Dandy Root - A great coffee alternative for improved health

Try a sip of Dandy Root and you will thinks it's coffee. REALLY GOOD COFFEE. But there is no coffee in it, nor is there any caffeine. I could not tell that I was NOT drinking coffee.

The Dandy Root company reports that Dandy Root contains over 50 trace minerals in each cup, most of which the body uses to help synthesize compounds needed in metabolism. And, the company claims that there are no headaches or other withdrawal symptoms when switching from coffee to Dandy Blend and that it is like switching from one brand of coffee to another.

Dandelion root is what makes Dandy Blend unique and so much better that it stands out from all other options available. It is the only instant coffee alternative in the United States that contains dandelion root. To Americans, dandelion may be considered a weed, but to people all over the world it is a valued vegetable and highly respected herbal medicine. It is one of the top six herbs in the Chinese medicine chest.

All I can say is that I tried it, it was terrific and I just ordered some. http://www.dandyblend.com/

Rising artist, Adele, has a potential hit song with Rolling In The Deep

A artist known as Adele, whose actual name is Laurie Blue Adkins is a English singer/songwriter who might just have a hit song on her hands, as you can see in the video below. The song is entitled Rolling In The Deep.



posted by THE SCOOP

Ron Paul on the cause of Liberty, the economy, The Federal Reserve, Korea attacks & TSA:

First published on The Scoop™ - Politics

Ron Paul speaks with Alex Jones on the cause of Liberty, the economy, The Federal Reserve, Korea attacks & TSA


Part I




Part II

Where Fashion meets Music - Lanvin for H&M

First published on The Scoop™ - Music

French fashion house Lanvin and Swedish clothing company H&M collaborated on a Fall Winter 2010/2011 collection by designer Alber Elbaz - Their full fashion show was made into a music video starring model, Natasha Poly.

The most excellent "Sensory Depravation" experience, ever.

Posted by THE SCOOP
Venice Beach, California
Originally published on The Scoop on Health

There is a guy named Crash in Venice Beach, who is a mad scientist like Einstein. His forte' is in the obscure field of what is known as "Sensory Depravation" and he has been focused for over a decade on developing the finest "Isolation Chamber" prototypes ever built.

Crash and his asstant Ian Wilson have taken FloatLab to a place of being a leader in the manufacturing and development of techology to use the chambers in ways which can expand minds, achieve more rapid and advanced healing from injuries, as well as enable users to relax and their bodies and minds in ways one might never knew exists, enabling one to focus the mind to help a user achieve personal goals more rapidly.

Ian Wilson first came to Float Lab as a injured athlete, who thought there was no solution to a football induced problem that he thought would never go away. Ian Wilson solved his problem injury, which he credits to the isolation chambers, and began what has become a long term partnership with Crash and Float Lab.

Float Lab has installed tanks in several private homes. Recently, the company installed a isolation chamber in the home of of a major NBA player who uses the tank to tune up his body mind and soul for the game.

For more on this innovative company and their technology and how to book a session in one of Float Lab's isolation chambers, visit Float Lab





The Scoop™ at TheScoop.Com is the "Original" Scoop Online, since 1998. *Accept NO bogus Immitations :)

Travelers Angry over TSA Body Scanners and Invasive Patdowns - Rep. Dunan Blasts TSA on House Floor

posted by Greg Chamberlain

Travelers Angry over TSA Body Scanners and Invasive Patdowns
Congressman John Duncan Blasts TSA "Pat Downs" and Scanners



Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., former Chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee and the current top Republican on the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, blasts TSA's invasive "pat downs" during a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on November 17, 2010. Duncan also questions the role of lucrative government contracts in TSA's new naked body scanning machines.

Duncan made a very good point about how the contract for the TSA to purchase over 1000 Body Scanner Machines was a inside corporatist deal between the TSA, Department of Homeland Security and former Homeland Security Chief, Michael Chertoff who is now part of the company who is selling the body scanners to the government.  Duncan makes a point of saying the purchase of the body scanners is more about money that it is about security.

Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty has also weighed in, once again.  C4L President, John Tate, released a statement and Becky Akers wrote a in-depth piece entitled "Standing Up to the TSA" with an impassioned  plea for all American people to boycott the TSA, saying "Don't Fly".

Jonah Smith to perform at Sala Bikini in Barcelona

 Posted by The Scoop™ - Barcelona

Wednesday November 17th, 2010,   Jonah Smith and his band will be playing at Sala Bikini in Barcelona.

Get tickets at http://www.ticktackticket.com/entradas/goto.do?claves=.33274&crosssite=TM_ES%3A1058841%3A16394

Connect directly with Jonah Smith at his official website: JonahSmith.Com

Mysterious Rocket or Missile Shot 35 miles off Southern California Coast

posted by Greg Chamberlain for THE SCOOP

At the time of this writing the U.S. military and FAA have reportedly no idea what the mysterious unknown missile or rocket off of the coast of Southern California. People in my neigborhood of Santa Monica and Venice saw it and mistook it for a plane shooting chemtrails, because of the similar vapor emited from the mystery object.

A Los Angeles based TV news station, KCBS-TV, had a helicopter in the air when it suddenly witnessed and rolled cameras onto what is being described as some sort of missile by their consultants who include former high ranking military officials.

FULL TEXT OF TALIBAN OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS - November 7, 2010

Posted by THE SCOOP


The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan:
Open Letter of Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, to Members of the American Congress

Zul Qadah 29, 1431 A.H, Sunday, November 07, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Open Letter of Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, to Members of the American Congress

To Members of the American Congress:

Availing myself of this opportunity, I am pleased to share with you my views about certain issues that have become a cause of concern and resentments for many peace-loving people, not only in America, Afghanistan but for all people at the region and the world. They now openly say that the status quo is unbearable and that drastic measures must be taken to change it.

Messrs American Congressmen!

You certainly know that on June 7, the current year, the war of Afghanistan, surpassed that of Vietnam in terms of longevity--thus becoming the longest war in the history of America. Ironically, this war began on the basis of an event which in itself is a mystery to many people. But your government is bent on continuing the war further more on the same basis. However, we have made it clear from the day one that we have no role in this event, nor participation in operations on foreign soil is part of our policy.

It is also worth mentioning that, no neutral entity which is acceptable to all sides, has ever carried out investigation into the September Event. In short, the war started as you resorted to the usage of most sophisticated, lethal and latest weapons available at your arsenal. To confront this, our people had to put up resistance to your offensive out of sheer feeling of patriotism to defend the country and the religious sanctity. From the beginning of the war, your army, your coalition allies, the regional sycophants and proxies turned a blind eye to all universal norms and principles of the war, seeing that the Afghans were miserable and friendless.

Hence, a new trend set in where murdering, capturing, harassing and insulting the Afghans became not only legal but a commendable work. Entire villages of Afghanistan were razed to ground as a result of your heavy bombardment, ostensibly under the name of mopping-up havens of so-called terrorists. Not only that. Orchards were burnt down to ashes; mass murders were committed in northern and central Afghanistan, not once but recurrently. Houses of local people were destroyed, women raped and green field scorched by using daisy-cutter bombs. People were put under detention in the notorious Jouzajan, Guantanamo, Bagram and Kandahar prisons for many years on mere suspicions. All these were done under the name of war on terror!

