On Being Open To New Ideas (Or Old Ideas As It Were)

It is utterly ridiculous that some people still believe that the mainstream politicians are "for" them. I actually had a family member say that they are for more government - that less government is not the answer.
 
I was so utterly dumbfounded at the lack of wisdom of someone twice my age. It was getting late and we were about to leave anyway so I just turned in the towel and said we could debate some other time. Obviously it left a mark on me as I'm writing about it now.
 
It's because I detest ignorance. Doubly so when it comes from a friend or family member. Plus I believe I'm smart. Or, if I'm not inherently that intelligent, at least I take the time to research things and look at them from multiple angles. I don't just stolidly believe that my worldview is the best one or the only one that would work.
 
If someone came to me tomorrow and said that Ron Paul's economic policies were wrong and here's why, and then laid out the facts, I'd be open to it. I wouldn't just say, "well I don't believe that" and be done with it - that's closed-minded and idiotic. Hehe... don't get me wrong, I don't think this could ever happen - Ron Paul has centuries of history backing up his proof of the gold standard being a much better system of economic freedom and stability than our current fiat system. 
 
I don't have all the answers, but on economic policy I've done my homework. I don't want to be recognized as a svengali or genius, but I just wish that some people, call them our elders, would realize that they don't have all the answers. It's not like the country they handed us was working all that well.

 

Mon September 5, 2011

How To Check Your Data Usage on an iPad 3G for AT&T

Just a little tip for anyone else out there who might have encountered this problem.
 
If you have an iPad 3G and want to check your data usage, this might be a little frustrating. AT&T apparently doesn't treat the iPad as a real account since it's just data and not really a phone. So if you try to log into the website or follow any other instructions you get the runaround.
 
There is no way (that I know of or was able to find out) to log into AT&T's site to check your iPad 3G data usage. They also have an iOS app called myAT&T, but I was unable to log in to it (probably for the same reason you can't log into the site).
 
Here's the very simple solution that I can't believe I didn't see anywhere else or notice on my own:
 
In your iPad's Settings app, go to General, then Usage. BAM - there it is, your sent and received cellular data used. 
 
Very cool of Apple to build it into the settings, but just wish that it was mentioned SOMEWHERE along the line by AT&T when setting it up or in their introductory email.
 
(Does this work for Verizon as well on the iPad 2? One would think so...)

 

Thu August 25, 2011

What The Federal Reserve Is

A friend posted this on Facebook and I thought it was too good and valuable not to be seen elsewhere on the Web as well. Awesome stuff an a great overall look at the Federal Reserve and what it's powers are. 

-------------

 

 

by Jon Klingler on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 9:17pm

 

The Federal Reserve System is, contrary to popular belief, not a branch of the United States Federal Government, and in the case of The Federal Reserve, the name itself is even deceptive. Just as the word federal is misleading, so is the word reserve. In reality, there are no monetary reserves at The Federal Reserve. There is nothing backing up the value of the dollar. The name for the organization was concocted in secret several years before The Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913. It was designed to fool the public into believing that The Federal Reserve was working in the best interest of the American people. The Federal Reserve, just like every other corporation, is owned by private stockholders, and is operated purely for profit. U.S. Courts have continuously ruled that The Federal Reserve is a private corporation. (Still) One such ruling in 1982 was Lewis v. the United States, which came to the conclusion that Federal Reserve Banks are “independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations”. (Global Research)

 

If you take a look back into recent history you will find that the Bank of England was the world’s first privately owned central banking system. The Bank of England was also deceptively named in order to fool the British people into thinking it was a government institution. The early American colonists hated the Bank of England and wanted nothing to do with it. Benjamin Franklin claimed that the real cause of the American Revolution was the unfair taxes which were placed on the American colonies due to the Bank of England running up the British national debt. (Still) Thomas Jefferson said, “The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution… If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.” (Jefferson)

 

