A Little Pause

It has certainly been an interesting few months. Of late, I have found myself distracted by a myriad of obligations and activities. I am planning a new look and a new focus for this site to debut sometime in the late summer or fall. In the mean time, you can still catch up to me as a contributing blogger on ronpaulblog.com

Costa Rica Fears Iran's Interest in Region

In other words, America's aggressive, hostile foreign policies have made Iran and Latin American leftists sympatico despite the fact they have no other common interests. But, as an American, if I question our foreign policies and the consequences they produce, I am called a peacenik, anti-American, a coward and a terrorist sympathizer. Just another day through the looking glass in the neo-con's "new normal."

Costa Rica Fears Iran's Interest in Region

From: Gambling 911

Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua and potentially Ecuador (which has been at odds with neighboring Columbia in recent weeks) appear to be solidifying ties with Ahmadinejad.

At first glance, Iran seems to have little in common with Latin America. Trade and economic relations are rare, and the two regions have different cultural and religious traditions, a report in Friday's AM Costa Rica suggests.

But Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has found common ground with leftist leaders critical of the United States and its policy goals around the world.

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Ron Paul on Kudlow explains why the Fed should be taken out back and shot

Dirka, Dirka, Mohammed, Jihad

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Koran forbid Muslims from portraying Mohammed in characture?

Outrage at Cartoons Still Tests the Danes

By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN

AARHUS, Denmark — “I think this is safe house No. 5,” Kurt Westergaard said the other day, and it was clear that he genuinely had lost track.

Last month the Danish police arrested two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan descent on charges of plotting to kill Mr. Westergaard, one of the 12 cartoonists whose pictures of Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten sparked protests, some of them violent, by Muslims around the world in 2006 and put bounties on the heads of Mr. Westergaard and his editor, Flemming Rose. Mr. Westergaard (he drew Muhammad with a bomb in his turban) has been in hiding ever since.

Americans, for whom the presidential election seems to have become a delirious, unending sport, preoccupying their attention, turn out not to be the only ones who preferred to forget about the cartoons. So had many Danes and fellow Europeans. They were shocked by the arrests.


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Don't let the Commodity Sell-Off Fool You

From silverseek.com

The financial problems revealed at Bear Stearns that may exist at other firms as well has inspired a general deleveraging of investments of all kinds to pay back loans and lower the level of leverage from ridiculously high levels. This has resulted in the selling of everything, whether it is gold and silver, commodities, or stocks. When you can’t sell what you want to sell than you have to sell what you can sell, and normally what tops that list are your winning positions. Gold, silver, and oil are among the few things that have done well for several months and their much anticipated correction came today. The only question now is how long will it last before their bull markets resume? With more financial problems evidencing themselves so frequently it can’t be long before people return to the only real money of gold and silver, and that is just one of many reasons driving them higher.

I wish I had better news

90 day US Dollar

"It is unsettling to watch the world's reserve currency disintegrate. Commodities from gold to oil and wheat are taking on the role of safe-haven "currencies". The monetary order is becoming unhinged." - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Read the entire article here.

It's Time for America to Take its Medicine

The AP article about gold breaking $1000 that is featured prominently on today's Drudge Report comes tantalizingly close to getting to the root cause of this historic milestone before copping out with a false analogy about 1980 gold prices in inflation adjusted terms and then stopping short of saying it like it is.

The intentional debasement of the US dollar by the Federal Reserve is causing a flight of wealth out of dollars and into the safe harbor of real money.

What is real money? It's anything that has intrinsic value and can be used as barter to procure goods or services. The US dollar is not, by definition, money. Its value is not inherent, it does not represent any tangible asset. It only has value based on perception and supply. If the supply increases (and it does everyday as the print and borrow orgy in Washington continues unabated), then the value goes down.

History is replete with examples of the perceived value of currency collapsing into a pile of worthless paper as it is printed without regard for the simple economic principle of supply and demand in mind, namely that the more of something there is, the demand and, hence, the value of it, is diminished.

There is a precedent for this in our own history. You may have heard the term "not worth a continental." The continental dollar was the first national currency in these United States. The founders estimated that there was about $10 million worth of precious metals in the colonies at the time and proceeded to print notes that reflected that estimate. Unfortunately, as war debt mounted, the natural inclination was to print more currency to cover the costs. Soon the colonies were awash in more than $50 million "worth" of continentals. The currency was so debased that people were using them as kindling as they were now less valuable than dry sticks. Hence the term and a valuable lesson learned.

