The Weekly Buchanan: Subprime Nation

UPDATE - It looks like the Asian Markets are starting to feel the effects of recession fears in the United States - Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index is down 4 percent.

Pat is on fire this week:

Since it began to give credit ratings to nations in 1917, Moody's has rated the United States triple-A. U.S. Treasury bonds have been seen as the most secure investment on earth. When crises erupt, nervous money seeks out the world's great safe harbor, the United States. That reputation is now in peril.

Last week, Moody's warned that if the United States fails to rein in the soaring cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the nation's credit rating will be down-graded within a decade.

Our political parties seem oblivious. Republicans, save Ron Paul, are all promising to expand the U.S. military and maintain all of our worldwide commitments to defend and subsidize scores of nations.

It's not that they are oblivious Pat. It's that their world view is such that preserving and strengthening the status quo can only involve the continual expansion of government. Even among the GOP candidates, except for Paul and Fred (to a much lesser degree), the idea of reducing bureaucratic interventionism is remarkably absent in word (McCain, Huckabee) and deed (Huckabee, Romney, and Rudy).

Bring on the Brokered Convention!

Conservative Belle has some interesting bits about the GOP imposed penalties from states holding their primaries early:

Many states have rebelled against the RNC rules and scheduled their primary elections earlier this year - Florida being one of them. The committee members warned them months ago not to do this as they may lose their delegates at the national convention. I was told last night that the final decision will be made this week. While the Republican National Committee voted 121-9 to impose the penalties and remove half of their delegates, Chairman Mike Duncan does have the power to overrule that decision. He has indicated he will not do that. There is still a possibility that all or none of them will count, and some states have indicated they bring litigation against the RNC if only half of their delegates are counted, regardless.

Read the rest here

Red State Update: The Musical!

Pretty good for a chuckle:

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

It's 2008 and Tara Stiles is back with a new yoga video. This week: Hips

check out Miss Stiles myspace: www.myspace.com/tarastiles

Nino Brown says F*** You to the IRS

Well, that's what Nino Brown would have said, if he were a real person. It turns out that Wesley Snipes is facing income tax charges of some sort. The fact that the amounts in dispute are huge and Snipes is a well known personality gives a lot of publicity to another issue that (like the idea of getting rid of the central bank) comes across as crackpot at first blush (which shows how far we've fallen as a country, since the United States is a country born from a tax rebellion) but if you actually look at it shows what a ripoff the income tax is.

Anyway, I've always thought that the income tax is one of the most arbitrary and destructive force to the principles of our country that has ever rolled down the pike. It's invasive and punitive and should be one of the first things that should be eliminated as soon as possible. The way that the income tax is enforced requires its citizens to put aside ideas such as the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment (those inalienable rights get tossed aside when money is concerned).

I remember when I was in eighth grade looking for books to read at the public library and coming across a book called "The Federal Mafia" by Irwin Schiff. That book gave me one of the first exposures to what the ideals are that this country was founded on and how the income tax perverts or ignores those ideals. I've exchanged correspondence with him a few times (it's not like he's going anywhere) and he's still pretty sharp and still fighting to get rid of the income tax.

For a great read about the abuses of the IRS, the late Senator William Roth (creator of the Roth IRA) wrote a book a number of years ago called "The Power to Destroy".

Or there is a film by the late Aaron Russo called "Freedom to Fascism" that shows what exactly how the income tax came about:

The Case for Ron Paul: Can You Make It?

An interesting question. The whole post by Ace is here. It's a good perspective of where "compassionate conservatism" is today.

So I took the parameters of Ace's post on good faith and posted this comment (what a friggin mistake that was). I actually think I'm stupider for making the attempt:

124 Ace-

Tying the dollar to something like gold doesn't have to be done overnight, in fact it wouldn't be something that would make sense. But something that Dr. Paul advocates is FA Hayeks idea of restructuring the laws so that competition isn't just the province of the wealthy and supermodels.

The fact of the matter is inflation, contrary to government claims, is running at 10-13 percent. Which means that people who are on fixed incomes like old people who get cost of living increases of 2-3 percent are losing ground.

Which of course prompted this response from someone named "Nom de blog":

131 "The fact of the matter is inflation, contrary to government claims, is running at 10-13 percent." -- Randolphus Maximus above @ 124 (Is this another erg posting?)

I'm pretty sure that is a conspiracy theory.
FY, NQ!

So of course I had to respond:

136 Nom de Blog-

Not at all, just look at the price of oil, gold, and nearly everything else in terms of dollars. The dollar has lost 30-35 percent of it's purchasing power since 2001 and the reason that oil and gold are reaching record highs in terms of dollars is not just because of demand from the Chinese. It's because inflation in this country is running higher than the 3-4 percent the government is claiming. That's all.

And in case FY, NQ is code for something EAD, MF

and he wrote back:

139 Randolphus Maximus,
I don't debate people without them at least first displaying some level of knowledge about basics. Since you have not displayed anything but addle-brained spittle-spewing silliness, the only thing you'll get from me is mockery. I'm sure it won't matter to you because you're in on the secret that nobody else knows about the "REAL INFLATION RATE" because of all the "INTERNATIONAL MONEY MEN" who are using the black muscle to move in on you. (Since you're an Herr Doktor supporter I'm sure you understand the need for inappropriate capitalization and code language.)

And the fact that you don't get the AoSHQ mailer doesn't excuse you not knowing an inside joke.

Oh, wait. Yes it does. You're new around here because you're a Paulbot who has, because you know the secrets that others don't, come to defend Herr Doktor since critiques of his idea of TRUTH, LIBERTY and the ORIGINAL INTENT of the CONSTITUTION are offered. And right on cue you start speaking of things about which you know little if anything.

Now, get me a juice box. Grape, if you please.
And when you come back from the fridge I'd like you to dance a jig -- but not in front of the TV.

Notice that the person trying so hard to bring up "conspiracy theories" is the Nom de Retard. So of course I responded:

146 Nom de blog-

In case you haven't been paying attention, gold is hitting record highs in terms of dollars per ounce and just like oil has been hitting records in pp barrel in terms of dollars, if you think it's completely because of the demand of other countries, maybe you don't understand basic economics. If your idea of inflation is limited to "prices go up" then yeah, there is book by Thomas Sowell called Basic Economics that you might want to check out.

And I've been lurking around here long enough that if you want to play the absolute moral authority card go ahead.

And he wrote back:

147 "...gold is hitting record highs in terms of dollars per ounce..."

-- RM @ 146 above

Are you adjusting that for your 13% inflation rate. Because if you are gold is nowhere near a record. Do you realize that your last two comments are directly contradictory.