The blueprint for The Federal Reserve System was drawn up behind closed doors, at a secret meeting, in a hotel conference room on Jekyll Island, in November of 1910. (Griffin 23) When these men arrived in Brunswick, Georgia by train, Senator Aldrich was asked by reporters who his guests were and what was going on. Aldrich simply fabricated a story about how he and some of his personal friends were going to go duck hunting. This lie seemed to satisfy the reporters, and that was the story which ended up in the newspapers. At the hotel where the meeting was taking place, the attendees only called each other by their first names, and an entirely new, hand-picked hotel staff was used during the week the men were meeting together to further ensure their anonymity. (Griffin 8) The entire reason for the secrecy was because these men knew that if the American people and Congress knew what was going on, then The Federal Reserve Act would never be permitted to be passed. The list of men that were in attendance at this covert gathering at Jekyll Island was: Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, who was the father-in-law to John D. Rockefeller, Henry P. Davison, Charles D. Norton, A. Piatt Andrew, Frank A. Vanderlip, Benjamin Strong, and Paul M. Warburg who was there on behalf of the Rothchilds and Warburgs from Europe. (Griffin 24) During this week long meeting they laid out the structure for The Federal Reserve from the ground up. In 1911, this plan went before the National Monetary Commission for review. A lot of money was spent on hyping the prospect of The Federal Reserve in the newspapers. In 1913, when the amended bill went before Congress, it was passed to the detriment of the American economy and the American people. (Paul, End the Fed 23) Since its passage in 1913, The Federal Reserve Act has been amended around 200 times. The original Congressmen and Senators, who voted it into existence, would hardly recognize it anymore. (Griffin 472)

 

In economist Milton Friedman’s book, A Monetary History of the United States, Friedman discusses why The Federal Reserve was responsible for leading the United States, and the world, into the Great Depression. PBS interviewed Friedman in October of 2000. Friedman explained how the first few years of the Great Depression were actually only a recession. During this time The Federal Reserve adhered to procedures that reduced the amount of currency in circulation by one third, hence causing the collapse of one third of the nation’s banks, and wiping out the savings of the average family. Friedman claims that The Federal Reserve knew what they were doing and were advised to reverse this action, but did not. The result was years of deep economic depression. Ben Bernanke, the current Chairman of The Federal Reserve, spoke at Friedman’s 90th birthday party in 2002, at the University of Chicago. Near the end of his speech, Bernanke said, regarding the Great Depression, “You’re right, we did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again”. (Kupelian) This is one promise which Bernanke may not be able to keep.

 

Six years after signing The Federal Reserve Act into existence, Woodrow Wilson regretfully said, “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” (Wilson)

 

The Federal Reserve prints money out of thin air, and loans it to third world countries, and then the American tax payers get stuck with the bill by means of taxes and inflation. The Federal Reserve knows that there is no possible way for these lesser developed counties to pay back these loans, but they could care less. The Federal Reserve gets the interest, and the average American citizen get the shaft. Every dollar they print causes more inflation, which in turn drives down the value of the dollar. Eventually, more developed countries like the United States will become broke, and will soon be willing to give up their sovereignty for international financial support. This is not a coincidence; it is all by design. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank grow stronger, and this is leading the way to a World Central Bank with a global currency. (Griffin 132)

 

The Federal Reserve also manipulates interest rates. When you pump more money into the financial system this causes artificially low interest rates. This is very harmful to the economy. The free market, along with a sound currency will naturally bring down the interest rates. (Paul, End the Fed 133)

 

Before the end of President George W. Bush’s second term, he started the ball rolling on a $700 billion dollar bailout. President Obama more than doubled that soon after he took office. Not to mention the new budget will create nearly $10 trillion dollars in new debt for the tax payers, their children, and their grandchildren to be burdened with. (Paul, End the Fed 139) How can we bail out companies like AIG and GM, not to mention all these banks, without going bankrupt ourselves as a nation? The dollar has already lost ninety-five percent of its value; are we shooting for one hundred percent in the next few years? George Washington, during his farewell speech in 1796, had this to say about debt, “As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.” (Washington) Either Bernanke doesn’t understand monetary policy, which I highly doubt is the case, or he and the rest of The Federal Reserve Board have a completely separate agenda than they are leading us believe.