After the war, during the continental congress, it was agreed that only gold and silver could be used as legal tender, a hedge against a future "continental" debacle. Although this remains the constitutional law of the land, the creation of a central bank, the Federal Reserve, in 1913 and the severing of the dollar from the gold standard during the Nixon administration, has once more exposed our wealth to the inflationary trajectory of a pure paper economy.

With US troops in 130 countries, 2 wars ongoing and 2 more looming, massive new federal spending, out of control entitlements (social security and medicare) along with the mal-investment and inflation caused by the fiscal practices of the Fed and the Bush administration, in the last year alone, the dollar has lost 17% of its value relative to a basket of other currencies and a stunning 43.8% of its value relative to gold.

Without a radical reform program that will divest the Fed of the power to print money through control of interest rates and a return to some sort of value-based currency such as the gold standard, there is little hope that the dollar can be saved. With its demise, the savings and retirements of millions of Americans will be wiped out. It has already begun, but we have only seen the beginning of this catastrophe.

MTV Calls a Spade a Spade

We're winning in Iraq, huh John?

Lest anyone forgets how completely full of it McCain is...

Death toll rises in Baghdad bombs

The morning after the attack the streets were still awash with blood. Sixty-eight people were killed in twin bomb attacks on a shopping area in central Baghdad, Iraq's interior ministry has said. The Thursday blasts left another 130 people injured, officials said.

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Iraqis Protest in Basra Over Security

Thousands of people took to the streets Saturday in Basra, protesting deteriorating security in the southern city where Iraqi forces assumed responsibility for safety last December.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said that Iraqi security forces had discovered a mass grave in Diyala province containing perhaps 100 bodies.

Police also reported that the bullet-ridden bodies of 13 men were found near the same town.

Also Saturday, two separate bombings in the province northeast of Baghdad left six people dead.

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'National crisis' for Iraqi women

A similar survey undertaken by the organisation in 2004 found that despite the fact that none of the women felt their families' most basic needs were entirely met, 90.6% were optimistic about the future.

But in late 2007, the nationwide poll of 1,513 Iraqi women found only 26.9% continued to be optimistic about the situation in their country.

According to the report, 63.9% or those questioned said violence against women was increasing.

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This Campaign is Winding Down, but the R3VOLUTION Lives on!

Dr. Ron Paul announced today that his bid for the Republican nomination is winding down. Needless to say, this is bittersweet for all of us that have worked so hard for all these many months to help him spread his message of peace, prosperity and hope. Although the campaign may not end in the presidency, the movement that this effort has spawned will continue to grow and mature. The genie is out of the bottle and for that, we all owe Ron Paul an eternal debt of gratitude.

While we will continue to work hard to secure delegates and make an impact in St. Paul, this seems like an appropriate time to say thank you to all of the folks that have worked so hard to bring us to this point.

There are so many people that need to be thanked for everything that they have done in the last year that to even attempt to do so would inevitably neglect some who are deserving of praise.

I do want to express to my fellow staff members that it has been an honor to work with and share this experience with such a smart, capable group of dedicated revolutionaries. Together we have endured praise and criticism, shared in victory and defeat, and reveled in the company of so many that share our values, hopes, patriotism and ideals. To say that I am honored and humbled by your talents and your friendship seems trite and insufficient.

Also, let me express my gratitude to our amazing, driven, and committed supporters. Although we, the staff, often found ourselves in the cross hairs of your ire, I never forgot that it was rooted in your profound love for our country, and its future.

Together, we have taken a little known congressman from south Texas and made him a national figure. We have given voice to the frustrations and fears that so many before endured in solitude, unaware that they were part of a larger community of patriots. We have proven the pundits wrong, outlasted 11 of 12 opponents, and lit the fires of liberty in the hearts of millions in this country and around the world.

You have built a movement and have been kind enough to let me come along for the ride. Thank you. May God bless you all, Ron Paul and the United States of America for generations to come.

Don Rasmussen
Special Assistant
Ron Paul 2008

Ron Paul's Statement to Supporters