Palmetto Freedom Forum: What Can Ron Paul Expect from the Panel?

On Labor Day, five Republicans seeking the nomination as the Party's candidate for President will have the opportunity to drill down on their policy positions at The Palmetto Freedom Forum. The Forum should be one of the most facinating events of the entire 2012 Presidential campaign. It will feature a full-throated debate on the political philosophy of our Founding Fathers, Natural Law.

The forum is sponsored by American Principles Project. Each candidate will participate individually in a question and answer session with three panelists – Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), Congressman Steve King (R-IA), and Dr. Robert George, founder of American Principles Project and McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University.

South Carolina citizens are very familiar with our conservative Senator Jim DeMint. Steve King is a conservative Republican Congressman from the 5th District of Iowa. We are curious, however, about the only non-elected official who will be interrogating the Republican candidates, Dr. Robert George.

Just who is Dr. George? New York Times Journalist David Kirkpatrick calls George, "the reigning brain of the Christian right." He published a lengthy article about Dr. George's philosophy as a Christian writer. See David D. Kirkpatrick, The Conservative Christian Big Thinker, N.Y Times Magazine (Dec. 20, 2009).

Dr. George is a Roman Catholic with a law and theology degree from Harvard. He also has Doctors Degree in philosophy from Oxford. Dr. George bases his political philosophy on the concept of Natural Law. Kirkpatrick writes,

George is the leading voice for a group of Catholic scholars known as the new natural lawyers. . . . What makes his natural law “new” is that it disavows dependence on divine revelation or biblical Scripture — or even history and anthropology. Instead, George rests his ethics on a foundation of “practical reason”: “invoking no authority beyond the authority of reason itself,” as he put it in one essay.

The Natural Law philosophy based upon reason was a philosophy advocated by philosophers in the 17th and 18th Century, including John Locke and Thomas Paine. The Founding Fathers were so familiar with Natural Law that John Adams apologized for Jefferson's initial draft of the Declaration of Independence on the grounds that it seemed to borrow heavily on the writing of Locke.

The first sentence of the American Declaration of Independence justified American independence because of the English King George's repeated violation of "Laws of Nature." The second sentence declared that the individual liberties of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," were endowed by our Creator and unalienable. The founding document of America declared Natural Law truth. Thus, the American government is based upon the concept of self-ownership, or individual liberty.

At first blush, it would seem that the political philosophy of Dr. George would be in accord the political philosophy of Dr. Ron Paul. Both men advocate principles of individual liberty, and the philosophy of Natural Law, which Dr. Paul calls the "first principles." Both subscribe to the concept of "Just War" as a general limitation on the authority of a government to commit its people to war.

Natural Law proponents usually stand in accord with Dr. Paul against Bush-era Republican positions that advocate for interventionist foreign policies, and which justify laws like the Patriot Act or the Food Safety Act. That federal legislation destroyed individual liberty.

However, according Kirkpatrick's article, Dr. George has publicly stated he favored George Bush's 2003 decision to invade Iraq, and argued that Iraq was a just war. Ron Paul strongly disagrees with that notion, and further asserts that it violates the Constitution because it is an illegal, undeclared war. As Dr. George questions Dr. Paul at the forum, we may find out how Dr. George justifies the American intervention in Iraq as a just war.

Both of the politicians on the panel (DeMint and King) have consistently voted in favor or expanding war efforts abroad, and for extending the Patriot Act authority for federal law enforcement. Such laws directly infringe upon individual liberties of American citizens. As such, the votes of DeMint and King arguably violate natural law principles of individual liberty. The power to spy on Americans and compel production of private banking, Internet, and medical records without search warrants is a power far beyond that envisioned by our Founding Fathers.

It will be interesting to see if Dr. George provides philosophical cover for DeMint and King's votes for laws like the Patriot Act. Dr. George may use Natural Law philosophical arguments to contradict Dr. Paul's anti-war stand, or Dr. Paul's position that the federal government has invaded individual liberties by extra-Constitutional expansion of federal domestic police power. That interchange will be facinating and enlightening.

In a related social conservative area, Dr. George also argues human sexual activity outside of marraige is unnatural and immoral. He uses an interpretation of Natural Law to support an argument that the only moral sexual act is sexual intercourse within marraige.

It is unclear whether Dr. George will assert that viewpoint on Natural Law morality translates into federal Constitutional authority to define marraige and prohibit sexual activity of Americans outside of it. If so, it would seem Dr. George's interpretation of Natural Law would contradict the viewpoints of Locke, Adams, Paine, Jefferson, and Dr. Paul; to wit, that each individual owns himself and must have liberty to make personal choices without the force of government being brought to bear. Again, watching Dr. George question Dr. Paul about such philosophical matters of liberty will be interesting and compelling.