Oh, that's right. You're an ignorant Paulbot and you're supposed to be dancing. Dance faster, with your small brain.

To which I wrote:

152 Nom de blog-

Why don't you give me your definition of inflation and I'll tell you where you are wrong. It's not contradictory at all.

And he wrote back:

154 You're not dancing fast enough.
Dance faster.

Gold is at an all time high.
Inflation is 13%.
These statements aren't contradictory.

You know, come to think of it, that's a pretty fine tap dance around sense. Gregory Hines would be impressed.

Then I said:

156 Nom-

"record highs" is what I wrote; "Gold is at an all time high." is how you translated it.

Come on, do you want to talk about monetary policy or not?

Then he said:

159 I suppose a record high is any high that gets recorded.
That's a very lame dance.

Impress me with your knowledge of finance. Please. I'm a bit down right now and nothing beats a good chuckle for a pick-me-up.

Of course I fell for the serious discussion ploy:

161 Nom-

I'm not asking this to goof on you, seriously, do you know what inflation is? And do you know what money is?

I should have known better:

163 RM,
You're not dancing quickly enough.
You've offered nothing of substance.
Self-contradictory flimflam hardly counts as a substantive point.

GOLD!
Dance, monkey, dance. (ed. isn't that racist?)

My response:

164 Thought so

And that's the level of discourse in the comments section of Ace's blog.

Maybe they don't have the internet in NC

And there goes my theory that all DMV employees are worthless and spend all their time on the internet. If I see this thing on ebay I'm going to have to put a bid on it.

Pilfered from Jalopnik via Gorillamask

Leave Ron Paul Alone!

This was good for a chuckle:



I pilfered it from Ace of Spades:

Glenn Beck and the Real Story

I've got to admit, Glenn Beck reminds me of early Bill O'Reilly. Before O'Reilly (and Fox News for that matter) became such an unwatchable, ego-maniacal blowhard, he would have interesting guests and ask good tough questions without injecting too much of his opinion. It's what made him a star.

I haven't watched him for years but watching this interview of Glenn Beck and him talking about the dire financial straits our country is in reminds me what I used to really like about Bill:

Moneyweek: A Gold Standard One Way or Another

The idea of tying our money system to a commodity will gain ground as people begin to realize that inflation isn't the 2-3 percent that the government is claiming, the fact of the matter is, it's closer to 10-12 percent (shhh, don't let anyone know until I move my 3 leperchauns and their gold out from the basement). With people abandoning the dollar as the reserve currency of the world, China may be the logical choice for those with means to move their assets. Particularly if they tie their money to gold:

Asia has the "second mover advantage" of being privy to all the Western World's mistakes. They are able to see where profligacy and runaway entitlement programs have led. Their top-down orientation will enable them to rein in expensive entitlement programs or, better yet, curtail young ones before they grow bigger. Not being as mentally and emotionally tied to the workings of empire and the capitalist welfare mentality, Asia will successfully cut the cord faster. In doing so, Asia will also rely on its citizens' natural propensity to trust precious metals and hoard them as a store of value in the first place.

Last but not least, Asia's relative lack of capital market structure - its underdeveloped backbone of lending networks - will make a de facto gold standard that much more attractive. By going straight to gold, Asians get the "trust" that is already built into the metal...they can skip all the financial engineering, or get to working it in later.

While Keynesians see the rise of gold as temporary - and will continue to assert their naysayer views as gold rises further - it will soon come to light that the 'world reserve currency' idea was the temporary thing, an anachronism of the industrial age.

The whole thing is here.

Ron Paul is a Nazi-loving, Race-baiting, Homophobic, Card Carrying JBS'er who Eats Babies (as all JBS cranks are Wont To Do)

Seriously, that's what I heard.

The New Republic's James Kirchick made a name for himself yesterday, what that name is has yet to be determined. What can be said is that a careful reading of the article published yesterday and his subsequent appearance plugging that article yesterday on Tucker's show (click here to watch) revealed nothing more than politics as usual. It surprises me not at all that the piece came out the day of the NH primary, that the "evidence" wasn't available at the time the article was published, but came along later in the day. What does surprise me is that the blogosphere and the MSM are raising this issue of the newsletters as if it were new.

As someone who has spent the past 9 months devouring everything that Dr. Paul has written, watching or listening to every speech and interview available online (trust me there's plenty) and comparing them to the language that is used in the offending newsletters it becomes clear there are more than enough distinctions in tone and style that Dr. Paul's explanation holds water. Does it excuse the fact that those words bear his name? Not at all, in fact a legitimate criticism can be made that his lack of oversight may reflect his executive management skills.

Looked at in another way, given the fact that Ron Paul isn't afraid to say what he thinks and his views haven't changed in nearly 30 years, why wouldn't he just come out when asked and say "I think black people are inferior" or "I hate gays" or "I eat babies". It's because if you examine his philosophy and his record it's just not true. The belief in and respect for individual rights precludes him from having any other position than what he's been talking about for the past 3 decades.

Hmm...I wonder if I can hire Kirchick to write a piece about Huckabee.

For a well-articulated dissection of the Kirchick piece click here.

Laura Ingraham interviews Ron Paul

The title of this youtube is "Ron Paul kicks Laura Ingraham's Ass". I wouldn't go as far as to say that; but Dr. Paul did prove his point umm, forcefully. I actually think Laura did a good job, I'm wondering where part 1 is?

UPDATE: found the whole interview here

Howard Stern talks about RP and Fred Thompson

The Early Results in NH are in: McCain and Obama win

From ABC:

Residents of two tiny towns stayed up late to give Barack Obama and John McCain early victories in the New Hampshire presidential primary.

Voters in two small New Hampshire villages, Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, cast the initial ballots just after midnight Tuesday.

In Hart's Location, Democrat Obama received nine votes, Hillary Rodham Clinton received three and John Edwards received one. On the Republican side, McCain received six, Mike Huckabee received five, Ron Paul received four and Mitt Romney one.

Leno irked RP wasn't on Fox Forum?

Ron Paul was on Jay Leno's show tonight talking about the Fox News forum snub:



Part II:



Jay was really annoyed with Ron Paul's exclusion: to Dr. Paul "Shouldn't you be kicking somebody's ass?" lol

American Conservative Mag: The Paleocon Dilemma

There did really used to be a wing of the Republican Party that hates the idea of meddling in other countries affairs:

Ron Paul isn’t just running for president. The antiwar 10-term congressman from Texas hopes that as titular head of the Republican Party, he can nudge the Right in a less interventionist direction, both at home and abroad. In fact, reviving an older, less reflexively hawkish conservatism may even be a more important motivation for Paul’s long-shot campaign than actually capturing the GOP nomination.

