Ron Paul: ‘Get Rid of the Federal Reserve’

By Rick Pedraza, Newsmax

Rep. Ron Paul, in a speech delivered to an enthusiastic crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, said conservatives “have to be devoted to and willing to stand by and defend the Constitution, and have the position that it is absolutely necessary to get rid of the Federal Reserve system.”

Paul, who ran for president in 2008 championing the Constitution, talked about his bill seeking to abolish the Federal Reserve, which he said is getting bipartisan support in the Congress.
“We’ve gotten ourselves in a mess because the conservative movement, which was designed to bring us back to our roots of limited government, smaller government and more individual liberty, hasn’t happened,” said Paul, R-Texas.
Read more

RPOF Rep Drops “N” Bomb on Deon Long

Last night, we as supporters of Deon Long (embattled opponent of Orange County Republican Executive Committee chairman Lew Oliver) gathered again for a legally called meeting of OCREC. Our venue was the Winter Park Civic Center for which Mr. Long generously donated the rental charges.

Having met the requirements for calling the meeting we proceeded to conduct business at hand. Tops on our list was to reinstate the 19 members that Lew Oliver expelled and barred from voting at the December 2008 OCREC Board election meeting. These disbarred members had met all the requirements mandated for voting status by the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. Yet Lew Oliver knew that should they be ceded their voting rights, they would most likely vote against him continuing as OCREC Chairman. So in order to preserve his chairmanship, Oliver refused to allow them to vote.
Read more

The Green Energy Fantasy

By Keith Lockitch

Will a green energy industry be an engine of economic growth? Many want us to think so, including our new President. Apparently a booming green economy with millions of new jobs is just around the corner. All we need is the right mix of government “incentives.”

These include a huge (de facto) tax on carbon emissions imposed through a cap-and-trade regulatory scheme, as well as huge government subsidies for “renewable,” carbon-free sources. The hope is that these government sticks and carrots will turn today’s pitiful “green energy” industry, which produces an insignificant fraction of American energy, into a source of abundant, affordable energy that can replace today’s fossil-fuel-dominated industry.

This view is a fantasy–one that could devastate America’s economy. The reality is that “green energy” is at best a sophisticated make-work program.

There is a reason why less than 2 percent of the world’s energy currently comes from “renewable” sources such as wind and solar–the very sources that are supposedly going to power the new green economy: despite billions of dollars in government subsidies, funding decades of research, they have not proven themselves to be practical sources of energy. Indeed, without government mandates forcing their adoption in most Western countries, their high cost would make them even less prevalent.

Consider that it takes about 1,000 wind turbines, occupying tens of thousands of acres, to produce as much electricity as just one medium-sized, coal-fired power plant. And that’s if the wind is blowing: the intermittency of wind wreaks havoc on electricity grids, which need a stable flow of power, thus requiring expensive, redundant backup capacity or an unbuilt, unproven “smart grid.”

Or consider the “promise” of solar. Two projects in development will cover 12.5 square miles of central California with solar cells in the hope of generating about 800 megawatts of power (as much as one large coal-fired plant). But that power output will only be achieved when the sun is shining brightly–around noon on sunny days; the actual output will be less than a third that amount. And the electricity will cost more than market price, even with the life-support of federal subsidies that keeps the solar industry going. The major factor driving the project is not the promise of abundant power but California’s state quota requiring 20 percent “renewable” electricity by 2010.

More than 81 percent of world energy comes from fossil fuels, and half of America’s electricity is generated by burning coal. Carbon sources are literally keeping us alive. There is no evidence that they have–or will soon have–a viable replacement in transportation fuel, and there is only one in electricity generation, nuclear, which “green energy” advocates also oppose.

We all saw the ripple effects last summer when gas prices shot above $4 per gallon, and higher transportation costs drove up prices of everything from plane fares to vegetables. If green policies cause a permanent, and likely far greater, hike in the cost of all forms of energy, what shockwaves would that send through our already badly damaged economy?

We don’t want to find out.

Regardless of one’s views on global warming–and there is ample scientific evidence to reject the claim that manmade carbon emissions are causing catastrophe–the fact is that kneecapping the fossil fuel industry while diverting tax dollars into expensive, impractical forms of energy will not be an economic boon, but an economic disaster.

We in developed countries take industrial-scale energy for granted and often fail to appreciate its crucial value to our lives–including its indispensable role in enabling us to deal with drought, storms, temperature extremes, and other climate challenges we are told to fear by global-warming alarmists.

If we want to restore economic growth and reduce our vulnerability to the elements, what we need is not “green energy” forced upon us by government coercion but real energy delivered on a free market.

