Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

Check out Tara's myspace: www.myspace.com/tarastiles

This week, a routine for beginners



Yoga for Beginners with Tara Stiles

I'm adding Kristeen's vid, just because she's hot. She doesn't do yoga, and all she's talking about is her pictures. But I like her look, sort of Jessica Alba-ish.

A look inside Kristeen's model portfolio

The Ron Paul Remix feat R Kelly -

This is pretty funny, it's short also:

Thank You! And Don't Watch this Movie

The fires here in San Diego have really captured my attention the past few days, luckily I haven't had to evacuate, yet. But I have a number of friends who live where the fires have hit hard that have had to leave. I'm hoping and praying for the best for them.

I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has called and emailed me expressing their concern about the situation out here, I know that things could be a lot worse, not just for me, but for everyone around here.

All of that being said, I wanted to direct everyone's attention to another tragedy in the making:
"Repo: The Genetic Opera" has a trailer out. Paris Hilton is in it, so is the dude from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Sara Brightman (the woman who sings the Bellagio song with the blind dude)

I really don't know what to make of it:



it could be the second coming of "Grease" OR it could be as bad as this:




I will say that if they were trying to make a trailer that makes someone NOT want to see the movie, this is probably the way to go about it.

San Diego Fires

10/23/07 7:57 AM UPDATE:

I had scheduled this appointment last week and am getting my car serviced this morning, they are running a skeleton crew and advised me that they will close early if advised to evacuate. I can overhear a number of employees talking about how the fire has affected them.

I had to get on the freeway for a couple of miles to get to the dealership and there was no traffic at all.





UPDATE: And Still I Persist has tons of updates from Escondido



I hadn't really been paying attention to the fires that have been ravaging the Malibu area of Southern California. Then I take a step outside of my place here in San Diego and there is ash falling everywhere. I turn on the radio just now and Governor Schwarzenegger is holding a press conference about the fires raging east of San Diego and to the south close to the Mexican border. It looks like areas of Solana Beach (a beach community north of San Diego) is having some evacuations now.

So far there have been 250,000 evacuations. Qualcomm Stadium (where the Chargers play) which is 2 miles east of my location has been converted into a shelter area.

Local news reports indicate that the government emergency services infrastructure has held up well, with few problems coordinating and communicating with each other.

KUSI has their newsfeed streaming here:

http://www.kusi.com/home/10720631.html?video=pop&t=a

KNSD the local NBC affiliate has news as well:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/index.html

their live feed is here:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/videostream/11724377/detail.html

Will update soon.

Zakaria says that we have lost all perspective on Iran

From Newsweek:

The American discussion about Iran has lost all connection to reality. Norman Podhoretz, the neoconservative ideologist whom Bush has consulted on this topic, has written that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "like Hitler … a revolutionary whose objective is to overturn the going international system and to replace it in the fullness of time with a new order dominated by Iran and ruled by the religio-political culture of Islamofascism." For this staggering proposition Podhoretz provides not a scintilla of evidence.

In fact, Zakaria writes, the evidence is to the contrary:

Here is the reality. Iran has an economy the size of Finland's and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?

Why does President Bush feel that Iran is such a threat to our national security, going as far last week as to say that World War Three would be inevitable if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons? Here is something that Zakaria fails to mention about Iran. The war rhetoric from Bush on Iran has been nonstop since his "Axis of Evil' speech in 2002. Our transformation of Ahmadinejad into Hitler started when he was elected to office in 2005. One gets the feeling that Mother Theresa could be elected into the Iranian presidency, and, come hell or high water, they would be the new monster that the administration would have to slay in the name of stopping terrorism.

Ron Paul post debate interview w/Hannity 9/21/07

Yoga with Tara Stiles Ford Model

This week: Hamstrings

Check out Tara's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tarastiles

Homage to Salma Hayek's boobs

I've always had a thing for latinas and now Uber (NSFW for nudity, but totally worth it) has a top 10 tribute to uber-hottie Salma Hayek and her boobs. I can't believe that Salma is pushing 40.

Here's Conan hypnotized, from uber's list:

LieStoppers: Professor Anderson tells it like it is

LieStoppers: Professor Anderson tells it like it is

I started reading Professor Anderson's columns for his take on the Duke Lacrosse case over a year ago. Here it is 6 months after North Carolina AG Roy Moore declared the accused innocent and a criminal investigation of Nifong and the local law enforcement hasn't even begun. Are we ever going to see criminal charges for DA Nifong or the police department involved with the Duke Lacrosse case? William Anderson says "When hell freezes over":

The reason is simple: the politics of race. Seligmann, Finnerty, and Evans are white, and their accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum, is black. The NAACP and other black organizations had staked all of their credibility to the charges being true, and desperately tried to keep the case alive, even when it was exposed as a lie. Furthermore, the rape crisis organizations and feminist groups also refused to let go of the lies that propelled this case in the first place. The radical faculty members, employees, administrators and students at Duke also rebelled at seeing this "opportunity" slip through their fingers, so they insisted that Cooper either had covered up the evidence or had been kowtowing to white supremacists. In other words, even the truth could not stop business as usual, so people from these groups simply comforted themselves with the Big Lie that the players were guilty of rape, but were going to skirt justice because of their race and family incomes.

Racial politics at the expense of justice, I shouldn't even act like I'm shocked.

Bill Maher and 9/11 truthers

Who is screening his audience? The TSA?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzrUD-5hf1A

The real highlight of the show was the interview with World Chess Champion Gary Kasparov. He is an interesting interview because his insight on Russia and Russian politics is fascinating. His opinions on us are even more illuminating:

Tucker, Buchanan, and Press on Ron Paul

Ron Paul's donor list is eclectic:

The Coming Market Correction (part 2)

Back in August I had said that there was going to be a huge market correction, that the meltdown was coming.

This week, we've seen continued decline of the dollar compared to the Euro. We've seen oil futures trade at record highs, and as of close today, the dow jones ended up down 2.64%. With other indices down by similar percentages.

Next week will be key, will the freefall continue? It's going to be bad, very, very, bad.

Blowback - Cold War Style

Pat Buchanan not mincing words this week:

At the Cold War's end, the United States was given one of the great opportunities of history: to embrace Russia, largest nation on earth, as partner, friend, ally. Our mutual interests meshed almost perfectly. There was no ideological, territorial, historic or economic quarrel between us, once communist ideology was interred.

We blew it.

We moved NATO onto Russia's front porch, ignored her valid interests and concerns, and, with our "indispensable-nation" arrogance, treated her as a defeated power, as France treated Weimar Germany after Versailles.

Who restarted the Cold War? Bush and the braying hegemonists he brought with him to power.

Great empires and tiny minds go ill together.

Note to Lew Rockwell, you need to update Pat's stock photo.

The TSA sucks at its job

From USA Today:

Security screeners at two of the nation's busiest airports failed to find fake bombs hidden on undercover agents posing as passengers in more than 60% of tests last year, according to a classified report obtained by USA TODAY.

