Maria Bartiromo interviews Ron Paul:
Who are your economic advisers?
I don't have any. I read Austrian economics, which I've been doing for 30 years. So my advisers have been [von] Mises and Hayek and Sennholz.
This blog is for libertarians who are mainly of the voluntaryist, laissez-faire, and anarchistic and agorist variety and who want to sound off on their thoughts on issues of the day as well as politics, current events, and other liberty-oriented projects of interest. This blog is pro-liberty, anti-state, anti-war, and pro-free market.
Maria Bartiromo interviews Ron Paul:
Who are your economic advisers?
I don't have any. I read Austrian economics, which I've been doing for 30 years. So my advisers have been [von] Mises and Hayek and Sennholz.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 7:12 AM 0 comments
The Council on Foreign Relations has put up a bio of Ron Paul on its website, purportedly trying to set a negative tone with regards to Ron's statements that the site quoted -- statements that sound as if Ron is for Islamoterrorists conspiring to attack our home soil at any given moment.
This is coming from the CFR:
In a speech before the House in April 2007, Paul (R-TX) criticized what he sees as neoconservative efforts to drum up support for military action against Iran. Paul said that although the country “is hardly a perfect democracy, its system is far superior to most of our Arab allies about which we never complain.” The Texas congressman warned that a war against Iran would be disastrous and dismissed the justifications for military action against Iran as “propaganda,” saying that “Iran doesn’t have a nuke and is nowhere close to getting one, according to the CIA.” Instead, Paul advocates a policy of non-interventionism.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 6:45 AM 0 comments
This piece by Z. Byron Wolf, who was in the backstage with Ron Paul for his appearance on "The View," is quite compelling and incredible.
Here's an excerpt from ABC News:
Told that a "View" co-host would ask him about China, Paul said, "China? Did something happen overnight in China? I would have guessed they would ask about Iran and the intelligence report," he said.
Paul has long been a critic of the Bush administration's foreign policy. At that moment the president was giving a news conference at which, despite evidence that Iran has abandoned its nuclear weapons program, he would not rule out a military strike against the Islamic country.
Paul considered China and what "The View" women could be preparing to ask him. Something about the dollar and how its weakening? His support for trade relationships? His aversion to economic sanctions? Lead in toys?
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 7:04 PM 0 comments
This appeared in the Washington Post's blog today. Here's an excerpt of it:
Backers Anticipate Another Big 'Money-Bomb'
Rep. Ron Paul is poised to outraise the rest of the Republican field this quarter, fueled by his rock star status on the Internet.
As of Monday afternoon, he has clocked in $10.5 million, mostly through the Internet.
Such a showing for the Texas congressman has shocked other campaigns -- not to mention the media. Most spectacular was the $4.3 million Paul raised on Nov. 5. But the dollars have continued to roll in: Last week, following the Republican CNN/YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., Paul amassed another $531,000 on Nov. 30.
Compare that to former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.), whose shrewd tapping of the online community raised a total of $751,000 online during the whole of November.
Paul's supporters are planning another "money-bomb," as the candidate's one-day fundraisers are called, for Dec. 16, the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, which helped spark the American Revolution.
"Dec. 16th is going to be bigger than the Nov. 5th money-bomb," Jim Forsythe, a former Air Force pilot who leads Paul's New Hampshire MeetUp group, predicted.
What has been most impressive about Paul's online popularity is how it is translating to offline, on-the-ground operation. Forsythe helps organize door-to-door canvassing, while Vijay Boyapati is trying to recruit 1,000 volunteers from across the country to help canvass for Paul through OperationLiveFreeorDie.
Boyapati, a 29-year-old engineer, packed his bags and moved to New Hampshire a few weeks ago to create the online initiative after quitting his job at Google.
That's a little nuts, isn't it, The Trail asked him.
"I get that reaction a lot," Boyapati responded. "It's a little freezing out here, I have to admit. But I feel very strongly about helping the campaign."
A newly naturalized American citizen -- Boyapati was born and raised in Australia -- he hadn't heard of Paul until last year. Boyapati said that Paul's message of limited government and, especially, his vote against the war in Iraq,
drew him to the obscure obstetrician-turned-congressman. Boyapati has recruited more than 400 volunteers so far for OperationLiveFreeorDie.
He is also urging the Paulites, Paul's intensely loyal, Web-savvy supporters, to donate $5 on the site FiveForFreedom.com on Dec. 5 to help house the 1,000 volunteers across New Hampshire.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:01 AM 0 comments
This latest interesting poll showcases Ron at 9 percent in NH, 5 percent in Iowa, and 6 percent in SC.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:12 AM 0 comments
Here's an excerpt of the story:
Hearing Impaired Man Tased by Police
Posted: Dec 3, 2007 10:35 PM
Updated: Dec 5, 2007 12:35 PM
by Michael Schwanke
by Michael Schwanke
(Wichita, KS)
Donnell Williams had just gotten out of the bath tub, wearing only a towel around his waist, when he turned the corner to see guns pointing right at him.
"I ain't never been so scared," says Williams.
Police forced entry into Williams home while responding to a shooting, but it turned out to be a false call. They had no idea at the time the call wasn't real and that Williams is hearing impaired. Without his hearing aid he is basically deaf.
"I kept going to my ear yelling that I was scared. I can't hear! I can't hear!"
Officers were worried about their own safety because at the time it appeared Williams was refusing to obey their commands to show his hands. That's when they shot him with a Taser.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:33 AM 0 comments
An Australian newspaper reports that classic episodes of Sesame Street on DVD are now labeled "adult only" because they are not suiting the needs of today's generation of preschool children. The Cookie Monster is viewed as vile and rotten for his promotion of bad habits (like devouring cookies) that may encourage obesity in young children. Alistair Cookie is "smoking a pipe" and "eats" it (horrors!). And the klutzy Mr. Snuffleupagus epitomizes delusional behavior. Oh, and let's not forget that Oscar the Grouch is terrible for children because of his "blatant bad manners and questionable [physical] hygiene."
Here's an excerpt of the piece in question:
The 'tut-tut' police keep us on the street and narrow
Melissa Kent
December 2, 2007
Advertisement
SESAME Street is now brought to you by the letter P and the letter C — for political correctness, that is.
The fun police have slapped an "adults only" warning on a new DVD of classic episodes, which featured a world in which children played in the street, a monster gorged on cookies and a bad-tempered puppet lived in a bin.
The episodes, made between 1969 and 1974, have been released in the US with the caution: "These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grown-ups and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child."
Topping the list of furry villains is the Cookie Monster, whose penchant for devouring cookies and the odd plate or two is no longer deemed appropriate behaviour for modern children.
His alter ego, Alistair Cookie, host of MonsterPiece Theatre, "modelled the wrong behaviour" by smoking a pipe and eating it, according to Sesame Street producer Carol-Lynn Parente.
Back then, Big Bird's bumbling friend Mr Snuffleupagus was still imaginary, which might encourage "delusion behaviour". And trash-loving Oscar the Grouch has been targetted for his blatant bad manners and questionable hygiene.
"We might not be able to create a character like Oscar today," Parente told The New York Times.