 

Most people have heard that war is good for the economy, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Wartime is an extremely lucrative time for The Federal Reserve though. They print money out of thin air to give to governments for war expenditures, governments turn around and buy weapons from contractors like Halliburton. This printing of money in turn causes inflation to soar. The Federal Reserve lent out nearly $10 billion dollars during WWI. This caused deflation of the dollar by nearly half, so not only did the American people lose fifty percent of their purchasing power, but they also had to pay taxes on top of that. This same procedure of creating money out of thin air, and lending it out has been repeated numerous times throughout The Federal Reserve’s near century long reign. (Griffin 258, 259)

 

Former President, George H. W. Bush, on September 11th, 1990, which was ironically enough, exactly eleven years to the day before the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, was one of the first people to publicly utter the words New World Order, in a speech given before a joint session of the U. S. Congress. (Wikipedia) Up until recently, people who spoke of a world government or the new world order were considered tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists. Now plans for a new world order, a world government, and especially a global monetary system are in the news on a regular basis. Paul Warburg, one of the men that were at the Jekyll Island meeting in 1910, while addressing the Senate in 1950 said, "We shall have world government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether world government will be achieved by conquest or consent." (Russo)

 

These world bankers, though unelected, actually control the governments of the world through financial manipulation. In USA Today, Robert Reich said, “The dirty little secret is that both Houses of Congress are irrelevant. America's domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and The Federal Reserve… America's foreign policy is now being run by the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. When the President decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from congress.” (Russo) Is this why Congress has not officially declared war since World War II?

 

The so called free trade agreements like NAFTA and GAT have nothing to do with free trade. They are nothing more than a further push towards the new world order by international bankers and their puppet governments. Treaties like these are giving the world bankers more and more control over the countries of the world. These bankers are arrogant at the very least. Megalomania is a word that comes to mind. As Sir Josiah Stamp, the former Director of The Bank of England put it, "The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough money to buy it back again. However, take away from them the power to create money, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this world would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money." (Russo)

 

H. R. 1207 was introduced by Congressman Ron Paul (R - TX) on February 26, 2009, (Paul, Audit the Federal Reserve: HR 1207 and S 604) but this is not the first time an ‘audit the fed’ bill has been introduced by Congressman Paul. It is the first time, however, that it has gained any momentum in the house. Congressman Paul starting introducing this bill in 1983 and every following year thereafter, and until now it never even won a committee hearing. (Eddlem) H. R. 1207 is a bill that was introduced to have a full congressional audit of The Federal Reserve, and S. 604 is the identical bill for the Senate. As of October 26th, 2009, H. R. 1207 had 307 co-sponsors, and the bill in the Senate has 30 co-sponsors. Transparency is the goal. The American people have every right to know what is going on with the nation's currency, especially since it is the American people who foot the bill. (Paul, Audit the Federal Reserve: HR 1207 and S 604)

 

Ben Bernanke claims that if H.R. 1207 was passed, Congress would have the authority to manipulate the course of monetary policy. The bill has no such provisions, and this is merely a scare tactic on the part of The Federal Reserve. People in support of The Federal Reserve also claim that by keeping the inner workings of The Federal Reserve secret, in turn protects the American people. Another false claim is that the passage of this bill would raise interest rates. This is a ridicules claim; again, there is no provision in the bill that deals with how monetary policy is managed, so it’s impossible for the bill to, in any way, raise interest rates. (Paul, Audit the Federal Reserve: HR 1207 and S 604)

 

A large majority of the American people back and support the bill to audit The Federal Reserve. The ones opposed to it are the ones with the most to lose, Wall Street and The Federal Reserve Board itself. Since The Federal Reserve was established in 1913, the value of the dollar has plummeted over the years, and today is worth about a nickel. Something needs to be done, and a full audit of The Federal Reserve it a great place to start. Ending The Federal Reserve should be the ultimate goal, and if The Federal Reserve is audited, there will be a very good chance of that happening shortly thereafter. (Paul, Audit the Federal Reserve: HR 1207 and S 604)

 

The Federal Reserve is noticeably scared. H. R. 1207 gained so much support in the House due to grassroots efforts from people calling and writing their Congressmen, and people protesting in the streets. In order to block the efforts of this bill, additional legislation is being introduced, which also calls for an audit of The Federal Reserve, but a much weaker version. It leaves out crucial areas of the activity of The Federal Reserve, and it leaves out names of banks and people who have been part of transactions that should be audited. Neither the American people, nor Congress, should accept any other form of this bill. There needs to be a scrupulous audit of The Federal Reserve. (tmartin)

 

