 2004 edition illustrated by the one-of-a-kind Ralph Steadman (of Hunter S. Thompson fame), but there are others out there.
However, by now you must be wondering why anyone would want to subject himself to the miserable, "nothing matters" vision of Ambrose Bierce anyway...
There's a very good reason, and it's this: If more of us were sharp-eyed, acid-tongued, outspoken cynics instead of rose-colored-glasses-wearing, social media addicted Kool-Aid gulpers, America might not be as screwed as she is right now.
The incredible hubris and hypocrisy in our government got that way over the last 200 years because we bought into the vaunted notion that they were doing what they did "for the people"...
Instead of for themselves - which is human nature, like it or not.
We let things like debt spending, entitlements, welfare programs, lax border security, and endless regulation get the better of our wallets, property, and rights because we believed it when our leaders told us they were "doing it all for us"...While they feathered their own nests and saddled America's children with the bill.
In other words, if more of us had been cynics like Ambrose Bierce - and as such, more keenly able to spot the egregious self-interest of those we've elected - we could have done more to stop the damage they've done to our republic.
Bierce himself single-handedly defeated one of the most shamelessly corrupt bills ever put before Congress, in fact. It was 1896 when advocates for numerous railroad giants slipped a bill in front of Congress without public notice or hearings...
The nature of that bill: An exemption on repayment of tens of millions of dollars borrowed from the U.S. government for the construction of the transcontinental railway. Dispatched by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Bierce traveled to Washington, investigated the deal, and penned a series of such scathing editorials on the subject that the plot was exposed and the bill roundly defeated.
We forget, we Americans, what power we wield. Not just with our pens - but with our dollars, our votes, our choices, and our passion.
And the reason we forget is that we're all hopeless deceived, distracted, deluded, or doped-up to be able to clearly see when others are acting egregiously in their own self-interest in dire conflict with our own...
Ambrose Bierce and his Devil's Dictionary remind us of the need to be more cynical for the sake of our own survival - and he does it better than anyone else can, or ever has. And the price he paid for it in life was surely one of loneliness. From the Dictionary:
FRIENDLESS, adj. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.
I, for one, salute Ambrose Bierce as friend, wherever he is. His disappearance at age 71 remains a mystery.
My only hope is that however he went, it was doing something for himself - in his own interest - rather than in trying to add to the incredible service he rendered to this nation and the world with the simple, cynical truth.
Very Truly Yours,
Jim Amrhein
P.S. Thanks again, Whiskey-ers, for the chance to spend some time and share some thoughts with you all once again. I hope you've enjoyed my fond look back at one of history's greatest polemicists. And I look forward to keeping you abreast of the exciting goings-on at Agora Financial's "Fight or Flight" Wealth Symposium in Vancouver, the last week of July. Talk to you then... J.A.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Stans Energy Provides Updates for Kutessay II Mine, Aktyuz Ore Field and Kashka Rare Earth Processing Plant
1 days 20 hours 44 minutes ago
Stans Energy announced the following update on the progress of the exploration and development activities at its Kutessay II and Kutessay III sites and the Aktyuz Orefield and at the company's Kashka Rare Earth Processing Facility.
In a release, the Company noted Stans Energy's feasibility study is scheduled for completion by end of Q4 2011. The feasibility studies will be conducted under the guidance of VNIIHT - All Russian Research Institute of Chemical Technology.
Valery Kosinkin will be overseeing the metallurgical aspects, while Marat Fazlullin will be supervising the mine design and its various elements.
Asiarudproject Mining Planning-Production Company CJSC has been retained for the mine design and its planning.
Information-Research Centre will be responsible for assays and further development of new milling technologies for Stans Energy. Ludmilla Evteeva, Director General of IRC will be reporting to VNIIHT whilst overseeing the company's laboratory services.
VNIIHT will be guiding the implementation of improvements to historical methods of rare earth extraction and processing of final metals, alloys and oxides.