It turns out that at LAX, the screeners there missed fake bombs 75% of the time. Don't you get the sinking feeling that the fake bombs that they used for the experiments were a bunch of candles tied together with a ticking alarm clock attached on top?

What is also interesting is that the private screeners (non TSA employees) at San Francisco airport were able to CATCH the fake bombs 80% of the time.

As if there wasn't enough evidence that the private sector works much better than the public sector in doing most things, add this to the list.

Alan Greenspan on Fox Business

He's promoting his book, but at the end, I think it's interesting that, for the second time I've seen, the interviewers asks him about the need for a central bank. He even uses the term "fiat money".

8 PS3's and then you can destroy the world!

I spotted this article on Hotair:

Astrophysicist Replaces Supercomputer with Eight PlayStation 3s

...Prior to obtaining his PS3s, Khanna relied on grants from the National
Science Foundation (NSF) to use various supercomputing sites spread across the
United States "Typically I'd use a couple hundred processors -- going up to 500
-- to do these same types of things."

However, each of those supercomputer runs cost Khanna as much as $5,000 in grant money. Eight 60 GB PS3s would cost just $3,200, by contrast, but Khanna figured he would have a hard time convincing the NSF to give him a grant to buy game consoles, even if the overall price tag was lower. So after tweaking his code this past summer so that it could take advantage of the Cell's unique architecture, Khanna set about petitioning Sony for some help in the form of free PS3s.

That last paragraph is just another example of what happens when the government gets involved in doling out cash. The costs of doing something goes up, when you compare trying to do the exact same thing where government is NOT involved, it ends up people find cheaper, more creative ways to meet that goal.

Talking Radio: Randi Rhodes is the Victim of a Violent Attack

Talking Radio: Randi Rhodes is the Victim of a Violent Attack Never Mind

UPDATE- She fell down

The way this story sounds, it's remarkably familiar, oh yeah:


Domestic Abuse No Longer A Problem, Say Bruised Female Researchers



I don't listen to Air America, but I have seen Randi Rhodes on CNN:



Hopefully she's alright.

Being that this is someone's blog they do put their spin on the story:

"Is this an attempt by the right wing hate machine to silence one of our own," he asked. "Are we threatening them. Are they afraid that we're winning. Are they trying to silence intimidate us."

Yeah, that's right, like most of the ideas on the left don't suck anyways.

Conservative Belle: Wiretapping Concessions Are Necessary

UPDATE and BUMP:

According to Verizon Communications, they turned over to the government information without court orders 720 times since 2005:

From January 2005 to September 2007, Verizon provided data to federal authorities on an emergency basis 720 times, it said in the letter. The records included Internet protocol addresses as well as phone data. In that period, Verizon turned over information a total of 94,000 times to federal authorities armed with a subpoena or court order, the letter said. The information was used for a range of criminal investigations, including kidnapping and child-predator cases and counter-terrorism investigations.

Now the telecoms are lobbying Congress for legal immunity when they turn over records or eavesdrop on conversations without a court order and they don't want to be held liable for doing this in the past as well.

The 4th amendment is very clear:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The negative consequences of granting immunity to the telecoms are huge. You can count abuse by the government with no recourse for the individual among them. How many more fishing expeditions are going to come about because there is no incentive for the phone companies to maintain the privacy of their customers?

Some will argue "But if you aren't doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide" but I don't think that argument has as much validity now considering we spent the better part of a year watching a government official put the Duke Lacrosse team on trial so he could get re-elected. While justice is supposed to be blind, it is applied by people with their own biases and interests. The 4th amendment is supposed to be a backstop against that.



I made some comments over there since I'm too lazy to blog about it over here. But it's an interesting topic to me.

European Cities do away with Traffic Signs

This article was published a year ago.

Imagine what it would be like if there were no stoplights, traffic signs, speed limits or sidewalks. They are experimenting with this in Europe and the results so far have been LESS fatalities and accidents.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,druck-448747,00.html

Fred Thompson interviewed on Fox News

What is it that Larry David said from "Curb Your Enthusiasm"? "I'm completely nonplussed"



Pilfered from Hotair.com

With Fred in the race, it looks like we have all of the Spice Girls:

Mitt Romney is Posh - good looking, polished but sometimes out of his depth
Mike Huckabee is Sporty - he is into healthy lifestyles
Rudy Giuliani is Scary - in your face attitude, and I'm sure he's had paternity issues to deal with
Fred Thompson is Baby - welcome to the party
John McCain is Ginger - a cool demeanor with a hint of crazy, which makes him cool to hang out with but he missed his opportunity and he's getting long in tooth.

What about Ron Paul? He's Elvis.

Cover Song of the Week

I thought it was time to dust off this Roguenation feature and throw out some songs that I'm waxing nostalgic for:

Social Distortion - Ring of Fire



I can't believe Social Distortion released the album this cover came from almost twenty years ago...

Of course, Social D was totally cool when I was younger (they still are) but not as cool as this (consider it a bonus track from the RM archives)

Ron Paul ignored at CNBC Debate?

According to this article, Ron Paul got less airtime than even all of the "second tier" candidates. I guess we now know what raising $5 million in a quarter doesn't buy you in a Presidential race.

Ron Paul interviewed on PBS

Part 1


Part 2

Warrantless Searches

Over at Conservative Belle's blog, there is a post that talks about how telecom companies should have immunity for helping the NSA eavesdrop on conversations without warrants.

I understand that we should be concerned about terrorism here in this country. But if the argument I have heard from Republicans of the Bush/Romney/Giuliani school for why we were attacked on 9/11 was because of our freedoms. Aren't we appeasing our enemies by making our country less free?

Aren't we doing exactly what the terrorists want us to do? Terrorists can't invade or occupy us. They can't bomb us back into the stone age. But they have scared us into changing the very things that make our country great.

That Poll Spammer is Ruining it for Everyone

Earlier this week, there was a GOP debate on CNBC, like every other one that's been held, there was a post-debate online poll. Who won? The same person who always wins, Ron Paul. Going away. The numbers were skewed so much in Dr. Paul's favor that CNBC pulled the poll. In its place they put this.

In response, Bob Murphy (author of the book "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism" a highly recommended read) wrote back:

By all means, let’s explore this "show of hands" analogy. What Wastler is complaining about is that, in a giant conference room of 300 million people, a higher percentage of Ron Paul supporters raised their hands than did the supporters of the other candidates. So that when Wastler counted up the hands in the air, he got "phony" results. Well whose fault is that? Sure, if a Ron Paul fan raised both hands (the equivalent of hacking the CNBC poll and registering more than one vote per person), that would be cheating. But Ron Paul supporters aren’t to blame if the other candidates are so blah that their own proponents don’t bother voting for them.