Like the whitewashing of Enid Blyton books, the move has sparked howls of protest and charges of political correctness sucking the fun out of childhood.
Children's book author Andy Griffiths, creator of the popular "Bum" series, said children loved dark, mischievous characters such as those who lived on Sesame Street.
"Kids love seeing their primal desires acted out in the form of things like gluttony or violence, and literature or TV is a place they can safely experience these desires," he said.
"I think it's an entirely healthy and appropriate thing for a children's TV program to be doing."
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:27 PM 0 comments
And she gets no medical help from the authorities either.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:12 PM 0 comments
Ron Paul supporters are out on the streets of Manchester, New Hampshire, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Here's an excerpt of the piece:
Adroit online, Ron Paul backers hit the streets of N.H.
'Paulites' see the first primary state as fertile ground for their candidate's iconoclastic political views.
By Ari Pinkus | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Manchester, N.H.
They're coming from Miami and Seattle, from the "big sky" state of Montana, and from close to home here in New Hampshire. They're coming to help political iconoclast Ron Paul get elected president – many as campaign first-timers who, characteristically independent, may not even feel obliged to tell the Paul camp what exactly they're planning to do on the candidate's behalf.
The Paulites' push for old-style, on-the-ground politicking in New Hampshire, coming just five weeks before the primary, marks a change for a support network that has always relied on websites and online fundraising. They're here now because they see the Granite State – with its reputation as antitax, anti-big government, and pro-individual freedom – as especially fertile ground for a libertarian-leaning Republican candidate like Mr. Paul.
"New Hampshire is really important because it's the first primary and it sends a message to other states about who's viable and who the leading candidates are. There was all this Internet enthusiasm, but we didn't have enough boots on the ground," says Vijay Boyapati, a Google engineer who recently left the Seattle firm to work on Paul's campaign.
Mr. Boyapati arrived Saturday in Manchester, N.H., to head up a project of his own invention: Operation Live Free or Die, named after the state motto. His aim is to bring 1,000 volunteers to New Hampshire to canvass for Paul. He calculates that if each volunteer, working seven to eight hours a day, meets 100 people daily, then the project can reach out personally to almost all 100,000 residents of Manchester before the Jan. 8 primary.
Then there's Linda Lagana of Merrimack, N.H. Using her graphic-design talent and a small print shop, she has been creating Paul-for-president ads and fliers for months on the cheap. Her materials have ended up in the hands of voters across the state – and are even preferred to official campaign literature. Her highest-profile project so far: designing an advertisement published in USA Today the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
Trevor Lyman, an online music promoter, already helped raise $4.2 million for Paul in a one-day Internet event Nov. 5. Two weeks ago he moved from Miami to Manchester, where he lives in a "frat house" with seven bedrooms, he says. He spends his days and nights working on other "money bomb" campaigns for the GOP candidate. At 37, Mr. Lyman plans to cast his first vote ever – for Paul on Jan. 8.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 4:20 PM 0 comments
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 3:17 PM 0 comments
"Two Media Myths of Campaign Coverage Debunked," by Cenk Uygur.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 2:50 PM 0 comments
The demonetizing dollar is having a depreciating effect on foreign economies -- an effect that the Fed and its cronies like Greenspan and Bernanke intended and even anticipated.
It has gotten to the point where dependent countries that can't end their reliance on the self-inflating U.S. dollar can't withstand it.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:45 AM 0 comments
The Huckster himself thinks the Man Above has chosen him as his candidate for 2008. Here's an excerpt of what was reported on Bluzzflash.com:
BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG
Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher, BuzzFlash.com
December 1, 2007
We received a memo from Liberty "Falwell" University on November 30th, signed by Jonathan Falwell, son of the recently deceased Jerry -- and now overseer of the vast Liberty University/Moral Majority corporate empire.
According to Jonathan Falwell, presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee believes that it is God, not himself, who is behind his rise in the polls: "Mr. Huckabee also said that Divine providence was responsible for his recent surge in the polls in Iowa, as he noted that he is the candidate with much less capital firepower than his rivals."
Former Arkansas Governor Huckabee made his comments during a recent visit to the "hallowed" grounds of the Liberty University campus.
Huckabee mightily impressed "Falwell the Second" when he also "identified the 'fanatic religious zealotry' of Islamo-fascism as a 'real threat' that must be confronted to protect the American way of life."
Heck, if you replaced the phrase "Islamo-fascism" with "Christian fundamentalism" you would arrive at the same threat to American society!
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:16 AM 0 comments
Neo-con loser and twit Jim Gilmore has a surprise on his plate, waiting for him.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:42 AM 0 comments
Imus is now back on the air on WABC, other radio stations, and even satellite TV. The great thing is that he said, "Nothing has changed: Cheney is still a war criminal, and Hillary is still Satan."
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:58 AM 0 comments
The funny thing is, there were no Ron Paul supporters being bused to the Virginia strawpoll. That's because that putrid tactic is only carried out by the Romney and Giuliani sycophants.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:49 AM 0 comments
Salon.com's very own Michael Scherer on the Ron Paul Revolutionaries converging in Manchester, New Hampshire from all over the country.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:15 PM 0 comments
Here's the new one-hour, 17-minute video on Ron that's now available to watch at Google Video. It's quite good, to be honest.
Here it is:
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 6:03 PM 0 comments
Big Brother is reaching out to the voters, urging them not to throw their vote to Ron.
Here's the video to prove it:
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 3:55 PM 0 comments
Check out this video showcasing Cass Dillon performing his great -- not to mention incredible -- anti-war song as a Christmas treat for the troops in Fallujah. Listen carefully to the chorus though:
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 1:02 PM 0 comments
Ron's interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN:
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 12:35 PM 0 comments
The Ron Paul Revolution in full swing, as shown in this clip.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:58 AM 0 comments
According to the Des Moines Register, Ron and McCain tie at 7 percent in the newly-posted Iowa poll:
Huckabee: 29%
Romney: 24%
Giuliani: 13%
Thompson: 9%
Ron Paul: 7%
McCain: 7%
Tancredo: 6%
Hunter: 1%
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:45 PM 0 comments
Ron Paul, the only pro-peace Republican president!
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:20 PM 0 comments
(This came via TechPresident.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 7:25 PM 0 comments
The Ron Paul Revolution is aching for a blimp. Even though its stated goal had been $350,000, it's raking in nearly half a million in donations.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:16 AM 0 comments
Santa, who's thought to be capable of "harming" himself by not wearing a seat belt at 5 mph, feels the wrath of the Nanny State.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 6:11 AM 0 comments
Here's CNN treating Ron Paul decently by giving him a not-too-bad interview after the debate.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 1:19 PM 0 comments
(Thanks to Lew for reporting this on his blog.)
P.S. The first deliberately-planted CNN question regarding the Council on Foreign Relations (a group to which all the candidates except Ron belong) was not a surprise to be honest. After all, the CFR is a pro-war, pro-Big Business, pro-empire lobbying group which secretly touts the Neo-Con line all the way.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:52 AM 0 comments
Lew pointed this out on his blog regarding the YouTube/CNN debate. Considering this was the worst debate ever, it's not a surprise that the debate was rigged...big time!
