Then they came for the Bloggers...

It would seem the last bastion of free speech is once again up for legislation. I found an article in the Guardian (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/nov/17/peta-buscombe-pcc) discussing the link below from The Independent and I reflected on the attempts, yet again, to muffle the sounds of a free people through the force of a policy.

http://ianburrell.independentminds.livejournal.com/8357.html

There is a slight bit more in the links but the jist of it is as follows:

Baroness Buscombe, the new chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, has ambitions for her organisation that go beyond the traditional newspaper companies.

"She wants to examine the possibility that the PCC's role should be extended to cover the blogosphere, which is becoming an increasing source of breaking news and boasts some of the media's highest-profile commentators, such as the political bloggers Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes."

My reply... I don't think so.

How much more????

In a BBC report the original cost of £373 million for the 2014 games has just been raised to £454 million! That's an increase of 22%. We are being lead to believe by Alex Salmond that this is not that great and can be absorbed by the tax payers. Really? And will you be discussing this whilst out meeting with the head of the E.U. bank (possibly cap in hand)?

Is there anyone in the Scottish parliament looking at the red demand notices piling up on the government's door? Readers should understand that the government has no money. It either creates it out of thin air by means of bonds entered into with banks (at interest), borrows money from other countries (at either interest or the more worry reality of selling off the family jewels or other assets) or goes to the lender of last resort. Who is that again???

I received this video going around from TPA (Tax Payers Alliance) and notice its on many like-minded blogs. It sheds some light on yet another bill the work to pay off. If this isn't bad enough, might I remind the readers of one of the plans presented recently by Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy.



When governments are linked to cartels that can produce money out of thin air then the cartels influence governments and governments are at the behest of a few. When monetary policy, directly or indirectly, is influenced in such a way then the original agreements we make with our employers means nothing as the value of the pieces of paper we receive will fluctuate like the flame of a candle in a breeze. At some point this fluctuation may put the lights out.

Something to think about. And another thing. Word of advice... when you see so many commercials and shops opening up telling you to sell that unwanted gold do the complete reverse!

Update:

BBC Radio Scotland discussed this topic this morning and included the icing on the cake. It is proposed that it be aired on the BBC! It is still possible that this will be given up to a free market system, such that companies invest monies for commercial slots with the hope that the advertisements will increase sales paying for the costs both ways. So if the amounts above didn't make your wallets and purses feel a whole lot lighter you could now add the cost of the broadcasting!

What does the E.U. cost you?

Recently the BBC reported about the Common Fisheries Policy and the impact on not only fishing but also the costs involved. This is but one of many effecting trade and commerce, free trade markets and the consumer alike! With so many of the E.U. commission's policies effecting our lives directly and indirectly I'm looking for a running list.

TPA or the Tax Payers Alliance produced a video with regards to this subject and highlights some rather frightening results. Equally, they are promoting a book called Ten Years On Britain without the European Union. The video is well worth the look.

So get writing and let's see if the £2,000 per year per person is on the mark or maybe a little conservative!

What would you have done?

Read this in the main LPUK forum, Facebook and the fuller article can be found at here.

Although this occurred in England it does merit debate and question. An ex-serviceman finds a black bin bag containing a shorn-off shotgun with two cartridges and hands said find into the police only to now be faced with 5 years imprisonment. It should be noted that presently the law states that the possession or handling of a said firearm was made a strict liability offence with a minimum penalty of five years imprisonment by amendments to section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968 contained in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. We could consider the what if's but the question, quite simply, is what would you have done?

Frank Turner coming to Edinburgh

Chris Mounsey, of The Devil's Kitchen and communications officer of LPUK let me know about the following:


On Thursday night Chris was invited to go and see Frank Turner—a folk rock musician who was rather excellent (the song "Sons of Liberty / Fight, fight for your rights / Fight for your homes" was particularly enjoyable).

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/frankturner
Website: http://www.frank-turner.com/

He had invited Chris because he is a fan of The Kitchen—however, he also wanted to promote LPUK (and will be touring throughout the UK including Edinburgh).

Now he would like to promote LPUK (and the different regions!)—we would feature on all of the posters, publicity, etc. (and they will be 2,000 to 3,000 seater venues: he sold out Shepherd's Bush two months before he played there).

He's a very sound chap, about 5 years younger than Chris and another Old Etonian (coincidentally). Chris and Frank had a good chat at the after-show party.

Further to the email about Frank Turner, Chris received this from the man himself...

