Day: December 25, 2011

POLITICAL: A “right” to travel?

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/travel-is-a-human-right

December 21, 2011
Travel is a Human Right
Posted by James Wilson

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Quote of the Day: “The right to travel enables the free exercise of the other rights we most cherish. We should not have to check our constitutional freedoms at the curb simply because we decide to leave the house. Sadly, freedom of movement has been one of the most disparaged rights throughout human history, and our country is no exception. If we are ever to be truly free, then we must possess an absolute, uninhibited right to travel throughout America and the world free from interference by government.” – Judge Andrew Napolitano

This holiday season, countless innocent air travelers will be screened, patted-down, and interrogated by the TSA.

Let’s make next Christmas merrier for them. Tell Congress to abolish the Transportation Security Agency.

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Clearly, the TSA is an unconstitutional agency. I believe that the Dead Old White Guys would call it a “private militia”.

I’m not a “political philosopher” by any stretch of the imagination. BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), I’d opine that there are two components of a “right” — general human agreement and folks are willing to fight to have it.

ONE

Now, obviously, the slave master wants to keep the slaves on the plantation. Dialing it back a tad, the Feudal Lord wanted to keep the serf working. Back another tad, “sharecropping” was another attempt to control people. The “company store” another. It’s all about controlling people. It’s always about control.

Politicians and bureaucrats are no different.

Freedom to move is imho one of those “obvious” rights. It’s like saying you’re free to breathe.

TWO

Now the harder one, are people willing to fight?

imho the jury’s till out about that.

Now we know the TSA is “security theater” at best and a corrupt payoff to the Unions and gives the country a new voting set of bureaucrats beholding to the Gooferment for their livelihood. Like they’ll ever push for the TSA’s abolition.

There’s a problem in the USA: ½ the people are on the dole in one form or another, ¼ are in “public service”, and the other productive ¼ are “pulling the wagon” (i.e., paying for it).

So how can the trend be reversed?

We’ll have to see if the people are willing to fight for their rights. Any of them!

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INSPIRATIONAL: Refugees survive due to a few gold coins

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://dailyreckoning.com/gold-and-money-in-extremis-one-mans-story

Gold and Money in Extremis… One Man’s Story
By Daily Reckoning Contributor

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I was ordered to get my coat and accompany them. I was taken to a station and asked many questions. It was a stroke of luck for me that the Russian soldier to whom I had spoken in the past was here among them. After conferring with the others, he said: “Because you were born in Siberia, speak Russian, and you’re an uneducated worker — much like us — we will not detain you further. You may go for now.” He then gently grabbed my elbow and said very quietly, “Go back to your family, Marion. Get prepared for deportation to Siberia.” I ran home.

At dawn, I retrieved the gold and jewelry. I found my largest boots and heaviest jacket. I lined the bottom of my boots carefully with small coins and put leather over the insoles. I slit the heels, carefully hollowed out what I could and stuffed larger gold coins inside the cavities. Finally, I opened up various parts of my jacket and distributed more gold chain and coins in it — with great care so they did not rattle and were hard to detect.

Several days later, we were awakened by a knock at 4 a.m. and told we were being deported to Siberia. We were given 15 minutes to gather any personal belongings needed for immediate use. Our land, homes, and possessions were now property of the Russian state. My wife, my three-year-old daughter, and I were put into a truck with a group of others and taken to a railroad station.

We would never see our parents, our siblings, nor set foot on Polish soil, again. I was greatly relieved that they did not check my jacket or my shoes. My small cache of gold was going with me.

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Like the Christmas story, where Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem to “register” and eventually flee, here’s a powerful lesson. It can happen to you!

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