What are the economic impacts of government growth and corruption?

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In summary, Congressman Ron Paul has gained attention for his recent fundraising efforts, raising over $6 million in one day. His fundraising stats show a significant increase and some consider it exponential growth. However, not everyone is on board with his ideas and some view him as a "crazy" and a "nut." Despite this, Paul's consistent voting record and dedication to the Constitution have earned him a loyal following. Some of his proposed policies, such as pulling out of foreign aid and isolationism, have been met with criticism and skepticism. Others argue that his adherence to the Constitution is both courageous and possibly a bit "nutty." Overall, Paul's ideas have sparked debate and discussion among voters and his upcoming appearance on Meet the Press may shed
  • #106
He claims they where written by ghost writers.
 
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  • #107
falc39 said:
This has been brought up time and time again, I think there are many other supporters who can argue for him better than I do. http://donklephant.com/2007/08/27/ron-paul-realism-question-6-of-7/"

I also believe even the NY Times absolved him of the issue saying something that it was completely out of style and character. I also remember reading that the guy who did write it got fired immediately. Anyway, this thing has been debated over and over and if you haven't been convinced yet, I urge you to look at the rest of his writings/speeches (the other 99.9%) and judge for yourself if Ron Paul really could've wrote such a thing.

The guy who wrote those ten different quotes in seven different issues of the Ron Paul Survival Guide got fired immediately? That's an oxymoron.

I would be more interested in judging Ron Paul by the rest of his writings and speeches if I hadn't heard that he's withholding some of his writings because he purportedly thinks that I can't be trusted to reasonably interpret them. (These unavailable issues of the Ron Paul Survival Guide are what I'm talking about.)

Moridin said:
He claims they where written by ghost writers.

"Someone authorized to speak for Ron Paul" is an accurate description of "Ron Paul's ghost writer".
 
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  • #108
CaptainQuasar said:
The guy who wrote those ten different quotes in seven different issues of the Ron Paul Survival Guide got fired immediately? That's an oxymoron.

I would be more interested in judging Ron Paul by the rest of his writings and speeches if I hadn't heard that he's withholding some of his writings because he purportedly thinks that I can't be trusted to reasonably interpret them. (These unavailable issues of the Ron Paul Survival Guide are what I'm talking about.)

"Someone authorized to speak for Ron Paul" is an accurate description of "Ron Paul's ghost writer".

There is nothing I can say anymore to argue with this... It's nothing new under the sun, it's been debated by people over and over, I've read it on many forums. Ron Paul has explained what happened. If you don't think that is a good explanation, then you think he's a liar, which is fine, but that doesn't prove the other side of the argument either. It's still speculation. To me, those quotes are way out of character for him. It goes against 99% of everything else he says, so I believe his explanation, and that is the best judgment I can make.
 
  • #109
I respect some of Paul's views, but like others, I find him too nutty. For me, what does him in is his position on antitrust law. I don't know what universe he lives in, but I would say that multinational corporations exerting undue influence on the marketplace falls under the umbrella of "interstate commerce." More generally, he's a corporatist in constitutionalist's clothing. He doesn't understand that corporations do not have the right to exist, and that they are supposed to serve some sort of public good in exchange for the legal benefits. If he had is way, in twenty years we'd all be slaves to a company which owns everything, and which you cannot speak out against lest they stop selling you food.
 
  • #110
It was very noticable last night in the NH Rep debate that the other candidates were rolling their eyes when Paul made several key points. It was also obvious why: They couldn't even begin to keep up! He is about ten steps ahead of the rest, and that's why many people don't understand his mess
They had to make fun of his statements. Go ad hominem when you don't have arguments to back yourself up! Actually, they probably do have arguments, they just haven't memorized them yet. Ron Paul was the only one up there that said ANYTHING different from the rest of the candidates.

From CaptainQuasar's link, the Ron Paul quote I might most agree with is this one:
"There is no such thing as a hate crime, only crimes against person and property."
 