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
Here are our counts for how long each candidate spoke during the first part of the debate
Romney -- 7:03, during 9 times
McCain -- 5:09, during 4 times
Giuliani -- 5:08, during 9 times
Thompson -- 4:38, during 4 times
Huckabee -- 4:14, during 5 times
Paul -- 3:27, during 4 times
Tancredo -- 2:20, during 4 times
Hunter -- 2:16, during 3 times
One note -- Huckabee did not get a chance to speak until 26 minutes into the debate, and Paul did not get his chance until more than a half hour into the debate.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:38 PM 0 comments
Here's Ron Paul on TV with subtitles in Spanish.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:24 PM 0 comments
Here's Ron interviewed on FOX and Friends.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Here's a snip of the New York Times' piece on the impending Rudy implosion:
City Said to Have Paid Bills as Giuliani Affair Began
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Late in his tenure as mayor of New York, Rudolph W. Giuliani billed tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses to little-known city agencies as he was beginning an extramarital affair, a political Web site reported yesterday.
The report, on the Politico Web site, cited documents obtained under the New York State Freedom of Information Law. But it was unclear from those documents whether Mr. Giuliani allocated those travel costs, from 1999 through 2001, to obscure city offices in an attempt to conceal expenses associated with the relationship or for some accounting purpose.
The administration of Mr. Giuliani’s successor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, said in 2002, several months after taking office, that the Giuliani administration had kept the budget for the mayor’s office artificially low by paying more than $5 million in salaries through other city agencies. The agencies to which Mr. Giuliani billed the travel expenses were outside the mayor’s office.
The New York mayor always travels with a security detail, and the expenses for the police detectives assigned to protect him are normally paid for by the Police Department when he travels on city business.
Asked about the travel expenses during the Republican presidential candidates’ debate last night, Mr. Giuliani denied any wrongdoing. 'I have nothing to do with the handling of their records,' he said. As far as he knew, he said, the records were handled appropriately.
One of Mr. Giuliani’s chief political advisers, Anthony V. Carbonetti, said earlier yesterday that any suggestion that the former mayor had sought to hide anything was 'nonsense.'
'As far as we are concerned, these are all legitimate expenses incurred by the N.Y.P.D. while performing their duty protecting the mayor,' Mr. Carbonetti said.
Mr. Carbonetti told reporters, 'There was no effort to hide anything — on the mayor’s part definitely because this is stuff he has never seen.'
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:50 PM 0 comments
CNN, as much as it hates to admit it, is starting to acknowledge it. See the YouTube video clip above.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:02 AM 0 comments
Hysterical yet par for the course. Faux News is alerting its viewers: "Blogs: Beware of Bias." After all, you must rely only on "objective" bloggers and news sites, ya know, like Faux News.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:45 PM 0 comments
According to the Detroit Free Press:
It would serve Republicans right if Michigan voters unhappy with this semi-election rocked the political establishment by delivering a primary victory to upstart GOP candidate Ron Paul. It would serve Democrats right if frustrated state voters put Michigan in the GOP column next fall for the first time in 20 years in a presidential race.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:29 PM 0 comments
False News' Judge Andrew Napolitano and neocon John Gibson duke it out over neocon Bush's War on Terrorism, the state's gross violation of civil liberties, etc. Napolitano wins the argument hands down.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:17 PM 0 comments
This is the Huckster giving a speech on immigration and the welfare state during his state's state of the state address.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:15 PM 0 comments
A tax protestor is, in the eyes of a federal judge, an "economic terrorist," thus receives a large fine ($250,000) and five years in prison.
It's outrageous that a tax protestor would be seen as such, when the state is the true economic terrorist simply by taking his money by force (at the barrel of a gun, that is) and spending it anyway it wants. Nope, it's called public service.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:05 PM 0 comments
Reason's Damon W. Root outlines a solution to that Donkey Party's political woes: a libertarian Democrat.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 12:59 PM 0 comments
This YouTube says it all about Ron. GO RON PAUL!!!
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 12:57 PM 0 comments
Oh, yes, the "fair-and-balanced" network we call False News has been outed as the lying piece of propagandistic garbage that is. It was caught red-handed for tweaking a story about Dennis Hof, the owner of the Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada, contributing to Paul's campaign coffers.
This just shows the lack of journalistic integrity that is evident in the MSM today, not to mention the neocon kool-aid that the False News talking heads love to drink.
Reagan was called the "teflon candidate," but that honor rightfully goes to Ron Paul. His detractors can sling all the mud at him all they want, but it won't. Why? Because he has such great character. Ron is not only the most libertarian officeholder in congressional history, but he's also the most principled and the most honest and full of absolute integrity. That's what makes him so great and incredible at the same time. Not only that, he's full of goodness and respect, unlike the neocon slime who want to denigrate him in every possible way they can.
Because of the kind and gentle soul Ron is, the statists hate it, and that's what driving them up the wall.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 12:46 PM 0 comments
It's a nice, interesting piece on him on the news site here, although the headline is tacky. But then again, some publicity is good publicity.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 12:23 PM 0 comments
Ron Paul supporter Taco John, a.k.a. Issac Lopez, was interviewed by the War Street Journal, which turned its story on Paul into a hit piece on the Ron Paul Revolution as well as the campaign itself.
As Lopez explained it recently:
I got a PM the day after 11/5 from a reporter from the WSJ saying she wanted to talk with me about online campaigning. We connected, and when we spoke, she sounded very sympathetic, like she understood that there was a lot of unfairness in the media with how we are being treated. About halfway through the call, when Huckabee's name came up, she started to get a bit defensive and thus put me on the defense. I then had the feeling that this was going to be a smear peice.
Apparently she thought it was "extreme" for us to be going around and finding contact information for the reporters and public commentators who were out there painting a negative picture about Dr. Paul, and his chances to become president. So she used a post that I made trying to rally the troops to fight the slander to make all Ron Paul supporters look off their rockers.
In any case, I got a call this morning from Fox Business News. They want to have me in studio to discuss (supposedly) the phenomenon of online campaigning. It actually sounds legit, because they have me on opposite of Andrew Saeij of Tech President and PersonalDemocracy.com.
I expect to be going on to talk about the concept of a decentralized campaign and why no other candidate "gets it" when it comes to online campaigning. They assured me that this wasn't going to be a contentious peice, and that the host might play a little devil's advocate, but that I'm not going on to be smeared. So that probably tells me that I should expect to be smeared (cynic that I am).
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:12 PM 0 comments
Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano on his latest pro-liberty book A Nation of Sheep.
Even more, Thomas DiLorenzo tells you why you must read this bestselling, incredible, ground-breaking book.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:02 PM 0 comments
Prominent retired fiction novelist Stephen King tells Time that Jenna Bush should "be waterboarded."
Here's a short snip of his statement on the matter:
Someone in the Bush family should actually be waterboarded so they could report on it to George. I said, I didn't think he would do it, but I suggested Jenna be waterboarded and then she could talk about whether or not she thought it was torture.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:33 PM 1 comments
The Iraqi government wants to buy our military bases and keep there on a permanent basis for their own protection. In return, they would offer promises of favoritism for our investments and the ongoing use of their military facilities.
