1913: A Masterstroke Against Liberty

Today, it is generally understood that we have a Federal Reserve bank which creates much of the money our society uses.  It is also commonly known that we pay taxes to the IRS, mostly through direct wage garnishment and sometimes through a lump sum in April of each year.  A third tidbit of commonly accepted fact is that our money steadily loses a little bit of its value every year through inflation, and prices (and sometimes wages) rise to accommodate.  These things seem as normal to us as breathing, so most of us never stop to ask "Why?"  What if you found out that none of this is "normal?"  What if you learned the truth about the Federal Reserve, the income tax, and the abuses the dollar has seen?  What if you discovered that our money has been purposefully perverted to keep you always struggling to keep food on the table?  Would it stir you to action?  Lets find out.

It all started in 1913.  Up until that time, it was the Constitutionally enumerated power of our Congress "to coin money and regulate the value thereof" (US Constitution, Article I, Section VIII, Clause V).  Actually, since this was never amended, it is technically still the duty of Congress to do this, but they do not.  If I had to give one short opinion as to why that is, I would say "money."  Virtually everybody has a price tag, and the ones who control the money can always offer it.  Also up until that time, the American people did not have to pay a direct tax to the government.  Enough taxes were collected on import tariffs alone to fund the entire Federal government in their limited societal role.  But in 1913, everything was quietly changed.

There is nothing "federal" about the "Federal Reserve."

Despite what the name suggests, the Federal Reserve Bank is not a part of the Federal government.  They are a privately owned corporation who provides no open access to a full list of stakeholders.  The Federal Reserve Act was passed on December 23rd, 1913.  That's right: This history-changing piece of legislation was brought to a vote just before Christmas Eve, when 27 senators did not even get a vote because they were already home with their families.  It passed 43-25.  Because America abandoned the gold-backed standard to fund the Civil War in 1862, a private institution now has the limitless power to create new "Federal Reserve Notes" out of thin air.

The Income Tax is a lie.

If you were to ask an IRS official, they would tell you the IRS and income tax were authorized by the Sixteenth Amendment, which was enacted into law in February of 1913.  This amendment allowed the government to get around the part of the constitution that said "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states..." (US Constitution, Article I, Section II, Clause III).  Apportioned means that everyone pays the exact same tax, which is not how the income tax works.  There are a few things they don't want you to know:

• The Sixteenth Amendment was never properly ratified by the States
• There is not a law in existence that requires you or I to pay a direct tax on our wages to the government; no IRS official will be able to produce one for you, but they will point to the Internal Revenue Code.  However, the very text of the code states that the tax is collected through "voluntary compliance"
• Even if the Sixteenth Amendment had been properly ratified, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Amendment "...conferred no new power of taxation" (Stanton v. Baltic Mining, 1916): In other words, if you weren't taxable before the Sixteenth, you aren't taxable after it
• The definition of "Income," was given by several Supreme Court cases to mean profits or gains, not the exchange of labor for wages (Oliver v. Halstead - 1955, Lucas v. Earl - 1930, Conner v. U.S. - 1969, Edwards v. Keith - 1916, Lauderdale Cemetary Assoc v. Matthews - 1946).  For example, if you bought a stock at $20 and sold it later for $50, your taxable income would be $30
• Requiring you to file your income tax returns violates your Fifth Amendment Right not to incriminate yourself: If you make even one mistake on that form, you can be severely punished

In short: The IRS has been illegally enforcing an unconstitutional tax from the get-go.  The only reason people pay  this tax and don't ask questions is because if they don't, there's a risk of the IRS showing up at your door with a squad of heavily armed soldiers and attack dogs, then taking everything you have.  This is tyranny at its worst.  As if this wasn't bad enough, there was an independent audit launched on the IRS formally known as The Grace Commission.  The final result?  "...100 percent of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the federal debt and by federal government contributions to transfer payments. In other words, all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services [that] taxpayers expect from their government."  This audit was performed in 1982, and not one of the recommendations that came out of it was acted on.

