The Supreme Court and Ron Paul

Say what you will about W's administration, his nominees to the Supreme Court have been one campaign promise that he delivered on. It may be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of the liberals out there, but I believe that the president's lasting legacy will not be the "War on Terror" but Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito.

Even in the most recent completed full term, a number of 5-4 decisions on issues such as late term abortions, campaign finance laws, and school desegration policies have prompted Senators Arlen Specter and Chuck Schumer to make comments in recent days about the direction that the Supreme Court is moving. Here's Senator Schumer:

"Were we too easily impressed by the charm of nominee Roberts and the erudition of nominee Alito?" Schumer asked. "Did we mistakenly vote our hopes when our fears were more than justified by the ultraconservative records of these two men?"

"Yes," he said.

How about this: The reality at the time was that a Republican majority in Congress gave little lattitude for anyone but a strict constructionist with a proven track record (not Harriet Miers) to be sent up as a nominee. The end.

Which makes the 2008 election critical. The new President will have the responsibility of nominating at least one justice to the Supreme Court (maybe even two). Rudy says he will send up strict constructionists (at least his website says so) and I'm sure the other top tier candidates from the GOP would make similar pledges. The question becomes getting those judges confirmed.

So why is this post titled "The Supreme Court and Ron Paul"?

The GOP has the Supreme Court issue locked down. But on nearly everything else that conservative voters care about, they have pretty much dropped the ball. Ron Paul hasn't and he has the track record to prove it. An unknown at least among the GOP will be Iraq. Will voters have soured on this by the time the primaries roll around?

Based on current numbers, head to head, Giuliani loses against Hillary and Obama (all 3 being the presumed frontrunners) What is an unknown is how Paul would fare against Hillary or Obama. How many GOP voters would he be able to bring back to the fold since it has been taken over by the wing known affectionately by Pat Buchanon as the "War Party"?

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

More on Tommy Cryer

Worldnetdaily.com has a story on the Louisiana attorney who was recently found innocent of "willfull failure to file".

If there were an even greater indication of why the income tax is such a scam here's this:

Spokesman Robert Marvin in Washington's IRS office told WND the Internal Revenue Code provides for taxation on salaries or wages, but when pressed for a specific citation, or constitutional provision, he said, "I can't
comment."

Why can't the government just answer the friggin question? This guy spent 10 years waiting for an answer. Some spokeshole in DC can't make a comment about it?

Get rid of the IRS now. Vote for Ron Paul!

"Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper"

This is from 2005, I've been meaning to post this for awhile. It's an account a meeting that the President had back in 2005 with GOP Congressional leaders when discussing renewing the Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.

Here's the moneyshot:

"I don't give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the
Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."

"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

I've talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution "a goddamned piece of paper."

I wonder how much of that is just being in office for 5 years (at the time).

Update - added link to article

Central La Politics: Sheveport Attorney Beats the I.R.S.; Government Cannot Collect Income Taxes !

Central La Politics: Sheveport Attorney Beats the I.R.S.; Government Cannot Collect Income Taxes !

This could be a trend. Ron Paul wants to get rid of the income tax and replace it with nothing (Bravo!!). This attorney, Tommy Cryer, spends 2 years doing research on the law and decides to stop filing. The IRS takes him to court and he beats them. Ed and Elaine Brown are doing the civil disobedience thing. Ed Shulz and his We the People group have their court cases winding their way through court. Will we see an end to the income tax? Or will the economy collapse first? I'm guessing the economy will collapse first.

Puppies are cute (part 5)

Okay, so the dog isn't a puppy, and it's a commercial, not someones homevideo but this is a great ad. A friend sent this to me awhile back and I just thought I would share:

Why Ron Paul will win (reason 271)

The military supports him! From the Legal Liberty Blog:

Ron Paul received 49.5% of all contributions to Republican candidates from military folks last quarter, meaning he leads all other Republicans in military contributions. What's more, "Ron Paul leads all 2008 presidential candidates (Republican AND Democrat) in military contributions from the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and war veterans. Presidential candidate Ron Paul leads with an impressive one-third of all contributions this second quarter according to newly released data from the FEC." (Complete numbers here)

I'm keeping hope alive that the next great political trend in this country will be a return to the Constitution and the idea of a limited federal government. Reading stuff like this keeps me going.

