Texas Straight Talk - Obama's UnConstitutional Misadventures: Libya Now, Syria Next
August 29, 2011
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by Walter Block - August 28, 2011
I don't put FEMA right up there with the Fed. I imagine that we will see the beginning of the end of the Fed within a month of the Ron Paul Administration taking office. But, FEMA should also be on the list of government departments scheduled to be closed down. What follows is an excerpt from this paper, which appeared in a peer reviewed journal (Rockwell, Jr., Llewellyn H. and Walter Block. 2010. "The Economics and Ethics of Hurricane Katrina" American Journal of Economics and Sociology. Vol. 69, No. 4, October, pp. 1294–1320):
If New Orleans were turned into a free port, a city state all on its own, its chances for a rosy financial future would be much improved. Instead of relying on millions of dollars, perhaps billions, from Washington, to be mis spent by FEMA (a four letter "F" curse word in some southern parts of the country, that is, the U.S.), the Big Easy would be far better on its own.
"He who pays the piper calls the tune." This is no less true of public finance than of any other field of endeavor. With federal money comes federal control. Often, all too often, this "aid" comes not in the form of dollars given to recipients, but as in-kind goods. But the latter is necessarily less efficient than the former, save in the rare cases where the recipient would have spent the money in exactly that format. For example, which would the average person rather have, one violin, one motorcycle, a year's supply of beer, two suits of clothes, 1,000 Frisbees, 10 steaks and 100 bowling balls, or, the exact amount of money necessary to: Continue Reading
Santorum, Paul spar over Sept. 11
By Josh Hafner - August 28, 2011
Rick Santorum pounced on fellow GOP candidate Ron Paul's assertion that U.S. intervention in the Middle East helped motivate the 9/11 attacks, saying in an email to The Des Moines Register on Sunday that the Texas congressman's argument is flawed and belittling to victims of the tragedy.
"To imply that we were the catalyst of the attack on 9/11 disparages the memory of those who lost their lives on that tragic day and is an insult to who we are as a people," said Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator. "Congressman Paul's understanding of the enemy and why they have attacked us is shockingly misguided."
This marks at least the second time Santorum has sparred with Paul over Middle Eastern policy this month. In a heated exchange at the Ames GOP debate, Santorum said Iran seeks to destabilize the region. Paul called Santorum's words "propaganda."
At a Saturday stop in Winterset, Paul said that Islam is not a threat to the United States, but that America's military presence in the Middle East promotes terrorist hostilities. He referred to University of Chicago professor Robert Pape, whose research suggests most suicide bombings in the past three decades can be traced to military intervention. Specifically, Paul mentioned the U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, as a key provocation: Continue Reading
Texas congressman Paul still critical of U.S. involvement in Libya
By Kevin Freking - August 28, 2011
Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul said Sunday that the apparent overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi's regime in Libya does not justify U.S. involvement there and may end up delivering al Qaeda what he called "another prize."
Paul, of Lake Jackson, has made his mark in the presidential race as a strict libertarian who would scale back the role of the federal government in domestic and foreign affairs.
A recent Gallup poll shows him in third place in the GOP race.
Asked on Fox News Sunday whether getting rid of Gadhafi was a good thing, Paul said yes but also said it does not guarantee positive long-term results for the United States.
He said that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was also good but that the long-term result in Iraq has not been success for the U.S.
"We've delivered Iraq to the Iranians," he said.
Paul said that troops are already required to ensure order in Libya and that no one knows whom the rebels in Libya represent. "We have no idea of what's going to come out: Continue Reading
Ron Paul Interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace
August 28, 2011
Paul could be thorn in Perry's side
By Richard S. Dunham - August 28, 2011
While Texas' governor soaks up the media spotlight, Ron Paul plugs away as the outsiders' outsider in the 2012 presidential campaign.
The 75-year-old congressman from Lake Jackson with the message of less government and more liberty has built the largest grass-roots network in the Republican field, far larger than the team thus far assembled by his home state's governor.
And it was the libertarian and third-time presidential contender who finished just 1 percentage point behind winner Michele Bachmann in Iowa's Republican straw poll.
Although he gets precious little attention on the TV news networks — and is dismissed by the Pundit Elite as a libertarian "niche" candidate without broad appeal — he has been rising in the polls.
"Ron Paul's domestic policy views resonate with a growing faction in the GOP," said Jim Granato, director of the Hobby Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston. "But his effect on Rick Perry or any other GOP rival will carry much more weight if he can win some primaries." Paul revels in the arcane details of U.S. monetary policy. He regularly writes detailed policy papers about the need for transparency in the Federal Reserve system: Continue Reading
Rep. Paul: FEMA has 'one of the worst reputations for a bureaucracy ever'
By Meghashyam Mali - August 28, 2011
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) continued his criticisms of FEMA claiming that the agency's approach is "deeply flawed."
It's a system of bureaucratic centralized economic planning that is a policy that is deeply flawed," Paul said on Fox News Sunday. He argued that FEMA had "one of the worst reputations for a bureaucracy ever."
"I want to transition us out of this dependency," said Paul, arguing that people needed to abandon the idea that "FEMA will take care of us and everything will be OK."
While the administration is relying on FEMA to handle the response to Hurricane Irene which is barreling up the Eastern seaboard, Paul has strongly criticized the agency saying he had little faith in its ability to respond to disasters and believed it did more to hinder recovery efforts.
Paul stressed that FEMA was in "big trouble financially" noting that their flood relief program was "$20 billion in debt" and cast doubt that additional emergency funds could be found for FEMA.
"Where would the money come from … You try to make these programs: Continue Reading
