The pin/chip EBT scam - corruption beyond repair

Obama's recent executive order to have your tax dollars pay for Citi-Bank's upgrade of their credit-card system is almost as bad as TARP yet was not covered by mainstream media in the least.

I just learned about this atrocity from the No Agenda Show.  You can hear the appropriate part by downloading the show and going to the 1:20:36 time-point. (till 1:32:46 = 12 minutes 10 seconds long)
In summary here's what happened:
Obama just signed an executive order to have the US Treasury make a plan to upgrade our EBT credit card system to use chips as is now used in Europe. (cost - way more than the annual cost of credit card fraud).  What this order does is:

• Update all government EBT credit card terminals to use the upgraded system.
• Replace EBT procedures to use the newer cards
• Transfer cracked credentials to the government
• Create the Buy Secure initiative.
• Ensure federal investigators can report stolen credentials with other companies (Home Depot, Walmart etc.)
• Support credit score transparency via Citi Bank credit cards

Ok so here is what this means:

The Government, who decided to utilize a credit card system to support their welfare EBT funds disbursement, is now footing the bill to upgrade this insecure system on behalf of the private company (Citi Bank) that owns the newer technology and at the same time is giving itself and other companies access to YOUR CREDIT CARD CREDENTIALS (passwords/pins).  

Normally, when a company creates a system that is BROKEN (as our current credit card system is - proven by all the identity theft going on) it is liable for its mistakes and must foot the bill both for the cost of its mistakes and for its correction.  This is the natural free-enterprise way that goods and service quality is maintained - do it right, or go out of business and let the competition do it right.
So what this accomplishes is it:

• Removes responsibility for identity theft from the private corporations that made it so easy to do.
• Pays for the fix by the most inefficient means (government funding).
• Charges the taxpayer for this.
• Breaches security further by sharing credentials with the government and other corporations.
• Adds more regulations and forces you to adhere to new security standards enforced by law. 

What is more, this is being done by Executive Order which is inherently unconstitutional and was created by Lincoln in time of war for an emergency.
What is more is that the media covered Obama's jokes but nothing about what he was signing.

Send a link of this article to your congressman and urge him to not only rescind this executive order (Congress only has 30 days to do so or it becomes law) and in fact to rescind the whole Executive Order process.  This president is dismantling our freedoms and security with it daily and is charging you for it.

The more power you give government, the more special interests can use that power to their advantage.

Unbelievable.  What a rip off!

The Venus Project Reviewed

This is a review of a video I recently watched on YouTube located here.

Ah, another Utopian dream by another socialist dreamer.
I hope the next generation watching this recognizes that this idea is marxism with a face-lift.  Even though they say it isn't communism, it is.
Here is their line of thinking in a nut-shell:
If only we could make people be nice.  Obviously people are greedy because they don't have what they want.  People are mean because they aren't directed in the right directions and taught the right ideas.  With proper management based on resources, we can supply all the needs of everyone and once everyone is happy, a new and cool world emerges.
Oh its just so technical and complex, just leave the details to your controllers and sit back and relax as we engineer the perfect world for you.  No money.  No property.  Just managed bliss.
This can't work because people are inherently evil - which every humanist never recognizes.
What is needed to solve our problems is, at the root, a justice system that works.  My jury driven idea I think has a good chance of creating a self-governing society by forcing people to be responsible not only for their own lives but for the management of society.
Juries supply hard-to-corrupt justice based on their common sense, not a set of rules designed by utopian legislators.  Juries also allow for mercy.
In addition, property ownership should be absolute and allodial (non taxable) for individuals and fee-simple for corporations.  Property inheritance needs to be honored as sacred.  The problem isn't private property, but lack of full control of our property along with full responsibility for what we do with our property.  By having this kind of property ownership in place, it becomes more profitable for people to preserve their land instead of exploiting it.  This alone would help sustain the earth the way the utopians envision far better than any centrally managed system could.
Imagine how much corruption could be removed if a jury could be called by anyone against anyone at any time for the cheap cost of generating a jury and emailing them the complaint.  The Jury would hold both parties accountable and the jury itself could be held accountable to another jury should its decision be found unreasonable.  Jury decisions become final so there is no time wasted in an appeal process.  Outlawry is the ultimate punishment, banishing a non-compliant citizen to an existence without any social defense.
A massive and evil corporation could be dismantled over night by just 12 jurors while a poor little old lady could prosecute a burglar with a simple and inexpensive virtual jury trial.
Of course true religion and good morals would have to preside - but I think that would become a pretty natural outcome of an unencumbered jury system.

