The UnLiberty Dollar

In 1913, a 'dollar' was defined as 1.12929 ounces of silver. That definition hasn't changed. What has changed is the value of the paper 'dollars' -- declared 'legal tender' -- that you might just use (two of them) to get a cup of Starbucks coffee. Based on the government's own measure of 'inflation', the paper dollar is only worth about 4 cents today as compared to the value it held back in 1913 when it was still backed by gold and silver. Of course, the government's definition of inflation has nothing whatsoever to do with reality, but I digress.

In the late 90s, Bernard von Nothaus, a long-time opponent of the Federal Reserve system, decided to produce an alternative dollar which would be backed by silver. He called it the Liberty Dollar. As its popularity grew, so did the Federal government's discomfort. They decided to investigate. In 1999, the Secret Service investigated and "… determined there wasn’t a federal currency violation." They did suggest however, that perhaps NORFED, the organization von Nothaus began as a political vehicle to oppose the income tax and Federal Reserve, might be running afoul of SEC regulations.

It seems to be a trend that when an agency can't find anything wrong with a spontaneous and unregulated economic endeavor, they keep searching. Not counterfeiting? Maybe they're trying to engage in some other special activity that we regulate! Let's call up a different agency! Most people would call this harassment by authorities, something that is illegal in all 50 states. Nobody gave the feds that memo, apparently.

But why on earth would they care? What von Nothaus had created was a medium of exchange, the value of which could be easily determined. Where's the harm in that? To obtain Liberty Dollars, you had to pay with the "legal tender" printed by the U.S. Treasury, so why the scrutiny?

Perhaps, the government doesn't like to have its schemes foiled. If the Liberty Dollar and its creators were kooky for thinking that gold and silver is money, there was still the slight chance that people in the U.S. would gravitate toward that real money rather than the counterfeit stuff the Treasury kept handing out (by the trillions). NORFED wasn't the only group which offered alternative currencies. It just happened to be the only group that offered real money -- gold and silver -- as opposed to barter paper or scrip, and even its paper was backed by gold and silver.

Recently, the U.S. Mint declared on its website that use of the Liberty Dollar was a federal crime. The Mint didn’t provide specifics and von Nothaus filed a lawsuit which claimed that the declaration was defamation and a great harm to his business. This suit has been allowed to go forward even after many attempts by the defendant’s lawyers to have it dismissed. The government would never retaliate against somebody exercising their constitutional rights would they?

If the government feared that the liberty dollar would become popular, its fears were realized. As of Monday, eight years after its inception, the Liberty Dollar was the most popular alternative currency instrument in the United States.

On Wednesday, November 14, 2007, the government tried to kill it. Details are sketchy, but 12 armed federal agents raided Liberty Dollar's headquarters and took everything. Not only did they take the computers and records, they confiscated dies, medallions ('coins' are a statutorily defined artifact) and the gold and silver kept in the vaults. The paper certificates in circulation were instantly devalued. What in the world would motivate the government to do this?

The search and seizure warrants were posted at the Liberty Dollar web site. According to the seizure warrant, the allegation is that NORFED has been engaging in money laundering and wire fraud. The search warrant is nothing more than a wholesale fishing expedition. The seizure warrant itself uses three cites of criminal seizure statutes, USC 18 982 (2)(b), USC 18 981 (1)(b) and 21 USC 853(f).  I'm no lawyer but in reading those sections of the law it becomes only too obvious how cavalier our federal police have become when it comes to reading the laws they are allegedly sworn to uphold and the Constitution which allegedly authorizes these laws.

Let me show you what I mean.

In USC 18 Section 982 (2)(b) we find:

The court, in imposing sentence on a person convicted of a violation of, or a conspiracy to violate—

(A) section 215, 656, 657, 1005, 1006, 1007, 1014, 1341, 1343, or 1344 of this title, affecting a financial institution, or

(B) section 471, 472, 473, 474, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 485, 486, 487, 488, 501, 502, 510, 542, 545, 842, 844, 1028, 1029, or 1030 of this title,

shall order that the person forfeit to the United States any property constituting, or derived from, proceeds the person obtained directly or indirectly, as the result of such violation. [Emphasis added]

This section is describing criminal forfeiture which clearly requires a trial and can only be executed during the sentencing phase. There is no legal authority given in this statute to seize assets prior to a conviction. One of the statutes listed as being the source of authority is USC 18 981 (1)(b). It reads:

(B) Any property, real or personal, within the jurisdiction of the United States, constituting, derived from, or traceable to, any proceeds obtained directly or indirectly from an offense against a foreign nation, or any property used to facilitate such an offense, if the offense—

(i) involves the manufacture, importation, sale, or distribution of a controlled substance (as that term is defined for purposes of the Controlled Substances Act), or any other conduct described in section 1956 (c)(7)(B);

 I am assuming here that 1956(c)(7)(b) - money laundering - is the specific reason that this forfeiture applies. That statute is about a crime against a foreign nation or bank. Did a foreign nation or bank file a complaint against NORFED or does the government just make it up as they go along? Are they going to produce a victim or will we find that the "crime" is theoretical? Here's the section:

(7) the term “specified unlawful activity” means—
        ...

(B) with respect to a financial transaction occurring in whole or in part in the United States, an offense against a foreign nation involving—

...

(iii) fraud, or any scheme or attempt to defraud, by or against a foreign bank (as defined in paragraph 7 of section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978)); [emphasis added]

The final cite for seizure authority given is 21 USC 853(f).

The Government may request the issuance of a warrant authorizing the seizure of property subject to forfeiture under this section in the same manner as provided for a search warrant. If the court determines that there is probable cause to believe that the property to be seized would, in the event of conviction, be subject to forfeiture and that an order under subsection (e) of this section may not be sufficient to assure the availability of the property for forfeiture, the court shall issue a warrant authorizing the seizure of such property.

Folks, this is a crock of [expletive deleted]. The government here has used as its authority, to seize property subject to seizure under banking laws, statues which apply to drug enforcement. Title 21 contains laws applicable to the Food and Drug Administration. Liberty Dollar and those who bought their products, have little chance that any judge will look at this blatant tyranny and reject it. A judge signed these warrants. More than likely the same judge that will hear any motions relevant to this case. It would seem that there is a very good argument to make against the legality of this snatch and grab, but frankly, I don't think the government cares about the law. The law is now just hieroglyphics used to justify tyranny. If it really meant anything to anyone in government except as a means to spread a patina of legitimacy over blatant criminal acts, this hodgepodge of legal "authority" wouldn't be the norm.

Liberty Dollar and its customers have been denied the right of due process. Every civil and criminal seizure proceeding must allow the defendant a hearing to challenge the government's assertion that a preemptive seizure is justified. That never happened in this case and this government is proving itself beholden to no law, especially not the Constitution.

We have one chance to strike it down in our favor without resorting to violence. In 1913, the original liberty dollar was replaced with the unliberty fiat dollar. In 1971, Nixon finally put the nail in the coffin by finally severing the relationship between gold and silver and the "dollar". A man you may have heard about was driven into politics to change this. That man was Ron Paul. His stance on money has been consistently derided by ignorant (or worse) commentators but this issue has resonated amongst the population almost as strongly as has his principled stance on foreign policy. Von Nothaus even minted a version of the Liberty Dollar with Ron Paul's image on it.

Sound money is the only way that people can truly be free. Obviously, our government won't even give us a whiff of freedom. If you're not a Ron Paul supporter, try and get the candidate you support to even talk about sound money. Chances are your candidate will refuse to answer any questions about the issue or defer to the "experts" working at the Federal Reserve. With every day that passes, the truth of Ron Paul's admonitions become more evident. The persecution of Liberty Dollar shows us that our government is not interested in our freedom. Rather than protect our freedoms, they are at each passing moment inventing new ways to stifle and control us.

We have one chance to change it all and restore our liberties. Let's not blow it. All of us have been affected by the fiat unliberty dollar. For those who have been directly affected by the raid, there is a signup for the sure-to-follow class-action against our government. Sign up. Register to vote Republican in the primaries and support Ron Paul, the only Presidential candidate who is a defender of the true liberty dollar.

Wonderful Young Man

Responds to Glenn Beck....

And Now for Something Completely Different

My wife. She wrote an article about a day in the life of the homeschooling mom. My wife is scary. In more ways than one. For instance, I've tested on IQ tests at anywhere from 135 to 147. The last test I saw her take she knocked out 170. When she wakes up that is. She then deals with brain damaged children (ours) all day and her IQ plummets.