Henry Ford said, "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." (Russo) Now there are noticeable signs that the people are finally waking up to this cycle of corruption and deceit. November 22nd has come to be known as, ‘National End the Fed Day’, and on this day in 2008, large groups of people, fed up with the gargantuan bailouts, protested across thirty-nine cities throughout the United States. The theme of the protests was to bring an end to The Federal Reserve System, bring back sound money, and end the wasteful bailouts. One of the organizers of the protests, Debbie Krueger said, “The Federal Reserve is monopolizing our money system and I know people that are working at three jobs and still can’t make ends meet. It’s just sad and disgusting that we don’t have the same quality of life that we used to have. The way that they are using the money is a disgrace, all the foreign wars that they are fighting for no reason are based on lies, and the Federal Reserve is based on lies.” (Russia Today) More ‘End the Fed’ rallies are planned for November 22nd, 2009 in major cities all across America again. (End The Fed Network) I didn’t make it last year, but I am planning to be among those protesting this Sunday, at the Federal Reserve building in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

In my opinion, auditing, and subsequently seeing an end to The Federal Reserve System, is the only hope we have left of seeing our once great nation rise up out of the ashes of never ending debt. This cartel of foreign bankers has taken control of the United States for far too long, and these criminal banksters must be stopped. The people of the United States need to rise up together and take a stand against tyranny and corporate fascism. The biggest problem is, with the amount of wealth that they have, much of which was stolen from the citizens of the United States, they also have so much power over people, including Congressmen and Senators, and even Presidents and other world leaders.

 

Some people have theorized that the assassination of John F. Kennedy was carried out by elements within The Federal Reserve, because he was trying to put an end to their system of lies and corruption. On June 4th, 1963 John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 11110 into law, which allowed the U.S. Treasury Department to print its own money based on silver. This would lead the way for the end of The Federal Reserve, because the notes they print are not backed by anything. Unfortunately, five months later, John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and as a consequence, no more silver certificates were issued, even though Executive Order 11110 has never been repealed by any succeeding president. (X) One can only imagine what the United States would be like today if it wasn’t for this horrible tragedy. In his speech on April 27, 1961, John F. Kennedy had the following to say about secrecy, “The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings.” (Kennedy) I believe that when Kennedy spoke these words he was indirectly speaking about The Federal Reserve and its secrecy as well. Let us today, take the words of Kennedy, and make this audit of The Federal Reserve a reality. Let us bring their works of darkness, into the light, for the entire world to see.

 

 

Bibliography

America: Freedom to Fascism. Dir. Aaron Russo. Perf. Aaron Russo. 2006.

Eddlem, Thomas R. "Constitutional Candidates for Congress." 12 11 2009. New American. 17 11 2009 <http:>.

End The Fed Network. "Events." 2009. End The Fed Network. 10 11 2009 <http:>.

Global Research. "The Federal Reserve is a Private Financial Institution." 02 04 2008. globalresearch.ca. 16 11 2009 <http:>.

Griffin, G. Edward. The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. Westlake Village, California: American Media, 2002.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Quote by Thomas Jefferson." 2009. goodreads.com. 09 11 2009 <http:>.

Kennedy, John F. "The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association ." 27 04 1961. jfklibrary.org. 13 11 2009 <http:>.

Kupelian, David. "Bernanke: Federal Reserve caused Great Depression." 19 03 2008. World Net Daily. 31 10 2009 <http:>.

Paul, Ron. "Audit the Federal Reserve: HR 1207 and S 604." 26 10 2009. RonPaul.com. 10 11 2009 <http:></http:>.

—. End the Fed. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing, 2009.

Russia Today. "Angry Americans protest against U.S. monetary policy." 23 11 2008. RussiaToday.com. 10 11 2009 <http:>.

The Money Masters. Dir. Bill Still. 1995.

tmartin. "Watered Down “Audit” Bill Threatens Ron Paul’s Efforts to Audit the Federal Reserve." 23 10 2009. RonPaul.com. 10 11 2009 <http:></http:>.

Washington, George. "QUOTES ON NATIONAL DEBT." 2009. notable-quotes.com. 10 11 2009 <http:>.

Wikipedia. "New World Order (conspiracy theory)." 16 11 2009. Wikipedia. 16 11 2009 <http:>.

Wilson, Woodrow. ""I am a most unhappy man." - Woodrow Wilson." 2006. benrasmusen.com. 10 11 2009 <http:></http:>.

X, Cedric. "President John F.Kennedy, The Federal Reserve And Executive Order 11110 ." 17 01 1996. john-f-kennedy.net. 16 11 2009 <http:>.

 

 

Wed August 24, 2011

How To Prosper While Our Economy Goes Into A Depression

In a previous post I said the American economy was fucked. Well it is, but that doesn't mean we have to panic. Those of us who keep a level head, do some work and some research can not only survive but actually prosper.
 