Wouldn't our government be doing the same thing, to further its protectionistic and mercantile interests? Oh, wait a second! Ooops, it's already doing just that.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:01 PM 0 comments
Thanks to the the members of the U.S. House of Repressors, a bill that, for all intents and purposes, shreds freedom of speech and grants the U.S. federal government more power to see libertarianism or any ideology as an "extreme belief system" has been voted on and passed in the House chamber. The bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate, and there are signs that it will indeed pass as well.
The bill, in a nutshell, declares that anyone who espouses a purist ideology of any kind will be stripped of his U.S. citizenship, tortured, and/or terminated, along with no rights to habeas corpus and the ability to appeal it before the Supreme Court. In essence, anyone with a radical point of view will be considered, in the eyes of the evil state, a "terrorist."
It goes without saying that this is largely directed at libertarians of all stripes, including, but not limited to, the following: paleolibertarians, left-libertarians, right-libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, minarchists, free marketeers, etc.
It is interesting to note that Ron Paul did not show up to vote on the measure, probably because he spent the day to concentrate on his campaign activities. However, it is a certainty that he would have voted NO if he had seen the bill in its entirety.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:41 AM 0 comments
Walmart is being flooded with applicants at every new store.
The article in question states:
As the world's largest private employer, Wal-Mart is used to being greeted by large numbers of applicants almost every time it opens a new store.
But the 6,000-plus people who applied for jobs at the new Supercenter in Cleveland's Steelyard Commons took everyone, even Wal-Mart, by surprise.
'We had to recount [the applications] three times,' said Mia Masten, Wal-Mart's director of corporate affairs, Midwest division.
When thousands of people compete for a few hundred ordinary jobs, trend watchers say it's an indication not only of a less-than-stellar economy but also of a workforce short on marketable skills.
The huge number of applicants wouldn't have caught anyone's eye had these been skilled, high-paying jobs, the types of positions that thousands of people always seek.
But these were regular retail jobs with low-to-average wages and benefits, not the sort of positions typically in high demand. Target wouldn't disclose the number of people who applied to work at its Steelyard Commons store.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:21 AM 0 comments
This awesome New York Times Magazine photograph of Ron Paul says it all: Ron Paul is the best hope for human liberty across the board.
As the old saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:42 AM 0 comments
This video, which was posted on YouTube by the site's prominent Avaroth provides an introspective and highlighting look into Ron Paul's ideas on monetary policy. He even welcomed into the world the newest member of the Ron Paul movement last month while briefly putting his YouTubing on the side.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:12 AM 0 comments
A British woman who was pregnant 10 years ago had aborted her unborn child to help save the environment.
A British woman who had an abortion 10 years ago and was later sterilized did so because she believes pregnancy is bad for the environment, the London Daily Mail reported Sunday.
Toni Vernelli, 35, hopes her actions would ensure her carbon footprint would be kept to a minimum, the Mail reported. The environmental advocate also sees having children as an egotistical act.
'Having children is selfish. It's all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet,' Vernelli told the Mail, adding she believes bringing new life into the world only adds to the problem.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 7:11 AM 0 comments
And don't forget: while you're at it, check out Trevor Lyman, the man behind ThisNovember5th.com, Tea Party '07, and his newest project Ron Paul's Reading List. :)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:10 PM 0 comments
The National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru opines on the recent Washington Post op-ed by Reason's Nick Gillespie and Dave Weigel who praised and lent their solidarity for and support to Ron Paul and libertarianism. In the piece, Ponnuru posits the notion that libertarianism has undergone a radical shift, largely thanks to Ron Paul and his devout supporters.
He's right to note this, considering that libertarianism, as Jacob "Bumper" Hornberger and Murray Rothbard once noted, is a political philosophy. Period, end of story. It is not a political movement, nor it was a cultural or lifestyle one as well. One does not have to be religious or anti-religious to be a part of this movement as well as the Ron Paul campaign. Nor does one have to be pro-bourgeoisie or anti-bourgeoisie to be involved as well.
In other words, people of all faiths, values, ideas, and background are welcome not only to be a part of the Ron Paul Revolution and the campaign, but also to be a part of the libertarian movement. It is a "Big Tent" movement all the way around.
So everyone, come to the Ron Paul Revolution and the campaign and the movement -- Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Wiccans, Druids, Gardnerian Wiccans, Celtic Wiccans, all Christians and Pagans, Unitarians, Buddhists, atheists, Mormons, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Baha'i, agnostics, etc. -- come everyone!
If you're for economic liberty, constitutional government, free enterprise, personal responsibility, peace, tolerance, personal liberty, sound money, you're one of us. No religious test or anti-religious test is required to be a part of this growing grassroots movement.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 7:12 PM 1 comments
Interestingly enough, here's Billary's pro-medical marijuana-esque, Clintonesque rejoinder:
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:23 PM 0 comments
It turns out that Benito Ghouliani can't even draw large crowds at his rallies, given his "Kucinich-sized" one in New Hampshire.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 4:02 PM 0 comments
The Huckster, the top neocon extraordinaire who's as pro-tax and pro-Big Government as they come, is the most prowar extremist who shows more of his true colors on the issues of foreign policy and the Middle East.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 3:13 PM 0 comments
Chumpson blasts the False News Network for sandbagging him. (Of course, this is child's play compared to the potshots taken at Ron Paul by the GOP mouthpieces and talking heads on the vile network.)
(Goddess bless Lew for noting this on the LRC blog.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 2:42 PM 0 comments
Seeing is believing, especially when you see this video. After you're done watching it, you'll see what I mean.
Just so everyone knows, be on the lookout for Ron Paul to appear on this upcoming Wednesday's CNN/YouTube Republican Debate. It's sure to thrust Ron into a higher level of recognition, popularity, and success. Please don't miss it!
(Thanks, Lew, for this.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 2:34 PM 0 comments
The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins, who's an associate editor for the site, takes a swipe at the latest idea employing a blimp to promote Ron Paul.
Mr. Linkins can poke fun at the idea all he wants, but like all other Paul initiatives, it is bound to happen.
Here's an excerpt of his blather:
The Ron Paul campaign is gearing up to escalate its battle to destroy the U.S. Constitution in order to save it and to otherwise bugger our imaginations with rampaging insanity by taking the fight to the skies! Pictured, at right, is the Paulites latest atrocity: an artist's concept of what would be the Ron Paul Blimp! The Dread Zeppelin! La dirigible unintelligible! It will float from town to town, and, if the description the Paul supporter behind this idea is accurate, confuse the minds of men!
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 2:14 PM 0 comments
A Los Angeles Obama grassroots organizer, who founded and ran ObamaLA.com and goes by the name of Marc Whittmore, has now come over to the good side to support Ron Paul.
(Thanks to Thomas Woods for his post on it.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 12:22 PM 0 comments
The never-ending tale continues, as the Medical Industrial Complex and the police state organize to ensure that children are brought into Maryland's Prince George County courthouse like cattle for the purpose of coerced vaccinations.