+++++++++

hey chris
thanks for the write up, muchly enjoyed. anyways. touring. the dates are:
* 15th March @ Northumbria University, Newcastle (1500)
* 16th March @ The Picture House, Edinburgh (1500)
* 17th March @ Academy 1, Manchester (2500)
* 18th March @ Academy 1, Leeds (2400)
* 19th March @ Academy 1, Bristol (1900)
* 22nd March @ The Waterfront, Norwich (1000)
* 23rd March @ The Pyramids, Portsmouth (1200)
* 24th March @ The Roundhouse, London (2800)
big tour. and it's selling really well already, which is nice.
ft

+++++++

Check out the websites and pickup some tickets before they're all gone!

BBC confuses true free market capitalism with corporatism

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/8347409.stm

James Robins, diplomatic correspondent, reported on Monday that the Free Market was flawed. Reflecting on 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall Mr. Robbins perpetuated the idea of the free market being flawed with the help of a global poll carried out by BBC World Service. In it only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said it was working.

What shocked me the most was the following line:

"Most thought regulation and reform of the capitalist system were necessary." Could this statement be down to the fact that the reporter, admittedly noted as a diplomatic correspondent, knows precious little of what a true free market system is or looks like? Could this instead be an attempt to divert the real issues of government intervention into capitalism and the effects it has not only on the system itself but those end users?

When reinforcing his beliefs he notes that a main factor in some of these poll results he believes comes from "heavy blows from the past 12 months of financial and economic crisis."

The irony I found in this article was that of those polled "only two countries. the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands." The irony there is that in America the free market system is far from true with both government and centralized banking (the FED) intervention.

When a people loose sight of questioning they are prone to accepting information provided as facts. If people are told that what is in place is a true unfettered free market and can be equated to capitalism then of course they will will label the successes, or in this case failures, of a system that does not work with the label provided.



Steve

[Edit]

I've noticed Llewellyn "Lew" Rockwell has made contributions on the subject that can be found here and echoed on his personal site here.

In his comments rather than refute the fallacy of the interpretation of the term free market Lew remarks as to The Triumph of Socialism. As an avid reader and supporter of both Ludwig Von Mises Institute and Lew Rockwell (but having been busier than usual so missing these beforehand) might I suggest readers consider his words? Further to this, he references a reposting of Murray Rothbard work that appeared in the Continuum, which can be read here or here.

Chris Mounsey LPUK At Libertarian Alliance

LAConf09, Chris Mounsey: "The UK Libertarian Party" from Sean Gabb on Vimeo.

Johnson: we need a debate on migration

Mr. Johnson, in an interview with The Independent, stated that it was time for a debate on the immigration policy.

[Extract from the article]
-
Mr Johnson's message is that "immigration has been a good thing for this country – culturally, socially and certainly economically". He believes passionately that places like London, Birmingham and Liverpool have been "enriched" by it. But he denied recent allegations that Labour pursued an "open-door" policy to create a multicultural society. "We don't have an open-door policy. It is misleading to say we have got one or that we have ever had one. We manage immigration."
-

The article attempts to resolve what Labour are seeing as a points winner for the BNP party over the topic of immigration and the lack of public debate. Further to this, and noted in the article, the Home Secretary pledged to debate immigration "at any time" – yet he would still not appear alongside Mr Griffin.

Does Mr. Johnson understand that it is not a perceived protectionist view of immigration a libertarian would wish to disagree with but rather the increase on resources and therefore the increase required to public funding to carry other social policies of his government? Maybe Mr. Johnson is looking at the viewpoint that those that would come into the U.K. could potentially be voters and that these voters may choose his party for these same policies? A libertarian finds no fault in those seeking to become gamefully employed and to enter into trade & commerce with others. Instead, a libertarian would find fault in introducing a greater number of individuals that could require assistance from a government that has no money but rather appropriates funds either through taxation (as previously noted before - a form of robbery) or through borrowing (again, robbery) against the guarantee of payments from the working class with interest. Yes, Mr. Johnson can see that immigration can be beneficial when the market(s) demand additional workers to meet a supply need but is this the case in the U.K. at present? How does Mr. Johnson's thoughts on immigration balance up against the current situation faced by the increasing unemployed?

I challenge Mr. Johnson - openly - to debate the topic of immigration to show the pro's and con's of the policies in place and what would be right by the people.

Update: Said challenge is now posted to The Independent via the article's comments section (page 3).

Steven J. Sexton
LPUK Scotland Party Secretary

Remember, remember not just in November...

Never in our lives as a people has there been a better time to say no more. Never have individuals had more of an opportunity to find justification to make a stand and say stop.

