I hooked up with a MeetUp.org group tonight and we stood at a very busy intersection and held up signs and handed out fact sheets on Ron Paul. It was so much fun, and we got a lot of positive feedback from drivers. There were about 20 of us in all, and everyone was very enthusiastic. Great fun. I held a "Who Is Ron Paul?" sign, and got a lot of people stopped at the red-lights asking me for more information. Of course, we got cursed by a few drivers, but most people were very nice.

Activities like this are what will make it possible for Ron to win in 2008, so go out and try to do the same thing in your town!

GREAT YouTube video about the lies that the administration told to sell the invasion of Iraq to the American people. It compiles multiple media appearances from before the invasion and juxtaposes them with post-invasion videos to vividly illustrate the outrageousness of the prevarications used to justify invading Iraq. Lies, lies, and more lies.

DailyKos may be a "liberal" website, but it sometimes has some great content, like this article discussing the parallels between the fall of the USSR and the current state of the US. Although the differences between the US and the former Soviet Union are vast, some aspects are similar enough to lend credibility to the analysis.

Some excerpts-

"...(Todd's) economic and historical analysis seems trenchant, and he predicts that in the relatively near term America's financial indiscipline and runaway consumption habits will result in a crash leading to a necessary 15 to 20 percent reduction in American living standards. Todd reasons that the U.S., despite its military prowess, simply lacks the power to enforce its hegemony everywhere it wishes and that its increasingly fragile, debt-dependent economy cannot sustain for long such an overreaching imperial policy.

Todd describes the U.S. as a "superpower living hand to mouth," led by a ruling class "even more rudderless and clueless than its European counterparts," and incapable of achieving its global aims through repeated applications of "theatrical micromilitarism." Todd argues that the disintegration of American hegemony already is in full swing, and he predicts that the Bush American Administration and its neocon theorists "will go down in history as the gravediggers of the American empire."

...

"The more the U.S. seeks to assert its will through diktat and unilateral military force, the more it ensures that the other major players will find it increasingly in their best interests to collaborate more closely with one another to deflect and frustrate the American imperium."

...

"The collapse of the American Empire is not over the horizon--an event lurking around a distant corner a few decades down the road. We are already in the very midst of it. It is like a staged train wreck unfolding frame-by-frame as we reflect in head-shaking disbelief on each day's news and on each new blunder by the Bush Administration.

Can the U.S. navigate its way to become a post-imperial, normal country--working responsibly as one great power among several rather than quixotically striving to be the sole global hegemon? Can it do so while avoiding further military disasters and a debilitating financial and economic collapse?

Or will the decline be precipitous and disorderly, accelerated by corrupt, clueless, inept, and rigid leadership, as was the Soviet Empire's collapse?"

Here's a great piece on our man from "The Bulletin" in Philadelphia.

Some excerpts-

"Despite the fact that Paul's campaign has shown more momentum than any other second-tier - or even first-tier - candidate, the media continues to treat Paul as the Ross Perot of 2008. Paul has more money on hand than McCain, more charisma than Giuliani, is more genuine than Romney and has a stronger vision than Mike Huckabee, yet his campaign, as well as his message, is regulated to the back of the bus.

Paul is not of Wall Street, but Main Street. The Texas congressman is a champion of the individual, not the ivory tower, and he believes in abolishing the IRS, the Department of Education and the CIA. He argues that government is too bloated and is ready to introduce it to Jenny Craig and Kirstie Alley.

Paul is also an advocate for life - all life. Paul, however, is different than the other pro-life candidates with whom he shared the stage last Wednesday, for his definition of the right to life is all-inclusive."

It concludes with this-

"When Paul won Fox's text messaging poll asking who was victorious in Wednesday's debate, Hannity quipped, "He's having all those 3 percent of people call in." Now that's professionalism. It is clear that Paul is not of this political world, and because of that he will be hated by those he threatens to dethrone. It is up to the grassroots to cut through this campaign of misinformation and finally take the mainstream media, and the country club GOP mindset, to the woodshed."