(Lew threw this story on his blog today.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:05 AM 0 comments
Benito Ghouliani, for all intents and purposes, is at it again. He's going to the mat of slamming Ron Paul again because of his shrinking numbers in New Hampshire, all the while Ron's numbers in the state are skyrocketing by leaps and bounds.
When Ghouliani took his political potshots at Ron in the second GOP debate in South Carolina, I was elated, because it was helping Ron's campaign and shooting Benito in the political foot. I couldn't help but cheer for Paul at the end of the day.
Now the attacks are becoming ugly and pathetic, not to mention on the personal side. We all know that just about anything that comes out of the statist stooge's mouth is untrue, and he'll continue doing that for his own political gain, but it doesn't matter. I'm still cheering it on.
Sooner or later, Benito will find out the truth that the other Neo-Cons have caught on by now: if you smear (or even libel) Ron Paul, it will come back on you. After all, it doesn't undermine Paul's campaign; it undermines yours.
Check out the price that Ghouliani and his shills end up having to pay for their slander of Ron and his devout supporters.
(Thanks to Lew as always.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:19 AM 0 comments
An owner of a Nevada brothel has publicly declared his support for Ron Paul. The interesting thing about it is that he credits his friend MSNBC Tucker host and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson for his interest in the Texan congressman.
Take a gander at an excerpt of the article on this development:
Perhaps nothing better exemplifies the libertarian streak that runs through Nevada than the state's permissive policy on prostitution -- the ultimate expression of the live-and-let-live philosophy.
So, it should be no surprise that the presidential candidate with the purest libertarian bona fides picked up some X-rated support while campaigning in Reno last week.
To be more explicit, Nevada brothel owner Dennis Hof declared his support for Republican contender Ron Paul during Paul's campaign swing through the state.
The odd thing about it, however, is that it came about with the help of television news personality Tucker Carlson.
Carlson, who hosts the show 'Tucker' on MSNBC, is traveling with Paul for a magazine article he is writing.
'Dennis Hof is a good friend of mine, so when we got to Nevada, I decided to call him up and see if he wanted to come check this guy out,' Carlson said.
Paul spokesman Jeff Greenspan said Paul's campaign were surprised to see Carlson emerge from a limousine with Hof and two of his celebrity prostitutes to attend the morning's news conference at Lawlor Events Center.
Following the news conference, Hof said he was so impressed that he wanted to start raising money for Paul.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:09 AM 1 comments
It is terribly disgusting to see how low this diabolical, vile state has to go in order to coerce the incarcerated accused into admitting to a tax evasion charge. This heinous act is in the form of torture and abuse, which is what Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis has alleged against his jailers.
Francis contends that his captors refused to give him blankets and food and had him strapped to a chair for 48 hours during his short stay in the Grady County Law Enforcement Center in Oklahoma. Unsurprisingly, state prison officials are denying the incident in question, claiming that the prison guards never tied him to the chair and denied him food and blankets. They also note that Francis did have an extra blanket in his possession -- one that, according to them, he shouldn't have it in the first place -- and his transfer was delayed because his family discovered the schedule of his move (an act that they claim is a "potential security risk").
Adding insult to injury, a few years ago Francis was arrested in Florida and charged with filming topless underage girls, except that the charge had been found to be bogus. The gals who appeared in the videos apparently lied about their ages (claiming to be 18), and the states' goons tried to go after him on drug trafficking and child pornography charges. They were later thrown out because the judge ruled that the 200 hours of videotaped evidence and other key pieces of evidence didn't "support the allegations."
Of course, Francis and his company Mantra Films were, at one point, being accused of fraud and deceptive marketing practices by falsely advertising to consumers that they were only purchasing a video or DVD and shipped unordered videos and DVDs to their customers without their consent. The federal goons went after him via a court order, mandating that they pay back all the shipping fees "as consumer redress," pay a $500,000 civil pentalty fee, and be barred from a litany of activities addressed in a Justice Department filing on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission. I have no idea if the company actually did this, but the government shouldn't have gone after Mantra Films over the matter. If anything, the consumers could have taken the company to court and demand restitution from the company if they felt Francis snookered them into a deal to which they didn't agree in the first place. Nevertheless, the company was strong armed into agreeing to it, but the move empowered the state to do whatever it wanted, falsely in the name of consumer protection.
The fact that the federal and state goons have total control over our lives and prosecute and convict us on the slightest pretext, as well as charge us with tax evasion, sex offense, and other non-violent crimes, just shows that we are living under a tyrannical, totalitarian, and brutal regime. If it can happen to Joe Francis, it can happen to all and any one of us at any time.
While I personally don't like Joe Francis (the man is an arrogant jerk, not to mention an opportunist), the man has committed no crimes with regards to his tax evasion case. The fact that the state is claiming that he has robbed it of its right to the fruits of his labor that he earned is preposterous. It's the state that has stolen his money from him (as it has done to all of us); it's not the other way around.
The fact that many people opine that he's gotten what he's deserved in prison (in reference to the torture and abuse done to him by his criminal captors) shows that these individuals are sick and see the state as a deity to worship without question.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 6:47 AM 1 comments
....and the people who buy them can't do the math.
(A gracious nod to ACN for its truthful reporting on the hybrid cars that do nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and avert the so-called global warming crisis.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 5:53 AM 0 comments
Here's more on the Real Rudy controversy, with this one video showing the radios that malfunctioned for the firefighters on 9/11, all thanks to Rudy "America's Mayor" Ghouliani.
(Note: some of the actors in the video also appeared in the IAFF video exposing Rudy as a fraud. Some new people who had ties to the NYPD and to the city were also interviewed.)
(Thanks to Jim Ostrowski for making this available for us bloggers.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 3:10 AM 0 comments
Neal Cavuto with Ron Paul Part 1:
Neal Cavuto with Ron Paul Part 2:
The Ron Paul Revolution is certainly affecting Fox News anchor Neal Cavuto. Just tonight Cavuto had Ron Paul on his show talking about his campaign on his Cavuto on Business show. (See videos in two parts above.)
While Cavuto wasn't necessarily supporting Ron and his campaign, he was much nicer to and more positive towards Ron on the air than some of the collectivistic Neo-Con yahoos by which Ron has been interviewed. At the start of the segment, Cavuto congratulates Ron for being listed as GQ Men of the Year in GQ Magazine. Ron said that he didn't know what to make of it, but he said that he was pleased with it.
Cavuto asked Ron some fair questions, right up until Cavuto started to go into it with Ron on foreign policy, the War on Terrorism, and Iraq.
The following exchange went like this:
CAVUTO: What would prompt a President Ron Paul to attack another country?"
RON PAUL: Well, I would never attack another country if they haven't attacked us. 77 percent of the people now agree with me that we ought to come home, and therefore that's a very, very popular position.
CAVUTO: But is there any, any method, sir, to a preemptive strike against someone you know hates you and would probably want to do something to you?
RON PAUL: No, no, I mean, uh..there's
CAVUTO: (interrupts) So you would only react if acted upon?