  • #111
Well, speak of the devil. I just saw a segment on Tucker with James Kirchick of The New Republic, and they're going to be releasing an article in a couple days about Ron Paul's racism. They managed to get their hands on some more of the withheld Ron Paul Report newsletters, spanning over twenty years. Among other things, he called Martin Luther King a "gay pedophile" and spoke at a white supremacist conference in 1995. Kirchick makes the point that the new quotes span twenty years, meaning that even if they were ghost written as he claimed, it would've been impossible for him not to have noticed in the entire span.
 
  • #112
falc39 said:
There is nothing I can say anymore to argue with this... It's nothing new under the sun, it's been debated by people over and over, I've read it on many forums. Ron Paul has explained what happened. If you don't think that is a good explanation, then you think he's a liar, which is fine, but that doesn't prove the other side of the argument either. It's still speculation. To me, those quotes are way out of character for him. It goes against 99% of everything else he says, so I believe his explanation, and that is the best judgment I can make.

Do you also believe his explanation that we the public just can't be trusted to properly interpret the other issues of the Ron Paul Survival Guide? Forgive me for not wanting to leave that up to him.

I didn't say anything about him being a liar. I said that he's been dodgy and that if the ghost writer story is true - if what he said is true - it shows incompetent behavior. Respond to what I'm saying, don't put words in my mouth. If you've seen this debated so many times you ought to have some good responses to what I'm actually saying instead of setting up and knocking down straw men.
 
  • #113
falc39 said:
You underestimate the supporters' reasoning. There are many factors why people support Ron Paul. One big factor is the intangibles, specifically referring to integrity, honesty, etc. You have to realize some people are so sick of dishonesty and corruption in politics.
I'm all for that type of logic. I think people ignore it too often. Nevertheless, actual policy matters as well. Most of what Ron Paul suggests isn't even theoretically possible, much less actually doable, but some things he wants to do he might be able to get through and that makes him very dangerous. And to me that means his supporters are not thinking clearly.

I asked before if anyone could explain exactly how in reality his environmental policy would work, but no one responded. So here's how I envision it:

Lets say for example he gets a Republican Congress that backs him in his vision. First thing they do for him is get rid of the EPA, the consumer product safety commission, the clean air act, all alternate energy funding, and a few other major impediments to businesses doing whatever the hell they want. Immediately, the country ditches all forms of clean energy, people pull the catalytic converters off their cars, and 100 new coal power plants are built. Now Ron Paul wants "market forces" and the Constitution in raw form to deal with the issue of pollution via lawsuits on Constitutional grounds. That'll make the lawyers happy - they respond to the situation by immediately suing essentially everyone in the country for everything from smoking in public to driving a car (doesn't matter what kind of car or how efficient it is - they all pollute), not to mention any product that has ever killed or injured anyone. The country will need a few hundred million more lawyers and 10x the exsiting court system, but eventually with no real economy behind it, the country will just collapse.

Next up - how I envision his tax system would work if he were able to implement it...
 
  • #114
Manchot said:
More generally, he's a corporatist in constitutionalist's clothing.
I disagree with you on most things (including your next sentence), but I think there is a good possibility you are right about this. I don't think any sane person would believe you could get rid of most/all corporate restrictions without sending us back to the 1800s era of sweat shops, monopolies, massive city-wide fires, lead paint, etc. The judicial branch is not designed to deal with that kind of thing on its own. I'd even go so far as to say that if he's serious then he simply doesn't understand how the Consitution is supposed to work. The whole purpose of Congress is to enact laws to apply the Constitution to specific circumstances. It is very odd for a Congressman to take the position that the legislative branch is essentially pointless.
 
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  • #115
ShawnD said:
It's stuff like this that makes me really like Paul...

He doesn't have an environmental policy. He'll claim he does, but he really doesn't.
I find it hard to reconcile statements like this.
 
  • #116
I like Ron Paul becaue he says what he wants to say. I think his policy would be devistating and ruin the country and would never work (Hed be impeached first).

But I like how he says what everyone is thinking, but does not have the stones to say. He seems like the most down to Earth person you would meet on the street and has a gripe about government than anyone else you see running.
 