VNIIHT has developed technologies and technological schemes of individual REE production out of different types of raw materials which were implemented at plants in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Estonia.
Geomin will be responsible for environmental protection management for Stans Energy.
Kazakhstan Mineral Company is a Kazakhstan consulting company that will provide resource estimation services to the company.
Kyrgyz GIIZ OJSC (Kyrgyz Main Institute of Engineering Surveys in Construction), will provide a full complex of geological engineering and topographical surveys for Stans Energy.
Stans Energy Corporation announced that its Mining and Milling initiatives will be overseen by Valery Yakhin.
The Atomic Company Kazatomprom is the national operator, of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for import and export of uranium, rare metals, nuclear fuel for power plants, special equipment and dual-purpose materials.
Additionally, Stans Energy Corporation announced that Vladmir Shubin its Chief Geologist will be responsible for all the geological activities for Stans Energy.
Stans Energy Corporation will focus this year's initial exploration program on extending the mineralization to depth on Kutessay II to increase to size of the Measured and Indicated Reserves as confirmed by the JORC on Kutessay II.
Stans Energy Corporation is a resource development company focused on progressing heavy rare earth properties in areas of the Former Soviet Union.
Read more about Stans Energy
Stans Energy announced the following update on the progress of the exploration and development activities at its Kutessay II and Kutessay III sites and the Aktyuz Orefield and at the company's Kashka Rare Earth Processing Facility.
In a release, the Company noted Stans Energy's feasibility study is scheduled for completion by end of Q4 2011. The feasibility studies will be conducted under the guidance of VNIIHT - All Russian Research Institute of Chemical Technology.
Valery Kosinkin will be overseeing the metallurgical aspects, while Marat Fazlullin will be supervising the mine design and its various elements.
Asiarudproject Mining Planning-Production Company CJSC has been retained for the mine design and its planning.
Information-Research Centre will be responsible for assays and further development of new milling technologies for Stans Energy. Ludmilla Evteeva, Director General of IRC will be reporting to VNIIHT whilst overseeing the company's laboratory services.
VNIIHT will be guiding the implementation of improvements to historical methods of rare earth extraction and processing of final metals, alloys and oxides.
VNIIHT has developed technologies and technological schemes of individual REE production out of different types of raw materials which were implemented at plants in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Estonia.
Geomin will be responsible for environmental protection management for Stans Energy.
Kazakhstan Mineral Company is a Kazakhstan consulting company that will provide resource estimation services to the company.
Kyrgyz GIIZ OJSC (Kyrgyz Main Institute of Engineering Surveys in Construction), will provide a full complex of geological engineering and topographical surveys for Stans Energy.
Stans Energy Corporation announced that its Mining and Milling initiatives will be overseen by Valery Yakhin.
The Atomic Company Kazatomprom is the national operator, of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for import and export of uranium, rare metals, nuclear fuel for power plants, special equipment and dual-purpose materials.
Additionally, Stans Energy Corporation announced that Vladmir Shubin its Chief Geologist will be responsible for all the geological activities for Stans Energy.
Stans Energy Corporation will focus this year's initial exploration program on extending the mineralization to depth on Kutessay II to increase to size of the Measured and Indicated Reserves as confirmed by the JORC on Kutessay II.
Stans Energy Corporation is a resource development company focused on progressing heavy rare earth properties in areas of the Former Soviet Union.
Read more about Stans Energy
Friday, July 8, 2011
"New Silicon": The Next Junior Mining Sector Poised For Lift-Off
By Byron King June 14, 2011
Dear Penny Sleuther,
It's no secret that adding small-cap junior minors to your portfolio can lead to outstanding profits.
Junior miners are, of course, the tiny companies hard at work finding... exploring... and hopefully mining some type of valuable mineral.
Yes, some of these companies will go bust as they burn through cash...
But find the right junior mining company and your life could change forever. In fact, I know of no other plays that have produced such amazing life-changing profits time and time again. Just look at some of recent gains I found through our friends at Casey Research...