This has not gone unnoticed.  More and more court cases are being won by people who stand up for their rights.  If you ever find yourself sitting on a jury in a tax case, keep these things in mind while the judge is trying to get you to break out your pitchfork and torch.
 
Inflation: The hidden tax.

In its original form, the Federal Reserve had power to do little more than was already done by the free market system of money (let the demand for new dollars be met with a supply by decentralized banks).  This is because the original Federal Reserve Act placed strict limits on the amount of United States Treasury bonds it could buy: No more than $25 million per year.  In 1994, this limit was declared obsolete and has not been adhered to since.  Mind you, the Federal Reserve Act was never officially amended to correct this; the limit is simply ignored, much like the ever-moving "debt ceiling."  Today, the Federal Reserve is printing $85 billion per month and using it to purchase Treasury bonds.  This runaway printing of money has had disastrous consequences on the purchasing power of the dollar.  For every new dollar that is injected into the economy, the dollars you already have become just a little bit less valuable.  The Fed has a target rate of 2% inflation.  For some reason, Ben Bernanke deems anything less as bad for the economy.

This inflation effectively steals money from you.  In fact, inflation has stolen so much of our money that if you had $100 in 1913, today you would have only $4.  Why anybody thinks this is a good thing is beyond my comprehension, especially considering wages rarely rise to compensate for this theft.

The solution to cure this sick money is very simple, yet it will probably not be acted on: We need to return to a gold and silver-backed currency.  Until we do, all we hold in our accounts are little pieces of paper that only hold value because someone with power says they do.  Of course, you can also always opt out of the fiat money system by bartering with people to get the things you need.  This can be difficult, but not impossible if you know the right people.

Unfortunately, the damage our money has suffered cannot be overstated.  It requires its own article.

"Wake up, you idiots! Whatever made you think paper was so valuable?" -Kurt Vonnegut

To Those Who Disagree...

Good!  While I want to share what I know with you, and I do want you to take action on that knowledge, the last thing I want is for you to accept what I say as fact without a single question.  I try to be as accurate as possible in the information I give you, but you should still "trust but verify."    And if you have compelling evidence that contradicts what I say, I would absolutely love to hear about it.  If you disagree, start a dialogue. That is really my ultimate goal - to start a dialogue.  I've never learned anything from someone who agrees with everything I say, and I never will.

Of course, the second-to-last thing I want is for you to read what I say, put a label on it, and walk away without thinking on it further.  My objective in writing these articles is to get the gears in your head turning.  Again, the best thing that could come of you reading what I write is the beginning of a dialogue.  Lets talk about it.  If you vehemently disagree, that's even better: Odds are, there's a good reason for it and I could learn something from you!

If you know me personally and are worried you might offend me - don't.  The only thing that offends me is the willful choice to remain ignorant; a reasonless dismissal of valid facts that are in plain view.  I am not stuck in my ways.  My opinions change with new information. If you have good information that challenges one of my views, there is a very good chance my opinion on the matter will change.  That being said: I do easily recognize propaganda and misinformation; be prepared for me to come back at you with another source - and the dialogue will have begun!  In the end, if we can't come to an agreement, I am perfectly capable of agreeing to disagree and remaining friends.

This, I feel, is one of the major problems our society now faces: People don't engage in meaningful dialogue anymore.  I understand the reason for it, but this reason is completely invalid in the light of day.  Most people think that the thoughts and beliefs they hold represent who or what they are at their core.  As such, anything that threatens those beliefs is immediately dismissed or violently attacked for fear that who they are will be somehow diminished by the new information.  This is the ego talking, and it couldn't be further from the truth.  Who and what you are is infinitely more than the level of thought, but that is a whole other article.

The bottom line is this: If you disagree with me, lets talk about it!

Gun Control

 In this day and age, comparatively few law abiding  citizens choose to carry (or even own) a firearm.  It's easy to understand why: Having a weapon is a huge responsibility that could have disastrous and tragic consequences.  It also seems likely that a constant anti-gun agenda that has been blasted out by the mainstream media has played a part: Because of what they see on a regular basis, many people believe at their core that "guns are bad."

