Ron Paul goes iPhone

This Press Release just in from the Ron Paul 2008 Campaign Headquarters.

Press Release

Ron Paul Campaign First to Provide iPhone Platform

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 2, 2007

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – The Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign today became the first campaign to launch an iPhone platform. This new platform will allow iPhone users to access the campaign’s Web 2.0 applications, such as social networking tools and online videos, directly from their iPhones.

“The iPhone is an exciting technology that will help us reach potential voters across the country,” states eCampaign director Justine Lam. “The Ron Paul campaign continues to utilize new technologies to spread Dr. Paul’s message of freedom, peace and prosperity.”

Terra Eclipse of Santa Cruz, California designed this special platform for the Ron Paul campaign. “Our web development team has built a robust tool that will allow iPhone-equipped volunteers to bring Ron Paul’s online popularity into offline households in key early primary states,” says Wyatt Hull, creative director of Terra Eclipse.

The Ron Paul 2008 iPhone platform is available at www.ronpaul2008.com/iphone .

Video: Ron Paul speaks at Iowa Rally June 30th 2007

This video just in. Opening remarks at the Iowa rally today. Pro-Freedom, Pro-Liberty, Pro-Life, Anti-Tax centric.

Vote in this 2008 Presidential Straw Poll

It's over there to the left. This poll seems to be a bit more reliable than most I've seen, perhaps because of the high numbers of voters. In any case, it's miles more accurate than the biased poll put out by those jackasses at pajamas media.

Edit: This humble blog is now the 7th most voted at precinct. Give us a boost and see if we can beat the big guys!

Edit: Ron Paul friendly sites might consider clicking the 'put this on your own site' to open up more precincts. It only takes about a minute to set up. As you can see, Ron Paul is about to pass SHrillary and begin closing on Rudy. Total votes is over 94,000.

Final Push: Donate to Ron Paul's campaign before the end of the quarter

The end of the quarter is drawing near and quarterly fund raising disclosures are right around the corner. A good showing by Ron Paul will go a long way to dispelling the myth that we are a small but vocal group as well as generating some serious surprise and mainstream media coverage (by highlighting who he beats!). Every little bit at this crucial time is going to help. With luck, the donations of this quarter will lessen the burden next quarter by increasing our numbers many fold. I know times are hard for many of us, the middle class is being gutted, but think of it as an investment. Once Ron Paul is elected we can all look forward to a pay raise in the form of tax reduction as well as an overall increase in the value and purchasing power of the dollars we already have. Anyway, it's only paper (right now) isn't it?

Please, go to the Ron Paul 2008 website and Donate if you can.

Politicians take heed: The Power Ron Paul

Ron Paul is all the buzz on this series of tubes we call the Internet. Not just the typical flash in the pan buzz of lonelygirl15 either, this meme appears to have the persistence of a weed. As I write this, 'Ron Paul' is the second most searched term in the blogosphere, nestled comfortably between the usual suspects 'Youtube' and 'MySpace' . This has been noted adnaseum over the last several weeks. What has been missed however is the apparent lasting power of Ron Paul. He took the usual meme route and shot right to number one and held it for a while before being de-throned by blog meme regular 'Paris Hilton'. That's typical for flash in the pan popularity. What is not typical however is that Paul dropped only to second place and has remained there ever since. Normally, when the 'next big thing' has had its time in the sun, it disappears down the memory hole, rarely to be heard from again. The Ron Paul revolution continues to hold a respectable place net-wide, from the blogosphere to Youtube to Myspace to Facebook to Digg and beyond. This thing is here to stay.

So what's the trick? I'm sure any other politician would love to know. Any politician would love to be able to harness this type of grass roots movement which is reaching the maximum number of people at the minimum cost. The trick is: There is no trick. You can't trick the Internet. Sure, you can make a big push and gain some recognition, but it won't have the staying power we see in the Ron Paul campaign. That's the difference between the old media and the new. Now, when a politician spews forth sound bytes and rhetoric, there's a hundred bloggers picking over every word, comparing it to the records, analyzing it every which way and if the words don't match the reality ... woe to the foolish politician who tried to pull a fast one. It can be a career ender. The net is in essence the worlds largest 'truthiness' detector. Bullshit and spin have minimal effect here and often times can engender a backlash worse than any gains made. On the net, a politician has to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. That's where Ron Paul wins. His honesty and integrity leaves nothing for the nay sayers to assail. It also doesn't hurt that his message itself resonates with the freedom loving internet crowd. As a strict Constitutionalist, Paul puts freedom and liberty above all else and appears to extend that to the internet as well. He is against regulation and taxation of the net. I think perhaps he sees in the internet what his policies could do for America as a whole. The internet thrives exactly because it is minimally regulated and un-taxed. The entire country used to be that way, before ever more intrusive and restrictive laws were passed for corporate and special interests and strangling taxation choked off the American Dream. That's what made this country great and in some ways we're still resting on the laurels of past glories, coasting along on the power of yesterday and destroying the future in our head long path to an unsustainable future. In a nutshell, if you want to excite people about you as a politician, you have to be a politician that people can get excited about. Don't just tell us what you think we want to hear, that doesn't fly in today's age. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. It's a simple concept really: You do right by the people and the people will do right by you.