I sent this email to everyone in my address book yesterday, from an article by Johnny Kramer off of LewRockwell.com. Copy and paste it and do the same-

I admit it, I cried as I read this. Dare to dream, people! If Ron Paul
becomes the next president, the world will celebrate, and the future will be
much brighter!!!

Ron Paul's Inaugural Address, by Johnny Kramer.

Johnny Kramer wonders what it might look like.

The Ron Paul campaign has excited libertarians, but many people wonder what
he could accomplish as president, facing a contrary Congress. While some of
this is speculation and it's not my intention to put words in Dr. Paul's
mouth, his inaugural address might sound something like this:

January 20, 2009

"My fellow citizens:

"On November 4th of last year, you, the American people, overwhelmingly
rejected the erosion of liberty that has occurred in this country during the
20th Century and into the 21st.

"You rejected having your money stolen through taxes and the inflationary
fiat money of the government's central bank.

"You rejected deficit spending.

"You rejected corporatism – the suppression of competition by government, at
the behest of politically-connected businesses and at the expense of their
competitors and of you, the consumer, under the guise of 'consumer
protection;' forced cartelization of industry; and of businesses profiting
through the theft of being financed by tax dollars.

"You rejected government healthcare.

"You rejected nation-building and wars of foreign aggression.

"You rejected the erosion of your civil liberties under the guise of
fighting 'terrorism.'

"I know this because I promised, backed by a 30-year record of honesty and
integrity, to do my best to put a stop to all of these things, and more, if
you elected me to serve as your president. You had a choice to make that
day: My agenda or the status quo. You chose my agenda. I humbly thank you,
and I hope to repay your confidence during the next four years.

The Budget

"Last year, the federal government spent $3 trillion, which is more money
than it spent from 1787 to 1900 combined, in 2007 dollars.

"In 1963, John F. Kennedy was concerned when the budget hit $99 billion,
because he didn't want to be the first president with a $100 billion budget.

"In 1980, when Ronald Regan promised to get government off of our backs, the
federal budget was $500 billion.

"In 1990, just half a generation later, the federal budget had more than
doubled, to more than $1 trillion.

"In 1995, when the Republicans took control of Congress, the federal budget
was $1.5 trillion.

"In 2000, leading into the previous administration, the budget was $1.8
trillion.

"The budget last year was $3 trillion.

"In short, the budget has doubled in just 13 years. It's six times what it
was in 1980, and 20 times what it was in 1960.

"What happened in 1995, 1990, 1960, or even 1900, with a much smaller
government? The sky didn't fall, California didn't break off into the ocean,
and people weren't starving in the streets.

"There's no question that our standard of living today is much higher than
in previous years, but that's in spite of government spending and
regulation, not because of it.

"Today, thanks to the degree of capitalism, liberty and property rights that
remain in this country, the poor literally have a higher standard of living
than the richest person in the world did less than 150 years ago. Consider
that the wealthiest of the wealthy in the 19th Century didn't have indoor
plumbing, electricity, central heating or air-conditioning, or life-saving
antibiotics and other life-saving medical technologies of 2009, much less
cars, airplanes, computers, televisions, telephones, cell phones, and on and
on.

"Where did these things come from? Who makes life better for you: The
private sector, or government?

"The standard of living we would enjoy without government boggles the mind.

"In contrast, what is the federal government giving us for our $3 trillion a
year? It steals our money, through taxation and inflation, as the price of
earning a living and attempting to save some of it. It tells us what we can
buy and what we can sell, whom we can hire and whom we can fire, and with
whom we can associate and with whom we cannot, as well as other impediments
to the peaceful, voluntary interaction that makes civilization possible. It
runs up the prices of the goods we buy and holds down the wages we earn. It
keeps life-saving medicines and other products from us under the guise of
'consumer protection.' And that's just for starters; I don't have time today
to even begin detailing the ways in which government abuses us.

Budget Breakdown

"On what does the federal government spend the $3 trillion it extracts from
the economy yearly?