UPDATE:

Michael Barone on Fox News talking about the donations from the military




I don't agree with his take on why Dr. Paul did so well with the military last quarter. It implies that military men and women are out looking to fight wars. The ones that I know don't, but they will and have when called upon to do so.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

Tara demonstrates sun salutations and upside down poses:

REPUBLICAN RENAISSANCE: If You’ve Ruled Out Ron Paul, You Ought to Think Twice

A great point by point on why Ron Paul shouldn't be dismissed so readily.

I'm surprised I haven't stumbled on this piece before.

The GOP establishment licks balls

In essence, according to this op-ed from "The Nation"

A little background first:

Under Georgia law, candidates of all parties run together in primaries to fill open House seats. Then the top two finishers -- no matter what their partisan affiliation --face each other in a runoff. In the overwhelmingly Republican district of the late Congressman Charlie Norwood, primary voting last month produced a run-off featuring two conservative Republicans.

Which led to this:

Given a choice between two conservative candidates, Georgia voters were asked: Do you want a candidate of the GOP establishment who promises to work with Republican leaders in Congress, or do you want an outsider who promises to go to Washington without strings attached?

The answer to that last question has always been to run for office as "the outsider". That ended up being the case here.

What piqued my interest, was the platform that the candidate who won ran on. Let's just say the newly minted Congressman's position could be considered remarkably similar to a certain Presidential candidate whose first name begins with "R" and ends with "n", and whose last name is also a first name...

As evidence of his independence, Broun emphasized a Ron Paul-like [campaign]committed to "work to restore government according to the Constitution as our Founders intended." While the Georgia[n] appears to be a more cautious constitutionalist than the maverick Texas congressman who is making a longshot bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, Broun borrowed one of the most popular of Paul's principles, promising that if elected he would assess any new legislation by first asking: "Is it constitutional and a proper function of government?"

People are realizing that the Feds have expanded their reach into citizens lives way beyond the scope of being a mere nuisance. And since I'm playing Nostrodamus with the economy, I'm going to make the call here on the 2008 presidential race.

It will be Ron Paul in a landslide.

As recently as yesterday, I was saying that "Dr. No" would probably, at most, be able to shape the debate for the GOP nomination. But, I think I've underestimated the power of Ron Paul's message.

Sean Hannity is a douchebag

The thing that has happened with Bill O'reilly has happened to Sean Hannity. When Fox News first came on the air, Bill and Sean were great. They asked good questions, they let the experts talk about their viewpoints, it made for interesting TV (to me, at least). What has happened in the last 5-6 years is that Bill and Sean have become insufferable egotists. They can't get out of their own way in fawning all over themselves. O'reilly is at least watchable (when he has people guest hosting) but Sean. He's a smaktard.

Cover Song of the Week

So the New York Post has a list of the top 100 coversongs ever, look at what's number one from Best Week Ever:


Dolly Parton with "Stairway to Heaven"



Cover Song of the Week Bonus:

The Bangles and Hazy Shade of Winter

The Coming Market Correction

I'm calling it right now:

So the Dow hit 14,000 a couple of times today. The exuberance in the stock market hides the reality that a correction is in the works, a major one probably in September or October.

Not that I have any evidence to back it up, but there is this:

The subprime mortgage market collapse.

The weakening dollar versus the Euro.

History: see Black Monday, Black Tuesday, and Black Thursday.