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  • #117
russ_watters said:
I'm all for that type of logic. I think people ignore it too often. Nevertheless, actual policy matters as well. Most of what Ron Paul suggests isn't even theoretically possible, much less actually doable, but some things he wants to do he might be able to get through and that makes him very dangerous. And to me that means his supporters are not thinking clearly.

I asked before if anyone could explain exactly how in reality his environmental policy would work, but no one responded. So here's how I envision it:

Lets say for example he gets a Republican Congress that backs him in his vision. First thing they do for him is get rid of the EPA, the consumer product safety commission, the clean air act, all alternate energy funding, and a few other major impediments to businesses doing whatever the hell they want. Immediately, the country ditches all forms of clean energy, people pull the catalytic converters off their cars, and 100 new coal power plants are built. Now Ron Paul wants "market forces" and the Constitution in raw form to deal with the issue of pollution via lawsuits on Constitutional grounds. That'll make the lawyers happy - they respond to the situation by immediately suing essentially everyone in the country for everything from smoking in public to driving a car (doesn't matter what kind of car or how efficient it is - they all pollute), not to mention any product that has ever killed or injured anyone. The country will need a few hundred million more lawyers and 10x the exsiting court system, but eventually with no real economy behind it, the country will just collapse.

Next up - how I envision his tax system would work if he were able to implement it...

I don't know though, can we assume that everyone would do this? Living in California, Our governor has done things to push the standard of the how the environment should be treated, separate from the federal government. I think Paul might allow states to decide such standards, I think he just wants the federal government out.

Do you also believe his explanation that we the public just can't be trusted to properly interpret the other issues of the Ron Paul Survival Guide? Forgive me for not wanting to leave that up to him.

I didn't say anything about him being a liar. I said that he's been dodgy and that if the ghost writer story is true - if what he said is true - it shows incompetent behavior. Respond to what I'm saying, don't put words in my mouth. If you've seen this debated so many times you ought to have some good responses to what I'm actually saying instead of setting up and knocking down straw men.

That wasn't his explanation though. He has not given an explanation on why he withholds them. I'm not going to assume that the reason why he withholds them is because the public can't be trusted. Why would you re-distribute something you regret ever being distributed in the first place?

It does show incompetent or careless behavior. But he addressed the issue and took moral responsibility for it, which to me is the right behavior to address it with.

Tucker Carlson had a writer from New Republic who is rehashing the old newsletters (Ron Paul Financial Newsletter) where Ron Paul is alleged to have wrote racist remarks about blacks in the inner city of Washington, D.C. with a propensity for crime.

For the factual record however, Ron Paul has never been accused of saying a racist remark to anyone in his 20 years in Congress. There are no witnesses anywhere who have ever heard Ron Paul utter a remark that was racist in any way. He has never said a racist word in the Congressional Record nor has anyone ever recorded a racist remark from Dr. Paul.

No one in the Black Caucus in Congress has ever heard Ron Paul utter a racist remark.

For the words attributed to a 1992 newsletter, Ron Paul has apologized for these words that appeared in an issue of his newsletter, but he did not write them. He particularly regrets a remark made about Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who Ron Paul very much liked and admired. Ron Paul has never referred to Martin Luther King, Jr. in any disparaging way, and regards MLK, Jr. and Rosa Parks as heroes of his.

Ron Paul has delivered babies to black families, hispanic families, illegal immigrants, and all people. He even did so at no charge for poorer black, hispanic, white and illegal immigrants.

No black person has ever made the claim Dr. Paul was ever unkind or racist in any way, and this man has led a very public life from 1974 to 2008, 31 years!

If you have watched Dr. Paul, you know he has never adhered to any racist beliefs, actions, words or statements, and no one has ever heard him utter anything like a racist remark.

After 31 years, if no one can say they heard it, or videotaped it, or were victim of it, then it doesn't exist. The "racist" label cannot apply.

Not only is Dr. Paul no racist, but quite the contrary, he is truly the presidential candidate that cares most deeply about African-Americans, more so than any other candidate, without question.

Currently there are 600,000 African-Americans in US jails and prisons for crimes under the draconian drug laws, laws that Dr. Paul has always opposed, voted against and condemns today in his Presidential bid. Dr. Paul is well aware in his television speeches that African-Americans are being punished and targeted in the federal drug war.