Today we are stripped naked of our privacy, shackled with thick chains under ridiculous laws and these chains carry the burden of a government created debt that is so heavy as to not just weigh us down but require our children to stand behind us taking up the extra weight. We have become the unwilling participants in a form of slavery and many do not take the time to even consider this to be the case. In a land professing to uphold democracy we allowed for the will of a small group of individuals (the few) to control the many. We have let these same individuals, through our unwitting compliance and complacency, believe that not only do they know what is best for us but we should give up our liberties and freedoms so that they can "manage" the responsibilities we have either become too lazy or to burdened to manage ourselves.

I have written before about the Axiom of Non-Aggression (http://scottishlibertarians.blogspot.com/2009/10/non-aggression-axiom.html) and provided my explanation of the four possible responces. With aggressions upon the individuals on the rise by government in economic policy, foreign policy, legislation, taxation, representation, the right of recourse, the right of free speech, and et cetera I beg the question how far is too far? What does it take before individuals begin to learn... begin to consider... begin to resist such forces against them?

"Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."


My version...
"Remember, remember not just in November
The goverment's treasons and plots,
I know of no reason
That just in this season
Government's failures should be forgot"

Three new high-street banks to be created... Looking worried? You should be!

Reported through several media outlets Alistair Darling laid out plans to create 3 new competitive banks except they are not really new and they really won't be that competitive.

After bestowing upon the public that certain banks were far too big to fail we were forced to bailed out or socialise the debts of said banks. For those that do not understand the concept let me create an example. Imagine that you walked into your bank and was standing in the queue. A few minutes pass when all of a sudden a person five people up proclaims that the money is his envelop for the deposit he was about to make is gone. The banks manager comes out and locks the door to ascertain what went wrong. The bank's security guard, in his fair and impartial decision, proclaims that each person in the queue will fork up a proportional amount to the total sum of the amount missing. You have no recourse and his decision if final punishable by imprisonment for failure to comply.

Not content with that banks were allowed to break monopoly rules (in some instances) and gather up other banks and institutions just before or during their collapse. Today Mr. Darling announced he wants to create competition, with the "help" of the E.U. commission, by merging the profitable assets of these banks into further improperly legislated and restricted financial institutions. Keep in mind that the original argument was that these same banks were deemed to big to fail.

The net result of these actions are that we bailed out banks that, under normal, non-governmental interference would have carried out the similar results with a cost savings of 100's of billions of pounds to the public. Begin to look more deeply into the economic policies of our government and you can see massive debts are wiped away. Debts not you or I will be forced to repay but also our children and or children's children. These solutions act neither in the public's interests nor to the benefit of true free market competition.

What should the government have done? Had the government (past and present) looked to history - as these events are nothing new and had the government (past and present) allowed for natural bankruptcy to occur and had the government not become entangled with centralized banking most of the economic woes of today would not be as great. These same economics policies, professed as putting the U.K. in the best possible position to weather the storms, have instead flooded the people with the burdens of even greater debt with mounting interest payments attached and perpetuation of bad banking practices.

October LPUK Scotland meet up

Good afternoon members,

Owing to a busier than usual schedule this email is slightly later than I had hoped. This month's meet up for LPUK Scotland will be held this Saturday, 31 October, 2009 at 1:00pm at Twa Tams, 79-81 Scott Street, Perth. A map and copy of these details can be found on the Scottish LPUK blog site.

Last month's numbers were low and this month I'm hoping more members will be able to make it.

http://www.myspace.com/thetwatams

Looking forward to seeing your there,

Steve


Steven J. Sexton
LPUK Scotland Party Secretary

Reading List

This post is currently more of a “work in progress” at the moment. Eventually I hope to have a libertarian reading list as a permanent link on the side bar of this blog. I would prefer however to others make contributions and suggestions to the list beforehand.

Fredric Bastiat – The Law
Jagdish Bhagwati – In defence of Globalisation
Johan Goldberg- Liberal Fascism
Milton Friedman – Capitalism and Freedom
Milton Friedman – Bright Promises, Dismal Performances
Thomas Friedman – The World is Flat
F.A Hayek – Individualism and Economic Order
F.A Hayek – The Road to Serfdom
Henry Hazlitt – Economics in One Lesson
Richard Maybury – The Money Mystery
Richard Maybury – Whatever Happened to Justice?
Alan Moore – V for Vendetta (Comic Series)
Robert Nozick – Anarchy, State and Utopia
George Orwell - 1984
Ron Paul – A Manifesto
Ron Paul - Pillars of Prosperity
Joseph Stiglitz – Globalisation and its discontents
Benjamin Tucker – Instead of a book by a man too busy to write one
Ludwig Von Mises – The anti- capitalist mentality
Ludwig Von Mises – What has government done to our money?

