Liberty Pulse

The Conservative Dilemma

Joshua Huffman — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:21:17 +0000

On Friday, the Republican Party of Virginia announced that four of the five candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Virginia’s Senate seat had successfully submitted a sufficient number of signatures to appear on the June 12th primary ballot. These candidates are: George Allen, E.W. Jackson, Bob Marshall, and Jamie Radtke. Only David McCormick failed to submit any signatures and thus was denied a spot in this contest.

However, this particular situation raises an interesting problem. Given that there are four Republican candidates, will conservative activists select the most liberty-minded person among them, or will the multitude of candidates allow the establishment to triumph?

Read the rest of the article at http://virginiaconservative.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/the-conservative-dilemma/

Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote

Liberty Pulse — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:20:25 +0000

from the this-is-crazy dept

Up until this afternoon, the final vote on CISPA was supposed to be tomorrow. Then, abruptly, it was moved up today—and the House voted in favor of its passage with a vote of 248-168. But that’s not even the worst part.

The vote followed the debate on amendments, several of which were passed. Among them was an absolutely terrible change (pdf and embedded below—scroll to amendment #6) to the definition of what the government can do with shared information, put forth by Rep. Quayle. Astonishingly, it was described as limiting the government’s power, even though it in fact expands it by adding more items to the list of acceptable purposes for which shared information can be used. Even more astonishingly, it passed with a near-unanimous vote. The CISPA that was just approved by the House is much worse than the CISPA being discussed as recently as this morning.

Previously, CISPA allowed the government to use information for “cybersecurity” or “national security” purposes. Those purposes have not been limited or removed. Instead, three more valid uses have been added: investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crime, protection of individuals, and protection of children. Cybersecurity crime is defined as any crime involving network disruption or hacking, plus any violation of the CFAA.

Read article here

CISPA passes the House, privacy battle moves to Senate

Liberty Pulse — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:09:04 +0000

The House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Thursday night, despite some controversy over how the bill addresses privacy and a threat of a veto from the White House.

The measure, designed to make it easier for the federal government and private sector to share cyber threat data with each other, was approved by a 248-168 vote.

Its supporters and opponents were quick to issue statements following passage of the bill, which now moves to the Senate.

The Obama administration had issued a veto threat against CISPA earlier this week. The White House has previously endorsed a bill from Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), which would put cybersecurity oversight and private sector coordination in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security.

Read article here

Sen. Rand Paul takes on Reid over Vegas

Liberty Pulse — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:11:53 +0000

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is taking on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) – over Las Vegas.

The freshman senator is demanding an investigation into exactly how many government conferences have been held in the last three years in Sin City – like the four-day General Services Administration (GSA) junket that’s now embroiled the agency in a spending scandal.

In a letter to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Paul referenced letters reported this week by Roll Call that showed Reid asked then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel in June 2009 to help overturn a policy that barred government conferences in “leisure-oriented” destinations such as Las Vegas…

Read article here…

Ron Paul’s Torchbearers

Liberty Pulse — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:01:57 +0000

Karen Kwiatkowski, a Republican candidate for Congress in Virginia, rarely passes up an opportunity to scold Washington politicians about runaway defense spending, which she says is an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars that does little to make Americans safer. Halfway across the country, Tisha Casida, a Colorado Independent, says she’ll push to end the drug war and legalize marijuana if she’s elected to the House. In Florida, Calen Fretts, a Libertarian seeking to unseat a veteran Republican congressman, promises that if he’s elected he’ll begin working to abolish the U.S. Federal Reserve. “As people increase the size and scope of government,” Fretts says, “there’s got to be a few of us to resist it.”

These candidates have two things in common: All are long shots seeking office for the first time. And all were inspired to run by the same man—Ron Paul.

Read article here…

Gold & Silver: Ben Bernanke Overshadows FOMC Minutes

Liberty Pulse — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:11:56 +0000

After remaining quiet for much of the day, gold and silver received a sharp pullback on Wednesday after the Federal Open Market Committee released its latest statement. The Fed’s April minutes closely resembled the March minutes, but precious metals still experienced a very brief and sell-off.