Can Dr. Paul spar with an intellectual giant like Dr. George? That is a good question.

One great aspect of the Palmetto Freedom Forum is that unlike the network debates it will allow the Republican candidates more time to explain their viewpoints on various issues. For Dr. Paul, who has strong philosophical arguments for all his positions, this is vitally important. It is often difficult for Dr. Paul to convey ideas in a thirty second soundbite of a debate.

On balance, however, we are skeptical that the Palmetto Freedom Forum will work to Dr. Paul's benefit. It seems unlikely that DeMint and King will support Dr. Paul's argument against the endless wars on terror, or that the Patriot Act constitutes an unwarranted expansion of federal authority and spending. We would expect questions from both that attempt to demagogue the issue by way of fear mongering to justify the war on terror. We anticipate a three-against-one fight on foreign wars and the expansion of a federal police state as a means to fight the wars on drugs and terror.

Moreover, the presence of Dr. George on the Panel may serve to provide philosophical cover for DeMint's and King's votes on these matters of national security, or for advocacy in the area of expanding federal authority to regulate marraige and human sexual activity. If Dr. George can neutralize Dr. Paul's philosophical argument, such advocacy will provide cover for politicians DeMint and King.

Even though it is clear Dr. George is a powerful intellectual weapon on the Freedom Forum panel, we believe that Dr. Paul will vigorously contest with him in the field of the philosophy of liberty. Dr. Paul is no slouch on explaining liberty. Therefore, we expect the interchange will reveal many areas of agreement between Dr. George and Dr. Paul on key philosophical issues as they relate to limited government and Natural Law. Thus, as iron sharpens iron, we hope Dr. Paul and Dr. George will sharpen each other and the public's understanding of our American tradition of individual liberty.

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Consumer Confidence Erodes: We Need a Leader

The Conference Board issued an index of consumer confidence this morning. The data is reflected on this chart published today on ZeroHedge, a financial blog site.

The consumer confidence index, published by a Nielsen Company affiliate, is closely watched by Wall Street, and the information in the index is discouraging. The data cut-off was August 18. Maybe things have improved since then. The stock market certainly has improved since mid-August.

Lynn Franco, the Director Consumer Research Center, issued a statement that accompanied the report: "Consumer confidence deteriorated sharply in August, as consumers grew significantly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook. The index is now at its lowest level in more than two years (April 2009, 40.8)." Franco went on to speculate the deterioration was likely related to acrimonious debt ceiling negotiations.

Franco's hypothesis suggests we ought to blame Republican House Members for their principled opposition to the debt ceiling deal. Her theory seems flawed in that the Obama Administration was touting an allegedly historic debt ceiling deal with Republicans at the end of July. That deal came on a bipartisan vote.

I'm not going along with the Franco theory.

It seems more likely that the Index suggests that the American people are smarter than the national media. The people know that the debt ceiling deal was mere Kabuki theater for politicians. They are aware that the "historic deal" amounted to nothing more than lipstick on a pig. The people know that the debt anchor is still dragging the economy down.

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Natural Law: First Principles of Liberty

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East Carolina v. Gamecocks Football Preview

Dang! It seems like it has been a long time coming. The beginning of the Gamecocks 2011 College football season is about one week away.

The Gamecocks open the 2011 football season on a neutral field. They play game one in Charlotte, North Carolina, against the East Carolina Pirates.

ECU won Conference USA championships in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, ECU slumped to a 5-3 conference record, but it was still good enough for a second place tie in the East with Southern Mississippi. ECU was 6-7 overall in 2010. The highlight of ECU's 2010 season was a 33-27 overtime victory over NC State. The low point was when Maryland smashed ECU in the Military Bowl, 51-20.

ECU is commanded by second year Head Football Coach Ruffin McNeill. McNeill was the Assistant Head Coach at Texas Tech before taking the ECU job. The ECU Bio for McNeill explained that ECU's 2010 decline was due to, “one of the top 50 most difficult schedules in the country.” The ECU website also argues that McNeill inherited a team, “which lost 34 lettermen off the previous year's squad - the most of any FBS program in America.”

Offensively, McNeill's ECU team is best known for its dangerous up-tempo attack. The Offensive Coordinator is Lincoln Riley, at 27 the youngest OC in the nation. ECU's offense is “a high-scoring and prolific spread offensive scheme.” (The ECU Athletic Department)

Coach McNeill struck a hopeful tone for the 2011 season. In a statement before ECU's 2011 spring practices he said:

"It's our second year of residence here. For us, that's a very comfortable feeling. Last year at this time, we were just trying to figure out who was where and who was what on the staff and with the players. It's a more comfortable feeling with it being our second year. We've been around the program and young men for an entire year now."

