Brazen Racism at Occupy Phoenix

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com


The Tea Party has been consistently accused of racism and without substantial evidence.  This is an example of some of the most vitriolic rhetoric out there, but don't expect what you are about to see to characterize (nor should it) the Occupy "X" movement that is spreading nationally and around the world.   

Will this evidence show the left and the right that racism is a benighted feature of both sides of the political spectrum?  Doubtful... Regardless I have a lot more to show from Occupy Phoenix, coming soon...

Values Voters and Ron Paul

Jack Kerwick, PH.D.
The New American
October 12th, 2011

*EDITORS NOTE*

I have uncharacteristically included the last portion of the article.  It best drives at the ambivalence of social conservatives to libertarianism.  If these conservatives emancipate themselves from a pointless culture war and the destructive war on terror a real restoration of our republic may be close at hand.


On the News: Ron Paul wins Values Voters Straw Poll, Leaves Cain in the Dust

"...Finally, that Paul appealed to the majority of “values voters” participating in their “summit’s” straw poll just might be due to the growing recognition that his ideas are not only constitutional, but they are as well Christian. The importance of this insight can’t be overstated. 

The Santorums and Bennetts of our generation have long promoted the idea that the federal government must be enlisted in the service of “Judeo-Christian” morality. They may very well believe this. However, in appealing to “values voters” — the vast majority of whom are Christians — Paul invites his supporters to revisit a feature of their tradition, an idea rooted in the teaching of Christ to which the rise of the dominance of our federal government and the utopian politics with which this has been coupled have all but blinded them.        

This is the idea that the realms of politics and religion — “Caesar” and God, or as Augustine put it, “the City of Man” and “the City of God” — though they may and often do overlap, are nevertheless mutually distinct. Those who would conflate the two aren’t just fools; they are blasphemers. With those few simple words — “Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” — Jesus opened an unbridgeable chasm between Christianity, on the one hand, and utopian politics on the other. Indeed, from the apostle Paul to Augustine and throughout even the medieval period, for the duration of their pre-modern history, Christians knew this well. However, the emergence of centralized governments and the unprecedented power over which they acquired a monopoly forced this old Christian concept to the periphery. 

Perhaps Paul’s victory at the Values Voters Summit signals its resurrection."


Read this article in its entirety at TheNewAmerican.com.

Elizabeth Warren Parody!

TopherMorrison
PurpleSerf.com


Elizabeth Warren is running for Massachuetts federal senate seat against Scott Brown now disowned son of the Tea Party movement.   She recently garnered some serious noteriety after being mentioned on Drudge Report and Rush Limbaugh and after her YouTube video went viral.  


This is just hilarity incarnate...
But first the original video on fair taxation and government spending:



Now the good stuff:

GOPs New Love Affair, Herman Cain and VAT Taxes

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com

There is a floating faction in the GOP which can't seem to settle on one candidate.  First into the spotlight was Michelle Bachmann and her Tea Party legitimacy.  Then it was Rick Perry who in classic Texan fashion came out of the gate guns a blazin' only to be holstered just as fast.  Begrudgingly the conservative undecideds have returned to Mitt Romney who wears his experience in Massachusetts like a scarlet letter.  In every case with a challenger to this ostensible nominee their loss of appeal is someone else's gain, Herman Cain is the latest example.  But is Cain destined for a similar fate once the restless side of the GOP takes a closer look at him?


          He is a straight talker.  You feel like you know where he stands and if he doesn't know he'll tell you.  But aside from the esoteric who is Herman Cain?  What would his first 100 days look like?  Well in the words of Herman Cain himself, "Lets Get Real."


UPDATE: American Research Group says Cain is #1 in South Carolina



          No stranger to business (or admittedly to ignorance in world affairs) and evidently adept at communicating his goals, Cain has succinctly articulated his platform; 9-9-9.  He advocates flat taxes of 9% on net business profits, 9% personal income tax allowing only for charitable donation deductions and a 9% national sales tax.  The 9-9-9 plan includes a transitional stage where the "the Fair Tax would ultimately replace individual and corporate income taxes."  Why there is a need for a transition is not clear, however, Cain claims that "amidst a backdrop of the economic boom created by the Phase 1 Enhanced Plan, I will begin the process of educating the American people on the benefits of continuing the next step to the Fair Tax."  Whether America will be ready for the lesson is another question entirely.   


          There are some interesting opinions on this strategy of transition.  Considering Congress' short attention span who's to say that some "crisis" won't arise (they do so often in Washington these days) and stymies any transition from Cain's tripartite taxation system into a true flat and fair tax.  How many crises do you think would arise should the United States carve out not only the IRS, but the galaxy of ancillary organizations from Deloitte & Touche to Turbo Tax?  Who's to say we wouldn't be stuck with the whole shebang?