If someone bombs a building, do we blame the bomber or the bomb?  If someone stabs a person to death, do we blame the stabber or the knife?  If a motorist runs over a pedestrian on the sidewalk, do we blame the driver or the car?  Why is it that when someone loses their mind and shoots innocent people, we blame the gun?  Something tells me that if you were to load a gun and set it out, it would not get up and start killing people of its own volition.

People do not need guns to kill other people.  If you were to look at the crime statistics on fbi.gov, you would see that more people are killed every year by hands and feet than are killed by the dreaded "assault rifle."  Far more people are stabbed to death.  In fact, if you rule out the leading diseases (many of which can be attributed to genetically modified foods and chemicals) and unintentional injuries, the number one cause of unnatural death in the country - which kills twenty to forty times as many people each year as all firearms combined - is medical malpractice.  The bottom line is this: Guns do not kill people.  People kill people.

In 2011, there were about 11,500 total deaths attributed to guns in America.  Of those, about 325 were caused by an "assault" rifle (which, incidentally, is a misused and misleading term).  This means that an "assault" weapons ban would address less than 3% of the problem.  Every single year, it is estimated that anywhere from 800,000 to 2.5 million violent crimes are prevented by the legal use of firearms.  In other words, on the lowest end of the scale, nearly one hundred times more crime is prevented every single year by law abiding citizens than the total deaths caused by guns.  The argument for an assault weapons ban is disingenuous at best.

Lets say you don't agree with any of that and you still want guns to be banned and confiscated.  Getting all the guns off the streets would clearly curb violent crime, right?  You're forgetting one self-evident fact: by their very nature, criminals do not obey laws.  If every single law abiding person were to willingly disarm themselves, we would not see a reduction in violent crime.  History and current events prove that we would see the exact opposite.  Citing the fbi.gov statistics: Over the last 20 years in America, there has been a steady increase in gun ownership and a corresponding decrease in all crime.  The United Kingdom and Australia recently banned guns and they have seen increases of up to 40% in violent crime.

If you saw a gazelle being chased down by a cheetah in the Sahara desert, you would not argue that the gazelle should have to lay down and be eaten.  The argument that the gazelle should not use its horns and hooves to fight for its life simply cannot be made.  Gun control is akin to removing the gazelle's horns and expecting the cheetah to be less likely to attack it because it is now less able to defend itself.  It is a nonsensical argument that does not stand up to even the slightest bit of logic.

Gun Free zones are another example of how laws do not deter criminals.  On the day 26 innocent people were killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School, the shooter broke 41 different laws.  How would passing another law prevent this type of thing from happening?  Obviously, the shooter had no regard for the laws already on the books; what would breaking one more be to him?  What do you think would have happened that day if every single teacher in the school had been carrying a concealed weapon?  All mass shootings in recent history have happened in these "Criminal-Safe" zones.  Instituting a gun free zone is like advertising to a psychopath that there are fish in a barrel inside, just waiting to be terrorized.

Lets say that you still don't buy any of it.  Guns are still bad and you don't like them.  Okay, that's fine - don't own one.  But don't try to tell me that just because you don't want a gun, I can't have one either.  I don't tell you you're not allowed to have that Obama-Biden sticker on your car, do I?

Another issue to consider is the intent behind the Second Amendment.  This law was created at a time when severe government oppression from England prevented the colonists from so much as defending themselves against said oppression.  The Framers of the Constitution created this law so that a corrupt government would never again have a monopoly of power.  The Second Amendment exists as a last line of defense against an out-of-control government, which is exactly what we have today [1][2][3].

Even if you don't see where we are headed right now, you need only look at the history of gun control in the 20th century to understand why it's a bad idea to leave the monopoly of violence in the hands of a corruptible few:

Soviet Union: 1929 - 20 million dissidents exterminated
Turkey: 1915 - 1.5 million Armenians exterminated
Germany: 1938 - 13 million Jews (and others) exterminated
China: 1935 - 20 million dissidents exterminated
Uganda: 1970 - 300,000 Christians exterminated
Cambodia: 1956 - 1 million exterminated
20th Century Post-Gun Control deaths: 55,800,000

I'll leave you with this: Which sign would you rather a criminal see when considering entering your space?



