There’s just one problem: the movement Paul is trying to lead, or at least influence, is filled with people who think he is some kind of crazed left-wing radical. The popular conservative website RedState.com has effectively banned Paul supporters from signing up as commenters and promoting their candidate, partly on the grounds that such people are liberal Democrats merely pretending to be Republicans. FreeRepublic.com founder Jim Robinson, whose website was once more open to constitutionalists than Republican boosters, asserted that “Paul equals Hillary on the War.” National Review senior editor Richard Brookhiser has opined that Paul backers are “wicked idiots.”

The whole piece is here.

(pilfered from Red State Eclectic)

Frank Luntz Recycles

Fox News pollster Frank Luntz (F*** you Frank, this is classic) and his undecided New Hampshire voters back post debate a few months back:

Skip ahead to the 3:42 mark if you don't want to watch the whole thing (pay attention
to the guy with the glasses and the gray beard):



Now here's a clip from last nights post Fox News Forum show with, once again Frank Luntz (pay attention to the guy with glasses and the gray beard about the 1:37 mark):



It looks like its the same guy, not that that's a big deal. But, it's interesting to note just the same. Especially in the context of the Penn and Teller piece.

Pilfered from Laura at Red State Eclectic

So that's what SWAT Teams are Good For

Worldnetdaily has the story:

Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team in western Colorado punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family's home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy who had had an accidental fall accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak.

The only thing that would have made this story more realistic would have been if they had busted down the door of the house and Daisy was on the other side of it in some really short shorts and the SWAT guys got distracted so them Duke boys were able to get away in the General Lee and make it back to Uncle Jesse's farm. Yeeeeehawwwww!

Yeah, the Blimp is cool

Ron Paul has a blimp, a crap load of youtubes, blogs (even this one) and forums dedicated to him, but I don't even think any candidate running right now for the Presidency has not one but two different internet radio stations dedicated to Ron Paul programming 24/7:

Ron Paul Radio and Ron Paul Revolution Radio

Inflation and Our Money Supply

I've had a couple of people email me about inflation and our money supply and asking me how come a guy as ridiculously handsome and charming as me can be such a kook when it comes to the dollar. (Kerri, this means you)

Well, needless to say, the headlines about the declining dollar keep piling up and things are looking to get much worse in 2008. England is looking to surpass us in standard of living for the first time since the 19th Century. Anyway, here is a good explanation of the money system and why inflation isn't just rising prices (which is what most people think it is). It does get a little X-fileish in explaining how the Federal Reserve Bank system was formed but it's the simplest explanation I've found as well.

I wonder when this flatscreen is coming out

Over at gizmodo, there's a flat screen demo from Pioneer called "Kuro" and it's 9millimeters thin! I usually don't do posts on technology, but that is pretty friggin awesome. But I'm gonna wait for screens to get so thin that I can fold them like map and stick em in the glovebox. Where do the cords go?

More pics here

The Fox News Forum

I didn't watch the Fox News Forum sans Ron Paul, but Conservative Belle and Strapz live-blogged it. Click here and here for their reactions.

My boy spent some of the 20 million that his supporters raised last quarter and bought an hour of New Hampshire TV time to get his positions out there. I'm posting the youtube version in 2 parts:

Barry Goldwater Jr. makes an appearance (he's campaigning with Dr. Paul in New Hampshire) a and watching RP talk about economics and the Fed and taxes reminds me again how many levels above the other candidates he's thinking.



Part Deuce

Jackie and Dunlap on the ABC Debate

Pilfered from Red State Eclectic:

The Old Right Conservatives

Over at PearlMississsippiCPA, a blogger named John lays out the case for Old Right Conservatism:

From the founding of our Republic until 1931, state government spending was TWICE the amount of Federal government spending (except for war). The Feds were rarely involved in controlling the economy and sending troops overseas. Until 1917, all of our wars were fought on the North American continent. And with the exception of the War of Northern Aggression ("Civil War" to you Yanks.), there was no military draft. Indeed, Old Right Conservatism was the ruling belief. It is hard to believe that until 1901 all drugs were legal and until 1934 marijuana was legal...

Be sure to read the whole thing here.

The Iowa Caucus

UPDATE: I'm a little late on this but the NH GOP pulled their sponsorship of the debate on FOX yesterday. As far as I know, there has not been any formal explanation of RP's exclusion other than "there was no room at the inn" but whatever. Dr. Paul bought an hour of TV time during FOX's forum and is having his own townhall which you can watch here.

It was Huck's night, he had a huge victory over Romney anyway you spin it. The battle really was for 3rd place. Fred! and John McCain ended up in a virtual tie at 13 percent and my boy hit 10 percent, within striking distance of 3rd place. Good enough in a state that loves government subsidies for ethanol and is socially conservative. Next stop New Hampshire. Speaking of which, CNN has an interesting piece about the Fox News forum that Ron Paul has been excluded from on Sunday. Turns out that the NHGOP is threatening to pull its sponsorship of the forum because Ron Paul has been excluded:

Louisiana Attorney says F*** You to the IRS

The federal income tax is one of the most heinous, oppressive, criminal, and arbitrary exercises in government abuse that has ever come down the pike. I'm just waiting for the day that everyone decides they've had enough and we junk that thing and NEVER let it come back. I'm kidding myself, we're going to have another depression before that happens. But there are people who are fighting to end it on many different fronts.

Tommy Cryer is a highly respected Louisiana attorney who actually took the time to read the tax code and came to the conclusion that there is no law that requires most people to file a tax return and there is no law that makes anyone liable for the income tax. The IRS didn't take too kindly to that and charged him with tax evasion. Well, he was acquitted and now he's suing the agents who allegedly repeatedly disclosed information about him that is protected under federal law.

Good for him. I hope that he wins and ruins the lives of those agents. The end.

Oh yeah, here's the article that has the whole story.

I'd be interested in hearing the whole song

From YBNBY: Sweet Child O' Mine - the Indian Version, sounds kind of funny, but I kind of dug it.



