@ Flanders Fields

Debunking uninformed conspiracy theories is not "discounting" freedom of speech.  On the contrary, it is exercising free speech, and it is often unpopular. 

You are mistaken in claiming that I have never "presented criticism". I do that all the time, especially concerning governmental restrictions on freedom of (political) speech and naive-left foreign policies, but on other subjects as well.  

 I do NOT "doubt the permeation of leftist thought throughout our societal institutions and...in the power segments of governments".  This has to be faced head on, through the democratic political process and especially through reform of the educational system and debunking of the 'liberal' (naive-left) media.  Uninformed conspiracy-theories are a diversion and an 'obstacle' in this necessary process.  They give us all a bad name, just like Amsterdamsky gives 'libertarians' a bad name. 

Nevertheless, I will take your admonition to heart and refuse to be in a "box" and study "alternative messages".  However, I also refuse to put my brains on hold, to ignore manifest empirical and historical evidence, and to part with common sense in the face of age-old conspiracy theories.

@ Mission Impossible

I ignored your "important issue" because I considered it unimportant, a diversion of the serious issue of central banking which should not be muddled with/by personality-fixation.  Sorry to disappoint you, but I was aware of the 'connection' with Rand. 

I am neither a fan of Greenspan, nor of extreme libertarians like Rand and Amsterdamsky, and not of 'congenital' anti-american British "zuurpruimen" (not to be confused with "crabapples", get a good Dutch dictionary) either. 

Greenspan's good 'instincts' about the economy and his reverence for 'experience' were distinctly in conflict with Rand's "objectivism".  Perhaps he is (or was in his New York period) a rare example of an American 'snob', a species that is much more common on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Fed will endure and live out its 'natural life' (in history), unlike Ayn Rand.  Food for thought for excentric Brits, extreme libertarians, and the adherents of the cult of suicide-bombers.   Survival requires freedom AND discipline, with the latter based on knowledge and historical experience.   

@ Flanders Fields

Believe me, I have sympathy for your insider/outsider paradigm.  But one does not promote the interests of 'outsiders' - nor does one limit the power of 'insiders' - by adhering to nonsensical conspiracy theories.  On the contrary, if anything, such theories can only undermine valid criticism of REAL governmental abuse. 

The essence of democracy is the maintenance of genuine freedom of speech.  Only that can guarantee that powers can be 'checked' over time and that societies can adjust to constantly changing circumstances.  Your focus should be there, on the prevention of the establishment of ideological orthodoxies, by fighting legislation that undermines freedom of speech and not by adhering to silly (uninformed) conspiracy theories. 

The origin of central banks does not lie in some kind of bankers' power grab, but in the opposite, i.e. the manifest need to control the powers of bankers.  The essential purpose of a 'proper' central bank is to ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency.  That is the criterion by which it should be judged (ex post).   History has proven that that requires 'independence' of the central bank from the government(s)-of-the-day, and at the same time the establishment of procedures which ensure broad accountability to the public which it serves.  Both the Federal Reserve System and the European Central Bank have managed to achieve that, so far, even though they operate under somewhat different rules.  Many central banks in the world have not done so, and are indeed 'tools' of the local powerful.   And it is true, one can observe regularly attempts by some famous European politicians to undermine the ECB's independence from politics (mainly through demands that it should be concerned with other goals such as unemployment or economic growth).  Such demands are 'populist' in nature, and ignore the empirical historical evidence on what the proper role of a central bank should be.  Fiscal policies (broadly defined) and 'structural' (regulatory) policies are the proper tools for fighting unemployment and promoting growth, not monetary policy.

The "individual on the tape" does raise a number of valid issues or concerns, e.g. such as the 'constitutionality' of the income tax.  But he does not do this in a rational way, by muddling it with other questions (such as the central bank) which are irrelevant for that particular issue.  However, I certainly support your contention that 'insiders' should listen to the voices of 'outsiders' on a wide variety of issues.  That is only common sense, and is derivative from the fundamental principle of maintaining freedom of speech.

@ Flanders Fields

Just like I couldn't possibly sit through a movie by a conspiracy nut like Michael Moore on the left (or a 'news' cast by Belgian state television, both the francophone and the 'Flemish' one), I was unable to tolerate further the nonsense being spouted (on the paleo-right?) in that video link you provided.  So, I did not waste any more time and stopped listening about halfway through it.   The nonsense was building up to a weighty mountain indeed.  It is one big 'conspiracy theory' based on a mixed-up jumble of disparate issues (like the income tax system, bankruptcy laws, excess spending and debt creation, fiat money versus gold-backed money, and.....God-knows-what-else in the rest of that video. 

