Here Come the Drones

Coming soon to the US, 30,000 drones to spy on Americans.

Soon Everything Will Be Illegal

From the John Stossel special "Illegal Everything", the segment on recording police and how many police attempt to stop the filming by ordinary citizens and reporters.

How the Government Makes You Fat by Alex Yackery

From LewRockwell.com


How the Government Makes You Fat by Alex Yackery

The United States Government wants you to be fat; or at least their current agricultural policy would dictate so. Through a multitude of subsidies, protectionist tariffs, and misguided nutritional policy the USDA has promoted obesity, degenerative disease, damaged the environment, and putrefied the nation’s supply of animal protein.

Federally funded agricultural subsidies date back to 1862 with the Morrill Act establishing land-grant colleges, but modern programs began popping up around the 1930’s. The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 forever changed the face of American agriculture through vigorous regulation including price supports, production controls, crop insurance, and limited competition via import barriers.

Subsidy programs have only expanded since; new crops have been added to subsidy rolls, additional disaster relief programs have been enacted, revenue protection locks in high crop prices, in addition to taxpayer financed crop insurance, marketing support, research, statistical data collection, and guaranteed loans. The USDA spent close to $150 billion in 2011, distributing roughly $27 billion in cash subsidies per year to growers of five crops: wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, and cotton.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is "moving aggressively to realize its vision of strengthening U.S. agriculture" as stated in their 2005-2011 Strategic Plan. The FSA’s Strategic Plan proclaims that it’s goals are to enhance international competitiveness of American agriculture, enhance sustainability, improve quality of life in rural America, protect the Nation’s food supply and environment, and improve the Nation’s nutrition and health. The reality is that the USDA’s policy hampers every one of these goals at the expense of American’s health and wealth. Current policy influences farmers to grow crops that maximize subsidy payments, not to satisfy market demand. The worst part is that humans did not evolve to consume the most heavily subsidized crops (grains), and these foods have propagated the epidemic of obesity in America.

THE EVOLUTIONARY DIET


From an evolutionary perspective the human diet has consisted of foods that grow naturally like nuts, leafy greens, regional vegetables, tubers, seasonal fruits, and berries in addition to meat, nuts, and eggs as noted by numerous health advocates. This diet dates back 2 million years ago to the origins of our ancestors of the genus Homo. Michael Power and Jay Schulkin, the authors of The Evolution of Obesity, state that "our nutrient requirments, metabolism, and digestive abilities are heavily influenced by our evolutionary past" and that our ancetors’ diet "was unlikely to contain significant quantities of easily digested starches, such as from processed grains". Their findings also show that this diet was likely "lower in fiber and higher in animal tissue" as well as "unlikely to have contained large amounts of simple sugars". This should come as common sense as there is no tree with loaves of bread growing from it, nor is there a bush that buds high fructose corn syrup every spring.

Until the advent of the agricultural revolution roughly 10,000 years ago, grains have played little to no role in the human diet. This period is a blip on the radar that pales in comparison to the millions of years we evolved. Due to the fact that "the glycemic index of [our ancestors’] diet was likely quite low", we are not adept to handling the high-glycemic load of the modern diet (Power & Schulkin, 2009). The inconvenient truth is that whatever the carbohydrate source, it will be broken down into glucose and likely be stored as fat. Ingestion of carbohydrates triggers an insulin spike that wreaks havoc in the body increasing adrenaline and cortisol, taxing "the adrenal system, the pancreas, the immune system, and results in a tiny amount of inflammation" according to Mark Sisson, the author of The Primal Blueprint. This chain of events occurs daily due to current policy that promotes cultivation of grains and nutritional policy that advocates their consumption.

THE GOVERNMENT AND GRAINS

Government subsidized grains, such as corn, have come to represent cheap calories. Overproduction and stockpiling by farmers and agri-businesses seeking maximum subsidy payments, despite the efforts of price supports, have sufficiently lowered price. Cheap, readily available grains have led to the proliferation of the food-processing industry and inclusion of grains in virtually every item on super market shelves.


