Steve Peacock's U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

World Affairs Brief

Many thanks to Joel M. Skousen's World Affairs Brief for highlighting my recent PatriotUpdate.com article  "U.S. Cost of U.N. 'Rule of Law' Project: $500 million." As Skousen's brief is a subscription-based service, I am delighted that he saw fit to deem that piece worthy of mention to his readers, who no doubt want their money's worth.

For those who have not yet read that article, I had discovered, through routine database research, that the U.S. Agency for International Development will pay contractors up to a half-billion dollars to train other nation's to comply with United Nations-sanctioned "rule of law" guidelines (click through the link above for the full Patriot Update article).

There's nothing inherently wrong with encouraging governments to treat their citizens fairly and to be held accountable to their people; however,foisting this additional financial burden upon U.S. taxpayers -- compunded by the laughable notion that our government is some sort of Beacon on the Hill for the masses to follow -- is hypocritical if not downright laughable. Now that the sequestration process is unfolding, the White House and Congress should take a closer look at such projects when they start claiming that there's no place left for budget cuts.

Merry Christmas from U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

Merry Christmas to all U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor visitors. Oh, you don't celebrate Christmas? Well that's okay if that's your choice, and I am glad to live in a nation where you can make such decisions on your own, if that indeed is the case for you. As for me, I do celebrate Christmas, and thus offer no apology. May you all therefore have a Happy New Year as well -- a new year in which we can appreciate diversity while exercising free speech without excessive political correctness and squeamishness. -- Steve Peacock, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor founder.

Video of Ron Paul's Farewell Speech

As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor reported yesterday, Ron Paul, one of the nation's greatest living defenders of liberty and advocate of small government is retiring from the House of Representatives. He will be missed. A transcript of his address likewise is available.

One Less Defender of Liberty in Washington -- Ron Paul's Farewell

One of the nation's most vociferous defenders of liberty and vocal opponent of big government has given his last goodbye on the floor of the House of Representatives: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Among his many astute observations -- and warnings -- he left for the American people, the segment of his speech on liberty was among the most striking:

Liberty can only be achieved when government is denied the aggressive use of force. If one seeks liberty, a precise type of government is needed. To achieve it, more than lip service is required.

Two choices are available.

        1. A government designed to protect liberty—a natural right—as its sole objective.
The people are expected to care for themselves and reject the use of any force for
interfering with another person’s liberty. Government is given a strictly limited
authority to enforce contracts, property ownership, settle disputes, and defend
against foreign aggression.

        2. A government that pretends to protect liberty but is granted power to arbitrarily use force over the people and foreign nations. Though the grant of power many times is meant to be small and limited, it inevitably metastasizes into an omnipotent political cancer. This is the problem for which the world has suffered throughout the ages. Though meant to be limited it nevertheless is a 100% sacrifice of a principle that would-be-tyrants find irresistible. It is used vigorously—though incrementally and insidiously. Granting power to government officials always proves the adage that: “power corrupts.”

Once government gets a limited concession for the use of force to mold people habits and plan the economy, it causes a steady move toward tyrannical government. Only a revolutionary spirit can reverse the process and deny to the government this arbitrary use of aggression. There’s no in-between. Sacrificing a little liberty for imaginary safety always ends badly.

Today’s mess is a result of Americans accepting option #2, even though the Founders attempted to give us Option #1.

The full text of Paul's Farewell Address is available here via the TheHill.com. Give it a read. Read it and weep -- but read it and take action.

Update: The Monitor to Resume Frequent Reporting

Readers may have noticed that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor posts have decreased in frequency; please keep in mind that this is due solely to the fact that the Monitor is based in the heart of the storm-battered New Jersey coast. I soon intend to resume regularly reporting on the often unreported details of U.S. foreign aid and other international ventures supported by U.S.taxpayer dollars -- the magnitude of which undoubtedly will grow as the Obama Administration returns for Term Two and as other politicians of all parties seek Cabinet- and committee-level leadership appointments.

As I have been l affected by Hurricane Sandy, there will be obstacles to resuming the level of reporting that Monitor readers have come to expect. Please consider clicking through any of the sponsor ads on this site, as purchases made through those click-throughs will benefit the Monitor directly and my family and me indirectly. Thanks! -- Steve Peacock

(Revised, Nov. 11.)

Hurricane Sandy: Another Example of Why We Need to Invest More in America, Less Around the Globe (COMMENTARY)

I have an idea how we as a nation can better cope with the financial burden that nature has imposed upon us in this post-hurricane environment of devastation on the East Coast: Assess and then cancel various programs that U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Trade & Development Agency currently are carrying out or are planning to implement across the globe.