Anyway, Lew was kind enough to publish it. I think she's a better writer than I, personally but maybe I'm not so objective.

Sneak Preview

This will be up in the AM at Lew's. Ron Paul Tightens the Screws -- Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Money Bomb. (Does that make me a terrorist?)

Aliens hacked my blog!

Not really....just my 9-year-old if you're wondering about the cat videos.... P.S. I love you too Shannon.

Warehousing Humans

I was pondering how the U.S. has less cultural icons than it has institutional icons and how we tend to warehouse people. Over at Lew's.

Animal Testing

OKAY NOT LIKE ANIMAL TESTING!!!!!!!

SHANNON

P.S. I LOVE YOU DAD.

Stupid cat

HaHaHaHaHaHaHa!

Ron Paul: November 5th Starts With a Bang!

I caught a screenshot from about midnight Central Daylight Time from Ron Paul Graphs.com. The starting total was $2,788,637 just before I dropped my own $100 donation.

They've now updated that to a starting total of $3,115,107.

If we use the former, as of 1:00 CDT, the total is $3,345,180, and so far the total raised is $560,000 in roughly 2 hours.

If we use the latter start number (3.1 million), it's $230k in two hours. That's still a phenomenal rate. Using that rate, we're at 115k per hour and today will see about 2.7 million by the days end. It's less than the 10 million we wanted to see, but will certainly put Ron Paul on track to get to the 12 million mark by December 31. By the end of the day the total raised for the quarter could be about 5.4 million if this remains steady.

However, the former number is the correct number according to my screen shot which captured the RP Graphs data at 12:56 Eastern Daylight Time. That means that the number is more like $230,000 per hour and the total at the end of the day could very well be 5.4 million and 8.1 million for the quarter so far. 5.4 million In one day? Let's hope this pace remains this way.

Update: I sent a note to Dan, who runs the graphs site, regarding the discrepancy in the start numbers:

I added in the offline donors.. I think that is what you saw.

$326k

Ron Paul: Disco Sucks

Ron Paul:Disco Sucks

Bush's Entourage

FEMA fake news conference

That thing had me laughing. The media is so indignant about it but their press conferences are no different. You can't tell the real press conferences from the fake ones. So I wrote about that over at Lew's.

Boycott RedState

Look. Brownshirt State...err Red State has decided to ban all speech about Ron Paul (except the smears that they will most assuredly publish about Ron Paul).

I was banned for making a comment there. It was the only comment I ever made there. Because I used the word "neoconservatives" I was banned.

There are people there who deny that neoconservatives exist in spite of the fact that Norman Podhoretz proudly calls himself a neoconservative.

Red State has been riding high on the Ron Paul phenomenon. Its page views increased. Its ad revenue was increased. All because people logged in and decided to try and talk sense to people who are immune to it.

Erik , at his own blog, decided to post some of the email he's received. He's so dense, as are most of these neoconservative types, that he doesn't realize he's made himself look even worse.

Face it. The neoconservatives don't even admit that 70% of Americans are fed up with the Iraq war. They don't admit that 56% of the GOP base wants the war to end. These are facts. The neoconservative movement is dead. What's left of it is committing political suicide but does not realize it yet.

Think I'm crazy?

Watch this video. It's Norman Podhoretz pwnd by an audience who attended a recent book signing of his new book about "Islamofascists" and why we need to bomb Iran.

Interesting that Podhoretz can't get away from his racist, leftist past. I never knew that he had such disdain for black people.

Back to the point. If you have an account at RedState, discontinue it. Stop reading that site. As large as the Ron Paul Nation is, we can make a real dent in their bottom line and in the bottom line of many web sites and media outlets who censor or disparage Ron Paul. Get this through your heads: you are much more powerful than you think. The market is very powerful when its individual members start acting. Stop sending them emails. Stop giving them page views.

And from now on, when you're searching google, mouse over the link or pay attention to the source. If it's from RedState, do not click. Boycott Red State. They may never realize that they no longer have any influence over Republican politics, but they might just get a good lesson in economics.

A Ron Paul Cabinet

Laura at RedStateEcclectic been taking VP nominations. But I've been thinking about this lately and thought I'd just make a list of my cabinet position and department head picks.

I was inspired by a recent article at Lew Rockwell by Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski.

• Secretary of the Treasury: Franklin Sanders
• Director of the General Accounting Office: Karen DeCoster
• Secretary of Defense: Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski
• Secretary of Commerce: Walter Williams
• Attorney General: Bob Barr
• Secretary of State: Lew Rockwell
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs: John McCain

Since that is the extent of what the entire cabinet should look like, that's all I'll suggest.

The rest, Homeland Security, Housing and Development, Education, Homeland Security etc should be abolished, I think it would be good to leave their department heads vacant.

Actually, I might consider John Taylor Gotto as head of Department of Education if for nothing else but to make a bunch of department documents available to the public to see what a sham federal interventions in educations have been.

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the pound

NOT

Austin Walk for Ron Paul

I brought my oldest daughter and a couple of signs to the Austin Ron Paul walk today. What a blast. The guy carrying the flag is an Iraq veteran stationed at Fort Hood up near Waco. He drives 2 hours down to Austin to all of our events. I don't think I've been to an event where he wasn't in attendance.

Today, he led the walk and waved that flag for almost two hours as we left the Capitol building, went down Congress to the Congress street bridge and then snaked around City Hall, over to the Governor's mansion and back to the Capitol steps.

There was a great deal of honking and cheering from passers-by on foot and in cars. It was thrilling. We plan on doing this once a month. Today the official count was 193 but we picked up a few along the way. One of the marchers had a sign that said "Park your car and join us!"

Another one at Lew Rockwell

No, Really

I get a few emails from Paul supporters who are still not convinced that he can win and that I'm not presenting any evidence. Frankly, I believe that the only way he can't win is if somebody does something illegal. At least that's my belief after collating some of the data I present in the article.

It's 90 days before the first primary and no other GOP candidate (maybe even DNC candidates) has been pulling in the crowds that Ron Paul has. Not even close. There is no evidence that any other candidate including DNC candidates has any significant online support by comparison.

New Article up at Lew Rockwell

Ron Paul can Win.

Speaking of Donations

The Granny Warriors are seeking some help. They have contracted to have a banner flown over a NASCAR event. Superb idea. Details are here. They need 3k by 10-09-2007 to pull this off.

Check This Site if You're Not Registered Republican

You can find information here about your state and the deadline for registering to vote Republican.

The Missing Nukes

The story should be very important. This fellow has one of the most cogent and well written articles I've seen on the subject. He thinks a nuke may have been stolen during that bizarre incident.

If a nuke goes off here in the US. I can tell you right now won't have come from some third world Islamic nation. I say that in spite of the story I've linked. This government cannot be trusted. Gulf of Tonkin was a complete fabrication. Pearl Harbor was manipulated.

[Update: It keeps getting wierder, an airman at Minot, where the nukes ended up, died while on leave. He was part of the security force squadron.

Ron Paul Alexa Numbers

A Setback for the Ron Paul Campaign

Do NOT procrastinate. You must register republican because the GOP is still working against Dr. Paul. Read that very informative article.

"Many states, in an effort to shut out Ron Paul are now closing their primaries," reports Reynolds. "That means that only Republicans can vote in the Presidential primaries for a Republican candidate."

You Did This

Let me explain. The video here is a very good piece on Ron Paul from ABC's national news. ABC wants Ron Paul to spend some money with them and you to watch their broadcasts rather than Fox or MSNBC. They are reacting now to market forces. So rather than make a hit piece, they cover him fairly. They know he's not going away. The 5 mil puts us way past the point where ignoring us has any positive effect. We're in the "win" stage now. There is some fight left, but what dirt can they dig up? Just keep doing what you're doing and don't forget to donate.

Red State, Brown Shirts

I have never registered or posted at Red State. I registered today, made what I thought was a reasonable post, and BAM. Banned immediately for using the word neoconservative. These people are really conservative don't you know?

The thread is here

Preach it Brother

Check out the comment section of this blog post:

The only hope for the GOP is to abandon Bush and his policies like he was an aids infected transvestite crackwhore.

Now, This is Funny...

From the Spoof (Ron Paul's Excess Campaign Donations Pay National Debt Shortfall)

Apparently there is intense interest in comparing the rate at which Paul's supporters move fiat money voluntarily out of their pockets, and the rate at which the government moves money by fiat out of Paul's supporters' pockets.