RON PAUL: Or imminently so. But we never had this in our whole history where somebody was under imminent attack because the president has actually the authority to respond without going to the Congress if you were under attack or if there's an imminent attack.
CAVUTO: So, so on, on World War II, Congressman, would you have intervened then?
RON PAUL: Sure, I mean we were attacked, we went to the...you know, Roosevelt went to the Congress and they had a proper declaration of war. I argue, I argue..
CAVUTO: War included, as you know Congressman, Germany then saying, "We're at war with you now, United States." So it escalated, right?
RON PAUL: And they declared war against us, so...
CAVUTO: And you would react to that and declare war on them.
RON PAUL: Sure, if they declared war against us, this is different - they're going to attack us, you know? Uh, and actually, there was a lot of fighting and sinking of ships even before then.
CAVUTO: Right.
RON PAUL: So, um, no, under the...I'm, I'm as concerned about the process and the rule of law as I am about the issue. They're both very important. But we go to war and we have been going to war since World War II without declarations, and we still have troops in, in Korea, and we lost in Vietnam. And this thing's going to go on for years and years and years. No Republican or Democrat offering a program other than myself of bringing them these troops home very soon and ending this war.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:33 PM 0 comments
A Texan subdivision and its local home owners association have issued a mandate that sex offenders are prohibited from renting or owning homes.
The problem here, of course, is that the subdivision, like it or not, can rightfully prohibit sex offenders from living in the community. It's a private property rights issue, not to mention a case of freedom of association. However, sex offenders have been convicted by the state for mostly non-violent sex crimes (usually with teenage females under the age of 18). While a good handful of them may be pedophiles, the lion's share of them are actually young adult males and older men who made foolish mistakes having sex with female minors, who have been infantilized by the state.
However, it goes without saying that the subdivision is, morally and ethically speaking, in the wrong for discriminating against sex offenders, who have, largely for the most part, made some mistakes. If anything, people who disagree with the subdivision and its discriminatory practice should be free to boycott them at all costs.
(Thanks to Wendy McElroy who, via her Ifeminists.com website, posted this link.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:18 PM 0 comments
It's always so amusing to see the statist morons go at it while human liberty dies at an accelerated death. The latest comes from Chumpson who fires the latest volley of barbs at Ghouliani, saying that Mr. "America's Mayor" himself does not represent New York. Case in point: Chumpson slams the former mayor for consistenly supporting government gun control.
Even though I hesitate at the prospect of posting an excerpt of anything that False News says, I make an exception here because it is a valid story:
BRISTOL, N.H. — Fred Thompson said Friday while visiting a New Hampshire gun store that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani should stop bringing up the Big Apple on the campaign trail and criticized him for consistently supporting gun control legislation.
Thompson's popularity in early-voting New Hampshire has sunk rapidly in recent weeks, but his visit to Skip's Gun and Sport Shop to trumpet second-amendment rights could be geared toward libertarian-leaning primary voters in the state.
And the usually laid-back Thompson aimed his tough talk straight at the Republican frontrunner.
'(Giuliani) simply supported just about every gun control legislation that came down the pike. And I just disagree with him on that.... over the years and he's been very outspoken about it. Of course he's not outspoken about it anymore,' Thompson told reporters with a smile. 'It's a major differentiation. He relates everything to New York City ... Well, New York City is not emblematic of the rest of the country.
'And the sentiments of those people in the rest of the country are in support of the second amendment. This is where I've always been ... and I don't think he's ever been,' he said.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 11:01 PM 1 comments
A Liberty Dollar and Ron Paul supporter posits a reason for the state's goons' recent raid on Liberty Services Inc.'s own Liberty Dollar in the op-ed section of the Lodi-News Sentinel. Why did the federal goons go after the company, he inquires? Because of two words: Ron Paul.
Here's a very small excerpt of the op-ed in question:
What is the reason for the raid by the FBI if the company had been operating lawfully for nearly 10 years?
Earlier this year the company began minting two new coins, the 2008 'Peace Dollar' with the words "STOP THE WAR" on the reverse side and the 2008 coin commemorating the presidential campaign of Ron Paul. The Feds just have to stop Representative Ron Paul somehow, since he is the only presidential candidate who is pro-liberty.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:24 PM 0 comments
Fire fighters in many major metropolitan cities are being recruited by the Empire to spy on their neighbors. The worst part of this is this: they don't even need a search warrant for their activities.
Here's the entire Yahoo article on this:
By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 23, 5:18 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people's privacy.
Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don't need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning.
But there are fears that they could lose the faith of a skeptical public by becoming the eyes of the government, looking for suspicious items such as building blueprints or bomb-making manuals or materials.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Americans have given up some of their privacy rights in an effort to prevent future strikes. The government monitors phone calls and e-mails; people who fly have their belongings searched before boarding and are limited in what they can carry; and some people have trouble traveling because their names are similar to those on terrorist watch lists.
The American Civil Liberties Union says using firefighters to gather intelligence is another step in that direction. Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now national security policy counsel to the ACLU, said the concept is dangerously close to the Bush administration's 2002 proposal to have workers with access to private homes — such as postal carriers and telephone repairmen — report suspicious behavior to the FBI.
'Americans universally abhorred that idea,' German said.
The Homeland Security Department is testing a program with the New York City fire department to share intelligence information so firefighters are better prepared when they respond to emergency calls. Homeland Security also trains the New York City fire service in how to identify material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities. If it's successful, the government intends to expand the program to other major metropolitan areas.
As part of the program, which started last December, Homeland Security gave secret clearances to nine New York fire chiefs, according to reports obtained by The Associated Press.
'They're really doing technical inspections, and if perchance they find something like, you know, a bunch of RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rounds in somebody's basement, I think it's a no-brainer,' said Jack Tomarchio, a senior official in Homeland Security's intelligence division. 'The police ought to know about that; the fire service ought to know about that; and potentially maybe somebody in the intelligence community should know about that.'
Even before the federal program began, New York firefighters and inspectors had been training to recognize materials and behavior the government identifies as 'signs of planning and support for terrorism.'
When going to private residences, for example, they are told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States; unusual chemicals or other materials that seem out of place; ammunition, firearms or weapons boxes; surveillance equipment; still and video cameras; night-vision goggles; maps, photos, blueprints; police manuals, training manuals, flight manuals; and little or no furniture other than a bed or mattress.
The trial program with Homeland Security opens a clear information-sharing channel — which did not exist before — between the fire service and Homeland Security's intelligence division.
'We're there to help people, and by discovering these type of events, we're helping people,' said New York City Fire Chief Salvatore Cassano. 'There are many things that firefighters do that other law enforcement or other agents aren't able to do.' He added, 'A normal person that doesn't have this training wouldn't be looking for it.'
Cassano would not discuss specifics, but he did say that some terrorism-related information has been passed along to law enforcement since firefighters and officers began the training three years ago. 'They've had some hits,' Cassano said. 'It's working.'
Separately, the fire services in Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Atlanta have also been receiving terrorism-related intelligence training. Los Angeles County provides intelligence training so firefighters and inspectors can spot dangerous chemicals or other materials that could be used in bombs. And the fire service is also represented in at least 13 state and regional intelligence "fusion" centers across the country — where local, state and federal agencies share information about terrorism and other crimes.