Northern Freegold went up 117% in just one month.
Osisko Mining soared 284% in the matter of 6 months.
Or, International Hill climbed 200% in 7 months.
When it comes to junior miners, most investors search only for companies in the precious metal and oil sectors. But today I'd like to introduce you to another "secret" set of miners that are poised for takeoff.
The "New" War That Could Rocket Oil Past $220 in 2011
This shocking conflict could be eight times bigger than the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. It could also be lethal enough to at least DOUBLE the price of gas and oil in 2011...
Bunker down against soaring energy costs with the ONE "safe haven" financial plan that could protect you and pay impressive gains. Watch the full report here.
They're busy at work mining a breakthrough new mineral.
It's a material that China already has on lock down. And, no, I'm not talking about rare earths... oil... or anything like that. Let me show you what I mean...
Recently, two scientists won the Nobel Prize for their pioneering discovery of this breakthrough new material.
They call it the "New Silicon."
It's billed as the wonder material of the 21st century...
With the power to revolutionize micro-electronics... just like the introduction of the silicon chip nearly 50 years ago.
According to the National Science Foundation, it's called this material is the "New Silicon" because it's a leading candidate to replace silicon in applications ranging from high-speed computer chips to biochemical sensors.
This new wonder material could have a major impact on the way we live, work, and play.
Tiny Ottawa Company Discovers "New Silicon" - A $2.5 Billion Breakthrough!
This massive "New Silicon" discovery could literally change the world we live in.
Find out how you could grab your piece of this $2.5 billion breakthrough - right here.
Just like the "old silicon" made our lives easier, richer and safer when it was introduced into thousands of products in the 1960s...
According to PC World, the "New Silicon" has transistor speeds up to 10,000 times faster than the "old silicon." And it's cheaper to produce.
Incredibly, it's only one-atom-thick... 100,000 times smaller than a human hair... yet has the strength, flexibility and electrical conductivity to open up new horizons for high-tech applications, military uses, construction - almost anything you can imagine.
In other words, its potential isn't even fully known or even imagined yet. That's how new and amazing this is...
So what, exactly, is this "New Silicon?"
It's simply graphite - and specifically a new substance called "graphene."
Graphite burns at a very high temperature (3,000 degrees or so), and is therefore useful in numerous electrical and thermo-chemical applications, from arc-lamp electrodes to thin-film heat sinks - such as are contained within your Apple I-Pad.
Quite a bit of natural graphite is consumed in refractory processes, electric arc steelmaking, brake linings, foundry facings and lubricants.
There's also a substance called graphene, which occurs naturally in graphite. Graphene has unique physical properties. It may be one of the strongest substances ever identified. On that score, we're still in the very early innings of understanding the technology that could come out of graphene.
Impressive Gains From the Biggest Story...Ever?
According to a shocking new presentation, we could be on the verge of the biggest wealth advances in history.
Fast sizeable gains could be the norm in this potential wealth wave.
Best part is - the stocks leading this wave are cheap. They're solid. They're sprouting profits now. Start your own chance at huge wealth with this brief presentation - here.
The reality for miners is that good graphite is not that easy to find.
Because of it's rarity and increased usage, graphite prices have more than doubled in recent years. Based on recent quotes, a ton of 97% pure graphite goes for over $2,000. A ton of ultra-pure, 99.99% graphite will set you back over $20,000.
Put simply, I believe graphite prices still have a long way to run.
This is your chance to be on the cutting edge of resource investing. And more importantly, your chance to profit.
Now's the time to add some of the best junior graphite miners to your portfolio. Who knows... you may just make those life-changing gains I showed you earlier.
[The Sleuth's Note: Doing a quick search using Yahoo! Finance, we came across a few minors working with graphite right now. You can start out by taking a closer look at these: Northern Graphite Corp (TSXV: NGC.V), China Carbon Graphite Group INC (OTCBB: CHGI), and GraphTech International LTD (NYSE: GTI ). This high growth industry also comes with risk, of course. Before buying anything, we suggest doing your homework on this one.]
