Liberty lovers across the country will be gathering in Reno, Nevada, from September 15-17 for the 2011 Liberty Political Action Conference. With a variety of educational seminars being offered and the presence of prominent speakers like Texas Congressman and GOP presidential contender Ron Paul, the event should prove to have a major impact on the growing movement for liberty that is characterizing the upcoming presidential race. According to LPAC’s website: The Liberty Political Action Conference will play host to freedom activists from across the country. LPAC will feature conservative, libertarian, constitutional, and free market organizations, activists, and businesses. We’ll also bring together tons of exciting personalities and leaders in the liberty movement to discuss sound money, foreign policy, civil liberties, and the Constitutional hot button issues facing the liberty movement today. Featured speakers include Ron Paul, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah — both of whom are Tea Party favorites — executive director of the National Association for Gun Rights Dudley Brown, Barry Goldwater Jr., John Birch Society CEO Art Thompson, and senior faculty of the Ludwig von Mises Institute Walter Block, as well as many others.

In the days following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began systematically disregarding civil liberties and arresting “suspects” they believed might commit a crime if given the opportunity. An example of these violations is found in the case of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain. In 2007, these leaders at a mosque in Albany, New York were sentenced to 15 years in a federal penitentiary for their alleged connection with terrorist organization and their participation in a plot to launder money obtained by selling a missile to a Pakistani militant group known as Jaish-e-Mohammed. The FBI alleged that the two men had conspired to “make money through jihad” by laundering the proceeds of the sale of the shoulder-launched missile. What the FBI also admitted was that the crimes of which Aref and Hossain were accused, tried, and convicted were “not real” and that there was never any threat to the American people from the supposed conspiracy.   According to a story published recently in Harper's Magazine:

Dr. Alieta Eck has had a long career in medicine, starting as a registered pharmacist before going to medical school. She graduated from the St. Louis University School of Medicine and then did a residency in Internal Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and is part of a four-physician multi-specialty practice. Most notably, Dr. Eck is one of the founders of the Zarephath Health Center in Somerset, New Jersey, an organization that provides healthcare to the poor and uninsured. Most impressive is that the organization services their patients without receiving a single federal dollar. They are funded solely by donations and rely on volunteers. Not only does the health center cater to the physical needs of those who utilize its services, but it addresses their spiritual and emotional needs as well. Dr. Eck has been a leading proponent of free-market medicine and a staunch opponent of ObamaCare.

President Obama will be the featured speaker at an “interfaith faith prayer service” at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on the evening of September 11th to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the nation. Curiously, while the event will also include a “Roman Catholic bishop, a Jewish rabbi, Buddhist nun, a Hindu priest, the president of the Islamic Society of North America, and a Muslim musician,” reported Ron Kerby at Beliefnet.com, “…not a single protestant or evangelical has been invited to participate.” Most conspicuously absent, noted Kerby, will be official representation from the nation’s 16.6 million Southern Baptists, by far America’s largest Protestant denomination. “Completely left off the program was anybody represented by the National Association of Evangelicals,” he added. “No Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Congregationalists, Wesleyans, or Mennonites. Nobody from the Church of Christ or the Assemblies of God.”

In a news release last week, the Environmental Protection Agency labeled hay a pollutant, according to the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA). A non-profit organization representing thousands of U.S. cattle producers, R-CALF USA says the EPA’s outlandish affidavit could potentially require farmers and ranchers to store hay in pollution containment zones. The issue culminated from an EPA compliance order charging Callicrate Feeding Company with a list of environmental violations. The EPA’s Region 7 office detailed the violations in a news release: An inspection in February 2011 identified significant NPDES permit violations, including failure to maintain adequate wastewater storage capacity, failure to meet Nutrient Management Plan requirements, failure to conduct operations within areas that are controlled in a manner capable of preventing pollution, and failure to maintain adequate records. The order requires the operation to comply with all terms of the Clean Water Act and its NPDES permit, and to coordinate with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on its compliance. The order requires the operation to comply with the terms of its Nutrient Management Plan, including sampling and recordkeeping requirements. The feedlot has a permitted capacity of 12,000 cattle and was confining approximately 3,219 cattle at the time of the inspection.