My Latest at Lew Rockwell

Misunderestimating Ron Paul's Support.

Pre-emptive war: An invention of Hitler

So says Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Preventive war was an invention of Hitler. Frankly, I would not even listen to anyone seriously that came and talked about such a thing.

The neoconservatives are batting .1000. (Thanks to Lew Rockwell via Penny Langford-Freeman).

Ron Paul Switch Parody

The campaign should use this. It's terrific.

One Million and Counting

Eat that, Neocons.

Mutiny?

First this piece from the San Diego Tribune about Generals coming out against the Iraq war, some who have even chosen to end their careers so that they can freely do so.

“The ethos is: Give your advice to those in a position to make changes, not the media,” said Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, now retired. “But this administration is immune to good advice.”

On September 6, the media reported that nuclear weapons were "mistakenly" loaded onto a b-52 and flown across the country. According to the Times of London:

A squadron commander in charge of the warheads, each of which has up to ten times the destructive power of the Hiroshima atom bomb, has been relieved of his duties while crews responsible for the error have been banned from handling munitions.

Maybe there is more than meets the eye here. Why in the world would this even make the news? To scare the public into thinking that our nuclear arsenal isn't safe? To scare Iran? Nukes do not get loaded onto B-52's by mistake.

World Content News is reporting that these nukes were on their way to the ME and were supposed to be launched in a coordinated fashion with Israel's attack on Syria. Some military officials have blown the whistle which seriously calls Bush's military leadership into question.

Although the Air Force tried to keep the B-52 nuclear incident from the media, anonymous Air Force personnel leaked the story to Military Times on September 5, the day before the Israelis attacked the alleged nuclear installation in Syria and the day planned for the simultaneous U.S. attack on Iran. The leaking of classified information on U.S. nuclear weapons disposition or movement to the media, is, itself, unprecedented. Air Force regulations require the sending of classified BEELINE reports to higher Air Force authorities on the disclosure of classified Air Force information to the media.

In another highly unusual move, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked an outside inquiry board to look into BENT SPEAR, even before the Air Force has completed its own investigation, a virtual vote of no confidence in the official investigation being conducted by Major General Douglas Raaberg, chief of air and space operations at the Air Combat Command.

Perhaps there are still some patriots at high levels in the military after all.

Then there's this from the Sierra Times:

Indeed, by the time Kathy Harris replied to her son's e-mail, several other military families had received desperate phone calls from their loved ones in Iraq. There had been some sort of mutiny, it was clear. The details were sketchy, but it appeared that the platoon had refused to deliver a load of fuel to Taji, Iraq, because the soldiers believed their lives were at serious and unnecessary risk. According to the family members' accounts, they were detained at gunpoint by soldiers for more than a day.

What are the odds?

I just happened to walk into my home office after dinner and my browser was open to the Ron Paul official campaign site. I was able to get a screen shot about 1 or 2 seconds before the total updated. Wow. Look at the total. Not because it's a big number. It's all 7's. $777,777.77.

That Backward Islamic Nation: Iran

This slide show is a must see. It doesn't portray the Iran we're constantly told of by the neoconservative government advertising agencies aka main stream media.

Don't let them do it. They're talking about nuking this country.

The Ron Paul Campaign is Becoming Deadly Serious

According to Iowa Politics dot com, Ron Paul's new Campaign manager in Iowa is Drew Ivers, who ran Pat Buchanan's Presidential campaign there in 1996 and 2000.

“The other Republican candidates are good men," said Dr. Ivers, "but when it comes to a record of fidelity to the Constitutional principles of “Limited Government”, they are still all students compared to Ron Paul. And with 65-70 percent of Americans polled now opposing the War in Iraq, if the Republicans nominate a pro-war Republican they may just as well hand the White House over to Hillary Clinton."

“I relish the thought of a series of national debates between Mrs. Clinton and Dr. Paul and will be pouring my energy into helping Iowa Republicans see the power of his nomination,” continued Ivers.

This is now a meme. Ron Paul vs Clinton. Get used to it. That's what is going to happen. No other GOP challenger has a shot against Hillary. This campaign is not about some Quixotic attempt to spread a message. It's about winning the Presidency (but first the GOP nomination).

Things are happening. Very good things. The fundraising in the past week has been stunning. The support he's been getting, even on the west coast was better than imagined. Freedom is popular and the timing couldn't be more perfect. At no point in my lifetime has the danger of the United States slipping into a totalitarian nightmare been more apparent. At no time have our young people been asked to carry such a load. Social Security, a trillion in borrowed money to finance an illegal war, a burgeoning police state, a corporate private army (Blackwater) building bases in the US and committing atrocities abroad, the Patriot Act and the threat of a Democratic candidate who will raise taxes, impose upon us a draconian health care plan that would have made Mussolini proud all the while continuing US intervention abroad. On top of this, a sinking dollar and an unconstitutional Federal Reserve that consistently inflates the dollar to prop up an economy ruined by a bloated Federal government.

One man steps up and says, "Maybe, just maybe, there is a better way for us to handle our problems. Maybe we should try adhering to the Constitution and respecting the liberties of humans everywhere."

That dog will hunt.

The Front Runner Is Ron Paul

280,000 dollars in 24 hours. All individual donations. The rest of the GOP candidates have to be in awe. I am and I'm not even a candidate...

I suspect that the magic number of 10 million will be reached this quarter. The 280,000 that Ron Paul has raised in the past 24 hours is almost half of what he raised in the entire first quarter of his campaign.

A Fat Pig Calls Ron Paul Supporters Hitler Youth and Fat Pigs.

Tom Roeser writes a stunningly transparent hit piece on Ron Paul of which even Eric Dondero might blush.

A "similar" article was carried in the Chicago Observer says the sub heading.

Why do I go into this ancient history? Because the role of Sen. Taft was and is at great variance with that of Rep. Ron Paul whose demagogic phraseology appeals not to conservatives-but, apparently if Saturday’s meeting was any indication-to a sweaty group of boisterous, screaming, jumping up and down in place, obese youth (obviously from hours spent huddled before computers), shaggy, unkempt, hirsute, noisy, obstreperous, rambunctious and raucous. And that’s before we consider the male contingent.

Why the great interest in this element of youth for a 72-year-old man who, were he to be improbably elected, would be easily the oldest president at 73 and 77 when he would complete his first term? A candidate who touts congressional term limits but who has served nine terms already and under unique Texas law will be running for reelection while he runs for president either as a Republican or nominee of the Libertarian party?

The answer is clear. The message that this candidate brings in one of self-indulgence, ideally suited for the mob he addressed.

Take a look at the picture of Tom Roeser at the link above and tell me who is self-indulgent? If he's under 350 I'd be very surprised. Interestingly enough he goes into detail about Robert Taft's foreign policy and claims that Ron Paul's foreign policy is nothing like it. In spite of the fact that Ron Paul wants us out of the U.N, out of NATO and both he and Taft have said that Korea and WWII were probably not justified though at least in WWII Congress lived up to its responsibility, Paul and Taft are nothing alike.

It would be sad if Mr. Roeser weren't such a hypocrite and a big fibber to boot. It's actually quite funny and I'm not sure he realizes how badly he's discredited himself. I am assuming he doesn't believe anyone who reads his articles is smart enough to know that he's not telling the truth.

MoveOn.org could grow on me...

If they really had run this ad. The NY Times never would allow it though.

They Live to Run (Your Life)

Lew's publishing another one of mine. Thanks to James Ostrowski who blogged something that gave me the inspiration to write this rant.

Contrary to the Benny Hinn of Republican Politics, Newt Gingrich, you bring "all your good ideas" first. Then the money comes. Ron Paul's candidacy will prove historic. Newt Gingrich's will prove a flop and about as spendthrift as John McCain’s and Mitt Romney’s campaigns have been. This is because neither Newt nor the rest of the Ron Paul challengers understand the power and attraction of freedom. Perhaps they do, but they certainly wouldn't want to go around promising any of that. How could they run your life if you were free?

Values Voters Debate

Another piece I've written for Lew Rockwell is up today re: the AFA's "Values Voters" debate.

Ron Paul is not Jesus but his message is closer to what Jesus said than anyone who shared the stage with him that evening. Government should be as small as possible in order that it be the least intrusive on our lives. People are capable of following moral laws without government interference. In fact, they are more likely to be moral without government's corruptive influence. But this is something that values voters do not appear capable of understanding.