Black Monday is the name given to Monday, October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell dramatically, and on which similar enormous drops occurred across the world. By the end of October, stock markets in Hong Kong had fallen 45.8%, Australia 41.8%, the United Kingdom 26.4%, the United States 22.68%, and Canada 22.5%. (The terms Black Monday and Black Tuesday are also applied to October 28 and 29, 1929, which occurred after Black Thursday on October 24, which started the Stock Market Crash of 1929.)

Where this happened:

After an amazing five-year run that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJIA) increase in value fivefold, prices peaked at 381.17 on September
3, 1929. The market then fell sharply for a month, losing 17% of its value on the initial leg down. Prices then recovered more than half of the losses over the next week, only to turn back down immediately afterwards. The decline then accelerated into the so-called "Black Thursday", October 24, 1929. A record number of 12.9
million shares were traded on that day.

Better get your shit ready.

Puppies are cute (part 4)

Ayn Rand interviewed by Mike Wallace circa 1959

This is part 3 of a multipart series on youtube. Mike Wallace smoking cigarettes on air. Ayn Rand railing against collectivism. Fascinating.

Update: Forgot to give a hattip to: http://www.myspace.com/heytammybruce

Ron Paul @ Google

A comprehensive interview with Dr. Paul at Google. One of the best interviews he has given so far.

Yoga with Models

Tara Stiles demonstrating partner yoga:

Beth and Val on Beer

http://video.dotcomedy.com/player/?id=127846

Cover Song of the Week

Kelly Clarkson going way back "Stuff Like that There"-

Admittedly, this was the first time I ever heard her sing and developed an instant crush.





It's amazing how much fatter she is now:




"Never had an album that's told a cohesive story?" Look at the success that R Kelly had with "Trapped in the Closet"

UPDATE: What Would Tyler Durden Do? has pictures of Kelly Clarkson at the beach: She looks like a "fat, gay, Brad Pitt"

The Transition to Legitimacy

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.

So said Ghandi in his quest to gain independence from England.

It is in that spirit that Ron Paul's campaign has grown from a grassroots movement initially ignored and ridiculed as the den of conspiracy nutjobs, 9/11 truthers, tax protesters, John Birchers and assorted "fringe" groups. Dr. Pauls campaign has grown exponentially in the past few months since the airing of the televised debates.

This blog has never made a secret of which presidential candidate it endorses. But objectively, it is fair to say that Dr. Paul has the chance to, at the very least, frame the issues and shape the debate for the GOP nomination. Following are the Randolphus Maximus conventional wisdom talking points for and against Dr. Paul:

Pros:

Trackrecord - Dr. Paul has spent nearly 10 terms in Congress, with a track record of never voting for a tax increase, government spending increase, or anything that would expand the powers of the federal government

Message - the small government message still resides in our national character, freedom from government intrusion still resonates with the GOP base. Eight years of "compromise" have led to unprecedented increases in entitlements and spending, to the disgust of conservatives everywhere. His stance on illegal immigration and abortion fall into line with most traditional conservatives.

Supporters - Dr. Pauls supporters are enthusiastic about his message. They haven't seen a candidate like this in a long time. He brings out the passion in voters that has been lacking in recent elections. Personally, I know that George W has been a disappointment on a lot of issues. As a side note, I think that W's lasting legacy will not be the "War on Terror" it will be his Supreme Court nominations (the one campaign promise he has made good on)

Electability-

Dr. Paul's anti-Iraq war stance appeals to a lot of conservatives who thought going into Iraq was a bad idea (I don't like that we didn't declare war on Iraq, but that's a whole other issue). It also appeals to the Dems who feel the same way.

Cons

Message- does a small government message have any appeal anymore? Yes, it sounds good, but does that translate into votes on election day.

Time- Does Ron Paul have enough time to get enough name recognition? When will it be enough to register as a player on traditional polls?

Resources-

$100 million dollars is what's needed to get a job that pays a quarter of a million dollars a year. Ron Paul has $2.5 million cash on hand. Is it enough? It's at least more than John McCain.