"In 2007, the budget broke down as follows:

* $699 billion (+4.0%) - Defense
* $586.1 billion (+7.0%) - Social Security
* $394.5 billion (+12.4%) - Medicare
* $367.0 billion (+2.0%) - Unemployment and welfare
* $276.4 billion (+2.9%) - Medicaid and other health related
* $243.7 billion (+13.4%) - Interest on debt
* $89.9 billion (+1.3%) - Education and training
* $76.9 billion (+8.1%) - Transportation
* $72.6 billion (+5.8%) - Veterans' benefits
* $43.5 billion (+9.2%) - Administration of justice
* $33.1 billion (+5.7%) - Natural resources and environment
* $32.5 billion (+15.4%) - Foreign affairs
* $27.0 billion (+3.7%) - Agriculture
* $26.8 billion (+28.7%) - Community and regional development
* $25.0 billion (+4.0%) - Science and technology
* $20.1 billion (+11.4%) - General government
* $1.1 billion (+47.6%) - Energy

"And all of these figures represent increases over the previous year's
budget." (Figures in parentheses show increase.)

"The income tax accounts for $1.1 trillion, which means if it were repealed,
the federal government would still be roughly the size it was in 2000, just
nine years ago,

"The interest in the debt accounts for roughly 8% of the budget, so that
could be eliminated with a balanced budget.

"Within 30 days, I will send Congress a budget for the new fiscal year that
cuts federal spending by 50% immediately, repeals the income tax and
replaces it with nothing, and requires that the budget be balanced. I'll let
them figure out what to cut; most of this spending is blatantly
unconstitutional and destructive to the average person's standard of living
anyway, so overall I'm unconcerned with where the cuts will come from.

"If the budget they send back is one penny more, I will veto it.

"If they override my veto an enact their budget, then the battle will
finally be joined and you will know exactly where your Senator or
Representative stands on the issue of your liberty, and you can vote
accordingly in the future.

"If at least one-third of one house stands up for liberty, we will reach an
impasse and most of the government will be shut down. That will put no
pressure on me, as I'm trying to shut most of it down – permanently. I will
hold out for as long as it takes for them to pass my budget – not their
budget.

Vetoes

"Today I will begin a policy of automatically vetoing any bill which allows
the federal government to do anything not authorized by the constitution.

"As a former Congressman, I know that Congresspersons and Senators often
vote for bills which they haven't read. I also know that bills are typically
thousands of pages long; they receive votes based on their virtuous-sounding
titles, which usually have nothing to do with the contents of the bill,
which is usually full of pork and hidden tyrannical authorizations.

"Based on this, I will also automatically veto any bill if I'm not convinced
that every Congressperson and Senator has read it and knows what's in it, or
if it's too long for me to read in one hour.

The Military

"I urge Congress to make the military budget a large percentage of the cuts,
as it's the cost of empire and policing the world and is bankrupting us.

"Toward that end, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, today I will
order the complete, immediate removal of all U.S. troops from foreign soil.

"I sincerely hope that another budget cut Congress chooses to make will be
the complete repeal of all foreign aid, which accomplishes little but to
prop up thugs, dictators and brutal, oppressive regimes.

"And, freed from the income tax, individual Americans will have the
resources to send money to causes they support; if they wish to send their
money to suffering foreigners, that's their business. But it has a much
better chance of doing good, rather than evil, traveling through private
channels.

"I want the United States to adopt a position of armed neutrality, able to
defend herself, but aggressor against none; friend and trading partner with
all. We are probably the most geographically-blessed nation on earth, with
thousands of miles of ocean to the east and west, and friendly neighbors to
the north and south. Why must we police the world?

"Beginning today, the U.S. armed forces will exist to maintain a border and
shore patrol to repel an incoming military invasion and to maintain a
missile defense, once one is developed.

"Regarding a missile defense, anyone who understands economics knows that
the best way to accomplish something is through the profit motive, while the
worst way is through a government bureaucracy. To that end, today I am
offering a $100 billion reward to the first private company that can produce
a working missile defense.