Which is true, even the highly touted Fred Thompson, who made his debate debut, was less than impressive.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

BUMP

This week: twists

Check out Tara's myspace here.



People ask me all the time: Randolphus, are you really into yoga or what? And isn't it mostly for chicks?

I used to be really hardcore into lifting weights and going to the gym, in fact, I started seeing a massage therapist because I was having shoulder and neck and back problems. A lot of it coming from sitting in front of a computer for 10 hours a day, and also from weight training. Anyway, my massage therapist recommended that I go do yoga as a way to enhance my flexibility. So I went to my first class. I thought I was in pretty good shape, but by the end of that first session, I found out that there was a LOT of muscle groups that I wasn't really using. Some of the poses I had real problems with at first and my competitive instincts made me want to push hard. But the instructor made an effort to NOT do that "find the balance between effort and ease" she said. I've been hooked since that day.

I started going 3-4 times a week, I tried different studios, different styles and different instructors. It was a whole new experience and I'm still learning, I only wish I had discovered yoga earlier in life.

If you are looking to try yoga here's a couple of tips:

1. Try different studios and instructors-There are a number of different studios in my area (San Diego is a big city, if you live in a rural area your options might be limited), each with a different atmosphere and different intructors who each have their own style. You should feel comfortable in your practice.
2. Don't get competitive with the person next to you, or across the room from you. It's not a contest like seeing how much you can bench press, or leg squat. Focus inward and on that "balance between effort and ease"
3. Pay attention to how you are breathing during the poses
4. Don't be afraid to ask questions and don't be afraid to use the props (straps, blocks, etc.)

Lastly, I will say that the female to male ratio at the studio I frequent is usually around 2 to 1 and remarkably they all are models like Tara (just kidding about the last part). It is a fringe benefit, attending class regularly, you will definitely meet some interesting people and get to chat with them before and after class. Everyone has the shared experience of spending an hour in a room sweating together. So everyone can relate.

So definitely try yoga, it's good for you, you get to learn something new, and you get to meet interesting people. What else is there?

One of the best Ron Paul videos I've seen

RP's followers make vids all the time.

This youtube has over 50,000 views, over a thousand comments, and been favorited nearly 1500 times. All in 24 hours.




The Obama girl vids are the only ones I can recall that reached that "viral" stage for any of the other candidates. This one is well on its way.

A Fascinating Discussion (Audio Link)

From back in 2005. The players are Harry Browne, Eric Dondero, and Alex Jones?!?!

Harry Browne-Libertarian presidential candidate from 1996 and 2000
Eric Dondero-Former employee of Ron Paul, who is currently running for Dr. Pauls Congressional seat
Alex Jones-9/11 truther and radio host

This is from Escaping Ineffability and Ron Paul

Dr. No leaves a message

UPDATE: YOUTUBE LINK ADDED - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH0pFuoJt3I

Pat Buchanan Never Liked the War in Iraq

In fact, he thinks that Bush's policies (foreign and domestic) have crippled us. From his column yesterday:

Interventionism gave us Iraq, the worst strategic blunder in U.S. history. Big Government conservatism wiped out the surplus, fattened the federal bureaucracy and enlarged its share of GDP, and destroyed the Republican reputation as America's bastion of fiscal prudence.

This Still Doesn't Quite Explain It

Right Wing News has an article entitled "Why So Many Conservatives Hate Ron Paul". One reason is his stance on the Iraq War:

When you aim that sort of rhetoric at people who strongly support the war and feel that it's justified, moral, and in America's best interests, it's guaranteed to generate a huge wave of hostility. Additionally, Paul's thoughtless, "we must leave immediately, regardless of the consequences," position on Iraq comes across as poorly thought out. Even if you thought that the war was a bad idea and opposed it from day one, the idea that we can simply extricate ourselves from Iraq immediately because it's unpleasant, with no consequences, is the sort of thing you'd expect to hear from a 16 year old at an anti-war rally, not something you expect from a candidate for President. Even Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama, all of whom have spent months trying to convince their base that they're the most anti-war of all the top tier candidates, are saying we may be in Iraq for years to come.

The piece goes on to talk about how his platform is impractical, that it's too idealistic, and that he's a 9/11 truther, and that his supporters are obnoxious. The last part is true, his supporters are really, really, vocal. Obnoxious at times even. But people who buy into Ron Paul's views can't help but get excited. I get giddy when I hear Ron Paul say things about eliminating whole federal departments or ending the War on Drugs, or getting rid of the Patriot Act. His idea of the role of government in peoples lives makes sense to our collective memory. We know inherently that Ron Pauls ideas are true (just like the founding fathers did), that they are timeless. It's also true that our status as a beacon of hope for the rest of the world rests on the idea of us being a free country and getting government out of running our lives. So why do conservatives, who profess (as a principal) to believe in limited government, freedom, individual rights, hate Ron Paul?


I think that the conservatives who hate Ron Paul, to a certain extent can't bear the thought of what people would do without them. That the need to dictate to people on how to live their lives isn't monopolized by the left in this country. The conservatives who believe democracy and freedom can be imposed at the point of a gun are doing the exact same thing and telling people how to live their lives.

That's why if you look at some of the "conservative" boards. When they talk about Ron Paul, the arguments against him much degenerate into unhinged name-calling. Like what you would see on Daily Kos talking about George W.

Carl Cameron interviews Ron Paul Post New Hampshire Debate

I thought that this was after the CNBC debate, but it turns out that this came after last months New Hampshire get together.



I wonder why Carl is holding the hand held? Shouldn't he have a camera man with him?

GOP Debate right now

CNBC is having a debate, streaming live here:

http://media.cnbc.com/i/CNBC/Sections/Video/CNBC_Live/player/live_video_ymyv.html

Hannity begs James Dobson not to go 3rd party route

I'm not really a big fan of Sean Hannity, but he did give James Dobson (who I'm not a big fan of) a lot of time to make his case for not endorsing Rudy Giuliani (who I'm also not a real big fan of). So why am I posting about this? Because this is where the GOP is right now, fractured and IMHO a sinking ship. The social conservatives are just the latest to make noises on bailing out on them.



Conservative Belle made this point recently:

If the conservative Christians are as powerful as they believe, then why can't they put their full weight behind a second-tier candidate who is pro-life (Brownback, Huckabee, Paul, Tancredo, Hunter, Keyes) and bring them to the front of the tier? If they are so influential in the political arena, they should be able to promote this candidate enough to soar them to the top.

The lack of top tier candidates at the recent "Values Voters" debates would seem to indicate that they are the constituency that can be ignored. The last candidate the social conservatives had an effect on was probably Ronald Reagan. Bush wasn't their number one pick in '88, neither was Dole in '96, and I believe GW Bush was nominated by social conservatives with huge reservations. To his credit, GW did come through with his Supreme Court nominations but only after massive blowback from the Harriet Miers nomination.

