http://online.wsj.com/

The White House is facing mounting pressure from lawmakers to work harder to rally flagging public support for the war in Afghanistan.

With casualties rising, the administration is struggling to persuade voters that the war can be won or is worth the human and financial costs. Afghanistan is President Barack Obama’s top foreign-policy priority, but recent polls show that a majority of voters oppose the war for the first time since the conflict began eight years ago.

The Afghan war’s shifting political fortunes could make it harder for the administration to sell the public on the need for further expanding the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

Mr. Obama has already agreed to send 21,000 American reinforcements, pushing U.S. troop levels there to a record 68,000, and the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is expected to ask for tens of thousands of additional troops later this month.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/jacobs/jacobs7.1.1.html

I was in the Boston airport late this morning flying to LaGuardia. As I was talking on my phone, I recognized Congressman Barney Frank walking past me. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, I hung up my cell phone and approached Congressman Frank. Here is our conversation:

Me: “Congressman Frank (handshake), why are you holding H.R. 1207 in committee?”

Frank: “What is 1207?”

Me: “Ron Paul’s bill to edit the Fed.”

Frank: “Oh, yeah. Ron and I have talked about that. We are going to attach it to a comprehensive monetary Fed bill.”

Me: “But you’re not going to water it down, right?”

Frank: “No, we don’t want people to trade off of what the Fed is doing so we don’t want it released the same day.”

Me: “Cause the American people deserve to know what the Fed is doing?”

Frank: “That’s what I just said. You come up to me and you’ve got a chip on your shoulder. And I don’t understand it!” Turns and walks away.

(Frank’s statement that he “doesn’t want people to trade off what the Fed is doing” is absurd. An audit takes place after an action. Even releasing it the same day wouldn’t matter as one would need foreknowledge to take advantage of the Fed’s actions in the way Frank is talking about. Besides, the Fed already publishes press releases, policy statements, speeches, etc. In addition, how perverted is it that every investment decision is subject to the actions of a small group of central planners?)

Now, to be fair, I should have introduced myself to Congressman Frank and thanked him for some really great piece of legislation he had introduced – except that as a libertarian, I couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to thank him for – but I was excited and wanted to catch him before he boarded his plane (he was flying to Reagan, one gate down from mine). However, I was pleasant, courteous, and respectful during the entire encounter and would have gladly thanked him for his time given the chance. Instead Congressman Frank stormed off like a petulant child.

I guess when it comes to politicians and their constituents (read employees and their bosses) courtesy and respect are a one-way street.

From: Alan Khazei <info@bethechangeinc.org>

Dear bile,

I just returned from this year’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service in San Francisco, an outstanding event where more than 4,000 service leaders gathered to celebrate our achievements and plan the path forward.

This is an extraordinary moment for our movement, with a new law on the books promising unprecedented federal resources for service; people across the country becoming more engaged in their communities than we’ve seen in a long time; and a President and First Lady in the White House who come from the service world, and who want service and civic engagement to become a part of every American’s life.

So many terrific ideas came out of the event, and you’ll be hearing more about them in the weeks and months to come. But before that, we need you to become a part of this discussion.

Our supporters on the ground are the ones who powered us from the beginning.  And today, it’s your input and your ideas that will carry us forward as we plot out the next steps for this organization – and for the service movement as a whole.

Please fill out this short survey – your feedback will help shape the future of ServiceNation:

http://www.servicenation.org/survey

If you didn’t make it to the Conference, there’s a lot to fill you in on. Here are a few of the highlights from the event:

-    The crowd gave a hero’s welcome to Michelle Obama, the keynote speaker, who talked passionately about the White House’s commitment to service and the need to find innovative ways to expand it.

-    I had the honor of interviewing Maria Shriver, the First Lady of California, about her path-breaking efforts to strengthen service in that state. (More to come about that interview in a follow-up message.)

-   The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) announced a week-long October campaign to promote service on all the major TV networks. This is a big opportunity to get new people involved in service, and it’s something we’ll all be hearing much more about in the months ahead. As part of the announcement, we were treated to a terrific concert from Jon Bon Jovi, a longtime friend of the service community who came to the Conference as a representative of EIF.

-    ServiceNation also was proud to host a luncheon for hundreds of service champions.  Melody Barnes, President Obama’s chief domestic policy advisor, spoke movingly about the future of service in America, and all the attendees participated in a strategy discussion led by Arianna Huffington, EIF’s Lisa Paulsen, and Colin Jones, a current AmeriCorps VISTA serving with the program BUILD in San Francisco.

With so many people across the country spending time this week to talk about what’s next for the service movement, it’s absolutely essential that you get involved in the discussion. We want to know more about you, your impressions of the work we’ve done so far, and your thoughts on where we should go from here.

Please fill out the survey today:

http://www.servicenation.org/survey

Thanks – we’ll be following up with more takeaways from the Conference soon.

Alan

The multiple choice sections are limited but there are opened ended areas to let Alan and friends know that we don’t appreciate the move toward national servitude.

http://www.boston.com/…

Police in Wellfleet, a community known for stunning beaches and succulent oysters, scored three military assault rifles. At Salem State College, where recent police calls have included false fire alarms and a goat roaming the campus, school police got two M-16s. In West Springfield, police acquired even more powerful weaponry: two military-issue M-79 grenade launchers.

Some 82 local police departments in Massachusetts have obtained more than 1,000 weapons over the last 15 years under a federal program that distributes surplus guns from the US military, the Globe reported earlier this month. Now, new information identifies which communities received the weapons: They range from small towns like Hamilton, Marblehead, and Wayland to more populous communities like Worcester, Framingham, and Revere.

And a Globe review of a dozen departments found that most did not notify their community of the acquisitions. It also found inconsistencies in how the program is monitored, including cases in which communities received more guns than allowed.

The article goes on to say that none of the weapons have been reported stolen or used in a crime. They don’t need to be stolen because the officers get to have fun with them on the job and I can guarantee that many of them have been used in crimes. Just not ones recognized by the State.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/…

Glenn Jacobs – Kane! – writes:

Yesterday afternoon, I visited one of Knoxville’s two shopping malls–the downscale one on the east side of town. It had been months since I’d been in this mall; since then it has lost its Dillard’s department store, one of its anchor stores. Fully a quarter of the storefronts were closed, with more on a limited schedule.

But there was one place where business was booming…the county government has opened a branch office in the mall. The line of people waiting to pay property taxes and have their licenses renewed was out the door.

Above the entry to the office, a sign proudly proclaimed “Bringing Government to the People”. Hmmm, I thought “we are the government,” or at least that’s what we are always told. Just like the real stores in the mall, the government relies on slick marketing to “sell” its product.

It strikes me that this a microcosm of the American economy. While the rest of us suffer from the boom and bust that the government has caused, the government is there to pick through the bones.

Government–the anchor store of the new economy.

Bill Anderson followed up with:

Seeing Lew’s post reminds me of a drive I took the other night on PPG Road near Cumberland, Maryland. I passed a sign that announced it was an “Industrial Park.” However, the “industry” on that road is an office of Homeland Security, a huge lot where FEMA trailers are stored, and a federal prison. Welcome to the American growth industries of the 21st Century!

http://www.michaelmoore.com/…

Goodbye, GM …by Michael Moore

1. Just as President Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices. Within months in Flint in 1942, GM halted all car production and immediately used the assembly lines to build planes, tanks and machine guns. The conversion took no time at all. Everyone pitched in. The fascists were defeated.

We are now in a different kind of war — a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call “cars” may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.

The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn’t give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true — that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.

President Obama, now that he has taken control of GM, needs to convert the factories to new and needed uses immediately.
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