In Washington, the fire service made its first foray into the intelligence world about two years ago, and now D.C. Fire/EMS has access to the same terrorism-related intelligence as the police, said Larry Schultz, an assistant fire chief in charge of operations.
D.C. firefighters and EMS providers are in 170,000 homes and businesses each year on routine calls, Schultz said.
'So we see things and observe things that may be useful to law enforcement,' he said. 'We can walk into your house. We don't need a search warrant.' If an ambulance team shows up at a house and sees detailed maps of the District's public transit system on the wall, that's something the EMS provider would pass along, he said.
'It's the evolution of the fire service,' said Bob Khan, the fire chief in Phoenix, which has created an information-sharing arrangement between the fire service and law enforcement through terrorism liaison officers.
Because firefighters are on the front lines, the fire service needs to know about intelligence that could somehow affect what they do, said Gregory Cade, who as head of the U.S. Fire Administration is the nation's top fire chief.
If, for example, Washington is hosting an International Monetary Fund meeting where there will be a large group of protesters and a truckload of gasoline has been stolen in Baltimore, firefighters need to know about intelligence from overseas that terrorists are trying to make explosive devices out of gasoline, Schultz said.
'Getting appropriate, actionable intelligence is important for a fire chief in deciding what to do and how to allocate resources and to know what's going on,' Cade said. "No one is expecting us to be the analyst person who is sitting down, trying to connect all of this stuff together and determining, 'Oh, yes, this looks like a terrorist plot.' '
But Cade said that until recently, there's been no mechanism for fire departments to share what they learn with law enforcement and intelligence analysts who could use it.
'If in the conduct of doing their jobs they come across evidence of a crime, of course they should report that to the police,' said the ACLU's German. 'But you don't want them being intelligence agents.'
It's of particular concern for communities already under law enforcement scrutiny. 'Do we want them to fear the fire department as well as the police?' German asked.
The Detroit metropolitan area, which has one of the largest concentrations of Arab Americans in the country, does not conduct this type of intelligence training, nor does it plan to. 'That's a touchy area,' said Detroit's deputy fire commissioner, Seth Doyle. Detroit firefighters do receive training about hazardous materials, but not the details that New York and D.C. firefighters are now on the lookout for.
A structural diagram of the Ambassador Bridge, which links Detroit to Canada, materials and literature to make a bomb and a bomb prototype are things firefighters should pay attention to, Doyle said. But the bridge diagram by itself might not be enough. 'I don't want our folks to be put in a position where they're reporting something that creates a situation where there was really no real problem in the first place,' Doyle said.
Jeff Zack, a spokesman for the International Association of Fire Fighters, said the union does not know enough about the training programs to say whether it's a good idea for the country, but the union is concerned that the training be done properly and that this new development does not take away people's rights.
Advocates of the fire service's intelligence role say privacy will not be violated. Homeland Security said if its program with New York is expanded across the country, civil rights and civil liberties training would be included.
___
On the Net:
American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org
Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov
U.S. Fire Administration: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov
International Association of Fire Fighters: http://www.iaff.org
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 10:11 PM 1 comments
A Santa was placed under arrested and accosted by the state's goon squad at a Circuit City store. What is the state's vile charge against him? He was "disturbing the peace."
AUGUSTA, Ga. - 'Let Santa go! Let Santa go,' That's what Circuit City shoppers at the Augusta Exchange were chanting when a local pastor, dressed as Santa Clause, was asked to leave.
Circuit City employees told their District manager, Kim Cavros, that customers in line complained to them, saying Santa was 'disturbing the peace.'
'There was a Santa Clause preaching the gospel out on the corner of the building,' said Cavros.
Wayne Adams was one of the shoppers who saw the guy dressed as Santa,'He never promoted his church...never promoted anything just the nice Christmas season.'
Whether Santa was preaching the gospel or promoting the Christmas season, Richmond County deputies were called and Santa was escorted off Circuit City property.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:58 PM 0 comments
An independent migrant rescues a boy and his mother in the Arizona desert.
Here's what the entire Yahoo! News article reports:
By TERRY TANG, Associated Press writer Fri Nov 23, 7:51 PM ET
PHOENIX - A 9-year-old boy looking for help after his mother crashed their van in the southern Arizona desert was rescued by a man entering the U.S. illegally, who stayed with him until help arrived the next day, an official said.
The 45-year-old woman, who eventually died while awaiting help, had been driving on a U.S. Forest Service road in a remote area just north of the Mexican border when she lost control of her van on a curve on Thanksgiving, Sheriff Tony Estrada said.
The van vaulted into a canyon and landed 300 feet from the road, he said. The woman, from Rimrock, north of Phoenix, survived the impact but was pinned inside, Estrada said.
Her son, unhurt but disoriented, crawled out to get help and was found about two hours later by Jesus Manuel Cordova, 26, of Magdalena de Kino in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. Unable to pull the mother out, he comforted the boy while they waited for help.
The woman died a short time later.
'He stayed with him, told him that everything was going to be all right,' Estrada said.
As temperatures dropped, he gave him a jacket, built a bonfire and stayed with him until about 8 a.m. Friday, when hunters passed by and called authorities, Estrada said. The boy was flown to University Medical Center in Tucson as a precaution but appeared unhurt.
Cordova was taken into custody by Border Patrol agents, who were the first to respond to the call for help. He had been trying to walk into the U.S. when he came across the boy.
The boy and his mother were in the area camping, Estrada said. The woman's husband, the boy's father, had died only two months ago. The names of the woman and her son were not being released until relatives were notified.
Cordova likely saved the boy, Estrada said, and his actions should remind people not to quickly characterize illegal immigrants as criminals.
'They do get demonized for a lot of reasons, and they do a lot of good. Obviously this is one example of what an individual can do,' he said.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:47 PM 0 comments
20,000 troops with serious brain injuries and who require lifetime care are deliberately unlisted by the Pentagon. This is the work of the pro-war collectivists who should donate their personal assets to this action.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:27 PM 0 comments
"No army can stop an idea whose time has come."
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 3:16 PM 0 comments
Bloomberg TV's Al Hunt sits down with Ron Paul on his presidential campaign plans, his fundraising activities, the next scheduled "money bomb," war and peace, spending, the federal deficit, taxes, abortion, and neoconservatives and all other cronies in the political arena.
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 3:08 PM 0 comments
Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of Democratic presidential runner Dennis Kucinich, says that her husband would absolutely consider running on a presidential-vice presidential ticket with Ron Paul. She even goes so far as to say that she has studied monetary policy and is coming onto his side on that issue.
The only troubling aspect of her interview is that she has come out in favor of re-opening the 9/11 investigation. While, as she correctly points out, there are still some unanswered questions about what happened on that day and a healthy dose of skepticism of the government's official story on that entire incident is warranted, it kinda, sorta gives credence to the 9/11 Truthers' claims that the attacks were carried out under the orders of the Bush regime and the destruction of Building 7 of the World Trade Towers was a controlled demolition. Of course, these charges are bogus, because there is no hard evidence that would officially transform their conspiracy theories into facts.