Use of "N-word" May End Porn Star's Career

From the Onion (NSFW warning):



Use Of 'N-Word' May End Porn Star's Career

We are a free country in name only example #21332

Did you know that if you are leaving this country and you have more than $10,000 in cash on you have to let the government know?

So began an almost two-year battle between Zapeta and the U.S. government over whether he is legally entitled to the money after failing to declare that he was carrying more than $10,000 in U.S. currency out of the country, as the law requires. In January, a U.S. District Judge ruled the government could keep all the money but $10,000, which is to be returned to Zapeta. The case is under appeal.

Which brings up interesting legal questions. Zapeta came into this country illegally, what if he had claimed that the $60k that he had on hand was what he brought into this country? Would that money still have been subject to forfeiture? If everything he earned wasn't legal, why was the government saying he could keep $10k. Why don't they keep the whole thing?

NY City Councilman unloads on Norwegians

From Hotair:

The Norwegians are from a show called Rikets Røst, which looks like a combination of The Daily Show and the Aussie show The Chaser. That’s all the introduction you need, I think, aside from a cursory strong language warning:

Great Moments in Goldiggery

Remarkably, I came to the same exact conclusion years ago in response to the young woman's query.

The posting originally came from craigslist but it got deleted (allegedly).

Ron Paul Link-o-Rama

The MSM exposure Ron Paul is getting for having raised $5 million last quarter has been tremendous...

Interview with Wolf Blitzer from CNN:



Jack Cafferty with his take on Ron Paul and his fundraising success this quarter:



From ABC News:



MSNBC:



A notable omission is Fox News. I went looking for any mention of Ron Paul on their website and didn't see anything.

Here's some radio interviews from today:

Phil Valentine (Tennessee talk radio show host)
http://gm-diesel.com/10-04-07_Ron_Paul_on_Phil_Valentine_Show.mp3

Steve Gill (also from Tennessee)

http://www.news2wkrn.com/vv/2007/10/04/ron-paul-on-steve-gill/

Register to Vote

Liv has a new PSA out. Now the last time I heard a hot girl say "choice between douche and turd sandwich" we were partying and the next thing I remember was ending up in a hotel room in Mexico, 18 hours later, waking up in a bathtub full of ice and missing a kidney. Those were good times.



Ron Paul Girl - Register Now! - video powered by Metacafe

Check out Liv's myspace here and her blog here.

Ron Paul raised $5 million last quarter

UPDATE

MSNBC is reporting the same thing:

First Read has learned that Ron Paul has raised more than $5 million: $5,080,000 to be exact. They don't have the total number or donors just yet or the exact average donation, but the campaign tells First Read that "last quarter was a $40 average donation; that trend appears to have continued."

From Reason magazine:

Ron Paul's campaign confirms that it raised $5,080,000 in the third quarter. That's more than double the campaign's second quarter haul of $2.4 million, and as much as "comeback" candidate John McCain has reportedly raised.

By the power of grayskull I hope this train doesn't stop.

Reaction from the Values Voters Debate (part II)

For part one of Reaction from the Values Voters Debate see here

It is amazing how many people seem to think that the government exists to turn
their prejudices into laws. -Thomas Sowell

A do gooder is a do gooder is a do gooder. Janet Folger suffers from the same syndrome that liberals who want to cure poverty, eliminate racism, and tackle global warming suffer from. That is the belief that government can solve all of the ills of society. It cannot, you cannot legislate morality the same way you cannot legislate eliminating poverty.

Prohibition was an attempt to legislate morality (how far from being a free society have we come? At one time a Constitutional amendment was deemed required to tell our citizens that a particular behavior was not going to be tolerated.) What it ended up doing was enriching organized crime. It certainly didn't stop people from consuming alchohol. What do we have to show for the billions spent on the war on drugs? The EXACT SAME THING. The illicit drug trade is a multibillion dollar underground industry. Legislating laws against it haven't stopped drug use. In addition, you could make the argument that a negative consequence of our strategy on the war on drugs is creation of a condition similar to our military industrial complex. There is an incentive not to change our strategy (with no regard for efficacy) because to do so would affect the special interests that benefit from our current strategy in our war on drugs (primarily government itself).

So just how powerful is the "Values Voters" coalition? The so called top tier of the GOP deemed them not powerful enough to not ignore them. Stated threats this week to back a third party didn't even meet the threshold for the flashing siren on Drudgereport. But keep in mind that the GOP has been a sinking ship for a number of years, for Christian conservatives to leave the party is a little like being odd man out on getting to the lifeboats.

The GOP has been hemorrhaging membership for years because of runaway spending, massive increases in entitlements, loss of privacy for its citizens, a nearly incoherent foreign policy, and all around incompetence and cronyism. Bush can hang his legacy hat on the tax cuts, his immediate reaction to 9/11, and his Supreme Court nominees (he almost missed out on this one, remember Harriet Miers?). Anything else? With a majority in Congress for so many years there should have been.

If social conservatism cannot be imposed by government fiat what is the alternative?

(to be continued)

Legislators Are Busy, Solving Problems

It's a good thing we have full-time legislatures in this country. With no fewer than 2 wars currently being prosecuted and massive deficit spending, the House, Senate, and SF Board of Supervisors have decided to spend their time tackling the important issues: radio talk shows.

San Francisco supervisors condemn Savage

Senate condemns Limbaugh

Hilary and Obama Sign Letter to Clear Channel Condemning Limbaugh

The Republicans are just as bad - but I can't find the link. Yesterday, they passed a resolution supporting Limbaugh. Why are we paying these people? Now - don't get me wrong, the more time they waste on this, the less time they can be spending on passing more laws, which is good. But, is this really how the government should be spending its time? It makes me want to write a letter condemning their waste of resources... if only I had time. Unlike the politicians, I actually have to work for a living.

Reaction from the Value Voters Debate

A couple of weeks ago, there was a GOP debate (more of a Q and A really) that had questions from the leaders of the "Values Voters". The distinguished questioners included Phyllis Schlafly (I'm a big fan of hers), and Joseph Farah (editor in chief of worldnetdaily.com). Worldnetdaily.com has literally been a daily stop for over a decade on my tour of websites that I frequent to get my fix since I'm an information junkie. You can watch the whole thing online here.

Janet Folger was also one of the panelists and has written her reaction and endorsement for President here. Here is what she said about Dr. Paul:

Here's what I saw: While he's been a courageous defender of the Constitution, Ron Paul had too many wrong answers at the Values Voter Debate to receive our support. Save your angry e-mails until you've seen the video of his podium lit "red" with "no votes" while everyone else voted "yes" to questions about whether they would protect disabled patients like Terri Schiavo from a starvation death, agree to prosecute all violators of the federal obscenity law, and support a trade policy with China contingent on improved human rights and quality standards.