Ron Paul is really someone who just speaks his mind, it's hard to argue that. Now assume he is racist. Considering that he is a person who is always speaking his mind, how could the above in quotes happen? That's how I make my final judgment, it just doesn't add up to his record.
 
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  • #118
Manchot said:
I respect some of Paul's views, but like others, I find him too nutty. For me, what does him in is his position on antitrust law. I don't know what universe he lives in, but I would say that multinational corporations exerting undue influence on the marketplace falls under the umbrella of "interstate commerce." More generally, he's a corporatist in constitutionalist's clothing. He doesn't understand that corporations do not have the right to exist, and that they are supposed to serve some sort of public good in exchange for the legal benefits. If he had is way, in twenty years we'd all be slaves to a company which owns everything, and which you cannot speak out against lest they stop selling you food.

russ_watters said:
I disagree with you on most things (including your next sentence), but I think there is a good possibility you are right about this. I don't think any sane person would believe you could get rid of most/all corporate restrictions without sending us back to the 1800s era of sweat shops, monopolies, massive city-wide fires, lead paint, etc. The judicial branch is not designed to deal with that kind of thing on its own. I'd even go so far as to say that if he's serious then he simply doesn't understand how the Consitution is supposed to work. The whole purpose of Congress is to enact laws to apply the Constitution to specific circumstances. It is very odd for a Congressman to take the position that the legislative branch is essentially pointless.

In economics, there is an opposing view on this subject. I'm probably going to read up on it in the future.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0945466250/?tag=pfamazon01-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1933995092/?tag=pfamazon01-20
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0945999623/?tag=pfamazon01-20
 
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  • #120
falc39 said:
That wasn't his explanation though. He has not given an explanation on why he withholds them. I'm not going to assume that the reason why he withholds them is because the public can't be trusted. Why would you re-distribute something you regret ever being distributed in the first place?

I don't feel a need to make any definite statements about Ron Paul's motivation for concealing those things. But I don't think he should get a pass and be free of the suspicions and criticism any other politician (or almost any public figure) would be subjected to in this situation, just because he's such a great guy. This isn't something to dismiss as old news, this is ongoing concealment of his printed views.

falc39 said:
It does show incompetent or careless behavior. But he addressed the issue and took moral responsibility for it, which to me is the right behavior to address it with.

I ask again - is concealing other material, which he supposedly has the same legitimate excuse for, taking moral responsibility and the right behavior?

falc39 said:
Ron Paul is really someone who just speaks his mind, it's hard to argue that. Now assume he is racist. Considering that he is a person who is always speaking his mind, how could the above in quotes happen? That's how I make my final judgment, it just doesn't add up to his record.

I'll concede that some of the views he does not conceal are things that other politicians normally would conceal but what you're saying above is circular logic. He only really speaks his mind all the time if the stuff he's concealing and the stuff that was printed really doesn't reflect his views.

-

Now I'm arguing vehemently about this but I want to point out that these the unreleased issues of the Ron Paul Survival Report are effectively hearsay for me, though from someone I usually find trustworthy. As I mentioned it wasn't stated in the same article with the quotes I linked to, I read it elsewhere on the net. Maybe all the issues are available or maybe he's saying he doesn't have copies of them - I just ran with it because you others who were familiar with this didn't disagree with it. So feel free to investigate the substance of that charge if it doesn't ring true.
 
  • #121
Manchot said:
I respect some of Paul's views, but like others, I find him too nutty. For me, what does him in is his position on antitrust law. I don't know what universe he lives in, but I would say that multinational corporations exerting undue influence on the marketplace falls under the umbrella of "interstate commerce." More generally, he's a corporatist in constitutionalist's clothing. He doesn't understand that corporations do not have the right to exist, and that they are supposed to serve some sort of public good in exchange for the legal benefits. If he had is way, in twenty years we'd all be slaves to a company which owns everything, and which you cannot speak out against lest they stop selling you food.

falc39 said:

I note that in an interview awhile back nobel laureate Milton Friedman had said that while originally he supported Antitrust law but he had eventually come to oppose it, the idea being I believe that it did more harm than good.
 
