Jim Morrison Would Not Want To Be Pardoned

I'm going to go ahead and take the liberty of saying “Jim Morrison Would Not Want To Be Pardoned” by publicity seeking Florida governor Charlie Crist.

Crist said in an interview to the New York Times “In some ways it seems like a tragic conclusion to a young man's life to have maybe this be a lasting legacy, where we're not even sure that it actually occurred.”

Apparently Crist thinks that Jim Morrison made a mistake and that he deserves a belated second chance.

But while Morrison was alive he said:

“I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos-especially activity that seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom... Rather than starting inside, I start outside and reach the mental through the physical.”

“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”

‎"When you make your peace with authority, you become authority."

So even if Morrison didn't get naked in front of people, he wore that type of behavior as a badge of honor. It represents freedom, for which men like Morrison coveted.

Granting Jim Morrison a pardon is nothing more than a self serving publicity stunt for the governor. If governor Crist wants to do something positive for Jim Morrison he should try to understand him.


Victor Del Prete

Declassified: Federal Reserve Gold Manipulation Document

The U.S. Federal Reserve in collaboration with the white house had forged a secret agreement in 1975 with the government of Germany who agreed to not purchase gold above the then U.S. government price of $42.22 per ounce. “I have a secret understanding in writing with the Bundesbank – concurred in by Mr. Schmidt – that Germany will not buy gold, either from the market or from another government, at a price above the official price of $42.22 per ounce.” At the time this document was sent it was labeled “Strictly Classified.” The price of gold in 1975 was selling on the open market between $160 to $175 per ounce.



The document revealing this gold price manipulation undermining the free-market was declassified September 15, 2009 from the Gerald R. Ford library but sat for four years after the declassification was stamped on the memorandum June 28, 2005.



The answer to the question “why” is revealed within the pages of the document itself. “Until we and other countries have forged a genuine consensus on the desired shape of the future world monetary system, we should not isolate the gold question and deal with it apart from other critical issues of monetary reform. Moving ahead on gold in the absence of such a consensus may inadvertently and dangerously prejudge the shape of the future monetary system.”



The outcome of the secret “shaping” by the Federal Reserve is evident today. The dollar is worth a small fraction of what it was then as evidenced by the sharp increase in the number of dollars needed to buy an ounce of gold.



What's interesting to note is that the Treasury's position on gold was not in alignment with the then Federal Reserve chairman Arthur. F. Burn's agreement with Germany. Several other developed countries were allied and “severe criticism” was assured in the document if the Treasury's position continued.



France was also not a supporter of the U.S. gold manipulation scheme and the document outlays several options to change that, “there is in my judgment a reasonably good chance of a “successful” negotiation in Paris next week, even if it proves impossible to win French acceptance of individual country gold ceilings and other aspects of the U.S. position on gold issues. The political pressures to reach agreement on increases in IMF quotas are great.” “I have consulted Henry Kissinger as to whether there is some political quid pro quo we might want to extract from the French in exchange for acceding to some part or all of their desired position on gold.” The United Kingdom, Japan, and some other unmentioned developed countries did agree to manipulate gold.



The document was sent to the Ford administration. Then Secretary of the Treasury William Simon, then Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, then Director of the OMB James Lynn, and then Ford economic adviser Bill Seidman, were all cc'd on the memorandum.



The entire declassified document is here.



Victor Del Prete

Euthanizing Pavlov's Dog

It's ironic that Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist, proved the virtues of capitalism. He performed his famous experiments with regular dogs who learned through repetition that rewards would be delivered directly after ringing a bell. Pavlov didn't always use a bell to trigger the reactions, he experimented with both positive and negative reinforcement using other stimuli including whistles, metronomes, and electric shock on his dogs. Eventually the dogs learned to “ring the bell” themselves in order to be rewarded. Man's best friend gave us a spectacle for a simplistic interpretation of capitalism.

Rewarding good behavior elicits more good behavior. That was the conclusion drawn from his experiments. Similarly, punishing bad behavior helps to eliminate unwanted behaviors. Intelligent life learns to associate cause and effect. Touch a hot stove and you get burned. The result: you won't touch the hot stove anymore. The storage of a desired memory can be easily reinforced with pleasure or pain, whether it's with cash, food, sex, or with an electric shock.

Capitalism Is Instinctual

There is no society more noble than one that promotes unbridled self-interest without corruption, because it provides the driving force behind free thinking. Untarnished capitalism is the manifestation of instinctual behavior, and therefore good, natural, and right. It is the right way.

Capitalism always held consistent with the basic instinctual principles of survival. Americans always lived by the moral code that if they worked hard in school, became educated, got a good job, worked hard some more, didn't lie, cheat, or steal, and planted the seeds of a meritorious life, that they would subsequently be self-rewarded handsomely with a generous portion of spoils.

“The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests.” --Milton Friedman

It stands to reason that the more educated you become the higher your social value should be. The harder you work the more money you can make, and so on. It is still mostly that way in America because the country was founded on merit based principles, but that is eroding quickly.

Socialist America

All forms of welfare are socialist: “Collective ownership and distributed goods.” Any government programs like HEW (Health, Education, and Welfare) are socialist. Any programs to level the playing field, help the disadvantaged, open doors for specific ethnicities, minorities, ages, races, or genders, all amount to socialism. Favoritism of any kind is socialism. Money packages to keep companies from becoming insolvent is socialism. Social security and Medicare are socialist. Our “national debt” is rooted in socialism. The Federal Reserve central bank promotes socialist behavior and is at the heart of the problem.

Ayn Rand, a peasant who immigrated to the USA from the USSR, who wrote her magnum opus “Atlas Shrugged”, understood that the looters of free enterprise are the destroyers of our imaginations. The looters are the corrupt lawmakers who create socialist programs and packages to help the incompetent compete with the competent. She illustrates how government programs create friction like sand in the gears, making life more difficult and complicated for the truly capable and talented until they can no longer perform.

Government has nothing to give, it creates no wealth, and therefore only has the lowly task of merely staying out of the way and ensuring that the gears of free enterprise are untrammeled and free of corruption. Government programs are the bane of civilization.

“Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday. The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production.” --Ayn Rand

Atlas Shrugged was published in 1957 and was a warning to America about what can and will happen if it stayed on a course aimed toward socialism. Here we are over 50 years later and America did not heed the omen. Eventually the gears are becoming more and more fouled with vile corruption at all levels and backward programs that lift the weak onto the shoulders of the drowning strong. In the book, all production, everything, eventually just stopped. Unfortunately I worry that it's going to be a much bigger disaster in real life when we finally lose our best friend.

The grim reaper is coming for Pavlov's dog now. People have lost trust that they will be rewarded proportionally for their hard work anymore. Instead good behaviors are often punished and bad behaviors are rewarded. Could it be that you work hard all your life and the government can still take all your wealth anytime and hand it to whom they choose? Is that the lesson now? Were the government's promises to properly manage our money empty and our hard work in vain?

R.I.P. Pavlov's dog.

Victor Del Prete