For the sake of full disclosure, I say this not only as a concerned taxpayer who continues to advocate streamlining (not the elimination) of foreign aid, but as a human being who lives one mile from the beach on the battered New Jersey coast -- someone who is doing significantly better than many of his Shore neighbors, but who is temporarily displaced nonetheless.

Before I continue, also keep in mind that this is less political -- insofar as partisan politics -- than it appears. Yes, the Obama Administration currently is executing the following initiatives. But as I've said before, it's a power thing, not an Obama thing. Such endeavors took place under Clinton and Bush, and in various forms will continue under future presidents.

Here we go:

Cancel the planned development of Ph.D. and masters degree programs for which USAID intends to fund in a Ugandan university. Use that money in schools across New Jersey, New York, or Connecticut. 

Cancel the nearly $1 billion in construction projects that USAID has planned for the Palestinians.  Use it to rebuild homes, businesses, and infrastucture destroyed during the hurricane. OUR hurricane.

Those business start-up projects in The Philippines? Cancel them. Most of the businesses in my area are closed, hopefully just temporarily. many, presumbaly, will go under. Tell the Filipinos they have to wait. 

The groundwater cleanup projects in for which USTDA paid the cost of U.S. industry reps to fly to China to boost that sector? Stop such subsidies, damnit. I'm guessing the groundwater between Seaside Heights and Point Pleasant (among other locations) could use some ameliorating. 

The list is seemningly endless. There are bigger and even more controversial projects, I am sure, the billions is no so-called "drug war" contracts among one of the more insane categories.

Oh, okay, just one more example (out of many). I know it amounts to peanuts, but the $322,000 that Department of State just spent on a 10-animal dog kennel in Iraq could have been used to rebuild damaged animal -- and human -- shelters here on the East Coast instead. Just sayin.' -- Steve Peacock

Monitor Placed on Blog List of Foreign Service Group

Many thanks to the American Foreign Service Association for its decision to include U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor on its blog list, a decision that offers a glimpse into how this respected organization views this site. No offense taken that AFSA listed it under"Critical Blogs." Though not every federal endeavor on which the Monitor reports is necessarily objectionable, there is no doubt that I focus my searches on finding foreign aid projects worthy of a "hmmm" response from readers.

I am furthermore proud to be listed alongside the "We Meant Well" blog of Peter Van Buren, author of the similarly titled book that notably is subtitled "How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People."

Debate Group Leverages Monitor Info in Wiki Project

Many thanks to participants in a National Debate Coaches Association wiki endeavor for using the U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor article "AFRICOM Transport No-Bid Contract-Extension Awarded." An NDCA sub-group is leading an online debate specific to climate change and U.S. investments in Africa, and one of the participants posted the Monitor piece as part of that project.

Although the Monitor often reports on what arguably represents questionable and possibly wasteful U.S. foreign assistance, many of its reports simply offer to the public an accessible record of the details of overseas expenditures--leaving it up to the reader to decide on a project's merits, or the lack thereof.

As both a journalist and as an educator, I am delighted to make this otherwise underreported information more readily available, regardless of one's worldview. -- S.P.

You're Being Lied to About the Muslim Riots: Commentary

Brian Lilley of the Canadian media outlet Sun News offers this brutally honest and brave account of what really took place around the Muslim world on and around this past September 11th.

Thank you Mr. Lilley for having the guts to take an honest look at these horrific situations -- meaning both the murderous attacks as well as the gutless and mindless mainstream media coverage of (and the Obama administration's response to) these global events. -- Steve Peacock

U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor Tops 140,000 Page Views

I am delighted to announce that in less than a year and a half of its existence U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has registered more than 140,000 page views! One certainly could argue that some sites accomplish that in a day, but for a one-man show perched on his home computer somewhere near the beach I would say that this is something to celebrate.

People truly are angry about how the U.S. federal government throws taxpayers funds around the globe. Whether through Google searches, links through discussion boards, or chatter via various social media, more and more people keep discovering that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor is a unique and reliable source of such information.

Do not get me wrong: Not everything that the Monitor reports on is an insidious example of government waste and often ultra-liberal insanity (though you will indeed find instances of such programs exposed via this site). The Monitor (typically) leaves it up to the reader to decide on the merits of such initiatives. There is no doubt, however, that many of the foreign aid programs and overseas business subsidies reported here and often found nowhere else are presented to encourage visitors to ask, "What the .....?"

Stay informed. Follow the Monitor via Twitter or subscribe through this blog's feed. Share articles with your Facebook friends and even your real friends. Forward a link to your elected official. Speak out when appropriate.

Take action; do not simply grumble. Do it now!