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  • #122
falc39 said:
I think Paul might allow states to decide such standards, I think he just wants the federal government out.

Yes, this is EXACTLY it. This is his stance on the majority of things people find extreme and I don't agree with all of it. I think the federal gov't is or can be important in areas of education, energy and science to name a few.

We (myself and RP) are in lockstep on foreign policy and pretty close in terms of cutting spending.
 
  • #123
russ_watters said:
...I'd even go so far as to say that if he's serious then he simply doesn't understand how the Constitution is supposed to work. The whole purpose of Congress is to enact laws to apply the Constitution to specific circumstances...
I'd disagree, especially with the general nature to that last sentence, which would appear to let the Congress do most anything a majority wanted absent conflict with one of the 'nine' amendments. The restriction is much tighter than that. The authority of the US legislature is completely spelled out in Sections http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html#section8" of Article 1 both of which are fairly specific. And by the restraint of amendment X - "rights reserver to the states" - that is all congress is allowed to do (ignored in practice). Sections 8 & 9 do not include anything about consumer protection, say, fire safety (perhaps a bigger problem in those times than ours). The entire basis for federal consumer law rests on the single line commerce clause in Section 8: "To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;". Now I'd agree that many people in the modern era would say that issues like consumer law are 'important' as you suggest and that therefore we must have congress act. Indeed, Harvard's Alan Dershowitz recently said (paraphrasing): "I don't care what someone in the 17th/18th century said" about original intent. Regardless, Paul's right on one thing, the current system is not how Constitution was intended to work.

Edit: Apologies if the above is a little pedantic, but I thought it necessary to nail down all the antecedents and indirect references that have been floating about.
 
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  • #124
Here's a mainstream media article that just came out on the Ron Paul newsletters:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca

(Though, by "mainstream media" I really just mean that it's an edited print source rather than a "lone gunman" web site; The New Republic definitely has a political view. But the article is put together from quotes from a wide range of Ron-Paul-authorized publications and other confirmable facts.)
 
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  • #125
Ron Paul isn't saying anything different. Every candidate so far has pointed the finger at the federal government as the source of 'this' problem or the real reason 'this thing' isn't being done is because of 'this' in 'this' department or we have to change 'this' in the department of 'that' in order to do 'this'. He says the same things, only he needs a tin foil hat so people can take him seriously.
 
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  • #126
CaptainQuasar said:
Here's a mainstream media article that just came out on the Ron Paul newsletters:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca

(Though, by "mainstream media" I really just mean that it's an edited print source rather than a "lone gunman" web site; The New Republic definitely has a political view. But the article is put together from quotes from a wide range of Ron-Paul-authorized publications and other confirmable facts.)

I've been trying to keep up with this on the forums.

This is from the same guy who was on Tucker, the video can be found here in case anyone missed it:


He ends the interview saying he will reveal everything tomorrow. It's tomorrow and he brings in the article above, with some selected quotes.

To me, he kind of kills his own article by stating this:

Finding the pre-1999 newsletters was no easy task, but I was able to track many of them down at the libraries of the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Of course, with few bylines, it is difficult to know whether any particular article was written by Paul himself. Some of the earlier newsletters are signed by him, though the vast majority of the editions I saw contain no bylines at all. Complicating matters, many of the unbylined newsletters were written in the first person, implying that Paul was the author.

What a way to discredit yourself...

Anyway, the campaign released this official response:
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/press-re...ew-republic-article-regarding-old-newsletters

And Ron Paul had his own personal response:
http://reason.com/blog/show/124281.html

This time, he actually gives an explanation now of why he doesn't release the old stuff
reason: Why don't you release all the old letters?

Paul: I don't even have copies of them, because it's ancient history.

I'm going to look at some of the selections that he posted, probably at most to compare it to the style of his speeches and other writings to see if they match. Otherwise, I don't really see this as clear evidence that he wrote it. It's irritating that they pull this off on the day of and before the NH primary. Obviously politics as usual...
 