Throughout the past nine years, the Afghans have been festering in the vortex of an imposed war. They have remained deprived of the delight and solace of a normal life. The apparition of mass murder, imprisonment, night house raids and plundering which has become the order of the day, constantly haunts them. Every morning, as the Afghan wake up from the bed, they do not know whether he or she will see the next sunset, thinking that they might fall prey to your blind bombardment or straying bullets. Some times, media reports highlight these events. But the real and gruesome picture of these horrendous events remains stored in the chests of our people. In face of all these adversities, our people remained firm as they were in the right. Ultimately, casualties of your troops and your material losses began to spiral up as the war hauled along with the passage of time. This naturally sparked off hot discussions among common Americans about the worthiness of this unjustified war. The worry and concern of people presumably found way to the echelons of the representatives of the people in your country and now it has become one of the most critical issues pending before you.

As we monitor the developments, we see that, after every few days, a military official submits you distorted information about Afghanistan. They want to keep you snarled up in an environ of a misleading optimism and are trying to give vent to their own grudges. By doing so, they want to show themselves victorious, to obtain financial gains and add fuel to the fire of the war.

Your defense Secretary, Robert Gates, whenever he takes the floor at the podium, he speaks of military advancement in Afghanistan. General Petreous says, the initiative of the war is in our hands. But in fact, in the last two years, your military high-ups implemented different strategies including troop’s surge, construction of new military bases, forming militias, boosting the Kabul mercenary army etc. However, all these steps have been taken without considering the ground realities. It is why they all failed. The resistance of our people easily thwarted all efforts of your military brasses. Last year, on the basis of Obama’s new strategy, the south of our country saw rise in troop’s deployment, but, on the contrary, we opened new fronts in the north and east of the country and beefed up our operations there.

You launched operations for the capture of rural areas, we infiltrated into different cities including the cities of Kandahar and Kabul, expanding our operations there. You intended to reverse the resistance but we extended the jihad to become a country-wide resistance. Now your troops are not able to take a breath of relief in any part of Afghanistan. Last, you launched military operations dubbed as Dagger’s Strike in Helmand province, considering it as your experimental initiative to test your fortune. But it only brought in casualties and failures.

Resistance has increased comparatively in areas wherever you have carried out operations. Your troops have the highest life losses in these areas. In the east of the country, the successful operations of Mujahideen forced General Crystal to waive the rural areas protection strategy by announcing a new strategy of concentration of forces at most populated urban areas. Then you launched the Marja operations with great fanfare but only turned out to entangle you in a deadly and crippling battles. Every day, brings new fatality to your ranks and files. Similarly, in this current year, your generals wanted to launch Kandahar operations but Mujahideen took initiative in their hands as they always do so. They launched tip-and run attacks there instead and have been forging ahead with the tactic successfully.

The formation of militias as a part of civilian support program and the boosting of the Kabul administration’s army was your most prominent plan, propagated with most fanfare, prior to launching it. But this plan also went awry. Soldiers in the army and in military uniform targeted you with their own weapons. Still, instead of pondering over their mistakes, your military officers are bent on continuing the war. They irresponsibly give you distorted information about a losing war, trying to conceal from you, their failures.

Your generals and intelligence high-ups claim that the current resistance in Afghanistan is the result of interference by neighboring countries. However, by doing so, they want to justify the prolongation of the war. Sometimes, they ascribe the resistance to foreign elements and are trying to show the current armed Jihad by the Afghans as being a war waged only by Taliban or they intentionally portray it as an insurgence being put up by a given tribe and ethnicity of Afghanistan-- whereas, in fact, the current armed Jihad is a country-wide resistance against you . Men and women, old and young from every tribe, ethnicity, caste and area have arisen to oppose you. Thus by your intending to wipe out the resistance, you have chosen the way of committing genocide of the whole nation.

Think, can a few militants stand up to armed forces of 40 countries including the strongest countries of the world—still more in circumstances that the initiatives of the war is in the hands of the invaders, as your generals claim? Can a clandestine and weak intervention (by foreigners) be able to confront these troops? Can only Taliban i.e. students, confront these large number of forces? Can a certain race in a multi-ethnicity nation of Afghanistan, be able to resist such a strong and well-equipped military coalition? If the intervention had been a decisive factor for the maintenance of stability, then the Karzai would have been able to achieve that goal by now?

If you claim that the current resistance is being put up by non-Afghan elements, then your government and the coalition should produce concrete evidence for all to see. Following your occupation of Afghanistan and the inception of armed Jihad against you, you have undoubtedly detained not only tens of people, or hundreds of them, or thousands of them, but tens of thousands of them, would your military generals produce only one hundred non-Afghans from among those thousands of detainees to prove their case? If they did so, we would accept your claim that non-Afghan Mujahideen had been fighting against you all these years? Otherwise, the claim is a mere assumption.

If you are not willing to act on our suggestion, then how about another experiment? Send a team to Afghanistan on fact-finding mission. But members of the team should have freedom of movement, and should be allowed to remain far from the clutches of your intelligence agencies. Then they should see for themselves whether the military generals give them permission to go out of military barracks and hotels or they try to keep them in barracks and hotels as distinguished detainees? Presume, if they permit you to go out to find the ground realities, would you be able to travel to other areas beyond the vicinity of the few limited streets of Kabul? Even if you venture out of Kabul, do you believe, you will come back safe? The fact of the matter is that you will hardly find any area in all Afghanistan beyond proximity of two kilometers of the military bases where you can walk freely and openly.

On the other hand, when Mujahideen captured your soldier Bergh dal, they traveled with him 500 km on foot. Berg dal himself says that no government soldier ever stopped him on the way during that long journey. But still if you are not willing to put to experiment our proposal, then you should listen to my words , however, they may be bitter but are the ground realities. By feeling the burden of the issue, as responsible persons, you should not plunge your nation into perdition furthermore.

Moreover, the fear that Afghanistan may turn out to be a threat to the world peace must be put out of your minds as it is a mere baseless propaganda and a lie fabricated by your rulers to justify and continue their illegal, unjustified and irrational war, the so-called war on terror.

You had better know the ground reality that the war of Afghanistan is a losing war, being fought by the indigenous people, not just by a given faction, a tribe but by an entire nation which has over 5,000 years old history; a nation that considers both victory and martyrdom in the war against your forces as a cherished wish of success not only in this world but in the world to come as well.

Your modern and advanced military warfare and arms with state-of the-art technology have failed against Mujahideen. Your tanks, the military hardware and your soldiers that you have been spending billion of dollars on them to keep, are simply and inexpensively wiped out by ordinary Afghans. For example, 69 year-old Saleh Jan Aka along with his 18 year-old son, destroyed 32 tanks of the coalitions and 9 ranger vehicles in Helmand, by spending just $2500 —the only amount paid to him for the purpose.

Sale Jan Aka who has never been trained in any military academy, neither he left his farming work nor his village to do this. Besides, he has never asked for any reward as quid pro que. Meantime,. All the items which he used to blow up the US and its allies tanks and vehicles has been bought from Lashkar Gah, while the seller not knowing what he bought them for?