(Thanks to Lew for the link to the interview.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 2:43 PM 0 comments
This latest excerpt of The Real Rudy documentary furnishes a stark, unfavorable portrait of Ghouliani's service as mayor of New York City on 9/11. Some of the people involved in the rescue efforts on that fateful day who appeared in this video are the same people who appeared in the International Association of Fire Fighters video which exposed Mr. "America's Mayor" as a fraud on that day.
(Kudos to Lew for this great video on his blog.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 2:22 PM 0 comments
In the wonderful county of Volusia in Florida, you will need to be careful if you're carrying more than a couple hundred dollars in cash. When pulled over on I-95 even for a minor offense, Volusia County police are routinely asking drivers how much money they are carrying. What this has to do with speeding or a broken taillight I couldn't tell you. Apparently this is "suspicious behavior."
Under current law, suspicion is all they need to confiscate your property including valuables such as jewelry or even your car. Wow! Now even the police are car-jacking! I'm so proud of our boys in blue! Police car confiscation squads now operate in Louisiana, New Jersey, Alabama, Arizona, California, Texas, and many other states.
If you are pulled over and asked how much money you're carrying, I encourage you to say to the officer (if the cop is male), "I'll tell you if you let me know just how small your penis is!" Okay, that would be a really bad idea but you get my point.
This also old news (back in 1993)but worth mentioning again.
Posted by Silent Vampyre at 10:50 AM 1 comments
There seems to be an increase of police just taking a camera from someone because, well because nobody is doing anything to protect our rights. I'm just going to give a couple links because they are very self-explanatory.
Here's one in New York.
http://infowars.net/articles/december2006/181206Camera.htm
VA Police
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/19/3952/
Web cam is "espionage?" Way to go Ghouliani staff
http://jonesreport.com/articles/050607_reporter_arrested_giuliani_orders.html
Anyway, some of them are old news but google it. it's starting to be a trend i think.
One more step in our loss of freedom.
Posted by Silent Vampyre at 10:22 AM 0 comments
Reason's Nick Gilespie and Dave Weigel wrote an outstanding Washington Post piece expressing their ardent solidarity and support for Ron Paul and libertarianism. It was a positive one, and, unlike the sneering attacks from a few "libertarian" bloggers in recent days, it provided an optimistic glimpse of the Ron Paul campaign and where libertarianism lies in the future.
I, like Max Raskin of LewRockwell.com's blog, take issue with their portrayal of Guy Fawkes, who was, by no means, an "anarchist." Seriously, he was a de facto British revolutionary who, with his fellow rebels, conspired to blow up a diabolical totalitarian regime -- a.k.a. England's Parliament -- and attempted to revive Catholicism in England. He and his fellow conspirators wanted to remove the Protestants from power by plotting to kill King James I. What Gillespie and Weigel also fail to note that he fought on behalf of the Spanish Hapburgs and adopted the name Guido (which is what he used to sign after being tortured just prior to his death).
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:30 AM 0 comments
The War...ahem....Wall Street Journal goes out of its way to sandbag Ron Paul supporters in its online edition today. Amy Schatz, the young journalist who penned this piece, has no doubt shot herself in the journalistic foot.
Ms. Shatz, I realize that you need the job, and you probably think that you're never in the wrong, but come on now! You need a reality check for once.
Most people don't seem to understand that political candidates, for the most part, are judged primarily on their platform and record. Ron Paul is obviously no exception to the rule. However, the difference between him and the other top-tiered candidates (like Ghouliani, the Huckster, Chumpson, etc.) is that he has an unimpeachable and unquestionable Jeffersonian record. Can one say the same about the other contenders in the race?
(A thankful nod to James Ostrowski for his mention of this on LRC.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 8:14 AM 0 comments
Police cars are starting not only to look more aggressive than ever, but they're also becoming that way more than ever. Chrysler's new Charger is one of the latest of many new cars that is sporting a more-aggressive, bland, boxy look. This latest line-up of the series is challenging Ford for its police clientèle, which happens to be depending on the automaker to produce gaudier, boxier, and more threatening vehicles than the previous incarnations of police cars that have been issued by every police department in the country.
This latest bit of news, conflated with the disturbing reports of totalitarian cops becoming far more abusive with their authority to the public and the exploding rise in police taser ruckuses, underscore a gravely disturbing trend in the law enforcement industry: the more military-esque and more menacing the police goon mobiles, the better.
The squad cars I have seen on the roads these days are more intimidating than ever. Most police departments, and I have noticed this personally, no longer want Crown Victorias or the old-hat, tacky, fuddy-duddy-looking, Elvis-looking mobiles that are still in use in many, if not most, precincts. They want the latest, colorful cars that appear bulky and "muscular" in nature. These toys are becoming more and more popular with police departments everywhere one goes.
As a matter of fact, in southeastern Michigan (which is where I reside), the law enforcement bureaucrats -- and the police precincts -- are employing taxpayer money to spend an enormous fortune on crap like flashy paint jobs and tacky decals, all of which have nothing to do with the police officers' supposed mission "to serve and protect." Furthermore, these precincts engage in completely useless competitions with one another, just to see which department has the best-looking graphics, as if all of that stuff really amounts to anything of value at the end of the day. Then they compete with the above-mentioned older vehicles by showcasing these new tougher cars. Truth be told, this is all for show, as it signifies power, coercion, and authoritarian intentions on their part.
The sad reality is that taxpayers unfortunately stand idly by and allow this collectivistic nonsense to happen. They don't even dare question these atrocities at all. In their minds' eye, where's the incentive to question them? That's exactly how they think. And while they're looking the other way, the police continue with their government-worshipping harassment escapades without so much of a protest from the acquiescing populace.
(Thanks to Karen DeCoster for her cross-posted blog on this matter on LRC and her own blog on her website.)
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 6:06 AM 1 comments
While my mother, my father, and I were in their old '95 Ford Explorer heading out to my brother's house for dinner on Thanksgiving Day, my mother mentioned to me and my dad that she had seen on the news on TV about the experts on the networks (Clinton News Network, False News, etc.) who were "asking" the American people to "be sure to eat responsibly." I rolled my eyes, thinking that this is nothing more than Nanny State talking coming from the establishment talking heads who have nothing better to do than to nag people about their eating habits on Turkey Day.
When we got to my brother's house, my mother mentioned it to my brother, who (he's sort of a libertarian Republican) responded, "That's the government telling you that they know what's best for you." Then he said that they first started doing it to people by passing these drinking laws, then these seat belt laws in the state, etc. Now, he said, they want to tell you what you can and cannot eat.
My brother is right. The government has gotten out of control. My mother, who is a big defender of the state, will support anything the state does. However, imagine her change in attitude if the state came after her. Then she'll realize that I was right about the state all along.
Remember, these are the same knuckleheads who have, many times in the past, told us to "drink responsibly." What's next? "Breathe responsibly"? "Walk responsibly"? "Sit responsibly"?
Posted by Todd Andrew Barnett at 9:42 PM 1 comments