ECU perceives an advantage playing in Charlotte. The official ECU web site says, “Pirates have gone 4-1 when playing in Charlotte. In addition to the Virginia Tech triumph, East Carolina defeated N.C. State 50-29 in 1996 and downed #8 West Virginia 30-23 in 1999. The lone setback was a 52-14 loss to the Wolfpack in 2004.”

The Charlotte papers say that ECU fans, who are known as loud, exuberant, and an enthusiastic bunch, have bought nearly as many tickets as have Gamecock fans. ECU fans are nothing like the wine and cheese crowd you encounter at ACC games. These guys are rowdy. Thus, if the Charlotte paper is right, the Gamecock will lack any semblance of a home field advantage. It should be loud in either direction.

ECU is restructuring its defensive scheme. In 2010, ECU ranked last in total defense in Conference USA, and it was ranked 120^th nationally. Therefore, it is implementing a new 3-4 defensive alignment for its 2011 season. McNeil considers the 3-4 a deceptive defense.

ECU lost starters off its 2010 offensive and defensive teams, returning just 12. That means a lot of new starting players will have to step into starting roles for ECU's opener against the SEC Gamecocks.

The unquestioned star of the ECU team is its phenomenal quarterback, Junior Dominique Davis. Davis ranked first among all quarterbacks in Division I in passing completions per game for the 2010 season. He was ranked fourth overall in yardage per game. All this, while Davis threw 37 touchdowns (only 16 interceptions). Davis compiled a 48^th ranked passing efficiency rating amongst all quarterbacks in Div I.

Meanwhile, the Gamecocks secondary was occasionally torched by missed assignments in 2010. To make matters worse, the Gamecocks are playing without two secondary players who are suspended for the ECU game, DeVonte Holloman and Victor Hampton. Injuries are also sapping depth. Starting cornerback Akeem Auguste has been injured all fall. (Auguste participated in his first practice this Thursday.) It was announced Thursday, that the starting strong safety, D.J. Swearinger, did not practice due to what was described as a minor hamstring injury.

The way ECU likes to light up the field with passing, the game could get real interesting and real uncomfortable for the South Carolina Gamecocks defensive secondary. This could be even more true if rowdy ECU fans gain control of the Charlotte, North Carolina, stadium and Dominique Davis gets hot.

McNeill describes Davis as one of the best quarterbacks in the nation.

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On China's Missile Threat Against the U.S.A. and the START Treaty

In 2010, a lame duck Democrat Congress rammed through the Obama Administration's New Start Treaty with the Soviet Union. That agreement limits America's ability to construct a strategic missile defense system.

The Chinese, meanwhile, continue to develop their long-range nuclear missile capability. See the chart here.

Department of Defense Annual Report to Congress, Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China (2011).

Our numerous and sundry military operations overseas are costly and counter-productive adventures. The money being spent on these operations could and should be re-directed into truly necessary defense spending initiatives. One such area of needed defense spending is the development and deployment of an advanced anti-missile defense shield to protect the United States population.

It is simply insane that the Democrats and the Obama Administration abandoned this critical area of self-defense of our homeland. It is like their decision to conduct a war on terror in Afghanistan while you leave your entire southern border undefended.

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What the Philly Fed Index Means

Yesterday, the Philly Fed published an Index that demonstrated a precipitous decline, far exceeding the expectations of most conventional Wall Street touts. The Philly Fed Index measures business activity in the northeast United States. The measures include consumption data like new orders and shipments of good, and employment trends.

The survey's indicators for activity, shipments, and new orders all declined sharply from their readings in July. The diffusion index of current activity decreased to -30.7 in August from 3.2 in July. The broadest indicator of future activity decreased to 1.4 from 23.7 in July.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Newsroom, August 18, 2011.

Along with a financial liquidity panic in the EuroZone, this Index set off the S&P sell-off yesterday. Hopefully, the gloomy Index does not really suggest the United States is headed toward a double dip recession as many of the previously wrong Wall Street touts now believe.

Cigarette Health Warnings

In June this year the out-of-control Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulations compelling cigarette manufacturers to place Cigarette Health Warnings on American cigarette packages.

Cigarettes stink and the product is terrible.

However, the American people already know the risks of cigarette smoking. To compel cigarette manufactures to post graphic and emotional images such as the image to the left, compels cigarette companies to engage in coerced speech. Such heavy-handed government action constitutes a violation of the First Amendment.