The whole ridiculous thing boils down to a 'conspiracy theory' about "the bankers" who have "enslaved" us all and "taken over government".  What nonsense!  And, given that the name Rothchild gets thrown in for good measure, one gets the feeling that the marriage of anti-semites on the right and the left is again not so far off. 

What the video does NOT do: is explain what the Federal Reserve is, what it does, and why it was created.  To understand the latter one must know economic history, the severity of cyclical movements in the past, before central banks got control of the 'money supply' and before economic knowledge had matured.  Indeed, one of the reasons why the Fed was created was to control the activities of "the bankers" and for purposes of macroeconomic stabilisation. 

My advice is the same as Armor's.  Read a serious economics textbook, and a specialised one on economic history as well.  And beware of conspiracy theorists in popular media!  A good indication of the latter is always the manifest mixing up of disparate issues.   

The West has forgottten what nature intended. We think that sexual license equals freedom --but look where this so called freedom has gotten the West!

"...[W]hat looks like "liberation" turns into its opposite and shows its diabolical visage...all this has already been described with precision in the first pages of the Bible. The core of the temptation for man and of his fall is contained in programmatic statement: 'You will be like God'. "Like God" ...means free of the laws of the Creator, free of the laws of nature herself, absolute lord of one's own destiny. Man continually desires only one thing: to be his own creator and his own master. But what awaits us at the end of this road is certainly not paradise." Card. Joseph Ratzinger, The Ratzinger Report.

Thanks for your advice.  I know that you mean well.  I know that for people without experience with any of the realms mentioned and whose education consists of the knowledge gained by reading only good books, that there is no value placed on such concepts.  I urge you to condescend to allow that there can be value in the examination, though it must be carefully done.

After posting previously, I found the following link, which is to what would be classified assuradly as another conspiracy site(it is linked with the site I referenced earlier).  The value in examining such links can be concepts which answer many of the more scholarly inquiries, perhaps only minutely or partially, but of value which is useful, but only if you read, listen and give proper attention.  Value can sometimes be had by eliminating the illogical or improbable, but we each have our own methods of dealing with information.  Common sense is generally sufficient.

This link is to a site where the producer of the video is interviewed in a supportive format:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3254488777215293198

@ Flanders Fields

...."....without scrutiny of anyone in the USA". 

With all due respect, and despite your beautiful pseudonym, you are talking nonsense here.  The statutes under which the Federal Reserve operates provide plenty of "scrutiny", certainly from 'government' and even from the public.  The President nominates and Congress approves the Chairman of the Fed for fixed time periods (which do NOT coincide with the federal election schedule).  The Fed Chairman must report on a regular basis before Congressional Committees.  There are all sorts of rules governing the actions of the Open Market Committee (which sets interest rate policy) and the appointment of other FED Governors (from different regions of the USA, not from Washington or the federal government), etc....

It is all designed to ensure that government cannot print money!  And the results are there for everyone to see: low inflation. 

Please, be wary of 'conspiracy theories' and read some serious book on the Federal Reserve System.    

Flanders Fields says: The federal reserve is not even a part of the government of the USA

There are valid reasons for keeping the job of the Federal Reserve separate from the wheeling and dealing in Washington. Maybe the system should be reviewed, but it has nothing to do with the subject of immigration and the birth rate.

Atheling, we are in our position because of our collective complaceny and we won't get out of it by remaining that way.  Leftists have many advantages in our world today and have taken our laws to use against us, subverted our election processes, and commandered our competitive enterprises. 

One primary advantage they have is the freedom to state, and repeatedly do so in whatever way they choose, the "truth" with the emphasis and inflection they want to place on their statements, without an effective way to challenge or correct them with real truth and facts in a timely manner.  The television is difficult to talk back to and it doesn't listen anyway.  Neither does the FCC or any of the regulatory bodies.  Why do those exist, if they cannot stop dissimination of propoganda in the guise of programming and news?  The print media have wrapped themselves in our flag and trample truth using OUR freedom of press to suppress and misinform.  Why are they allowed to continue as the spokesmen when the views of the majority of free people are not represented?  We must take back the communications and media if there is to be any effective change.