Here's the original:

My Cabinet Wish List

I pilfered this idea from Ron Simpson over at Cluttered Eclectic Mind. Here's mine, which has a lot of similarities to Ron's-

President-Ron Paul
Secretary of Defense-General Petreaus
Secretary of State - Condoleeza Rice
Attorney General- Judge Andrew Napolitano (until one of the SCOTUS spots opens up, then he gets that nomination)
Secretary of Veterans Affairs- Lieutenant General Eric B. Schoomaker, M.D., Surgeon General of the United States Army. (if there were one department that I wouldn't ever have a problem with growing, it would be this one)
Secretary of the Treasury - Alan Greenspan (he's an expert on hard money and would be needed in the transition to eliminating the Federal Reserve system)
Secretary of the Interior - position eliminated and department gutted
Secretary of Education -position eliminated and department gutted
Homeland Security - position eliminated and department gutted
Department of Energy - position eliminated and department gutted
Department of Housing and Urban Development - position eliminated and department gutted
Department of Health and Human Services - position eliminated and department gutted
Department of Labor -position eliminated and department gutted
Department of Transportation - position eliminated and department gutted
Department of Agriculture - position eliminated and department gutted

Well, now that I look at it, I guess it's really not at all like Ron's list.

HR 1955: The Bill about Nothing?

HR 1955 is officially titled: The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. It was voted on in Congress and passed overwhelmingly 404-6. So why can't a reporter get anyone who voted for it to talk about it on the record? 404 members of Congress and not one of them is willing to grab a microphone and say why it's necessary to have such legislation?

From the article:

“Violent radicalization,” one of the threats the bill seeks to curb, is defined there as “the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically-based violence to advance political, religious or social change.”

Acts of violence are already illegal, whether stemming from extreme beliefs or not. But “adopting” or “promoting” beliefs is supposed to be covered by the first amendment, which Kucinich said “protects freedom of speech, which should also include freedom of thought — thought usually precedes speech, unless you’re talking about Washington — this undercuts the first amendment, [because] lines like ‘ideologically based’ … says government should police ideas, not conduct.”

The whole article is here (with an oversized picture of Dennis Kucinich to go with it, you've been warned).

Observations from New Hampshire

Over at the Crossed Pond, there is great post about Ron Paul's campaign from the grassroots level:

New Hampshire at this time of year is already thick with political signage for all candidates, mostly lots of small yard signs on road medians and in front of most of the houses (I see a lot of McCain and Obama). The difference is, for every single road sign of EVERY candidate, there is a small group of 2-3 Ron Paul supporters holding a 15 foot sign.

Read the whole piece here.

New Hampshire is fertile ground for Ron Paul. He has a very good chance of winning the state outright. But if he places outside of the top tier, I don't anticipate him dropping out of the race, he already has enough funding to get through to Super Tuesday.

Third Reich to Fortune 500

Cracked magazine has 5 popular brands that the Nazis gave us:

Already today you've used at least one product from a company that, at one time, worked for the Nazis. Now, in the name of not getting sued, we'd like to make it clear that we're not accusing any of the below companies of still being in bed with the Third Reich. All of them, to our knowledge, have long disavowed Hitler's regime as being both monstrous and no longer profitable.

IBM made their list:

You're probably thinking, "Wait a minute. IBM was American! The closest America ever got to the Nazis was when Indiana Jones wore that uniform as a disguise in Raiders of the Lost Ark!"

Actually, prior to the war, American business took what can be generously described as a morally ambivalent stance on the whole Hitler thing. American groups, such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Institute, directly funded Nazi eugenics projects in the early '30s (where the goal was to find ways to breed a master race). Of course, once the war started, most American businesses cut ties with Hitler. IBM, on the other hand, decided to stick around and see where he was going with this whole final solution thing.

Pilfered from Gorillamask

At What Cost?

CMStrapz, occasional contributer here at the RogueNation, after launching his own blog and taking a brief absence, has a couple of posts up on who he is supporting for President and who he is not. Click here to see his endorsement. Conservative Belle also has her endorsement posted as well. I would consider their pick to be mine if Ron Paul wasn't in the race.

What I would like to address in this post is Ron Paul and foreign policy. CB and Strapz have concerns about whether Dr. Paul's philosophy of nonintervention in dealing with other countries is the proper course for us. I'll let Strapz make the argument against Ron Paul:

I have felt that the largest external threat to this country is from Islamic fascism, a philosophy that advocates the killing (or conversion) of innocents in order to further its religio-political goals. In typical libertarian fashion, Dr. Paul has essentially refused to condemn this philosophy as evil, and has instead engaged in a blame-the-victim mentality, by alleging that the foreign policy of the United States, specifically its intervention in Middle Eastern politics, is to blame for attacks on civilians throughout the world and on US soil. This position is in complete contrast to several hundred years of history, dating back to the invasion of Spain by the Moors in 711 (lasting until 1492). The list of current world conflicts at Wikipedia shows that nearly all are a result of militant Islamists either not getting along with their neighbors or going to war against their own country. Surely, these cannot possibly all be the result of American foreign policy.

Where Islamic Fascism is a reality that must be dealt with, the question is, has the way that we have conducted ourselves been effective in dealing with that threat, and at what price?

More on that later, but first off, I think "blame America first" is about as accurate a description of Ron Paul's foreign policy philosophy as Kanye West saying "George Bush hates black people" on the government's failure during Hurricane Katrina. While both make good sound bites, they aren't really descriptive for either situation and they don't have a grain of truth to them.

A foreign policy of nonintervention basically means that we don't act like it's high school when we deal with other countries. We treat all countries consistently. Which would mean having the discipline of NOT interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Also it would mean having the discipline of trading with all countries that want to trade with us (and yes, sanctions are a form of internal meddling in other countries affairs. Which is not to say that private citizens shouldn't be able to choose with whom to do business with or not.) Non-intervention means also keeping up a strong defense by keeping its military strong and its citizens armed.

Is there an example of nonintervention like this in modern times? Yes, if you look at Switzerland in the middle of the last century. That country faced a threat from the most modern war machine to exist at the time, Nazi Germany. Hitler did not invade Switzerland because he knew that to do that his army would face certain defeat.

But the real danger to us is not Islamic Fascism, it is economic collapse. All empires collapse not from conquering opposing armies, but from insolvency. The USSR was a prime example. They overextended themselves with entitlements at home and maintaining an empire abroad and the Soviet Union ended when the bills came due.

Social Security, Medicare, our trillion dollar a year foreign policy of interventionism. The bills are going to come due and unless drastic action takes place soon, misery and depression are going to follow.

Ron Paul Linkorama

I've been away from my blog for the past couple of days but I'm back, Happy New Year Everyone!

It's the day before the Iowa caucus and all the energy and time and effort that the Ron Paul campaign and Ron Paul supporters have expended the past 9 months should result in a respectable result tomorrow. Do I think that Ron Paul will place first? That's a long shot, I would say maybe 3rd. But New Hampshire? He'll probably win there, with momentum going into South Carolina and Nevada and Florida.

