KENANSVILLE, N.C. – Singer and guitarist Willie Nelson canceled a North Carolina concert because of a bum hand about an hour after several band and crew members were busted for allegedly possessing moonshine and marijuana.

Alcohol Law Enforcement spokesman Ernie Seneca said Friday that six members of Nelson’s band and crew have been charged with misdemeanor possession offenses. They were issued citations before the Texas singer was scheduled to take the stage Thursday night

LINK: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100129/ap_en_mu/us_people_willie_nelson

    I’ve heard many reasons why we as a country are in debt. I’ve heard some sound reasons, and I’ve heard some pretty crazy ideas, but none gets to the root of the problem. The real threat to our economy, has been, and will always be, the Federal Reserve. Yes the Federal Reserve, most people think it’s run by the federal government. Well in this article you will find it to be exactly the opposite.

            First off we’ll look at the history of the Federal Reserve. On December 23^rd 1913, the Federal Reserve Act was voted into law by congress. Most members of congress were not present due to the holiday weekend, giving the pushers of the Federal Reserve Act virtually no resistance to passing the bill. Woodrow Wilson was the one that finally signed it into law, finalizing the act.

            Once the control of money went into the hands of private bankers, we were in debt. You see what the Federal Reserve does is charge so much for each currency printed, which the U.S. pays. Also the Federal Reserve gives us loans that we have to pay back. Which is where we owe most of our national debt. This is a little crazy, we (the U.S.) pay someone to print our money, charge us. If we take out a loan, which is our own money, we have to pay it back. Where does this make since?

            We’re are quickly turning into a country of credit, and the Fed is more than welcome to loan it to us. Problem is these private banks aren’t looking out for us when it comes to controlling this money. Mayer Amschel Rothschild said “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes the laws”. This is a very bold statement, but sadly it is true. With the control of a nations money, you now have control of their military and political leaders. When you control those things what else is there to stand in your way?

            Our dollar is no longer backed by gold or silver like it once was, which in turn caused our dollar to significantly drop in value. Not only does the Fed have control of our money but also interest rates it charges banks to borrow from them. That trickles down and affects a lot of things, especially when it comes to loans from the banks.

            Woodrow Wilson, towards the end of his term, even apologized for signing the Federal Reserve Act, calling it the greatest mistake of his presidency. Wilson wasn’t the only one that warned us about a central bank, or bankers controlling the countries money. People like Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Congressman Ron Paul, etc. These were men of power, influence, and intelligence. All of them warned us, but no one is listening. I highly doubt that it’s not because people don’t care, I believe it’s their (bankers of the Federal Reserve) hold on the media that won’t allow the information to get to the people. Everything in media these days is fabricated. You’re never getting the full truth.

            If we as a country ever plan on getting out of this financial hole, and back to having a powerful dollar again, we need to get rid of the Federal Reserve, and stop spending more than we take in. A country of credit doesn’t last; we need real things backing our dollar. I say we take a stand, get together, and push our elected officials to get rid of the Fed and put the control of money back to the people’s hands. Lets not leave a country full of debt to our children; instead let’s leave them a country of wealth.

            Here are some quotes from Woodrow Wilson and others about the Federal Reserve.

“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” -Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States

“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.” – James A. Garfield, President of the United States

“It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” – Henry Ford

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States

“The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity.  It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than beaurocracy.  It denounces as public enemies all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes.  I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear.  Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.” - Abe Lincoln, President of the United States

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.” – Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States

In the course of human history, no social concept or idea has remained as constant as the notion of individual freedom.  Maybe this is because of the
nature of our violent, unforgiving world, where survival can be so difficult
and death is always so final.  Maybe it’s just because we dream.  In any
case, mankind has always understood freedom, recognizing it when it exists
and certainly, recognizing when it does not.

The great social experiment that has been the United States of America, and
has made a United States Supreme Court possible,  owes much to the countless
generations of brave dreamers who lived and died for just the idea of
freedom.  Men and women, who longed, fought and failed for just the chance
to live in a place where the protection of freedoms of each individual
citizen was considered their ultimate shared responsibility.  The United
States of America could have never existed without their sacrifice to the
development of the idea of a government “by the people”.

Certainly, the idea of freedom and a government “by the people” has
represented an obstacle for those who would put personal gain above the
rights of the common man.  From feudal kings and tyrants of centuries long
gone, to political ideologues and pseudo-religious madmen of more recent
centuries, each despotic regime has worn the same earmarks and used the same
methods to advance their agendas.  They have squashed discussion, they have
controlled commerce and they have resorted to the same, exact, predictable
displays of violence and fear. 

