News from the Network, Vol. 2, No. 24

As was not unexpected, today's Wall Street Journal carries a report by Robert Farago of "The Truth About Cars" web site, detailing the actions that politicians have already taken to interfere in business decisions at General Motors . . . despite their promise to keep their hands off. Clearly, no one took that promise seriously, but it does seem as if they have jumped the gun just a little, not even waiting until the dust has settled from the most recent disaster caused by State interference in the economy before commencing the next one. It is probably safe to state that no consideration whatsoever was given to the possibility of a 100% worker/retiree/dealership buyout, financed by discounting qualified loan paper from commercial banks at the Federal Reserve, which has, to all intents and purposes, been operating as the Federal government's money machine since 1917, despite prohibitions that still exist in the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Still, progress in getting the principles of the Just Third Way out to the public and potential movers and shakers continues unabated, with some very promising signs that people are beginning to take notice:

• A meeting scheduled on Monday of this week with a representative of "Smart Girl Politics" was canceled due to travel conflicts. The meeting will be rescheduled at the earliest possible date.

• Copies of the "Declaration on Monetary Justice" along with an explanatory cover letter were sent out to selected U.S. Representatives and Senators. If you belong to business, banking, labor, religious, environmental, academic, professional, civic or other organizations or third parties that want to endorse the Declaration, have them join the Coalition for Capital Homesteading. Rowland Brohawn designed the special letterhead and formatted a special edition of the Declaration for the effort.

• During this week, Norman Kurland engaged in a series of discussions on the "Doctors' Plan for Universal Health Care Coverage." Much of the debate dealt with the dangers of allowing the State more than a regulatory role. A number of reform advocates appear to see no danger in a monopoly State-run system. The problem that we see, however, is that (just as is the case with General Motors) politicians will not be able to keep themselves from using a government-run health care system to further their political aims and agendas. As Dr. Leo Alexander, Chief Medical Adviser at the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials noted in his landmark article in the 1949 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, "Science under dictatorship becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy of the dictatorship." ("Medical Science Under Dictatorship.") The same is true for any government-run monopoly.

• Earlier today CESJ president Norman Kurland sent letters to some of the people he met while attending the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on May 8, 2009, in Washington, DC, which Norm and a CESJ delegation consisting of Rowland Brohawn, Dawn Brohawn, Dr. Ahmed Mansour of the International Qu'uranic Center in Northern Virginia, and Michael D. Greaney attended at the invitation of Dr. Robert Moynihan and Ms. Debbie Tomlinson of Inside the Vatican magazine. Two of the contacts are members of "Legatus," an organization for Catholic CEOs, the mission of which is to 1) foster continuing religious education of its members, 2) translate the social teaching of the Catholic Church into practical applications, and 3) spread the faith through good example, good deeds and high ethical standards. Indications are that the members of Legatus should be very open to learning about Justice-Based Management ("JBM") and applying it in their companies.

• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 32 different countries and 38 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from the United States, the UK, with Canada, Venezuela, and Brazil rounding out the "top five." People in Venezuela, Egypt, Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United States spent the most average time on the blog. The most popular postings are the news reports, with the postings on usury and Henry Ford's mistakes rounding out the list.

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.