"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." - Mao Zedong

The American Dream

The American Dream was a concept I was taught as a child. I was told that America was the land of opportunities where anyone could pull themselves up by the boot straps and obtain the All American Lifestyle - great job, new car, marriage, a house and of course 2.5 perfect children. Well I am sorry to tell those of you who have not realized it yet, but the American Dream..... IT IS DEAD.

Currently the National Unemployment Statistic for June states that 7.6 percent of the population in our country is unemployed. 36.7 percent of those counted in that 7.6 percent have been looking for a job for more then 27 weeks. That is an average of 6 months of unemployment. Of course these numbers are only referring to people who are currently searching for employment and are getting state benefits. The Real number of unemployed, which includes those who have exhausted their search and who have had to settle for part time odd jobs, is 14.3 percent, and in June that number when up another 0.5 percent. That number does not count those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and those who have given up the search for employment entirely.  Because of the method used to calculate unemployment today, when someone's benefits run out, the unemployment rate actually goes down. The Labor Force Participation Rate for our country in June was 63.5 percent, which is all eligible citizens of working age who are working or looking for work. I am sorry but in school a 63.5 is a D- and I feel that is a suitable grade to give our current Administration.

Unemployment is one of the leading causes of the destruction of our nation. If we cannot work, we cannot pay our bills. Therefore no new cars, no house payments, no food, no consumer products and the list goes on and on. No chance of obtaining that pretty American Dream.

Am I one of these people? Absolutely - but I am not counted in that statistic since I am not receiving any unemployment benefits. I am one of the lucky few who is married to someone with a job and we just moved to a place where we can actually afford to live on one persons salary, which is crazy I know. However that does not make me immune to the hardships of finding employment.

I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. I was told my whole life to "get an education and you will go far." I not only received my Bachelor's Degree but I went on to obtain my Master's Degree as well. At the time I was thinking these student loans were a Godsend, and with my fancy education I could go on to get my fancy job to pay them off. Well obviously that has not happened. So I am sitting here with a mountain of growing educational debt and an education that is doing absolutely nothing for me. I apply for jobs and they tell me I have too little actual work experience or I have a Master's Degree and am over qualified. Could I have selected a more important degree? Sure, but currently I do not think it matters what experience you have.  Who you know is more important. The opportunities are so few and far between it's ridiculous - we have middle age Americans working at McDonalds and Wal-Mart so they can make ends meet. Currently 284,000 college graduates, including 37,000 Advanced Degree Graduates, have had to take a minimum wage job in order to pay their bills. What the hell has happened to our county?

Well as I sit here and vent my frustrations for all of you to read, I have decided I am not just going to be sitting around here hoping someone will throw me some scraps. On top of continuing my employment search I am going to be researching all that I can on how I can change these policies that are taking jobs out of America and creating strain on employers, who then in turn are not hiring more staff. While I am at it I will find out who I can be talking to about my concerns for our country. I strongly believe everyone who is currently unemployed should be doing the same thing. If I cannot find employment then I will be damn sure to make our politicians work for theirs!!!

Monsanto: A Corrupting Corporation at its Finest

Because of the phenomenally successful March Against Monsanto, almost all rank-and-file citizens in the country now at least know the term "GMO" and the name "Monsanto."  If you don't know what a GMO is and the risks they pose, check out my other article, You Are What You Eat.  What you may not be aware of is the lengths to which Monsanto has gone in order to seize control of both our democratic process and the global food supply.

Monsanto is an agricultural corporation that got its start by producing chemicals like the infamous and horrendous Agent Orange (which was used as a biological weapon in the Vietnam war and is still killing people today) and the pervasive Roundup weed killer.  As I had mentioned previously, Roundup itself has been directly linked to diabetes, autism, obesity, heart disease, cancer and more.