The federal reserve is not even a part of the government of the USA.  It is not owned by the people of the USA.  We do not control it, but we live by its policies and decisions which affect our lives and our country every day.  We are its creditors and they set the interest rate and conditions.  JFK died suddenly soon after signing an executive order to reestablish the USA on the silver standard, which would allow repayment of debt to the federal reserve.  There has been no mention of return to the silver standard subsequent to his death.  Congress has not been allowed to audit the FR and has given up efforts even to attempt to do so.  Our corporate "free enterprise" system is little more than a club for monopolists and oligarchists who want to expand their power and influence and are willing to buy the politicians favor who grant them license to operate in the way they wish.  Far from being the conservatives they are made out to be, they support and establish the leftist fronts,  even those actually or ostensibly opposed to their interests.  There has been some coverage of the tactics used by some leftist fronts such as those involving Jesse Jackson to extort assistence from them in return for silence.  You may wish to check the board of Citibank to see what expertise that financial genius has offered to the bank.

The times are changing and people are learning.  A time for change will come as comfort levels are difficult find and maintain. Spokesmen will become more fluent and people will listen more. Leaders will arise eventually, but for any change to be effective, the two items above will have to be addressed. People will also have to understand how it happened to begin with.

For all the gloomiest predictions here...I am not so sure a civil war in, say France, could be won by muslims. I still believe the native/alien ratio is not enough for these cowards to win anything, other than wreak havoc. What I think is that the popular conscience is still very much numbed...the population at large has been sedated by MSM PC thinking and has to endure a continual siege from the political class...a campaing of substitution of beliefs, values and such. However - I am only talking about Spain - the reality I can sample @ the cafeteria @ work and in the street, is that people are talking about this more and more...consciences are being stirred by the blatant dissonance between PC MSM messages and actual immigration realities...people are waking up to this process of substitution and while many of them just adopt an attitude of 'wait-and-see', at least I think it's very positive we don't go on living giving our backs to these facts...There's being, for example, a surge of catholic marriages, although, truth is, Spain has always been very catholic.

In the years to come, our appreciation for our own identity and values will undoubtedly strengthen. This will mean one thing. Political parties always dance to the tune. The tune is now multiculturalism. They wrote that tune. However, the peoples of Europe will write a different tune. The parties want our votes...therefore, they'll have to swing to our tune...At least, that is my hope. Our hope lies in 99% of us waking up from the left-induced stupor. Leftist ideologies all failed with communist countries in XX century..I think in XXI century we are bound to see a new failure from the left...the failure of welfare states like Sweden or Norway and the calamitous falldown of multiculturalism. Basically the Left always fucks up. Sheds a lot of blood. Generates poverty and conflict. Then everything has to be fixed. Then they have a new stupid idea and we go back to square one.

I think I am done now with my rant :-).....Sorry...I had to let it go...in one blurt...

Just let me finish...be angry...assert your opinions in your work / friends environment...fight the numbness...appreciate your culture...defend it...not all cultures are equal...museums and concerts are far better than public stonings or hangings...fight relativism...SHOUT IT OUT

I think the tide is turning, Partisano, against the leftists worldwide.  People are finally so fed up with the detailed instructions on how they must live their lives and be nice to some damn strange foreigner, even when they may be someone trying to kill you or your fellow citizen that leftists may not escape themselves.  I think all any of us  anywhere want is to be left alone and treated fairly and I think that is what most of us do.  We are not living in some fairy tale nirvana as the left tries to make us beleive where everything will be fine if you just parrot what they tell you to think and say and give up your own rights to say and think as you believe.  Terrorism and the leftists are both going to die and share a common grave.  Their spokesmen, the media, will join them.

I have faith in your spanish heritage and capacity for emotion to block terrorism and leftist appeasement.  The Spanish have a culture that leftist appeasers and multicultualists do not appreciate that will rise up against their attempt to stifle individualism and their attempt to do away with the Spanish culture to replace it with monoculture.  I only wish the Mexican population in the USA had a capacity for understanding the tyranny and duplicity of leftism, but they do not have that in their history, which is why they are not as welcome as they could be.

Best wishes for you, your wife and your new one on the way.

An addendum by Steyn on the powerline site claims that native French youth compared to foreign youth is 55/45.

Within 10 years one can only assume this will be reversed in favour of the foreign youth. When Steyn talks of "youth" what he really means is people of fighting age.

