Go see Holden at Midas across the street from Applebees and/or Lowes.  I have always been treated more than fairly there.  G&G on the corner of Bridge and Peru is also a good place for the more time consuming complicated automotive repairs.  Welcome to the area!  Lots of fun outdoor winter activities.  The events calander right here on Plattsburgh pipeline can be a huge help on whats popular and where to meet people. 

I am new to the area and need a new catalytic converter put onto my 2003 VW Jetta.  It is no longer under warranty so I do not want to bring it to the dealer.  Can anyone recommend a reliable, honest mechanic?  When I search online all I get are the cookie cutter stores like Monroe Muffler, or places in Vermont.

Thank you!

The Coming U.S. Break-Up?

Dr. Paul's statement from November 20, 2008:

Madame Speaker, many Americans are hoping the new administration will solve the economic problems we face.  That’s not likely to happen, because the economic advisors to the new President have no more understanding of how to get us out of this mess than previous administrations and Congresses understood how the crisis was brought about in the first place.

Except for a rare few, Members of Congress are unaware of Austrian Free Market economics.  For the last 80 years, the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of our government have been totally influenced by Keynesian economics.  If they had had any understanding of the Austrian economic explanation of the business cycle, they would have never permitted the dangerous bubbles that always lead to painful corrections.

Today, a major economic crisis is unfolding.  New government programs are started daily, and future plans are being made for even more.  All are based on the belief that we’re in this mess because free-market capitalism and sound money failed.  The obsession is with more spending, bailouts of bad investments, more debt, and further dollar debasement.  Many are saying we need an international answer to our problems with the establishment of a world central bank and a single fiat reserve currency.  These suggestions are merely more of the same policies that created our mess and are doomed to fail.

At least 90% of the cause for the financial crisis can be laid at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve.  It is the manipulation of credit, the money supply, and interest rates that caused the various bubbles to form.  Congress added fuel to the fire by various programs and institutions like the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FDIC, and HUD mandates, which were all backed up by aggressive court rulings.

The Fed has now doled out close to $2 trillion in subsidized loans to troubled banks and other financial institutions.  The Federal Reserve and Treasury constantly brag about the need for “transparency” and “oversight,” but it’s all just talk — they want none of it.  They want secrecy while the privileged are rescued at the expense of the middle class.

It is unimaginable that Congress could be so derelict in its duty.  It does nothing but condone the arrogance of the Fed in its refusal to tell us where the $2 trillion has gone.  All Members of Congress and all Americans should be outraged that conditions could deteriorate to this degree.  It’s no wonder that a large and growing number of Americans are now demanding an end to the Fed.

The Federal Reserve created our problem, yet it manages to gain even more power in the socialization of the entire financial system.  The whole bailout process this past year was characterized by no oversight, no limits, no concerns, no understanding, and no common sense.

Similar mistakes were made in the 1930s and ushered in the age of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the Great Society and the supply-siders who convinced conservatives that deficits didn’t really matter after all, since they were anxious to finance a very expensive deficit-financed American empire.

All the programs since the Depression were meant to prevent recessions and depressions.  Yet all that was done was to plant the seeds of the greatest financial bubble in all history.  Because of this lack of understanding, the stage is now set for massive nationalization of the financial system and quite likely the means of production.

You would think that a 39 city protest involving thousands of people might warrant a national wire story, maybe a mention on cable news, but no. Reporters don't understand the issue and therefore they ignore it. Of course this can be said for most of the important issues that affect people's lives. Hence we get wall-to-wall coverage of the Obama daughter's educational preferences. Fiddling while Rome burns seems almost understated.

There was some local coverage (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and the Russians were all over it. Most of it misses the point, but what are you going to do? A few months ago this wasn't even an issue and many of us owe Ron Paul a considered debt of gratitude for raising it to prominence. Maybe one day, some reporter might even realize he's sitting on the biggest story of the last hundred years; the looting of the American people to the tune of 95% of our money's value.

Maybe that industrious reporter will open a history book and learn that the dangers of central banking were well understood by such radical fringe players as Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy. He might learn that Woodrow Wilson realized that he had enabled the eventual destruction of America with the signing of the Federal Reserve Act writing, "I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.”

He might even figure out that this system impoverishes our most vulnerable citizen's by destroying their purchasing power and enslaving them in unnecessary welfare systems that need naught ever to have existed. He might learn that inflation is a means of paying for aggressive wars indirectly and therefore avoiding the direct cost of taxation which would raise opposition among the people.