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  • #127
DrClapeyron said:
Ron Paul isn't saying anything different. Every candidate so far has pointed the finger at the federal government as the source of 'this' problem or the real reason 'this thing' isn't being done is because of 'this' in 'this' department or we have to change 'this' in the department of 'that' in order to do 'this'. He says the same things, only he needs a tin foil hat so people can take him seriously.

I don't see that. He always gives a much more detailed answer in terms of economics and monetary policy and tries to relate it to everything, including foreign policy.

Furthermore, I found Ron Paul's new book online offered for free in PDF!
Pillars of Prosperity: Free Markets, Honest Money, Private Property
http://www.mises.org/books/prosperity.pdf

It's basically all his speeches on economics in congress with some commentary. You have to admit that this guy cares a lot more about economics and monetary policy than the people who are running against him (even if you disagree with his school of thought).
 
  • #128
I'm going to look at some of the selections that he posted, probably at most to compare it to the style of his speeches and other writings to see if they match. Otherwise, I don't really see this as clear evidence that he wrote it. It's irritating that they pull this off on the day of and before the NH primary. Obviously politics as usual...
Does it really matter if he wrote it? The quotes span an extremely long period of time, meaning that either a) he didn't read his own newsletter or b) he read it and tacitly approved. Either way, Ron Paul's integrity is in question.
 
  • #129
falc39 said:
What a way to discredit yourself...

The author of the article is discredited because Ron Paul published these things for more than a decade in his own name without identifying who was writing it? Isn't that a bit of a stretch?

But it's good to know that he's claiming he simply doesn't have copies of anything any more. It's kind of curious that he remembers so clearly exactly who wrote what in the issues that are available. But saying he doesn't have copies is much less patronizing than outright saying he doesn't think we should read it.

And thanks for posting those links falc39.
 
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  • #130
dang, vote fraud has already been confirmed in New Hampshire.

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/New_Hampshire_District_Admits_Ron_Paul_Vote_Skew"
 
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  • #131
falc39 said:
dang, vote fraud has already been confirmed in New Hampshire.

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/New_Hampshire_District_Admits_Ron_Paul_Vote_Skew"
digg.com is not considered a reliable source.

Even so, Ron Paul is not a viable candidate and isn't being considered as a serious potential candidate.
 
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  • #132
Evo said:
digg.com is not considered a reliable source.

Even so, Ron Paul is not a viable candidate and isn't being considered as a serious potential candidate.

it shouldn't matter though what Ron Paul is considered, this isn't acceptable.

it's all over the forums right now.

also look at this: guiliani got 9.11% in three different counties. No other candidate did. is this some cruel joke? What are the chances of that happening?
 
  • #133
here's a better link.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/

1-7-08: Silvestro the Cat & New Hampshire Elections
UPDATE JAN 9 9am PST: TOWN OF SUTTON CONFIRMS RON PAUL TOTALS WERE 31, NOT ZERO.

I just got off the phone with Jennifer Call, Town Clerk for Sutton. She confirmed that the Ron Paul totals in Sutton were actually 31, and said that they were "left off the tally sheet" and it was human error.

This is not an acceptable answer, especially because one of the most common forms of fraud in a hand count system is to alter or omit results on the reporting sheet. Hand count is lovely, transparent. They then fill out another reconciliation sheet, often in front of witnesses, and it looks fine. Then they provide a summary or media sheet with the incorrect results.

A Web site here: http://www.wheresthepaper.org has more on fraud techniques with hand counted paper ballots. You'll have to dig for it -- or Google, and the excellent research on this is Theresa Hommel from the state of New York.
 
  • #134
falc39 said:
dang, vote fraud has already been confirmed in New Hampshire.
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/New_Hampshire_District_Admits_Ron_Paul_Vote_Skew"
The article claims that a summary sheet released to the media omitted the count for Paul. If that is all that happened, where is the vote fraud? What is reported to the media is a summary, not the official complete tally. The complete tally includes each and every vote for each and every candidate, including the fringe candidates and the write-ins.
 
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  • #135
Definitely something that absolutely must be investigated but pretty far short of evidence of fraud.
 