Members of the Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee once again held its key interest rate near zero percent, citing lingering concerns about significant downside risks and deflation. The FOMC statement explained, “To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at the rate most consistent with its dual mandate, the Committee expects to maintain a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy. In particular, the Committee decided today to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to .25 percent and currently anticipates that economic conditions-including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run-are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014.” Nine out of 10 Fed officials voted to keep the current easing measures in place, but with no indication of further easing programs.

Ron Paul’s Delegate Haul in Primaries Strengthens Hand at GOP Convention

Liberty Pulse — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:05:18 +0000

It’s garbage time in the Republican primary and Ron Paul is getting his layups. Even on the unfriendly turf of the Northeast, Paul managed to pick up a handful of delegates in Tuesday’s Republican primaries. Although Mitt Romney’s nomination is all but a foregone conclusion at the GOP convention in Tampa, the libertarian gadfly is still trying to influence the party’s platform by any means available.

The five states holding primaries on Tuesday—Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island—were all prime turf for Romney: heavily urbanized, high-Catholic populations with comparatively moderate Republican electorates. Romney did as well as expected, running the table in Connecticut and New York, and successfully ending Newt Gingrich’s campaign by seizing the winner-take-all state of Delaware. But, in Rhode Island’s proportional race and Pennsylvania’s loophole primary, Ron Paul managed to slip in and grab delegates. In fact, Paul is expected to finish second in the overall delegate haul for the night despite investing almost no effort in the states contested.

Read article here

RFID Chip Implant found in the HC Bill, not kidding.

Liberty Pulse — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:39:41 +0000

SEE FOR YOURSELF, IT’S IN THE HBC.

There is an old adage that seeing is believing, the only alternative is to convince yourself that your lying eyes are wrong. Would you upon seeing something for yourself by way of documented proof believe your own eyes and accept it as the truth, even if it was hard for you to accept?

There will always be those who will remain in denial even though they know better, they will not accept it because they can not bring themselves to admit it to themselves. For those described here this will be a wasted effort.

However, there will always be those who upon seeing with their own eyes will not only accept, but will realize the harsh reality at hand they are witnessing. For those described here this will be a wake up call.

The following are government documents as evidence of what has just been done to the American people under the guise of healthcare. You have a choice, be one of those who believe what they see, or, tell yourself that your lying eyes are wrong.

You are facing a difficult choice, a real and present choice, not a hypothetical or future choice. You are being forewarned and given an opportunity to choose where and how you will go. For medical services will you agree for yourself and your family to be chipped like a farm animal with a RFID? Better start making up your mind now.

Sec. 2521, P. 1000 – The govt. will establish a National Medical Device Registry. H.R. 3200 [Healthcare Bill], pages 1001-1008:

(g)(1) The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that— ‘‘(A) is or has been used in or on a patient; ‘‘(B) and is— ‘‘(I) a class III device; or ‘‘(ii) a class II device that is implantable, life-supporting, or life-sustaining.”

Page 104 defines data in paragraph 1

Section B National Medical Device Registry from H.R. 3200 [Healthcare Bill], pages 1001-1008:

Read article here

The Department Of Homeland Security Is Buying 450 Million New Bullets

John — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:38:05 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office is getting an “indefinite delivery” of an “indefinite quantity” of .40 caliber ammunition from defense contractor ATK.

U.S. agents will receive a maximum of 450 million rounds over five years, according to a press release on the deal.

The high performance HST bullets are designed for law enforcement and ATK says they offer “optimum penetration for terminal performance.”

This refers to the the bullet’s hollow-point tip that passes through barriers and expands for a bigger impact without the rest of the bullet getting warped out of shape: “this bullet holds its jacket in the toughest conditions.” ……….

Read Article Here…

Obama Deserves Impeachment for War Policies, But Few Dare Say So

John — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:34:35 +0000

At least a few Republicans want to impeach President Barack Obama if he does not seek authorization from Congress to attack Syria or any other country that does not present an imminent danger to the territory of the United States. A resolution to that effect was recently submitted by GOP Congressman Walter Jones, of North Carolina. Jones was also among ten congressmen who joined Dennis Kucinich in a suit against Obama for his failure to notify or get permission from Congress for his assault on Libya, last year. Ron Paul was also on the list. The only Democrat among the ten besides Kucinch was Detroit’s John Conyers……………….