According to him, his house has been searched four times so far by the US and its allies but nothing was found to prove that he was involved in such activities. He says, once after destroying the coalition forces tanks by using IED's, he gave some cold water to the wounded soldiers to brush away their suspicions and to cause their injuries to get worse.

It is worth to consider whether your forces in Afghanistan with all the advanced hardware and modern military equipments that they have and your various operations such as Expectation, Mountain, Dagger, Dragon which cost you billion of dollars and the media war by you, will ever be able to prevent people like Saleh Jan Aka and many thousands others from carrying out their mission or even slow down the tempo of their mission? Not at all.

Is it that, that your force have come all the way to Afghanistan, expecting the Afghan people stand for them in ovation and keep watching while your forces will do what they wish to do? Or just the Afghans be sitting hand on hand while your forces will be busy building military bases, barracks, airbases and so forth? Or are you under the illusion that the Afghan nation would ever tolerate the presence of your forces and military interference in their country? You will only come around to know it when the Afghans rise to show their response.

Come and think, a moment for the sake of pondering. Suppose, a foreign force invades your country and tries to build military bases there, would you and your nation tolerate all these? or would you be convinced that the invasion was a fair and just act and the forces in your country were there for security purposes?

Anyway, on the basis of the principle of your universal slogan( democracy), the decision by parliament is considered final because it is the parliament that approves fund for each and every mission. So all relevant affairs and events are referred to the parliament for decision.

I would like to bring one last point to your notice, what was your goal to come to Afghanistan? what have you achieved so far (through the war) and what will possibly you achieve in future? Will you be able to obtain your long-term goals in the region only through the war in Afghanistan?

You are representatives of people and are an authorized entity to take decision about the Afghan issue, therefore, I presented you with a true picture of the ground realities of Afghanistan-- say, another side of the coin, more different from the one which is submitted to you by your generals, time and again.

Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi

Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Reject the Welfare/Warfare State - Essay by Ron Paul for November 7, 2010

Posted by Greg Chamberlain for THE SCOOP

Reject the Welfare/Warfare State 
by Ron Paul for November 7, 2010

Last week’s midterm elections have been characterized as a victory for grassroots Americans who are fed up with Washington and the political status quo.  In particular, the elections are being touted as a clear indicator that voters demand reductions in federal spending, deficits, and debt.

If the new Congress hopes to live up to the expectations of Tea Party voters, however, it faces some daunting choices.  For all the talk about pork and waste, the truth is that Congress cannot fix the budget and get our national debt under control by trimming fat and eliminating earmarks for “Bridges to Nowhere.” 

Real reductions in federal spending can be achieved only by getting to the meat of the federal budget, meaning expenditures in all areas.  The annual budget soon will be $5 trillion unless Congress takes serious steps to reduce spending for entitlements, military, and debt service. Yet how many Tea Party candidates who campaigned on a platform of spending cuts talked about Social Security, Medicare, foreign wars, or bond debt?

With regard to entitlements, the 2010 Social Security and Medicare Trustees report tells it all.  It paints a stark picture of two entitlement programs that cannot be sustained under even the rosiest scenarios of economic growth.  No one, regardless of political stripe, can deny the fundamental problem of unfunded future liabilities in both programs.

We should understand that Social Security was intended primarily to prevent old widows from becoming destitute.  Life expectancy in 1935 was only about 65, when there were several workers for each Social Security recipient.  The program was never intended to be a general transfer payment from young workers to older retirees, regardless of those retirees’ financial need.  Yet today Social Security faces an unfunded liability of approximately $18 trillion. 

First, Congress needs to stop using payroll taxes for purposes not related to Social Security, which was a trick the Clinton administration used to claim balanced budgets. Second, Congress should eliminate unconstitutional spending -  including unnecessary overseas commitments - and use the saved funds to help transition to a Social Security system that is completely voluntary.  At some point in the near future Congress must allow taxpayers to opt out of federal payroll taxes in exchange for never receiving Social Security benefits.

Medicare similarly faces a shortfall of $30.8 trillion in unfunded future benefits.  The Part D prescription drug benefit accounts for approximately $15.5 trillion, or half of the unfunded Medicare liability.  Congress should immediately repeal the disastrous drug benefit passed in 2003 by President Bush and a Republican Congress. 

Fiscal conservatives should not be afraid to attack entitlements philosophically.  We should reject the phony narrative that entitlement programs are inherently noble or required by “progressive” western values.  Why exactly should Americans be required, by force of taxation, to fund retirement or medical care for senior citizens, especially senior citizens who are comfortable financially?  And if taxpayers provide retirement and health care benefits to some older Americans who are less well off, can’t we just call it welfare instead of maintaining the charade about “insurance” and “trust funds”?

Military spending and interest on the national debt similarly represent large federal expenditures that Congress must address by rethinking our foreign policy and exercising far greater oversight over the Federal Reserve and the Treasury department. 

I have for a long time criticized our interventionist foreign policy and the Fed, and I will continue to do so.  It’s time for Congress to face the fundamental problems that affect Social Security and Medicare, and show the courage necessary to make real changes to both programs by rejecting the welfare/warfare state.

 

For more political commentary, visit THE SCOOP

Ron Paul talks with Neil Cavuto

Posted by Greg Chamberlain for THE SCOOP




for more political news, opinion and commentary, visit THE SCOOP

Ron Paul on CNBC Squawk Box: Keeping Government Out of the Market

CNBC: Ron Paul Is About to Totally Revolutionize the House Monetary Policy Panel

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40013227

Reuters News: Ron Paul vows renewed Fed audit push next year

http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFN0422739520101104?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0R

Ron Paul on "Stossel"

Part I




Part II

New Marijana Law in California beginning January 1, 2010 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Decriminalizes Marijuana Possession to a Civil Infraction

New Marijana Law in California January 1, 2011

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Decriminalizes Marijuana Possession to a Civil Infraction

by Greg Chamberlain for THE SCOOP Nov 3 2010

California's Prop 19 may not have passed, but thanks to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed Senate Bill 1449, adult marijuana possession has been reduced to a civil infraction beginning January 1, 2010. Casual marijuana users and civil libertarians are ecstatic, for this is a major step toward full decriminalization.

The Governator's signature on SB 1449 amends the California Health and Safety Code as of January 1, 2010. At that time, adult possession of up to 28.5 grams of marijuana will only be considered an infraction, similar to a parking ticket. No longer can you be considered a someone who is taser worthy, for having a bag of pot. The maximum fine is to be no more than a $100 with no court appearance, no court costs, and no criminal record, whatsoever! The state is estimated to save millions of dollars in court cost by keeping minor marijuana offenders out of court.

