Huckabee Wins, Paul Loses.

In absolute terms, absolutely so. Mike Huckabee should be rightly proud of his campaign's achievement in Ames, Iowa. Ron Paul came in fifth with 1,305 out of a total of 14,302 votes (9.1%) in the Ames Straw Poll.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has a fantastic statement about why the people should support the Second Amendment limitation on the government. If only he didn't support the horrid Fair Tax (and the continued indefinite occupation of Iraq by the US Armed Forces) he might be worth considering.

Luckily there is a candidate who supports the right of the people to defend themselves against crime and oppressive government, Republican Ron Paul from Texas.

Ron Paul's position of freedom is uncompromising and in a environment where many claim that compromise is key I find that to be quite inspiring. 9.1% in the straw poll means that there is still plenty of work to be done to advance the Ron Paul for President campaign to the winner's circle. I'm not afraid of a little hard work and one less than glamorous turnout in one poll isn't going to dampen my enthusiasm one bit.

This is the source of the picture.

I plan to be listening to the Smith vs. Kubby debate on The Liberated Space. I imagine that I will learn something new. I spoke with candidate Christine Smith recently. I imagine she will have something good to say. I believe that Steve Kubby will share some wisdom as well.

Free speech vs unfree school. Nobody knows how this will pan out but it sure does remind me of Penn Jillette's chiquita banana story. I am so happy that there are people out there with guts.

Supposed documentary "SiCKO" opens in US theatres yesterday and my father went to see it. BoingBoing.net complains that Google.com offers businesses who would be squashed by universal government medicine the opportunity to counter Michael Moore's socialist propaganda. What is BoingBoing afraid of? That someone might have a chance to hear a little truth?

"This might hurt a little." - Michael Moore

You aren't kidding

APCW Reports: Jon Kyl ~ American Patriot

One man's opinion of Jon Kyl. Is it any wonder why so many people ask "Whose Senator is he?"

Freedom is Popular

Ron Paul in Kansas City, Missouri. Is it any wonder why people get excited about Ron Paul?

In 1992 an article was posted, copied from a newsletter, reportedly written by Republican Ron Paul, congressman from Texas and candidate for President of the United States. The article characterizes black people as prone to commit crime, among other points. It has since been brought up by newspapers and quite a few web sites and blogs. I've taken the time to note a sampling of these articles. If you should come across one of these articles and desire to obtain a definitive answer to the question "Is Ron Paul a racist?" please research the issue and then read Ron Paul's words. I have faith that the average person can reach a conclusion in Ron Paul's favor.

An up or down vote today on decamping Iraq (well - eventually), HR 2237 failed with a vote of 177 in favor of leaving and 255 in favor of staying.

Some of those in favor of leaving Iraq:

Raúl Grijalva (D)
Ed Pastor (D)
Ron Paul (R) [from Texas]
Dennis Kucinich (D) [from Ohio]

Some of those in favor of more of the same (stay in Iraq):

Harry Mitchell (D)
Gabrielle Giffords (D)
Jeff Flake (R)
John Shadegg (R)
Trent Franks (R)
Rick Renzi (R)

The picture above was sourced from here per this license.

Can one man with an inspiration change the world? Perhaps that is the only thing that can.

I saw John Mayer perform "Waiting On The World To Change" while watching the Steve Jobs iPhone introduction at Apple Macworld 2007.

Fanatics. Most everyone believes that fanatics are the problem. People who feel they are justified in using force to impose their will on others, disregarding truth and justice as irrelevant. Amanda B. Carpenter (humanevents.com) wrote a very interesting article on the movie "300". Amazingly to me many people mentally identify the Spartans as the US and the Persians as the Iranians/Arabs/Muslims. I can easily see the opposite with George Bush as King Xerxes and the Persian Army as the US soldiers sent to attack the rebellious Spartans. The rebels in Iraq fight occupying forces face supported with technology such as the AC-130 gunship and communication technology that one might believe would readily beat the navtive rebels into submission. The foreign based fighters, a combination of US soldiers, British soldiers, South Korean soldiers and private mercenaries hired by the US government patrol Iraq and occasionally are maimed or killed by the ingenuity of those rebels who refuse to surrender. Unfortunately in the real world evil is often plotted in green rooms by people who rarely resemble the villains as portrayed in the movies. Who is the hero and who is the villain takes a little bit more effort than assuming that "our side" are the good guys and "the others" are the bad guys. It has been 4 years since the US led coalition forces invaded Iraq, I wonder when Mr. Bush will decide that it is time to use some reason and logic and ask the question, "is the invasion and occupation worth it (and for whom)?"

Saturday I went to see the movie "300" with other members of the Phoenix Objectivist Study Group. Was it worth the price both of time and money? Yes.

From the real government of Iraq, the Multi-National Force of Iraq, (a bit less Multi-National now that Britain and Denmark declared that they intend to leave Iraq). MNF-I forces shoot at ?something? on Haifa Street, Baghdad, Iraq

Ron Paul Revolution - Phoenix

Freedom good, government bad, bad, bad.

Dennis Kucinich Urges Conversation about Impeachment

Watch this and reflect on the actions of the current POTUS and his demagoguery about Iran.

While this video is meant to tear down Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama would do well to reflect on what "V" said:

"And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror."

A timeless commentary on the nature of government and the collective.

If you can't afford a $44 ticket to go to the stage version of 1984, there are plenty of very affordable book and DVD versions available at amazon.com.

Whether you consider yourself a Republican, Libertarian or Democrat (or something else) the amazing influence of George Orwell on society cannot be denied. A stage performance of his story "1984" will be appearing in Scottsdale on Friday and Saturday (March 24th and 25th) at 8:00 PM. $44.00 per ticket.

I am all in favor of a pinch of salt. That is why I follow with interest the skeptic crowd which from my vantage point is headed by Penn Jillette. Mr. Jillette endorses James Randi and has had him on the Penn Radio show several times.

It is a sad day however when BoingBoing.net reports that James Randi claims that 36 homeopathic sleeping pills is a fatal dose. I would be hard pressed to find a reference *anywhere* that alleges that there is any dose of homeopathic medicine that will cause a negative side effect such as that claimed by Mr. Randi.

I would have no complaint if James Randi claimed that homeopathic medicine is ineffective (he is welcome to his considered opinion, one I happen to disagree with) but his current claim about homeopathic medicine is preposterous. If one takes webmd.com as a reasonably orthodox baseline, its article at most quotes medical figures and journals stating that homeopathic medicine is ineffective, not deadly.

Fix or scrap. In politics that is a question often posed and government will nearly always choose fix, euphimistically called "reform". Such is the case when it comes the the Arizona Clean Election system which the Arizona House of Representatives just voted to reform. 57 yes'es, 0 no's, 3 not voting. Sad-sad-sad.