Five Brothers

Slate made a pretty funny campaign ad for Mitt Romney.

NH State representative Paul Ingbretson Endorses Ron Paul for President

The press release is here.

Money quote:

"Congressman Ron Paul understands, like no presidential candidate in recent history, that the central purpose of government in America is to secure the liberty of her citizens," said Representative Ingbretson. "He has the unbelievable integrity and guts to speak out and vote the liberty agenda of the Founding Fathers-not once, or occasionally, but every time. Never in my lifetime have I seen anyone running for president so oriented and in these days of Patriot Act madness I endorse his candidacy unequivocally."

How To Save Millions from Murderous Despots: Impeach

Despite a political backlash that has turned over the Congress to the Democratic Party, the Bush Administration has continued to escalate aggression in the Middle East with its so-called “surge”; resulting in the second bloodiest August on record since the latest Iraq war began.

William Kristol returned from Iraq with glowing reviews of the surge. We are learning that his account can’t be trusted, but this really isn’t of concern to Kristol or the Bush Administration. The important thing is to keep moving along with the plan. Minor setbacks such as increased numbers of dead soldiers, dead civilians and negative public sentiment can be ignored. Really, what is anyone going to do about it? Even after the public took Congress out of Republican hands, nothing has been done to stop this Administration’s quest for blood. The Democrats folded like a bad hand even though they had nothing to lose politically by standing up to Bush. Therefore, Bush and Cheney just keep marching forward with impunity. With Billy Kristol to re-write history for you, who cares about public opinion? It is irrelevant. They have the power now and will use every ounce available.

Two weeks ago, Bush played energizer bunny, beating the war drum for a few measures, while speaking to the American Legion.

"Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust. “

The impression given is that we are headed toward a new conflict which, Iran could avoid. It isn’t true. Military operations have already been initiated in Iran. Watching Wolfe Blitzer carry water for the Bush Administration when he is told that there are many sources suggesting this is the case, should tell you all you need to know about mainstream media intentions.

If Iraq is a quagmire and badly run, then Iran doesn’t promise to be any better. Actually, that’s a gross understatement. Israel and the neoconservative punditry in the U.S. have been pushing for a nuclear strike against Iran. William Kristol and his band of never-served-in- the-military chicken hawks may not have the credibility of an E.F. Hutton, but the Bush Administration would appear to be listening nonetheless. That the Administration still heeds the advice of utterly discredited advisors is a terrible indictment on its judgment. But as Bush has already noted, “Fool me. You can’t get fooled again.”

In fact, if Bush doesn’t order the bombing of Iran, and it is quite obvious that he will, then Rudy Giuliani, whose foreign policy advisor is Norman Podhoretz, will probably do it himself, if elected (a BIG if).

In any case, Podhoretz said to me, he believes that George W. Bush will settle the matter himself, by bombing Iran before he leaves office. “I’m probably the only person on the face of the earth who thinks that Bush will order air strikes,” Podhoretz says. “But we’ll find out. If Bush doesn’t kick the can down the road, then the issue becomes moot, obviously. But if he fails to do what I think he will do, Rudy seems to me to be the best bet for doing what is necessary.”

As an aside, that statement by Podhoretz shows just how morally bankrupt is the typical neoconservative. The extermination of thousands is like “kicking the can down the road”. The hillbilly reference is apropos of the neocon mindset: Yee Haw!

Depending on the methods used - tactical nuclear weapons vs. ‘bunker busters’ - the loss of life could reach beyond a million innocent Iranians who are caught in the middle and have no options. Even if they were to rise up and change the regime in Iran themselves, they would still be made to suffer. This Administration has shown that it has absolutely no moral compass and cannot be swayed from its murderous path even when it could (and should) mean the end of their own political careers, and anyone associated with them.

Because it is obvious that they have no intention of moderating their designs in the Middle East and plan on murdering hundreds of thousands beyond the number of civilians already killed, there is only one option left to stop them: impeachment. Both Bush and Cheney have proven by their actions that they are unfit to serve.

Some may argue that this would only advance the timetable, but doing nothing will ensure that they continue on that can-littered road unopposed. Doing nothing promises to ruin U.S. credibility abroad (if it still has any) and make it impossible for any individual American to travel safely beyond U.S. borders.

But there are other reasons besides the lies told to justify invasion of Iraq and Iran to impeach this President and Vice President. The unprecedented use of private armies in Iraq – accounts put this at close to 160,000 “contractors” – is not limited to actions overseas. Blackwater has applied for permits to build a private air force base in every coastal state on the continent; besides the military base they have already built in San Diego, California. They already own a significant number of military helicopters and are now buying light fighter planes developed for training and counter-insurgency duty.

The planes only have a range of 3000 miles, not nearly enough to reach overseas without a significant air-refueling capacity or the use of aircraft carriers. As conspiratorial as it may sound, the intent cannot be to use these planes anywhere but domestically.

Back in 1993, when the neoconservative movement came to be influential amongst Republicans, there were plenty of rumors and executive orders that led some commentators to believe that Clinton wouldn’t leave office and would suspend elections. The neoconservatives enticed fiscal conservatives with the “Contract with America” rhetoric while scaring that portion of the Christian conservative movement looking for an Antichrist in every Democrat.

However, once the Republicans came to power, they didn’t do anything to reverse the trend toward an unaccountable, secretive Executive which created new powers for itself by the issuance of executive orders. Stroke of the pen, law of the land” was a coveted power as evidenced by Bush’s novel “signing statements” and executive orders which re-define the way government continuity” is preserved during times of emergency.

Impeachment cannot come soon enough. If the U.S. electorate is not concerned with the actions of its own domestic terrorists in Washington D.C., then it could at least show some pity on the innocent people of Iraq and Iran who did nothing to invite U.S. bombings and invasions.

Unfortunately for those of us living in neoconservative hell (and we are enjoying a cakewalk as compared to civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq) the Democratic alternatives are following the script to the letter. None, except Kucinich, Gravel and Obama to a small degree, are willing to veer from the neoconservative talking points. This is no problem for neoconservative gatekeepers. They don’t have any political ideology or allegiances other than “re-make the geopolitical maps to our liking.” They would support the Socialist Party candidate if that candidate agreed to follow their plans and had a chance of winning the general election. To put it bluntly, they are pimps. The Political affiliation of their whore is not important.

The same Democrats, who are wringing their hands over the situation in Darfur, are by and large taking their political cues from pundits who believe and say out loud thatethnic cleansing works”. Of course, this makes it abundantly clear that impeachment will be resisted by neocon Democrats as much, if not more, than neocon Republicans.

On the other hand, the Amnesty bill was once a foregone conclusion. Chalk one up for The People. Senate members were stunned at the backlash it created. Not only did reaction to that bill shock Republicans and Democrats into dropping it quickly, John McCain’s candidacy was destroyed. His performances in Republican contests since should have given him all the incentive necessary to withdraw.

Of course, a Ron Paul Presidency would be a wonderful reversal, and by all reckoning, has a legitimate chance of becoming reality if momentum continues at its current pace. It can’t come soon enough though. Only impeachment, quickly done, can save the Iranians from mass slaughter at the hands of people who view them as nothing more than refuse; tin cans along the highway of ‘realpolitik’.

Ron Paul wins another Straw Poll

In Maryland.

Paul received 263 votes, Giulliani, 230.

What They Don't Know

Here's another article I wrote at Lew Rockwell's place. The "deciders" can try all they want to control the Ron Paul Revolution, but they're a day late and a federal reserve note short.

First Let's Kill All the Lawyers

On my way to the Austin Ron Paul meetup, I was listening to Etarro Live, a WTPRN (We The People Radio Network) show which happens to be broadcast on a low powered FM station here in Austin.

The guest was David Marlett, Founder and Executive Director of www.ProAmericaCompanies.com. The subject was illegal immigration. David Marlett's solution was to crack down on companies who hire illegal aliens. This is just nuts. Marlett is a lawyer. I was compelled to call in and ask if Mr. Marlett understood that this crappola is a direct violation of the constitution which forbids laws "impairing the obligation of contracts" and how he could justify trashing the rights of American citizens to solve the problem of illegal immigration.

His response was to throw out scare mongering arguments about child labor and to assert that any federal law was legitimate. (If you don't limit contracts, people will contract with your kids to gain the advantages of slave labor!) You can listen here. I called in the second hour at about 39:30 into the second hour. Just "fast forward" to the end of the second stream (each is an hour).