Sincerely,
Byron King
Energy and Mining Correspondent for The Penny Sleuth
P.S. I recently conducted a "world tour" to find the best "New Silicon" company. The company I found just won the rights to a $2.5 billion graphite discovery. Luckily, they're still sitting within my buy range. To learn more on how to get the name and ticker of this play, click here...
"New Silicon": The Next Junior Mining Sector Poised For Lift-Off is featured at Penny Sleuth.
Dear Penny Sleuther,
It's no secret that adding small-cap junior minors to your portfolio can lead to outstanding profits.
Junior miners are, of course, the tiny companies hard at work finding... exploring... and hopefully mining some type of valuable mineral.
Yes, some of these companies will go bust as they burn through cash...
But find the right junior mining company and your life could change forever. In fact, I know of no other plays that have produced such amazing life-changing profits time and time again. Just look at some of recent gains I found through our friends at Casey Research...
Northern Freegold went up 117% in just one month.
Osisko Mining soared 284% in the matter of 6 months.
Or, International Hill climbed 200% in 7 months.
When it comes to junior miners, most investors search only for companies in the precious metal and oil sectors. But today I'd like to introduce you to another "secret" set of miners that are poised for takeoff.
The "New" War That Could Rocket Oil Past $220 in 2011
This shocking conflict could be eight times bigger than the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. It could also be lethal enough to at least DOUBLE the price of gas and oil in 2011...
Bunker down against soaring energy costs with the ONE "safe haven" financial plan that could protect you and pay impressive gains. Watch the full report here.
They're busy at work mining a breakthrough new mineral.
It's a material that China already has on lock down. And, no, I'm not talking about rare earths... oil... or anything like that. Let me show you what I mean...
Recently, two scientists won the Nobel Prize for their pioneering discovery of this breakthrough new material.
They call it the "New Silicon."
It's billed as the wonder material of the 21st century...
With the power to revolutionize micro-electronics... just like the introduction of the silicon chip nearly 50 years ago.
According to the National Science Foundation, it's called this material is the "New Silicon" because it's a leading candidate to replace silicon in applications ranging from high-speed computer chips to biochemical sensors.
This new wonder material could have a major impact on the way we live, work, and play.
Tiny Ottawa Company Discovers "New Silicon" - A $2.5 Billion Breakthrough!
This massive "New Silicon" discovery could literally change the world we live in.
Find out how you could grab your piece of this $2.5 billion breakthrough - right here.
Just like the "old silicon" made our lives easier, richer and safer when it was introduced into thousands of products in the 1960s...
According to PC World, the "New Silicon" has transistor speeds up to 10,000 times faster than the "old silicon." And it's cheaper to produce.
Incredibly, it's only one-atom-thick... 100,000 times smaller than a human hair... yet has the strength, flexibility and electrical conductivity to open up new horizons for high-tech applications, military uses, construction - almost anything you can imagine.
In other words, its potential isn't even fully known or even imagined yet. That's how new and amazing this is...
So what, exactly, is this "New Silicon?"
It's simply graphite - and specifically a new substance called "graphene."
Graphite burns at a very high temperature (3,000 degrees or so), and is therefore useful in numerous electrical and thermo-chemical applications, from arc-lamp electrodes to thin-film heat sinks - such as are contained within your Apple I-Pad.
Quite a bit of natural graphite is consumed in refractory processes, electric arc steelmaking, brake linings, foundry facings and lubricants.
There's also a substance called graphene, which occurs naturally in graphite. Graphene has unique physical properties. It may be one of the strongest substances ever identified. On that score, we're still in the very early innings of understanding the technology that could come out of graphene.
Impressive Gains From the Biggest Story...Ever?
According to a shocking new presentation, we could be on the verge of the biggest wealth advances in history.
Fast sizeable gains could be the norm in this potential wealth wave.
