News from the Network, Vol. 5, No. 33

And you thought your vacation was lousy. Earlier today an Air France jetliner en route from Paris to Beirut, Lebanon, was diverted to Damascus. "Just in case" the crew asked the passengers if they had any spare cash with which to purchase fuel.  It could have been worse. They could have been using a galley for transport and been asked if they minded taking a turn at the oars . . . and the captain wants to go water skiing.

However bizarre, this actually segues into the Just Third Way approach on two accounts. One, a Just Third Way economy would spur research into alternate sources of fuel, making sanctions less likely to complicate the lives of travelers or the course of business. Two, a global economy based on the four pillars of an economically just society. . . .

• A limited economic role for the State,

• Free and open markets within an understandable and fair system of laws as the most objective and democratic means for determining just prices, just wages and just profits — the residual after all goods or services are sold,

• Restoration of private property, especially in corporate equity and other forms of business organization, and

• Widespread capital ownership, individually or in free association with others, achieved through universal access to capital credit repayable with "future savings" (profits) from the future goods and services for which each new growth investment is reasonably expected to produce. Thus, the poor and middle class without past savings are enabled to acquire direct ownership of capital in an advanced economy.

. . . . would make the underlying causes of the sanctions much less likely. So, to avoid the possibility of being asked to chip in for gas on your next airline flight (especially in mid-air . . . over the Pacific), work for adoption of a Capital Homestead Act at the earliest possible date. Here's what we've been doing so that we don't have to learn how to swim:

• On Thursday, members of the CESJ core group had an extended telephone conversation with the president of Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice, Inc., a 501(c)(3) in Connecticut that is affiliated with the Centesimus Annus Foundation at the Vatican. During the two-hour meeting the president made some very positive comments regarding the compatibility of CESJ's Core Values with Catholic social teaching (and thus the natural law). Representatives of CESJ were invited to a number of upcoming events to explore the possibility of future collaboration.

• Russell W. heard back from the Human Rights representative for Montgomery County, Maryland, who gave him a contact in Columbus, Ohio. Russell also got to the Executive Director of Gamaliel, a group that does organizing within the faith-based groups in about 18 states. The Director is trying to get leadership to act on projects, e.g., the creation of a million jobs. Russell is still sounding them out to see if they will be compatible with the Just Third Way.

• Guy S. reported that he has affiliated with America's Party, and they have a third party candidate for president. Although Guy has been doing this for four years, he is now making progress. They've been discussing Capital Homesteading in a number of their forums, and he has now been encouraged to ask Norman Kurland to a conference call later this month and two follow up meetings. Guy is requesting other members of the core group to participate to show numbers and offer support. The focus will be on the national debt and Social Security.

• Guy has been in contact with Dr. Robert Ornellis, an American Indian, America's Independent Party's candidate for Vice President. Guy believes that Dr. Ornellis might be ideal to champion Capital Homesteading. He is on the ballot in California. They are the largest third party. They have 600,000 registered voters in California. They have affiliations with a number of other third parties. None of them have a plan, however, so Guy is hoping that meeting with him will result in his adopting Capital Homesteading as part of his platform.

• Paul Ryan went to Davenport, Iowa, on Thursday. Guy was hoping to deliver CESJ's updated healthcare paper and material on Capital Homesteading.

• Monica W. set up a number of meetings for Norman Kurland. Last Friday she met with the Director of R&D for ESOP ("Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People"). ESOP is working on solving the foreclosure crisis. Monica thought he was tracking on the Just Third Way and, especially, the information on the Homeowners Equity Corporation (HEC). He asked about how the discount window of the Federal Reserve works, and took notes. He seemed to understand what Norman Kurland was talking about, although he probably didn't get all his questions answered due to time constraints. He had to leave, but he agreed to another meeting to discuss how to implement a pilot program of the HEC in Cleveland

• Senator Robert Casey of Pennsylvania was given a copy of CESJ's edition of A Plea for Peasant Proprietors. If Casey is reelected, there is a possibility of a meeting with Norman Kurland to discuss Capital Homesteading. The Senator is Irish American on both sides; his Pro-Life stance suggests a willingness to think for himself regardless of the official party position, which bodes well for possible openness to Capital Homesteading.

• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 47 different countries and 52 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from the United States, Canada, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and India. People in Nepal, Indonesia, Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands spent the most average time on the blog. The most popular postings this past week were "Thomas Hobbes on Private Property," "Aristotle on Private Property," "Lies, Damned Lies, and Definitions, XXVI: The Depression," "The Coming Crash," and "Lies, Damned Lies, and Definitions, XXIII: Hijacking the Federal Reserve."

Those are the happenings for this week, at least that we know about. If you have an accomplishment that you think should be listed, send us a note about it at mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org, and we'll see that it gets into the next "issue." If you have a short (250-400 word) comment on a specific posting, please enter your comments in the blog — do not send them to us to post for you. All comments are moderated anyway, so we'll see it before it goes up.

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