United Nations Body Bans Geoengineering - Chemtrail Activists Rejoice

United Nations Body Bans Geoengineering
Chemtrail Activists Rejoice

by Greg Chamberlain

There is a loose global group of environmental & social activists, scientists, diplomats and politicians deeply concerned about the spraying of aluminum and barium laced plasma into the sky in military airspace tens of thousands of feet above civilian populations. The spray looks innocent at first glance, for it resembles what are known as "contrails" which is light exhaust from jet engines. Contrails dissipate quickly. "Chemtrails", as they are called by those rally up against them, do not dissipate. Chemtrails turn into larger cloud formations and block and/or filter the sun from hitting the ground below. It is rumored that this segment of what is known as "geoengineering" is part of what is known to some as a "Global Warming Mitigation Strategy". And the Military Industrial Complex wants in on creating and delivering the technology. Turns out, there is a widespread program already in place to geoengineer skies above the United States, with 800 plus tanker jets flying nearly non stop dropping the above mentioned plasma onto the people.

Whilst there have been numerous groups I have heard about who have set up formal protests in front of the buildings of major governments and world bodies, one in particular seems to have gained some serious traction with the 193-member UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

ETC Group, spread over five continents, but headquartered in Canada, works to address the socioeconomic and ecological issues surrounding new technologies. Their work is broad. The group started 25 years ago sprouting from a discussion about seeds, probably not much different from the conversations I hear people talking about when it comes to how Monsanto has dominated not only the seed market, but the attention of politicians in Washington and elsewhere.

The group has made a strong case against geoengineering in a special report: Geopiracy: The Case Against Geoengineering. Geoengineering in itself is a broad field and is not limited to things such as weather modification and quite possibly what a loosely organized group of international activists call "Chemtrails".

A ETC Group news release following the U.N. meeting in Nagoya Japan stated: "The agreement, reached during the ministerial portion of the two-week meeting which included 110 environment ministers, asks governments to ensure that no geoengineering activities take place until risks to the environmental and biodiversity and associated social, cultural and economic impacts risks have been appropriately considered as well as the socio-economic impacts. The CBD secretariat was also instructed to report back on various geoengineering proposals and potential intergovernmental regulatory measures."

I am just a regular citizen journalist who spends a great deal of my life in the outdoors. I do not own a text phone, because I like to look forward as well as up into the sky. I have witnessed what I believe to be "Chemtrails" shot into our skies by unidentified planes.. I shot the photo above which I hope all will look at blown up and study the stripes up close. Not one bit of that white in the sky was a natural cloud. The planes started spraying around 6:30 AM until the skies were filled with fake looking clouds all day. Many people I know, including myself, complained of respiratory issues, nausea and itchy eyes and noses.

Click to view a video of ETC Group discussing it's special report: Geopiracy : the Case Against Geoengineering; Issues Facing the CBD (UN Convention on Biological Diversity).

Saudi Arms Deal is About Iran - By Ron Paul

This month the US Administration notified Congress that it intends to complete one of the largest arms sales in US history to one of the most repressive regimes on earth. Saudi Arabia has been given the green light by the administration to spend $60 billion on some 84 new F-15 aircraft, dozens of the latest helicopters, and other missiles, bombs, and high-tech military products from the US weapons industry.

Saudi Arabia, from where 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers came, is a family-run dictatorship, where there are no political parties, no independent press, and where any form of political dissent is met with the most severe punishment. We are told that we must occupy Afghanistan to encourage more rights for women, an issue on which the Saudi regime makes the Taliban look rather liberal by comparison. We are told that our increasingly aggressive policies toward Iran are justified by that country’s rigid Islamic laws and human-rights violations, while the even more repressive Islamic rule in Saudi Arabia is never mentioned.

So why would the US government, which spends hundreds of billions of dollars yearly and maintains hundreds of bases overseas to push global democracy, approve a deal like this with such a regime? As Stockholm Institute scholar Pieter Wezeman told the Washington Post, "Of course it's against Iran. Of course it's against Yemen. You can read between the lines ... but there are not any official statements about it." Although the deal must be approved by Congress, there is little chance of any significant Congressional opposition for the above reason.

Imagine if China had armed an aggressive, anti-American Mexico to the teeth. How would we feel? Threatened? That is likely how Iran feels with this massive arms sale to Saudi Arabia. To underscore this message, the US quietly announced early this month that it was selling 20 F-35 Stealth fighters to Israel. As Israeli military purchases are paid for with US foreign aid, we must realize that the weapons pointed at Iran in the Middle East are American made and largely paid for with American tax dollars. Certainly Iran understands this. Will such a provocative move, arming two anti-Iranian powers in the region to the teeth, lead to a trigger event to bring about a full invasion of Iran? The economic tsunami that would result from such a horrific turn of events would only be eclipsed by the death and destruction in the region -- and likely beyond.

Some will argue that these arms deals are international trade which we should encourage and applaud. Sadly, the United States does not build much that we can export these days. But the fact is that the US weapons industry is underwritten by the American taxpayer. From research and development to acquisition by the US military, the costs of the US arms industry are borne by American citizens. But, as so-called “private” companies, the enormous profits they make selling weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia are of course privatized. So the costs are socialized and the profits are privatized. There is a word for this arrangement and it is not “capitalism.”

Government and Job Creation - by Ron Paul

Government and Job Creation
By United States Congressman Ron Paul for October 24, 2010

As the current economic downturn shows no signs of lifting, we hear quite a lot of rhetoric from current and potential office-holders about what government can and will do to create more jobs. This is especially disconcerting to those who understand that the best thing government can do for job creation is to simply get out of the way.

Jobs are properly created by businesses. Government-created jobs are either fueled by fiat money and manipulated market conditions or directly funded by taxes paid by businesses and individuals who then have less to hire people for real wealth creation. Government-created jobs destroy wealth and sap potential from the economy. The several stimulus bills passed by Congress have done much to expand government but not much to keep money in the hands of real job creators – the entrepreneurs.

Keynesian economists don’t see things this way. They see government spending as a stop gap measure that tides us over through rough economic patches. But is this really the case?

Far from it. The reality is instead of sustaining us until the economy can catch up, government spending perpetuates the problems the bureaucrats and the politicians created. Maintaining a high level of employment is one of the main objectives of the Federal Reserve, which is just one reason it is ill-conceived at its very core: it legitimizes economic intervention which is always destructive. When unemployment rises after the bust of a Fed-created bubble, you can be sure Congress will attempt to rescue the economy through various policies that will always prolong the agony and expand the downturn.

In the late 90’s, it was thought that encouraging home ownership would have a stimulative effect that would ripple throughout the rest of the economy and create jobs. Various government policies favorable to home ownership were enacted and the Fed kept interest rates artificially low so everyone would be able to buy a home, whether or not they could really afford it. For awhile, it worked. The housing boom increased demand for realtors, mortgage lenders, and construction workers. However, as reality sank in, not only are we back to where we were when the bubble began, but we are actually worse off. For example, not only have we lost all of the one million extra construction jobs the bubble created, but we lost another one million on top of that! So not only did the artificial wealth evaporate, but real wealth has been destroyed as well.

Even more sinister are jobs created by war. Recent reports highlight the increasing dependence on contractors to support our war efforts in Afghanistan. Massive corruption is endemic to these highly lucrative positions. Almost half of the contracting companies we use are Afghan owned and include such business models as recruiting away the very same Afghan police force we are training at great expense to the American taxpayer. Meanwhile we have pledged not to leave until the police force reaches a certain level. We also bribe many Afghans to simply not attack us. We are in a proverbial hole in Afghanistan. Our leaders need to just stop digging.

