Unfortunatley my screen name, which I have had since 1998, is also the name of a idiotic left-wing movie actor.

I was unaware of the existence of the movie actor Jack Black at the time I chose my handle here at Free Republic. Since becoming aware of him I don’t really like him. I’m not a fan of either his movies or his politics.

I chose the name Jack Black as an homage to the fine Tennessee sippin’ whiskey I was fond of at the time, but which I now no longer drink either.

I have considered changing my name, but I’m used to it. So I live with this little problem.

Thanks for your understanding.

Yours, the FReeper Jack Black

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Obama on Race:

From Dreams from My Father: 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'

From Dreams from My Father : 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.'

From Dreams from My Father: 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'

From Dreams from My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'

From Dreams from My Father: 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attribute I sought in myself , the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'

From "The Audacity of Hope": 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

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La Raza and the Reconquista:

Armando Navarro, Prof. Ethnic Studies, UC Riverside at Latino Summit Response to Prop 187, UC Riverside, 1/1995

“These are the critical years for us as a Latino community. We’re in a state of transition. And that transformation is called ‘the browning of America’. Latinos are now becoming the majority. Because I know that time and history is on the side of the Chicano/Latino community. It is changing in the future and in the present the balance of power of this nation. It’s a game - it’s a game of power - who controls it. You (to MEChA students) are like the generals that command armies. We’re in a state of war. This Proposition 187 is a declaration of war against the Latino/Chicano community of this country. They know the demographics. They know that history and time is on our side. As one community, as one people, as one nation within a nation as the community that we are, the Chicano/Latino community of this nation. What this means is a transfer of power. It means control.”

The Takeover of America CD

LA Teacher Call for Revolt in USA

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My Guide to Buying Precious Metals Cheap by Jack Black

This guide summarizes my knowledge of the market for small scale precious metal buying gained over the last few years. Anyone concerned about Goldline might better understand where they fit into the "value heirarchy" by reading this (hopefully). The scale of the value of gold coins is based on rarity.

• At one end are old, rare coins in excellent shape. If you know a lot and the market for rarities goes up you can do very well with these. I don't know enough to invest in those, I'm not really interested in understanding the differences between grades like Fine, Very Good and their impact on price, etc. etc.

• Next highest cost over the "melt value" of the metal are "special" newly minted coins. These are sometimes called "proofs" "first strikes" or other fancy names. Basically these are made by the same mints producing "ordinary" new coins, but are special in the excellence of their early manufacture or some other way. Again, you are depending on a collectors market existing at some future point for these mass produced "rare" objects. Sometimes they do. Various Chinese Panda's and strage Austrailian proofs already do fetch a higher permium today than they did 10 years ago. Again, I'm too lazy to try to learn all that and figure it out.

• Next up are "bullion coins". While they may have very pleasing designs, the makers are not selling them as collectible or rare, but merely as easily accessable and nicely crafted way to buy the underlying metal. The most famous of this type is the American Eagle, which comes in both silver and gold varations. You can easily figure out how much you are getting charged for the mint's coinage by subtracting the spot price of the gold from the price of the coin, or by comparing the different countries coins. There is a pretty standard heirarchy at this point that goes something like this for gold:
  • American Buffalo
  • American Eagle
  • Canadian Maple Leaf
  • Austrian Phillharmonic
  • South African Krugerrand

  See Table 1 for the typical premiums paid based on coin type

  There *are* small differences in the purity of some of these coins. Because of heritage of coins as "stuff people carried around" some of them are alloyed with other metals,which makes them harder (resistant to scratching). At todays price no one carries around gold, and they come packed in protective plastic, so it's more a historic anomoly. In every case if it says 1oz gold you are getting 1oz of Gold *plus* some small amount of the alloy metal. Some people like this. In general the trend is towards .999 (or .9999 which is almost the same) purity and no alloy material. Here is the list with alloy described:

  • American Buffalo -.999 purity gold
  • American Eagle - .9167 purity Gold, 3% Silver, 5.33% Copper
  • Canadian Maple Leaf -.999 purity gold
  • Austrian Phillharmonic -.999 purity gold
  • South African Krugerrand -.9167 purity Gold, 8.3% copper purity

  • .9167 is also known as 22 karat or 'crown gold' and has a long history as a durable coin formula

• At the very bottom of the premium charged over the cost of the metal are "generic" or "private label" bullion. These are very similar to the coins listed above, only they have done away with a government mint and just have the name of the private organization that made them. Who do you trust more to assess the purity of your coins? The US Mint or Bank Suisse? Your call, but the market has determined the premium for generics is lower than even for bullion coins.

  All generic gold bars are .999 purity and un-alloyed with any other metal.

  For whatever reason generic bullion silver is often made as coins (but having no nominal value as currency is marketed as "rounds"), while generic gold is almost always sold in the shape of very small gold bars.