That means doing the work now to set yourself up for when the dollar defaults. It might be soon, but then again it may be 5, 10, perhaps even 20 years down the road. Those in charge of the Federal Reserve want to maintain their power and monopoly of control over the dollar so it's in their best interest to keep things going for as long as they can. 
 
While this does mean inflation will cause continued decreasing purchasing power over the years, it also means we have some time to prepare. 
 
How? Start by being out of debt. Do all you can to kill credit card and other debt like the plague it is. A home mortgage isn't horrible, but you'll want to eliminate that as soon as you can of course. If you're having trouble and swimming in credit card debt, check out Dave Ramsey. He has a nationally syndicated radio show and many books and programs to help you. His methods are actually pretty basic but what he offers is the motivation and baby steps you need to help focus. I won't get into it here but it is crucial that you realize that debt is a chain around your neck that will prevent you from not only being wealthy but from living freely.
 
Break the chains that bind. You can dooo eeet!
 
Once you're out of debt and have a little cash saved up for a rainy day, you can start building wealth. You'll want to have at least a little bit of gold or silver on hand. Why? Because gold and silver will always be money. They have always been valuable to humanity throughout the course of history and will continue to be. In fact the root of our word 'money' comes from the greek Juno Moneta (interesting story actually).
 
Gold and silver are well known to smart investors to be a hedge against inflation. The dollar may depreciate but precious metals will just go up in value if that happens. Some "experts" say that investing in precious metas is too risky, there's too much up and down. Technically that may be true, but in the long run, as our dollar becomes worth less, gold and silver will be worth more. The dollar may default but gold is always gold.
 
I recommend getting silver if you're starting out and don't have a whole lot of funds (like I didn't). Silver being cheaper, you can get a whole lot more coins, which would be easier to break up the bunch and sell if you had to. I recommend Trusted Bullion for buying gold and silver online - I know one of the founders/ and have purchased from them multiple times. 

 

I love gold!
 
Once you've bought some silver or gold, where do you store it? Well, I'd get a safe and keep it at or as near your home as possible. At the bank in a safe deposit box would be another good alternative. However, in a shit-hits-the-fan scenario, you may not be able to make it to the bank to get at it. Plus there's a small fee for a safe deposit box, I think my bank said $20 or so for a year. Not horrible, but something to keep in mind. Plus something just feels a bit off about having my expensive stuff stored at someone else's place, whether they had a key to it or not. 
 
Some experts say it's wise to keep up to 1/4 of your investments in precious metal. That may be a bit much or not enough for some, let your wisdom and intuition guide you. I'd say at least 1/10 of your investing money though should be in precious metals that you have quick access to.
 
Whatever you do, DO NOT buy from a remote location that lets you buy in micro increments and "stores" your gold for you until you need it. Many of those are scams that don't really have enough gold to cover all the paying customers. Besides, even if they had all the gold,  if the shit hits the fan do you really think they wouldn't touch it? And if they were lawful enough to leave it alone, it might be thousands of miles from where you're at. Pass!
 
Next up is to invest in some metal stocks. You can't invest directly in gold or silver as far as I know (without owning it) but you CAN buy interests in the mining and minting companies! Here's a list of what's reported to be Ron Paul's stock portfolio. You can't really go wrong here, and there are many others. What I did was start up a Google Stock portfolio , research a bunch of these stocks and plug the ones I liked into the portfolio. You'll get suggestions of other similar stocks as you research, so you can get an idea of what they do, how big they are, where their mines are located and so on. I wanted to get a good mix of stock prices: a very trusted one in the $60 range, some mid-level ones in the $30 range, and some around $10 with much more room to grow. I wanted to get one that was under $1, a very long-term stock that could be a home run, but my trading site doesn't have that option. (I use Sharebuilder by the way, otherwise an excellent site.)
 
Another option would be to get a precious metal mutual fund. You can pick one or two, such as Fidelity Select Gold (MUTF:FSAGX). These mutual funds are managed by experts who pick what they think are the best performers.
 
"BUT WHY SHOULD I GET THESE STOCKS?", you may ask. Well good question there, slappy. Again, like gold and silver, the dollar may go down in value, but the companies digging up the gold and silver will always be needed. The stock market might crash, and while these may take a slight hit initially, they'll be the best situated, most secure stocks you can possibly own. Big bonus here is that even if the stock market doesn't take a crap, these stocks will ALWAYS be going up. Sure, there might be a single mining company here or there that might fail, but as a whole, they're going to outperform most other sectors for the next 10 years. (Listen to me now, hear me later and believe me sometime soon.)
 