  • #136
this must be a different Ron Paul from the one who's running for president:

Ron Paul '90s newsletters rant against blacks, gays

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A series of newsletters in the name of GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul contain several racist remarks -- including one that says order was restored to Los Angeles after the 1992 riots when blacks went "to pick up their welfare checks."

etc etc

The controversial newsletters include rants against the Israeli lobby, gays, AIDS victims and Martin Luther King Jr. -- described as a "pro-Communist philanderer." One newsletter, from June 1992, right after the LA riots, says "order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks."

Another says, "The criminals who terrorize our cities -- in riots and on every non-riot day -- are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are. As children, they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for all black ills, to 'fight the power,' to steal and loot as much money from the white enemy as possible."

In some excerpts, the reader may be led to believe the words are indeed from Paul, a resident of Lake Jackson, Texas. In the "Ron Paul Political Report" from October 1992, the writer describes carjacking as the "hip-hop thing to do among the urban youth who play unsuspecting whites like pianos."

The author then offers advice from others on how to avoid being carjacked, including "an ex-cop I know," and says, "I frankly don't know what to make of such advice, but even in my little town of Lake Jackson, Texas, I've urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming."

etc
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/10/paul.newsletters/index.html
 
  • #137
fourier jr said:
this must be a different Ron Paul from the one who's running for president:
Seems to be the case according to the man's own statements. Did you not see his comments on the newsletters in the article you linked?
 
  • #138
The guy uses constitutionalism to validate and rationalize a very myopic and privelaged view of the world. He is consistent as day follows night to be sure, feed the rich, starve the poor and if you don't own private property, then you are essentially classless w/o real claim to the things that our fathers of the constitution promised, eg liberty, pursuit of happiness. Oh sure you can pursue it, just don't get in the way who already "have" it. So far as I can tell, Paulian principles equate to the right to be miserable and lest you complain, the right to be silenced by those with property. Your mileage may vary.
 
  • #139
russ_watters said:
First thing they do for him is get rid of the EPA, the consumer product safety commission, the clean air act, all alternate energy funding, and a few other major impediments to businesses doing whatever the hell they want. Immediately, the country ditches all forms of clean energy, people pull the catalytic converters off their cars, and 100 new coal power plants are built.
I'll take crack at the environmental case. The free market environmentalism approach would be as follows. First, create pollution credits in the vein of basic trespass law, you can't throw your pollution over the fence onto my property unless I agree and you pay me for it. Thus, 10 tons of sulfur dioxide up the stack would cost X creating incentives to reduce emissions. The credits must be salable so that the system has a natural check. If a polluter tries to hide emissions, then even if one cares nothing for the local environment there's a built in incentive to police the polluter since if I'm in the market to sell credits the polluter is depressing demand by cheating. Thats going to put drag on your 100 plants, get producers to go another way, for instance, investing in clean energy.

Now, in evaluating the EPAless world we also need to compare to system as it is now, with all the paperwork and licensing process. If that is greatly reduced, it also reduces impediment to the creation of new efficient/cleaner plants (which they should be w/ credits) and replace the broken down old cars of the power industry - the pre 1977 filthy coal plants still chugging along. Finally, with regards to fears of excessive legal costs in a EPAless system, don't discount the legal costs now.

With regards to individual polluters (catalytic converter removal,etc) - I don't know how to address that. In any case that's covered AFAIK by state laws. I can't pass my state inspection system without one, so no federal EPA needed there. Indeed, the EPA blocks states from increasing restrictions on auto emissions past some EPA-knows-best limit without a waiver from EPA as California's are likely quite aware at the moment.

I don't know if Rep. Paul agrees with all this in detail. He's stated that private property rights need to be enforced (again), and that though its not a priority for him he'd move towards dumping EPA. The above is basically the less - government approach to cleaner air/water/... per, say, https://www.amazon.com/gp/associates/link-types/marketplace.html?t=theedgeofengl-20&asin=9990561818"&tag=pfamazon01-20

A final reason: I don't see much basis in the constitution for EPA in its current form; its a distortion beyond all recognition of the commerce clause.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #140
denverdoc said:
and lest you complain, the right to be silenced by those with property. Your mileage may vary.
Who is silencing you?
 

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