• One other factor effecting cost is the size of the round or bar. One troy ounce is kinda the standard. As you go down in size and buy smaller coin's (called "fractionals") the cost over the spot price (or melt value, if you prefer) goes up. Gold coins typically come in 1oz, 1/2oz, 1/4oz 1/10th oz and sometimes 1/20th oz sizes. The small generic gold bars come in those sizes and also metric sizes like 1gram, 5gram and 10gram.

• Most generic sliver comes in 1oz rounds, and larger bar sizes (10oz, 100oz).

  You can easily figure out how much more buying the small coins costs by doing the math, but I've done it for you in Table 2 below.

• Most of the lower cost suppliers don't like taking credit cards. They perfer checks, cashiers checks or wire transfers. Some will also sell by credit card, but have higher prices.

So, in summary the cheapest easy way to buy precious metals while paying the lowest cost is to buy generic 1 oz gold bars or silver rounds. If you prefer the security of government validation buy 1 oz bullion coins with no claimed special collectors value.

If $1300 for a gold coin is way to much the buy fractionals, knowing you are paying more per oz for the privilige of getting smaller coins. (You will get most of this back when you sell them.)

Table 1: Premium Paid for Gold Coins/Bars by Type

Coin Type	Price Per 1 Oz. Coin	Premium over spot
Spot Price	$1179.00	$0
Maple Leaf	$1236.90	$57.90
American Eagle	$1272.24	$93.24
American Buffalo	$1260.46	$81.46
Krugerrand	$1260.46	$81.46
Austrian Philharmonic	$1231.01	$52.01
Generic Bar	$1203.00	$24.00

Note: All data from Kitco Web Store 5/22/10

Table 2: Premium Paid for Gold Coins by Size

Gold Eagle Size	Price Per Unit	Cost per oz.	Premium over spot
Spot Price	...	$1179.00	$0
1 Oz.	$1244.60	$1244.60	$65.60
1/2 Oz.	$659.30	$1318.60	$139.60
1/4 Oz.	$343.90	$1375.60	$196.60
1/10th Oz.	$145.96	$1459.60	$280.60

NOTE: All prices based on NWT Mint cash bulk prices as of 5/22/10

Meanwhile here are sources for low cost bullion I have used with success.

APMEX (American Precious Metals Exchange) - Good prices and selection for both Silver and Gold. Carry all the standard bullion coins (Eagles, Maple Leafs, etc.) in most sizes. Credit cards accepted.

br>one oz. American Gold Buffalo

KITCOAbout the same prices and selection as above. Slightly better prices sometimes. Also have house brand bullion products at a very low markup. No credit cards. Best web site for bullion price charts!

one oz. Kitco generic gold bar

Northwest Territorial MintIs a great place to buy generic Silver Rounds. They charge about $1.30 over spot price for 1oz silver rounds, and include free shipping, and accept personal checks. Six to eight week delivery. No credit cards for discount bullion.

The sell all the standard gold and silver coins too, but their prices were a bit higher than Kitco and Ampex on a lot of them last time I checked. Depending on how you want to pay and ship they might still come out cheaper.

Northwest Territorial Mint 1oz Silver Round
Currently priced at $19.01 on a $17.71 spot price.

Here is the American Eagle:

$1300.51 based on $1176.60 bullion price,in quantity one paying with credit card.

Images above not to scale

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About the CWII Ping List

You call it, I make it happen.

Here's your CWII Ping@! Tradition dictates whenever a thread has one or more references to a future civil war we ping hte list.

This thread qualifies!

About the CWII Ping List

The CWII Ping List is short for Civil War II. It is NOT a list of people advocating another Civil War in America. It is a list of people who are interested in the parallels between the Civil War (or War Between the States, if you prefer) and our current situation, or more generally are noting the references to a 'coming Civil War' that are made in the press.

Of course sometimes this is merely a figure of speech, such as "The Tea Parties are fighting a civil war for the heart of the GOP". This would not merit a CWII ping.

On the other hand someone saying something like "The events in California are reminiscent of what happened in Yugoslavia in the period proceeding the Civil War" would merit a ping.

FR rules do not permit advocating for the overthrow of the Republic, and I am not aware of anyone doing so on the list. Still many do see that as the political climate worsens we may be heading in a direction that makes such a conflict all but inevitable, particularly if other avenues for resolving our differences are taken away. Such as widespread vote fraud by leftists making elections meaningless, or a small cadre of judges over-ruling all attempts to end destructive policies over the clear will of the people.

The correct keyword tag for the Civil War II ping list is "CWII".
Please Freep Mail me to get on the list

Here is a thoughtful article about what might CWII look like by Matthew Bracken. The CW2 Cube: Mapping the Meta-terrain

The CWII ping list, is maintained by Archy, Travis and I. At the request of one member I have decided to keep it in a less public place than here. Please send Travis or I mail if you would like to be updated. (Archy has been very busy driving tanks around lately ...)

IMAGE SOURCE for the famous flag picture:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_AcUcmQa6xbA/SPOwgCVpsWI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/xPIBqZ-gvVs/51600011small.jpg

END

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