Neither a Keynesian big spending program, nor the military-industrial complex can create long-lasting employment or economic prosperity for our country. The only way to restore both peace and prosperity is to draw down our overseas commitments, along with unconstitutional spending at home and return to the founders’ vision of a limited republic that neither straddles the globe, nor micromanages the domestic economy.

Richard S. Stevens - July 4, 1930 - October 14, 2010

Richard S. Stevens
July 4, 1930 - October 14, 2010


by Greg Chamberlain for TheScoop.Com

Dick Stevens, of Newport Beach, California, was one of my mentors as a youth who dramatically impacted they way I view life. He was one who was there for me when I developed The Scoop™ in 1985 in it's infancy. It was just a newsletter when I attempted to turn it into a print magazine for student leaders on campuses, not only in the U.S., but globally. Dick introduced me to major executives and entrepreneurs in the print media industry including Bob Peterson, the magazine tycoon who owned Teen Magazine, Motor Trend. and many others. My magazine idea was ultimately a failure, financially speaking, However many great lessons were learned and Dick inspired me to pick myself up and move on. Years later, in 1998, I picked The Scoop up again, online, right here at TheScoop.Com.

On Sunday, October 24, 2010, friends gathered at Mariners Chapel in Irvine to share stories and witness military honors with the playing of Taps in Dick's honor with a folding of the flag presented Dick's wife Joan. A fun gathering of friends followed at Dick and Joan's house in Newport Beach and yet again, later in the evening at the Fairmont Hotel. Hundreds of stories were exchanged throughout the day and night, with lots of laughter.

Stevens ran track and was football running back at UC-Berkeley and played ball in three Rose Bowls After college, the Army put him in Japan and Korea. After serving, he returned home and went on to become one of the leading business turn around executives of his era, fixing problem companies owned by major business, real estate and entertainment tycoons. Usually Dick became a co-owner of companies he turned around in addition to being one of the highest paid corporate presidents in the world in the 1970's and 80's.

Before and in between his marriages, he was widely known as a major playboy of his time. He loved to party and did so in style in the back of his chauffeur driven Cadillac limousine, one of which had custom licence plates that read "HH 1". I remember when some people in Newport thought it was Hugh Heffner's limo. But HH were the initials for Dick's nickname from his stint operating Harpoon Harry's restuarant in Orange Country. A few insiders nicknamed him Harry Horseshit, because turing around the property was like stepping in manure, for Dick. But Dick always had a way of making the best out of difficult problems and making friends along the way.

In the 1960's and 1970's, Dick was co-owner and president of Newport Beach's Balboa Bay Club, turning it into one of the most prestigious clubs of it's kind in the world. During that time, he developed the Hamilton Cove project on Catalina Island.

He was president of Wrather Hotels, which included the 1,400-room Disneyland Hotel, where Dick was also President and CEO of The Disneyland Hote from 1977 until 1982, the place where I originally met him when I rented what was the Grand Ballroom in the hotel for Newport Harbor High Schools prom in 1981. I was Junior Class President and someone told my staff to call Dick Stevens. He generously took the time to meet us kids and show us around the hotel and inspire us with caring creativity.

Starting that next summer, I was reintroduced to him and began working for he and his lovely wife, Joan. That is when I started to learn from Dick that fun really mattered in life. He asked me what I wanted to do and what kind of job I wanted inside his world.. He asked me questions that made me consider if the efforts would be fun or not. He planted that seed and made me feel good about choosing fun things to do.

Dick served as a commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, under Peter Ueberroth in Los Angeles. I got lucky enough to be Peter Ueberroth's neighbor in Laguna Beach, California's Emerald Bay from 1982 until 1985 and worked for both the Stevens' and the Ueberroth's in various capacities, which was one of those lucky things that happened to me in terms of getting the entrepreneurial bug. Peter was President of the 1984 Olympic Games Committee in Los Angeles where the games were held. It was an exciting time to be around the Stevens and Ueberroth famiilies.

After the Olympics, in 1985, Dick was President and CEO of the Los Angeles Express, a United States Football League franchise.

Dick was well known as a money man and/or co owner for several major restaurats including Chart House restuarants, California Beach, Gladstones restaurants and many others as he helped back and support several major restaurateurs.

He supervised a team that developed Marina Costa Baja in Mexico. He was involved in managing and creating projects including Westworld in Scottsdale, Monterra Ranch in Monterey, Cabin Bar Ranch in Olancha and the Fisher Island Resort in Florida.

Dick also bought and renovated the Jocky Club in Miami, Florida.

Dick, along with Peter Ueberroth's company, partnered to form Bellport Group. Bellport Group developed yacht marinas, resorts and clubs throughout the world in a massive roll up, major redevelopment and eventual sale of a consolidated portfolio of the most elegant yacht marinas all over the world.

One of his last effort was a book entitled "Never Give Up". As a survivor of cancer, several heart attacks and a heart transplant, his book is the bible for how to survive the health care system and being in the hospital.

His most favorite deal he had ever accomplished, though it was not his most profitable or successful, was when he opened the Spruce Goose and Queen Mary as tourist attractions in Long Beach. Dick had a fondness for Howard Hughes.

He is survived by my friends who include his wonderful wife Joan, daughter Sandy and her husband Peter Weston, son Chris and his wife Jae-Eun, stepchildren Lisa and Brad Levine, and his dog, Charlie.

Dick, thank you for your love and encouragement. I feel blessed to continue to be a part of your family. You will be missed!

More Inflation Fears By United States Congressman Ron Paul for October 19, 2010

Posted by Greg Chamberlain


More Inflation Fears
By United States Congressman Ron Paul for October 19, 2010

Inflation fears are heating up this week as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech in Boston on Friday, causing further frantic flight into gold by those fearful of the coming “quantitative easing” the Fed is set to deliver in November. Others who view gold as a short term investment engaged in immediate profit-taking after Bernanke's speech.

Gold is more correctly viewed as insurance against bad monetary policy decisions that erode the value of savings. Those bad decisions keep coming at an ever faster clip these days and we hear more and more talk of currency wars especially between the dollar, the Chinese yuan, the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar, and the Euro. As the economies of the world continue to stagnate or contract, monetary policy decisions become more relevant to people who once thought this topic arcane. We have several examples this week of major fumbles on the part of the US Central Bank:

· The Federal Reserve continues to insist that inflation is too low, even while the monetary base remains at record levels, and food and gas prices continue to climb.

· As the Fed continues to drive down the value of the dollar, the government accuses China of deliberately devaluing its currency, and the House has passed legislation aimed at punishing China for this alleged devaluation.

· Low returns on US bonds are driving investors into higher-performing foreign bonds. Some of these countries are responding by reinstituting capital controls to guard against hot money and the carry trade.

· The spat with China and reemergence of capital controls have led some to fear that we are in the first stages of an all-out currency war.

· The instability in the international monetary system, the decreasing value of the dollar, and the large amounts of new US debt could lead the IMF and countries such as China, Japan, Russia, India, and Brazil to abandon the dollar and adopt a new multinational currency.

