New Spot: "Troops Support Ron Paul"

By Sarah Lovenheim | January 4, 2008; 5:12 PM ET

Republican Ron Paul is out with a new TV ad, set to run in New Hampshire through Tuesday's primary, stressing his military credentials.

Patriotic music booms. Soldiers salute. The announcer begins: "A proud military veteran who served our nation. Ron Paul salutes and supports our troops who protect and defend our freedom." A flag waves. The announcer continues, "But who do the troops support? Ron Paul. The record shows they're standing up for him." The ad concludes: "Ron Paul is their choice for commander-in-chief."

His campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said Paul "has long been a praised as staunch advocate for veterans' issues." Still, he "wants to bring the troops home from Iraq" because he would rather America "never again sends out brave soldiers to war unless doing so is necessary for our defense," according to Benton. Whether his anti-war message will appeal to New Hampshire veterans is hard to say.



I found this article at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/channel-08/2008/01/new_spot_troops_support_ron_pa.html

Ron Paul Campaign to Turn In Alaskan Ballot Signatures

I found this article at http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071221005655&newsLang=en

Campaign Manager in Alaska, Available for Comment

ANCHORAGE, Alaska--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Republican Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign is preparing to turn in the signatures necessary to guarantee a place on Alaska's primary caucus ballot.

Dr. Paul's National Campaign Manager Lew Moore is in Anchorage today for the announcement. Earlier this week, Washington State Coordinator Maureen McMahan Moore visited Haines, Juneau, and Fairbanks to hire staff and meet with volunteers. Another volunteer meetings is planned for this Saturday, December 22, from 10:00AM to Noon at the Anchorage Marriott Hotel.

"Alaska has rallied to Dr. Paul’s message of freedom, peace and prosperity," said Campaign Manager Lew Moore.

The signatures will be delivered to the Republican office in Anchorage early today.

Kucinich thinks Paul should be heard

Just about every day, another prominent Republican decides to leave Washington for private life, though not many Democrats are leaving. Both parties expect the Democrats to win control of the Congress and the White House in 2008, so even former Speaker Dennis Hastert and former Senate Leader Trent Lott are calling it quits. They apparently don't want to risk remaining in the unpleasant position of being in the minority.

This shouldn't be too surprising, because it reflects important differences between the two parties. Republicans, generally, don't like government, to start with. Their current great hero, Ronald Reagan said it best: "Government is not the solution; government is the problem." Democrats tend to follow Franklin Roosevelt, who believed government should take the side of working people to do the things they couldn't do for themselves, or that business wouldn't do. Thus, he created Social Security, unemployment compensation, and so on, over Republican opposition. Taxes were assessed more on the wealthy and big business than on working people.

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In recent years, the parties at the national level have changed somewhat, as the Republican Party has been strongly influenced by Christian fundamentalism, especially in the South, and the Democratic Party has been wooed by big business. Both parties cater to media giants that tend to control communication. This has resulted in the political dialogue moving to the so-called right, away from activist government in economic matters, but toward confrontations over religious issues at home, and economics and religion abroad.
So, we find all of the Republican candidates except Ron Paul supporting the war in Iraq. The Democrats - some which supported the war - seem mostly unwilling to withdraw all of our troops and end the occupation. Apparently, they are reluctant to allow the nations of that region to control their own oil, the main reason we have intervened there.

Among the Democrats, only Ohio's Dennis Kucinich advocates a total withdrawal from Iraq and the region. He led the opposition to the attack on Iraq and now, logically, supports the impeachment of Cheney and Bush. He also has been a strong advocate for alternative sources of energy, reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Kucinich is the only current presidential candidate advocating full national health care, "Medicare for all."

I had dinner with Kucinich, when he was mayor of Cleveland and getting blamed daily in the news for Cleveland's economic ills. His perspective was he was standing in the way of the Cleveland municipal power company being privatized, so he was the target of wealthy interests he called "corporate vampires," who were subjecting Cleveland and other American cities to "economic strip mining." He stuck to his guns, and the profit-free power system continued to provide cheaper energy to the area. He also engineered an increase in the city's income tax on upper level incomes. Like FDR with his Tennessee Valley Authority, Kucinich was providing a model for energy alternatives, and like FDR, he was taxing those best able to pay to fund government services.

Of course, the media still blame Kucinich for Cleveland's continued economic ills, even though several mayors, including current Sen. George Voinovich, have struggled with and failed to solve that city's problems. At the root of most of the economic problems of America's cities is, in fact, something like the economic strip mining Kucinich pointed out - but that's another column.

It's too bad that in the current presidential campaign Congressman Kucinich and Republican Ron Paul - both of whom oppose the occupation of Iraq - are treated as insignificant. They speak for millions of people, and are the best expressions of the two philosophies of government. Paul, the libertarian, arguing, "That government governs best which governs least," and Kucinich, the progressive, believing government should help ordinary people with the major problems of their lives, such as health care - and relishing his work in government.

Let's hope neither of them gives up any time soon. We need their views and their voices. And we need to include them in the debate

Paul pushes individual freedoms

CEDAR RAPIDS — Trying to get a handle on who's supporting U.S. Rep. Ron Paul for the Republican presidential nomination is tricky on a number of levels.

The obvious problem is that many of his supporters prefer cell phones to land lines so they aren't contacted by pollsters, Paul, 72, explained during a recent visit to Cedar Rapids. Other supporters don't show up on pollsters' call lists of "likely caucus-goers" because they are young and have never caucused, or they are Republicans who have dropped out of party activities for a decade or more, the 31-year Texas congressman added.

Then there's the fact that his backers represent such diverse — and often disparate — political philosophies that they defy convention.

In addition to opposing the Iraq war, Paul has attracted supporters of Second Amendment gun rights as well as opponents of abortion, income taxes and the North American Free Trade Agreement. He also wins the backing of those who want to return to the gold standard, decriminalize marijuana and pull out of the United Nations and NATO.

If there is a common thread that weaves through Paul's patchwork quilt of support, however, it is individual freedom.

"I find that tends to bring people together rather than divide us because it recognizes that people have different beliefs and different lifestyles, and we don't challenge each other," said Paul, a former obstetrician and Air Force flight surgeon.

"They want to be free," said his Linn County campaign chairman, Ed Dolan of Central City. "They're tired of government telling them what to do."

And they're not just Republicans.

"I'm putting signs in Democrats' yards," Dolan said. "I'm getting calls from independents and people who have never been involved."

There's a one-word explanation of what's motivating Paul supporters, according to Drew Ivers, the campaign's Iowa chairman.

"There's a common thread: change," Ivers said. "It's a platitude. Barack Obama is speaking it. Hillary Clinton is speaking it, so it's as trite a platitude as you'll ever hear."

The difference, according to Ivers, who is on his fifth presidential caucus campaign, is that in most cases, promising change "is the carrot the donkey never gets."

"People do want true change and are looking for the candidate who can really deliver it," he said.

Paul, who ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988 and received fewer than 500,000 votes, shies away from predicting how well he'll do in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses other than to say "the higher the better." Despite polling in the single digits, Paul's use of phrases like "top three finish" suggest that he has upset on his mind.

"If you can get 37,000 people to send a donation on one day over the Internet without us doing a single thing or paying one penny for the fundraising, I can't believe those people and their families and their friends and the people they talk to over the next months won't be voting," Paul said. "I mean, what are they investing in if not to get people to the polls?"

Dolan acknowledges the conventional wisdom is that a candidate has to finish in the top three to get a ticket out of Iowa. Paul may finish in the top flight, Dolan suggested, but regardless of how he fares Jan. 3, the campaign will go on.

"None of us sit around and talk about 'If we don't come in first or second we need to change our plan,'" Paul said.

"Our plan is our plan. Our plan is our message," he said. If there's enthusiasm, if the numbers grow, if the money comes in, we'll just keep plugging along and doing what we do. The higher the better.

"It would be pretty darn discouraging if there are eight people on the ballot and I'm eighth," he said. "That would mean we have deluded ourselves into believing that Internet support was bigger than we realized."

Dolan expects Paul to do well in Iowa and, perhaps, even better in New Hampshire where the libertarian philosophy is captured in the state motto — "Live free or die."

"That may be where the campaign takes off," Dolan said

The campaign has a national strategy, Ivers said, noting that Paul has not spent as much time in Iowa as other candidates.

"We're laying the groundwork all over. Not just in Iowa," he said.

"We don't have to win here to have the momentum we need to do well in New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond."

Paul is scheduled to be in Iowa on Dec. 11 and 12, Dec. 27 through 29 and Jan. 2 and 3.

FREEDOM!

North American Union

What Is The North American Union?

The phrase "North American Union" conjures the image of the European Union, truly the prototype for what our elites have planned. One of the first orders of business will be a borderless North America. According to "Building a North American Community" (a Council on Foreign Relations task force report), the playbook for the construction of the North American Union, "Canada and the United States should consider eliminating restrictions on labor mobility altogether and work toward solutions that, in the long run, could enable the extension of full labor mobility to Mexico as well." Full labor mobility throughout North America would mean no borders between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, spelling the end to our independents.
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Why should I care whether the United States joins a North American Union?

If you care about national sovereignty, our cherished American freedoms, the United States Constitution, American independence, retaining the American standard of living, and keeping English as the "real" language of our country, among other unique values and features that adhere to the American way of life, you should care whether we retain our unique identity, legally and in fact!

What can I do?

At this point, you should let your elected representatives know of your concern about the progress of the North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, stating unequivocally that you are against this initiative. As the activities of the SPP increase, there will be other actions you can take, and you can Contact your elected officials online.