Joe Glover of the Family Policy Network clarified it further when he asked Paul: "Many libertarians oppose laws against same-sex marriage, prostitution, and illegal drugs. Do you share this view?" Go watch it for yourself at http://www.valuesvoterdebate.com/. His answer was "yes," he's a libertarian and doesn't think the government has any business protecting marriage and human life. It was Thomas Jefferson who best outlined the role of government when he said, "The care of human life and not its destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government." Mr. Paul, to protect human life is the only reason government exists – even if that human life is disabled and unable to ask for food and water themselves.

Same sex marriage, prostitution, abortion, illegal drugs. These are all issues that are of obvious importance to social conservatives (otherwise questions on these issues wouldn't have been asked multiple times). But what this much neglected wing of the GOP fails to recognize is that the tool with which they want to impose their values on others is the same tool that can and has been used against them by people who have different viewpoints.

Abortion is the classic case. By Supreme Court fiat, abortion was made legal across the country. Did individual states get to make the decision on their own by voting on it? Not at all. Is it the place of the individual states to make choices on life or death issues? Yes, states decide whether or not they can impose the death penalty. Why not abortion? What Roe vs. Wade did was take away the right and power of individual states to decide whether they wanted to kill babies or not. It sounds crude but it's true. How many innocents have died because of that usurpation of states rights by the federal government? Millions.

What Ron Paul advocates is returning the power of making the decision on whether abortion is legal or not to the states. Let them make the choice for themselves.

The "values voters" raise so many important issues. I'm going continue this in another post.

Puppies are cute

Clarence Thomas

A personal hero of mine has his memoirs out this week. "My Grandfather's Son" is Clarence Thomas writing about his life. As part of the media blitz, Jan Crawford Greenburg writes a multipart story for ABC news based on the book and 7 hours of interviews with the current Supreme Court justice.

Sixteen years after the bitter confirmation hearings that would forever put the name "Anita Hill" in any story written about him, Thomas remains one of the most compelling and divisive figures in public life. That is both ironic and inevitable for a man who, on the surface, appears to be a study in conflicts. He is black, but a conservative. He is contrarian and independent, but wants deeply to connect with people. He holds a job he never wanted, but has strong ideas about how to do it. He fiercely protects his privacy, but has written a book that is intensely personal and, at times, anguished.

The stories by Jan Greenburg are enlightening because Justice Thomas is fiercely protective of his private life. His formative years growing up in the South when it was transitioning from the Jim Crow era to integration are particularly interesting. His grandfather would make him stand up in weekly NAACP meetings to read his grades aloud. As a black activist in college, he admired Malcolm X.

Part one of eight segments by Greenburg is here. (Along with video)

Ron Paul raises $500,000 $1 Million online in 3 6 days

UPDATE 9/29/07:

It looks like Dr. Paul's campaign will hit a million dollars in online donations within the next few hours. This does not include any contributions mailed in or from fundraisers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the MSM. The pace set by Ron Paul's campaign this week puts him squarely in the range of John Edwards, Mike Richardson, and probably John McCain.

The end of the 3rd quarter is coming up and with a goal set this past Monday to reach $500,000 in online donations by Monday October 1st, Dr. Paul supporters surpassed that goal in 3 days. This showed up in my inbox from the campaign:

Frankly, I'm floored. And very, very grateful. Our $500,000 online fundraising goal for the end of the quarter was reached so fast it took my breath away. But we can't stop now. So I am raising the bar to $1 million by midnight, September 30th. I am so grateful for all you have done. Would you help me with this?

Whenever I face a hit piece on tv, or a smear in a newspaper column, I remember my secret weapon: you. In establishment politics, people make campaign contributions because they want something: a contract, a subsidy, a special-interest deal. But the thousands of people who contribute to this campaign want no favors from big government -- which must come at the expense of their fellow citizens, and sometimes our soldiers' lives. They want only what is their God-given, natural, and constitutional right: their freedom.

What a difference from the other campaigns. What a refreshing change from politics as usual. What a sign of the reborn American freedom that can be ours, and our children's, and our grandchildren's.

Aggressive wars, income taxes, national IDs, domestic spying, torture regimes, secret prisons, Federal Reserve manipulation -- we don't have to take it any more.

And the next step to not taking it is that $1 million goal. Please give www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/ as much as you can, before midnight on Sunday, September 30th.

There are two reasons: 1) We need the money. As we move into the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, then South Carolina, California, Texas, and all the rest, we need your support. We can't duplicate the spending of the big boys, and we don't have to, thanks to the internet and our magnificent army of volunteers.

But we need constant website improvements, phone banks, voter registration and get out the vote efforts, mailings, travel, printings, many small offices, targeted TV and radio ads, legal and accounting help, and 101 other things. And without donors like you, we can't do a darn thing.

2) I want to make the mainstream media sit up and take notice. They did when we beat John McCain for cash-on-hand in the last quarter. This quarter, we can really shock them -- if you help. Our total can show the sort of enthusiasm, organization, and grassroots support that will chill every big-government backer, and warm the heart of every lover of freedom -- and open the eyes of the media.

Please, help me win a victory for liberty with your most generous gift. You and I are engaged in an historic enterprise. It is growing in power and influence by the day and by the hour. But it will stutter to a stop without people like you. I need your help. Our cause needs your help. We can make $1 million. We can win this thing. Please help me do it. See our progress and donate�today:� http://www.ronpaul2008.com/ .

Sincerely,

Ron

What?

A hot blonde who likes to walk around in her underwear, drinks beer, advocates free market economics, is against the welfare state and supports Ron Paul? If I weren't emotionally unavailable because of my past relationships (which were all based on the physical anyway, since I'm so ridiculously rich and handsome) I'd be in love:

Check out Liv's myspace here.
And her blog with other vids here.



Ron Paul Girl - video powered by Metacafe




Miracle Beer Diet - video powered by Metacafe



Ron Paul Girl - Worker Bee? - video powered by Metacafe

OJ's Eleven

The (One Semester of Spanish) Spanish Love Song

I can't get this song out of my head (it's a catchy tune):

The New Hitler

Pat Buchanan weighs in on Ahmadinejad and his visit to the US this week:

It would be an obscenity, we are told, if Ahmadinejad were allowed to place a wreath at Ground Zero. This is a public relations stunt that should never be permitted.

That the Iranian president has PR in mind is undoubtedly true. Much of what national leaders do is symbolic. But that wreath-laying would have said something else, as well.

It would have said that, to Iran, these Americans were victims who deserve to be honored and mourned and, by extension, the men who killed them were murderers. Bin Laden celebrates 9-11. So do all America-haters. By laying a wreath at Ground Zero, the president of Iran would be saying that in the war between al-Qaida and the United States, he and his country side with the United States.

Which I can't say I disagree with. The rhetoric we've heard from Bush since his "Axis of Evil" speech has been one of provocation. But does Iran represent a direct threat to us? Maybe to our military that is in Iraq he is, but follow Pat's reasoning on what would compel Iran to seek nuclear weapons:

After seeing what America did to its non-nuclear neighbor Iraq, which had done nothing to America, and after hearing Bush call them an axis-of-evil nation and prime candidate for U.S. pre-emptive strikes, a not-unreasonable ayatollah might conclude they need nuclear weapons, or the Americans will be dictating to them forever.

