THE Global Justice Movement Website

THE Global Justice Movement Website
This is the "Global Justice Movement" (dot org) we refer to in the title of this blog.

Friday, October 24, 2008

News from the Network, Vol. 1, No. 9

The not-unexpected wild swings in the stock market and currency valuations due to the alternating euphoria and despair as candidates, policymakers and politicians run after whichever shiny object distracts them, are the big news items of the week. Much of the emotionalism over the current economic situation could be reduced (if not eliminated entirely) if serious consideration would be given to the Just Third Way. Here are some of our efforts to bring the Just Third Way to the attention of the current power elite.
• Former Congressman Walter Fauntroy is still working on placing his op-ed piece on the Homeowners' Equity Corporation. Right now, however, he is making great efforts to get meetings for Norman Kurland with some of the more influential people involved in the financial crisis.

• Reception of Michael D. Greaney's latest book, In Defense of Human Dignity: Essays on the Just Third Way from a Natural Law Perspective, ISBN 978-0944997024, Economic Justice Media, $20.00, has been encouraging. A number of people have expressed enthusiasm for the book, which has been characterized as meeting a definite need in our society with respect to the revival of natural law. Amazon, and is up on Barnes and Noble. As we noted previously, there is a 20% discount on orders in quantity, and interest has been expressed in some quarters in using the book (and others) in fundraising.

• Joseph Recinos recently met with the daughter of the late Herman Kahn, the futurist and founder of the Hudson Institute, and gave her copies of material relating to the "Doctors' Plan" for health care and, especially, the Homeowners' Equity Corporation.

• This past Sunday, October 19, Norman Kurland had a 2-hour interview on a show conducted by Paula Gloria and Posr Posr. The first hour included participation by Dr. Robert H. A. Ashford, co-author of Binary Economics: The New Paradigm (1999). In the second hour, Norman Kurland started talking about the three principles of justice so that it could be seen as the moral basis of binary economics. Paula Gloria has a pretty good audience over the internet. She was recently on the Howard Stern Show and mentioned binary economics, and got a number of angry comments from callers to the effect that binary economics is nonsense.

• Wednesday October 22. Invited by the newly-formed, D.C.-based Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, Norman Kurland attended a presentation at the National Press Club by Dr. Yaron Brook, president of the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California. The followers of Ayn Rand pose their philosophy as a revolution against socialism based on "selfishness" and "greed" as moral virtues, giving "capitalism" moral superiority over altruistic goals. During the session Norman asked Dr. Brook two questions: "1. Have you ever heard of Louis Kelso's Capitalist Manifesto" (he had not) and 2. "Why aren't you taking into consideration semantics, especially the negative connotations of such words as 'selfishness,' 'greed' and 'capitalism'?" Norman Kurland later asked for a meeting with Dr. Brook the next time he visits Washington, handing him a package, of material consisting of his 1971 exchange with Milton Friedman, the 6/29/79 TIME magazine article on Kelso where Friedman declared Kelso "is Marx turned on his head," the matrix comparing the Just Third Way to Capitalism and Socialism, the book flyer, and Michael Greaney's recent letter to the Washington Post (posted below on this blog as "Why Keynes is Wrong for America — or Anywhere Else"). In the reception following the talk, Norman gave materials to other individuals and had a positive exchange with Fred Smith, president, and Sam Kazman, general counsel, of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

• Guy Stevenson is working to introduce Capital Homesteading and the other ideas to Alan Keyes, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney and others with an eye toward bringing together the Keyes' America's Independent Party, Paul's Revolutionary Party, McKinney's Green Party and other third parties for a mass demonstration at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 attacking Keynesian tax slavery and pushing for reforms to our money and credit system based on the American Revolutionary Party's "Declaration of Monetary Justice."

• Republican Congressional candidate for Ohio's 11th District Thomas Pekarek's debate with Democratic contender Marcia Fudge was reported by Fox News and WCPN News. Fudge was given most of the coverage, while Pekarek, who has made Capital Homesteading the cornerstone of his campaign, seems not to have been taken seriously. On reading the news reports, it appears that the reporters may not have understood the Capital Homesteading concept and, unwilling to spend the required time to grasp this essentially new economic framework, treated Pekarek dismissively and did not pay sufficient attention to something they might not have been in a position to grasp without effort.

• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 32 different countries and 47 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past two months.
As usual, there are a great many other news items that we haven't heard about because you haven't submitted them. If you're tired of reading about what we're doing, let's hear from you. If you have a SHORT item about how you are advancing the Just Third Way, send us a note about it at mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org.

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