The Nature and Validity of Testimony

I wanted to start a medical blog today but then I realized how closely religion, law and medicine are linked. It's interesting to note that these three areas are where the priest-craft of governments tend to control.
  
The issue I wanted to address in my medical blog was the validity of human testimony in finding truth.  This is so closely tied to law that I felt it probably more appropriately goes here.

Testimony is so valid a path to truth that God gave us three testaments. The old (revealed by prophetic revelation), the new (revealed by the living Word of God), and creation (made by the will of God).  Within creation is both the scientific testimony of nature, and the temporal testimony of man, another creation of God, which we call His-tory.  

Without history the collective power of man would be crippled through time.  Each generation would start from scratch and no progress could be made.  When one learns history, one must decide which stories to believe because all history is biased by the testator.  It is thus in the multitude of historical testimonies that truth of the past is established and then can be used to build upon for future testimony.  If men follow a false testament, they decline rather than prosper.

The testimony of men is validated in the word of God:

Deutronomy 19:15: One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

The AMA and the FDA do not accept direct human testimony as a path to finding medical truth. This type of evidence is called anecdotal and is considered unadmissible in any medical research.  This is because of the placebo effect - ie: faith healing.

The current medical establishment's thinking is derived from humanism, the worship of man as a god.  This is done via that veil of human reason which is the collective image used to worship himself.

God calls man to not worship idols.  An Idol is anything created that is held in esteem as equal to the creator. When a man makes an idol, either physical or mental, and worship's it (ie gives it the respect due to the final authority - the creator) he is really worshiping himself or a false God such as the laws of nature.  Man is never to worship any created thing, only the creator.

When the AMA rejects direct human testimony as valid evidence of medical truth, it rejects the evidence of the supernatural which can only be discovered by personal experience or by human testimony.  

This is the consistent pattern of humanism, whether it be in science, medicine or law.  Humanistic reason demands the scholastic approval of a system of evidence based on proven techniques of reason applied to the material world only.  Thus medical research requires double-blind studies to be accepted as truth while the testimonies of individuals, no matter how many, are considered invalid.

This scholastic approach to truth holds the collective approval and the scientific method above any evidence of the supernatural.

To suppress anecdotal evidence rejects both history and the biblical testaments because the testimony of others is the only way we can see this evidence unless we experience the supernatural personally.

I am not saying that the witness of a single individual is valid.  Nor am I saying that the opinion of the majority is valid.  Humanism accepts both of these as determinators of truth which neither is.  For Example, when an emperor declares himself God, this is humanism using the witness of a single powerful individual as the measure of truth.  The same happens when a majority votes for an unqualified candidate for office and nullifies the law by mass opinion.

On the other hand, the testimony of two or three witnesses is a valid source of evidence if they agree and are not bearing false witness.  

The opinion of a majority is too tainted by the intimidation of mob thinking.  (Notice that a majority is greater than 3 as soon as the group size reaches the magic number 7).  It is the same influence that causes winners to win elections over properly qualified candidates that do not enjoy the support of the media, the establishment or some other idol of the majority thinking.

Double-blind studies and other techniques of the scientific method are not being rejected here.  It is their status of exclusivity over personal testimony that I object to.  When only these types of evidence are accepted, over time, via peer review and publication, they begin to establish a testimony of truth that can deviate from the whole truth because the exclusion of the supernatural.  The scientific method of peer-review can also be adversely affected by funding and other influences of majority-rule thinking that can over time lead to gross error being propagated as absolute truth.

Thus today we find most people initially using alopathic approaches to curing diseases that result in horrible statistics of failure.  This is preferred by most people over the naturopathic approaches because it is perceived that the majority support the alopathic approach.  This perception is created by the institutionalized nature of peer-review and scientific processes that mistakenly accept only mechanistic approaches to reality.  Meanwhile the true testimony of thousands of people cured by means not approved by the FDA ring in the blog-sphere.

I believe we are close to a revolution in thought.  One that will leave the humanistic rationalists in the dust.

Irish Anarchy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8oJsoliw0&feature=youtu.be

A friend of mine posted this link on facebook and asked for my feedback.
Well, this is awesome.  Apparently Ireland gives us a historical example of how to operate without a lot of government interference. The ideas expressed in this video match those I have expressed in this blog many times and fits well with my Micro Republic idea.  (I have GOT to get that site written!)
Anyway, the idea is that outlawry provides a very good enforcement mechanism for most cases and klans and guilds form the social nexus out of which spontaneous and efficient justice can be done.  In today's time, I think Micro Republics could server a similar role.
The only weakness I can see in the libertarian anarchy movement is that they lack the sense our founders had in realizing that self government can only work with a moral populace and those morals need to be based on God's laws - the ones that work.