All of the candidates were available for one last media blitz before tomorrow and here's Dr. Paul's appearances (which I unabashedly pilfered from either Laura over at RedstateEclectic or Lew Rockwell:

On Hannity's radio show (a pretty decent interview)
On MSNBC this morning
With Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Situation Room:



Also, The New Republic published a good piece not on Ron Paul, but on the supporters who are campaigning for him in Iowa:

...if the candidates were judged by the quality of their young supporters, I would now be voting for Ron Paul. Beyond just being polite, the Paul volunteers have an incredible passion for the technical mechanics of the American constitution and body of laws.

The whole article is here.

It's the last weekend of the NFL regular season

I pilfered this from the sportsblog Kiss Me Suzy Kolber. I've got to hand it to the Patriots, they ran the table this season. This picture interested me because if you look closely behind Tom Brady's left shoulder you can also see OJ, Gary Condit, and the dude who gets to bang Jessica Alba .

Dirty Tricks in Politics?

Who knew? Reason.tv has a great video interview with Roger Stone, a veteran of eight presidential campaigns and one of the premiere "dirty tricks" artists out there. From the blurb:

Beginning with his first disinformation campaign in grade school (ironically, aimed at his later idol, Richard Milhous Nixon), Stone learned the ropes as a teenager at Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (C.R.E.E.P.) and has spent the last 30 years in the political shadows, playing a major role in the “Brooks Brothers Riot” during the 2000 Florida recount and waging a highly public ongoing battle with Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.). As a battle-hardened and scandal-heavy veteran of eight national presidential campaigns, Stone understands the skulduggery and strategems of the modern political campaign like no one else...

He really unloads on Elliot Spitzer, calling him "f---ed up" psychologically" and also talks a little bit about the difficulty of running a sucessful 3rd party campaign. Among other things. Oh and he gives Ron Paul zero chance of winning the GOP nomination.

Click here to watch the interview.

I'm glad we're getting our money's worth

This is the story of an artist named Steve Kurtz (the article says he's pretty famous, but I've never heard of him) and government run amok (emphasis mine):

Kurtz’s legal nightmare began when he was arrested in May 2004 after he called 911 due to the unexpected death of his wife, Hope. The police notified the FBI because they saw commonly used biological equipment, such as petri dishes and test tubes, in his house.
...

Suspicious of bioterrorism, the FBI arrested Kurtz and searched his house. It was quickly confirmed that Hope had died of natural causes. Weeks later the New York State Commissioner of Public Health determined that the biological materials posed no public health risks. Eventually, charges of bioterrorism were dropped completely. But instead of dropping the case, the prosecution decided to pursue it. Millions of tax dollars and approaching four years later, the prosecution is now charging Kurtz with mail and wire fraud for a transaction worth less than $300.

For the love of all that is holy and great in this world, please someone, explain to me who comes out the winner here? It's not Kurtz and it sure as hell isn't the tax payer. If I find out that the prosecutor was someone looking to finish out his twenty years and collect his taxpayer funded pension my head is going to explode. This is literally a federal case, over a transaction valued at less than $300. Ridiculous.

The whole article is here

Benazir Bhutto

Wow, I've been sitting in my car the whole day and haven't been able to get to my computer, but I did spend my time trying to call into Tammy Bruce's show when she was talking about Bhutto being assassinated. The Pondering Penguin has a nice piece about her (pilfered from Conservative Belle)

Here's Ron Paul and his reaction on Fox News:

Judge Napolitano should be nominated to the Supreme Court (part deux)

Here is Judge Andrew Napolitano's keynote speech at an event called Reason in DC.
It's 40 minutes of Constitutional history. Brilliant.

Tis the Season

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Every time I've seen an episode of South Park I have always been entertained. But I can't say that the series is a "must watch" every single week. I'm going to have to re-evaluate my position after watching "Woodland Critter Christmas". A Christmas tale that has Good versus Evil, Satan versus Santa Claus, cute animals, and an unexpected twist at the end. This is probably a classic already, but I saw it for the first time today. (content warning for graphic images and themes) I pilfered this from the blog Doubleplusundead:


To watch this episode (and every single other Southpark) click here

Can't get this song out of my head

Kina Grannis is a talented singer who has made it into the top 10 for some contest where she can win a record deal and have her music played at the Superbowl. Why do I have a post on her? Because I can't get this damn song out of my head. Check out her blog here and if you like what you hear vote for her:

Gotta Digg by Kina Grannis (her song hit #1 on Digg.com last night):

Blowback from the Nannystate

Over in England, a new "sport" is gaining popularity: Burning or destroying traffic cameras. There's a website that talks about it (from Wired.com):

"Motorists Against Detection, the vigilante anti-speed camera group have announced a summer of MADness which will see them target for destruction all speed cameras in the UK. It’s now going to be a period of zero tolerance against all speed cameras, said their campaigns director Capt Gatso. (((A remote descendant of General Ludd, I reckon.)))

"The group claims speed cameras are just money-making machines and they have given the authorities long enough to prove their worth. The first camera to fall in the summer campaign is in south east London on the A2 at the Sun in the Sands roundabout on-slip heading northbound towards the Blackwall Tunnel.

Of course, speed limits are a fact of life in United States. I'm of the opinion that speeding tickets are just too great of a revenue stream for many cites and states to get rid of. What is interesting is, there are some experiments in other parts of Europe that are doing away with speed limits, traffic signals and traffic cameras entirely, with good results.

How does THAT idea work. From the Spiegel article:

"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."

With the following conclusion:

Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington neighborhood.

I don't know if the "automobile anarchy" model would work in this country, it would be a tough sell to the "safety nazi" crowd as well as probably the "eco-nazi" crowd as well (not mention, again, governments have a vested interest in keeping that revenue stream going). But then again, maybe we still have a relatively lower threshold of acceptance for the nanny state in this country compared to Europe.

Ron Paul on Meet the Press

Dr. Paul spent time this morning on the Tim Russert show, not quite the full hour as advertised but long enough to answer some tough questions. Dave Wiegel over at Reason live-blogged it and has a link to the transcript here.

Some of the questions that Russert asked were a bit esoteric, (the Civil War question comes to mind) but Dr. Paul's take on the Civil War makes sense if you study the history behind that conflict closely.

I did like how Dr. Paul turned into a broken record when asked about eliminating the income tax. "We need to cut spending" he kept on repeating, I couldn't figure out why Russert kept on asking him about the lost revenues. As if the amount of government we have is the right amount.