I'm looking for people’s recommendations; whether they’re for books that are as yet not on the list, books on the list you feel are substandard or just recommending anything on here as a “must read”.

All input is appreciated.

Duncan Soutar
Scottish National Coordinator

Pandemrix

Today the government, with the assistance of certain drug companies, will be starting delivery of a vaccination program for Scotland. On Graham Stewart's MorningExtra program it was relieved that the vaccination to be provided to Scotland is Pandemrix. Ironically, I found on Wiki a new article about this very vaccine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemrix

In the referenced article it notes the following:

"The vaccine [Pandemrix] is the H1N1 vaccine approved for use by the European Commission in October 2009 upon the recommendations of The European Medicines Agency (EMEA)." It further goes on to note the advantages of vaccine. "Whilst other H1N1 vaccines have been developed (see H1N1 clinical trials), the use of a proprietary adjuvant, known as AS03 (which includes squalene), is claimed to boost the potency of the body’s immune response, meaning that much less of the inactivated virus is needed [3]). This is particularly useful, since once a pandemic is declared and pandemic vaccines are prepared, the inactivated virus will be at a premium."

To provide some balance I have added information I have researched so that those choosing to take such a vaccination are aware of a few points not presented.

[Researched]
Flu vaccines can also contain a number of chemical toxins, including ethylene glycol (antifreeze), formaldehyde, phenol (carbolic acid) and even antibiotics like Neomycin and streptomycin.

In addition to the viruses and other additives, many vaccines also contain immune adjuvants like aluminium and squalene.

The purpose of an immune adjuvant added to a vaccine is to enhance (turbo charge) your immune response to the vaccination. Adjuvants cause your immune system to overreact to the introduction of the organism you’re being vaccinated against.

Adjuvants are supposed to get the job done faster (but certainly not more safely), which reduces the amount of vaccine required per dose, and the number of doses given per individual. What does that mean for a drug company making a £1 dose but selling it for £6 to the public?

Less vaccine required per person means more individual doses available for mass vaccination campaigns. Two companies developing such adjuvants into their solution are Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline. This does not either preclude the creation of vaccines that are safer for the public or that other companies do not create a more suitable solution.

I would ask the readers to further investigate squalene, as it is present in the drug Panderix marketed by GlaxoSmithKline and is being supplied as the vaccination of choice for Scotland.

When a person has as much information as possible to make decisions usually these decisions tend to benefit themselves and NOT others.

Decisions regards our liberties, bodies and property are personal, even when they are aggressed against. Consider yours, obtain as much information you can, ask questions and make decisions relevant to yourself... not others.

In Liberty,

Steve

LPUK Conference 28th November 2009

The Annual AGM/Conference will be held at the Gladiator Room, Gloucestershire Cricket Club, Nevil Road, Bristol BS7 9EJ 10.30am- 4pm November 28th 2009


The Conference will deal with matters of policy and constitutional matters to be put forward by members via their regional coordinators, and the election of officers for 2010, plus party organisation, aims and objectives

A business meeting dealing with end of year accounts and hand over to the new NCC will be held in January.

We need to know numbers attending by November 2nd. There will be a £5 charge to defray costs on registration so please help us by registering early, and as ever Donations will be happily received.

Contact members@lpuk.org

The Sportsman Pub is nearby where I understand the usual fare can be obtained.

There is carparking available for 100 vehicles.

Directions

By Road

From the North:

Exit Junction 19 on M4 onto M32 to Bristol

Exit at Junction 2

Take the 3rd exit off the roundabout, keep in right hand lane and follow brown
tourist signs to County Ground. Continue on Muller Road for approx.1 mile.

Turn left into Ralph Road, opposite Bus Depot.

At T junction, turn left and then take first right into Kennington Avenue.
At top of road, turn left (signposted) into Nevil Road and drive through the Grace Gates into the ground.

From Central Bristol :

From St. James Barton roundabout in the City Centre, take exit marked Horfield (A38)
Continue along Stokes Croft Road and onto Gloucester Road

After approx. 1.5 miles turn right into Nevil Road (Signposted)
The Grace Gates are at the end of Nevil Road

By Rail :

Bristol Temple Meads is in the centre of Bristol, approx. 2 miles from The County Ground
Bus no. 8 or 9 will take you from the station to the bus station and then take any of the buses as below

Bristol Parkway is on the northern side of the City and approx 4 miles from The County Ground

By Bus :

The Bus Station is located in the centre of Bristol.

Outside the Bus Station from The Travel Inn, services, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76 and 77 will take you along the Gloucester Road. The stop is Nevil Road, which is within 100yds from the Ground.

Watch And Applaud

H/T Tom Paine