Book Review: The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul

"If we want to live in a free society, we need to break free from these artificial limitations on free debate and start asking serious questions once again. . . These ideas cannot be allowed to die, buried beneath the mind-numbing chorus of empty slogans and inanities that constitute official political discourse in America.

This is why I wrote this book"

A call to Liberty, and a return to reason are the main themes of this Manifesto. Texas congressman and 2008 presidential candidate, Ron Paul, writes the story of American politics today and how the founding principles of liberty have all but been forgotten. The book is more than just a campaign manifesto... it's the manifesto for Liberty and Truth. Before I drool anymore on it, I'll go into some of the key points Dr. Paul addresses.

Foreign Policy:

Dr. Paul goes into the Constitutionality of our foreign policy, the enormous cost of our military-industrial complex, and the whole theory of "blow-back" and its ties into the 9-11 attacks. He provides ample history without getting dry and points out how if we cut just half of our military budget it would provide $500 billion in funds.

The Constitution:

The most important document in American history, the Constitution is the groundwork for liberty and we have all but disregarded it. Dr. Paul discusses the blatant lack of respect our politicians have for this document and how it is ruining our country.

Economic Freedom:

Perhaps the most important subject for our current situation, this chapter outlines how having a free-market economy--as opposed to our heavily regulated, government intervened economy--would greatly improve our standard of living and how we would never have had a financial collapse such as in 2008. He also addresses the issues of Social Security and Healthcare, and how we should deal with these pressing issues.

Civil Liberties and Personal Freedom:

"Our Constitution was written to restrain government, not the people" It seems more and more that we answer to the government, and it refuses to answer to us. Personal freedom is indivisable and every person is "entitled" to nothing, except what we earn ourselves--and no person (especially the government) has no right to take from what we earn by force. If we refuse freedom in exchange for government control we will never get it back. This is not a political issue, it truly is a human issue.

Ron Paul is the reason I became awake to the struggle for Liberty confronting us today. This book will serve as a guide for generations to come as truth on how government and society should act. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the proper role of government and the Freedom Movement. Furthermore join the Campaign for Liberty by following the link of the right to support the growing movement. Long live Freedom!

Longer School Years?

Department of Education Chief wants to make school year longer

Yet another bright idea comes out of Washington (these guys just love "reform" and "change", that I can believe in). New Education Chief Arne Duncan feels that America school children are not in school enough and that is why we are falling behind China and India (and a lot of other countries too) in educational rankings. It makes perfect sense--kids receive terrible public education and teaching, but if we just leave them in the school for an extra month they'll magically perform better. That is of course, if the school district is given more money (and kids are our future so why would you deny them money?).

No our school systems don't need more money, they need less bureaucracy. Education is perhaps the best thing a child will ever receive in his/her lifetime and we want to put that responsibility in the hands of the same people who run the post office and the IRS? Are we insane? No, just ignorant to the fact that the laws of economics don't just apply to Wall St., but rather the principles extend into most facets of life. The problem with our schools isn't the the length of the school year, it's the lack of competition and accountability within the system. When you combine both the teacher's unions with government bureaucracy, you suddenly have thousands of barriers put up between children receiving the best education.

Think of it this way. Schools are no different than any other business--they offer a service, education. In order to make profits they have to offer a superior service than the other schools--this is called competition. If the school cannot keep up with the other schools and offers only a 50% graduation rate (true of a vast amount of public high schools) no one would want their kids to go there and that school would fail. That possibility of failing is what would motivate teachers and school officials to really invest in children's education since their pay depends on it. This is not the case today. The opposite is true actually. If a school district receives horrible marks it doesn't close down, it receives more money. The teachers have no motivation to provide the best service possible because of the job security teacher's unions provide, making it almost impossible to fire a teacher. This is not how a successful business is run and not how education (our most important asset) should be run.

This special report "Stupid In America" by John Stossel sums up the problems well.

UN Law would Make Blasphemy Illegal

I find most religions reprehensible to rationality and human rights. Islam is by far the most destructive of all religions, and now, the UN is going to tell us we cannot even say such things because it is "blasphemy". Ridiculous, simply ridiculous. What happened to "separation of church and state"? It was put in the Constitution for a reason so there wouldn't be religious favoritism by the State. But I guess the UN is getting ready to issue World Laws now... scary.