While the big players in these currency games sort everything out, the people hurt the most are the savers, the workers, and those on fixed incomes as their money buys less and less. Make no mistake – the Fed and the Treasury Department are playing games with our money, especially in how they report statistics like unemployment and inflation. These games erode our standard of living and hide just how much damage their inflationary policies are doing.

Official core inflation for the US is only 1.14%, but that excludes such crucial day-to-day goods such as food and energy. Real inflation certainly is higher, maybe much higher. John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics calculates true inflation at a whopping 8.48%! But manipulated inflation statistics give the government cover when they again deny seniors a cost of living increase in their social security checks. They also serve to convince the public that further expansion of the money supply will boost the economy without causing any real pain, which has essentially been the core argument of Greenspan-Bernanke fed policy for the last 20 years.

Of course, the United States is not alone in its disastrous monetary policy decisions. These pressures are inherent in any fiat monetary system where money is created at will, for the benefit of the special interests. As all these currencies race to the bottom of the inflationary barrel, the only security to be had will be in honest money like gold as the system falls apart. My hope is that we can return to the wisdom of the Constitution and get back to sound, commodity-backed money before our dollar suffers a wholesale collapse.

Ron Paul speech to Virginia Tea Party Patriots Convention

posted by Greg Chamberlain

Ron Paul Speech at Virgina Tea Party Patriots Convention

U.S. Congressman Ron Paul of Texas flew to Richmond, Virginina and delivered a passionate speech, arguing the case for the ongoing "intellectual revolution" occurring in this country. Ron Paul is the Godfather of the Tea Party Movement before Sarah Palin, various Neoconservatives and sunny day patriots reverse hijacked the movement. Listen here! This is the real deal.

Fed ready to "Print Money"

Posted by Greg Chamberlain for THE SCOOP

The Federal Reserve (about as Federal as Federal Express) is preparing to print more money, as the constantly do anyway. The U.S. is on what is known as a Fiat Money System, meaing it is backed by nothing but the same kind of faith children have in the Easter Bunny or Santa Clause. Pretty soon, when the children (the people, countries who bankroll the U.S., etc) figure out that their faith is based on delusion, the U.S. Financial System will collapse.

Whilst this pending collapse will not be the end of the U.S. or the World, it will be the end of the kind of spending we see in Washington and in States like California and cities like Santa Monica.

Printing money, in the way that The Fed does, creates inflation diluting the value of hard cash money people have in their pockets or in the bank. Prices for nearly everything goes up. The private bankers at The Fed see this as a way to pay their own debts without really paying. It is corrupt and evil. END THE FED

Free Markets Create Jobs By United States Congressman Ron Paul for October 4, 2010

Posted by Greg Chamberlain

Free Markets Create Jobs
By United States Congressman Ron Paul
October 4, 2010

In this struggling economy it is essential for politicians to take a step back and think about what government has been doing to business in this country. In less than 200 years, the free market, property rights, and respect for the rule of law took this nation from a rough frontier to a global economic superpower. Today, however, our nation and our economy clearly are headed in the wrong direction.

Of course, America has never enjoyed absolute free-market capitalism: creeping government intrusion and special interest political patronage have existed and increased since our founding. But America historically has permitted free markets to operate with less government interference than other nations, while showing greater respect for property rights and the rule of law. Less government, respect for private property, and a relatively stable legal environment allowed America to become the wealthiest nation on earth.

By contrast, the poorest nations almost always demonstrate hostility for free markets, private property, and the rule of law. Capital formation, entrepreneurship, credit, and wealth accumulation are uniformly discouraged in poor countries. Private contracts are not reliably enforced, and private property is not secure in the hands of owners. The predictable result is widespread poverty and misery.

First and foremost, the role of government in business should be limited to resolving contractual disputes. As long as both parties of a contract enter into the arrangement willingly, without coercion, and with complete and accurate information, they should be expected to live up to their end of the deal. When a party cannot or will not honor the terms of a contract, it is acceptable for government to provide a court system to resolve disputes in a fair and impartial way.

Government should not dictate the terms of a contract to the parties involved. However, throughout the 20th century, our government became increasingly comfortable mandating terms that politicians find acceptable without regard to what businesses or their customers might want. This interference has had a chilling effect on the economy.

For example, government increases labor costs through minimum wage laws, union requirements, healthcare mandates, and various other stipulations that decrease a business’s capacity to hire as many employees as they might otherwise. And because they can only hire a few, they must reserve those spots only for top candidates. Thus, a teenager or a handicapped individual may miss out on job opportunities and work experience because of government-created job shortages. What if someone was willing to work for less than the government-mandated minimum wage, and a business was willing to give them a chance? Government makes this illegal, and both the business and the worker are worse off for it.

By contrast, business flourishes when government gets out of the way. One example is playing out in the 14th congressional district in Texas. A major multinational company, Caterpillar, is building an assembly facility in Victoria, Texas, rather than in one of the heavily unionized midwest states where it operates other plants. Texas, as a “right to work” state, offers more manageable labor costs. It also offers a more business-friendly regulatory landscape, and an overall lower tax burden with no corporate income tax. I am pleased that because of this, the people of Victoria will be rewarded with more job opportunities.

Freedom and a restrained government are what made us an economic power house. If we keep chasing businesses away with onerous taxes, mandates, and regulations, they will eventually leave. The best approach to our economic woes that will help the most people is simple: get back to the Constitution and demonstrate respect for free markets, private property, and the rule of law.

Energy Efficient Light Bulbs, known as CFL bulbs, might be bad for our health

Posted by Editor of TheScoop.Com



For more health scoops, go to Health.TheScoop.Com

Femi Kuti - Beng Beng Beng

Cooking horn arrangements and funky world music beats are the driving force behind Femi Kuti and his fantastic piece entitled Beng Beng Beng.



Hear and See More music on Music.TheScoop.Com

Healthcare Reform: A Huge Misdiagnosis - By United States Congressman Ron Paul

Healthcare Reform: A Huge Misdiagnosis
By United States Congressman Ron Paul
September 27, 2010

This week marked six months since Congress passed the healthcare reform bill in what has become all-too-typical legislative chicanery. Those in power crafted a mammoth piece of legislation and rammed it through Congress under a dire sense of emergency. Insisting on time enough to read the bill was dismissed as dangerous and crazy in a time of crisis. We were told that if we really wanted to see what was in the bill, we would have to pass it first. I cannot imagine the founding fathers intended for Congress to legislate in this manner. I would think if a Member is not absolutely certain the entire legislation meets Constitutional muster, the default vote should be “no” in accordance with our oath of office.

But now that Congress has had six months to read the new law, there is a significant amount of buyer’s remorse on Capitol Hill. The more constituents learn about the law, the more angry they become. 60% of Americans are now said to be in favor of repealing the entire thing. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to repeal a law than to pass a bill.

I wrote a while back about the egregious provision to require businesses to issue 1099s for all transactions over $600 as a way to partially pay for it. I have cosponsored legislation to fix this issue, yet this is just the tip of the iceberg.

First of all, in spite of the administration repeating over and over that this legislation would not increase costs for Americans, they are now saying they knew all along that it would. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that American families will see their premiums rise by an average of $2100 by 2016. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the cost of compliance is forcing some insurers to increase premiums by up to 20% as soon as next year!