The FDA alleges authority for this tyrannical action under "The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act" (Smoking Control Law). In 2009, the Smoking Control Law was enacted by a Democrat House and Senate, and signed into law by a Democrat President (Obama). The Smoking Control Law required nine new larger textual warning statements to appear on cigarette packages and in cigarette advertisements. The Smoking Control Law also authorized the FDA to issue regulations on graphic labeling to accompany the textual labels. That provision of the Smoking Control Law states, in part, "the Secretary shall issue regulations that require color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking to accompany the label statements." Section 15 U.S.C. 1533(4)(d). The FDA has taken on this statutory authority with a vengance.

The FDA is a federal agency under the authority of an even bigger federal agency, the federal Department of Health and Human Services. HHS is headed by Obama appointee Kathleen Sibelius. Her FDA did not fool around with its graphics requirement. It issued a series of utterly gut wrenching emotional graphics. Pursuant to the Smoking Control Law, these images must be included on all cigarette packages sold in the United States beginning on no later than October 22, 2011.

The problem with Smoking Control Law is that Congress lacks authority to enact a statute that violates the freedom of speech liberty contained in the First Amendment of the Constitution. The First Amendment of the Constitution prohibits the government from coercing speech from citizens. In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), the U.S. Supreme Court stated:

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.

Five American cigarette companies have now filed a federal lawsuit alleging the FDA regulation violates the First Amendment. Judging the extremity of the FDA images, it would seem the cigarette companies have a good test case. One would hope federal courts would uphold American free speech liberties.

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Jon Stewart Commentary on Media Attempt to Ignore Ron Paul

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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Redrawn Exter Liquidity Pyramid

Courtesy of ZeroHedge.

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Super Committee Disaster

The moderate Republicans were suckered into voting to the Boehner deal, splitting from the Tea Party faction that was urging them to stick to Cut Cap and Balance. The deal includes a scheme of the so-called, bi-partisan "super Committee." Under the deal, each leader gets to pick three members of the twelve-person Committee. Six Republicans and Six Democrats. Six from the Senate. Six from the House.

Harry Reid, the Democrat Senate Majority Leader, has selected John Kerry, Patty Murray and Max Baucus. Kerry is one of the Senate's most liberal members. Murray is the chairperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The Senatorial Campaign Committee is the political committee organizing the campaign for the 23 Democrat Senate seats up for re-election across the country.

Do you think that the negotiations of the super committee will be politicized by the Democrat demagoguery?

In addition, President Obama has already threatened to get heavily involved in the Committee work on a compromise solution. That means that he will be frequently using the bully pulpit to bash republican members that won't capitulate to Democrat tax hike demands.

Moderate Mitch McConnell gets to make his choice of the three Senate Republican picks. Please do not pick John McCain, or Lindsay Graham. Instead, I suggest the following Senators would make ideal picks for the Republican members of the Committee: Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio.

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zero hedge bearish on U.S. stocks

The financial and economic news has not been too good lately. The only positive thing was the spin Friday about U.S. unemployment figures, described as "good news" by the media. That description was made because the unemployment numbers were just not as bad as what was expected.

The chart below, however, showing a new record high in the number of long-term unemployed people, demonstrates that the unemployment news was definitely not all good.

Even worse news came Saturday, and it came on the European front. Let me explain.

A lot of people attributed the cause of the huge Thursday stock market sell-off to the fact that market recognized the budget deal touted by the Obama Administration and the "bi-partisans" in Congress as a life-saver, as a lipsticked-up pig. The bi-partisan budget deal was a negligible factor in Thursday's crash. The main factor was Eurozone.

Two weeks ago, eurozone leaders agreed to expand the powers of its euro440 billion ($623 billion) rescue fund that helped bail out Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Since then, Italy's financial system began to crumble. However, the rescue fund lacked sufficient funds to pay for Italy's bailout on top of the others.

Late Friday, it appeared that promises by Premier Silvio Berlusconi of Italy to enact a constitutional balanced budget amendment would persuade an additional bailout from the European banksters. But Saturday German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated she would not commit German assets to a further bailout. That was bad news on the eurozone front. An Italian collapse, an economy linked to the rest of the countries in the Eurozone, threatens the entire financial system of Europe.

My favorite financial news blog, Zero Hedge, has the details on this story. T. Durden, It Just Went From Bad To Far, Far Worse As Germany Says Italy Is Too Big For EFSF To Save, Refuses To Carry Euro Bailout Burden, Zero Hedge (Aug. 6, 2011).