Falling Away - Song from Sprite Commercials (plus remixes)

Sprite had this commercial running summer 2007 and re-ran it in 2008. I fell in love with the song and it's perfect summer feel and had to find it. Through some intrepid Google searching I finally acquired the download from the German Sprite website (that was fun to navigate through).The 'Falling Away' track was written by Lindsay Jehan, Hugh Wilson, Andy Bloch, and Morgan Visconti at Human Worldwide.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=9b262d1a44fe51b400d27174b47c66576513b7f665c352e75621d66e282a0ee8

White House Releases Monstrous Budget

White House delivers $3.6 Trillion Budget to Congress

In a time where everyone is forced to spend less in order to effectively deal with the current economic crises, Washington has decided to cut loose with one of the largest federal budgets in history. The budget includes plan for increased health care benefits, shifting the energy economy from oil and gas, and boosting federal aid to education. But, some good news is Obama is committed to taking the troops out of Iraq... by sending them straight to Afghanistan (he's still keeping his promise right?). So much for "increased diplomacy". Where is all the money for this budget going to come from?? Higher Taxes on those "plenty of rich people" Barney Frank hates so much.

It's all part of "trickle-up" Keynesian Economic thinking politicians have fallen in love with: simply put, by giving money to the lowest class they will in turn immediately spend the money, business will have more profits and hire more people, more people have jobs so they spend more money, and so on. Problem is in order for the government to give the lower classes money they need to take it from somewhere: the upper and middle classes. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone deserves a tax break. Everyone. For god's sake half the country doesn't even pay income tax! No, the problem is not the rich have to much money--the problem is the government has too much power. It is the only entity to have positive growth last year, the highest employer last year, and with no coincidence, the biggest debtor in World History.

The government has become the dead beat junkie relative, always needing just a little more money, then he'll sober up. But if you don't hand over your money he won't survive, so he says. The thing is you have the choice to not give your dead beat relative money, but with the government they don't give you a choice. There is never a choice with the government, they hold all the power and can force you to do anything. It doesn't matter if you don't agree with a single thing the government does... you still have to pay your taxes or face the penalty. The worst, and saddest, part of it all is people actually believe the government isn't a dead beat, but rather they see Salvation. But the reality is, no matter how much you want to believe and hope--2+2 will always = 4... even if the government says its 5.

Federal Obligations Exceed World GDP (aka we're screwed)

U.S. Obligations exceed $65 Trillion

You think you might have a debt problem? It's nothing compared to the kind of debt the U.S. federal government has racked up. This is really gotten beyond ridiculous. I can't believe we talk about "stimulus packages" and not about "debt packages" which is exactly what they are. I don't know how to put it any more simply: the government has NO money, none, zip, nadda, zelch-- all they have is T-Bonds and a printing press. Foreign countries have to buy our bonds (our debt) in order for us to actually have a "stimulus" package and it seems China will continue to do that-for now- but has shown apprehension in the past. Once China wakes up (which may take years) then there will be no one left to afford our debt. That's when the printing presses start rolling non-stop. This isn't something that "could never happen to the US"... we are not immune to the laws of economics. All one has to do is look at the current situation in Zimbabwe to see the endgame to this inflation game.

He's back...

Tiger Woods (aka Tiger, aka the Greatest Golfer Ever, aka ImakeRorySabbatiniChokeOnHisWords) returns to the PGA tour after major surgery to his knee. Tiger has not played since his amazing U.S. Open victory where he won on one leg (one f**king leg!). I'm glad he's back, the golf community's glad he's back--pro golfers aren't quite as excited.

First Post

Hey all

I'm pretty excited to actually start a blog and hope people actually look at this (or I might cry inside a little). I'll admit I got the inspiration from my friend Jack starting one but I'm sure he won't mind. But yeah, I hope to actual keep this posted often with interesting items and my commentary on various issues. I welcome any comments and suggestions for the blog: just as long as you realize I will unmercifully insult unintelligent and overall lame writing. Thanks for visiting!