He might also discover that the Constitution demands that our government control our nation’s money supply and that the Federal Reserve is a private bank that not even members of congress are allowed to oversee.

If he is really sharp, he might also figure out that fractional reserve banking and fiat money systems must necessarily fail over time and we have reached the end of the line. With a little evaluation, he may conclude that central banking has led us to the point of the complete collapse of the international economic order and the end of the dollar and our way of life with it.

Categories: Campaign For Liberty, Monetary Policy

A who's who guide to the people poised to shape Obama's foreign policy.

Crazy

PRESS RELEASE: New Study Finds Americans Earn a Failing Grade When Tested on American History and Economics

Does this sound right to you?

Next week, the Iraqi Parliament is expected to vote on whether to approve an agreement setting the terms of the ongoing military relationship between the United States and Iraq.  So far, so good.  A legislative body, representing the people of a nation, shall determine the extent to which that nation's future will be intertwined with that of another.

Of course, one would expect that the United States Congress would be given the same opportunity.  That, however, is not the case.  Or at least it is not what the Bush administration is allowing to happen.  Shockingly, the Bush administration is not even letting Congress read the full agreement before it is signed! 

We need you to send a message immediately to U.S. House and Senate leaders, urging them to demand the constitutional input and approval to which they are entitled. 

The administration has asserted that the agreement between the U.S. and Iraq is merely a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and therefore does not require congressional approval.  Yet the agreement goes far beyond the traditional limits of a SOFA, which typically set the terms for bringing materials and equipment into a nation and outline the legal procedures that will apply to members of the military who are accused of crimes.

Believe it or not, the current agreement contains terms that will actually give Iraq a measure of control over U.S. forces.  No foreign nation or international entity has ever been given the authority to direct U.S. forces without prior congressional approval - either through a majority vote of both chambers or a two-thirds vote in the Senate in the case of treaties.

If this agreement goes into effect without congressional approval, it will establish a precedent under which future presidents can exercise broad unilateral control over the U.S. military - and even give foreign nations control over our troops.

Congress must take immediate action.  Unfortunately, they are about to adjourn for at least a couple of weeks.  But it is not too late for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make a statement, signaling their strong belief that Congress will not be bound by and need not fund an agreement that has not been approved by Congress.

Please send an E-mail encouraging such action to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid immediately by clicking on the following link:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26268

This is truly a dire situation and we hope that you will join us in calling for action.

Thank you.

The American Republic is in remnant status. The stage is set for our country eventually devolving into a military dictatorship, and few seem to care. These precedent-setting changes in the law are extremely dangerous and will change American jurisprudence forever if not revised. The beneficial results of our revolt against the King's abuses are about to be eliminated, and few Members of Congress and few Americans are aware of the seriousness of the situation. Complacency and fear drive our legislation without any serious objection by our elected leaders. Sadly, though, those few who do object to this self-evident trend away from personal liberty and empire-building overseas are portrayed as unpatriotic and uncaring.

Though welfare and socialism always fails, opponents of them are said to lack compassion. Though opposition to totally unnecessary war should be the only moral position, the rhetoric is twisted to claim that patriots who oppose the war are not supporting the troops. The cliché "Support the Troops'' is incessantly used as a substitute for the unacceptable notion of supporting the policy, no matter how flawed it may be.

Unsound policy can never help the troops. Keeping the troops out of harm's way and out of wars unrelated to our national security is the only real way of protecting the troops. With this understanding, just who can claim the title of "patriot''?

Before the war in the Middle East spreads and becomes a world conflict for which we will be held responsible, or the liberties of all Americans become so suppressed we can no longer resist, much has to be done. Time is short, but our course of action should be clear. Resistance to illegal and unconstitutional usurpation of our rights is required. Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes.

But let it not be said that we did nothing. Let not those who love the power of the welfare/warfare state label the dissenters of authoritarianism as unpatriotic or uncaring. Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity and a blind desire for safety and security. Understanding the magnificent rewards of a free society makes us unbashful in its promotion, fully realizing that maximum wealth is created and the greatest chance for peace comes from a society respectful of individual liberty.

-Ron Paul, floor speech in the House of Representatives 5-22-07

Read or watch the whole thing HERE

I am surprised that no one has posted on this!! I think this could be a really cool thread... I would offer some suggestions but I am not much of a help in the kitchen :)