The most potent offender in this category is high fructose corn syrup. The USDA began paying farmers to grow as much corn as possible a generation ago, and cheap corn led to the development of the corn processing industry. High fructose corn syrup is sugar, a nutrient with a daily requirement of zero, and yet has become the backbone of the American diet. Is it a coincidence that the USDA’s 2010 Dietary Policy Guidelines for Americans states that in the 1970’s, when corn processing was in its infancy, 15% of Americans were obese whereas in 2008 34% were obese? I think not.

The genetically modified corn of today hardly resembles the wild grass it once was. Genetically designed to resist harmful pesticides, the overproduction of this starchy grain has destroyed the nutritional content of the majority of the nation’s animal protein sources that our ancestors thrived on. Animal feed has come to consist predominantly of corn in addition to a slew of other grains, growth hormones, antibiotics, and at times pieces of other animals.

Much like humans, animals did not evolve to eat grains, and the quality of our nation’s meat supply has declined due to their un-natural feed. Grain-fed animals get sick easily, and antibiotics are a necessary addition to their feed to keep them alive, while making their way into our bodies and the ground. Michael Pollan’s article Power Steer cites a study in The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition that "found that the meat of grass-fed livestock not only had substantially less fat than grain-fed meat but the type of fats found in grass-fed meat were much healthier". This is because grass fed animals sport higher levels of CLA, which is believed to have cancer-fighting properties, an ideal 1:1 ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids, has no need for daily antibiotics, no run-ins with toxic fertilizers or genetically modified grains, and a much lower incidence of E-coli. Just as humans have not evolved to eat grains, we have not evolved to consume grain-fed animal products. The availability of cheap grain has changed the way we raise animals, degraded our land, endangered our nation’s meat supply, and is a contributing factor to a host of inflammatory diseases with their roots in a skewed ratio of Omega fatty acids.

NUTRITIONAL POLICY

The USDA Dietary Policy is riddled with offenses to our nation’s health. The policy guide criminalizes dietary cholesterol advocating a diet consisting of less than 300 mg per day. The reality is that our livers have evolved to produce up to 1,400 mg of this essential lipid, down regulating production based on dietary intake. Cholesterol is an essential part of every cell in our bodies. Studies confirm that there is no strong correlation between dietary cholesterol and high levels of blood cholesterol.

Although cholesterol is commonly pointed at as the culprit of heart disease, it is not the true cause of heart disease. Inflammation from consumption of carbohydrates and sugars is the cause of heart disease, not the consumption of fats or cholesterol. The Framingham Heart Study has studied individuals since the 1950’s and has concluded that cholesterol is misleading as a main contributor to heart disease.

Studies of cultures such as the Masai and Inuit, whose diets consist of meat and high-blubber animals while boasting excellent cardiovascular health, confirm this fact.



Despite this fact, the USDA’s new version of the food pyramid tagged "MyPlate" blatantly disregards our evolutionary diet. Their over-simplified depiction of the proper diet blindly recommends fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy with no regard for what foods comprise those choices. The inclusion of grains as part of the recommended diet is an inflammatory atrocity. Vegetables should be nutrient dense choices from organic sources to avoid harmful pesticides from toxifying our bodies. Contemporary fruits are bred for sugar content in degraded soil; seasonal, local fruits, especially organic berries are best. Protein sources should be clean, grass-fed animal sources and high fat fish for ample sources of protein and quality fats. And what about the exclusion of fats? Fat is the body’s preferred source of energy, and good fats from a variety of sources such as nuts, avocados, fish, and eggs should comprise the majority of caloric intake. Inflammation of the body and oxidation are combated with a diet rich in anti-oxidants found in vegetables, fruits, wine, and even dark chocolate.