Taking out the Trash

A word for the men at my church in the Cayman Islands

When I first came to the Bahamas, and to a lesser extent, the Cayman Islands, and looked at the streets and beaches, I noticed something.  It saddened me.  It was trash.  Trash on the street, trash on the beaches, trash in people's yards, everywhere.  Trash is a reproach to any people and it is a sign of the health of a culture.  Cayman is probably one of the cleanest of the Carribbean countries so its not something that is exceptional to Cayman - its just a sign of the health of a culture.
Men are the drivers of culture.

The nations are ruled by governments.  The governments are influenced by the culture.  The culture is influenced by entertainment, the media, the educational system and the Church.  The Church is the only institution with the spirit of God poured out to empower it to bring the culture in line with Gods will.  The other sources of cultural formation are usually under the control of the prince of this world.  They generally constitute the enemy.

The churches are influenced by their leaders and of key importance are the men.  I think men in general don't realize the power and influence they wield.

Don't get me wrong, women have their place in leadership and in church service, but the men are the rock upon which the church gets its metal to function in a confused and suffering world.  Men are the structure of the church. Women can dress it, nurture it, love on visitors and each other, beautify it, worship God in all manner of talents and wonderful gifts, but men hold it together. Men hold the walls up and the foundations.  Without the bones, the muscles and skin have little to contribute.

Women are very powerful but it says in Genesis 3:16 that the woman's "desire shall be for her husband and he will rule over her".

What does this mean?  Now that I have been married for a few years, I think it means that she needs security and a covering and so will marry a man to obtain it.  She wants you men to be there.  To be present, mindful, listening, understanding and overall to rule over her so she can feel safe.  Not a harsh overbearing rulership, but like Christ, a servant ruler with strength, truth, honor, and wisdom.
This is why, when I see men not leading in the Church generally, I always see the culture sliding in the wrong direction.

This is because when women don't have leadership and don't feel safe, they will take responsibility and leadership to get that safety.  They know when there is a void in leadership and they will correct it any way they can to feel secure.  This is also just plain natural.  A woman likes to lead and men like to follow - that is our natural fleshly tendency (recall Adam and Eve) but it is not what we are called to.

This does not mean that women should be prevented from leading.  It means the men aren't leading or doing it right.   All aspects of the church need men there, behind the scenes and standing out in front as well.
Supporting your pastor.

You have an incredible pastor here.  He runs circles around me and truly leads as a servant.  Like Moses, holding up his hands during the battle, this man needs your help.  He needs your participation and your presence.  Imagine the stress that comes with responsibility.  It is much easier to support your pastor than to have to replace him.  When I get weary of helping at church, I think of what it would be like to be our pastor.  Then I am thankful for the light task I have.

Many pastors these days have so much to worry about.  They need the numbers so that the offerings are sufficient to pay the bills.  To get these numbers the church works overtime entertaining its members when it needs to be teaching and preaching them to repentance and good works.  Sermons get compromised and the leaders become fearful.

The pastor is your lead elder who is commissioned to glean the will of God from the word and from prayer and to give it to the congregation.  To do this he needs men to stand by him no matter what.  He needs men that will lay down their lives for the church and for him if necessary.  This is how it was for the early church that was under heavy persecution.  Leadership had such a great cost, but the men took the mantle and marched on.

When the Word of God is truly preached, tears flow, knees knock, and men fall on their faces in shame and fear because the Lord God has spoken and called for repentance.

You men are the gates through which Satan must pass to reach your wives, children, grand-children and older parents.  You, not the police.  You, not the school system.  You, not some neighborhood watch guy.

So what does a man do? 
He stands.  He serves.  He walks with his children and teaches them when he rises, walks and goes to bed. (Deut 6:7) He occupies and sits present with his family and community.

He basically takes out the trash.

Men take out the trash at home and at work.  And their chief job when employed as a civil servant in government is to take out the trash as well.

Look what it says in Romans 13:For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.

The trash of society is taken out by government or at least it should be.

But look what we see happening.  The government is now our father, protector and provider.  It is "public safety" that dominates its reasons for existence.  It is "crime prevention" that fills its thoughts.  It is "public education" seen as its way to a better future.

I was reading in the Cayman Compass the other day some statements from the independent candidates.  All of them said the same thing - public safety, security, prosperity and education.