Best part is - the stocks leading this wave are cheap. They're solid. They're sprouting profits now. Start your own chance at huge wealth with this brief presentation - here.
The reality for miners is that good graphite is not that easy to find.
Because of it's rarity and increased usage, graphite prices have more than doubled in recent years. Based on recent quotes, a ton of 97% pure graphite goes for over $2,000. A ton of ultra-pure, 99.99% graphite will set you back over $20,000.
Put simply, I believe graphite prices still have a long way to run.
This is your chance to be on the cutting edge of resource investing. And more importantly, your chance to profit.
Now's the time to add some of the best junior graphite miners to your portfolio. Who knows... you may just make those life-changing gains I showed you earlier.
[The Sleuth's Note: Doing a quick search using Yahoo! Finance, we came across a few minors working with graphite right now. You can start out by taking a closer look at these: Northern Graphite Corp (TSXV: NGC.V), China Carbon Graphite Group INC (OTCBB: CHGI), and GraphTech International LTD (NYSE: GTI ). This high growth industry also comes with risk, of course. Before buying anything, we suggest doing your homework on this one.]
Sincerely,
Byron King
Energy and Mining Correspondent for The Penny Sleuth
P.S. I recently conducted a "world tour" to find the best "New Silicon" company. The company I found just won the rights to a $2.5 billion graphite discovery. Luckily, they're still sitting within my buy range. To learn more on how to get the name and ticker of this play, click here...
"New Silicon": The Next Junior Mining Sector Poised For Lift-Off is featured at Penny Sleuth.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Declare your independence from corporate rule!
What are you doing this July 4th? Need inspiration?
On July 4, 1997, AfD founder Ronnie Dugger and Al Krebs, a former AfD national council member and a great defender of family farms, stood side by side in front of the Liberty Bell. Each read his own version of a "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule."
Now, nearly 15 years later, we are still trying to keep "the big corporations and the centimillionaires and billionaires" from turning the halls of government into their private clubhouse. And we're still fighting for the real democracy we need.
Take a stand! It's not too late to get together with fellow activists and plan your own July 4 action. Check out the ideas sent in by groups and individuals and posted here on the Move to Amend website. Dress as a Supreme Court "In-Justice." Be as outrageous as the idea that corporations are entitled to the same constitutional rights as real people.
Bring along copies of this "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule" that Nancy Price, AfD liaison to Move to Amend, helped to write. You can print out a large version or a half-sheet version from the Move to Amend site, or a quarter-sheet version here. Check out more material on our "Tools for Organizing" page.
Thanks for all you do for democracy, and have a great 4th!
Want to keep us growing? Our Facebook page is an easy way to share AfD news with friends and help spread the word about grassroots alternatives to corporate rule.
And consider becoming a member of Alliance for Democracy—join or give online here.
On July 4, 1997, AfD founder Ronnie Dugger and Al Krebs, a former AfD national council member and a great defender of family farms, stood side by side in front of the Liberty Bell. Each read his own version of a "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule."
Now, nearly 15 years later, we are still trying to keep "the big corporations and the centimillionaires and billionaires" from turning the halls of government into their private clubhouse. And we're still fighting for the real democracy we need.
Take a stand! It's not too late to get together with fellow activists and plan your own July 4 action. Check out the ideas sent in by groups and individuals and posted here on the Move to Amend website. Dress as a Supreme Court "In-Justice." Be as outrageous as the idea that corporations are entitled to the same constitutional rights as real people.
Bring along copies of this "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule" that Nancy Price, AfD liaison to Move to Amend, helped to write. You can print out a large version or a half-sheet version from the Move to Amend site, or a quarter-sheet version here. Check out more material on our "Tools for Organizing" page.
Thanks for all you do for democracy, and have a great 4th!
Want to keep us growing? Our Facebook page is an easy way to share AfD news with friends and help spread the word about grassroots alternatives to corporate rule.
And consider becoming a member of Alliance for Democracy—join or give online here.
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