Here's the link for MSNBC's video or here's youtube

Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four

Aimee Allen and the Ron Paul Theme Song

Here's a behind the scenes video of her new music video. :



Check out her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/aimeeallen

If you check out Aimee's Video and Myspace you will see why Ron Paul is going to win Reason #32123 - Hotter Chicks

Why did I Spend $85,000 to Support Ron Paul

Lawrence Lepard took out a full-page ad in USA Today supporting Ron Paul, it cost him $85,000. To explain why, he is taking a full-page ad in the New York Times to run next week (I have no idea how much that cost him) To see what that ad looks like, click here.

Net Neutrality is a Big Scam

Why Government should stay out of regulating the internet:

The hype surrounding broadband socialism has grown over the past year. New political alliances have begun to promote regulations that will allow the federal government to use its seemingly idle hands to touch private pies.

Not only do presidential candidates such as Barack Obama seek to subsidize technological rollouts at the expense of coerced taxpayers, but, along with Representative Ed Markey, they want to regulate what network property owners do with their own infrastructure. All of this is done under the guise of the new populistic policy called network neutrality.[1][2]

And while the political rhetoric will almost certainly pick up pace throughout the election year in 2008, the joke is once again on statolatrists: it has already been tried numerous times.

Read the rest of the article here. There are a bunch of articles over there at the Mises Institute that will give you an education on free-market economics from the Austrian School as well.

Tucker Carlson on RP in the New Republic: Pimp My Ride

No quotes, just read the whole thing.

Yoga with Tara Stiles Ford Model

This week: Bends

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

BWE: Ten Best Things to Happen to the Internet because of the Writers Strike

Number 3: Not the Daily Show



Go see the rest of the list here.

Alan Keyes is Running for President

I've been a fan of his for a long time. He's someone who really knows the Constitution and I would even consider him as someone who would make a great addition to the Supreme Court. I can't support him for President though. But I'm glad he's running. He was on Hannity and Colmes tonight (pilfered from Ian Schwartz):



And this is my favorite article from him, evah, that I still reread every once in awhile. It is called : On the establishment of religion: What the Constitution Really Says. From Worldnetdaily:

The First Amendment to the Constitution plainly states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ..." Since there can be no federal law on the subject, there appears to be no lawful basis for any element of the federal government – including the courts – to act in this area.

Moreover, the 10th Amendment to the Constitution plainly states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." This means that the power to make laws respecting an establishment of religion, having been explicitly withheld from the United States, is reserved to the states or to the people.

Taken together, therefore, the First and 10th Amendments reserve the power to address issues of religious establishment to the different states and their people.

The article is long, but is an eloquent, powerful, piece that explains why the federal government has no authority to make a law, or listen to a court case in which religion is the subject matter and why states rights are so important to the foundation of this republic. I would just recommend reading the whole thing.

Is Iran really the new Nazi Germany?

If W and War Party are to be believed, yes. On the other hand, there are these pics by one of those peaceniks over at Lew Rockwell:





regarding the picture above:

For example, we can tell from the abundance of Christmas cards and trees and wrappings and ornaments and Santa Claus suits that Iran has a capitalist, consumer-oriented economy, with a large enough Christian community to support a whole host of retailers, wholesalers, distributors, suppliers, importers, and tree farms. And if we glance back at that incredible first shot of Tehran at the foot of the snow-covered Alborz Mountains, we can even say with certitude that the area around Tehran has just the right terrain, soil, and climate for the new-cut Christmas trees you see.

The rest of the column talks about Iran being rather cosmopolitan, with a big middle class and maybe not as oppressive a society as the government or the MSM would have you believe. What's the truth?

Tancredo to withdraw, where will his supporters go?

Tom Tancredo according to Fox News, will be making an announcement tomorrow formally withdrawing from the GOP presidential nomination.

Where will his supporters go? If you ask Craig Halverson, director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp, he says this:

"I'm shocked," Halverson said. "All the work and all the time we put in. We're shocked. We thought he was going to go all the way."

Halverson said he would wait for the official word, "then I'm going to jump on the bandwagon of Ron Paul."

Tancredo has always been pegged as a single issue candidate, that issue, illegal immigration has been big enough for him to hang around for awhile. He has been polling around 6% in Iowa, not an insignificant amount, and enough to change the complexion of the race there.

Why Ron Paul Should Keep Money Donated from Neo-Nazis

Ron Paul: Sure, I'll Take Money from Nazis - Headline from Hotair
Ron Paul Campaign Keeps White Supremacist Money - Headline Worldnetdaily
Ron Paul No Problem with Donations from Neo-Nazis - Headline Little Green Footballs

The latest attack on presidential candidate Ron Paul after his record setting fundraising day on Sunday is not really new. It's the same guilt by association attack that comes whenever Dr. Paul's grassroots campaign makes news.

Don Black is a "White Nationalist" who runs a website called Stormfront. If you click over there, you'll see David Duke featured prominently at the top and then a forum towards the bottom. The language (from my admittedly brief perusal) in the topics section, if to be taken at face value, isn't that much different than you would find on any forum that talks about politics and current events. The slant is different, of course, but if you compared it to the language of any other forum where ethnicity is the primary focus you would find more similarities than differences. The Nation of Islam comes to mind.

Don Black says this about Ron Paul:

Black said he supports Paul's stance on ending the war in Iraq, securing U.S. borders and his opposition to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"We know that he's not a white nationalist. He says he isn't and we believe him, but on the issues, there's only one choice," Black said Wednesday.

"We like his stand on tight borders and opposition to a police state," Black told The Palm Beach Post earlier.

That last statement is hardly a call to arms and hooded robes and cross burnings. While there may be unsavory characteristics of Don Black's world view, so what? It's a free country last I checked and in a free country, as long as you don't violate me and my property and my rights what you do on your own time, what you talk about, or who you call your friends is no concern of mine...Where is it? Oh yeah (emphasis mine):

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The great irony of the websites listed at the top is that all of them have faced the same charges of being "hate sites" or "racist" because their particular slant isn't in tune with "the mainstream". Little Greenfootballs in particular has had to deal with "racist!" charges. Should we call for all the websites that link or associate with LGF (like all of Pajamas Media) to give back all of the ad revenue they have generated because someone disagrees with their worldview? How rich is it that they have resorted to the same sort of attack on a point of view and people they disagree with that they themselves have been subject to?

UPDATE: This is what the "conservative argument" against Ron Paul amounts to:

One can see for themselves in the debates how nuts Ron Paul is but his supporters confirm it. I've noticed that those who are angry and/or pessimistic towards the government or just in general seems to gravitate towards Paul. He also attracts conspiracy theorists by the dozen. If I was Paul and these were my supporters I would be concerned, but he seems happy to have them. Nothing more needs be said.

The more I think about it, if you are a Christian and you are against abortion, wouldn't that automatically mean that you advocate shooting doctors who perform abortions and firebombing the clinics they perform them at?