FREE MARKET FARMING

In a free market there is no incentive for farmers to distort the supply of crops as there currently is due to subsidy payments. Farmer’s do not feel the effects of oversupply because their income off of crops like corn comes from the subsidy payments, which guarantee a certain price. Government incentives encourage farmer’s to grow crops regardless of market demand, which resulted in companies taking advantage of these stockpiled commodities. In the end, it is the American taxpayer who looses on many levels; increased taxes to finance subsidy payments, increased prices at the supermarket due to price supports and protectionist tariffs, proliferation of processed foods made from stockpiled supplies of highly subsidized grains un-natural to the human diet, and in turn an increase in the nation’s incidence of obesity, diabetes, and other degenerative diseases.

Current agricultural policy promotes the overproduction of grains, which are un-natural for humans and animals alike. This has putrefied our food supply through the creation of processed foods containing modifications of grains like corn, and robbed meat of its proper levels of healthy nutrients and fats. This would not be the case if the government did not incentivize farmers, food producers, and consumers to seek out cheap calories from un-natural grain sources. Combined with USDA dietary guidelines that stray from our evolutionary background these policies have promoted obesity in America, robbed taxpayers of trillions of dollars, and increased the incidence of chronic disease.

What we eat should be a choice; dictated by the free market of consumers and supplied by farmers and food producers who will accurately fulfill demand to maximize profits, not influenced by government incentives. Instead of paying farmers to grow foods that make us sick and fat, why not let them choose what to grow? Over 2,000 years ago Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food", a concept that we have lost touch with. We need agricultural reform to wean farmers off subsidies and protectionist tariffs to free our markets and level the playing field so that consumers don’t have to choose between cheap calories and their health.

February 27, 2012

Alex Yackery is a Senior currently studying economics at Loyola University Maryland.

Copyright © 2012 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given

The Only GOP Presidential Candidate With a Plan to Preserve Social Security Benefits for People Who Have Paid

Ron Paul is the only GOP presidential candidate with a plan to preserve Social Security benefits for people who have paid into the system.

Bring the Troops Home, Cut Spending, Reduce Taxes - It Has Worked Before

Ron Paul after the Arizona debate on February 22, 2012. Near the end of this clip Ron Paul informs John King how the Depression ended AFTER World War II when 10 million troops came home, the Federal budget was cut by 60% and taxes were cut by 30%. The Depression was NOT ended by 13 years of massive government spending.

It always amazes me that massive government spending is given for the reason that the Depression ended, when the this longest depression in our history was so long because of the massive government spending.

Protecting Us from Guitars: The Great Gibson Guitar Raid

From Reason TV:

"They...come in with weapons, they seized a half-million dollars worth of property, they shut our factory down, and they have not charged us with anything," says Gibson Guitars CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, referring to the August 2011 raid on his Nashville and Memphis factories by agents from the Departments of Homeland Security and Fish & Wildlife. The feds raided Gibson for using an inappropriate tariff code on wood from India, which is a violation of the anti-trafficking statute known as The Lacey Act. At issue is not whether the wood in question was endangered, but whether the wood was the correct level of thickness and finish before being exported from India. "India is wanting to ensure that raw wood is not exported without some labor content from India," says Juskiewicz. Andrea Johnson of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) counters that "it's not up to Gibson to decide which laws...they want to respect." She points out that Gibson had previously been raided under The Lacey Act for imports from Madagascar. This much is clear: The government has yet to file any charges or allow Gibson a day in court to makes its case, much less retrieve its materials. "This is not about responsible forestry and sustainable wood or illegal logging, this is about a bureaucratic law," argues Juszkiewicz, who testified last year before a congressional hearing convened by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). It is, he says, "a blank check for abuse."

Specter: I Made No Promise to Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum claims that he had an agreement with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter in 2004,  to support Specter for re-election, in exchange for Specter agreeing to support George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominees. Arlen Specter states he never had the conservation with Rick Santorum on Supreme Court nominees.