That's not to say politicians out there can't capitalize on the power of Ron Paul right now. This is where you would do well to take heed. Besides the ever vigilant 'truthiness detection' the internet has brought to the political landscape, there is another important contribution: Long Memory. The net does not forget. This long memory is a sword that can cut both ways. If you anger the blogosphere, you can be guaranteed that somewhere down the road it will come back to bite you. You can rest assured that one of the 70 million+ bloggers has archived your misdeeds and will raise the hue and cry at the most inopportune moment sometime in the future. A good example of this might be seen in the case of Eric Dondero. Dondero, described by Paul as "a disgruntled former employee who was fired", apparently belongs to the small and ever dwindling mindset of Americans who believe that the "terrists" hate us for our freedom, as opposed to the more realistic stance which Ron Paul and the entire intelligence community takes which is that they hate our foreign policy. After Paul pointed out this simple common sense fact in the GOP debates, Dondero foolishly announced that he'd be challenging Paul for his congressional seat. The flap lasted about a half a day. Thanks to the long memory of the internet and the power of the Ron Paul Army however, it is likely that Dondero has sunk his political career. I'd be surprised if he were able to make a successful run as Dog Catcher now, and you can bet dollars to donuts that the Paulites will be vigilantly watching for him to try and ready and eager to pounce if he does. This long memory of course has a bright side as well. Politicians who support Ron Paul may well find themselves in a much better position when their own races come up. Those struggling toughly contested seats may find an ally in the Ron Paul Army. They may find themselves rescued by a sudden surge in fundraising, volunteer campaigning and those extra votes that just make the difference.

To be clear, politicians, if you endorse Ron Paul now, we will not forget you. We are a large and growing, internet-savy and very loyal grass roots movement, becoming increasingly organized all the time. The type of energetic and enthusiastic support we offer is priceless. It can put boots on the ground, coins in the coffers and bodies in the voting booth. It can be had at no cost. Endorse Ron Paul and we will not forget you.

Help get Ron Paul on Countdown with Keith Olbermann

It's fast becoming fashionable for the talking heads on the mainstream news to criticize the many blunders of the Bush administration. Long before it was popular however, Keith Olbermann was out there crying foul over the abuses of the Constitution and Habeas Corpus. Standing almost alone in pointing out the wholesale destruction of the Constitution, the very cornerstone of our society, by the Bushies, with his 'special comments' Olbermann seemed almost Murrowesque. In light of this heroic stance, it seems strange that Keith has not had Congressman Ron Paul, the undisputed Champion of the Constitution on his show. In fact, as the only person in congress who stands by his Oath of Office to uphold the Constitution and consistently votes against any law which is unconstitutional, Ron Paul's absence from Countdown with Keith Olbermann seems a glaring injustice and may be seen by some as a spotlight on partisanship. I hope this is not the case.

I'll ask that everyone send a polite note to the show, requesting that they invite Congressman Ron Paul to appear. The e-mail address is: countdown@msnbc.com

The show also has a blog here: The News Hole which allows comments. Again, please keep it polite and on topic.

I think if we get these two stalwart defenders of the Constitution together, we'll hear a very frank and honest discussion on the dangerous course that the neocons have steered this country and what needs to be done to set things right.

If anyone can make this happen, its the Ron Paul Army.

Ron Paul is walking on the moon

Everything seems to be breaking Ron Paul's way lately. Recent events are throwing other candidates into a tailspin while Paul proceeds calm, cool and collected like the elder statesman he has shown himself to be. He is getting his common sense message out and gathering a snowballing group of devoted followers along the way. The juggernaut of freedom.

Meanwhile...

Rudy Giuliani, already mired in the stink of corruption, suffered a tough blow when the state chairman of his campaign Thomas Ravenel was indicted on cocaine charges.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has left the GOP, further fuelling speculation that he might run for President in 08 as an independent. This will have several consequences.

First, the big money folks being bought off by special interests are likely to suffer because piles of their corporate backing is going to dry up in the face of a self financed billionaire. So that's 1 whammy each to Hillary, Giuliani and Romney. It might be enough to knock Mitt Romney out of his magical underwear because he's been shoveling gobs of cash into his campaign bid and has barely registered much more than some of the third tier candidates as it is. I guess he's just boring, or perhaps too scripted, or maybe it's the flip-floppery? I don't know, I never really thought he had a chance to begin with.

Another consequence will be, being from New York, that's bound to hit both Giuliani and Hillary to some degree. I doubt it will be enough to completely crush Rudy, but considering the recurring corruption scandals, his general unlikeablility and the spanking he got from Ron Paul on foreign policy... it's certainly not helping him. Hillary herself will take less of a hit, but since every day she's sounding more and more like a pro-war neocon koolaid drinking Bush clone and that's bound to start driving people away, every little chip at the ice queen is going to sting. To add a little insult to injury, today's real news has pretty much overshadowed her little Hillary Clinton Sopranos video on hillaryclinton.com which is probably just as well because to me it seemed rather stilted. Another same girl video. I'm sure someone thought it'd go viral, but really it's just a yawn.

Of course Bloomberg doesn't have a chance ftw, he's not a great campaigner or speaker and he has much the same flaw Rudy does... stances on issues from both parties which the other party utterly hates. Someone should tell them that this doesn't make you a 'centrist', it makes you unelectable. In any case, he's likely to dillute the pool on both sides of the isle for pretty much everyone, except Ron Paul of course, much the same way that arch neocon and coward Freddy Thompson will be dilluting the small and ever dwindling pro-war vote.

Moving on... as noted earlier Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance have failed to invite Ron Paul to their little forum on the 30th. Well, it's been exposed that The Chairman of Iowans for Tax Relief, Ed Failor, is a Senior Advisor to the McCain Campaign in Iowa. That answers some questions. Somehow I doubt this will help McCain's foundering campaign. No doubt, these folks are feeling the full fury of the Ron Paul Army, much as the foolish Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis did before them (I wonder how long his career will last?).

And that brings us to... the end of the quarter campaign finance disclosures coming up at the end of this month. It's likely that some of the stragglers will drop out before the next quarter, and some of these lesser knowns are going to be reporting not only low revenues, but possibly debt. I expect McCain to have a rather poor showing, in fact the more I see from McCain, the more I think he'll be lucky if his constituents take pity on him and allow him to remain their senator. In any case, the field is going to be narrowing somewhat. On the other hand, word on the grapevine is that Ron Paul will be reporting some respectable fund raising numbers, thanks to his incredible popularity on the internet and the growing affinity for his message. I hope it's enough to catapult him into a solid first tier position. There's ten days left, so you can still donate to his campaign for this quarter to give him a bigger bump.

Sometimes I think the other candidates and their bumbling shenanegans are working to make Ron Paul look even better.

Vote Ron Paul 2008.

Video: Ron Paul at Kansas City Event

Ron Paul takes questions from a packed crowd at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City.

I just saw this video on the Daily Paul, and it blew me away. I've been a Ron Paul fan for a number of years now, certainly long before he threw his hat in the ring for the current presidential bid, but I'm also a bit of a pessimist. Something striking about watching this video is that my pessimism was swept away and I found myself thinking about how things could be verses how they are. There's something about Paul's easy, honest and plain spoken manner of explaining the complex issues and dilemmas this country is facing that just draws me in and instils something I havn't felt in a long time: Hope.

In this short (just under 20 minutes) question and answer session, Congressman Paul tackles a wide range of topics in his usual straightforward, no-nonsense way (I guess that's easy when you speak from the heart and have a wealth of knowledge and experience to back up what you say). He touches on: immigration, marijuana laws, liberty, the constitution, marriage and civil unions, central banks and the dumping of gold to prop up the dollar, peak oil, the federal reserve, rolling back unconstitutional and illegal presidential orders and signing statements, gun regulation, veterans, protecting the borders, nafta and the hated superhighway, free trade, tarrifs and taxes, special interest influence on government, redistribution of wealth, the military industrial complex, Bush's possible war crimes, property tax, reduction of the size of government and freedom versus authoratarianism. Yes, he packed all that into 20 minutes and in an easy, coherent fluid way.

This video is well worth watching.

Fred Thompson is too cowardly to be President

Alright, I have nothing against Fred Thompson personally... well, maybe there are a few little things about him that I find irksome. For instance, his lobbying efforts to deregulate the savings and loan industry which resulted in the S&L crisis in the 80's. Then there was the lobbying on behalf of big business to make sure they didn't have to pay big money to those afflicted with health problems due to asbestos exposure. And of course he appears to be drinking the neocon koolaid in huge gulps, making him in essense yet another Bushie. All that aside, he doesn't seem like such a bad guy. It's his cowardly approach to the presidential election that I don't like.

Perhaps, as many actors, he is unable to speak without a script? What it appears to be though, is that he's frightened to pit himself against the other candidates in the debates. Afraid of the tough questions and afraid to be put in a position where he might have to think on his feet and speak without a cue card. It doesn't end there though. Having dodged the bullet and avoided three debates, Fred is now apparently going to wait until July to 'announce' his unannounced entry into the race. The reason for the delay is obvious: if he announced now, he would have to disclose fund raising numbers for the current quarter and they would look poor. So it's just strategy right? Perhaps. Perhaps it's even good strategy, but it's certainly not good straightforward leadership, and that's something this country sorely needs right now.

I'm really not sure why Freddy entertained the idea of throwing his hat into the ring in the first place. Yes, there is dissatisfaction with the republican candidates, but for the most part the same things turning voters away from most of the declared pack are the same things Fred embodies. Namely the neocon agenda of perpetual and ever expanding war via an ill conceived interventionist foreign policy, growing government beyond all measure, taxing the people to death and stripping away civil rights and liberties. Honestly, what was he thinking? People are unhappy because they have bad choices so Fred puts himself forward as the worst choice? It makes no sense. The neocon koolaid seems to impart a discernable break from reality.

Neoconservatism (as well as its sister neoliberalism) has failed miserably. It's been tried and found wanting. Beyond just not working, this flawed philosophy born in a think tank is detrimental to America as a whole. The people have seen this and the people have rejected it. Time to rethink, reorganize and try something different, not continue along a failed path.

Perhaps at a different time in history Freddy would be hailed as presidential. Unfortunately for him, and thanks to the same failed policies he himself seems to be embracing, Bush and his cabal of criminals have steered this country into a very dark place and a president who is 'just okay' or even 'least bad' simply won't do. In this time of crisis, created entirely by bad neocon policy, we're facing a collapsing economy, endless detrimental foreign entanglements and the greatest challenge to the constitution since its signing. In this time of challenges, the country needs a real leader, not someone who plays one on television. We need a hero; someone with a keen understanding of foreign policy as well as economics and a defender of the constitution. The only person running that fits that bill is Congressman Ron Paul.

P.S. Adam Schiff was a better fictional district attorney too!

President Bush: Congress is my bitch

I woke up late last Thursday... at the crack of eleven. As always, the first thing I did was fish around the blankets for the remote and click on the idiot box. My tv just happened to be tuned to C-Span from the previous night, so what's the first thing I see? President Bush in the Rose Garden holding a press conference. Always a treat. Really. I love watching our Fearless Leader speak. He's a walking contradiction, and for those versed in such disciplines as body language, facial micro expressions and linguistic mannerisms,
the man is both a study and a test. I see a lot of folks on the left casting aspersions on President Bush's intelligence. They often portray him as stupid or ignorant. I find this funny. From my reading, Bush often has vast knowledge of the issues at hand, usually much moreso than the reporters these days that toss him softball questions. He is engaged and uses his folksy image to deflect tough questions, usually endearing himself to his audience and enjoining them to laugh both with him and at him. It's excellent 'strategery' and he is even better at it than his father was. Those who would (and should) be scathingly critical of Bush are simply disarmed and self-rendered impotent for the most part.

In any case, I'm not one of 'those' and I view Bush through the eyes of the afforementioned disciplines, or if you prefer, a 'truthiness' filter. What follows is my personal transcription of Bush's recent Rose Garden press conference through that filter. For refrence, you may view the original transcription here.

"Today, I am officially declaring that I've made the 110th congress my personal bitch. Despite the fact that congress had a clear mandate from the American people to stop this ill-conceived, ill-planned and ill-executed (but extremely profitable to many of my friends and business partners) war, I'm getting my way. I'm getting a no-restrictions, unlimited budget to continue my failed endeavor at the expense of innocent lives. So there! Hah! But it gets better... I've also been able to chop out billions of dollars that the democrats were trying to steer towards their major contributors. We all know what that means don't we? That money can now be steered on it's proper course... towards Haliburton and other big no-bid contractors who support my party! What did you expect? That's the game. It's all about who can get the biggest piece of the taxpayer's pie for their corporate contributors. Sure, most corporations play both sides and pay well for it, but that's just good business sense. What's a few million when the returns are counted in billions? In any case, I won and my guys get the most. That's all that matters.

Beyond that, as well all know, the puppet government which my team has installed in Iraq has gone on vacation. They have ignored the dire warnings and in all likelihood most of them will never return to their country but instead flee somewhere where they can spend their ill-gotten gains. This was expected, and is really all part of my plan, but the important thing I want everyone to remember is - Al-Qaeda is still out there, so be scared, be very very scared. And your word for the week is 'benchmarks'. We're not meeting them, hell, we're not even setting them, but I'll keep saying it. Above all, what we can expect is more American and Iraqi deaths, and of course, a big boost in profits, but that goes without saying eh?


On the home front, specifically the immigration issue. Well, what can I say? I've declared a global war on terrorism but left the borders to this once great nation wide open and nobody has called me on it yet. Over 10% of Mexico's entire population is here and working illegally to exploit our ever decreasing natural resources for corporate greed, despite the fact that Mexico itself is one of the most resource-rich nations on this planet. I've decided to grant amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens here. Yes, I know, the last time we did this it increased the influx of illegals many fold, but I can't ignore the profit margin. The folks that employ illegal aliens ... let's face it, slave labor ... they're making a bundle and the more they make, the more they have to toss to both political parties, and that's why we're working together to make it easy on our corporate sponsors. True bi-partisanship. The so called middle class is done. You'll learn to like it.

And now, I'll take a few softball questions.

Q: Iran! They're going to have nuclear weapons any minute, despite that the CIA has said they're ten years away... what will we do?

A: First, sanctions. We'll starve their kids and make them hate us. Yes, 70% of their country is under 30 years old and they lean western and would probably vote A-ah-whatever-da-jeen out if I stopped rattling my sabre, but really, where's the corporate profit in that? We've got to think of our allies... like the dictatorship in Saudi Arabia, my close personal friends, where would they be if Iran started selling cheap oil? No, that can't happen. We'll sanction them first and when they're good and starved, we'll nuke them.



Q: This doesn't seem to be working, when can we get out of there?

A: Are you kidding? I havn't even gotten the full force IN there. We're never leaving... at least, not in your lifetime. What's a few casulties when my friends are making BILLIONS?


Q: China is screwing us and you're helping it happen, why?

A: My friends are making shitloads of cash at the same time that China makes cash. Don't rock the boat. Besides, as I said before, the middle class is going to be liquidated, get used to it.


Q: You were warned before the Iraq war that it would create more terrorists and make us all less safe, why did you do it?

A: That is true, but you should be scared scared scared scared scared. The terorists terrorists terrorists will get you. They'll kill your kids! Don't forget September 11th, 9/11, you know... if you ask any more questions like that it'll happen again, just like Rudy said.


Q: Even the Iraqi government wants us out of there...

A: Nobody alive now will live long enough to see us leave. There is profit for the corporations and we're going to reap it. But remember, we'll all die if we leave.


Q: Nobody believes you anymore.

A: I'll keep saying it until they do."



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From there he pretty much ran rough shod over all the questions, except the ones tossing up balls he wanted to hit. Basically, he worked the press like a pinball machine, and through them, the American public. And they call him stupid? Again, I laugh.

Anyway, that's my summary. My first post back, a bit foreshortened, but I need to dig into what our illustrius congress is doing over the holiday.

In the end, Bush did us a favor. He exposed the congress for what they are... paid by the same folks he himself is and working for the same ends. All of it is to the detriment of the American people.

There was a clear message sent in the last election: Stop bush, restore liberties and end the war. Congress got the memo, but they choose to ignore it. Time to ask why and time to demand answers.


There's only one choice in the coming election: Ron Paul.

Resistance Intelligencer rises from the ashes

I'm back. Resurrecting this blog from the ashes of neglect like the proverbial Phoenix. My interest in the parapolitical has been renewed in large part due to Congressman Ron Paul's performance in the GOP debates and the fact that his message is resonating through the internet community. This gives some hope. People apparently do care about what's going on outside of American Idol and are willing to work for change. Ron Paul has injected truth into the national arena and sparked much needed debate on both foreign and domestic policy issues. That was long overdue. That this has been so well received has convinced me that all is not yet lost. For that alone Ron Paul has my vote, for his views on liberties and rights and restoring the power of the constitution, he has my admiration as well.

Anyway, I'll be messing with the template some and adding a chatbox... new political posts to follow...