There are many experts predicting gold will hit $5000 and ounce by 2015. Right now it's around $1600 an ounce. Silver is at about $40 an ounce and while I don't have any exact numbers from experts, most are saying that silver is VERY undervalued and the market will correct on it. $100 an ounce by the end of 2011 and $300 an ounce by 2015 is not only very possible, it may be a conservative guess.
 
We don't have to live like paupers while the dollar depreciates. Again, the worst may never happen, and I hope it doesn't, but gold and silver are going to keep going up, up and away. So get on it, and good luck.
 

 

Tue July 26, 2011

American Economy: We're Fucked.

I still get newsletters from MoveOn.org, back from when I actually used to believe that the Democrats would save us from the slimy Republicans.
 
I laugh at it now and use it as a way to keep track of what the Dems are doing. (I refuse to call them progressives because I see nothing progressive about what they're doing.)
 
They say in a recent newsletter: "Raising the debt ceiling is a routine part of American politics."
 
That anything should be considered routine about raising the debt ceiling to us is the fundamental crux of the matter. Democrats truly think that raising the debt ceiling is routine? That it will magically fix everything?
 
Sure, everything will look good and the economy will work.... for a while. But What they're not realizing is that we cannot afford to just print money out of thin air and use it to pay for our debts any longer. Someday the reaper will come calling. Inflation is already bad and it's going to get worse. 
 
And they think inflation doesn't matter? The Democrats pretend to be for the people but they're for lining their own pockets just as much as the Republicans are. They don't care about us - or at least most of them don't.
 
Hear me now and believe me later, but there will soon come a day that our dollar rapidly declines in purchasing power. The words and wisdom of Ron Paul will come true and the Austrian economists will be proven right. When gas it at $20 a gallon and it's $10 for a loaf of bread, then perhaps people will come to understand the evils of central banking and the Federal Reserve.
 
We WILL go back to a gold standard, trust me. It's only a matter of time. We can do so now, while the dollar still retains purchasing power, or we can go to it when we have no other options, when we are in the greatest depression this country has ever seen. 
 
Think it can't happen? I wish it won't but I see the writing on the wall. 
 
The Republicans are no better than the Democrats. They'll pretend to fight the debt ceiling and the "evil tyrant Obama", but eventually they'll get another item or two but then they'll give in. They want to put on a show for their base, the religious right, prove to them that they fought for the principles of Neo-Conservatism. 
 
Ron Paul and those many like-minded individuals have the answers. End the corporate control of congress; end the anti-constitutional central bank, the Federal Reserve; Get back to sound, limited government and pro-Constitutional values. 
 
Our economy is going to get worse before it gets any better. Let's just hope enough people can wake up to what's really going on and we can start to get more Liberty-minded individuals into Congress or the White House.

 

Mon July 25, 2011

Who The Hell Is Ron Paul?

Ron Paul is the embodiment of everything great about the U.S. He has a rock solid understanding of the Constitution, our Republic, the economy, and how personal Liberty lies at the root of everything we stand for.
 
Ron Paul is a true champion of the people, having never voted for a tax increase. 
 
It's true that is very outspoken and many of his quotes have been taken out of context, twisted by the establishment. Some of his views may sound crazy, but that's only because we've gotten so far away from what the USA was originally.
 
And while I do like Ron Paul as a person, it's not his mannerisms or personality that I like the most. It's not the man, it's the message. It's the platform. The whole, all-encompassing paradigm of Liberty and limited central government.
 
We were never meant to be coddled from cradle to grave by institutions. The welfare and warfare state is bankrupting us and destroying our freedom.
 
We fought long and hard to throw off the shackles of government imposed upon us by England in our Revolutionary War. If the founding fathers of our once great nation could see us now, they would be deeply saddened by the fact that the federal government and central banking once again controls us and seeks to keep us under their thumbs.
 
It's not about Ron Paul, really. It's about our Republic and the rule of law. It's a lie that Democracy is what keeps us free. A democracy is majority rules, or better yet, mob rule. 50% of the vote can be easily swayed, as happened with the crowd that convicted Jesus to torture and death.
 