Read the rest here.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

Check out her myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/tarastiles

This latest edition has restorative, non-active poses:

Soon to be viral video of the week

Hot gameshow hostess throws up on live TV:

The Declaration of Independence

The $900 Million Bet

So I made a prediction a few months back about the economy collapsing like a house of cards. The ensuing months has seen a lot of turbulence with the Fed cutting rates and making more credit available, the shakeout from the subprime mortgage market not being over, the growing trend of weakness of the dollar versus the Euro. The real inflation rate being pegged at around 10-15 percent. We are witnessing a perfect storm brewing. It isn't going to be pretty.

Turns out I'm not the only one, some anonymous parties are wagering that the economy is going to tank (via Money Morning):

Insiders trade when they know something. They’re not supposed to, but they do anyway. It’s just a fact of life.

Most of the time, it’s pretty petty-ante stuff, but occasionally a trade comes along that makes even jaded professionals like me sit up and take notice.

Just such a trade surfaced last Wednesday when anonymous parties agreed to buy and sell 120,000 SPY September call options using deep-in the-money strikes ranging from 60 to 95.

What does all that mean? The people behind this transaction are betting that by September 21st, the S&P will be trading between 600 and 950. It closed at 1519 yesterday, which is a drop between 35-60%. The article goes further and talks about possible motivations for the trade (I think the China dumping dollars scenario is VERY plausible).

Gold and bicycles people, gold and bicycles.

Alan Greenspan on the Daily Show

For the longest time, I just didn't think that Jon Stewart was very funny. I still don't but what he has done is become court jester and he does get to ask questions that no one gets to ask. This is a really good but all too brief interview with ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan whose book "The Age of Turbulence" has just been released.

Hippies everywhere!!!

This reminds me of a Southpark episode I saw recently:




The Rainbow Family literally are a bunch of hippies who have an annual "Gathering of the Tribes" in Colorado. While I could care less what hippies do or how they live their lives what piqued my interest was this little nugget from the New West:

The Rainbowers refuse to sign the USFS's free permit for gatherings of 75 or more people, saying "Our permit is the First Amendment."

That's awesome and proves the adage about even a clock being right twice a day.

Alan Keyes for President

I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, I have been a fan of Dr. Keyes because he's a Constitutional scholar who has taken consistent positions on following the founding father's advice on limited federal government. In fact, his article "On the establishment of religion: What the Constitution really says" is one of the most eloquent defense of states rights that I have read. I forward it to people all the time. His short lived MSNBC show was a favorite of mine (it was the first time I had ever heard anyone make a Constitutional argument for putting the military to work on the border).

On the other hand, when he runs for office, he's like Susan Lucci, the Buffalo Bills, and the dude who just wants to be friends with chicks because eventually they'll grow to be attracted to him all rolled into one. They all never get to grab the brass ring. He lost to Obama for the Illinois Senate seat by capturing only 30% of the vote (Obama literally got the other 70%).

_____________

I don't make any secret about where my vote and support is going, and maybe if Dr. Paul weren't running I'd throw my vote to Dr. Keyes. But Alan Keyes just doesn't generate the same sort of visceral reaction that Dr. Paul gets (good and bad). Hearing Dr. Ron Paul's message sounds right. When he takes a position say on the war on drugs, he defends it by saying that yes, there may be negative consequences to ending the drug war. But, following Ben Franklin's timeless dictum "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." What price in liberty have we paid for "safety" in the war on drugs? On the war on terror? Maybe the reason that people are flocking to his campaign realize we are getting to the point where we are ending up with neither liberty or safety.

______________

When a thousand Republicans are in a room and one man of the eight on the stage takes a sharply minority viewpoint on a dramatic issue and half the room
seems to cheer him, something's going on.

Peggy Noonan on the Republican debate

Dr. Paul has always said that it is the message that is important. To see someone say things on national TV what I have thought for years literally makes my jaw drop, and I never get tired of hearing it. Apparently I'm not the only one.

Maury is the Greatest Show Evah!

I don't know how he's been able to stay on the air for so long. But he has outlasted Jerry Springer, Rikki Lake, Richard Bey, and about a half dozen other talk shows. On top of that, he's married to Connie Chung. Cameltap has a list of the 10 ten moments from Maury Povich. Here is my personal favorite and their #2:

Government Healthcare

John Stossel on 20/20. Part 1 of 6:

A compelling argument against socialized healthcare and why the better alternative is the free market.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

Reason #23421 to vote for Ron Paul: Strippers!!!!

Citing Executive Privilege, Bill Belichick Says "Eat a Dick."

From Kissing Suzy Kolber:

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick today defended his controversial warrantless wiretapping program in a combative press conference, calling the practice "an essential tool in the war on other teams."

He goes on:

There are teams out there that hate our way of life, our way of winning and are bent on defeating us. We must take any and all measures to avoid that outcome.

No Bill, people don't hate you because of your way of life. People hate you because your cameras are over there...

September 11th, 2001

Remember where you were when you found out?

I do, my roommate woke me up and had the TV turned on. The first tower had just been hit. The first word out of my mouth after watching the news I said under my breath was "bastards". My first thought was we were under attack. There's no such thing as "accidently" running into a 110 story building. I showered, got into my car and drove to work. I don't remember if I hit the usual traffic on the freeway. It seems to me that I was listening to the news on the radio the whole way down and really wasn't observing what was going on around me.

Getting to the office, that's all everyone was talking about. The news of the second tower getting hit was coming around so a group of us went to the gym that was downstairs to watch the TV in front of the treadmill. News of the plane that was hijacked and eventually crash into the ground in Pennsylvania was coming around as well as the plane that was flown into the Pentagon. We were hit, and hit hard. The enormity of the events hadn't really sunk in for me yet, but the dread and uncertainty that I felt that day I haven't felt since.

Eventually, we were all allowed to go home. It must have been around 10 am. I remember a friend of mine who is in the military calling me. She had just heard the news from the phone tree that put her and her unit on alert. She would eventually serve a year in Iraq and survive an IED attack and ambush on her convoy. Thankfully, she wasn't injured or captured.

So here we are, 6 years later. The "War on Terror" rages on, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, but mostly here. The debate in this country among the political classes isn't even about Al Qaida anymore. It's whether the "surge" is working or not. It's whether Congress should keep funding the military operations in Iraq. It's how much of our civil liberties have we given up in exchange for "safety".

--------------

What's lost in all the chatter is how come after all this time, Bin Laden is still sending IM's to the world. Apparently $50 million isn't enough to have his head handed to us on a platter. Shouldn't we keep raising the bounty on his head a la Mel Gibson's character in "Ransom" til someone fedex's us his rotting head? I keep getting told we are the richest country in the world. Shouldn't his ransom be up to about a billion dollars by now? That's chump change to us.