Meanwhile, here in America, a lot of financial advisors are on the American cable news programs telling us not to sell stocks and are actually recommending this period of fear is an opportunity for investors to buy under-valued stocks. Perhaps they are right.

But, the Saudi stock market closed out Saturday down five percent. The chart at the top of this post shows the graphical display of the Saturday Saudi blood-letting.

My recommendation, for what its worth, is to pull out of stocks and seek safety until this financial storm blows over. That would mean selling stocks and putting the cash into U.S. Treasury funds. Despite the downgrade on Saturday, U.S. Treasuries are still one of the safest places to park your cash, and fear of a Eurozone crash is going to drive investors into U.S. Treasuries.

The other safe place to park money is gold and silver. You are better off acquiring physical gold and silver. Short of that, you should find a good gold and silver ETF and buy those shares.

If you move immediately, perhaps it will not be too late to preserve what is left of your retirement account.

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HGC Homeopathic Drops Diet

Around Independence Day, the so-called writer of this Blog embarked upon a dietary experiment with HGC Homeopathic Drops. A lot of people are skeptical about the HGC Drops, arguing the diet lacks any scientific peer review studies to confirm its claim. Such people call the drops a scam.

However, anecdotally, this diet worked extremely well for this scribe. Many others who have tried it feel the way I do. I am now attacking the "stabilization" phase.


I charted my Phase I weight loss graphically as shown below.

I have tried exercise and diets before without success. Losing 21 pounds this fast is very cool.

The diet is based upon a 1959 manuscript, Pounds and Inches, an obesity study written by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons. Dr. Simeons graduated in medicine summa cum laude at the University of Heidelberg. Dr. Simeon is a credible scientist. "Dr. Simeons is the author of several medical books and has contributed to many scientific publications." (Link Here).

In the 1950s, Dr. Simeon discovered that the compound HGC is produced by women during pregnancy. That compound allows pregnant women to burn stored fat. Dr. Simeon's research found injections of HGC into people also made it possible for them to lose a type of difficult to lose stored fat. The people just had to follow his dietary restrictions while undergoing HGC injection treatment.

Dr. Simeon used injections for his HGC Treatment. But many believe homeopathic drops constitute a legitimate alternative to injection therapy. The argument for oral ingestion is that the purity of the compound has increased. Being averse to needles, our family acquired our HGC drops from White Dove Healing Arts, LTD. The White Dove HGC Drops were taken three times a day under the tongue.

One of the cool parts of the HGC diet theory is that the normal hunger that would otherwise gnaw at you, is not so much of a plague while you're taking the HGC Homeopathic drops. In fact, I experienced no significant cravings during my Phase I diet even though I limited my food intake to around 500 calories per day. My co-workers called it a starvation diet, but it did not feel that way to me.

As suggested above, the HGC Homeopathic drops are taken while executing a strict limitation on food intake:

Breakfast:

Tea or coffee in any quantity without sugar. Only one tablespoonful of milk allowed in 24 hours. Saccharin or Stevia may be used.

Lunch:

1. 100 grams of veal, beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp. All visible fat must be carefully removed before cooking, and the meat must be weighed raw. It must be boiled or grilled without additional fat. Salmon, eel, tuna, herring, dried or pickled fish are not allowed. The chicken breast must be removed from the bird.

2. One type of vegetable only to be chosen from the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage.

3. One breadstick (grissino) or one Melba toast.

4. An apple, orange, or a handful of strawberries or one-half grapefruit.

Dinner :

The same four choices as lunch (above.)

The diet requires you take the drops for about 23 days at minimum. I opted for the minimal period.

You need not sacrifice taste. I made some really fine meals using carefully chosen spices (devoid of sugar) and stevia for sweetener. I suspect part of the reason I was satisfied was the diet is a healthy diet of good solid vegetables, fruit, and meat. No typical American junk food.

Once you complete the first phase, you go to what is called the "stabilization phase." During this phase you are permitted to eat a normal caloric intake for your weight and height; however, you are not permitted to eat any starch or sugar. You eat just meat, fruit, and veggies. Again, that precludes the typical junk food diet so many are used to eating in our awakening society.

During the stabilization phase, if your weight rises more than two pounds above the end point, then you must do a "steak day." The steak day means you eat neither breakfast nor lunch, but at dinner have a huge steak.

So far, I had one steak day.

This HGC Homeopathic Drop diet, without regard to the lack of scientific peer reviewed studies to corroborate claims, worked well from my perspective. I expect success when the diet is completed in a couple weeks. If so, I may try it again at the beginning of 2012 so I can lose another fifteen pounds or so.

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