Also, in spite of repeated claims from the administration that we could all keep our plans and doctors if we liked them, the administration’s own officials are now predicting that won’t be true for up to 117 million Americans who will lose their current plans. Major insurers are also dropping child-only plans because of mandates and price-fixing on such policies, leaving parents with fewer choices for their children, not more.

In addition, in spite of claiming this law would contain government costs, not increase them, administration actuaries now predict it will increase healthcare spending by over $300 billion. This additional spending comes along with doctor shortages, fewer choices and more taxes. Perhaps worst of all, increases in labor costs because of health insurance mandates are discouraging employers from hiring new workers and even triggering more layoffs.

Anyone with a basic understanding of Austrian economics could have predicted the unintended consequences of these new healthcare policies. Central planning never increases choices and quality or cuts costs as promised. Price controls and government mandates always create artificial scarcity. Healthcare is not a right, nor a privilege. It is a product, like food or clothing. As with any good or service, the free market regulation of supply and demand provides the optimum quality to the maximum number of people. Once we realize the problems we are trying to solve today were created by government intervention beginning in the 1960’s, we can begin to put patients and doctors back in control of healthcare, rather than third party oligopolies and government bureaucrats. The sooner, the better.

More mainstream media brainwashing on Ahmadinejad's Speech at The United Nations - September 23, 2010

Posted by Greg Chamberlain

As the mainstream media is brainwashing the public that Iran's President Ahmadinejad claims that 9/11 was a inside job during a United Nations speech, few people have spent the time to actually listen to the speech. Listen for yourself and decide if he endorsed any of the theories he presented, or if he was simply stating what theories exist.

Ahmadinejad's Speech at The United Nations - September 23, 2010
Farsi to English Translation Begins after First Minute of Video
Part 1



Part II

MSNBC's host Dylan Ratigan and Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald challenge the Neocon, Clifford May. on U.S. Intervention against Iran

posted by Greg Chamberlain

MSNBC's host Dylan Ratigan and Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald challenge a NeoCon, Clifford May, (President of Washington DC's Foundation for the Defense of Democracies) on U.S. interventionism against Iran.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I agree with Ratigan and Greewald and am not in agreeance with the agenda of of Clifford May. It is disturbing to me when everyone from the most lowly pundits to the most well informed journalists continue to proclaim or agree with the notion that the President of Iran said he or Iran wanted or had a desire to wipe Israel off the map. This notion is NeoCon propaganda that even non NeoCons have bought into, hook, line and sinker.

The President of Iran's actual words were, "Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad".

The full quote translated directly to English is: "The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time." This one line was only a small fragment of Ahmadinejad's entire speech. That one line has been taken out of context to infer that Ahmadinejad said he wanted to get a nuke and use it to wipe Israel off the map. It's BULL!

The word by word translation in English is: Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).

For the full well researched story on the above quotes by Ahmadinejad which have been taken out of context to justify making him the enemy for war justification by certain U.S. and Israeli interests, please refer to 'Wiped off the Map' – The Rumor of the Century by Arash Norouzi on AntiWar.Com at http://www.antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025

This whole idea that Iran wants to be the one that pulls the trigger and wipe Israel off the map is utter nonsense to advance agendas of people like Neocon, Clifford May, and the type of warmongers who steered the U.S. to war in Iraq. Context is everything.

Many seem to forget, or perhaps never actually knew, that the first ever secret CIA led coup to overthrow a foreign leader was when the CIA overthrew the democratically elected President of Iran in 1953. Why? It was because he took back the oil fields from foreign owned firms and nationalized them, therefore, seeing that the oil revenues fully benefited the Republic of Iran and it's citizens.

Here is a video on The Secret Government and the CIA Overthrow of Mossadeq, the first real democratically elected President of Iran.



Just below is another film and perspective about the CIA engineered coup that toppled Iranian President Mossadegh in 1953.



And lastly, I have issues with those who constantly spout off that Iran's President Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier and that he is ignorant. Ignorant is something he most certainly is not. He is a scientist, scholar and was a university professor before entering politics. If one objectively listens to the entire interview between MSNBC's Brian Williams and President Ahmadinejad, one may view the above mentioned non truths a bit differently. I've come to the opinion that those who would rather avoid answering the questions that Ahmadinejad poses, such as, "What did the Palestinian people have to do with the Holocaust?", and "Why do the Palestinian people pay for the Holocaust?", are the people propagating these non truths that President Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier and that he wants to wipe Israel off the map. There is a deliberate attempt to falsely misuse the Holocaust and the Anti-Semitism card against Ahmadinejad to advance agendas that are anti Palestinian and anti peace for the Middle East for the benefit of Big Oil, Military Industrial Complex and Israeli interests. Please watch this video below between MSNBC's Brian Williams and President Ahmadinejad.



Until Americans understand and challenge our elected leaders as to the real suffering and expense that the Palestinian people have paid for Israel's statehood with massive U.S. financial and military support, as well as the history of U.S./Iranian relations going back long before the hostage crisis of 1979 and understand the true cause of that crisis, America is going to continue on the same wrong and evil interventionist path at too great of an expense of not only human lives, but also at the expense of what is barely left of our failed monetary system and overall economy.

Greg Chamberlain

Esperanza Spalding - Bringing substance back to Jazz Music

As modern jazz has been watered down with the "Smooth Jazz" movement, Esperanza Spalding is helping erase that "smooth" label, bringing substance back to the jazz genre. She is not only a great bassist, writer, & arranger, she also has one of the sweetest voices in modern jazz.

Ron Paul on Fox Business News: "This Is Much Bigger Than The Great Depression"

On More Stimulus Spending - By Ron Paul

Posted by Greg Chamberlain

On More Stimulus Spending - By Ron Paul

Faced with continuing economic decline and an impending election, the administration, predictably, is entertaining the idea of another stimulus package. To explain why the last one didn’t work, adherents to the Keynesian economic philosophy are claiming that they actually did work - it just looks like they didn’t because we don’t realize how much worse off we would be right now without trillions of dollars of public spending. The last administration bought into Keynesianism just as much as this one does, unfortunately. Until we have leaders who understand that debt is not the way to prosperity, there will be no stopping runaway government spending.

While it is nice to hear about business tax breaks, the positive results of these tax cuts will be dwarfed by its negative effects. First of all, $200 billion or so in temporary tax cuts and credits to businesses are nothing compared to the $3.8 trillion in tax hikes that will hit the economy like a ton of bricks on January 1, 2011 if the Bush tax cuts are not extended by Congress.

Second of all, businesses are reluctant to hire and invest, not because they are looking for temporary credits, but because of future uncertainty; they simply don’t know what the government is going to do next and how future government policies will affect decisions they make now. What new costs and regulations will be placed on them with healthcare reform and financial services reform? Will Congress convene a lame-duck session this winter to pass cap-and-trade and other destructive legislation? What will the cost of compliance be for hiring new employees, and will that force them to simply lay off anyone they hire now? Worse, will the government come up with fines or additional costs if businesses have to lay people off in the future? Right now, the safest thing for businesses to do is nothing. Until we regain respect for the rule of law and remove some of this uncertainty, I’m afraid none of these temporary promises, made right before an election, will do much towards any economic improvement.