Oh Come On!

Conservative Belle has been compiling all of the candidates video Christmas cards (which you can view here)

Hillary's card has to be the greatest advertisement on why polls are worthless. How can she be leading in the polls if her message is essentially "I am the Santa of all nanny-staters". Really, handing out "gifts" like free healthcare, free preschool. Promising everything to everyone? Well what about me Hillary? I'm looking for the card that says "stay the hell out of my wallet" or "leave me the hell alone". Alas, those are the gifts that none of the candidates from either party are willing to give. Unless you are the candidate with two first names.

Pilfered from Hotair

The One Legged Salsa Dancer

This guy dances the salsa 100 times better with one leg than I could ever do with two. My first thought was that it was a special effect. What do you think?



Pilfered from Milk and Cookies

This Cracks Me Up

I pilfered this from Conservative Belle and her post about Mike Huckabee:



The line dancing reminds me of every Filipino wedding reception and party I've ever been to.

I think it's funny that they didn't break out the karaoke machine somewhere in there. If you are a guest at my parents house, they won't let you leave until you sing a song. lol

Glenn Beck and Ron Paul

Ron Paul got the full hour on Glenn Beck's show tonight and I thought it was as fair an interview as you could ask for. The questions were good, I would even say Dr. Paul could have been challenged a little more on some things (like going into more depth about inflation and its causes), but I tip my hat Glenn Beck for treating him respectfully and as a legitimate contender for the GOP nomination. A couple of observations:

- The segment where Beck broaches the topic of the conspiracy theories/911-truthers/tinfoil-hat demographic that he seems to attract was as clear a refutation as Dr. Paul could make. He handled it well, and hopefully the "guilt by association" smear has been put to rest. I think it's a fair question to ask in one sense, since Paul has never had this much time on a national forum to talk about his candidacy. I'm sure there are plenty of viewers who don't spend that much time on the internet and maybe have the perception he's "one of them". Maybe this will be a sufficient rebuke.

- This was probably the first interview I've seen where the question of "are you going to run as a 3rd party candidate if you don't get the nomination?" question wasn't asked.

- The segment where Glenn Beck talks about the income tax and wanting to "french kiss" Dr. Paul was probably the most awkward moment of the interview. Though I have to admit, when I hear Ron Paul talking about if we got rid of the income tax the revenues generated from tariffs, excise fees etc. would still amount to what the government was taking 10 years ago gives me the same reaction...thank god I don't have a nationally broadcast television show.

I'm looking forward to Dr. Paul being on Tim Russert's show this Sunday.

Here's Beck and Ron Paul in its entirety:


Pilfered from Mr. Chubbs over at Liberty Maven

And the rest of it:

2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y4j4m90-XM
3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjnvp5z6kM
4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGrlZTlD-Sc
5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF_92PpCyUs
6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnm1nPHdATQ
7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD1qMXMOjfo
8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kze69_lmGmA

Andrew Sullivan: I endorse Ron Paul

Say what you will about Andrew Sullivan, but his endorsement of Ron Paul says everything that I've thought since I found out Dr. Paul was running (emphasis mine):

But the deeper reason to support Ron Paul is a simple one. The great forgotten principles of the current Republican party are freedom and toleration. Paul's federalism, his deep suspicion of Washington power, his resistance to government spending, debt and inflation, his ability to grasp that not all human problems are soluble, least of all by government: these are principles that made me a conservative in the first place. No one in the current field articulates them as clearly and understands them as deeply as Paul. He is a man of faith who nonetheless sees a clear line between religion and politics.More than all this, he has somehow ignited a new movement of those who love freedom and want to rescue it from the do-gooding bromides of the left to the Christianist meddling of the right. The Paulites' enthusiasm for liberty, their unapologetic defense of core conservative principles, their awareness that in the new millennium, these principles of small government, self-reliance, cultural pluralism, and a humble foreign policy are more necessary than ever - no lover of liberty can stand by and not join them.

I've come to understand over the past 8 years that the nanny state comes in different forms. Whether it's from the left or the right. Government's only interest is to preserve and protect itself. Dr. Paul has tapped into something that I thought I would never see. A candidate I could vote for not because he's the lesser of two evils. But the candidate who represents the direction that this country should head in with no compromises. I'll never forget the first time I saw him in a youtube video talking about his positions on government, taxes, the Constitution. I was literally jumping up and down saying to myself "This guy gets it". The great thing about the internet? I know I'm not the only one doing it.

Thank you Dr. Paul for curing my apathy.

Dr. Paul's infomercial

This 30 minute infomercial is going to be airing in Iowa all next weekend. It's a pretty good rundown on Dr. Paul and and his positions. Plus, it's from the campaign itself.

Part 1



Part 2

Chris Dodd, Constitutionalist?

I'll have some final thoughts on the 6.1 million that Dr. Paul raised today in a later post. But I just wanted to throw this up there. Pilfered from Daily Kos, via the Crossed Pond:

The latest word from the Dodd camp regarding what will happen on the FISA bill is that tomorrow, Dodd will take the floor and not yield.

He can take "questions" from other senators during the filibuster, which can be no more than 20 minutes. We understand that Kennedy and Feingold so far have agreed to do this.

Let's hope Feingold and Kennedy have some good twenty-two-part questions of their own. And let's also hope that they won't be the only senators supporting Dodd.

And this is also where we come in. I've been told by the Dodd folks that the Senator wants to know what we think he should read during the filibuster. So please suggest anything you think might be relevant to the issue of retroactive telecom immunity - speeches, articles, even your own comments, diaries or blog posts. Dodd staffers will undoubtedly be checking the comments here for good ideas, and you could wind up having your own thoughts read aloud on the floor of the United State Senate.

This is our chance to stand with Dodd and stand up for the Constitution. Let's do our best to help him - he's going to have a lot of time to fill. And to urge your senators to join in, click here.

The Final Countdown

Update 8:13pm PST: I'm listening to www.ronpaulradio.com and the servers at www.ronpaul2008.com are getting bombed in this last hour. The total over donated on their counter is $17.6 million dollars. It's possible that the ticker will reach $18 million dollars if their servers don't crash! Which will bring the total for the day to $6.5 million!!

Update: 9:04 pm - ronpaulforums= crashed ronpaul2008.com=crashed ronpaulgraphs.com=crashed paulcash.slact.net=crashed. awesome

Update 8:49 PM:$17,920,552 - this is going to be close

Update and Bump:

December 16th could be bigger fundraising wise than November 5th. I'm predicting anywhere between $500k and $8million. I'm going to start watching at 8 pm to see how fast that thermometer goes up. It's addicting.

