RAISING THE DEBT; LOWERING THE BOOM
By Chuck Baldwin
August 4, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
The big story this week is the decision of the US Congress and Senate to raise the debt ceiling. Did this really surprise anyone? Despite millions of pieces of communication from their constituents to the contrary, congressmen and senators voted by substantial margins to increase the debt ceiling by up to $2.4 trillion. The House vote was 269 to 161. The Senate vote was 74 to 26. Coincidentally, the amount of this increase to the debt ceiling is now the largest debt-limit increase in US history–all the rhetoric by politicians in DC that they are serious about “cutting” federal spending notwithstanding.
See Terence Jeffrey’s report here.
Here is a recent report regarding the debt-ceiling votes via C-SPAN.
And here is the liberal NPR report with more details.
At this point, I think it is fitting to quote Congressman Ron Paul. Dr. Paul is one of the very few people in Congress that has consistently warned the American people about the foolhardiness of America living beyond its means. Here are some excerpts from Dr. Paul’s statement regarding the debt ceiling deal:
“This deal will reportedly cut spending by only slightly over $900 billion over 10 years. But we will have a $1.6 trillion deficit after this year alone, meaning those meager cuts will do nothing to solve our unsustainable spending problem. In fact, this bill will never balance the budget. Instead, it will add untold trillions of dollars to our deficit. This also assumes the cuts are real cuts and not the same old Washington smoke and mirrors game of spending less than originally projected so you can claim the difference as a ‘cut.’
“The plan also calls for the formation of a deficit commission, which will accomplish nothing outside of providing Congress and the White House with another way to abdicate responsibility. In my many years of public service, there have been commissions on everything from Social Security to energy policy, yet not one solution has been produced out of these commissions.”
Congressman Paul went on to say:
“What should bother Americans most is that under cover of this debt ceiling circus, we learned from a recent GAO one-time, limited audit that the Federal Reserve secretly pumped $16 trillion into American and foreign banks over three years. All of the Fed’s fat cat cronies were taken care of at the expense of the American public.
“To put that into perspective, our entire national debt is $14.5 trillion, and our annual deficit will be about $1.6 trillion, meaning the Federal Reserve created and appropriated more than our entire national debt to banks around the world in a few short years. We have been fighting in Congress these past few weeks over raising our debt ceiling by $2 trillion, an amount the Fed secretly gave away to just one big bank.
“For decades, politicians have promised future restraint in exchange for hikes in the debt limit. We are always told that we must act immediately to avoid a crisis. But time and time again, politicians reveal themselves to be untrustworthy, and we soon find ourselves in a crisis being led by the same folks who wish only to maintain the status quo.”
See Ron Paul’s complete statement.
The New American magazine just recently reported on the GAO report that Congressman Paul referenced above. (Amazingly, the mainstream media almost universally ignored this report!) TNA report began by saying, “During a 2½ year period starting at the end of 2007, the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in secret bailouts to banks and other companies around the world, according to a government audit of some of the U.S. central bank’s operations.
“Much of the Fed’s largesse was lavished on banks in Europe (such as Barclays, left) and Asia, the audit revealed. More than $3 trillion, for example, went to financial institutions in just five European countries. Trillions more flowed toward some of the biggest banks in America. Institutions from Brazil and Mexico to South Korea and Canada also benefited.”
See TNA report here.
And while the US Congress and White House are enslaving us (and our posterity) with certain financial bondage, and maybe even catastrophic economic collapse, the US military is beginning to assume domestic law enforcement responsibilities, contrary to the US Constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. Kurt Nimmo at Infowars.com broke this story:
“In Homestead, Florida, Posse Comitatus is dead. The Air Force now responds to civilian crime in the small city, population 30,000.
“‘Here at Homestead Air Reserve Base we have the Crime Stop hotline that allows anyone either on base or off the installation to anonymously report a crime,’ explains the Homestead Air Reserve Base website. ‘If you know of a crime that has been committed, if you see a crime in progress, or if you see a suspicious person, vehicle, or situation that makes you feel a crime may be occurring, call the Security Forces Crime Stop Hotline.’
“‘Crime prevention is everyone’s responsibility, the better informed we are the safer we can make the installation and the surrounding community,’ said Lt. Juan Lemus, Security Forces Police Services Chief.”
The problem with the good Air Force officer is that nowhere does the US Constitution recognize the US military or federal agencies as having law enforcement duties. In fact, the 10th Amendment states that anything not specifically described as being federal responsibility is automatically deemed to be State and local responsibility. Plus, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 directly prohibits US military personnel from assuming law enforcement duties. In short, the US Air Force in Homestead, Florida, is egregiously violating the US Constitution and US law!
Nimmo’s report also notes that this federal abridgment of local and State authority is not confined to Homestead, Florida. He points out that things of this nature have taken place in Kingman, Arizona; Tennessee; San Bernardino County, California; Samson, Alabama; and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The report added, “The above represents just a small sampling of the military violating Posse Comitatus. The Act was violated in earnest following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The devastating storm proved to be a beta test for military violations of the law.”
See Nimmo’s report here.
Plus, I can tell readers that the US government is currently constructing dozens of interrogation and detention centers all along America’s northern border. I can tell you this because I have spoken with people involved in the construction of these centers, and I have seen the classified plans detailing the specifics of these centers (and, no, I will not divulge my sources).
Pray tell, what in the world does the US government have in mind by spending billions of dollars to construct these facilities all along our northern border with Canada? I live near the Canadian border, and I can tell you that there is absolutely no problem with illegal aliens coming across this northern border. So, why aren’t the feds constructing these facilities across our southern border where there really is a problem with illegal aliens? (Not that I would advocate or support such facilities, even on our southern border.) I will let readers contemplate the implications of all this for themselves.
These reports tell us that bondage is coming at us from all directions! And what is also obvious is that neither the Donkeys nor the Elephants in Washington, D.C., have any intentions on doing anything to stop it–or even slow it down! As I have been saying for quite some time, we must stop looking to Washington, D.C., to save us. DC is not the solution; DC is the problem!
The only hope for freedom is for individual states to rise in resolve and determination for their own sovereignty, independence, and liberty. And if your State will not take a stand now, with all that is happening in front of our very eyes, I strongly suggest that you find a State that will, because the debt ceiling debacle and the US military’s violation of Posse Comitatus strongly suggests that it is growing very late in the day for liberty in America.
P.S. Let me remind readers that my constitutional attorney son and I have collaborated on a new book that is available now! It is called, “Romans 13: The True Meaning of Submission.” For more information, or to order this much-needed new book, click here.
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© 2011 Chuck Baldwin – All Rights Reserved
Chuck Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See Chuck’s complete bio here.
E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com