Men, when you see governments doing this you can see that the men are  not taking leadership at home.   They are not protecting their wives and ruling with truth and love and teaching their children.  Fear is gripping the women and they are voting in these surrogate fathers and husbands for their protection.  Men are not doing the job. It's not like this happened over night.  It took several generations of sin and error to get us here.

The real solution lies in men listening to God and doing His will regardless of pain, cost or embarrasment.

Take of the mantle of father-hood and husband-hood.  Love your wives in thought, word and deed. Teach your children well and personally.  Guard your families physically, intellectually and spiritually at all times.  Don't let women or government do your job for you.  Be vigilant and do not grow weary for when this short life is over, God will have judgement to pass on what you did and how you stood.  Let us all hear "well done good and faithful servant" when that time comes.



Acountability for all

As I continue to work though "The Excellence of the Common Law" by Brent Winters, I continually realize how the ideas of the common law holds all parties accountable.  I just love the jury - man what a genius solution to power concentration.
What we need, I think, are super-juries.  Nothing really new, just back to what they were supposed to be.  Totally selected by lot from the local area.  No voir dire crap!  You get what get's picked unless a juror recuses himself.
The Jury judges the facts, the law, the defense, the prosecution AND the judge!
If a Jury finds a law or part of a law vague, inconsistent or unconstitutional it gets marked up and if, say 65% of juries that judge a law find problems with it - it gets automatically repealed/nullified!
And if a congressman is found to have voted for a nullified law there are CONSEQUENCES!  Not sure what, but another jury could decide on that.
If a prosecutor brings a suit the jury considers frivolous or harassing, sentence the prosecution!
If the judge didn't behave fairly and demonstrated prejudice against either party or against the jury - lay it on him!
Since the jury is only limited to the case at hand, let them be GOD I say!


Of course we have one problem - the public school system and the media have so polluted the jury pool with nonsensical ideas, it makes it hard to correct things.
But I think the fix is to call juries for EVERYTHING!  The average citizen having to do jury duty 2-3 times a year will quickly learn what rules of evidence and truth and mercy are and will quickly de-pollute themselves.


Anyway, that's my rant today and I'm sticking with it!

An open letter to my congressman

Congressman Raul Labrador is my representative and over-all I cannot complain.  I like the guy and as far as politicians go, this one is pretty good.
One thing I like about Raul is that he frequently sends out emails on what he is up to, and whether or not I like what he does, him telling me what he is up to is a necessary and good thing for him to do.
Here's a sample of the first paragraph of his latest letter, which I am responding to here:

This week, the House took action to ensure that President Obama does not ignore his Constitutional duties and abuse his power.  I joined a majority of my colleagues in voting for H.R. 4138, the Executive Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enactments of the Law (ENFORCE the Law) Act.  This bill would grant the House or Senate the authority to file a lawsuit against the executive branch for failure to faithfully execute the laws.  I am a cosponsor of this bill. 

I appreciate my representative watching the executive and making sure he doesn't abuse his power or neglect his duties.  However....
Congress is probably the most out-of-line branch of our federal government and has been for the longest time.

Top 3 things Congress should correct

1. Repeal the Executive Order power granted to Lincoln by Congress in the 1860s.  After all, the Constitution says "Congress shall make all laws" and "all" usually means ALL!  Delegating this power is a clear and simple violation of the separation of powers (go talk to Feinstein about that one!) 
2. Repeal the Federal Reserve Act and the Income Tax as both are clearly unconstitutional and VERY damaging to our economy.
3. Repeal the FDR New Deal agencies (and all agencies created since) as this allows congress to essentially mess with the executive branch besides the point of diluting their control of law and overstepping Federal jurisdiction (see the 10th amendment).

There are, of course, lots more congress could do, but I think these three alone would save this nation from certain doom.

Congress isn't there to pass legislation created by lobbyists paid for my special interests to meddle in every little problem that might be brought before them.  Congress' main job is to perfect the law.  That is, create the smallest amount of law with the least amount of contradictions in the clearest possible form so that even a simple juror can easily apply and judge the law and every American can understand it and easily read it in its entirety in a single lifetime.

So why am I writing this in an open letter on my blog?  

Because I have one more gripe.

The way our congress sets up its web forms for communication with the people is stupid.  

1. They do not remember my contact information.
2. They unnecessarily require me to give them a 10 digit zip code.
3. They do not give out an email address with which I can communicate with them easily once my identity and appropriate status is confirmed.  Doing this allows back-and-forth communication much more easily.

With all the cyber-crap the federal government is doing, why can't they put some resources to improve representative/elector communication?  (A: Because they don't want to!) It is very clear even congress doesn't want too much transparency.

Nuff Said for now.

Sandy