Monsanto is an organization that has proven, time and time again, that their corporate profits are far more important than trivial issues like the sanctity of human life and the health of the planet.  Here are a few quotes that demonstrate this in a nutshell:

"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food...Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible.  Assuring its safety is the FDA's job."  -Phil Angell, Monsanto director of corporate communications

"Ultimately, it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety." -FDA

"The hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded [with GMOs] that there's nothing you can do about it.  You just sort of surrender." -Don Westfall, biotech industry consultant

"If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it." - Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Co., a subsidiary of Monsanto

Look, we all want to make money.  I get it.  But genetically modified crops are largely untested for potential long-term consequences. Even the New York times is attacking Monsanto's "science" on GMO safety as a fraud.  More studies are regularly surfacing that prove GM foods cause cancer, massive organ failures, grotesque tumors, and early death.  Scientists who formerly spoke in favor of genetic modification have switched stances.  Thierry Vrain, a scientist whose job it was to reassure public groups that GM foods were safe now says "… I refute the claims of the biotechnology companies that their engineered crops yield more, that they require less pesticide applications, that they have no impact on the environment and of course that they are safe to eat."

Genetically modified foods can be summed up with one simple word: Poison.

With the legitimacy of GM foods up in the air, you would think that at the very least, there would be mandates in place that would require labeling of any food with genetically modified material in it.  Without labeling, the entire populace becomes unwitting lab rats in a massive GM experiment.  What you might be interested to learn is that not only is labeling not mandated anywhere in the United States, but also our own government officials have passed legislation critics call the Monsanto Protection Act.  In a nutshell, this legislation means that even if GM foods are found to be dangerously unsafe, production and distribution of the "food" cannot be halted by law.  This piece of legislation was quietly attached to the budget deal that was passed in March of this year.

Everything you have read so far demonstrates the symptoms of blatant systemic corruption in our government.  To the right is a list of 18 Monsanto personnel and their corresponding appointed positions in our government.  This is not acceptable.  This is something We the People must work to correct.

For the best advice on how to get involved, see my article "Fear nothing. Question everything. Stand up for your rights."  In this case, getting involved with or at least informed on the March Against Monsanto (linked above) is also a great start.  Beyond that: Talk to your friends and family.  Educate a complete stranger.  Attend and speak up at your local City Council meetings.  Write your representatives in government.  Make your voice heard.  You cannot count on your elected representatives to make this right on their own.  It's up to us.

“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.” -Henry Kissinger

A Message to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D - California)

You can send Senator Feinstein a message of your own at https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me.

Dear Senator Feinstein,

I've seen you officially denouncing Edward Snowden as having "violated his Oath to defend the Constitution."  Can you please explain how you can credibly make claims about any other person violating this Oath?  Isn't this the same Oath you took when you were sworn into office?  Yet you have done everything you can to completely void the 2nd and 4th Amendments to the Constitution, not to even mention your support of grossly unconstitutional legislation like Obamacare.  To use your own words: "Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in!" and "It's called protecting America."

There are a few things I'm not sure you understand.  Firstly, when you swore your Oath to defend, protect, and preserve the Constitution of the United States of America, this did not mean you got to pick and choose which parts you liked and which you wanted to sweep under the rug.  This meant you swore to defend, protect, and preserve every single part of it.  Secondly, subjecting all Americans to an unprecedented spy state and regularly violating our 4th Amendment Rights is doing anything but "protecting" us.  Thirdly, in regard to your stance on "Mr. and Mrs. America," the hypocrisy of your efforts is blatant and offensive.  It is yet another issue in which you have zero credibility; how is it that you can have your own permit to carry a concealed weapon and a repertoire of armed security personnel, but you would deny this Constitutionally guaranteed right to those you clearly view as your subjects?

Ma'am, If anyone here has violated an oath, it is you.

I feel I must add: I am happy I no longer count myself among your Californian constituents.  Unfortunately, the efforts you continue to make in government still have a negative impact on me.

The moral of my message to you today is this: We the People see you for what you are.  We the People will no longer be subjected to your particular brand of tyranny.  We the People have had enough, and our voices will be heard.