Osama bin Laden

"On September 11, 2001, the United States was hit with a brutal, devastating
terrorist attack. While I sincerely believe that the attack was blowback for
50 years of U.S. government meddling in the Middle East, it was still a
despicable, unacceptable criminal act.

"A criminal act – not an act of war. To respond by killing innocent
civilians in Afghanistan and elsewhere is no better than the terrorists
responding to U.S. foreign policy by killing innocent Americans.

"It is widely believed that former U.S. ally Osama bin Laden was responsible
for 9/11. Yet in over seven years since the attack, he has been neither
caught nor punished, largely because our government was too busy
nation-building and policing the world.

"I will be reviewing the evidence for bin Laden's guilt with my Attorney
General and his staff. If they agree that the evidence is strong enough to
get an indictment in a normal criminal proceeding, and if the networks and
cable news outlets will be so kind as to give me some time, I will go on
television, lay the evidence out before the world, and offer a ransom for
anyone who can deliver bin Laden, and any accomplices the evidence indicts,
alive to U.S. custody. If you kill any of them, you won't get a dime; we
don't execute people without trials here.

"If they are captured, they will receive fair public trials, with all of the
habeas corpus and other rights that would be afforded to any American
citizen. I want America to be an example to the world at all times, even
trying times such as these.

The War on Terror

"Regarding the overall War on Terror: Terrorism is a tactic, an abstraction;
you can't have a war against an abstraction. Terrorism is not a person who
can surrender, or an organization or nation-state with a leader who can
surrender. The concept is inherently nonsense.

"And the evidence is overwhelming that America's aggressive, proactive War
on Terror has significantly increased, not decreased, terrorism.

"There's no way that the government, or anyone else, can possibly anticipate
every possible place and every possible way that a terrorist could strike,
especially in a country this size. If it's going to happen, it's going to
happen; foil one plot, and the terrorists will just hatch another. It was
the government that failed to protect us on 9/11; why should we look to them
now? The best defense against terrorism is armed neutrality and not giving
anyone a reason to hate, fear or want to attack us.

"Yet the government constantly tells us that we must trade our civil
liberties for safety. As Benjamin Franklin said, "He who sacrifices freedom
for security deserves neither." As president, I will immediately begin
pressuring Congress to repeal all so-called anti-terrorism measures enacted
since 9/11 that infringe on civil liberties, including the Patriot Act and
the Real I.D. Act.

Vices

"An issue of great concern for many Americans today is vices, such as
illicit drugs.

"The constitution gives the federal government no jurisdiction over vices.
Yet the federal government continually wastes billions of dollars, and
destroys thousands and thousands of lives, trying to stop peaceful,
voluntary activities.

"A government is not the arbiter of morality; it's nothing but a group of
people who grant themselves a legal monopoly on the use of force within a
certain area. Governments routinely engage in behavior that would be
universally regarded as criminal in the private sector.

"Liberty is the condition of being legally free to do as you choose, so long
as you're not forcibly intruding on anyone else's body or property.

"Naturally, a great deal of peaceful, voluntary behavior that falls within
the guidelines of liberty is personally destructive. But, if it should be
illegal to buy, sell or ingest certain drugs, for example, why shouldn't it
be illegal to smoke, drink too much, eat a bad diet, go into too much debt,
marry the wrong person, not get an education, or choose a career for which
one is ill-suited? If personal harm is the standard for illegality, we
should all be in prison.

"It may shock many to hear, but 100 years ago, there were no drug laws in
this country, not even prescription laws, and a 10-year-old child could walk
into a drug store and buy marijuana, cocaine or even heroin. In fact, Bayer
– the same company that makes Bayer aspirin today – used to manufacture
heroin, and even introduced heroin to the market the year before they
introduced aspirin, in the 1880s, because they believed at the time that
aspirin was the more dangerous drug. Heroin was sold as a pain reliever and
sedative and was perfectly safe; it only became a deadly, toxic substance
once it was outlawed, much like gin became a deadly, toxic substance during
Prohibition, when it was produced in people's bathtubs instead of in
legitimate distilleries.