Even after America was formed, those who would seek to advance their own
agenda’s at the cost of our personal freedoms, have still existed.  There
have been many examples, like the coal and lead miners fought and died when
labor unions sought to level the playing field with greedy corporations in
the early decades of the last century.   At the cost of thousands of
American lives, strong and well-intentioned anti-trust and anti-monopoly
legislation, were eventually enacted.  The government of that day and the
American people believed that fairness and justice is more important than
unchecked profiteering.  The people who paid with their lives did so knowing
that only their future generations would ever benefit.  They knew their own
lives would be spent for this cause for no personal gain.

Now, the United States of America, and the idea of individual freedoms, is
under attack by the same kinds of despotic profiteers.  They do not call
their domains kingdoms anymore, they use the term “markets”.  They do not
seek to physically enslave people, but seek complete practical and economic
control of services like healthcare, security, banking, home ownership,
retail goods and services, food production and distribution, transportation
and even education to serve their own ends.  They have collectively and
systematically sought to overturn or diminish the efficacy of the anti-trust
and anti-monopoly laws passed earlier in the previous century.  They believe
they are entitled to pursue any agenda that produces profits and that if
they share a portion, even a small one, with shareholders and investors they
are simply exercising their ‘rights’.  They further believe our economic
survival is dependent on granting them complete control of the so-called
‘world economy’.  They believe this is the birthright of their “personhood”.

They will insist that they have been exercising their freedoms too, and
according to an 1886 Supreme Court case, (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroa
d> Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394) in a
sense, they have.  This landmark case essentially opened the door to
granting ‘personhood’ to corporations.  Since this decision, corporations
have argued and plotted to obtain the same legal equals of every man, woman
and child in the United States.  They enjoy the same freedoms and
protections we do, but they can influence our electoral processes and
government policy-making in a way no voter or block of voters ever could.
They have invested heavily to have anti-trust/anti-monopoly laws that remain
on the books watered down or ignored.  The insurance industry has even been
granted an exemption from these laws entirely.

Now, you have handed us a new Supreme Court decision, (Citizens United v.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal
_election_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Federal Election Commission,
No. 08-205).  The common sense restraints that would limit corporate
investment in our political electoral process have been removed under the
ridiculous premise that our founding fathers intended them to be recognized
as ‘persons’.  Like the overturned anti-trust/anti-monopoly laws that were
enacted to protect the American people from self-serving and unfair
corporate profiteers, this decision simply eliminates another obstacle,
allowing nearly unlimited funding for political influence by corporate
concerns.

The effects of this decision will forever change our country.  The already
too-small voice of the public may have been effectively eliminated.  How can
we ever hope seat a representative government again if the rich corporations
and SuperCorporations can pay the billions necessary to elect whomever they
want?  Are all of our airwaves and media to be entirely the domain of the
new corporate feudal lords and tyrants of this new century?

You now have the interests of super-wealthy corporations and the interests
of the common man standing before your court seeking fairness over whose
voice is most important in our political process.  They have brought
lobbyists, lawyers and untold wealth to speak on their behalf.

I would suggest that the common man step aside for the sake of this decision
and seek a more powerful voice to defend our actual personhood, freedom and
our political process before the United States Supreme Court.  Let the dead
coal and lead miners speak for us.  Let the United States Supreme Court
write a decision that explains to the dead Americans who paid with their
actual lives, that the interests of super-wealthy corporations, their
oppressive wealth and their false “personhood” entitle them to subvert
governance “by the people”.  Real persons can die.  Real persons can dream.
Real persons have a real voice.  No corporation, no matter how wealthy, no
matter how influential, no matter how much or how long they argue, ever will
ever be a person.

Have the courage to revisit Citizens United v.
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal
_election_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Federal Election Commission,
No. 08-205.  We hope you hear soon from every concerned American voter and
each of their representatives about a permanent constitutional amendment to
retire this issue forever.  This was a poor decision, let’s hope the
American people have enough voice left to compel you to reverse it. 

Sign the petition to amend the United States Constitution at
<http://www.movetoamend.org> http://www.movetoamend.org.  Please also call
or write to your Congressman and Senator.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Steve Champion

Publisher – Green Gazette

Green River Publishers

steve@greenriverpublishers.com