/rant

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

Pavarotti and James Brown

Pavarotti died this week. Not that I'm a follower or fan of opera, but if he's famous enough and respected enough around the world that his passing made headlines around the world, I thought I'd see what the big deal was about:



That was awesome. Here he is with James Brown!?!?:

The GOP Debate and Paul vs. Hannity

Probably the best exchange I've seen since Giuliani and Paul went at it a few months back. This is what a debate should be:



Dr. Paul on Hannity and Colmes post debate:

Ron Paul Speaks the Truth

From this past weekend's Texas Straw Poll. Probably his best speech to date.




Music to my ears: What are you going to replace the income tax with? Nothing!

By the power of Grayskull, I have NEVER heard a politician talk the way he does.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

Check out Tara's myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/tarastiles




Bonus

Tara reads books (not real books like "Basic Economics" or "The Federal Mafia" or "The Supremacists" but she's a chick, so she has books about interpreting dreams and stuff. I'll give her a pass anyway.)

Beauty Queens are Smart, Articulate

My intention is not to bump Maximus's drug war post, since I think the discussion is very important and relevant. However, this was too good to pass up.

This is Miss Teen USA 2007. To be fair, this is a hard question, but to be more fair, she is an idiot.



And we wonder why the terrorists hate us. Hint - its because our women are educated AND hot!

The War on Drugs

In a thread on a forum I regularly visit, there was a discussion about the "War on Drugs". I thought it would be interesting to bring that discussion here.

It is telling in how far away we have come from the idea of a free country, of a federal government of limited and enumerated powers, the rule of law, and the Constitution that in less than 100 years, a federal mandate that would LIMIT something that our citizens could do was deeemed radical enough to require a Constitutional amendment. The 18th amendment effectively made illegal the consumption of alchohol. That experiment in social engineering from central planning lasted all of 13 years. Mercifully, it was repealed by the 21st amendment.

What about today? Where is the amendment for the "War on Drugs"? Did Congress declare war? I must have missed it. One could argue that for the amount of taxpayer money that has been spent on this war, our return on investment has been negligible. Now, I will concede that it is a noble undertaking to protect people from the devestating effects of drug abuse, but at what price? Is it even the place of our federal government to take on such a fight? How much liberty have we exchanged for the promise of security?

Puppies are Cute (part 13)

Zimbabwe: A classic case

A thought just occured to me that this is an interesting companion to CMStrapz post about Bush and dictatorships.

According to this article, Zimbabwe faces a total collapse within the next few months. Africa is for the most part a craphole anyway. But Zimbabwe, at one time, was on the upswing. It had a strong, growing economy, and was a net exporter of agricultural goods.

That all changed when Robert Mugabe established his dictatorship. He is an avowed Marxist, and he has held power since the 80's, but in recent years he has put into effect a number of programs whose results are all too predictable. A couple of classic examples:

• Redistributing private property - he confiscated farms (primarily white-owned and farmers) and gave them to his cronies (generally non farmers). Result: Zimbabwe went from being the "breadbasket of Africa" to a place where people are literally dying in the streets from hunger.
• Price controls - mandating pricing of goods and services does not work: "he ordered businesses to cut prices 50 percent and more – supposedly, so people could shop. At least 5,000 resisting business owners and managers were fined and jailed; taxi drivers had vehicles impounded. When stores sold out, producers couldn't afford to import or produce more, so shelves stayed empty. Businesses closed; commerce stopped."

There are other examples that you can look at but the bottom line is this: Mugabe brought this upon himself, his failed Marxist ideology brought this upon himself. He's had 30 years of imposing misery on his people and that's 30 years too many. I hope the next regime learns from his mistakes (unlikely, given the areas history, but I'm an optimist). Oh yeah, if things remain true to form, Mugabe will end up like most dictators. Like this guy, or this guy or this guy. It would be asking way too much if he ended up like this guy.

--------------

I don't think we are close to having a dictatorship in this country, but who knows? The optimist tells me that wouldn't happen here because a) people still believe in the rule of law and b) there are way too many guns out there (thank god for the Second Amendment). But isn't that how things like that happen? Doesn't it sneak up on a country and reveal itself once it's in power?

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

A younger, cuter, fatter, Cameron Diaz

Being a ridiculously handsome and charming man, I know what it's like to constantly have people calling and texting. You know inviting you out, what's happening, me and my sorority are having a lingerie show, we want you to be the judge. All of that. It's obscene being so popular.

Anyway, I can relate to this chick. This woman got her first i-phone bill recently, it was 300 PAGES and cost ATT 10 dollars to mail to her:




Here's a clip from the local news station that gives some more background:



35,000 text messages a month?!? Even my imaginary friends don't have that much to say. Except, things like stop texting me, and the judge said that you have to stay at least 500 feet away at all times.

The 12 Worst Presidential Candidate websites

Here:


From Tommy Thompson's website:

Tommy Thompson, pledged today on his Iowa barnstorming campaign tour to end breast cancer by 2015 and outlined a plan to accomplish this goal.

Analysis:

Thompson, a man with no formal medical training, claims that he will cure breast cancer. Perhaps more ludicrous: He claims that he can become president.

Update: Because of his less than stellar showing at the Iowa Straw Poll this weekend, Tommy Thompson dropped out of the race Monday.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

Global Warming is Real, Provable

According to this article, there has been no evidence of global warming for the last several years because "natural forces" have offset the effects of global warming. This delicate balance will be upset over the next couple of years, as global warming begins "in earnest" in 2009.

Based on my reading of the article, it looks like they used the actual data for the past several years to go back and generate revised forecasts, which now support their contention that 2009 is the magic year where "natural forces" will no longer offset global warming.

It must be nice to never, ever be wrong. I wish that when the data didn't support my conclusions, I could go back and revise my data. No - it's not that global warming is a total fabrication designed to redistribute wealth from the United States to the 3rd world, it's just that "natural forces" have prevented the symptoms from manifesting.

In other news, George Bush has declared that based on the actual data obtained from the war in Iraq, the mission is not technically accomplished as he said in 2003, but it will be in 2009. Just wait and see.*

* May be a complete fabrication.

Ron Paul on the IRS

My god, replace the income tax with nothing? Awww, hell no.

The Looming Economic Meltdown

This is the first article (but probably not the last) where China is making overt threats about selling its holdings in US currency:

He Fan, an official at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, went even further today, letting it be known that Beijing had the power to set off a dollar collapse if it choose to do so.

"China has accumulated a large sum of US dollars. Such a big sum, of which a considerable portion is in US treasury bonds, contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency. Russia, Switzerland, and several other countries have reduced the their dollar holdings.

"China is unlikely to follow suit as long as the yuan's exchange rate is stable against the dollar. The Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars once the yuan appreciated dramatically, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar," he told China Daily.

It's all coming together, at some point on the "event horizon" (I'm guessing September or October) there will be an economic collapse unlike anything we've seen since the Great Depression. Some additional opinion courtesy of Randolphus Maximus (booyah!!).:

• The subprime mortgage collapse is not where it stops, you are going to see "prime" borrowers following suit.
• There is going to be a massive stock market correction, also in September or October. There might be additional highs reached before then, but like I said in a previous post. Get your shit ready.
• "Product recalls" of everything from pet food to toys that use lead based paint are some examples of our "economic sanctions" that we've lobbed towards are largest trading partner. Look for more of that as well as increased scrutiny of other Chinese products.
• As well as a continued move away from the dollar as the world's reserve currency. The dollar has continued its freefall against the Euro. We accuse China of currency manipulation but we have done the same thing for the last few years. Since the government stopped publishing official M3 numbers. No one knows exactly what the money supply "officially" is.

What does all of this mean? The party might be over for us, and the bills are coming due. We have reached a point where even China is starting to say we're maxed out. Our reaction is "we don't want your crap anyway". Someone is going to lose out and I'm guessing since we don't hold any cards, it's us. Put your money into gold or bicycles, or put it into international assets (while you still can). The sky is falling. This "is the big one" like Fred Sanford used to say.

All is not lost, yet. Our economy, our people, our entrepreneurial spirit can recover fairly quickly if the government will get the hell out of the way. It's probably not going to happen.

UNLESS YOU ELECT RON PAUL for President.

Open Carry is legal in New Hampshire

I found this on www.ronpaulforums.com. It's the account of a citizen in New Hampshire with the local police. Here's his account in it's entirety:

Below is a video of my August 5 open carry incident in New Hampshire. It starts audio-only then the video picks up a minute or two later when our pro photographer runs to the scene. Very sorry I wasn't wearing RP shirt at the time.

Basically I'm a liberty activist here; I wear a holstered pistol in public roughly once a week. It's legal in New Hampshire but not that common south of the notches. Cops sometimes ignore, sometimes harass you for doing it. When that happens to me, I don't get angry but use the chance to educate police about the open carry rights of NH citizens.

I was walking 50 yards from my car to the monthly Free Stater meeting at Murphy's Taproom in downtown Manchester. I usually open carry to that meeting.

I was noticed by a state trooper, but I noticed him too and called the Free Staters' emergency hotline before he got to me. In the video you hear my call realtime, as I report my situation and try to explain to our listeners what's happening.

Folks inside the bar also came running out to support me. Police thought it was
pre-planned it happened so fast, like they'd been set up or something. But this
is just how our guys react when they're nearby. I appreciate the fact that the
police were able to maintain calm and respectful demeanor despite some of the
anger directed against them by the crowd. But of course look I forward to the
day when they don't make such stops in the first place.

Note that I am able to lawfully refuse them when they ask for my "papers" and personal information. If you think this is a better outcome than you'd get where you are now.....move your ass up here and share our freedoms!

Visit
www.FreeStateProject.org

Thanks to all who showed support during and
after this incident.

Hopefully this video will remind people New Hampshire does allow open carry, that officers here do handle themselves better than in most states, and that the Free Staters are continuing to improve level of support which is available to freedom lovers when police take exception to their responsible exercise of rights.

I live in California. It really doesn't work that way out here. Usually, if your holding a stick you get shot.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

The latest edition in my continuing quest show what this blog is mostly about, chicks doing yoga, Ron Paul, and puppies. I have such a crush on the girl who does these videos from Ford Models in a totally inappropriate way:

The Ron Paul Video Extravaganza

The debate this morning had about 3 minutes of Ron Paul face time but here's the money shot. Interesting crowd reaction from Iowans:



Mitt trying to interrupt with "Did he forget 9/11" doesn't seem to have any traction with this crowd.

Here's a post debate interview with Fox News hottie (is there any other kind?) Julie Banderas:



Part 2:

Mitt Romney uncensored

I have to admit that presidential hopeful Mitt looks pretty good here in an interview on a radio talkshow in Iowa. Eloquent, passionate, and luckily for him it was caught on tape and made its way onto the internet because the part that's gold didn't make it on air:





I do like that the interviewer framed his questions that made it on air around the Constitution (would love to see questions like that on the debate tomorrow).

Unbalanced Moonbat Predicts Bush Dictatorship

I've said for a long time that the irrational hatred of George W. Bush has caused many otherwise intelligent, educated, well-spoken people to descend into madness and lunacy. Well, this article helps to prove that I'm right. I don't know how sane/rational Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis were before GWB became the President, but I would be willing to bet that his election was the inciting event that caused them to punch in at the laugh factory.

It simply must be read in its entirety, and the comments are pretty entertaining, too. I know not everyone has the time to read what looks like it should have been written with letters cut out of magazines, so I'll hit some of the high points.

• The Bush administration will not hesitate to cancel the 2008 election in the event that Republicans are poised to lose.
• Bush stole the 2000 election in Florida. (Repeatedly proven incorrect, but whatever)
• Bush stole the 2004 election in Ohio.
• The MSM is complicit in these nefarious plans, and will refuse to object when the election is canceled.
• Republicans stole over 6% of the vote in Ohio in 2006 (Governor election), and still lost. (Why didn't we just steal more?)
• The Supreme Court will rubber-stamp Bush's attempt to remain in power.

The long and short is that Bush will remain in power without an election and no one of consequence will complain. (Tenting fingers, using best Mr. Burns voice) Excellent.

One of my favorite parts of this article is the following: "When George W. Bush went on the record (twice) as saying he has nothing against dictatorship, as long as he can be dictator, it was a clear and present policy statement." Apparently, Bush hatred suppresses the body's natural logic centers. EVERYONE would love a dictatorship where they are the dictator. EVERYONE wants to be in charge and wants EVERYTHING run their way.

Finally, the master plan that is alluded to here would require massive amounts of evil genius in order to implement. Since, according to liberals, Bush is an idiot of the first order, I fail to see how he could have planned something to subvert 220 years of a constitutional republic. I'm no huge Bush lover (I prefer a Brazilian look), but I don't think he wants to be Stalin, either. Again, I can't suggest enough that you read the column and at least some of the comments. It's important to know how devoted the left is to laying the foundation for their eventual 2008 loss.

OJ Simpson Live!!!!

Lifted in it's entirety from "With Leather"




Hypothetical situation: IF I were famous, and IF I had killed a couple people, and IF I had gotten away with it thanks to a slick defense team and an incompetent prosecution, and IF I had subsequently been found responsible for the deaths in a civil suit, and IF a decade later I was still widely reviled by a large segment of the population... then maybe -- just maybe -- I would think twice about going on live television with a call-in segment. I'm just sayin'.

Seriously, though: O.J. killed Bill Walsh.