"Please understand that I am not condoning recreational drug use. As a
medical doctor, I have seen the destruction to lives that drugs can cause.
But most of that destruction, such as high prices requiring theft to support
the habits, drive-by shootings, gang warfare and pushers on schoolyards, is
caused by the black market created by illegality, not by the drugs
themselves.

"Nor am I saying that some people won't still take drugs if they're legal;
of course they will. I live in the real world, not the ridiculous "Drug Free
America" utopia that the government is always promising – and failing
miserably – to create. But I sincerely believe that drug use, and its
negative effects on society, will be minimized with a free, legal market.

"In a free society, people should be free to make their own mistakes, harm
themselves, even harm their loved ones indirectly through their behavior,
and pay the consequences that naturally follow from their actions. The legal
system should only get involved if the behavior forcibly violates another
person's body or property.

"And, again, the constitution gives the federal government no jurisdiction
over drugs or any other vice.

"So today I will grant a full, unconditional pardon to anyone who has been
convicted of a federal, non-violent drug offense. I will order them all to
be released from prison within 90 days – unfortunately, there are a lot of
people to process and it will take some time, and I will restore their full
civil and voting rights.

"The constitution only allows three federal crimes: Treason, piracy and
counterfeiting. So today I will also begin granting pardons to anyone
convicted of any other federal, victimless crime, such as non-violent gun
control offenses, federal tax charges, and insider trading.

Executive Orders

"Today I will issue an Executive Order, temporarily freezing all previous
Executive Orders and regulations put in place by previous presidents until I
can review the constitutionality of each one. If I deem one to be
unconstitutional, I will issue another Executive Order, repealing it.

The Federal Reserve

"In 1913, the Federal Reserve system was sold to the American people as a
way to 'stabilize' the banking industry and avoid bank runs and panics.
Since then, the Federal Reserve has presided over a decade-plus depression,
numerous recessions and near-constant inflation. A 1913 dollar is now worth
about four cents. Inflation is a hidden tax by the wealthy against the poor
and middle class.

"Fiat money and the artificial expansion of credit also causes the
boom-and-bust cycle, such as the stock market bubble in 2000 and the housing
market bubble today. Many poor and middle class Americans have had their
standards of living significantly damaged by this cycle, which wouldn't
occur in a free market with sound money.

"Today I will begin urging Congress to amend banking regulations to allow
for a much more competitive, freer market in banking, including the
legalization of private money to compete with fiat Federal Reserve Notes.

Health Care

"Another important issue today is health care.

"Despite its flaws, and despite propaganda to the contrary, America's health
care system is still the envy of the world. Stories abound of people from
countries with socialized healthcare, such as Canada, traveling to the U.S.
for live-saving procedures either the bureaucrats in their own country had
denied or to avoid a many-month or many-year wait.

"Unfortunately, there is only one way ration scarce resources: By price. The
alternative is forced rationing and waiting lines; governments cannot create
resources out of thin air. In a free market, competition and innovation
drive prices down, and charity exists for life-and-death services for those
who need them and cannot pay.

"And there is nothing compassionate about forcing people at gunpoint to wait
in line for treatment, to put life-or-death decisions about their health in
the hands of bureaucrats, or to create a dangerous black market in health
care, which is the market's attempt to circumvent the government's failures.

"Some say that essential services, like health care, should be beyond
pricing and profit. This is nonsense; there is no such thing as a right to
something for which someone else has to pay.

"Furthermore, unless someone has an immediately life-threatening injury or
illness, food is more essential for life than healthcare; by this logic,
people should have a 'right' to 'free' food too.

"If this seems like a good idea, consider that in countries that have
preached such beliefs and forcibly nationalized food production and
distribution, there was mass starvation on a scale that Americans cannot
begin to comprehend.

"But, in countries like the U.S., where people are 'exploited' by greedy,
selfish food manufacturers, supermarkets and restaurants, even the poorest
people have more food than they can eat, and the government still makes food
more expensive than it would otherwise be, though things like farm
subsidies.

"And health care is technology-driven, so people should also consider how it
is that things like cell phones, DVD players, plasma televisions and
computers have fallen 50-90% in price over the past 10 years, even while the
quality goes up, while health care continues to get more and more expensive.

"Health care is one of the most-regulated industries in America today. It
began in earnest in the late-19th Century, through the forced cartelization
of the industry through things like licensing laws. As a medical doctor, I
know that these laws were not enacted to protect the public; they were
enacted at the behest of the health care industry, to artificially inflate
their incomes by restricting the supply.

"Government regulation of health care and insurance has continued unabated
throughout the 20th Century.

"As recently as the mid-1960s, a one-week hospital stay for an average
surgical procedure was $1,000 in today's dollars – and that was the total
bill, not what remained to be paid after insurance paid its part. And health
insurance was cheaply available to all who needed it.

"By the government's own figures, health care costs seniors twice what it
did before Medicare, even after adjusting for inflation.

"The FDA approval process drives up the prices of drugs and delays their
arrival on the market for years. The FDA has killed more people by keeping
life-saving drugs off the market for too long than it has saved by
preventing potentially dangerous drugs from being sold. It's common sense
that it's not in the self-interest of a pharmaceutical company to poison its
customers.

"HMOs became powerful because of legislation enacted on their behalf in the
1970s.

"There are many other ways government impeded health care, and I don't have
time to detail them all today.

"But rest assured that, as president, I will urge Congress to repeal all
federal regulations on the health care and insurance industries.

Social Security and Medicare

"Two other pressing issues are Social Security and Medicare.

"Unfortunately, several generations of Americans have been conditioned to
look to the government as their provider, and now many people, especially
seniors, are dependent on government for their survival. While I sincerely
believe that these programs never should've been started, I want to assure
seniors that I have no intention of cutting off their benefits without
making provisions for them.

"When Congress debates my budget proposal, I will urge them to make
provisions for Social Security and Medicare for the next fiscal year. And I
will urge them to alter how Social Security operates, to change it from a
Ponzi Scheme where the incoming money is spent immediately, to a program
where the money is saved.

"I will also push for people who are not already collecting Social Security
to be allowed to opt out of it, to be freed from the 15% tax in exchange for
renouncing their claim to any future benefits. Unfortunately, the money
they've already paid into the system can't be refunded, because the
politicians already spent it.

"If my other health care proposals are enacted and the market is freed,
health care should become so inexpensive that the need for Medicare will
evaporate and it can eventually be repealed, but it may take a few years.

"Later in my term, I hope to explore alternatives for completely privatizing
Social Security, such as buying lifetime annuities with private insurance
companies for everyone who's already collecting, or will be within the next
10 years.

Congress

"Finally today, let me address the issue of Congress.

"There are a lot of people in Congress who believe in the State, in the
virtue of using force to remake society.

"Many expect Congress to fight me tooth and nail. They may, but I want to
warn them that they will be taking an enormous political risk if they defy
me. Again, the American people had a choice to make last November, and they
chose the agenda I've outlined today.

"I ask the American people to contact their Representatives and Senators and
urge them to help me restore liberty to America.

"To the Congress, I say that, if you fight the work I have been sent here to
do, I will ask the American people to begin sending me better people to work
with in next year's mid-term elections. I hope, instead, that you will
choose to work with me.

Thank You

"We face many challenges today, and of course I have not addressed them all
But I do believe I've outlined an excellent start.

"I want to humbly thank you again for choosing me to represent you for the
next four years, and I again promise to do my best to repay your confidence
and to make this a free country again."

Here's something to think about- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have both been nominated for numerous prestigious awards. By their own confession they are "fake" journalists. They make no pretensions about their intent to entertain and make people laugh. At the same time, people trust them, and for good reason- they tell the truth about the world of politics. They shine a light on the dark corners of Washington DC, and show the absurdity of it. They openly mock it. The people who watch their shows are among the most politically aware people in the country. They know that these 2 are not going to lie to them, or whitewash the facts (although a little embellishment may occur occasionally...) and that they can be trusted to give them real information. Not bad for a pair of "fake" news shows.

Here's the part that should make you feel hopeful- in ten years, if they stay on the same path, these guys will be two of the most trusted names in news reporting. Think about that. The people that are in their teens, twenties and thirties that watch TDS and TCR now will be a formidable voting bloc a decade from now, and these two guys will be who they turn to and trust for news. In fact they tolerate NO bullshit from the political establishment today (see Jon Stewart's wonderful attack on the "Crossfire" idiots last year for a glimpse of the "real" Jon Stewart, who even though he is being "humorous" as he delivers his attack, his sincerity comes through clearly) and reveal the naked stupidity of the "mainstream media" with every episode that they create. It's obvious to me that Stewart and Colbert are far more qualified to be anchors for the evening news than Couric, Williams or whoever the hell hosts the ABC evening news. The only reason they aren't is because they SCARE THE HELL out of the "powers that be" because they actually tell the truth!

These guys will continue to be shining lights of truthiness in a world of prevarication and propaganda, and we should support their efforts.

End rant.

I've been a lousy blogger lately- school, a new job, and travel have kept me busy.

Today while I was on campus I saw that some enterprising soul had written "Want Freedom? Vote for Ron Paul" in chalk on the sidewalk. I decided to walk around a bit, and the "sidewalk blogger" had hit several spots on campus. Good for them!

I love the chant in this video from the Illinois Straw Poll- "Ron Paul Revolution- Legalize The Constitution!"

Check out the end of the video- IL State Senator Dan Rutherford (Romney's campaign chair for Illinois) takes one person's Ron Paul sign and STEPS ON IT! Asshole. This just goes to show the level of fear and desperation in the Romney camp. Send him an email and let him know that such behavior only serves to energize Paul's supporters.

Here's the email I sent to him- you can contact him at danrutherford@danrutherford.com

Why do you hate America? Why are you so scared of liberty? I saw you in a video from the Illinois straw poll where you stepped on the Ron Paul sign. Is that the level that you guys are sinking to? I can smell your fear. Your desperation. You're scared that Ron Paul is going to whip Romney in the primaries, aren't ya? You know that Romney is just another empty suit who will continue to destroy all the things that makes America great, while Ron Paul is a real statesman and patriot. You are truly pathetic. Ron Paul is going to be the best president that this country has had in 200 years, and there's nothing that you and your mindless thugs can do to stop the Ron Paul Revolution!

Traffic to the Ron Paul official website was up nearly 67% this month, an incredible surge. The word is spreading, and people like what they hear!

Here's the assessment of the fiscal health of the country from the Comptroller General of the US. Pretty bleak analysis.

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

By Jeremy Grant in Washington

Published: August 14 2007 00:06 | Last updated: August 14 2007 00:06

The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”.

These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.

“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.”

Mr Walker’s views carry weight because he is a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office, often described as the investigative arm of the US Congress.

While most of its studies are commissioned by legislators, about 10 per cent – such as the one containing his latest warnings – are initiated by the comptroller general himself.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Walker said he had mentioned some of the issues before but now wanted to “turn up the volume”. Some of them were too sensitive for others in government to “have their name associated with”.

“I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call,” he said. “As comptroller general I’ve got an ability to look longer-range and take on issues that others may be hesitant, and in many cases may not be in a position, to take on.

“One of the concerns is obviously we are a great country but we face major sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough,” said Mr Walker, who was appointed during the Clinton administration to the post, which carries a 15-year term.

The fiscal imbalance meant the US was “on a path toward an explosion of debt”.

“With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiralling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks,” said Mr Walker, a former senior executive at PwC auditing firm.

Current US policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also was on an “unsustainable path”.

“Our very prosperity is placing greater demands on our physical infrastructure. Billions of dollars will be needed to modernise everything from highways and airports to water and sewage systems. The recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a sobering wake-up call.”

Mr Walker said he would offer to brief the would-be presidential candidates next spring.

“They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007