Good day to you,

Jordan Suwinski

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Fear nothing. Question everything. Stand up for your rights.

Before we get into Monsanto (which will probably be another long one), it is important for you to know what you can do to get involved and effect real change here and now.  It comes down to these three things: Fear nothing, question everything, and stand up for your rights.  It is with these principles in mind that you should take action.

Fear Nothing.

One of the biggest dysfunctions that plague us as humans is our fear.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of failure.  Fear of rejection.  Fear of other people.  Fear of losing our job.  Fear of stepping on the wrong toes.  Because we are afraid, we often take actions that are detrimental to ourselves or others, or fail to take action that could have positive impacts on our lives and the world around us.  The biggest reason most people are not more active when it comes to our government's stripping away of our freedoms is because they're afraid.  They're afraid that if they speak up, they'll be locked away in Guantanamo Bay and indefinitely detained without a trial (which is a whole other article).  Allowing this fear to overcome you is exactly how you lose the fight before it even begins.  They want you to be afraid.  They want you to believe you have no allies.  They want you to believe you have no hope.  They want you to believe you cannot stop them.  Don't believe their lies.  Together, We the People are infinitely stronger than any mega corporation or corrupt government entity would ever admit.  The most important thing to remember about fear is this: Fear is your mind creating situations that do not and may not ever exist.  Fear is a choice.

Question Everything.

The mainstream media is notorious for presenting you with information that ranges from misleading to outright lies.  While occasional beads of relevant truths do make an appearance, the vast majority of mainstream media broadcasts are pure propaganda.  Rather than thinking for themselves, so many people rely on the media to tell them what to get outraged about.  Why is it that the shooting death of 26 innocent people at Sandy Hook causes mass hysteria and outrage, but the more than 300 children killed by Obama's unconstitutional drone strikes overseas isn't even considered?  Why is it that the Zimmerman trial gets plastered on every major news network, but a case of 3 black men killing a white waitress for her tip money is not even mentioned beyond the local level?  Right this moment, why is it that thousands of people are gathering in protest of a logical outcome to a murder trial, but they won't rally together to stand against being poisoned or having their rights stripped?  The mainstream media exists to keep We the People divided and fighting amongst ourselves over petty differences.  They are there to distract you from topics of real value to you, such as the way your government views and treats you, the foods you eat, and the real state of your nation.  Stop being distracted.  Start thinking for yourself.  Start asking questions.

Stand Up For Your Rights.

The supreme law of the land is the US Constitution.  One thing that is guaranteed by the Constitution in the Bill of Rights is your right to privacy: A figure of authority cannot just arbitrarily search your personal property without a warrant, which requires probable cause.  Yet every day, there are unconstitutional checkpoints put up along the freeways in our country where everyone's car is searched for no other reason than they were driving on that particular road.  This is illegal, but the vast majority of people don't stand up for their right to privacy because they're afraid.  This is only one of thousands of examples.  We the People must resist tyranny at every level, no matter where it rears its ugly head.  If your employer tries to disallow you from serving jury duty because they "can't afford to have you out," don't stand for this.  Not only is serving on a jury the most sacred duty of a rank-and-file citizen to maintain a functional and free Republic, but it is also against the law for your employer to stop you.  Don't let figures of authority break the law because you're afraid of what they might do to you for standing up to them.  “The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.” -Adolf Hitler

Keep these things in mind as you go forward.  But where should you start?  You can effect the most change locally.  The best place to start is with your friends and family.  Educate at least one complete stranger every day.  Start attending your local city council meetings.  Volunteer for a local public service position, or even run for your city council.  Write or call your representatives in government.  Most importantly, reach out to people in the police and military.  Remind them they took an Oath to defend the Constitution and Freedom, not blindly follow orders that violate this Oath.  Make your voice heard.  The biggest lie the people have been led to accept is the idea that your one lone voice will never be enough to make a difference.  Quite the contrary - yours is the only voice that can make a difference.  If you do not make yourself heard, nothing will ever change.

The cause of Liberty is starting to win out, and it is up to you to carry the torch across the finish line.

"Beyond fear lies freedom."