A Christian a cappella singing group at the University of North Carolina (UNC) is under scrutiny after its members voted to expel another member who is openly homosexual. The Christian Post reported that the student group, called Psalm 100, “was founded on core biblical principles. When its members discovered that William Thomason, a UNC senior, disagreed with the biblical teaching on the sinfulness of homosexuality, a vote was held to have the student removed from the group.” Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC, told the student newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel, that the university would investigate to see if the group had violated the school’s non-discrimination policy. “We are on notice that there is a question as to whether or not a student organization has acted in compliance with the policy or not,” the official said. “We take that very seriously and that will be investigated.”

As Sarah Palin vacillates between running and not running, many among her Tea Party supporters are growing weary of the drama and are expressing their worry that the former governor of Alaska is merely using their dedication to further her own career and line her own pockets. One of these groups, the Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots, cites Palin as a perfect example of the kind of political parasite intent on feeding itself on the good will and treasure of those devoted to the patriot movement. On Tuesday, the Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots issued a press release calling out Palin and similar Tea Party celebrities for hitching themselves to the Tea Party wagon, teasing them with promises of running for office and restoring traditional American values to the halls of government.   The Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots organization is composed of former members of the armed services. Their website sets out their mission:

Outrage is mounting around the world against United Nations “peace-keeping” soldiers as sex-crime allegations, ranging from charges of rape and exploitation in Haiti to wide-spread sexual abuse of children in the Ivory Coast, have exploded into the headlines this week. One of the most alarming incidents in recent times — several Uruguayan troops serving under the UN in Haiti held down and gang raped a teenage boy — was documented on video and spread over the Internet. The crime sparked even more anti-UN protests in the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation. Past demonstrations, related to UN troops spreading cholera, abusing citizens, or other matters, have resulted in Haitians being killed by international forces. But this time the concerns are being taken seriously. The resulting global uproar over what Haitian President Michel Martelly described as the “collective rape carried out against a young Haitian” caused an international scandal that is still growing.

Tony Blankley’s recent column, “Politics Turns Dangerously Rougher,” reflects my own thinking on where all of this conflict between the socialist left and pro-Constitution Tea-Party right is headed. Since the history of socialism is rife with revolutionary violence, and undoubtedly socialist Obama knows that history well, I have feared that the present conflict may be leading us to civil violence. The words of labor leader Hoffa at the Labor Day celebration in Detroit had a dangerous ring. Blankley writes: Whether Hoffa's words are criminal or not, with words like "terrorist," "lynching," "go to hell," and "take them out," the emerging tone of the Democratic Party regarding the Tea Party is ominous. It is the language of murderous violence, and it is targeted at a specific group of people. Most disturbing is the failure of the Democratic Party leaders to condemn such language — including Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz -—  who on national television specifically and repeatedly evaded any comment on Hoffa's statement. Thus far, we have heard no repudiation of Hoffa’s intemperance from any high-ranking Democrat. Indeed, Hoffa’s language seems to indicate that the left is not at all averse to using violence to get its way.  

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) assault on American manufacturing may soon be arrested. As readers of The New American are aware, in what some have called its “worst decision,” the NLRB unloaded its regulatory arsenal on American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, Inc. and nearly eliminated a thousand jobs -- American jobs -- in the process.   With the American economy mired in the contrived quicksand of the Federal Reserve’s boom/bust cycle, Boeing struck out and threw a rope of hope to thousands of American families by opening a new 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in South Carolina. For such an ambitious undertaking, the Chicago-based aerospace and defense company received nearly universal praise. One prominent exception: the federal government in the form of the NLRB.   Rather than praise Boeing’s bravery and good will, the NLRB filed a federal lawsuit. The federal agency bared its litigious teeth after being “taunted” by Boeing’s lauding of South Carolina’s industry-friendly “right to work” labor laws.