If this astonishing statistic is really true then clearly a French civil war in the near future could be won by Islam.

Will they rise up, and if they do not are they merely waiting for their rising demographics in other European countries?

I suspect they will wait, France alone would wake up the rest of Europe whilst they could still do something about their Islamic populations.

If there is no war in France by say, 2015, I will not be breathing a sigh of relief, I will be waiting for what is clearly an orchestrated European wide jihad.

As a Spaniard (will be breeding soon...hehe) I feel like saying something. I don't think Spain has folded much more than anyother EU country. In fact I am seeing a lot more babies in my social segment ( well-paid information worker, middle class ) and young couples. Many of them, having more than one kid. I am seeing this @ work and in my neighbourhood. So, maybe there's some hope. It would really help if our stupid govt handed out money to young Spaniards as kid support, instead of giving it to south american aliens and such.

Secondly, not every Spaniard ducked before the jihadi cunts after March 2004. In fact, the results of the elections were not so overwhelming. I mean, many people still voted for Aznar, who had us go to Irak with Bush. But, the socialist party has always been very strong in Spain, and they "won" the coup d'etat, for that is what happened. That landed us the dhimmiest head of state in Europe now. However, people is getting quite fed up...we'll see what happens in 2008...election time.

As a Spaniard (will be breeding soon...hehe) I feel like saying something. I don't think Spain has folded much more than anyother EU country. In fact I am seeing a lot more babies in my social segment ( well-paid information worker, middle class ) and young couples. Many of them, having more than one kid. I am seeing this @ work and in my neighbourhood. So, maybe there's some hope. It would really help if our stupid govt handed out money to young Spaniards as kid support, instead of giving it to south american aliens and such.

Secondly, not every Spaniard ducked before the jihadi cunts after March 2004. In fact, the results of the elections were not so overwhelming. I mean, many people still voted for Aznar, who had us go to Irak with Bush. But, the socialist party has always been very strong in Spain, and they "won" the coup d'etat, for that is what happened. That landed us the dhimmiest head of state in Europe now. However, people is getting quite fed up...we'll see what happens in 2008...election time.

As a Spaniard (will be breeding soon...hehe) I feel like saying something. I don't think Spain has folded much more than anyother EU country. In fact I am seeing a lot more babies in my social segment ( well-paid information worker, middle class ) and young couples. Many of them, having more than one kid. I am seeing this @ work and in my neighbourhood. So, maybe there's some hope. It would really help if our stupid govt handed out money to young Spaniards as kid support, instead of giving it to south american aliens and such.

Secondly, not every Spaniard ducked before the jihadi cunts after March 2004. In fact, the results of the elections were not so overwhelming. I mean, many people still voted for Aznar, who had us go to Irak with Bush. But, the socialist party has always been very strong in Spain, and they "won" the coup d'etat, for that is what happened. That landed us the dhimmiest head of state in Europe now. However, people is getting quite fed up...we'll see what happens in 2008...election time.

Mark Steyn's point is that the Europeans cannot simply cut off immigration because their retirement funds, like everyone else's, were designed as pyramid schemes.  Without an ever-expanding population base, the social democratic institutions will go bankrupt.

Steyn is right in the most basic sense, but here is my problem with his emphasis on outbreeding the Moslems: it's the only option the West has, according to him.
Instead of a breeding contest, why not simply curtail immigration, and institute some common-sense control over borders? Why not repatriate some of the immigrants? Steyn is simply fatalistic about the growing presence of Moslems in the West. I don't understand why he treats their presence among us as a given, as something over which we have no control or say.
And yet he is regarded as a genius and a prophet by many on the 'right.'

Jesus did not have children but his followers did and the Christian faith spread more by demographics than conversion.

A disinclination to breed...

I'm waiting for the demise of the UN, pc leftists and homos.

....more than likely because they became like the French.....They became intimidated, would not fight back, and became scared of the big bad bombing Islamos....Hence forth we have the Socialist "appease the enemy" government elected into power, and Spanish forces pulled from the War on Terror......I don't really see the correlation as to what happened in the Madrid subway with a disinclination to breed....Maybe I am getting old or retarted or both or something......

If you don’t breed, you can’t influence the future.

Yes, I see. Now can we think of any childless people who did influence the future? What about starting with Jesus and moving forward from there? Anyone got any others.

Bob Doney