          The Wall Street Journal calls "Cain's tax mutiny" a "political killer."  They admit the plan is deficit neutral and would bring into government coffers as much as the current tax system, that it would eliminate double taxation on savings and investment, eliminate loopholes that have allowed companies like Google and General Electric to pay next to zero income tax.  Cain's plan admittedly would also reduce the distortions created by compliance (and avoidance), would substantially increase our global competitiveness, and would allow the U.S. economy to tap into a deep worldwide reservoir of foreign direct investment; in other words "if Americans want more jobs, this plan would produce them in a hurry" according to the WSJ.  However, there is a dark side to Herman Cain's plan.


          Americans have been snookered before, according to the WSJ:


          "the current income tax was introduced in 1913 with a top rate of 7% amid promises
           that it would never exceed 10%.  By 1918 the tope rate was 77%."


Because his plan does not first eliminate the 16th Amendment, which created the national income tax, America seduced by the intoxicating prospect of flat and fair taxes and rapid growth will in reality be made vulnerable to newer more demagogic style tax politics akin to those in Europe. 


          "Consumption tax rates usually started at less than 10%, but in much of euroland 'the
           rates have nearly doubled and now are close to 20%,' according to a study by the
           Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell.  Because a sales tax would raise hug sums with small
           increases in the rate, we would see regular campaigns like 'a penny to fight poverty,'
           or 'one-cent for universal health care' that would be politically tough to defeat."


Moreover, Josh Barro of the National Review points out that the 9% business tax needs either some fine tuning or at least clarification as it seems to be in essence a "lightly modified VAT" which doesn't exactly "equalize the treatment of corporate debt and equity."


          If you don't buy that the European track record will apply here, a head Senatorial tax advisor pointed out to PurpleSerf today the abysmal situation in California.  The politically blue state is very much in the red even though it has both sales and state income taxes which exceed corresponding rates in most of the lower 48!  "That is a staggering double whammy!" he continued "...unless the income tax is completely abolished an additional tax system like a VAT is and should be a non-starter."   


          The issue of federal taxation is of growing importance not only when it comes to reducing the debt, simplifying our lives, but who is ultimately being paid and how much control Washington should wield over the country's wealth.  Herman Cain's time with the Federal Reserve of Kansas City has been a concern for many paleo-conservatives, libertarians and constitutionalists.  The group WeAreChange.org recently followed Herman Cain in Iowa (gets interesting at 6:50):

          Evidently Herman Cain is for a sound money system and from this interview apparently one based on gold, which brings him within the orbit of Ron Paul yet there is little publicity on this point.  However, much in the same vein as his 9-9-9 plan there needs to be another transition period from fiat currency to sound money so don't expect him to end the Federal Reserve any time soon.  He offers a compelling reason not to: "the guiding economic principles is... measurements must be dependable" if we were to eliminate the Fed "there would be chaos."  

           He advocates that Congress should start doing its job by vetting Federal Reserve appointees more closely and narrowing their prerogatives.  In response to Thomas Jefferson's words lamenting the prospect of a central bank Mr. Cain claimed we now live in a "global economy and a global financial system."  The exact point at which a private central bank was required for this new world order rather than the democratically elected Congress of the United States he did not elaborate.   

          I wonder if Mr. Cain has thought about how the global system would react to him undercutting their tax rates and reintroducing a gold standard to a world based on fiat.  Talk about chaos!  For all the transitions Herman Cain advocates one has to wonder when or will the rubber ever meet the road.  With no public record to point to, lets get real, it's anyones guess. 

UPDATE: Ron Paul's Revolution Super PAC has their own incendiary compare and contrast.

Sunday's Mail Bag

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com


We all receive a lot of chain mail especially when people catch wind of what is most important to us.  I want to start posting some of the best I receive each week on Sunday.  So here it is, enjoy Purple Serf's - Sunday Mail Bag.  

Don't take him back!  He broke nearly every promise
he every made to you America!  He may be a good
lookin', smooth talkin' long legged mac daddy, but
you know he just playin' you!

          Consider how Barack Obama has recently lambasted fiscal conservatives for using the debt ceiling as a political bludgeon.  These are very different sentiments than he has previously espoused.  Once upon a time you would have thought President Obama was a fiscal hawk!

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.” - 

-Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006

          Once upon a time Barack Obama was a lot of things to everyone.  He promised restraint, transparency, but most of all change, yet he has proven as bellicose as the Bush administration, if not more. Barack Obama has now advanced America into Libya, Yemen, Pakistan and covertly in Iran.  We are more deeply involved in Middle Eastern politics than ever.  Obama double downed on Bush's torture gaffs and now tacitly supports extrajudicial killings of US citizens.  


          The virtual financial dictatorship of Ben Bernanke is more apparent than ever when it was shown that not only the biggest banks in America get bailed out, foreign banks were financed as well and behind our backs.  This administration is more involved even in the shadows as the growing Fast and Furious scandal attests.  Moreover, Obama has filled his cabinet with big business insiders, he has increased our nations profligate spending and he presides over unprecedented debt and persistent unemployment.  We are more than ever one nation under Washington.

New Media the Mid-Wife of 2nd American Revolution

Topher Morrison

PurpleSerf.com

Image Source: Third World Traveler

Unbiased news and objective reporting are nothing more than modern chimeras.  What is omitted is often the most important part of context.  As in the pursuit of any ideal all journalists can honestly profess is to labor on the path of infinite progress.  Claims to have accomplished an unbiased representation or a truly objective report should be viewed as dubious.  In other words:

"Truth and news are not the same thing." 

– Katharine Graham, owner of The Washington Post 

          The complexity of any event is always best understood much later after all the facts are understood.  Hindsight after all is 20/20.  All any one individual or organization can do is report the constellation of available facts as succinctly and accurately as possible.  

          Despite the groundbreaking advances in technology journalism remains a human production.  The real achievement therefore has not been increased accuracy as much as it has been an amelioration of inequality between establishment media, grassroots journalism and the social media which tie them together.

          The world of journalism is now all, but flat.  Our access to tools and information is unprecedented even when compared with that available five years ago.  The cost of that access has similarly been reduced.  Citizen journalism is on the rise, is providing a valuable supplement to traditional news organs and is unearthing a middle ground between the traditional left and right.

   

"During times of universal deceit.  Telling the truth is revolutionary."

- George Orwell

Occupy Wall St. is 3 Years Late

Topher Morrison
PurpleSerf.com


Is Occupy Wall Street a new Tea Party?  The simple answer, no.

"Eat the Greed!"
Two things are certain, neither the rich or the greedy will ever go away so what do we do from here?

          If anything else, Occupy Wall Street is unfashionably late to the protest party.  It seems frustratingly clear that this part of the occupation is merely transient.  While I don't want to gloss over the libertarian streak clearly evident in signs protesting America's wars, police abuses and bailouts, many in the Occupy Wall Street crowd have been protesting the age old vice "greed" as if it has just reared its ugly head.  In this case their protest is about as productive as protesting lust.


          To ignore that big government (a frequent target in Tea Party demonstrations) and Wall Street (the target of this protest) collude to our detriment is to sacrifice an opportunity to point a public finger in the right direction.  This is not a failure of capitalism, but of brazen corporatism!  Washington and Wall Street created this mess by appropriating and creating nearly $13 trillion of our money in order to buttress teetering financial institutions.


          Ben Bernanke, one of the architects of the 2008 bailouts, has now admitted the recovery is "close to faultering."  Evidently their plan has failed leaving us with a debased currency, stratospheric debt and intolerable unemployment.  Much of the Occupy Wall Street is a reaction to this failure, not to the cause.  The occupiers are seeking ends not a return to restraint.  They see Wall Street getting theirs and they want in.  They are concerned about unemployment, lack of benefits and Wall Street's exorbitant bonus structure not the close relationship between elected officials and CEOs.  The opprobrium being foisted on Wall Street, is justified, but many are not seeing the forrest for the trees.


          In short, much of Occupy Wall St. are 3 years late.  The real protest should have taken place in front of the Department of Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House and the FDIC.  If these elements of Occupy Wall Street are sated with more government spending in the form of free college tuition, universal health care and a living wage in the form of a Restoring the American Deal Act, watch the movement dissolve as quickly as it arose.


          There are highlights in the Occupy X movement, however.  Occupy Chicago has camped in front of the Federal Reserve for 11 days and there seems to be a mix of conservative and liberal elements.  Occupy Boston melodically chanted "fuck the Fed" to the beat of drums.

          It is possible, given these recent ancillary developments, there merely has been a strong effort by traditional organizations to re-inject themselves into relevancy before the elections.  It has been reported that labor unions have thrown their weight behind Occupy Wall Street.  Maybe it's the name Wall Street itself, which calls for the traditional left to come out and try to continue where they left off, but given the new direction and the new focus on the Federal Reserve these protests may turn out to be quite different.  Lets hope they are.

Want to know exactly who we're up against, who we should be protesting?  Click here.