The other glaring problem with this proposed stimulus package is that it couples tax cuts with spending increases, which makes no sense when we are already heavily indebted to foreign countries. We should be cutting taxes and slashing government spending dramatically. The private sector simply cannot bear the burden of our engorged public sector. In fact, one reason earlier stimulus programs did not result in any private sector growth is because large amounts went to the public sector. Indeed, the spending that the administration is now proposing arguably constitutes a bailout of the public sector and various union allies of the administration.

This administration is falling into the same dangerous trap we fell into during the Great Depression, as did the Germans leading into their hyperinflation of the 1920’s. The temptation is to do something, anything, proactive to attempt to stimulate the economy, but history has shown us that governments cannot spend their way into prosperity. The best thing government could do is get back to its Constitutional limitations and let the economy stabilize, heal and recover without the crushing burden of government holding it back.

Ron Paul on U.S. Foreign Policy in Middle East

Posted by Greg Chamberlain

Below, are two videos edited by a supporter of Ron Paul featuring tidbits of Congressman Paul's views and statements regarding U.S. forign policy in the Middle East.

Part I



Part II

Congressman Paul gives his thoughts on the Quran burning and what is really provoking terrorists:

posted by Greg Chamberlain

Congressman Ron Paul today issued the following statement about a Florida pastor's plan to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"A professed Christian pastor in Gainesville, Florida, Terry Jones, plans to burn copies of the Quran on 9/11. He indicts all Islam for 9/11 and argues that it is a hate-driven religion. He's convinced he's on God's side even though he is getting little support from other Christians, who believe that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

"General David Petraeus, our military commander in Afghanistan, strongly condemned Mr. Jones' plan, arguing it would be provocative, make his fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan more difficult and further jeopardize the lives of American soldiers.

"I agree! This blame of all Muslims for the atrocities of 9/11 only makes things worse - especially since it wasn't the Taliban of Afghanistan that committed the atrocities on 9/11. Under Jones' warped logic, we should have attacked Saudi Arabia since 15 of the 19 suicide bombers came from that country.

"But while I am pleased to see General Petraeus recognize the danger of one type of incitement, he unfortunately fails to see the whole picture and understand that our policies of torture, targeted assassination, invasion of Muslim countries and unintended infliction of civilian casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are also provocative. Pictures of victims of torture as well as innocent people killed by drones and stray bombs are every bit as bad as burning the Quran.

"In some ways, what Jones is doing may be minor compared to the resentment toward us as a consequence of what our government has done to thousands of innocent victims.

"As I have said time and time again, Osama bin Laden wins by 'proving' that America is an enemy of Islam and has an occupation agenda in the Middle East. And, we continue to walk into his trap and hand him up his best recruitment tool in his efforts to provoke hatred and terrorism against the United States.

"If we don't want to incite radical Islamists, we need to stop these un-needed wars. It is high time we came to our senses, brought our troops home to defend our country and pursued a Constitutional, Pro-American foreign policy."

Ron Paul on CNN Situlation Roon - September 8, 2010

Successful Economic Policies? For Whom? - By Ron Paul

posted by Greg Chamberlain

Successful Economic Policies? For Whom?
by United States Congressman Ron Paul
Sept 8, 2010

Last week, in the wake of another uptick in the official unemployment rate, the administration continued to claim that their economic policies were working, just not fast enough. This administration inherited an unemployment rate of 7.7% and promised a peak of no higher than 8% if their policies were followed. Not only does the administration have a funny way of ending a war, but now they claim their economic policies are successful. For whom, I wonder?

These policies are not working for the 9.6% of Americans who are out of work, nor for the over16% underemployed. They are not working for nearly 3 million Americans who have declared bankruptcy in the last two years, or the 40 million currently on food stamps. Nearly 1 in 6 Americans depend on those and other government anti-poverty programs such as Medicaid and unemployment benefits. As more Americans are added to the unemployment rolls, the tax base from which to hand out their benefits is shrinking. Still, businesses are being taxed and regulated out of the market, adding to the problem. What solutions are put forth? More government spending - even as each citizen’s portion of the public debt is over $43,000 and expected to increase by $250,000 over the next 40 years.

No, this economy is not working for these people. But current economic policy does “work” for some people. For example, it has worked out very well for certain bankers and large corporations, who took on too much risk and got themselves in hot water, and were declared “too big to fail” which is really a euphemism for “friends in high places”. It works well for large, well-connected military industrial corporations, who can always count on perpetual war and conflict to keep them in business. It also works for those on the government’s payroll, which is increasing as the tax base is decreasing.

So where does the government get all this money even as its most obvious stream of revenue dries up? How can it keep spending seemingly indefinitely? Once it steals as much from you as it can get away with through taxation, it steals even more from you through what central bankers like to call quantitative easing, which is more or less the same thing as counterfeiting. When the money is no longer based on a finite quantity of something of value, like a store of gold or silver, the amount of money in circulation is not limited by anything but the restraint of those in control of the printing presses, in our case the Fed and the US Treasury. When increasing pressure is put upon them by irresponsible politicians, it is predictable that out of thin air, more money will be created to satisfy the insatiable appetites of those on political spending sprees. As money becomes more plentiful, it becomes less valuable, and the average citizen suffers again as the value of their savings evaporates. It has happened over and over in history, and what usually follows is the total debasement of the currency, hyperinflation and chaos.

Sound economic policy would be to take our foot off the gas and apply the brakes to government spending as the economic cliff approaches. We must get back to where our economy produces actual wealth, rather than mere paper wealth. The road back to fiscal sanity and a strong economy is simple: Congress just needs to get back to following the Constitution.

The Scoop™ LOVES unknown recording artist, Avery Sunshine

The Scoop™ came across Avery Sunshine and fell in love with this song at first listen.





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American Radical - The Trials of Norman Finkelstein

Rossier and Ridgen’s haunting documentary “American Radical” tells the story of controversial Jewish academic Norman Finkelstein.

The film is to opened in July, 2010 at the Traverse City Film Festival in Michigan and is on continued touring in festivals and theaters in South Africa, The US and Europe. The film has won recently the Cinema Politica Audience Award. It played at Traverse three times including the closing night of the festival.

American Radical is the probing documentary portrait of American academic and activist Norman Finkelstein. A devoted son of holocaust survivors, ardent critic of Israeli and US Mid-East policies and author of six provocative books—including the Holocaust Industry and Beyond Chutzpah, Finkelstein has been at the center of many intractable controversies. Called a lunatic and a self-hating Jew by some and an inspirational, street-fighting revolutionary by others, Finkelstein is a deeply polarizing figure whose struggles arise from core questions about freedom, identity and nationhood. The film provides an intimate portrait of the man behind the controversy, giving voice to both his many critics and his supporters, while following him around the globe as he labors to change peoples’ minds

The Traverse City Film Festival brings films and filmmakers from around the world to northern Michigan for the annual film festival in late July to early August. The festival was founded by legendary Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore who runs the festival and serves as president of the board of directors.