But a Republic is something special. The Constitution outlines what government can NOT do to us just as much (if not more) than it outlines what government is supposed to provide for us.
 
The more government provides, the more it has to take from someone. Our Republic  started out about us having the freedom and ability to do what we want, to accomplish our dreams. The American Dream used to be about the ability for people to come here, build a business and shape their lives the way they want.
 
Now it's about taxes, welfare, the military industrial complex, TSA groping or X-raying us, government-mandated health care, and most of our manufacturing jobs going overseas.
 
Unlike most candidates, Ron Paul doesn't just pay lip service to cutting taxes or bringing the troops home. He has a solid track record of voting the way he says he's going to. (And this is the fundamental thing to do when looking at candidates - look at their voting record rather than listen to the words coming out of their mouths.)
 
Ron Paul's platform is the whole enchilada. Lots of cuts across the board, seriously reduce our military presence in over 130 countries around the world, and completely overhaul and reduce the welfare state (among many other things). 
 
Paul is the only presidential candidate talking about these serious topics that we need to address. The economy is in a much worse state than we're being told and the U.S. dollar could inflate quickly. We don't have the money for all the government programs we're running and we need to act quickly and decisively.
 
Give him a shot and do your homework on him and all the candidates. 

 

Thu July 21, 2011

You can put E-85 in your car right now!

I've been checking out David Blume's work a lot and I love it. Dude is all about alcohol as a fuel source. 

 
Apparently, alcohol (any form of it) can run in our current engines in up to a 50/50 mix. That is to say, you can put in half gas and half ethanol in your car right now without any mods and it'll run fine. 
 
I've actually been doing this now for going on 3 years and my car has been running fine. I save about 50 cents a gallon for that half a tank I put in. Doing some quick math I've saved a little over $100 a year. Not a whole lot but it adds up. 
 
Plus it burns much cleaner. We've been lied to by big oil about alcohol - it doesn't ruin your engine, it actually prolongs the life of it. All that carbon and black stuff you get with gas doesn't happen with alcohol. And all of our cars can be converted with a little kit to run pure alcohol for as little as $50. 
 
It's so cheap because it's just a software solution. The computer in the engine tells it how much oxygen to use to burn the fuel (gas and alcohol require different amounts of oxygen to burn most efficiently). That's why our cars can run a 50/50 mix with no changes required - the computers in them do a decent job of calculating the right oxygen mixture. (I guess you couldn't do that with cars built in the 70s, 80s, or maybe even 90s)
 
Now if you're going to do this (and I recommend you do), you want to start small. Just add a gallon or two of ethanol along with the rest of it being gas. Drive for a while and make sure your engine doesn't sputter or act weird. Every fillup keep increasing by a gallon or two until you  get to a 50/50 mix. If you hit a point where your car is acting weird, don't worry, it won't ruining your engine. It's just having trouble burning the alcohol. Burn through that tank and the next fullup just use a little bit less alcohol.
 
The beauty of this is that we don't have to be beholden to the oil industry! They keep telling us we're running out and increasing the price, yet they have a monopoly on us. We all complain but for years it has seemed we have no recourse but to suckle at their teat. No longer!
 
David Blume envisions a world where we have alcohol co-ops. Alcohol is cheap to make and anything that has sugar in it can be used to make it. Corn is one thing, but corn is resource intensive to grow and anti-ethanol activists say it takes food from people's mouths. Not really true, but in any case, we can use other crops. Check this, even grass clippings, cattails and freakin' DONUTS can be used to make alcohol.
 
Brazil used alcohol to totally get off of foreign dependance on oil in the 80s and did it in under 10 years. We could do it too. 
 
On Blume's site they have an E-85 station finder: http://alcoholcanbeagas.com/search/ Take a look and hopefully there's one near you. (BTW, E-85 is ethanol. Well mostly anyway. It's an 85% mix of ethanol and oil)
 
Yeah, most people are probably amazed that you can put E-85 straight into your tank at about a 50/50 mix. In any case, wouldn't it be awesome if we could get over our dependance of oil? :D

 

Fri July 8, 2011

I Want to Get a Vacation Rental in Boca Grande, Florida (And Soon!)

This post is just some thrown together ramblings. Fyi.
 
We're looking forward to checking out a Boca Grande vacation rental soon. I've done a couple of websites in the area and learned a ton about Boca Grande and all that it offers. Not only that but we have friends nearby, in Naples and Fort Myers. 
 
Boca Grande is supposedly this charming historic place with a small town vibe reminiscent of Hemingway's writing. Sure, it looks to be a little pricey to stay there but it may well be worth it. 
 
Islanders say you slip into island time once there - that it's very laid back. There are no high-rise buildings due to a town ordinance. There are also no gas stations or apartment complexes. This keeps the old florida charm and mystique going. 
 
I look forward to being able to get a vacation rental there in Boca Grande and do some blogging and post some photos. We might end up staying nearby, not sure yet it we'll rent right in boca Grande or not. In any case, the urge to visit Florida is ramping up!

 

Tue May 3, 2011

The Buffalo Sabres Are Done Yet Just Getting Started

What an amazing season the Buffalo Sabres provided us with! After a game 7 drubbing by the Flyers, I somehow can't get too down at all. Sure, like all Sabres fans, I wish that we could continue the wild ride. I'd love to see more playoff hockey, but in all honesty... this feels right. 
 
The kids (well, not kids but they're a pretty young team) done good. They took the 2nd seed all the way to the finish line and came up just a little short. Bear in mind that the Flyers made the Stanley Cup Finals last year, plus the Sabres were hurting real bad.
 
I almost see this as the perfect beginning to a much larger and grander story. This isn't about a young team that failed in the first round of the playoffs. This is about a young team that found themselves in the latter half of the year. A team that scrapped and willed themselves into the playoffs with a combination of grit, skill, bravado and determination. 
 
We've found out just how deep a roster the Sabres have. We've found out how much heart they have. We have a new owner instilling a new attitude who is willing to do WHATEVER it takes to win. We have a coaching staff with a seemingly renewed sense of purpose.
 
If you're a Sabres fan, I don't think today is a day for wallowing in sorrow. I think we should see this season as a teaser preview of what's to come. October will be upon us very soon and I'm sure we'll have plenty of news emanating from the Pegula Royal Mansion during the offseason.

 

Wed April 27, 2011

How to Delete Unpublished Nodes in Drupal Programmatically

If you deal with tons of nodes and want to clean up old, unused, unpublished nodes after a while, here's one way to do it. I did it via coding in my own Drupal module. However you could also use the Auto Expire module. The problem I had with this is that I couldn't find a way to actually delete the nodes.

[Note: This was for Drupal 5. It may still work in newer versions but I haven't tested or researched it.]

I started with a menu item in hook_menu. The code below lets you access the script via a page at /delete:

 

$items['delete'] = array(
  'title' => t('Delete Vehicles'),
  'page callback' => 'delete_old_nodes',
  'access arguments' => array('access_content'),
  'type' => MENU_CALLBACK,
);

 
Then make a function to do the deletion.
 
function delete_old_nodes() {
 
Now get the node id's and the time that each node was last updated.
 
$result = db_query("SELECT nid, changed FROM {node} WHERE node.type = 'auto'");
 
Then we loop through each result. In this loop we check the date last updated versus today's date. Drupal stores dates as UNIX timestamps, that is, the seconds since the UNIX epoch. Don't let that confuse you - it's merely the number of seconds since a date in 1970. It's just a handy way to have a universally standard numeric date value.
 
while($node = db_fetch_object($result)) {
$i=0;
 
Here we get a UNIX timestamp of right now:
 
$today = date('U');
 
Then we calculate the difference of seconds between when the node was last updated and now:
 
$difference = $today - $node->changed;
 
A day is 86,400 seconds.  So we divide our $difference seconds by that to get the number of days since the node was last modified:
 
$days = $difference / 86400;
 
In my case, I wanted to delete nodes after 10 days so I did it thusly:
 
if($days > 10) {
node_delete($node->nid);
$i++;
}
 
You might be wondering about that little $i variable. It's a simple counter to show how many were deleted. So you can end your delete function with this:
 
echo("$i autos <b>deleted</b>.<br />");
 
Below is the full, unbroken code. Hopefully this helps somebody!
 
function delete_old_nodes() {
$result = db_query("SELECT nid, changed FROM {node} WHERE node.type = 'auto'");
$i=0;
while($node = db_fetch_object($result)) {
$today = date('U');
$difference = $today - $node->changed;
$days = $difference / 86400;
if($days > 10) {
node_delete($node->nid);
$i++;
}
}
echo("$i autos <b>deleted</b>.<br />");
}
 

 

Fri April 1, 2011
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