On February 23, 2011:



From April 2010:



From April 2010:

Doug Wead Dispels Media Speculation on Paul/Romney

Doug Wead went onto MSNBC and told Andrea Mitchell that there is no way that Ron Paul is looking to become Mitt Romney's VP.

Is the United States Becoming Fascist?

Is the United states becoming a fascist country? Lew Rockwell discusses this on RT. Rockwell points out the signs of fascism in the US: the suppression of civil liberties, the government and big corporations being in bed with each other, militarism, nationalism and the demonizing of groups.

Pentagon Hawks: 18% Increase is a Cut

Texas Congressman Ron Paul comments on "conservatives" who continue to want a bloated military budget.

Overspending on National Security Threatens National Security

The administration recently released its 2013 budget proposal, and conservatives are correctly alarmed that it calls for unprecedented spending and continued annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion. But the same conservatives complain that the budget does not devote enough funds to overseas adventurism.

I continue to be dismayed that in spite of our economic problems, most of those who call themselves fiscal conservatives refuse to consider any reductions in military spending. Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute very aptly addresses this in his recent article for the American Conservative entitled "Attack of the Pork Hawks". He points out that conservatives are using a tired liberal argument to defend the bloated military budget: namely, that more spending equals better results. The federal education morass is merely one example that clearly disproves this.

The facts are that the President’s budget calls for an 18% increase versus the previously planned 20% increase. This is not a cut, yet Pentagon hawks continue to issue dire warnings that this "draconian" decrease in proposed future spending will seriously threaten our national security. In truth, the majority of DOD spending goes to protect other nations, including prosperous allies like Europe and Japan and South Korea - nations that could and should take more responsibility for their own defense.

Is there any amount of money that would satisfy the hawks and the neoconservatives? Even adjusted for inflation, military spending is 17% higher now than when Obama took office. Even the worst case scenarios of Obama's "cuts", adjusted for inflation, still put outlays at 2007 levels, which are 40% higher than a decade ago. Our total spending on overseas adventurism and nation building equals more than the next 13 highest spending countries in the world combined. Even if we were to slash our military budget in half, we would still be the world’s dominant military power, by far.

In reality, the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about has become every bit the voracious monolith he feared. It wastes as much as any other arm of government, if not more, because it knows it can depend on unlimited blank checks from a terrified Congress.

Mr. Bandow concludes that America is more secure today than at any point since before WWII, and that military outlays should be reduced accordingly. We should, Mr. Bandow argues,

"stop garrisoning the globe, subsidizing rich friends, and reconstructing poor enemies. Instead, it's about time Washington focused on defending American and its people."

I couldn't agree more. Wasting money on overseas adventurism and nation building threatens our national security by massively contributing to our debt. Both welfare and warfare spending are tipping our economy into a serious currency and debt crisis. We can afford no sacred cows in our budget. One only has to look to the violence and civil unrest in Greece and ask - is that the sort of security we envision for our nation's future?

The Pain in Maine

Rachel Maddow comments on the shenanigans in Maine. Ron Paul did win Washington County om Saturday February 18. Paul received 163 votes to Romney's 80.

Food Nazis

Lionel comments on our wonderful government dictating what children eat for lunch.

The Obama Echo

Reason.tv editor in chief Nick Gillespie says other than Ron Paul, the GOP candidates are an echo, not a choice. Gillespie says only Ron Paul challenges the status quo.

Rick Santorum: Anti-Libertarian

Rick Santorum doesn't like libertarians. Santorum thinks the government should run your life. Rick Santorum is scary and dangerous.

Matt Welch discusses this with Judge Andrew Napolitano.

Judge Andrew Napolitano's Final Words on Freedom Watch

Judge Andrew Napolitano comments on our freedom and how it was a minority of Americans who brought about and won the American Revolution.  He states we must challenge authority and and stand up to the majority whenever it curtails any one's freedom.

Freed Markets Not Capitalism

The US is NOT a free market economy!

From Reason TV:

"The kind of economic arrangements that we see in our world today, which are dominated by cronies of those with state power, that's not the kind of economic arrangement that anyone who believes in freedom ought to favor," says Gary Chartier, Associate Dean at La Sierra School of Business and co-editor of the new book "Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty."


Chartier, who co-edited the book along with Charles W. Johnson, sat down with Reason.tv's Zach Weissmueller to discuss wy libertarians should stop embracing the word "capitalism," why there's reason to take the concerns of the political Left seriously, and why the economic system in the United States does not even begin to resemble a free market.

"If we want freedom, it's something to be achieved," says Chartier. "It's not a matter of celebrating what we have now. It's a matter of making something dramatically different and exciting happen."

Doug Wead: We Will Win Minnesota, We Are Winning More Delegates Than the Media Shows

Doug Wead explains why the media is wrong when it gives delegate counts.

"Alex Witt of MSNBC interviews Doug Wead, senior adviser to Ron Paul, on the final day of the Maine Caucus, 2-11-12. Alex Witt asks Wead what Ron Paul will do if he doesn't win. Doug Wead explains that in the all important delegate selection process Ron Paul has already won, dominating the county selection process."

Ron Paul: We Will Control the Maine Caucus

Ron Paul speaking after the Maine Caucus states that he would bet that the Maine delegates will be Ron Paul delegates. The press never mentions that the straw poll is only a poll. The vote for delegates can be different because the most dedicated run for delegates.

Bipartisan Consensus: The Fifth Amendment is Null and Void

Young Turks host Cenk Uygur says there is now bipartisan consensus that the Fifth Amendment no longer is in force.

The Fifth Amendment:

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

The Case for Re-legalization

Jodie Emery, marijuana activist and wife of imprisoned political pot advocate Marc Emery presents reasons why marijuana should be legal again.

It's All About the Number of Delegates

Ron Paul on Neil Cavuto's program discusses the campaign. Ron Paul points out that the number of delegates that counts and that he is doing much better with delegates than the mainstream lets on or acknowledges.

No Longer Need to Prove Intent

Judge Andrew Napolitano and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul discuss how many laws are now enforced on a strict liability basis rather than needing to show criminal intent.

Losing Faith and Trust

Lionel comments on the increasingly aggressive police tactics are resulting in people losing faith and trust in those who used to be called peace officers.

Ron Paul Interview On ABC This Week February 5, 2012

Oust the Danger to the Status Quo

RT talks with Ron Paul supporter Julie Borowski about efforts to marginalize Ron Paul.

Ron Paul at Mayo High School in Rochester Minnesota

An enthusiastic standing room only crowd turns out to hear Ron Paul speak at Mayo High School in Rochester Minnesota.

Arresting Children

Lionel comments on the increasing trend of arresting children and treating them like criminals for very minor infractions or even more ridiculous reasons.

The End is Near or Al Gore Wants to be Even Richer

Lionel says anthropogenic warming causation models are a myth.

Obama's Policy is Just to Kill Them

Obama’s change from Bush II? From kidnapping and torture to assassination.

From RT:

Not only has the Obama administration blocked torture accountability and refused to investigate and prosecute. He has basically maintained indefinite detention. He has revived military commissions. As well he has expanded targeted killings – they’ve increased under the Obama administration manifold, and he’s even authorized the killing of a US citizen,” explains Maria LaHood from the Center for Constitutional Rights.

World-renowned author and scholar Noam Chomsky believes the Obama administration has changed gears and accelerated illegal practices into overdrive.

“There is a shift between Bush’s policies and the Obama’s on this. Bush’s policy was to kidnap people, take them to Guantanamo or Bagram or some other torture chamber and try to extract some information from them. Obama’s policy is just to kill them. They’re killing them all over the world. And the Bin Laden assassination was a case point,” he told RT.

Lee Wrights: War Breeds War

Lee Wrights, currently seeking the Libertarian Party endorsement for President, has produced his first TV ad: