I've been a supporter of Ron Paul for years and have watched and supported his rise in influence over the last three years with optimism. Early this year he introduced a bill called HR1207 to have Congress audit the Federal Reserve Bank. This might not seem like a big deal but it is. The fed is the most secretive quasi government organisation in the US. Far more so than the CIA, FBI and any other "security" service. That fact alone is enough to make one suspicious if one ever gets to wondering about it.

So the news I'm on about here is that there was a Congressional hearing a few days ago regarding this bill. Click on that link to read a first hand report that greatly expands on why this is great news.

I caught the last part of a report on BBC Radio 4 tonight that "explored" the reasons why Obama isn't getting the love they think he deserves.

Apparently there have been some deomonstrations and anger at Mr Obama.

How can this be? What is there about Mr Change not to like?

There was no mention of his continuation of Bush policy with regard to;

the prisoners still held in Cuba,

the war still going on in Afghanistan,

the continuing occupation of Iraq,

the bailing out of failing businesses,

the unimaginable amount of debt,

the increasing unemployment,

his plans to increase the state's involvement in healthcare,

etc.

No the last line of the report went something like this. In a country where race relations have been bad from the civil war to the civil rights movement it is unreasonable to believe race hatred would have gone away.

In other words don't listen (and we won't report anyway) to those on "the right" as they are just racist bigots.

Our own MPs haven't been getting much respect lately either.

The BBC needs to work a lot harder. Respect and trust of the "right honourables" just isn't what it used to be.

I just read an article that I think is the best explanation of statist arrogance I've come across. It's background is two essays; one by Mises on why socialists can't calculate and the other by Hayek on the pretense of knowledge. This article is short and easy to understand. It uses Obama as the example but it applies to all who would know best.

It also contains a great Rothbard quote, "It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance."

I've put this under the category of "economics" but could just as relevantly put it under "politics" or "bottom feeders".

Why? Because "bottom feeders" is a good description of those who deliberately push the myths of the Great Depression - "Hoover believed in laissez-faire" "It was a failure of the free market and FDR saved the day" etc. And "politics" because well it is a synonym for "bottom feeders".

It isn't just dry economic analysis but includes some great quotes from people like HL Mencken.

Here is a link to one of the best books (free pdf download) on the myths of the Great Depression.

And here is a link to a page that has the whole thing as an audio book.

It is written by Lawrence W. Reed who is now with FEE

This is a talk on a subject seldom addressed but obviously crucial. It is about personal character. Don't let that put you off. It is not a sermon. Or to put that another way, if sermons were more like this there wouldn't be a decline in church membership.

Liberty and Character from FEE on Vimeo.

This is an interesting talk on the history of the fight for liberty against the state.