UPDATE: Daily Paul has a initial total at $11,552,560.73, it's 10:13 PST and thermometer just hit $12 mil. Wow, nearly half a million dollars after first hour. Friggin amazing!

This is Rich

From Yahoo:

"We have an obligation to prevent fraud and abusive lending," the Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, said earlier this year. "At the same time, we must tread carefully so as not to suppress responsible lending or eliminate refinancing opportunities for subprime borrowers."

The chairman's comments indicate a greater hypocrisy because it is the Fed's continuous suppression of interest rates and liquidity injections that allowed the "subprime mortage" market to be created in the first place. Just in the past year, there have been 3 cuts in the federal funds rate, (the latest happening just this week) and with each cut, there is growing anxiety that the country is heading towards recession. If there were ever a case to made about fraud and abusive lending practices, examining our central bank would should be the first stop.

That we don't question, or just accept the necessity of a Fed shows how economically illiterate most of us are. There were 2 previous central banks The First Bank of the United States (1791-1811) and The Second Bank of the United States (1816-1836). After that, this country operated without one until 1913. In that time frame, from 1800 to 1913, consumer prices remained stable with no inflation. From Grandfathers Inflation Report:


Even up until before World War II a dollar was still worth around the same amount as it had been for the previous 140+ years.

Not that there weren't problems with the monetary system back then, there were. Liquidity and inelasticity in currency were the primary criticisms. If there wasn't enough money in the system for lending for example, growth could be stifled. After a series of financial panics around the turn of the century, calls for reform to the monetary system began to gain traction. But, like what happens most of the time, the government "solution" ends up being worse than the problem it is trying to solve.

Like every other government program, the results of any particular legislation or program is always inversely proportional to the grandiose goal or vision that the program is supposed to achieve. For example, the Patriot Act was supposed to give the government the tools necessary to fight terrorism abroad and domestically and make our country safer, that those tools are primarily being used to spy on the very citizens it is supposed to protect without warrants or due process is a good example.

That's the way it is with the Federal Reserve Bank. It's stated mission is to provide stability to the money system and to help foster economic growth. A glance at the above chart shows that instability in the currency is only accelerating (especially after all ties of the dollar to gold were completely severed back in the 70's) and we as a country have come to accept inflation as a part of life. Will there be a time in this country like in pre-WWII Germany where people would get paid in the morning and the rate of inflation was so great that people would lose half of the value of their money before the end of the day? It's very possible. Social Security and Medicaid are huge unfunded liabilities that only loom closer with each passing day.

It fills me with dread that no one, save Ron Paul, is even talking about this as a campaign issue. That our economic well-being is a national security issue greater than ANY terrorist threat (even a nuclear one) must be recognized. Just like a plane in flight, our economy is going to come back to earth one way or another.

Obama Girl meets Ron Paul Girl

I can't hear what these girls are saying. I might have to watch it a few dozen times more. If the campaign came down to the Obama girl and the Ron Paul girl, well I think that makes all of us winners, don't you? Oh did I mention that they are in their underwear?

It's ok, the vid is quite SFW


Obama Girl Nightmare - video powered by Metacafe

The Ron Paul Blimp is in the Air

Check out Ron Paul Blimp Blog for more pics and links to video of the Blimp in flight

Come on Fred Get it Together, Ron Paul Playing for Keeps

From Brad over at The Crossed Pond:

I really don’t know if I can think of a modern analogue to the Fred Thompson campaign. Mind you, almost the week before he announced, he was practically the frontrunner for the nomination, with all the Big Mo’.

And, a week AFTER he announced, he was already underperforming, and from then on, his campaign strength has gone from bad to worse to worse to worse to worse to worse.

The only analogy I can muster is it would be as if Al Gore finally entered the Democratic race in early September and then, his first week on the campaign trail, he slapped a baby. And then, his second week on the campaign trail, he slapped another baby. And for every consecutive week thereafter, he just kept slapping babies.

It's fair to say that Fred has underwhelmed on the campaign trail. But after Ron Paul, he would be my pick for the nomination, so I'm halfway rooting for him. I definitely don't think that he should drop out of the race as Brad suggests. But if he doesn't gain traction soon, as in the next 30 days, it won't matter.

Also at the Crossed Pond is an interesting analysis on Ron Paul busing in legislators from Arkansas to criticize Mike Huckabee's record as governor on immigration and taxes:

...the Paul campaign has decided that they’re in the hunt, and it’s time to start drawing specific distinctions (and/or to make sure that nobody runs away with it). That Huckabee is the target, on the surface, adds a little chutzpah to it. They’re not dicking around with McCain in New Hampshire or Thompson for third in Iowa, for instance, but going right for the top dog. Which is intriguing, to say the least, because campaigns usually don’t do this kind of thing unless they think that in doing it, they can make a difference. It’s intriguing because they’re acting like a real campaign.

Here’s my guess: Huckabee represents perhaps the biggest obstacle to the Paul campaign in New Hampshire. He’s the guy who, if he comes out of Iowa with a huge boost, is going to ratchet up in New Hampshire polls to second or third. Paul’s at the cusp of breaking through there, but Huckabee, who had been dueling with him for fourth, is already starting to fall ahead, and his rise out of Iowa could lock Paul out of the top four altogether if things fall against him. A fourth in Iowa and a fifth in New Hampshire—which is actually pretty likely as far as expectations go—wouldn’t be very good for Paul’s chances of being a breakout story, to say the least.

Ron Paul to be on Glenn Beck's show

Dr. Paul has accepted the open invitation by Glenn Beck and will appear on Tuesday. Among the topics up for discussion: Glenn will probably have to ask him how he was able to raise so much money AGAIN after the teaparty on Sunday.

UPDATE and BUMP: video confirmation from Glenn Beck himself



Pilfered from Lew Rockwell.

Pretty Funny

After yesterday's GOP snoozer of a debate, I didn't even bother to watch the Dem's debate today. But youtube never fails:



Pilfered from Andrew Sullivan

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

This week: weight loss

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

Pork Be Gone!

Where does all that money that the Fed creates and that gets taken from our pockets that we send to Washington go? USAspending.gov should be able to tell you.

I'm always for transparency in government at all levels and opening up spending to the internet is one idea whose time has come. For every internet user who surfs the web looking for donkey porn, 2 girls 1 cup, celebrity gossip, and Ron Paul stories, there's another who actually uses the internet for something productive. OK, I confess, I don't surf the internet for celebrity gossip!

Pilfered from Ed Morrissey at Captains Quarters

Ron Paul Supporter Spotlight

It's amazing the crowds that Dr. Paul is getting at his rallies: