Laissez-faire

Anti-war protesters who were ticketed or arrested in Ferndale for carrying signs encouraging drivers to honk for peace, were vindicated. Earlier today a federal judge ruled in their favor, granting them their rights that are protected by the first amendment.

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

I love to look at the faces of the other candidates when Ron Paul is discussing monetary and economic issues. Check out the looks on the faces of Romney and McCain at 1:10. They are just begging to go back to bickering about taxes and user fees.

Here is a video of Ron Paul’s answers (7:55 out of 1:30:00)! Notice how he is short changed and lied to by Anderson Cooper.

I have nothing good to say about the moderation of the CNN debate tonight. It was appalling the way they treated Ron Paul and to a lesser extent Huckabee. And the5 vast majority of the time was given to Romney and McCain so they could quibble about who is more liberal and who raised taxes more and which one has better experience. The only moment worth watching — and the answer that received the greatest applause — obviously involved the only straight talking man up there:

now listen to the pundits discuss the debate as though Ron Paul did not exist. Why are people not outraged?

I don’t blame you. Maybe this will make up for it. All in good fun, of course:

Rudy is out of the race after a disappointing performance in the Florida primary where he expected to win. In his concession speech he congratulated the other candidates including Ron Paul which he did just to mock him. He said Ron Paul won all the debates and then joked about how he won all the post debate text message polls. That’s pretty funny considering Ron Paul is still in the race and has outperformed Rudy in the primaries. Here’s a little reminder of why Ron Paul always won the post debate polls and why Rudy is done.

Rudy’s Reading List

bye bye 9iu11ani.

The American folk singer and son of Woody Guthrie, had this to say about Dr. Paul:

“Dr. Paul is the only candidate I know of who would have signed the Constitution of the United States had he been there…I’m with him because he seems to be the only candidate who actually believes it has as much relevance today as it did a couple of hundred years ago.”

Paul has Alice’s Restaurant by Guthrie listed as one of his favorite songs on his MySpace profile.

Last night, during his State of the Union address, Bush boasted about his $145 billion “economic stimulus plan,” aimed at revitalizing the weak economy. The bipartisan plan calls for tax rebates along with bolstering of welfare programs.

I am all for having money returned to taxpayers, but the federal government doesn’t have any money to return. They are in debt. One of two things will be done to follow through with the promise of rebate checks: It will either be borrowed or printed. Borrowing money will create more debt which will require more interest payments to foreign governments, and inflating the money supply — in ADDITION to the inflation already put into action via interest rate cuts — by printing money will continue to eat away at the value of the dollar. Either way, we are leaving the next administration, our children and future generations, more economic problems. They’ll be left with unimaginable debt, runaway inflation and the threat of the same booms and busts that this silly stimulus plan seeks to repair. I don’t understand how Bush and so many others get away with this nonsense. It doesn’t make any sense, but people see that they’ll be getting a check from the government, so that makes them happy. And Wall Street’s numbers will go up temporarily, calming investors. No one is thinking about the long term.

Walter Williams, as usual, hits the nail on the head:

There are three ways government can get the money for a stimulus package. It can tax, borrow or inflate the currency by printing money. If government taxes to hand out money, one person is stimulated at the expense of another who pays the tax, who is unstimulated and has less money to spend. If government borrows the money, it’s the same story. This time the unstimulated person is the lender who has less money to spend. If government prints money, creditors, and then everyone else, are unstimulated. As my colleague Russell Roberts said in a NPR broadcast, “It’s like taking a bucket of water from the deep end of a pool and dumping it into the shallow end. Funny thing — the water in the shallow end doesn’t get any deeper.”

This is the only logical plan I’ve seen put forward by a presidential candidate. The key to this plan, that no one else seems able to commit to, is decreased government spending. I realize people want to have their cake and eat it too, but there has to come a point where we admit that is not possible.

I guess this is old news, but I just heard about it and I find it exciting. John Mayer’s drunken endorsement of Dr. Paul back in December just didn’t do it for me.

Krist Novoselic, the former Nirvana bassist who has been politically active in Seattle in recent years, has voiced his support for a 2008 presidential candidate, and it’s … Ron Paul? Novoselic alluded to the Republican long-shot candidate in his Seattle Weekly column earlier this month, saying, “The Internet is already doing this with campaign phenomenon like Howard Dean in 2004, and this year with Ron Paul.” The Web site PoliticalBase.com shows that he made a $250 contribution to the candidate in mid-September.

Another notable endorsement was made a while back by Aimee Allen, who wrote a theme song for the Ron Paul revolution. There have been many of songs written for Ron Paul since he started campaigning, but hers is the best I’ve heard. You can listen to it on her myspace profile. She’s also featured on the Hairspray soundtrack.

These endorsements don’t really mean anything, but it’s interesting anyhow.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may face perjury charges for allegedly lying about an affair with a colleague and conspiring against investigators in an attempt to prevent their affair from being discovered. Text messages left on the phones of Kilpatrick and his chief of staff Christine Beatty contradicted statements they made under oath. The worst part for Detroit residents is that they foot the $9 million bill for Kwame and Beatty to try to keep their affair under wraps.

I finally took the time to watch this documentary exposing the security vulnerabilities within a significant portion of our vote counting systems. It had been recommended to me by a friend, but I tend to disregard things like this as paranoia. I feel differently after watching it. There was compelling evidence that, not only is it possible for the vote-count to be tampered with, but to some degree, it has been in past elections.

I feel that something as important as a presidential election should be conducted more openly and securely. A representative for each candidate on the ballot should have the opportunity to view a hand-count of the ballots. There is no need to get instant results. Technology is a wonderful thing, but even the most brilliant computer scientist understands that there is no such thing as an unhackable program.

I recommend watching the film. The embedded video can be viewed in its entirety in full screen.

Fox News reports (so take it with a grain of salt) that Fred Thompson is dropping out of the Race for the presidency, and Huckabee and Giuliani are both running out of money. Meanwhile Ron Paul is still bringing in the green. He raised $1.85 million yesterday. He also recently received endorsements from former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, pro-ilfe activist Norma McCorvey (aka “Jane Roe”), and Donald Luskin, Chief Investment Officer for Trend Macrolytics LLC and contributing editor of the National Review

In light of the current economic crisis this country is facing, I’m cringing in anticipation for the accusations against the free market. We are under a Republican administration espousing, at least partially, free market rhetoric, but applying policies that require government invention in most areas of our lives — economic and personal. This falsely creates a sense of animosity toward the free market.

When critics of the free market are reminded that we are not operating under a truly free market, they claim that we simply just don’t have the right people in charge. They maintain this erroneous defense of their statist views, despite achieving similar results under governance by elected officials of their preference.

The underlying reason for my support of Ron Paul is his acknowledgment of his inability to make better decisions for individuals than they can make for themselves. He understands and respects the fact that no person or administration can accurately predict the economic decisions of millions of individuals representing an equal number of different values and goals, better than the free market can. A free market, though not infallible, best represents everyone who is a part of it, and is the only moral and practical economic system.

As Mises pointed out, once the government intervenes into one area of the economic system, it will become necessary for it to become involved in other areas (to “repair” the damage it has done) until it finally has full control. And once the government is in complete control of our economic choices, we are no longer the masters of our own will.

This is a little off topic, but I thought it was worth posting.

The election thus far has convinced me just how significant and disturbing a role the media play in determining who we elect as President. A majority of Americans still rely almost exclusively on the mainstream media outlets for their information. Whether or not it’s intentional, the media push for the status quo and end up convincing people to support the major establishment candidates, while suppressing alternate viewpoints.

This weekend Nevada held their caucus. Entrance polls predicted Ron Paul would place second, which eventually did. This was a huge success for Paul. He exceeded his poll numbers by nearly 100 percent. It doesn’t matter how well he does, the media refuse to acknowledge his progress.

I was listening to WWJ before the results had come in. They were discussing the entrance polls in which Ron Paul was second. The reporter mentioned that Romney was likely going to place first and McCain third. There was no mention of Ron Paul at all.

The NY Times published a table of primary election results as of yesterday before the South Carolina results had been announced. Ron Paul was not included despite his being more viable than Giuliani or Thompson who were both included.

Then the “fair and balanced” Fox News failed to include Ron Paul in their graphic depicting the current standings in Nevada.

At first this media manipulation was just frustrating; now I’m getting a little frightened. It is absolutely crucial that the internet remains free from any type of government regulation. If this can be accomplished, in the coming years, as the media giants lose their relevancy to the limitless sources on the internet, I believe we will see a dramatic shift in this country.

It’s easy for a Ron Paul supporter to get discouraged by the results of the Michigan presidential primary that took place on Tuesday, but a fourth place finish in a key state where he spent relatively little money (compared to Romney, McCain, and Huckabee), and visited only twice during his campaign; is a very notable accomplishment. It is especially important to consider that this is a candidate who, after the first debate, was laughed at and considered to be completely finished. He has been treated as a failure by the media ever since, and continues to be trashed, despite his many triumphs thus far.

Another thing to consider is his defeat of Giuliani and Thompson who have been considered frontrunners all along, while Dr. Paul was considered a nobody. And to think that many people who considered Ron Paul a closer match to their values, were considering voting for Giuliani because he was more electable. This highlights the idiocy of the election process. Instead of people looking at each candidate, deciding which candidate best represents their values, and voting for that person; they look to the media, (which in the case of Michigan had long since decided for the uninformed electorate that the race was between Romeny and McCain) the polls, and make judgments based on electability, familiarity and other irrational criteria.

I suppose this is the unfortunate result of human nature. It’s just frustrating watching people struggle to find something that’s right under their noses.

“DETROIT–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Wayne County and UAW member supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul will rally against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Monday afternoon at the Ford Michigan truck plant”

Hopefully anyone who watched the Republican debate last night doesn’t need me to point out the shameful moderation by Fox News. I am not one to buy into conspiracy theories, but it has become overtly clear that Fox News has made it a priority to marginalize and destroy the candidacy of Ron Paul.

Besides giving him less face time than the other candidates, the first attempt came while discussing conservatism and the Reagan Coalition. This is a topic that is very relevant to Ron Paul since, not only is he the most conservative — in the sense that Ronald Reagan at least campaigned on — he was a key player in the Reagan Coalition, and lauded by Reagan as being “one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a strong national defense,” adding “he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and always puts them first…We need him to keep fighting for our country.”

Each candidate was asked a question regarding this topic except Ron Paul who was asked an absurd question about “9/11 truthers” that not even the most amateur journalist would ask at this point. This question has long been beaten to death. It was rude and unprofessional to even ask such a question. Ron Paul responded appropriately by answering quickly and asking politely but firmly to be included in the real discussion.

Near the end of the debate, the smug Carl Cameron asked Ron Paul another question aimed at avoiding substance and undermining Ron Paul’s bid. He very condescendingly asked about his electability, implying that he didn’t have any. As the results of the primary currently stand — although only a very small fraction of the country has voted — Ron Paul is in 4th place based on the popular vote. That means that two of the six men on that stage have received less votes than Ron Paul, yet Carl Cameron has the audacity to ask HIM this question and give the impression that he has no chance?

What an inappropriate, shameful display of bias and deception by Fox News. How do they retain their credibility with anyone?

When Revolutionary War hero, General John Stark, first used this phrase he followed it with “Death is not the worst of evils.” His implication is evident: Freedom is worth risking your life for. That is how passionate General Stark and others who fought for independence, felt about freedom. They fought for true freedom: Economic and individual liberties that are dwindling here now.

The results of the New Hampshire presidential primary, demonstrate just how far off track we have strayed since the revolutionary days. Voters overwhelmingly supported candidates that intend to maintain the status quo in Washington, and continue deteriorating the freedom and independence that were once cherished so much that Americans were willing to die fighting for them.

I fully understand that people like this still exist, and many have these same intentions when they enlist in the military. But those who fought in the Revolutionary War — if alive today — would more likely be fighting against domestic tyranny than the ill defined, destructive wars that our government engages in to expand its empire and protect “their” resources abroad. This is not the fault of the men and women in the military. This is the irresponsibility and recklessness of our unaccountable elected officials.

How discouraging.

Hats off to Jay Leno for inviting Ron Paul on his show because he thought Fox News unfairly excluded him from their last debate. This was Paul’s second appearance on Leno.

Engineers have succeeded in programming robots to show emotions. They have not yet figured out a way to make them produce tears without short circuiting.