When I pointed out that the Lawyer was openly advocating that the right to travel freely and retain one's privacy be abolished, the host finally had to shut the conversation down. We can't talk about how these "solutions" encroach upon our rights.

This lawyer is using the same sort of flag-humping arguments used by the neocons to promote war. His intended audience apparently consists of union members and other parts of the electorate who are frightened that their jobs are being lost.

The thing that chaps my hide about these sorts of arguments is that the real truth is not even being discussed. The only reason that "illegal" immigration is a problem is that we as a Nation don't want to give up our welfare programs. We don't want others to have it because it's expensive and wasteful, but it's perfectly ok to send out gun-toting thugs to extract it from fellow citizens so that we can take advantage of it ourselves.

It's hypocrisy. The system that demands I give up my privacy, rights and claims it proper to control the products of my labor, asserts this is for my own protection. It's not protection, it is slavery. The scapegoating of "illegal immigrants" is petty jealousy. They don't chose to travel in ways that make them targets of government and so all of the other sheep who willingly hand over their papers if asked by some authority would like to remove from their sight, people who jealously guard their freedoms.

Ron Paul is right on the immigration issue. You have to remove the incentives that cause a drain on the citizen taxpayers. It isn't fair to require citizens here to essentially care for citizens in or from another country. And Birthright citizenship regardless of parent's loyalties and nationalities, is absurd. That was not the intent.

The 14th amendment was a very poor remedy to the Dred Scot decision. All Congress had to do was to re-iterate that human-ness, not citizenship is what determines a persons rights, and it wouldn't have been required. Taney ruled that it was citizenship that was the important issue and Dred Scot was not a citizen because he was a slave. In other words, the words people and persons did not really mean people and persons. Thus rights are a function of geography. What a farce.

I'll leave it to you to decide whether I won the argument. It was fairly polite though passionate on all sides.

Conservatism Alive in New Hampshire?

Dear Editor,

What state did Larry say he visited? You sure he didn’t stay in Florida?

The three “conservative” candidates mentioned in Larry Thornberry’s “Still Some Granite in New Hampshire”, are not being received well in the state he says he just visited. At the Strafford County straw poll, it was Ron Paul who proved there is still a real conservative streak in New Hampshire. With 73% of the vote tally – an overwhelming landslide – I would think the win was worth a mention. Yet Larry chose to focus on Republican candidates who barely received votes in that poll.

Maybe he forgot to mention it because he spent more time relaxing than paying attention to what was happening there in conservative New Hampshire.

Aaron Russo Goodbye

You'll be missed. The freedom movement has lost a great champion of liberty.

Ron Paul Wins Stratford County New Hampshire Straw Poll

Dr. Paul received 208 votes for a landslide victory against Mitt Romney today at the Strattford County, New Hampshire straw poll. Romney received 26 votes. Mike Huckabee came in third with 20 votes.

Ron Paul:     208 (73%)
Mitt Romney:   26 (9%)
Mike Huckabee: 20 (7%)
Tancredo:       8 (3%)
McCain:         7 (3%)
Cox:            5 (2%)
Hunter:         5 (2%)
Thompson:       5 (2%)
Giuliani:       3 (1%)
Brownback:      1 (.3%)

Guilliani a "one percenter". Frankly I think there are really only three viable GOP candidates. The rest should drop out.

Ron Paul Wins Alabama Straw Poll

By a stunning landslide.

Ron Paul's Grass Roots Enthusiasm Causing Tantrums

The Chicago Tribune Reports on the Illinois Straw Poll:

Paul's libertarian stylings and campaign of strict interpretation of the Constitution has earned him an unorthodox band of sign-carrying supporters. They frequently interrupted TV reports of the event and at one point, Romney's Illinois chairman, state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), ripped a sign out of one Paul supporter's hands and threw it on the ground.

How dare you supporters try and get any air time. Just stop that. It's upsetting the monkeys.

Ron Paul: The Unoriginal Candidate

Ron Paul: The Unoriginal Candidate

My Rich Uncle: On TLC tonight at 8:00

My Rich Uncle

Unless you are a car freak, the name Lyle Fisk won't mean anything to you. You won't find a lot of information about Lyle Fisk on the Internet. There is a smattering, but hardly any of it does justice to the influence he's had on the car culture of America.  If you don't know what I mean, go rent George Lucas' best film: American Graffiti this weekend. Hot Rodding began - and some say was at its peak, in the 50's.

Lyle Fisk was born in Yuma, Arizona, in 1940. By the time he was 14, his parents, my grandparents, had moved to Santa Maria, California and Lyle caught the bug; the pinstriping bug. He bought a brush, taught himself how to use it and was soon pinstriping anything and everything he could get his hands on. My grandmother told me once that "nothing was safe, not the washing machine or the refrigerator". At school, he'd put pinstripes on student's sneakers, lunch boxes and lockers.

Near the end of the 8th grade, Lyle dropped out of school and took up sign painting and pinstriping as his career. He soon found himself working for George Barris at the Oakland Roadster show washing and polishing cars. Barris is best known for his creation of "The Bat Mobile", featured in the popular T.V. series Batman with Adam West in the late 1960's.

He has spent the rest of life, some 50 years now, pinstriping cars, painting signs and woodgraining - a specialty he has honed and to which this biased fellow thinks he is unmatched in genius. He can make you swear that a piece of fiberglass is actually wood.

You may not know what pinstriping is but you have probably heard of its most famous representative, Von Dutch. After Von Dutch died, an enterprising business man bought the rights to his name and it now appears everywhere as a pop culture icon in spite of the fact that most who see the Von Dutch moniker don't know anything about him.  Like many in the sign business, Von Dutch spent a lot of years drinking and smoking and it finally caught up with him in 1992. Fisk, a devout Christian, avoided the pitfalls of his contemporaries but always had a special place in his heart for Von Dutch. He was the reason Fisk took up pinstriping. Occasionally, Dutch would work out of Lyle's shop. A picture of Fisk and Von Dutch circa 1982 can be seen here. Von Dutch is in the middle of that picture holding the cigarette.

Over the years, Lyle has wowed his customers and observers alike with his steady hand. He is featured in a book called Pinstripe Planet which credits Fisk for creating something known as "feathering" in pinstriping circles. An example can be seen on the motorcycle fender pictured here.

Yeah, I'm proud of him. I love my uncle. When I was younger, I wanted to follow in his footsteps. I spent summers with him in Southern California and when I finally moved to El Cajon, California, during my senior year of high school, I would walk the 8 miles from El Cajon to Lemon Grove as soon as school let out just to be able to spend some time in his shop. The cars that came through that shop were simply incredible. Cars would be shipped in from literally all over the world to get the Lyle Fisk treatment.

After I graduated from high school, I went to work for Lyle. I received the most "frequent fired miles" of anyone who ever worked for him, an accomplishment of which I am not proud. I had some talent but I was a slow learner when it came to personal responsibility. As a sign painter, I am a pretty good software developer, if you know what I mean.

On Thursday, August 16, at 8:00 PM, Lyle can be seen on American Hot Rod, a reality show produced by the Discovery Channel and filmed in Boyd Coddington's shop east of L.A. The Show airs on The Learning Channel every Thursday. Boyd is probably known best by the car culture's uninitiated, for 'Cadzilla', a 48 Cadillac built for Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Boyd's wheels, an innovator in custom billet aluminum wheels. The show aired on Thursday is the third documenting work on a 1960 Mercury Wagon, converted to a "Woody". The car was commissioned by Sobe, the beverage company. The film crew captures my uncle Lyle turning painted metal into what you could swear was wood once he finishes.

I gave up television 12 years ago so I will be desperately calling friends to hijack their T.V. for one evening. If you have any interest in hot rods, or are just curious, this should be a fascinating episode. I have watched him work for as long as I can remember and I never cease to be mesmerized. He's a master at what he does.

Just Say No to Electronic Ballot Counting

Over at Lew Rockwell I have an article that argues against them from an economic and practical standpoint.

What Happened in Ames?

I must confess; I am definitely a Ron Paul Junkie. I currently work two jobs. One provides a meager wage while my partner and I bootstrap a start-up. The other is the start-up. On Saturday, the day of the Ames Straw Poll, I had to work out the technical issues for a Sunday launch of a new software version.  In spite of Sunday night's looming deadline, I found myself with three browser windows open, one tuned to JustinTV, one locked on to RedStateEclectic and the other directed at Lew Rockwell's blog. In between deploying and testing software, I was refreshing the blogs to get up-to-the-minute reports. Thank goodness for the Internet and live blogging or I might have had to abandon the start-up. There's more truth than humor in that last statement though I probably won't be enrolling in a twelve-step program until after the general election.

So what happened in Iowa? The results are a mixed bag. Fifth is a commendable finish at this point in Ron Paul's campaign. With 9.1% of the vote total, Ron Paul's campaign has called into serious question the credibility of major polling organizations who put his support at 2% or less in the state of Iowa. The result exceeds poll results plus the margin of error for almost every poll conducted. Fifth won't put Ron Paul in the White House. However, the result indicates that significant momentum is building for the Ron Paul campaign. He can no longer be considered "fringe" - though he probably will continue to be characterized as such, or ignored, by the mainstream media.

Roughly 26,000 tickets were sold to the Straw Poll. The final vote tally was 14,302 some 9,500 less than the 1999 Straw Poll. Clearly, there wasn't a lot of excitement for the GOP field by Iowa Republicans this year. But why the discrepancy between recorded votes and the number of tickets sold? The 12,000 vote discrepancy could be accounted for by people who didn't show up to claim tickets purchased for them by campaign organizers. Marc Jacoby of The Wall Street Journal reported Romney might purchase up to 10,000 tickets:

Iowa Republicans say they expect Mr. Romney to purchase about 10,000 tickets to the event for supporters. A spokesman for Mr. Romney, Kevin Madden, called that number "grossly inflated" but declined to say how many tickets the campaign would buy. Any Iowa resident who attends can vote.

If Romney did purchase 10,000 tickets he certainly didn't get his money's worth. The expenditure resulted in a little less than half that many casting a vote for him. The Ron Paul campaign reported a purchase of around 800 tickets. Assuming the vote is properly counted, Ron Paul received roughly 500 more votes than the campaign purchased. But there's the rub. Was the vote properly counted? As conspiratorial as that question may sound, it is being asked more and more with regard to U.S. elections and for good reasons. For one, it is a legitimate question. For another, there have been enough elections tainted by the use of electronic voting machines to cause the ermergence of a cottage industry in activism dedicated to scrutinizing and improving voting practices.

An hour after the deadline to announce the results had passed the Atlantic reported 4500 votes had to be re-counted. The De Moines Register later reported that 1500 votes were under scrutiny. It is unclear which number is correct. According to the Iowa GOP, there were 20 voting machines and a total of 14,203 votes. The average for each machine would be 710 votes per machine - assuming all machines were used equally. The De Moines Register article reports two machines having problems which would be consistent with the 1500 votes report. The Register also reports that ballots were recounted by hand and then fed into a ballot scanner. The electronic counter's tally was the one used for the final announcement, not manual recounts. 

In 1995, the Ames vote tally was delayed by over two hours. Alan Keyes grew impatient enough to march up to the Iowa GOP Straw Poll offices that year and demand that the door be opened and that officials make an accounting of their activities. They shortly came out to report that Bob Dole and Phil Graham had tied, each receiving 2582 votes. This was the first year that the Iowa GOP had made use of electronic voting machines. The result was controversial but wasn't challenged.

Prior to this year's Straw Poll, activists raised questions about the use of electronic voting machines. A small group demanded that the Iowa GOP use paper ballots and that the ballots be visible throughout the entire process. They even went so far as to file a lawsuit. A Judge threw out the suit on the grounds that this wasn't a real election. The Iowa GOP, though it didn't concede any demands, was forced to respond. It issued a statement on August 8, attempting to alleviate any concerns about the security and accuracy of the upcoming vote. Unfortunately, it raised more questions than it answered.

The Diebold machines used for counting Straw Poll votes were the "Accu vote Optical Scan (OSx) tabulator", according to the Iowa GOP.  The machines are leased from Diebold by the State of Iowa for use in local and federal elections. Iowa election officials would be tasked with certifying Straw Poll results. While the lawsuit filed may have had no legal merit, it is somewhat troubling that the same machines to be used in the primaries and general election proved to be unreliable. Whether or not the equipment properly counted the votes is a question that can only be answered by a manual recount of the paper ballots. Since Ron Paul supporters can be proud of the results, and won't want to invite charges of "sour grapes", we may never know the answer.

When supporters initially raised questions about how votes might be recounted, the Iowa GOP responded with conflicting answers. To Arizona radio host Ernest Hancock, Mary Tiffany, the Iowa GOP communications director, claimed that there would be no hand recounting of paper ballots if problems arose. On August 7, Jesse Benton, Director of Communications for the Ron Paul campaign, revealed to radio host Dale Williams that the Iowa GOP had informed him a paper ballot recount would cost the campaign 184,000 dollars - the equivalent of 5,250 tickets to the show.

What the Iowa GOP didn't disclose in its attempt to reassure, was that the Story county elections officials overseeing the Straw Poll results, also worked for, and had received campaign donations from Mitt Romney. Mary Mosiman, the Story County auditor for elections, is on Mitt Romney's leadership team. David A. Vaudt, quoted in the Register article, received $1000 from Romney's Commonwealth PAC in 2004. Mitt Romney's team counted the votes. That's what the Iowa GOP meant when they wrote "Voting at the Iowa Straw Poll: Fraud-Proof, Honest & Secure".

Those who cast the Votes, they decide nothing. Those who count the votes, they decide everything. The Memoirs of former Stalin's secretary (1992) by Boris Bazhanov

Saturday's glitch in Iowa did not involve ballot output; it involved ballot counting. The machines used for recording votes delivered paper ballots. Those ballots were scanned by Diebold's optical scanning machines and the totals produced by the machines were then delivered to Straw Poll officials.

Vickie Karp is the National Chair of the Coalition for Visible Ballots and PR Director of VoteRescue. She is also co-editor and co-author with Abbe Delozier of the book HACKED!  High Tech Election Theft in America. I talked with her at length on Sunday about what happened at the Straw Poll and nationwide efforts to insure transparent and accurate elections. VoteRescue’s founder, Karen Renick, authored a bill that was sponsored by a member of the Texas' Legislature which would have required hand-counted paper ballots in all precincts in Texas, no exceptions. Unfortunately, the bill never made it out of committee. Counting paper ballots by hand, with property security measures, says Karp, "is the only way that vote results can be trusted."

The New York Times and other mainstream outlets have treated the issue of vote fraud with a jaundiced eye. This has extended into alternative media sources. Karp says that the issue does have a conspiratorial patina applied by the mainstream media. "What I tell people is that they can either continue to stick their head in the sand or take a look at the hard data available. There is plenty of it. The mainstream is owned by a total of six corporations [all licensed and regulated by the federal government]. Of course they're going to treat this as conspiratorial."

Many, including myself, find it extremely uncomfortable to think that our elections can be easily manipulated. Supporting a candidate with time and money could be rendered fruitless and that is almost unbearable to consider.

Karp and I discussed the claim made by Iowa GOP officials that the vote was secure and transparent. Karp says that this simply cannot be considered credible. The mere use of the electronic ballot counters removes the count from view, even if there is a poll-watcher present during the ballot counting process. What occurs inside the machine can't be verified by a novice. Indeed, the software is proprietary. No third-party can verify what is occurring inside the box and voting companies want to protect their intellectual property. Kathleen Wynn, formerly the Associate Director of Black Box Voting, and one of the researchers and videographers who filmed Bev Harris during the making of "Hacking Democracy", had originally planned to document the Ames vote count. But the vote counting was closed to the public, and especially to citizen videographers, so for her that rendered a trip pointless.

The issue of accuracy in elections reaches far beyond Ames. In many states, the incestuous nature of election machine manufacturers and public officials goes unchecked. In San Diego County, the current registrar of voters, Deborah Seiler, was the very person who sold the county its voting machines while she worked as an employee of Diebold. In numerous states, election officials appear on voting manufacturers' marketing brochures. While it may be hard to prove malfeasance on the part of elected officials, concern for their careers would probably not motivate them to admit that electronic voting isn't secure.

In "Hacking Democracy", (an HBO documentary which has been nominated for an Emmy this year), Bev Harris and associates demonstrate how easily electronic voting machines can be hacked to change election results. In fact, the very same machines used to count votes in Ames yesterday. It was so easily demonstrated that as a result, California, Iowa and Pennsylvania were forced to remove Diebold machines from use prior to the May, 2006 elections. State investigations into ballot scanning and recording machines have recently caused Florida and California officials to suspend certification for certain models until proper security patches can be delivered. One of the machines implicated in the California and Florida studies is the same model used for the Straw Poll's count on Saturday.

An important point Karp makes regarding election technology is that it should be verifiable by the majority of the electorate who are not technology experts.  Voters should not have to put their trust in technology experts to inform them when elections are secure. The experts may be trustworthy and credentialed. But voters should not have to put their faith in machines and experts when it comes to such a simple task as tallying vote totals. The vote should be easily verified by any literate person able to count.

The very act of questioning elections officials in any capacity will invariably lead to controversy and hard-feelings. An open, transparent process, something that has been recently lacking in U.S. elections, must be restored so that the electorate and election officials are not at odds with each other. For Karp, VoteRescue, the Coalition for Visible Ballots, and many other election integrity activists around the country, this would mean paper ballots, hand-counted at the precinct level, with security measures and totals posted at the precinct level. 

There is no way to know whether the vote was properly tabulated on Saturday. Any push to hand-count the paper ballots (if they still exist) will invariably create friction and it may not be worth it, politically or personally to perform an autopsy in Ames. However, the same machines, elected officials and processes will be used in the upcoming primaries and general election. The grass-roots needs to keep this in mind as the campaigns roll on. Ron Paul is not the only candidate effected and Ron Paul's supporters are not the only voters who will be at the mercy of the closed, insecure, electronic systems used nationwide.

Treating this as a fringe issue is not an option. Yes, there will be the necessity to partition efforts away from any candidate's message and the temptation to enhance personal agendas is something to avoid. But no candidate can expect to prevail if the very means by which the voters endorse them is compromised by an insecure, secret process which cannot be verified by any willing citizen.

My Favorite YouTube/Jingle ever.

Carol Paul gets a pacemaker

Apparently Carol Paul had surgery this morning to receive a pacemaker. Yesterday, she was hospitalized due to an irregular heartbeat. She is apparently doing fine. Best Wishes to the Paul Family.

1995 Redux

There are good things to take away from today's experience. Very good things in spite of the fact that 5th is a bit disappointing. One thing we know for sure. The polls run by every single polling organization in Iowa were wrong. Dead wrong.

Word Of The Day: Freegasm

The word of the day is "freegasm."

freegasm:[free-gaz-uhm]

1. The shudder of ecstasy one receives when Ron Paul delivers the positive message of freedom in one of his many speeches.
2. The euphoric elation one feels when viewing Ron Paul's vote tallies either from online polls, or various GOP straw polls held throughout the nation.
3. The completely satisfied feeling one receives upon witnessing Sean Hannity's facial expression as he tries to maintain composure while announcing Ron Paul the leader of Fox News' text messaging poll.

That's what you get when you watch Ron Paul speak. Orgasm's require exertion and sometimes expense, freegasms are free.

All the Brothers and Sisters It's Time to Get Together

What a killer little ditty for Ron Paul. Listen Here

Great Video: A Fox, a Wolf and a Whole Lot of Bull by JiMMy™

MySpaceTV: A Fox, a Wolf and a Whole Lot of Bull by JiMMy™

Hat Tip: Laura at RedStateEclectic

New Poll

The National Republican Senatorial Comittee is running a Presidential Preference Survey. When I took the survey, Fred Thompson was winning with Ron Paul in second place. Unfortunately, you can only see the results after you vote and then you get a graph with no details. I am not sure that this is a legitmate "straw poll." They say that they will run a new poll after every Republican Presidential debate. Why the include Fred, who isn't in the debates is a mystery.

July 16? Yeah, this looks like some sort of bogus attempt to collect email addresses and money.

Ron Paul: The Scary Candidate

The Neocons are getting scared. And I mean terrified. The applause that RP was getting at the debate last Sunday in Iowa is what's scaring them. A neocon supporter of Duncan Hunter over on Free Republic seems to think that now Ron Pauler's are spamming the Republican debates.

It seems that Ron Paul has a very large "internet" following stuffing the "ballot box" on every internet poll there is.. but this video - though poor in quality -- is just ONE example -- and shows who is the REAL WINNER of the debate... and that is Duncan Hunter --- GO HUNTE GO ! -- for me - for my family -- for America ! --- we NEED you to win !!

In reviewing the debate more carefully I found it very strange the Ron Paul receieve HUGE applause from the so called "conservative" -- RON PAUL IS NO CONSERVATIVE -- and the audience in this debate must have been "stuffed" just like the internet polls were..[sic]

That's pretty funny. Maybe the audience was actually just made up of youTube videos hacked there by meetup members....

New Threat to the US?

The Liberators

A person I know wrote a short story called "The Liberators" probably some time around 2003. It has some graphic language but is extremely compelling. I'm glad he put it up. This man is talented and I love reading his short stories.

What Lew Rockwell Has Meant to Me

Lew's put his professional career on the line for Ron Paul. If you appreciate what he's done for liberty on the net, please contribute. We need the writings he publishes. His outfit has had to secede from the Center for Libertarian Studies and become a not-for-profit to avoid having to stop advocating for Ron Paul. He hasn't let us down, so let's not leave him high and dry.

Congratulations Barry Bonds: 756

Now he's number 1.

Ron Paul's Wise Foreign Policy

I have a new article at Lew Rockwell.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Good Op-Ed on Ron Paul's non-interventionist Stance in the Seatle times

Here. It's from June 11, but I don't remember seeing it.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Ron Paul Round Table

I stumbled upon this video at you tube. It is from the ABC affiliate in Clearwater, Iowa. A local blogger and the Clearwater meetup organizer talk with the show's host about Ron Paul for a good long time.

ABC Trying to shove Ron Paul down the Memory hole

Take a look at the video coverage of Today's debates at the right hand side of this page. Not only is Ron Paul's post debate poll win not discussed, there isn't even one clip of him answering a question. The coverage is pathetic and is obviously designed to prevent those who didn't see the debate from knowing that he won, or from knowing that any of the GOP candidates are anti-war.

Disgusting doesn't even begin to describe what they've done there.

Congratulations Barry Bonds

755. Before the season is over he'll be in sole possession of the all-time home run record. Frankly I think that he won't keep his as long with A-Rod and Pujols having a good number of years left in them.

The Scare Factor

As I pointed out in "Net Banality", the hysteria being whipped up over "Net Neutrality" is unfounded nonsense. This particular article superbly points out that Commerce Department requests for some specifics as to the technological feasibility of what NN proponents claim are likely events produced nothing. No responder could offer anything of substance. Gosh....who'da thunk?

The FCC has not yet decided what to make of the underwhelming evidence it received, but the Federal Trade Commission has. The FTC recently released a staff report summarizing the results of a two-day workshop, as well as research conducted by the commission's Broadband Task Force.

The FTC staff concluded that there is little evidence of actual anticompetitive conduct by broadband providers: "[T]here is little evidence to date of consumer harm from anticompetitive practices by ISPs or any other network operators; the allegations of anticompetitive conduct focus mainly on effects that may occur if certain actions, such as exclusive agreements or vertical integration, are undertaken in the future."

What we have though is FCC as bad cop FTC as good cop. Even if I agree with the FTC's conclusions, I can't help but think that in the end, the government will win and we'll be the losers.

Another Article on Lew's Site

The Liebertarians. It's really pathetic that there are actually people who claim the mantle 'libertarian' and support the Iraq war. They're misspelling libertarian.

Iowa Newspaper Ad

Monsanto: Pwnd

Monsanto, which has been harrassing farmers for doing what they've done for thousands of years, saving back seed from their crops, has had 4 patents rejected due to filings by PUBPAT.

NEW YORK – July 24, 2007 -- The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected four key Monsanto patents related to genetically modified crops that PUBPAT challenged last year because the agricultural giant is using them to harass, intimidate, sue - and in some cases literally bankrupt - American farmers.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of folks.... (Hat Tip: Astoria)

Ron Paul Live in Pittsburg

here OR:

Uh Oh. Chris Matthews is going to have an anurism...

Hardball has a contest on MSNBC for amateur political campaign ads. Fan-produced Ron Paul ads sit at #1 and #2.

Ron Paul Radio Ad

Austin Meetup members donated to get this ad produced (along with a newspaper ad) in anticipation of the Ames Straw Poll. It was produced by Iowa meetup members. Congrats to all involved.

http://www.mmashirts.com/ron_paul_60sec.mp3

Steal This Blog

I'm off to Colorado for a "vacation". I shall return shortly before the first of August. I quote vacation because I am dragging my wife and three children, ages 9, 4 and 7 months along with me. Every trip needs the threat of divorce hanging over some part of it. I like to get that out of the way at the beginning because it makes the drive to my destination nice and quiet....

Have a nice week or so.

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Draft College Republicans

Max Bluementhal visits the College Republicans aka Generation Chickenhawk at the College Republican Convention. The video here is sublime. Check out the bumper sticker at the end of the video. The brain trust he tapes is made up of frequent Free Republic posters. OK I just made that up. Their moms and dads post on FR.

Oh, it's painful to watch.....

Free Republic hasn't changed in 10 years. The so-called conservatives over there are in for a rude awakening. 10 years they have supported establishment republicans and never complain when they have screwed them over.

That place was much better when Clinton and Whitewater were the topics of the day. Now it is a cesspool of neocons. They do give until it hurts though. Jim Robinson is going to milk another 75k out of them.

Lew Rockwell, My Hero.

Lew gave me some space on his pages for which I'm eternally grateful. I've been reading Lew and his great columnists for a little over a decade.

A bit off of my usual subjects was this one on salt myths and this one which was already posted on my blog about Ron Paul's polling numbers.

Thanks Lew.

Uh Oh says the Establishment Republicans

Another reason why Ron Paul can win. A Republican from Georgia, Paul Broun, beat the anointed frontrunner in the run-off and by speaking a pro-constitutional view, was able to win the votes of conservatives and blacks in the contested disctrict. Freedom is Popular. So now, we may have another Dr. No in the house. Yes, he's a doctor and he makes house calls. Dr. Paul, meet Dr. Paul........Broun.

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

Don't believe for a second that Ron Paul can't win. He is going to win and he's already started influencing America's politics.

An Honorable Guy - Sean Haugh

Sean Haugh wrote an article a while back worried about the impact Ron Paul would have on the Libertarian party.

The comments were overwhelming and he has had a change of heart. Hard to do in a public forum but he pulls it off well and I have a lot of respect for that.

They Can Sleep At Night And Keep A Straight Face

They are going to bring us change they say. But what they've brought so far should give them insomnia.

They don't look haggard. They are coiffed, pleated and all smiles for the rolling cameras as they tell us they are tirelessly working to keep us safe. For the past 16 years they have been supporting naked aggression in Iraq (and eastern Europe, and South America) and they now beg for our votes because it's just recently become obvious to them that Iraq is a disaster. We need a change in Washington. People are tired of this Administration's Iraq war disaster. Our troops need a change of scenery so let's send them to Darfur and Iran!

Iran will be different. Iran is really dangerous. Someday, if we were to leave them alone and stop harassing them, they might develop a nucular bomb. And then what would we do? Well of course, we'd have to send them some diplomats carrying a foreign aid package under their arms. Once they've established peaceful relations we'll build an embassy so that the CIA and NSA agents we send there can have a nice cozy place from which to listen in on their phone conversations.

Darfur will be different. The people in Darfur really will greet us with flowers. And this war won't be about Oil. There's no oil in Darfur so the Democrats and progressives decrying genocide are not going to be accused of chasing oil interests. Their motives are as pure as the driven snow. They are only interested in saving the people of Darfur from their genocidal government. If a few hundred thousand civilians have to die in the process, it surely will be worth it.

As Chris Dodd said during the Democratic debates, we aren't just electing a President, we're electing the most powerful (@3:20) leader in the whole wide world. So we certainly don't want those evil people who invaded Iraq to be in charge. We need a change.

Oh, sure, they voted for Iraq, all of them except Kucinich, but he's a crank. He's not a serious candidate and as soon as they can escort him off the stage, they can explain why they voted for the Patriot act and the wars and an expansion of the Patriot act. See, the Republicans are evil. They lied to justify the Iraq war. It should be patently obvious to anyone that Democrats were tricked into voting to give Bush authorization to invade Iraq and voting for the Patriot act. Nobody had a copy of the Patriot act and by the time anyone found out what it really said, it was too late. You can't trust those Republicans.

By the time the Patriot act renewal came up, Bush had made all of the jihadists mad so they just voted for its expansion because by now you should know that muslims are out to kill your mom. The government knows this because they've been listening in on your mom's telephone conversations and some of her neighbors don't like that she's going to vote and doesn't wear a burka.

Your mom wouldn't be safe out there if it weren't for the Department of Homeland security. Any moment now, we could go from yellow to red. What would you do if they hadn't voted to spend 40 billion dollars on an excel chart, a web page and a bloated federal bureaucracy? How would you know that you were in danger? It's a small price to pay for peace of mind. There is another benefit to their strategy. Curbing your freedoms will put islamofascist minds at ease. Jealousy of our freedoms is a major contributing factor for the terrorists so they are doing us a great service by invading our privacy and suspending habeas corpus.

And while they're on the subject of money, they need you to give until it hurts. See, we've been borrowing to pay for the war in Iraq and they want to make sure that all of our children have health care.

The foregoing contains a bit of sarcasm. The truth is, they are saying these things with a straight face and they obviously sleep at night. Meanwhile, out there in the real world, you and I work our 60 hours a week and watch as our "dollar" continues to plummet in value.

The democrats who want to displace the current regime, were the same democrats approving "no-fly zones" and the bombing of Iraq from 1991 - 2001, giving foreign aid to the Taliban, voting for the Iraq war, helping NATO drop bombs on Bosnia, invading Somalia and voting for the pre-cursor to the Patriot Act, a bill to target domestic terrorism. Did that bill prevent any terrorism on our shores? Of course not. So because it didn't, we need to reward that failure with more of the same. If only the domestic terrorism law had been more draconian, they really could have made more progress in stripping from us our rights in 2001. Because, after all, the more draconian the measure that has failed, the more draconian the next law needs to be in order to prevent those failures.

That they can say with a straight face they plan on changing things should they get a Democrat in the White House, should actually scare you. It's quite obvious that this is a blatant lie.

That most of the Republicans in the field would campaign on increasing wars on terror and restrictions in liberty is somehow less scary to me. At least they're telling the truth. At least they telegraph their intentions. This isn't to say they are any better, just a teeny bit more straightforward.

Lastly, there's the Main Stream Media who want you to think that the only real choices you have are between the "top tier" liars from each group. They sleep at night and they keep straight faces when they tell you that Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich or Mike Gravel don't take themselves seriously and should they, would be deluding themselves.

Who is deluding whom? They are going to bring us change they say. But what they've brought so far should give them insomnia.

Sleep well.

Are the GOP and DNC Attempting to Fix the Nominations?

In Washington State, both the GOP and DNC have decided that whatever happens in the primary, they will not be sending representatives from their state reflecting the outcome of the primary.

The Washington Secretaryt of State has announced the final decisions on the date of the primary and what the political parties have determined will be the outcome.

The Washington State Democratic Party Central Committee decided not to use the results of Washington's 2008 Presidential Primary to allocate their delegates to their national convention. The Washington State Democratic Party Central Committee met on April 28, 2007 in Bellingham.

The Washington State Republican Party State Committee decided to allocate 51% of their delegates to their national convention based off the results of the state's Presidential Primary. The Washington State Republican Party State Committee met on June 2, 2007 in Yakima.

Is the fix already in?

In Florida, Howard Dean is shrinking the number of delegates from Florida by half. This article claims that it is because they moved the primary to March. But is that really the reason? Washington state moved theirs to February 19 so the rationale does not seem to be consistent. What other reason could you have for removing delegates other than disregarding the public's vote?

On the other hand, this blog has a very interesting take on the strategy:

It’s simple. Their Party leaders did the smart thing and kept their nomination process to Democrats. 100% of their delegates will be determined by Democrat Caucuses. So when the Primary comes around they will be free to control the Republican side. THERE IS NO REASON FOR DEMOCRATS TO VOTE ON THE DEMOCRAT SIDE IN THE PRIMARY (since it won’t effect the outcome). BUT THEY CAN CONTROL 51% OF THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION VOTES from our state.

So the democrats want to control their own delegates and the republican delegates since Washington allows Democrats and Republicans to vote in the primaries.

Pretty Decent Ron Paul Article on Newsmax

Here