<div> </div>
<div>Paul et. al.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Ron Paul's recent Spokane appearance and speech was on C-span last night. I watched the whole event.</div>
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<div>Though I think some of Paul's economic theory is highly questionable, and compared to him, I'm probably a flaming socialist on the issue of how far government should help people or interfere in the economy (like on alternative energy development to address climate change), in point after point I found myself agreeing with him. He is a "strict constitutionalist," so to my mind he is a bit of an ideologue. But he states what he really thinks, and does not pander to polls or political correctness. I have heard about his alleged racism and/or sexism, but have not investigated these claims. Barack Obama is a Muslim, haven't you heard? Give me a break!</div>
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<div>He is one of the few presidential candidates that has called the Bush administration WMD hype before the Iraq invasion, "lies," as he did in Spokane. He mentioned the drain on the American taxpayers of the global US military presence, how the Japanese and the Germans enjoy a huge financial boost off the money our military presence pumps into their economies, money that should be spent on the US economy and to benefit US taxpayers. He was emphatic opposing the attacks on our civil rights; the suspension of habeas corpus, the legal definition of "combatants" that allows the government to hold a suspect indefinitely with no trial, the suspension of the fourth amendment with "sneak and peak" searches with no court orders or requirement to inform anyone, and the shocking defense of torture as a legal procedure.</div>
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<div>He made parallels between the nation building and global empire ambitions involved when comparing the Vietnam War to the Iraq War, declaring both wars to be unwise, wasteful and fundamentally against the intentions of the so called "founding fathers" who wrote the US Constitution.</div>
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<div>He appeals to the growing conservative wing of the anti-globalization movement, which is interesting given the mix of US nationalism, patriotism, and libertarianism, with an approach to economics that some would call "left wing," when it is assumed the anti NAFTA, anti WTO, etc. groups are often labeled as on the left. Free global trade is a capitalist "conservative" agenda, right? But not when it is undermining US sovereignty, with a program to allow the flow of cheap illegal immigrant labor taking jobs away from Americans and lowing wages, out sourcing jobs to foreign nations, coupled with the expanding merger of the US and Mexico with the planned NAFTA super highway, and the discussion of adopting a new currency, like the Euro in Europe, to replace the Dollar, called the "Amero." </div>
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<div>Article on NAFTA Superhighway:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/hayes">http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/hayes</a></div>
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<div>Discussion of the suggested new "Amero" currency:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.amerocurrency.com/">http://www.amerocurrency.com/</a></div>
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<div>These two media outlets, with large radio audiences, support Ron Paul, and represent the "conservative" but anti-globalization movement in the USA. Both represent what could also be described as a "conservative" but very anti-Bush administration trend:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.thepowerhour.com/index.html">http://www.thepowerhour.com/index.html</a></div>
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<div><a href="http://www.infowars.com/">http://www.infowars.com/</a></div>
<div>--------------</div>
<div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div>
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<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/3/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Tom Hansen</b> <<a href="mailto:idahotom@hotmail.com">idahotom@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<div>Paul Rumelhart inquires:<span class="q"><br> <br>"Did Ron Paul piss on your puppy or something?"<br> <br></span>No. I'm simply emphasizing the obvious, that Ron Paul is the . . .<br> <br>"Nowhere Man"<br>
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/songs/Nowhere_Man.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.tomandrodna.com/songs/Nowhere_Man.mp3</a><br> <br>"He's a real nowhere Man,<br>
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,<br>Making all his nowhere plans<br>for nobody."<br><br> <br>Tom Hansen<br> </div><br></blockquote></div>