What constitutes ‘Republicanism’?

As you are probably aware, the Brevard County Republican Executive Committee is under the new leadership of Chairman Jason Steele.

There has been a flurry of activity since he took over, and the local party has seen many improvements since the beginning of the new year: a new web site, a meetup group on meetup.com and a well attended black tie optional Lincoln Day Dinner just to name a few.

Local Republicans are eager to have their voices heard, and the new technology is making that possible. A news tidbit on the need for the Republican Party to shake off its big government ways sent to the meetup group by Republican committeeman Steve Townsend generated 36 emails over the course of two days. I think this goes to show there are a lot of Republicans that are still disgruntled by the liberal leaders, and elected officials, of the Republican Party. 

What we need is a local party platform. 
Read more

Sales of "Atlas Shrugged" Soar in the Face of Economic Crisis

Sales of “Atlas Shrugged” Soar in the Face of Economic Crisis

Washington, D.C., February 23, 2009–Sales of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” have almost tripled over the first seven weeks of this year compared with sales for the same period in 2008. This continues a strong trend after bookstore sales reached an all-time annual high in 2008 of about 200,000 copies sold.

“Americans are flocking to buy and read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ because there are uncanny similarities between the plot-line of the book and the events of our day” said Yaron Brook, Executive Director at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. “Americans are rightfully concerned about the economic crisis and government’s increasing intervention and attempts to control the economy. Ayn Rand understood and identified the deeper causes of the crisis we’re facing, and she offered, in ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ a principled and practical solution consistent with American values.”

—————-
 
Yaron Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. Dr. Brook is often interviewed on radio and is a frequent guest on a variety of national TV shows, having appeared on the new Fox Business Network, FOX News Channel, CNN, CNBC and C-SPAN. Dr. Brook, a former finance professor, lectures on Objectivism, capitalism, business and foreign policy at college campuses, community groups and corporations across America and throughout the world.

To interview Dr. Brook or book him for your show, please contact media@aynrandcenter.org.

Read more…

The Year of ‘Mortgage Jubilee’ is Upon Us

I have used the term ‘Year of Mortgage Jubilee’ often in the last year to describe the outcome of the Government’s interventions in the mortgage foreclosure markets. The year is here.

In the Old Testament, all debts are forgiven during the Year of Jubilee.

The Federal Government, in its blind rush to keep people in houses they either overbought or over-re-financed-for cash, will begin making the deal so sweet for those in default that those not in default question why in the world they are working hard to make their payments. As the deal for default sweetens, many will begin to stop paying on houses they really could pay for.
Read more

Court of Law Gone Awry as Court of Feeling

Brevard County is following the lead of certain other Counties in the State of Florida in ordering mediation between the parties in a foreclosure. Normally mediation is ordered when one has parties in a DISPUTE. In the foreclosure, there is no dispute, it is a fact the house payments have not been made. Since there is no dispute of fact, we can only have a court ordered mediation out of a FEELING it is a ‘good thing’ to allow those who owe to stay in their house even if they are not paying.
Read more

Judiciary in Full Court Press to Obliterate Clerk’s Offices

The Florida Association of Court Clerks held a meeting Wednesday in Tallahassee to discuss the current movement by the Judiciary through the Legislature to take over the Clerk’s Courts employees. Although I rarely go to Tallahassee I drove up very early Wednesday morning, got the scoop, and got back to the Viera Courthouse Wednesday evening.

There is no rumor, there is fact, and the fact is the Office of the State Court Administrator (OSCA), Judge Quince of the Supreme Court, and the current Chief Judges of all Florida Circuits are working overtime on the Legislators to strip the employees and their funding from the Clerk’s Office.
Read more

Michelle Malkin » Tea Party U.S.A.: The movement grows

My friend Michael Patrick Leahy of Top Conservatives on Twitter and his crew are spearheading “simultaneous local tea parties around the country, beginning in Chicago, and including Washington DC, Fayetteville NC, San Diego CA, …

Follow this link:
Michelle Malkin » Tea Party U.S.A.: The movement grows

Who Really Runs Brevard County?

Many people are asking what is going on in Brevard County.Who really runs Brevard, the elected County Commission, the Manager’s office, which seems to be in disarray, or the County Attorney Scott Knox?

A report filed Monday, February 9, 2009, by reporter Kevin Oliver of WFTV, detailed facts regarding the Courtney Roberts case v. Brevard County.

The report revealed the Roberts had properly obtained permits in 2002 to build their retirement home. In 2003, after work was well underway, Brevard County changed its mind, and a Stop Work order was issued.
Read more

Next Page »